May 2023 – Page 19 – BHLUEMOUNTAIN

May 3 2023

TechCabal Daily – Kill bill: The Nigerian edition

Lire en français Read this email in French. 3 MAY, 2023 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Good morning There are aliens among us. Don’t believe me? Maybe you’ll believe the new Twitter geotag that’s stating that everyone is tweeting from “Earth”. Looks like the lie that women are from Venus and men from Mars will no longer fly. ‍ In today’s edition Nigerian telcos reject NITDA bill Meta loses again in Kenya Nomba raises $30 million The World Wide Web3 Report: The State of Tech in Africa Opportunities NIGERIAN TELCOS REJECT NITDA BILL Nigeria’s tech ecosystem is fighting a new regulatory bill, and this time, telecoms have joined the fray too. On Monday, telecoms operators in the country, under the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators in Nigeria (ALTON), wrote to the National Assembly requesting exclusion from the NITDA bill. A duplicitous bill: Since August 2022, the Nigerian government has been toying with an amendment to the regulatory framework of ICT agency, NITDA. The amendment will bring all sectors of tech, information and communications under NITDA’s purview, allow NITDA to issue and renew licences, force tech companies to pay even more taxes, and levy hefty punishments, including fining and imprisonment, for breach. This bill also comes right on the heels of the Nigeria Startup Act 2022, which has conflicting provisions. Doubt trouble: Per ALTON, telecoms fear that the NITDA bill would mean double trouble for them as they are presently being regulated by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC). If there are already bills regulating these functions, it calls to question why the Nigerian government is spending time and money on yet another legislation that solves nothing. WORK WITH MONIEPOINT At Moniepoint, we’re creating the best workplace for global talent using the 4M framework- Meaning, Membership, Mastery and Money. This isn’t an ad designed to convince you to join us, but it has all the reasons why you should. Watch it here. This is partner content. SAMA’S EMPLOYEES ARE GOING NOWHERE Facebook’s former content moderator, Sama, has once again failed to shake off the over 180 content moderators that it has been trying to lay off for months now. What’s going on: So, basically, Sama has been trying to lay off 180 content moderators for months now, but the court instructed them not to let go of these workers. However, according to Business Daily, Sama resorted to using threats to coerce the workers into accepting their termination. They even threatened not to pay them their dues if they didn’t clear the company of their employer’s duties towards them in nine days. The workers filed a petition at the Employment and Labour Relations Court, stating Sama’s threat and the fact that if they followed through they would have no legal basis to stay in Kenya. The judge granted their petition and gave them the immigration status of foreign petitioners until the issue with Sama was sorted out. Why would they have had to leave Kenya? Well, the thing is, these workers are foreigners. Sama brought them in from different countries to filter abusive and toxic posts from Facebook platforms in the Eastern and Southern region of Africa. These regions have different languages, so Sama drew workers from different countries to moderate content in local languages from the office in Nairobi. If Sama lays them off, they would have to immediately leave the country and return to theirs. The story gets even more complicated because Sama doesn’t do content moderation for Facebook anymore. They cut ties with Meta last year when they and Meta got embroiled in a lawsuit by a Sama employee who claimed that Meta is exploiting them. Meta tried to throw the case out of court, but the Kenyan court refused. Sama and Meta parted ways as Sama announced that it wouldn’t renew its contract with Facebook. In addition, Sama swore off content moderation completely and decided to lay off its 120 content moderators who, in turn, accused Sama of unlawful layoff. On top of that, they also accused Meta and its new content partner, Majorel, of discriminating against them and refusing to hire any moderator that worked with Sama, even though they have experience working with the Meta platform. Meta has defied this order and goes on to work with an unknown content moderator. A small mess: Yes, but it feels good to see the court putting its foot down and making sure that multinational platforms like Facebook play by the book in welfare matters on the continent. NOMBA RAISES $30 MILLION The numbers show that Africa is getting fewer VC deals, but not this Nomba. Nomba, a payment service provider from Nigeria, just raised a whopping $30 million in funding in a pre-Series B funding round, which the startup said was oversubscribed. The round was led by Base10 Partners, Helios Digital Ventures, Shopify, Partech, and Khosla Ventures. First time hearing of Nomba? It’s a payment service provider that started out as a chatbot helping people make online payments on social apps in Nigeria. Since then, they’ve grown into a fully licensed provider that reportedly supports more than 300,000 businesses and processes $1 billion in monthly transactions. What will Nomba do with the funding? The startup said it will use the financing to provide payment technology that is tailored to the businesses of its customers. So, instead of having a generic point-of-sale (POS) device to accept payments, it says it will help restaurants access menus, manage inventory, receive payments, and perform other business functions all from the same hardware. Logistic companies will have their own devices specially designed for them too, as will other businesses. Also, Nomba will deliver a range of business tools, including invoicing and order management solutions, starting in Nigeria. FUNDRAISING, EXPANSION AND EXIT WITH ENDEAVOR Endeavor Nigeria Entrepreneurs and co-founders of Daystar Power, Jasper Graf von Hardenberg and Christian Wessels have built a successful business that Royal Dutch Shell acquired. On Thursday, May 25, at 1:00 PM WAT, Jasper will provide valuable insights for entrepreneurs in the

May 2 2023

Next Wave: What will “Smart cities” mean for Africa?

<!– In partnership with –> Cet article est aussi disponible en français African cities are one of the planet’s examples of dynamic human organisation happening in the middle of a digital revolution which we do not fully understand. Travel across the continent, you’ll find storied towns that offer a rich mix of culture, colonial reorganisation or roots, political intrigue and boomtown–style growth fuelled by people pouring in from the surrounding countryside. Urban planners, politicians and even tech entrepreneurs want to remake these dynamic metropolises or create new ones that are smart. But what will this mean? By the end of this century, the UN projects that Africa will be home to to 3.9 billion people, or 40% of humanity. By mid-century, 400 million of these people will reside along a 600 km stretch on the Atlantic coast in West Africa. Where will they live? Alongside this growing urban population, African cities often lack the trappings of what we have come to see as basic necessities for modern city life. Where they exist these infrastructures and services are unequally distributed. As the population grows and places existing services and infrastructure under severe stress, a motley of urban professionals, activists, entrepreneurs and government are talking about this thing called “smart cities”. There was a time (that we have not fully exited) when erecting or revamping older towns as new grand capital cities were the dream projects of leaders in developing countries. Especially those recently free from colonial governments. Dodoma, Abuja, Gaborone are a few living relics of this thinking; and the Egyptian government is currently constructing its belated new capital. Simply put, it was governments who did this type of thing. Constructing buildings—schools, administrative complexes, residential buildings, etc—are the sort of thing one would associate with technology startups that receive most of their funding from venture capitalists sitting in California. But Iyin Aboyeji, VC and founder of Talent City, a privately-owned charter city in Lagos, believes technology companies cannot overlook urban development. “Maybe in the rush to get Silicon Valley funding or a lack of foresight, I think we’ve ignored the more foundational pieces of the economy for what I call ‘apps and APIs’. I think we need to go back to the fundamentals, and one of the fundamentals is ‘How do people live?’” he said during an episode of TechCabal’s Next Wave show. “It’s something I tell my VC friends every time, that you cannot build something on nothing,” Aboyegi added. Sited on a 72,000-square-metre plot of land located in Alaro City, in Lagos, Aboyegi’s Talent City was conceived as a response to his experience at Andela, a tech talent provider he co-founded and helped midwife to unicorn status. Andela spent heavily on office settings and living quarters between 2014 and 2017 “because most real estate developers in Lagos didn’t understand how to build real estate for tech people”, TechCrunch reports Aboyegi as saying. So he set out to remedy this. As for the definition of a smart city, Aboyegi believes the name is a misnomer because cities are inherently smart, “otherwise no one would want to live in them”. “For a very long time, we’ve been importing a lot of Western responses to those questions without really doing a lot of deep thinking ourselves,” he said on the show. Digital smart cities Spanning several streets in Ikeja, Lagos, is the site of an ever-growing pastiche of phone parts dealers, computer shops and digital device mechanics huddled under colourful umbrellas or in low-slung shops and one-storey “offices”. You have arrived at Computer Village in Lagos, a sprawling market run by members of the Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN). The market is a living testimony of how digital technology has evolved since the first memory chip shops opened in Surulere, the birthplace of Computer Village in Lagos. Computer Village’s boom is not unconnected to the fact that its host city, Lagos, is itself growing. Current population figures differ, but by 2035, the UN projects that Lagos will be home to 24.5 million people. Lagos is also the commercial and economic hub of Nigeria and West Africa to a large extent. It is also the home of Nigeria’s venture-backed technology ecosystem. Tech-focused smart city projects are emerging in African countries to drive economic growth. | Infographic: Ayomide Agbaje — TechCabal Insights. With digital technology penetrating all aspects of urban life, the idea of cities that are smart, where services and infrastructure are optimal for all residents, has taken hold. Especially when paired with technology solutions that are supposed to deliver this urban transformation. Slums have been reimagined in glowing utopian visions. <!– “70 percent of bank customers, who visit the banks, are there to resolve issues that border on failed ePayment transactions. From Lagos to Kano, Ondo to Kebbi, Rivers to Sokoto states, the story has remained the same. Customers continued to besiege the banking halls with the hope that their failed ePayment transactions would be resolved. While many customers were told to come back, others lament that their transactions could not be traced, setting in rounds of frustrations on the banking public”The Guardian, April 18, 2023 –> Partner Message Join hundreds of African tech entrepreneurs, investors, media and ecosystem stakeholders at Africa’s biggest tech gathering in Morocco! Register now “Venture capital is not about writing code,” Aboyegi said on the show, “Sometimes the problems you need to solve require you to put some cement on the ground.” But one question I cannot get out of my mind is, how well do we know Africa’s sprawling cities? Or why they exist in the form that they currently do. This is especially pertinent for government-developed smart city projects because, going back their history, African governments display a rather bewildering ignorance of the dynamics of the peri–urban areas that seem irrevocably attached to their governance remit. How well is not just what you know, it’s also about what knowledge we have that is being documented and used rather than passively accepted.

May 2 2023

While businesses shut down globally, Africa’s growing companies stayed afloat

The Financial Times, and research company, Statista have released a report on Africa’s fastest growing companies 2023. The list highlights how the top 100 African businesses from across different sectors—fintech, renewable energy, healthcare, commodities and agriculture—kept their businesses afloat while most of the world’s businesses shut down. The report ranks the top 100 companies according to the highest compound annual growth (CAGR) in revenues between 2018 and 2021. Tech4Dev’s footprint is growing, and it’s taking African women along Topping the list is Nigerian-based startup Afex Commodities Exchange and Moniepoint. Afex Commodities Exchange, which provides brokerage and trade finance services for commodities such as maize, sorghum, cocoa, and rice, comes in first place while Moniepoint, a company that offers banking services for small businesses, came in second. Kenya’s Wasoko, which headed the list the previous year, comes in third. The e-commerce company helps small traders access inventory through more efficient supply chains in seven African countries. Althoughfintech and IT/software sectors were highly represented in the list, an extensive diversity of corporate activity was also present on the list. The fastest-growing companies include a Namibian winery—Silverland Vineyards, a Kenyan fish farm—Victory Farms, a South African company that conducts remote hearing tests—Hearx and renewable energy companies, Altech and Easy Solar in the Democratic Republic of Congo and another company in Sierra Leone. The criteria for being adjudged on the list of Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies is for companies to have generated “revenues of at least $100,000 in 2018 and revenue of at least US $1.5mn generated in 2021”. Also, listed companies must be “independent (the company is not a subsidiary or branch office of any kind) and the company’s operational headquarters are located in one of the African countries.” Companies’ revenue between the watch period (2018-2021) should be “internally stimulated” and purely organic.

May 2 2023

How Palmpay’s ruthless debt collection methods are becoming social media memes

It’s not often that fintech startups make it into viral memes and TikTok videos, but Palmpay, a Chinese-backed digital wallet offering, is the subject of many social media jibes. Most of the joke formats have the same theme: the lengths to which Palmpay agents will go to collect loans from defaulting borrowers. In some videos, the agents are seen stalking, dragging, or even being verbally and physically abusive to these defaulters. The joke format is so popular that social media users create fictional scenarios around those debt collection methods. The social media lore is hard to ignore and two weeks ago, PalmPay released a statement denying the idea that their collection agents harass people. PalmPay’s popularity has grown since its launch in 2019 and the fintech is popular for its quick payment processing. According to Semafor, Palmpay was one of the biggest beneficiaries of Nigeria’s controversial currency redesign policy. But more than that, Palmpay’s digital lending business is wildly popular, with interest rates between 15-30% for payday-type loans. Like most digital lenders, Palmpay’s loans are instant and only needs users to download the app. Yet, as many digital lenders learn, lending is the easy part, ensuring that people repay is where the job gets difficult. Ethical debt collection remains a concern Because many digital loans in Nigeria are sub-prime, the lenders often factor the risk into interest pricing. They also often use many unethical practices to try to recover the loans once borrowers default. Most of the tactics revolve around public shaming, calling and texting the contacts of the borrower to pressure them into paying. While writing this article, a PalmPay agent called me to say that someone on my contact list had defaulted on a loan of ₦10,700. They also sent me a picture of said contact to on Whatsapp with the person’s name, phone number, BVN and date of birth. The picture also had the text “wanted criminal.” On PalmPay’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, hundreds of comments complain about harassment from agents or customer care representatives. This has become so commonplace that the company is now renowned for its savage debt recovery methods on social media than it is for actual loans. Many of the debt recovery methods raise serious concerns about privacy and ethics. NITDA is slow to act Reporting on privacy concerns relating to digital lenders is not new, yet the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has been slow to act. In 2021, it fined Sokoloan, a digital lender, N10 million for unauthorised disclosure, failure to protect customers’ personal data and defamation of character, and to carry out due diligence as prescribed by the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDP).” The expectation at the time was that NITDA would continue to take a strong stance on privacy abuse by digital lenders, but progress has been slow. A new policy, which will block digital lenders from accessing the contacts or photos of borrowers will only take effect from May 31, 2023. In July 2022, Nafisa borrowed ₦5,000 from her PalmPay app to pay for her bus fare from Bauchi state to Jos where she was posted for her National Youth Service assignment. A day before she was supposed to leave, her father’s third wife gave birth to a baby prematurely, forcing him to divert whatever funds he had to the hospital bills. He sent her to their neighbour to ask for a loan, promising to pay it back at the end of the month, but Nafisa found that embarrassing, and opted to take a loan from an online app. According to her, this was a big mistake. The true cost of loans “I used to see a lot of adverts on my phone for these apps that lend you money for one month or two months that you can pay back with interest, and it had stayed in my mind. I downloaded a couple of them just to see how it was and all they asked for was BVN, address, bank details, pictures, contacts—all these things that seemed basic to me. I didn’t even think of anything wrong that could happen at that time,” she said. “The interest rate for the loan was about ₦1200 naira which you were supposed to pay back in two weeks. My father had promised to send me money at the end of the month so I was confident that I would repay it. Thinking back now, I should have just gone to my neighbour as my father said to, but I was shy. Going to beg for money is not the easiest thing to do, so I just decided to do it my way. After all, no one would know that my family needed money with PalmPay.” After filling in all the details and granting all the app permissions, Nafisa’s loan application was approved and ₦5000 was paid into her Zenith account. “It was so quick, much more convenient than going to narrate stories to anybody,” she shared. A complicated repayment process Twelve days later, her father sent her the money as promised and the first thing Nafisa thought to do was repay her PalmPay loan. That was where her problems started. “My card details were added to my PalmPay profile, and all I needed to do was authorize the repayment and they’d charge from my card. That didn’t work after repeated trials, so I decided to make a transfer to the account number there. I was debited, but it still didn’t reflect on the app.” She started receiving texts from PalmPay asking her to repay her loan and threatening to call her contacts. Nafisa was frustrated. She kept explaining to the customer care reps who called her that she had repaid the loan, and they always promised to look into it, but she would receive a call from a different customer care rep the next day, telling her to repay her loan. She recalls that one of the reps called her shameless. “That was one of the worst periods

May 2 2023

Interview with Patrice Binwa Aganze, founder of Naledi Services in Goma

Noel K. Tshiani is the founder of Congo Business Network. In this exclusive interview for TechCabal, he discusses with Patrice Binwa Aganze, founder of Naledi Services, about the startup environment in Goma, the 3rd most populous city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Can you tell us about your background and how it has prepared you to be an entrepreneur in Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo? I may surprise you but I did not study formal computer science. I am an economist specialising in the financial management of organisations. I studied financial management at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Goma. I started my professional career while still a student, between 2008-2010, as an accountant for a not-for-profit organisation that worked for the socio-economic reintegration of girl mothers (following early marriage or childbirth) and vulnerable children. This experience allowed me to combine theory and practice. I believe that this is where my passion for the productive use of computers was born and my concern to find solutions to automate the workflow and reduce the risk of errors. I taught myself to become a webmaster with solutions that were called at that time “what you see is what you get”, the precursors of today’s no-code. After finishing my university studies and working as a freelancer, I joined another non-profit organisation for 3 years, the Alpha Ujuvi Collective, first as a Communication Officer where my work contributed to the award for the organisation of the UNESCO International Confucius Prize for Literacy in 2010. Then I was promoted to the position of Administrative and Financial Director. At the Alpha Ujuvi Collective, we were already using the Sage accounting software on the recommendation of donors and auditors. But it did not meet the needs of users because it was too complex. There were frequent delays in reporting and difficulties using it. Also, the consultant came from a foreign country. From there I went to work at Trust Merchant Bank in 2012, where I learned a lot about business acumen because I was in a sales role that allowed me to be in constant contact with corporate and retail clients. It was exactly there that I became aware of the immense problem to be solved to improve the management of SMEs and startups. As an advisor to my clients, I was aware of the lack of tools to facilitate the work of their agents, to share financial information, and reduce risks of losses and fraud. So until the opposite, we had state-of-the-art software as a banker. Of course, SMEs don’t have the same means, but there should be a solution adapted to their needs and capabilities. And so that’s how I left banking to create my business called Naledi Services in 2014 with the purpose of providing information technology products and services to SMEs and startups. We set up a team of information technology and salespeople (friends who had just finished their studies abroad and in Congo). The needs of the customers were huge, and we had to do everything such as online marketing, software, network, maintenance, and training. Because we were the first formal company offering these services in Goma, fortunately, it seems that we have inspired many young people in the tech ecosystem to specialise in one or another field. Of course, I continue my self-training and moreover, I came back to school to learn software development and computer systems at the Dynamic Asymmetric Centre in Kampala, Uganda and in Rwanda. I can’t count the number of online training that are now part of my lifestyle. One can just mention courses on business management at the University of London through Coursera and at Harvard University’s HarvardX as some examples of self-education I have taken to improve my knowledge and skills. What inspired you to start your current startup, and what solution does it offer in the market? Naledi Services was created to provide solutions that improve the management of SMEs and startups. Our slogan says it best: “Think IT, Get IT”. We have noticed that many people start their businesses with the buzz around entrepreneurship, but the vast majority of Congolese SMEs do not have management tools adapted to their business. The current situation leaves companies vulnerable to various risks, which can have severe consequences. These risks include: 1. Theft and losses: When financial and operational information is not channelled appropriately, companies become vulnerable to theft and revenue losses. This can result in significant financial shortfalls that can be difficult to recover from. 2. Inefficient management: Companies may struggle to control their activities, personnel, or costs due to a lack of proper oversight. This can lead to inefficiencies and ultimately impact the company’s bottom line. 3. Limited access to credit: Companies without a solid financial history may struggle to obtain credit due to a lack of financial data. Bankers may find it difficult to evaluate the creditworthiness of these companies, which can limit their ability to secure loans or other forms of credit. 4. Legal and fiscal sanctions: Bookkeeping is a legal obligation for companies of all sizes. Failure to maintain accurate records can result in legal and fiscal sanctions, which can be costly and damaging to the company’s reputation. It is important for companies to take steps to address these risks and protect their business. This may involve implementing robust financial management systems, investing in proper oversight and control mechanisms, and ensuring compliance with legal and fiscal requirements. By taking proactive measures, companies can mitigate their exposure to risk and safeguard their financial health. We have developed a solution called Reflet. It is a complete management software for companies selling services and trade. It offers solutions for stock management, invoicing, customer loyalty points, and cash flow. Reflet software is available in several versions that are designed to cater to different sizes of companies. These versions are categorised into micro, small, medium, and large based on the size of the companies that they are intended for. Further, Reflet

May 2 2023

Unpacking the CPaaS model in Nigeria

Did this ever happen to you? You download an app and go through the registration process which requests your phone number to send you a one-time password (OTP). You have 30 sec or so to get the password and write it down otherwise you have to request a new one. Yet, you never receive the password. CPaaS helping businesses stay ahead In this case, the potential new user will probably never use the app again. When the communication channel between the user and the app is broken, users churn before even generating a single dollar of revenue for the business, and end up being acquired by a competitor. The company’s CAC increases while missing out on customer LTV. Communication has undergone a significant transformation since the advent of the Internet and the evolution of mobile technology. In a world where speed and convenience are key, communication platform as a service (CPaaS) is helping businesses stay ahead of the game by providing them with real-time communication tools and services. From traditional phone calls to video conferencing, chatbots, and SMS, CPaaS has transformed the way businesses communicate with their customers. With this technological advancement, they can now provide efficient, reliable, and cost-effective communication services to their customers. The global CPaaS market revenue was estimated at $4.75 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $34.75 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 38%. North America is leading the CPaaS market, holding a consistent share of ~45% throughout the projected period. Meanwhile, Asia is the fastest-growing CPaaS market, with a projected CAGR of 40.7% from 2023 to 2026. In comparison, the CAGR for Africa and the Middle East during the same period is approximately 28%. As of Q2 2021, five players control 70% of the market share with Twilio owning 38% of the global market. Amid the maturation of the US and European CPaaS markets, businesses are engaging in strategic mergers and acquisitions to gain a competitive edge. Twilio’s acquisition of SendGrid in 2018 for $3 billion was the largest horizontal M&A deal in the CPaaS space, bringing together two US-based CPaaS platforms. In 2022, Ericsson acquires Vonage for a whopping $6.2 billion making it the largest acquisition that the networking and telco company has made. The CPaaS market is highly consolidated in most developed regions, with five major players controlling over two-thirds of the market. However, the sector is still relatively new in Africa, presenting significant growth opportunities for businesses in the region. Despite the massive growth of the global CPaaS market, the African CPaaS space is still in its early days with immense potential for growth. In recent years, there has been a surge in demand for real-time communication services in the region leading to the rise of local players tapping into the opportunity. In Africa, CPaaS providers like Termii, Africa’s Talking, Beem, SendChamp, Pindo, and others offer a wide range of communication tools and features, enabling businesses to deliver richer, more engaging user experiences. How does CPaaS work in Africa and who are the stakeholders involved along the way in the process? And what are some key elements to consider when evaluating a CPaaS business? Note: It’s worth highlighting that Nigeria has emerged as a trailblazer in CPaaS implementation across Africa and boasts a highly advanced and sophisticated regulatory framework, serving as a reference point for other countries in the region. As such, this piece will exclusively focus on Nigeria. How CPaaS works What are some of the use cases for CPaaS adoption? CPaaS is rapidly becoming a go-to solution for businesses in Africa looking to enhance customer experience and streamline operations. From mobile payments to healthcare, the technology is being leveraged across various sectors to improve communication and reduce costs. Here are some use cases and examples below. 1. Mobile payments: CPaaS platforms are being used to facilitate mobile payments across the continent. By integrating it into their mobile payment systems, businesses can send SMS notifications to customers about transactions, send and receive payments via messaging, and provide customer support via messaging or voice calls. Paystack, a Nigerian payment infrastructure acquired by Stripe for $200M, uses a third-party CPaaS platform to send payment notifications via SMS to customers. 2. Customer service: CPaaS is also being used to enhance customer service in Africa. For example, businesses can use it to provide real-time customer support via messaging or voice calls and improve their response time while reducing the cost of customer support. For example, Nomba, a Nigerian fintech startup, uses CPaaS to provide real-time customer support via messaging and voice calls. 3. Marketing campaigns: Businesses can use CPaaS to send targeted text messages to customers as part of marketing campaigns with promotional offers, discounts, or other marketing messages. It allows businesses to reach a large audience quickly and at a lower cost than traditional marketing methods. For instance, Cowrywise, a Nigerian investment app, uses CPaaS to send targeted SMS messages to customers as part of their marketing campaigns. 4. Education: Businesses can use CPaaS to send SMS notifications to students about upcoming exams, schedule reminders, and other important information. It can also be used to provide interactive educational content, such as quizzes and games, via messaging. For instance, uLesson, a Nigerian edtech startup, uses CPaaS to provide students with important information via SMS notifications. 5. Healthcare: Healthcare providers can use CPaaS to send SMS notifications to patients about appointments, medication reminders, and other important health information. It can also be used to provide telemedicine services, such as remote consultations and diagnosis via messaging or video calls. RelianceHMO, a Nigerian health insurance startup, uses CPaaS to send SMS notifications to patients about appointments, medication reminders, and other important health information. They also use it for telemedicine services, such as remote consultations and diagnosis via messaging or video calls. These are just a few examples of the many CPaaS use cases. As the technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative use cases emerge across the continent.

May 2 2023

Nomba raises $30 million pre-Series B

Nomba, a Nigerian payment service provider, has raised a $30 million Pre-Series B funding round. The equity round—which Nomba says was oversubscribed—was led by San Francisco-based Base10 partners, with participation from Helios Digital Ventures, Shopify, Partech, and Khosla Ventures. With a simple origin story as an AI chatbot that helped people process online payments on social apps, Nomba (formerly known as Kudi) has evolved into a fully licensed payment service provider in Nigeria. The company underwent a rebrand last year and currently supports more than 300,000 businesses with a wide range of banking, management, and payment solutions. The company also claims to process $1 billion in monthly transactions. With this new funding, Nomba says it will provide bespoke payment solutions to several businesses. “Nomba will deliver payment solutions that have been designed for the specific services that businesses provide, enabling them to plug gaps in their payment processes, operate more efficiently, and deliver excellent customer experiences,” an excerpt from the company’s statement reads. Most businesses in Nigeria use a point-of-sale device to accept payments, and Nomba wants to change this “generic” means of collecting payments. For example, Nomba says it will help restaurants access menus, manage inventory, receive payments, and perform other business functions all from the same hardware. Another use case for Nomba’s approach would be for transport and logistics companies; the company says that will enable them to directly connect their transactions to payments. Starting in Nigeria, Nomba will also deliver a range of business tools, including invoicing and order management solutions, a move it says will improve efficiency and reduce the cost of operations for businesses across the continent. “We see payment as a business model, not just a product, and we want to make it easier for businesses to take advantage of all that is possible in their payment processes to support their continued growth and success. We have a long list of products we have been working on and the funds we have raised as well as the investors that have backed us gives us a lot of confidence about what can be achieved with more effective payment solutions in the hands of business owners,” Yinka Adewale, the CEO and co-founder of Nomba, said in a statement. Luci Fonseca, Partner at Base10 said, “Nomba’s track record of innovation and capital efficiency makes it one of the most exciting startups in Africa. We are thrilled to be supporting them to deliver their game-changing solutions to power growth and continued success for businesses in Nigeria and beyond.”

May 2 2023

The leading African tech moves from April 2023

Editor’s Note A brutally sluggish month for African startups, the continent squares up to Big Tech and layoffs continue to be a drag—April could not end sooner for some in the tech ecosystem. It wasn’t all grey clouds though; Kenya saw some positive investment news, bagging $390 million in April, while South Africa’s $250 million on top of Amazon’s plan to invest $1.8 billion until 2029, could lift the country’s mood. A lot happened in East Africa in April, where Kenya has taken a step in the right direction by reversing its 30% ownership law. This, after President William Ruto vetoed the rule, choosing to encourage investors. Meanwhile, the East Africa country also launched its first operational earth observation satellite, onboard a SpaceX rocket. Let’s dig in! 1. Funding: Q2 is off to a slow start In April 2023, there were 23 fully disclosed* raises made by African startups, totalling $129.8 million. Compared to April 2022, this shows a 68% decline. Looks like Q2 is off to an even slower start. It is however a significant increase from March 2023 where the total amount raised was $66 million. The top three sectors from April are fintech, cleantech and agritech. Fintech leads with $45.5 million (30.4%), cleantech with $37.9 million (25.3%), and agritech with $37.6 million (25.1%). Image source: Timi Odueso/TechCabal Per region, South Africa led April’s deals with 49.1% of the total deals, about $63.7 million. East Africa comes second with 31.3% of the deals while Central Africa makes an appearance for third place with 13.9% of the deals, all of which come from Altech Group’s $18 million debt financing round. Image source: Timi Odueso/TechCabal The top 5 disclosed deals of the month are: Kenyan agritech Victory Farms’ $35 million raise. South African fintech Peach Payments’ $31 million Series A raise. DRC cleantech Altech Group’s $18 million raise. South African fintech PayMeNow’s $14 million raise. South African fintech Decentral Energy’s $12.1 million raise. *Note: This data is inclusive only of funding deals announced in April 2023. Raises are often announced later than when the deals are actually made. This data also excludes estimated grants from accelerators like Techstars or Y-Combinator. 2. Crypto: Zimbabwe goes after gold April found Zimbabwe announcing plans to launch a gold-backed digital currency. The country needs $100 million worth of gold to kickstart the project which it believes will save its declining currency. Meanwhile, in East Africa, Kenya is considering enforcing a new regulation that will force all crypto platforms in its regions to pay a 1.5% duty on every transaction they process. There’s already a pending 20% excise tax on crypto transactions in Kenya, and if both pass, it could mean double trouble taxing for Kenya. 3. Africa + Big Tech: Kenya pushes against Meta Big tech companies got an earful in cases heard in Kenyan courts. Last month alone, Meta lost two separate cases in Kenya. In the first, a court dismissed its claim that Kenya had no jurisdiction to hear cases against Meta. That court also prohibited the tech company from using any third-party content moderators. In the second, a court granted two Ethiopians leave to sue Meta outside Kenya in a case that could cost Meta $1.8 billion. 4. Regulations: Kenya reverses 30% rule Early in April, President William Ruto reversed a rule that mandates that foreign companies must have at least 30% Kenyan ownership to operate in the country. The rule was implemented in 2020 to encourage Kenyan participation in the ICT and science and technology sector through equity ownership. Per Ruto, the rule is slowing down investments in Kenya’s ecosystem. 5. Acquisitions: Autocheck acquires Autotager Nigerian automotive company Autochek completed its sixth acquisition in two years in April 2023. In an undisclosed deal, the company acquired a majority stake in AutoTager, an Egyptian automotive technology company, as part of its expansion into Egypt. 6. Layoffs/Shutdowns: Copia Global and Lazerpay Layoffs continued globally into April 2023 and Africa was not left out. Nigerian crypto startup Lazerpay announced it was shutting down after months of failing to raise the funds it needed to stay afloat. Meanwhile, Kenyan e-commerce company shut down its Ugandan operations in a scaledown move. The company, which raised $50 million in January 2022, also laid off 350 employees. 7. Investments: South Africa gets $1.8 billion from Amazon; Kenya gets $390 million for tech Startups may not be getting as much funding, but tech ecosystems are certainly getting a boost. In April, two sizeable investment announcements targeted at South Africa were made. First, Amazon announced plans to invest $1.8 billion in its cloud services in the country by 2029. Cassava Technologies also pledged a total of $250 million in investment in South Africa through its business units—Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Africa Data Centres, and Distributed Power Africa. The World Bank Group announced a whopping $390 million investment to help Kenya finance its Digital Economy Acceleration Project. 8. Cybersecurity: Flutterwave hacked twice; Navias suffers hack In April, sources revealed to TechCabal that fintech Flutterwave was hacked twice. In this second set of hack allegations, culprits transferred a total ₦550 million ($1.2 million) from the company’s accounts. The sources alleged that, much like the first incident on February 5, the perpetrators used monies fraudulently obtained from Flutterwave accounts to buy USDT on the crypto platform Binance. Kenya’s biggest online retailer Naivas, meanwhile, suffered a ransomware attack in April from cyber criminals who are now threatening to leak some of its data. 9. Space: Kenya launches first operational satellite April also saw Kenya launch Taifa-1—its first operational satellite. Launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in California, the satellite—tested and developed by Kenyan engineers—will reportedly be used to provide data on areas like agriculture and food security for Kenya, a country suffering a severe drought that’s affecting over 5 million people. 10. Global: CashApp founder murdered in the US In sombre news, CashApp founder Bob Lee was murdered in California, US, on the morning of April 3. Another tech founder and friend

May 1 2023

Tech4Dev’s footprint is growing, and it’s taking African women along

Unlike ten years ago, more Africans are finding jobs in tech today. However, the disparity in opportunities to learn and begin a career in tech between men and women is huge. According to a 2021 report on the Africa Developer Ecosystem by Google and Accenture [pdf], 85 per cent of developers on the continent are men, with 15 per cent being women. While Africa is losing some of its developers due to global demand, there is still a steady rise in the number of people joining the ecosystem, and more women are finding new career paths in tech, thanks to Tech4Dev. Now in its sixth year, Tech4Dev, founded by Diwura Oladepo and Joel Ogunsola, is bridging the digital literacy gap in Africa. The not-for-profit organisation’s core focus has been improving women’s access to careers in tech through a partnership with Microsoft and the Islamic Development Bank. On the International Girls in ICT Day for 2023, Tech4Dev announced its Women Techsters Fellowship for the class of 2024, which begins in September 2023. The initiative “is aimed at bridging the wide gender divide between men and women in the technology ecosystem as well as ensuring equal access to opportunities for all,” Oladepo reaffirmed in her keynote address at the announcement. She also noted that the Women Techsters Initiative had stepped out of its birthplace in Nigeria and grown its footprint across Africa by supporting more women with tech skills and increasing their employability or even doubling their income. “From impacting just 2,400 women in Nigeria through its pilot program, the Nigerian Women Techsters, to most recently impacting 89,153 women in 2023 through our various Women Techsters sub-programs which notably comprises the Women Techsters Fellowship, Bootcamps, Masterclass which are our training programs, and the Women Techsters Open-Day and Tech-Girls Drive, which are our advocacy programs.” The fellowship is a one-year “experiential learning technology upskilling program.” It empowers young girls and women between 16 to 40 years across Africa with global in-demand skills ranging from digital, deep tech, and soft skills, which are essential to kickstart a career in the tech ecosystem. During the fellowship, participants undergo intensive training for six months, then proceed on an internship for another six months and enrollment into a mentorship. This process aims to help to equip them with skills to build tech careers and tech-enabled businesses—all for free. Class of 2024 For last year’s Women Techsters Fellowship, Tech4Dev graduated 847 women from 15 African countries after accepting 1,398 participants from 14,782 applications. This year, the organisation is going a step further by extending its footprint into 22 countries on the continent. “The class of 2024 will admit a total of 3,000 women and girls into the program from 22 African countries. We invite women and girls from across Africa to seize this opportunity and take their place as change-makers in Africa’s technology ecosystem by applying to be a part of the program,” Oladepo announced. The participants will come from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Ethiopia, DR. Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Algeria, Sudan, Morocco, Angola, Mozambique, Madagascar, Rwanda, Liberia, Botswana, Zambia Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Gambia. “All the participants will have to be virtually present for their classes as the fellowship is not a learn-at-your-pace programme. The different instructors will be in each of the classes they will be taking,” Blessing Ashi, Women Techsters Program Lead, Tech4Dev, noted. While Tech4Dev prides itself in providing access for women into tech roles through training, the Women Techsters Fellowship goes further to provide an opportunity for participants to interact and engage with alumni who went through the programme. “We provide a space for women to interact with people who may be in the same situation as them. We also take into consideration the conditions of the participants; they could be pregnant or have other issues. All this is considered in order for them to be able to fully participate in the programme,” Ashi said in response to a question from the press. Looking into the future As part of providing access for women into tech roles, Oludepo also hinted at the Women Techsters Initiative launching the Women Techsters Entrepreneurship incubator later in the year. It would facilitate the development of women-led technology businesses in Africa. It is worth noting that most of the countries participating in the 2023 fellowship have English as their official language. However, Oludepo and Ashi pointed out that there is a section for interested individuals from other African countries not listed in the application. Applicants have to will be tested on their use of English since it is the language of instruction during the fellowship. Oludepo stated that the countries chosen were based on “data and learnings from previous years” but assured that other countries will be covered, which is in line with Tech4Dev’s goals. “The Women Techsters journey is not just a commitment, it’s a bold mission to break down the barriers that hold women back from the thriving world of technology,” Oludepo said. “We will continue this course until we achieve a 50-50 gender parity ratio between men and women in the African technology ecosystem. This audacious goal may seem impossible to some, but we will push boundaries, defy expectations, and lead the charge towards a future where women have equal representation and opportunities in tech.”

May 1 2023

Monthly Archives: May 2023