Rwanda, Uganda favourites for tech investors

By ALLAN OLINGO More by this Author Rwanda and Uganda are emerging favourite destinations in Africa for investment in information and communications technology. However, the leading investor destinations in the ICT sector in sub Saharan Africa — Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa — have recorded a decline in investment flows. According to new data, East

Offering a white-labeled lending service in emerging markets, Mines raises $13 million

Emerging markets credit startup Mines.io has closed a $13 million Series A round led by The Rise Fund, the global impact fund formed by private equity giant TPG, and 10 others, including Velocity Capital. Mines provides business to consumer (B2C) “credit-as-a-service” products to large firms. “We’re a technology company that facilitates local institutions — banks,

Japanese Budget Smart Phone Maker FREETEL Enters Egypt

Tokyo-based maker and seller of the FREETEL brand of budget smartphones, Plus One Global, has announced hitting the Egyptian market. The firm entered the North Africa country in partnership with Egypt’s largest smart phone distributor, MTI Group, on a new voyage of global expansion that will include landings in 10 countries in the Middle East

How Africa’s top young entrepreneur for 2015 wants to solve the jobs crisis

Brought to you by: The Anzisha Prize A few weeks ago 22-year-old Chris Kwekowe was announced the 2015 Grand Prize winner of The Anzisha Prize, Africa’s premier award for youth entrepreneurship. He is the first Nigerian recipient of the award and takes home US$25,000. Kwekowe is the co-founder of Slatecube, an online platform he started with

Parents can help their children explore online safely in Africa

ESET, a pioneer in IT security for more than two decades, today announces the global availability of its ESET Parental Control for Android app, which helps parents to protect their children when exploring the online world. Having a tool to manage what their children do with their tablets and smartphones is important for parents. A survey commissioned

Ghana, Nigeria to collaborate on West Africa’s energy challenges – Scientist

Research Scientists in Ghana and Nigeria are to form a stronger collaboration to identify solutions to West Africa’s energy challenges, Dr. Chuks Diji, Head of Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Ibadan has hinted. Dr. Diji gave the hint last Thursday at the opening of a three-day international hydropower energy conference jointly organised by the Department

Nigeria Gives MTN Two Weeks To Pay $5.2B Fine

Nigeria’s telecoms regulator on Friday gave MTN Group two weeks to pay a $5.2 billion fine imposed on Africa’s biggest mobile phone company for failure to cut off millions of users with unregistered SIM cards. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) imposed the penalty on Monday on MTN’s Nigeria unit, the group’s biggest market by subscribers,

THIS NIGERIAN MAY BECOME THE FIRST BLACK AFRICAN TO TRAVEL TO SPACE

Nigerian-born Freeman Osonuga is on the verge of becoming the first Black African to travel to space. Freeman is a Medicine and Surgery graduate from Olabisi Onabanjo University. He was selected as one of the 30 people to participate in the Rising Star programme which was launched at the One Young World Summit 2014 in

NIGERIAN COMPANY DEVELOPS SOLAR-POWERED OUTDOOR FRIDGES TO HELP FARMERS

In a bid to save foods and farm produce from going bad, a Nigerian based company founded by Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu has developed an outdoor solar powered fridge called ColdHubs. The fridge is expected to help reduce post-harvest loss for small farmers by 80 percent. According to United Nations, in developing countries food waste and losses

SOUTH AFRICA JUST BEAT KENYA AND NIGERIA IN MOBILE APPLICATION DOWNLOADS

While African consumers increasingly surf online platforms for commercial reasons, a good number, particularly in South Africa (SA), are downloading different applications for their smartphones. In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa leads in the mobile applications market, followed by Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. WhatsApp is the top downloaded application in SA, followed by Facebook Messenger, Facebook and