👨🏿🚀 TechCabal Daily- TikTok’s $379 million hiccup
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning! Someone quit his job over the weekend. Nigeria’s central bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, has resigned from his job at the apex bank. Yemi Cardoso, a man who could have been vice president of Nigeria in 2015, has been nominated to take Emefiele’s place. Here is all you need to know about him. In today’s edition Tiktok to pay $379 million fine MPESA to integrate Apple Pay soon Fact-checking African elections with AI The World Wide Web3 Event: Moonshot Conference Job opportuinities Social Media Tiktok to pay $379 million fine Image source: Zikoko Memes TikTok, the popular video-sharing platform, has been fined $379 million for not protecting children’s data according to the strict requirements of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). But that’s not all—TikTok has been given three months to revamp its data processing practices and make sure that they meet the GDPR standards. ICYMI: Concerns about privacy and child safety on social media platforms have been ringing alarm bells both within the public and among regulators. Notably, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office previously slapped TikTok with a $15.7 million fine for mishandling children’s data. Months ago, Meta-owned Instagram was also fined $431.9 million for data protection violations involving children. How did TikTok fall short? One of the risky things found out about TikTok was that TikTok allowed child accounts to be “paired” with unverified non-child users through the “Family Pairing” feature, without confirming whether the user was indeed the child’s parent or guardian. Another thing is the default account settings allowed anyone, both within and outside TikTok, to view content posted by underage users. TikTok failed to implement adequate technical and organizational measures to address this. Zoom out: The investigation didn’t reveal any breaches in TikTok’s age verification methods, a topic that had sparked disagreements with various regional regulators in the past.However, that and the ardent protective measures for young users of social media platforma continue to be an issue of concern globally. Get a working card from Moniepoint With the Moniepoint personal banking app, you get reliable payments every time and a card that always works. Enjoy seamless payments powered by the infrastructure that 1.5 million businesses trust. Download the app. Fintech MPESA to integrate Apple Pay Image source: Zikoko Memes Kenyan mobile money provider Safaricom is working on a partnership with Apple Inc. to integrate MPESA. Soon, users will have a shiny new option to send and receive funds across the globe. ICYMI:Back in 2018, M-Pesa executed a similar move by integrating with the American payment platform PayPal, enabling customers to deposit funds from M-PESA into the American payment system. Likewise, users had the option to transfer funds from PayPal into their M-PESA accounts. So when will Apple Pay happen? As of now, there are no specific details available regarding the current state of development. Interestingly, it was the Kenyan president who disclosed this upcoming partnership during his address at the ongoing US-African Business Roundtable just last week. Zoom out: While the news of Safaricom’s partnership with Apple Inc. is undoubtedly exciting, it’s essential to recognize that other forward-thinking payment providers like Nala had already embraced the international payment system months before. Recently, Nigeria-based payment processor Interswitch made headlines by announcing its integration with Apple Pay competitor Google Pay. Amplify your startup growth Be Bold. Be Heard. Be Funded. Pitch your startup on a global stage at this year’s MEST Africa Challenge to unlock the next stage of your startup’s growth. Apply by 9th October 2023. Apply today! #MAC2023 #UnlockYourPotential TC Insights Fact-checking African elections with AI As of 2022, there were 384 million social media users in Africa, making social media an easy way to access news and information for Africans. Yet this comes with its risks. The easy accessibility of information means fake news can spread widely, making it hard for internet users to trust what they consume online. According to a survey conducted by The University of Sheffield, almost half of African media consumers are increasingly exposed to misinformation every day. With multiple elections scheduled to be held across different African countries, there has been an increase in fake news across diverse social media platforms. While fact-checking plays a key role in fixing this, there are not enough human fact-checkers on the continent to keep pace with serving the public with verified claims, given the massive and high-speed flow of political misinformation during elections. Image Source: TC Insights Automated fact-checking (AFC) could help reduce the spread of online misinformation with tools driven by artificial intelligence like Storyzy, Emergent, Full Fact, Twitter Trails, Lazy Truth, ClaimReview, Factstream, etc. With a growing use around the world, adopting them can assist local fact-checkers in the processes of identifying or verifying fake news and information in real-time, and retrieving relevant evidence to debunk misleading claims as they arise. Abideen Olasupo, the founder of Nigeria-based FactCheckElections, believes the adoption of automated fact-checking in tackling election misinformation is still in its early stages in Africa, as there is a long way to go before the approach becomes widespread. “One challenge is the limited access to technology and the internet in many African countries, which makes it difficult to reach a wide audience with fact-checking information,” he told TechCabal. “Another is the limited funding for fact-checking platforms, which can make it difficult for them to scale their operations.” Meanwhile, automated fact-checking may not accurately detect misinformation spread through visual content and complicated claims. Adesola Ikulajolu, the fact-check lead at RoundCheck, said the limitation of automated fact-checking is when verifying certain misinformation that can only be done via human verifications like phone calls and emails. “This is because automation can only work perfectly to the degree to which it has been programmed,” he told TechCabal. Ikulajolu recommends that for automated fact-checking to be fully adopted for elections in Africa, there should be a deliberate coalition of fact-checkers to provide verified information and authoritative data
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Nigeria’s next CBN governor Yemi Cardoso could have been Vice President in 2015
President TInubu has nominated Yemi Cardoso as Nigeria’s next CBN governor. Cardoso’s political affiliation raises questions about CBN’s independence. Yesterday, President Bola Tinubu nominated Yemi Cardoso to head Nigeria’s Central Bank. Cardoso will be the 11th CBN governor if successfully confirmed by the Senate. He will succeed Godwin Emefiele, whose suspension and dramatic removal still raise legal questions. The nomination of the 66-year-old banker will revive the argument on whether bankers or economists make for better Central Bank governors. While Cardoso is a banker—he served as Chairman of Citibank—some of Nigeria’s more celebrated CBN governors have been economists. The primary test for Nigeria’s next CBN governor is price stability. In six years, the CBN has done poorly at controlling inflation, with last month’s inflation numbers reaching an 18-year high. Godwin Emefiele suggested that greedy middlemen were the drivers of high prices. His time as governor was notable for expanding loans to the federal government, CBN-funded agricultural schemes, and artificially pegged exchange rates. Many of the policies Emefiele pursued in his time as governor seemed to have the nod of President Buhari, calling the bank’s independence into question. Emefiele was also criticised for a short-lived attempt to run for the Presidency while he was CBN governor. Observers have similar concerns about his successor, Cardoso. A partisan CBN governor? In 2015, Cardoso was one of three names considered as Vice President to Muhammadu Buhari. “I was asked to submit three names, Yemi Cardoso, Wale Edun, and Yemi Osinbajo, but I told them if I submit three names, they would play a game, they might make it four and pick the fourth one. I gave them one name and that was Osinbajo,” Tinubu explained in the buildup to the 2023 elections. The new CBN governor is a long-term associate of Tinubu; he was appointed Lagos State’s Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning in 1999 but did not complete his tenure as Commissioner because he won the Michael Romer Memorial Scholarship. Some political experts claimed that Cardoso would have been nominated as deputy governor of Lagos following Senator Bucknor Akerele’s exit if he had not taken up the scholarship. Instead, Femi Pedro became deputy governor. Despite questions about partisanship, Cardoso’s accomplished career with Citibank and Citizens International Bank and his academic and professional accomplishments will give some hope that he may make a good CBN governor. But like Wale Edun, who was appointed finance minister, he may have to shake off claims that his appointment is a continuation of Tinubu’s emerging pattern of placing his old allies in strategic teams. Have you got your tickets to TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference? Click here to do so now!
Read MorePresident Tinubu nominates Yemi Cardoso as Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor
President Bola Tinubu has nominated his former aide, Yemi Cardoso to head Nigeria’s Central bank. President Bola Tinubu has nominated Olayemi Michael Cardoso as the next governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank. His nomination comes exactly four months after the president’s suspension of former Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele. Cardoso’s appointment will need to be ratified by the Senate. Four deputy governors, Mrs. Emem Nnana Usoro; Mr. Muhammad Sani Abdullahi Dattijo; Mr. Philip Ikeazor and Dr. Bala M. Bello were also appointed to the leadership of the Central Bank, also pending Senate approval. Cardoso—who will be leading the nation’s apex bank for the next five years upon confirmation—was the former chairman of Citibank Nigeria with over 30 years of experience, having sat on the boards of Nigerian subsidiaries of Texaco and Chevron and chaired the committee of EFInA, a financial sector development organisation supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Cardoso’s major test is the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) which convenes in two weeks where a decision will be made to maintain or raise interest rates in response to mounting inflation. Two months ago, the apex bank elected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points. This came after the board members disagreed on the best policy to control inflation in a cash-strapped economy. With Nigeria’s inflation driven by food and transport prices, as well as a significant arbitrage at the FX market, the new CBN governor already has work on his hands.The next MPC meeting comes with much expectation that the Central Bank would hike their rates at least to 20%, according to experts.
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Software glitch leaves thousands of SA grant recipients in the dark
At the beginning of September, a software glitch caused grant recipients in South Africa to not have access to their funds. The reason has now been unveiled as an ongoing battle between the contracted system providers. On Wednesday, members of the South African parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Social Development were briefed about a software glitch at the beginning of September. The glitch, which left thousands of grant recipients in limbo was caused by an ongoing issue between provider Postbank and its subcontractor, Electronic Connect. According to Groundup, on July 31, Electronic Connect threatened to suspend the service by midnight unless its invoices were settled by Postbank. The company told Postbank it was owed R1.9 million for May and R1.7 million for June. From July onward, it also wanted to be paid 10 cents per payment authorisation, in accordance with the agreement between Postbank and Electronic Connect. Following the threat, Postbank approached the high court, stating that it could not pay the outstanding invoices because of ongoing investigations into Postbank and that the National Treasury had not approved the agreement between the two companies because it did not comply with public procurement protocols. Postbank requested the court allow it to make the backlog of payments amidst the investigations and to order Electronic Connect to continue providing the “payment switch” software, a request which was granted on August 2. Postbank also settled the pending invoices. Afterwards, the entity (Postbank), which is a subsidiary of the Post Office, appointed a new provider for the payment switch, although Electronic Connect still runs the core banking platform. The migration to the payment switch of the new provider caused the glitch which on September 4 left thousands of old age grant recipients unable to access their R2 080 grant on their SASSA/Postbank cards. GroundUp reports that the “glitch” was caused by inadequate testing on the new payment system. The system reportedly handles about 20 million transactions a month and traffic peaks on grant payment days at the start of each month. According to government data, 29 million people in South Africa receive monthly grants, representing about 47% of the population. 18 million South Africans receive state welfare grants, with another 11 million relying on the state’s R350 grant. About 35% of the grant recipients, around 6.3 million people, receive their money through the online system, which pays the money into their SASSA/Postbank cards. Have you got your tickets to TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference? Click here to do so now!
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OneLiquidity comes out of stealth
Image Source: OneLiquidity OneLiquidity, a SaaS startup, has come out of stealth to provide businesses with technology infrastructure and liquidity. After operating in stealth for a year, OneLiquidity, a startup that offers technology, liquidity, and licensing services for businesses through APIs, has launched its platform at an event in Lagos. Founded by Munachi Ogueke, the startup provides liquidity in crypto and fiat and bespoke technology to businesses. Startups can delegate their technology, liquidity, and compliance needs to OneLiquidity and focus on innovating, acquiring customers, and scaling their business. Ebenezer Ghanney, the CEO of WeWire, shared that the startup “completely transformed the way we manage our crypto assets.” In fireside chats at the launch event, Emmanuel Babalola, the director of fiat businesses for the Middle East and Africa at Binance, Dickson Nsofor, the CEO and founder of Korapay, and Wole Ayodele, the CEO of Fincra, all spoke about the history of Africa’s fintech landscape and how the ecosystem had matured for SaaS startups like OneLiquidity to gain market share. “Crypto has become a huge part of the fintech industry. Not just globally but particularly in Nigeria today. All of this innovation that has been happening shows that there is still more to come,” said Ayodele. Babalola also shared that Binance controls the majority of the crypto market in Africa. In Nsofor’s fireside chat, he shared his experiences as a three-time founder and how consistency helped him overcome the failures of those businesses and launch KoraPay. “Once you’re ready to just keep failing forward, you’ll learn something and just keep going,” he said.
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Livecopper announces investment from Moa Holdings to scale e-commerce product
E-commerce startup, Livecopper, has received an equity investment from Moa Holdings, founded by Yuppiechef co-founders Andrew Smith and Shane Dryde. South African e-commerce startup Livecopper, whose flagship product is an e-commerce platform for industry professionals to source building fixtures, has announced an undisclosed equity funding round from Moa Holdings. The funding will be used to accelerate growth and expand Livecopper’s product offerings. Moa Holdings was founded by e-commerce startup Yuppiechef co-founders Andrew Smith and Shane Dryden and will hold a 20% stake in Livecopper. Yuppiechef was acquired by Mr Price in March 2021 for R470 million (~$25 million). “We are excited to invest in Livecopper and to partner with its talented team,” said Andrew Smith. “Livecopper is a well-established company with a strong reputation for quality and customer service. We believe that Livecopper has the potential to be a major player in the building fixtures industry, and we are committed to helping the company achieve its full potential.” For Livecopper, managing director Alf Allingham stated that the deal will allow the company to leverage the expertise of Smith and Dryden in the e-commerce and retail sectors. “They have a proven track record of success in the e-commerce and retail sectors, and they share our commitment to customer service and quality. We are excited to work with them to grow Livecopper and to meet the needs of our customers.” Livecopper was founded in 2012 by Allingham and Andrew Davies. The company provides a one-stop e-commerce platform for industry professionals to source building fixtures, including lighting, plumbing, and sanitaryware. Have you got your tickets to TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference? Click here to do so now!
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Driven by food prices, Nigeria’s headline inflation hits 25% in August
Data from Nigeria’s Bureau of Statistics show that Nigeria’s headline inflation hit 25% in August, representing a 1.17% increase from July. Food prices drove the uptick. Data from Nigeria’s Bureau of Statistics showed that headline inflation for August hit 25.08%. This is a 1.72% increase from July’s inflation figure, which was 24%, hitting an 18-year high. Nigeria’s inflation rate has stayed above 20% all year, as the headline inflation rate was 5.27% higher than the rate recorded in August 2022. Food, beverages drive inflation August’s inflation was again driven by an increase in the prices of food and nonalcoholic beverages as food inflation for the month also climbed to 29.34%. According to the NBS, “The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of Oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and potatoes, yam and other tubers, vegetable, milk, cheese and eggs.” Kogi, Lagos and Bayelsa had the fightest food inflation figures while Kogi, Lagos and Rivers suffered all-items inflation at the sub-national level. Housing, water, electricity and gas also contributed to rising prices. At the same time, transportation was the fourth biggest driver of inflation, as the effect of fuel subsidy removal continues to be felt by individuals. Last month, at the Central Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting, the bank elected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points. This came after disagreement on the best policy to control inflation and the apex bank’s role in stabilizing the economy. Already, there is a lot of apprehension as another MPC committee meeting draws close in two weeks, as to what policy the committee would adopt to stem the growing inflation. Today’s inflation data suggests the need to arrest food inflation as the government’s policy is unclear. The government has proposed a commodity board but it has thus proven ineffective in curbing food inflation. Have you got your tickets to TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference? Click here to do so now!
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Exclusive: Flutterwave’s Olugbenga Agboola speaks on FW 3.0, IPO plans, and upgrading Barter
While GB was unclear about a timeline for an IPO for Flutterwave, he said the company’s current goal is digital market expansion. At the Kauffman Fellows event held in Nairobi this week, TechCabal spoke with Olugbenga Agboola, the CEO of Flutterwave. This publication shared several questions for him, including the state of its products, such as Barter and Send app, and we are posting them here verbatim to fully understand what the company has been up to and what it has planned for the coming days. You talked about Flutterwave 3.0 a few years ago, which included several business segments. How is Flutterwave structured today, and what are your business segments? GB: Flutterwave 3.0 was our evolution into a suite of products that would solve actual problems for consumers, Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) and companies in Africa. We are looking at problems and basically identifying solutions. For example, when we launched the Send app, a remittance product, we made sending money anywhere in the world easier. But that is one problem but we also launched Swap. Swap is already in Nigeria and helps an average Nigerian who wants to swap currencies, from Naira to dollar, to be able to do so directly. READ MORE: Breaking: Backed by CBN, Flutterwave’s new product Swap wants to solve Nigeria’s FX problems And that’s our business. We help the average African business, both SMBs and enterprises or global corporations, to scale. 3.0 is when we structured the company into a suite of products where we can aggressively solve problems facing Africans in the African market. What markets/countries does Flutterwave currently operate in? And what are your key markets? GB: So, in Kenya, we are a tech platform. We have partners in Kenya that we process payments with, like Uber. We have seen an opportunity in Kenya and are scaling here. Our scaling is in line with regulations and all the required processes. Our primary markets are Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Kenya. Our strategic markets are Rwanda, Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal. What is your fastest-growing business segment and country at the moment? GB: Literally everything is growing very fast. Send app is growing at over 100%, and our portfolio of business is growing massively. So we have been growing massively YoY now. Barter is Flutterwave’s consumer-facing product focused on remittances, but you’re pushing a separate international payments app with a sleek design and faster payouts. Is Flutterwave going to deprecate Barter? Well, we used to have a product called Barter. However, currently, it is in an upgrade phase. We want to build a new product to make Barter even more efficient, so we are working on that. How is Flutterwave Send performing? And what growth metrics can you share? Send app is growing at over 100 percent. Literally. It has been around, and we launched a new corridor from India to Africa and vice versa. READ MORE: Flutterwave partners with IndusInd Bank to expand its remittance product into India Flutterwave plans to list on the stock market. Considering the market momentum in recent weeks, what signal will you consider before finalizing your IPO plans? Ballpark on the same? GB: When it is time, we will let you know for sure. Currently, we focus on customers, revenue, experience, and digital market expansion. Flutterwave dismissed the allegations of fraud in Kenya, yet overall, statements from the regulator show the company faces a somewhat hostile environment in the country. How much progress has Flutterwave made to strengthen its relationship with the anti-graft agency and the CBK? GB: The said issues have been addressed, even the ARA (Assets and Recovery Agency) issue, which is good. This is just proof of the proper governance within the company. ARA would not have found us free of every charge if we didn’t have a great infrastructure. We also scaling the team here with Leon Kiptum ( SVP of East Africa) here in Kenya. We are scaling the company and bringing the right people on board, and we are doing everything to scale and grow. Congrats on receiving the name approval in Kenya from the CBK. GB: Yes, it is a step towards getting the licence. The first step is getting name approval, and that has been done, which is a very massive step. So very very soon, we should be having a licence. TC: Bosun Tijani, the Nigerian minister, is a prominent name in the Nigerian/African tech industry. How important is his ministerial selection to Flutterwave and the Nigerian tech industry? GB: Bosun’s appointment is amazing for Nigeria and the tech ecosystem. He has the experience and has walked the walk. On the government side, building policies is the best thing that can happen in Nigeria, and the country is very lucky to have Bosun. And I am very proud to have someone who has worked with us before. Have you got your tickets to TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference? Click here to do so now!
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One billion streams for Afrobeats
This article was contributed to TechCabal by Bonface Orucho via bird story agency. Rema’s achievement of reaching a billion streams stands as a powerful testament to the global influence of Afrobeats worldwide. It also hints at a far larger and more dynamic African music scene. In a meteoric rise since its August 2022 release, Rema’s music collaboration, “Calm Down”, featuring Selena Gomez, now has the distinction of being the first-ever joint music effort led by an African artist to amass a billion streams on Spotify, according to the streamer. “Rema, one of Nigeria’s fastest-rising stars, is joining the Billions Club”, Spotify announced on its news site, For the Record. The site also recognised Rema “as one of the top 10 most-streamed Afrobeats artists on the platform”. Earlier in the year, CKay’s solo track, “Love Nwantiti”, achieved a similar feat in the solo track category. Rema owes much to the colossal support from the global diaspora with Spotify’s statement revealing that the US, India, Mexico, Brazil, and the UK are at the forefront of “Calm Down” downloads, swelling the streaming numbers for the collaboration. The achievements underscore the ever-increasing allure of Afrobeats and of African music in general. “It’s clear that the genre is making a significant impact and gaining substantial influence on the global music stage,” Victor Okpala, Spotify’s artist and label partnerships manager for West Africa, said about Afrobeats. With over 13 billion streams on Spotify in 2022 alone, Afrobeats’ rise has been scorching, with a staggering 550% surge in streams between 2017 and 2022. Early indicators already suggest that 2022’s numbers might be eclipsed. A surge in streaming platforms that make global audiences more accessible to African artists, along with the power of social media has fuelled the growth of the music industry in Africa. This industry is enjoying unprecedented traction, with Afrobeats luminaries headlining global events, delivering performances that rewrite the record books. As Christine Osazuwa, a Nigerian strategy lead at Shoobs, a music and events tech startup, pointed out, the current technological surge has merely amplified a potential that has long dwelled on the continent—and was evident in a thriving local scene long before bursting onto the world stage. “Before Burna Boy sold out stadiums, his anthems rocked the dance floors at Nigerian weddings in DC and Atlanta. His videos were exchanged through WhatsApp messages. He was hailed as the G.O.A.T. long before he graced the stage of Madison Square Garden,” she explained. “This entire ecosystem thrived despite lower budgets, modest press coverage, smaller DSPs, and often formidable adversity, all because the lifeblood is community,” she added. With ‘Calm Down’ gaining even more traction on platforms like YouTube, where streaming views are currently soaring at 629 million, there’s much more to anticipate from this 23-year-old prodigy. “This is a blessing. It’s not just a monumental victory for me, my team, and family; it’s a triumph for the culture,” Rema shared in a statement. “I’m genuinely elated, and I’m tremendously proud of my fans for rediscovering the song and introducing it to others,” he said. Spotify’s top 10 exported Afrobeats artist list also includes Burna Boy, Tems, Ckay, Wizkid, Fireboy DML, Ayra Starr, Libianca, Omah Lay, and Oxlade. Have you got your tickets to TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference? Click here to do so now!
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Eskom warns of worse loadshedding in 2024
South Africa’s electricity utility Eskom has stated that loadshedding is projected to be worse than it has ever been over the next 52-week period. According to Eskom’s Week 36 system status report, the South African power utility projects that over the next 52-week period, rolling blackouts, known as loadshedding, will be much worse than it has ever been. Power generation is not expected to meet demand over the next 52 weeks. (Image source: Eskom) The report states that electricity generation capabilities will fail to meet the demand for all 52 weeks, the first time in the 15 years of loadshedding that this will happen. The projection comes at a time when South Africa’s high-ranking officials have been promising less loadshedding in the coming months. In a cabinet reshuffle in May, President Cyril Ramaphosa created a ministry of electricity to deal with the country’s power woes. Last month, Ramaphosa stated that the work of the ministry would ensure that loadshedding was a thing of the past by 2024. “Energy has been a great drawback to us, but we are working on it, and we are certain that by 2024, the energy crisis will be over,” he said. Deputy President Paul Mashatile and minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni have also reiterated the head of state’s words over the last month. But this most recent Eskom report shows that South Africa will have to deal with blackouts at least for the next year. According to data by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), loadshedding costs the South African economy R900 million (~$47 million) a day and is also expected to detract two percentage points from the country’s overall economic growth this year. Furthermore, the SARB also states that load-shedding may add 0.5 percentage points to headline inflation in 2023. This is a result of the high operating costs of running diesel generators being passed to consumers, and higher rates of wastage and spoilage, especially along food value chains, lead to possible goods shortages. Have you got your tickets to TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference? Click here to do so now!
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