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Editor’s Note
Week 25, 2023
Read time: 5 minutes
Hello
How are you doing? Read on for your weekly dose of relevant tech news from across the continent.
Pamela Tetteh Editor, TechCabal.
Editor’s Picks
Glade loses $214,000 to hackers
Glade has joined the list of Nigerian financial service providers that have had a not-so-merry encounter with hackers. This time, $214,000 was lost.
Google to invest $4 million in black founders
Google is granting equity-free funds, $4 million, to startups in Europe and Africa through its Black Founders Fund (BFF).
Samsung breaks the law in Kenya
Toeing the steps of Apple, Samsung and other phone providers are defying the South Africa’s ICT regulator’s guidelines by selling phones without chargers in Kenya.
What is Kenya doing about it?.
Somalia launches QR code
The Central Bank of Somalia has launched a Quick Response Code (QR code) standard—the SOMQR—to facilitate cashless payment across the country.
Airtel Nigeria launches 5G
Airtel Nigeria has joined the 5G gang. It launched its 5G network in four states in Nigeria—Lagos, Ogun, Abuja, and Rivers states.
Kenya gets contactless payment
KCB and Visa have partnered to offer contactless payments powered by NFC. Telco Safaricom had tried to pull off something similar with M-PESA but failed more than five years ago.
A pricey data violation
In this week’s episode of costly lessons, 100 banks and institutions in Nigeria paid over ₦200 million ($289,885) as penalties for violating the data privacy of Nigerian citizens.
Entering Tech
Interested in getting tech career resources and insights?.
A Safaricom CEO steps down
Anwar Soussa is exiting his role as CEO of Safaricom Ethiopia. He was the first CEO of the telecom, which launched in the country in 2021.
Load-shedding bites another gaint
South African retail giant Mr Price has blamed its multi-million dollar loss on load-shedding. Other publicly traded companies including MultiChoice, Vodacom, Telkom, and MTN have done the exact same thing too. Wondering how many millions of dollars the business lost?
Heritage Bank denies fraud
Last week, reports surfaced that ₦49 billion ($83 million) had been stolen from the Nigeria-based Heritage Bank’s accounts. This week the bank has denied all reports.
Who brought the money this week?
South African solar energy company Yellow raised $14 million in Series B funding, in a round led by Convergence Partners.
Nigerian electronics B2B marketplace Eze received $3.7 million in seed funding.
Egypt’s fintech company Agel raised an undisclosed amount in an undisclosed funding round from Sand River Venture Capital.
What else to read this weekend?
Nigeria’s Gen X and baby boomers are finding joy and community while creating content on TikTok
Flutterwave wants to make Kigali its settlement hub in East Africa
UniAbuja student’s expulsion sparks a debate on digital rights
Failure to launch: South Africa’s challenge in transforming technical talent into investable founders
With SA experiencing a cybercrime epidemic, startups are coming to the rescue
Can Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MNVOs) challenge Nigeria’s big telcos?
Written by: Ngozi Chukwu
Edited by: Pamela Tetteh