A bizarre security breach has scuttled crowdfunding efforts for Zimbabwe’s ChatGPT alternative
This story began as a feature article on a crowdfunding drive by AfricAI, the AI startup that developed chatbots, ZivAI and DanAI. Instead, it became an investigation into hacking, fraud, and industrial espionage allegations. While AI is a global hot topic, Zimbabwe has been locked out of a big part of the conversation. Sanctions from the United States and the European Union mean that ChatGPT, one of the most popular AI tools, is banned in Zimbabwe. But gaps like this create opportunities for entrepreneurs to develop alternatives. The two popular alternatives for Zimbabweans are ZivAI and DanAI–both created by a company called AfricAI. The chatbots have won the company media coverage, but in a bizarre turn of events, AfricaAI is now facing allegations of fraud. The allegations are connected to a crowdfunding drive in which the company raised over $24,000 of its $50,000 target in three weeks. Per the crowdfunding MOU, donors are “entitled to receive a proportional portion of 10% of the Company based on their contribution amount, upon Series [A] raise.” AfricAI suffers breach But on Friday, July 7th, AfricaAI shared in a press release that its fundraising page had been breached. Part of the statement read, “We regret to inform you of a recent security breach that occurred on our funding page. On July 7, 2023, an unauthorised individual gained access to our Superbase-hosted backer database. We have taken immediate action to address the situation and strengthen our security measures to prevent any such incidents in the future.” The company also claimed that a certain Michael Dera was behind the “hack”, claiming that he “exploited a vulnerability that allowed unauthorised access to our backer database.” Regardless, AfricaAI claimed that the funds donated were not lost. Dera disputes AfricAI’s characterisation of events and instead said that he only highlighted the company’s security deficiencies. “If you opened the page, you noticed that apart from sending blank transactions, they were also sending people’s personal details, including emails and phone numbers, without any sort of security. I also noticed that because everything was exposed like that, I could also do a post request to their website as well,” Dera told TechCabal on a call. Dera inflated the website’s figures to millions of dollars to show the vulnerabilities, sharing the process on social media. He said AfricAI was not truthful about the funds they had raised and the number of backers. “Hacker” accuses AfricAI of dishonesty Dera says his motivation was the company’s dishonesty about the funds they had raised and the number of backers. He shared a payload of the transactions he captured with TechCabal and insinuated that some donations were fake. Dera bases his claims on the manual nature in which most donations were added to the funding platform. AfricAI’s founder, Kuda Musasiwa, agreed that the transactions were added manually but only because some donors had sent funds via bank account transactions instead of the funding page. He also claims that those bank transactions were also recorded on Stripe. Musasiwa shared the transactions on his Stripe dashboard with TechCabal, which matched the payment IDs on the payload shared by Dera which TechCabal had asked to corroborate. Musasiwa’s rebuttal opens the possibility that Dera’s original claims may be false. While Dera still sticks to his judgment until he sees Musasiwa’s Stripe dashboard, he claims he will apologise if he’s proven wrong. “If I am proven to be lying, I will come out and apologise. I have nothing against being wrong.” If Dera accepts that his claims are wrong, the reputational damage to AfricAI would already have been done. How will AfricAI move forward? According to Musasiwa, the actions and accusations by Dera have caused indelible damage to AfricAI’s reputation and its ability to more funds. He blames Dera’s actions on jealousy and “industrial espionage” as Dera works for a competing software development firm. “Since the incident last week, we have seen a major slowdown in funding from even our most active backers. I would be the first to admit that we could have done better regarding security on the funding page but that does not give [Dera] the right to do what he did. He could have just reached out to us to correct the vulnerabilities but he chose to destroy our reputation instead,” he said. Moving ahead, ZivAI intends to beef up its security on all platforms, including the funding page, and also pursue legal action against Dera, a challenging route for a fledgling startup still raising funds to do the most basic functionalities like paying for equipment and paying employees. On the threats of legal action against himself, Dera stated that apart from social media “threats” from Musasiwa and his spouse, some of which he shared with TechCabal, he has not had any communications from Musasiwa’s legal team. “As far as I’m concerned, if I hacked their data, they’re supposed to report the incident to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office because that’s where their company is registered. GDRP requires that incidents like this be reported to them within 72 hours. Otherwise, there’ll be a financial penalty for that. The fact they have not done so speaks volumes.” When TechCabal asked Musasiwa what challenges they faced in the crowdfunding process in an earlier interview, he confidently said none, before adding that getting investors to believe in the project’s validity was the only challenge. Never would he have thought that an incident like this could derail their fundraising efforts. “Part of building tech products is learning from your mistakes literally every day. This has been a very unfortunate and costly incident but we continue on our mission to try build our platforms for the benefit of our users,” he concluded.
Read MoreOmnisient CEO speaks on being recognised as ‘tech pioneer’ by World Economic Forum
South African fintech startup Omnisient is one of seven African startups to be recognised as a tech pioneer by the World Economic Forum. South African data analytics fintech Omnisient has been recognised as a “tech pioneer” by the World Economic Forum. Launched in 2000, the Technology Pioneer community is composed of early-stage companies from around the world that are involved in the design, development, and deployment of new technologies and innovations and are poised to have a significant impact on business and society. Omnisient has developed a privacy-preserving process for banks to access new sources of consumer data for determining credit worthiness of individuals with no credit history. The startup claims that the process protects consumer privacy and removes the risks and challenges commonly associated with sharing consumer information. TechCabal caught up with Omnisient CEO Jon Jacobson to learn more about their business model and how they plan to leverage the recognition by the WEF to scale their business. Please tell us about Omnisient and the problem you are trying to solve. Jon Jacobson: The problem is that when you get privacy laws, what actually happens is it’s really good for people and for the consumer but it actually has an indirect impact on businesses trying to get access to data. We have to remember that data is the new oil and it is fundamental to most processes from customer acquisition, lead generation, etc. So Omnisient basically helps businesses utilise data by also abiding with the requisite privacy laws. It is a privacy-preserving data collaboration platform that allows businesses to collaborate on data insights on consumer behaviour and preferences. It so happens that by solving problems with privacy in mind, you can really solve some big problems. What challenges have you faced in trying to solve this problem in your core markets? JJ: The challenges are typical when building a new tech startup business from scratch. I’m a software engineer and I have been a programmer for most of my life so I’m cognisant of some of the problems a tech startup faces. The first one was getting funding to build our solution. Before getting seed funding from Investec, Nedbank, and a third investor, it was very tough. Another challenge, I would say, is getting customers to accept and use our platform. When you bring a new technology into the market, especially as a B2B business, it takes education for people to understand it which requires a substantial amount invested in marketing efforts. I think we addressed that challenge quite successfully because eight South African banks now use our platform. Our other customers include large retailers and insurance companies. Omnisient raised $1.2 million in November 2022. How has this funding helped to further the business’ mandate? JJ: It has been fundamental because when you service large organisations like banks, telcos, chain retailers, etc, you have to have good people on board, and good people don’t come cheap. So with the funding, we’ve built our team, all the tech and everything else. The funding has also helped us a lot with regard to research and development as we build out our product and also helped us to build very strong sales, marketing and business development teams. At this stage, we are doing $2 million in annual revenue runrate (ARR) in dollars and that kind of puts us in the Series A range and that’s actually what we’re going to be doing soon, going into the market to raise our Series A. Omniscient was recently recognised by the WEF as a “tech pioneer”. Please tell us how that came about. JJ: I would say that came about because of the continual effort that we put into our work. You might be doing something for two years and then you get recognised at the end of the two years, but you’ve already been doing it for a while. I think the difference is with us, some of the things we’ve been working on, have really come to fruition in the last year especially the managing credit risk side of the business. In March, we were awarded a significant award by the African Banking Summit in Nairobi for the most innovative financial inclusion technology. I think that put us on the map. One of the major things that the WEF focuses on is solving the financial, the financial inclusion problem. In South Africa, we’ve shown that we can identify 8 million of those people and make them credit worthy which is 16% of the population. I think just that work put us in the scope of the recognition by the WEF. What’s next for Omnisient? We’ve been on a journey to expand our business and to grow into new markets and this recognition by the WEF obviously helps. I’m actually at the airport on my way to China where I’ve got some super exciting meetings set up. So the recognition gives us access to very valuable networks and that’s vital to us. * This interview has been edited for style and clarity.
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🚀Entering Tech #35: How [not] to use AI
This one is for writers and creatives. 12 || July || 2023 View in Browser Brought to you by Issue #35 How [not]to use AI Share this newsletter Greetings ET people Today, we’re revisiting a topic we’ve already explored here on Entering Tech: artificial intelligence. As we all know, AI is creeping into every nook and cranny of various industries, and with this kind of viral spread, it’s easy for people to misuse these tools. One thing that’s worth mentioning is that AI is meant to support, not replace human effort. Meanwhile, if you watched our Entering Tech Shorts, please leave us a review and let us know what you think. by Pamela Tetteh and Timi Odueso. Tech trivia This week’s trivia is inspired by Apple’s new $3,500 AR goggles. How many AI organisations do we have in Africa? A refresher on AI We’ve spoken about artificial intelligence a few times on #EnteringTech. In Edition #28, we explored five AI careers you can look into, and in Edition #31, we also talked about how AI can help you apply for new jobs. One thing we left out in those editions though is how to use AI judiciously, and how not to use AI. See, here’s the thing. Like crocs, amapiano, or any other good thing in life, everyone’s getting into AI. Hell, ChatGPT crossed over 100 million users earlier this year and the website is visited 1.8 billion times per month. This doesn’t include the millions of other AI tools that are growing in popularity by the day. The problem with this is that as AI’s popularity has grown, so has its misuse. Yes, AI can do (almost) everything, but not everything should be done with AI. For example, if you’re applying for a job as a writer, you probably want to actually write your application yourself, just to show that you can do the job, no? Take, for example, the job advert Buffer put up two months ago for a content writer. The team received about 1,500 applications—and several applicants were rejected as they had applied using AI. More recently, the GRAMMYs also banned the submission of AI-generated songs for award consideration—using AI to generate tunes is fine, but creating a whole song with AI is not. We could go into a whole debate on the ethics behind these decisions, but the key point is that people should not be rewarded for things or ideas they do not wholly create. This rings especially true for creatives whose works deal with brainstorming ideas and bringing them to life with words, colour and sound. Can you call yourself a technical writer if AI is doing all the work? A few weeks ago, in a panel discussion I hosted about the future of AI in Africa, an attendee asked, “Can I use AI to write my book?” and the unanimous answer from guests and other attendees was no. “It’s not your book then,” one person responded. “You didn’t write it.” Sure, there are now jobs like Prompt Engineer—whose role it is to create the perfect prompts for AI tools—but even this role needs some brainpower. How to use AI How then should AI be used? After reading Tamilore’s post on how the Buffer team uses AI, we’ve outlined the ways creatives can use AI and still maintain authenticity and originality—like how Keke Palmer is using all the publicity she’s getting. A. Generate ideas: Yup, if there’s anything ChatGPT, Duet AI, or Bard will do well for creatives, it’s generating ideas. Finding it difficult to come up with a marketing plan? Ask AI what you can do to promote that event, product or service. Brainstorming—like any storm—can be rough, but AI can make it easier for you. Even journalists can use it to consider what story angles they can work with on trending topics. B. Create outlines and templates: Unlike Taylor Swift, we can write our exes names on blank pages, our jobs require words that actually make sense—and money. Blank pages are the archenemy of the creative. Whether you’re a technical writer, a designer or even a product manager, everything starts with a blank page—like a president’s criminal record when it’s time for re-election . And we typically spend so much time trying to figure out the perfect opener, so much time afraid of these blank pages that we procrastinate on our tasks. AI can help. Ask for an outline on specific projects and it’ll help you out. The outline for this edition of #EnteringTech was created with AI! C. Complete administrative tasks: SEveryone knows that 50% of the job these days is responding to emails—and half the time, you forget the attachments too. The good news is that if you’re on Google Workspace—Docs, Sheets, Gmail etc—you’ll soon be able to cut down the time you use composing emails and doing other admin tasks. Google is building generative tools that will help you compose responses to emails from any meetings you’ve held, create presentations from scratch and even build workflows and apps. If you’re not on Google, there are already a couple of AI tools you can use for these tasks, and yes, Chat GPT and Bard can be used as well. D. Edit and proofread stuff: You probably already use AI for this and you just didn’t realise. If you’ve got Grammarly, Quillbot, or any extension that suggests corrections to your work, then you’re already using AI. AI can help you make sure you’re not spelling “committee” as “comittee” or like many troubled persons, using “would” instead of “will”. If you’re a social media marketer, AI can also help you create copy for different social media. Share an article with Bard and ask it to create a 250-character copy summarising the article! E. Add a little bit of colour: My colleague Abraham Augustine who writes The Next Wave started something exciting in Q2—that’s office speak for April to June. He used Midjourney to create simple feature images for his newsletter
Read MoreBridging the funding gap: Inside Helium Health’s innovative healthcare financing model
Despite being the first point of call for many Nigerians, more than half of Nigeria’s private health facilities lack access to external sources of funding. Helium Health is addressing this through its product, HeliumCredit. When Helium Health started digitizing electronic medical records (EMR) in Nigeria, Adegoke Olubusi, the CEO, discovered a market gap. Private health facilities, despite being the first point of call for many Nigerians, lacked access to external funding. More than half of the private healthcare facilities in Nigeria lacked access to external financing, according to data from Pharmaccess. “We started to understand more deeply the gap that exists with healthcare financing, but it became more apparent to us how heavy and how wide of a gap this is. And we wanted to build a solution that could bridge that,” Olubisi told TechCabal. In 2020, Olubisi and his team launched HeliumCredit to give hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and diagnostics centers loans to buy medical equipment and medication and facilitate business expansions. Using loans to scale is a critical part of any business strategy. Africa has a $66 billion health financing deficit, and this is mostly due to the lack of data. Investors and donors often rely on data-driven assessments to determine the impact and effectiveness of their contributions. Helium Health bridges the data gap by enrolling hospitals on HeliumOS—its core product which digitises electronic medical records. The EMR gathers information about the hospital’s finances and other metrics, which HeliumCredit uses to decide whether a hospital can receive a loan. “With HeliumOS, we can see that there is this financing issue, and we saw that the lenders wanted to lend, and we said, how can we use this technology in the data system to digitize the end-to-end process?” Olubisi told TechCabal. How it works HeliumCredit provides easy access to credit for hospitals and healthcare institutions in an entirely digital process. Intending applicants apply for financing via HeliumCredit’s website and receive a disbursement of funds within 48 hours of approval. The average loan size is about ₦14m. Helium Health deploys loans through the Helium Wallet feature. The loan can then be repaid over an 18-month period. For hospitals already enrolled on HeliumOS, Helium Health combines their existing data with third-party data from the banks. “So everything from their operations, to their inventory, to their stock, to their invoices and how it’s invoiced. Who pays and when they pay, and how they pay, or their insurance and their insurance claims,” Olubisi said, enumerating the type of data they typically gather. “So, when it comes to financial and operational data, there’s a lot of critical information that is already within the system. And that is what supports the decision and process.” “For example, if a healthcare facility requests a loan of ₦50 million, we decide if the facility can pay back the loan based on the data supplied. So we might decide to give the user a ₦5 million loan, based on the numbers we have of them,” he added. According to Olubisi, Helium Credit has disbursed loans worth $3 million to hundreds of facilities. “These loans have been critical to these healthcare facilities in acquiring medical equipment, scaling their operations, better quality of care, attracting more experienced talent, and restocking their inventory.” Olubisi claims that 70-80% of the healthcare facilities that obtained loans from HeliumCredit have returned to obtain more loans. Despite the risky nature of the credit-financing model, none of HeliumCredit’s clients have defaulted on their loans, according to Olubisi. “In cases where healthcare facilities default on the payment of loans, we will offer a full cycle of monitoring of the facility and provide support to them: whether it is capacity development through education or financial training,” he said. Driving health tech innovation in Africa Helium Health secured a $30 million in investment from a Series B funding round in June this year. The funding round will be used to expand the reach of HeliumCredit. While interest in healthtech startup funding spiked in 2023—per data from The Big Deal— health tech startups witnessed a 7% year-on-year growth in funding, showing that credit financing is still in the nascent stage on the continent. The YC-backed healthtech startup claims to be the widest-reaching EMR platform in West Africa, used by more than 10,000 health workers across 1,000 facilities to care for over 1 million African patients. Helium Health has great plans for expansion. According to the CEO, the company is set to launch HeliumCredit in Kenya in 2024 and will also increase its lending portfolio to 1,000 healthcare facilities by 2024, in partnership with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
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👨🏿🚀 TechCabal Daily – Wave Tuition problems away
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning We won an award! Last weekend, TechCabal walked away as the winner of the digital category of the maiden edition of the ReportHer Awards for gender-balanced reporting. Shoutout to Ngozi Chukwu and Hannatu Asheloge for their brilliant storytelling which won us this award. Don’t forget us when you win the Pulitzer. In today’s edition Flutterwave launches Tuition 10 startups get $5,000 from World Bank Equatorial Guinea introduces e-visa Threads to generate $8 billion in 2 years The World Wide Web3 Event: Angel Investor Meetup, Lagos Opportunities Innovation Flutterwave launches Tuition Image source: Olugbenga Agboola/LinkedIn Fintech unicorn Flutterwave wants to help students wave away tuition problems. Yesterday, the company announced the launch of Tuition, a new payment product that will allow African users pay school fees within Africa and overseas using local currencies. The best part? Tuition promises payments within 48 hours. A strenuous process: For African students studying abroad, paying tuition fees can be a hassle, with high exchange rates and limited banking services. In Nigeria, for example, students often have to wait months—up to 120 days—before monies paid for fees are processed by Nigerian banks. With Flutterwave’s Tuition though, many students can rest easy. “We are excited to launch Tuition to support the dreams of African students across all levels who want to study anywhere without worrying about how to meet the deadline for their school fees payment,” said CEO Olugbenga Agboola. “With Tuition, we are providing a safer, reliable, and affordable means for African students to pursue their dreams and seamlessly get financial support from parents, guardians, and sponsors.” The service is presently available in Nigeria where it can be used to pay fees of schools in the UK—where over 43,000 African students chose in 2022. The startup, however, mentioned that it’s rolling out in countries soon, and will add more schools across Africa, the US, and Canada to its roster. Secure payments with Monnify Monnify has simplified how businesses accept payments to enable growth. We are trusted by Piggyvest, Buypower, Wakanow, Fairmoney, Cowrywise, and over 10,000 Nigerian businesses. Get your Monnify account today here. Funding Ten southern African startups get $5,000 each from the World Bank Image source: YungNolly Ten Southern African fintech startups have received $5,000 each from the World Bank. The award was part of a Fintech Challenge aimed at helping underserved entrepreneurs in the region get their businesses investment-ready to boost their access to markets, improve business networks and open up new investment opportunities. The startups include Abela, Bento Technologies, Fintr, Moya Money, Sum1 Investments, and Thumeza from South Africa; Chaperonen and Prime Capital from Lesotho; FundRoof from Namibia; and Ipachi Capital from Botswana. More on the initiative: The Innovation Bridge Portal Entrepreneur Community is an initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation/Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in partnership with the Department of Small Business Development. The initiative is establishing a digital platform for innovation, collaboration, co-creation, knowledge sharing, and matchmaking amongst ecosystem actors in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, eSwatini, and Lesotho. Zoom out: According to venture capital tracking platform Africa: The Big Deal, South African startups again dominated the venture capital funding scene in southern Africa in 2022, securing 95% of all the funding in the region. Tourism Equatorial Guinea introduces e-visa Image source: Zikoko Memes Equatorial Guinea is making life easier for visitors with an e-Visa. The country’s government has partnered with VFS Global to launch a new e-visa service that aims to attract more tourists and business travellers to the country. The e-visa can be applied online and offers quicker application submission, greater convenience, and faster processing time to obtain. About VFS Global: VFS Global is a leading provider of visa outsourcing and technology services to governments and diplomatic missions worldwide. They specialise in handling the administrative tasks associated with visas, passports, and consular services on behalf of their client governments. However, VFS Global does not play any part in the decision-making process behind visa applications being granted or denied. Visitors from all nationalities can apply. Starting from July 1, 2023, the e-visa service was made accessible to travellers from all nationalities. Conveniently, they can apply for and receive travel authorisation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from anywhere in the world without having to travel to an embassy or consulate, by simply visiting the designated website. This saves time and effort, as visitors can now apply for a visa from the comfort of their own homes. Zoom out: The submission of an online e-visa application does not guarantee the issuance of a visa. The decision to accept or reject the application lies solely with the relevant authority, and there will be no refund provided in case of rejection. GrowthCon 1.0: Learn how to unlock 10X Growth Connect with growth leaders, operators, and enablers to explore proven tactics for driving sustained business growth in Africa at GrowthCon 1.0. Experience curated masterclasses, case studies, a growth hackathon and more. Get your tickets now at 15% off. Use the discount code “TIX15”! Global News Threads could generate billions in 2 years Image source: TIME Threads may tread over Twitter in 2 years. In just a matter of days since its launch by Meta, Threads has already managed to attract 100 million users. Per Bloomberg, experts are already predicting that Threads will reach 200 million daily active users in two years. The financial forecasts for Threads are equally impressive. Analysts predict that the app will generate $8 billion in annual revenue over the next two years, positioning it as a major player in the social media landscape. While it falls slightly short of Twitter’s 237.8 million active daily users, That is a lot of money. Well, Bloomberg says this will outpace the $5.1 billion in sales and revenue Twitter earned in its last full year as a public company. Still, Threads projected revenue is only a fraction of the $156 billion average annual revenue analysts expect
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Playing the long game: 6 lessons from Founders Connect Live
Founders Connect, a YouTube show showcasing the journeys of founders and operators in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, hosted its first in-person event, Founders Connect Live, on Saturday, July 8, 2023. The event brought founders, operators and industry professions and brought founders, operators and industry professionals to share knowledge, inspiration and insights. to share knowledge, inspiration and insights. Be driven by a purpose Image source: Twitter During interviews and keynote addresses, the speakers shared their experiences as founders and operators at startups. Following the format of her YouTube show, Peace interviewed Funke Okpeke, the founder and CEO of MainOne. MainOne is the provider of the first privately owned, open-access 7,000-kilometer undersea high-capacity cable submarine connection in West Africa. Okpeke shared that she is driven by a desire to create a better digital outcome for Nigeria. She believes that “increased access to high-quality digital technology will empower young people.” The Greiner Curve framework Mitchell Elegbe, the founder of fintech company Interswitch, offered insightful advice to fellow founders on the importance of anticipating and preparing for setbacks and failures. Drawing from his own experiences, he shared how the Greiner Curve framework can provide a valuable perspective on the challenges organizations encounter during their growth journey. According to Elegbe, “Around three years into our venture at Interswitch, we found ourselves dedicating more time to discussing the problems we faced rather than implementing solutions. It was at this point that I recognized we had entered Stage 5 of the Greiner Curve.” Elegbe also stressed the vital role of building business resilience and employee satisfaction through appropriate compensation for staff members. These factors, he advised, are essential for sustainable growth and long-term success in the business landscape. You don’t have to be a founder Image source: Twitter In a spirited discussion, General Manager at M-KOPA, Babajide Duroshola, the Group CEO of Wakanow, and Bayo Adedeji shed light on the often underappreciated value of non-founders within startups., Bayo amusingly remarked, “Salary is not what they pay you to forget your dreams. Sometimes a salary can be worth more than your dreams.” He humorously alluded to the 2021 salary of Peter Kern, the CEO of Expedia, an American online travel company similar to Wakanow, which amounted to $296 million. During their session, both Babajide and Bayo underscored the significance of financial compensation for operators who are driven by results and deeply committed to fulfilling the vision of the founders who employ them. Babajide further advised the audience to take a step back, assess the reality of their situation, and focus on creating value. Grow your network Highlighting the importance of building a robust professional network, Maya Horgan-Famodu, the founder of Ingressive Capital, engaged in a brief conversation with Joyce Imiegha, a co-producer of Founder’s Connect. Maya candidly shared her personal journey, growing up in an underprivileged family and how she relentlessly pursued networking opportunities, reaching out door-to-door and sending cold direct messages to expand Ingressive Capital. However, Maya emphasized that the key to building a great professional network lies in connecting with like-minded individuals and consistently providing them with value. “Don’t approach a relationship with an ask; instead, focus on giving. Create valuable content that they will find useful and consistently share it with them,” she concluded. Following Maya Horgan-Famodu’s talk, a networking session followed, providing the audience with an opportunity to put into practice the lessons they had learned and connect with other attendees Tell your story and find a community In addition to traditional networking, there are other ways to grow your professional circle and even your businesses. Victor Fantami, the founder of FullgapCo, spoke about how telling stories about oneself or other people can help one form meaningful connections with peers and customers. Fola Olatunji David, a senior business development manager of AWS in Africa, gave a keynote speech on the significance of finding the right communities and how they can accelerate growth. The road is long Image source: Twitter Peace had another interview with Tayo Oviosu, the founder of Paga. Their conversation titled “Playing the Long Term Game” delved into lessons Tayo has learned in his entrepreneurial journey, He encouraged professionals and founders to seek mentors, align decisions with long-term goals, and find fulfillment in their work. As the learning sessions drew to a close, Odun Eweniyi, the founder of Piggy Bank, fielded questions from attendees about her fintech platform PiggyVest, her female-focused VC FirstCheck, and her experiences as a woman in the tech ecosystem. When asked about the best startup advice she had received, she responded simply, “Mind your business.” To conclude the event, the attendees enjoyed a raffle draw, live musical performances, engaging games, and opportunities to interact with their peers and the sponsors of Founders Connect.
Read MoreTechCabal wins ReportHer Award for promoting gender-balanced reporting
TechCabal’s success at the maiden edition of the ReportHer Award shines a spotlight on its commitment to gender-balanced reporting TechCabal walked away as the winner of the digital category of the maiden edition of the ReportHer Awards for gender-balanced reporting. At an event held in Lagos, Nigeria, Africa’s most important tech publication was cited for breaking barriers and making a resounding impact with influential articles and reports that have shaped industry conversations. TechCabal’s win Hannatu Asheolge and Ngozi Chukwu, two young journalists, were successful in their application for the ReportHer Award in the digital category for TechCabal. Asheolge said she hoped the award would propel the tech industry to pay greater attention to women and their noteworthy achievements as they are an integral part of the ecosystem. She credits TechCabal’s win to a dedicated team of brilliant, diligent editors and reporters willing to write impactful stories. In a similar vein, Chukwu described the win as “empowering”, inspiring TechCabal to authentically shed light on the frequently overlooked narratives of women as “creators and users of technology”. About ReportHer Award The ReportHer Awards is a gender-balanced reportage award that recognises media organisations and journalists who actively report on women and gender-related issues, give them prime time and strive for gender-balanced coverage. The award is an initiative of Women Radio 91.7FM in partnership with the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) and sponsored by UN Women and the Canadian government. With over 104 entries across five categories: television, radio, print, digital, and journalist, TechCabal emerged as the winner in the digital category while Ripples Nigeria emerged as the runner-up. One of the judges, Lanre Arogundade, executive director of the International Press Centre (IPC) highlighted that the judges evaluated various parameters, such as the inclusion of women as sources in the reports and the aim for equal representation of men and women in the stories. Arogundade also added that they looked at “the extent to which the story uses data, cite sources and looked at presentation and effectiveness and the extent to which media institutions that submitted their entries, and journalists, meet the professional standards portraying women.” For TechCabal’s editor in chief, Adrian Ephraim, “The awards may be new, but TechCabal’s reporting on women in tech is not. It’s good to see gender reporting acknowledged in this way, and we’re extremely proud of Ngozi and Hannatu who have spearheaded our coverage. Well-deserved.”
Read MoreAfrica VC funding dips by 54% in H1 2023, as accelerators lead the way in cheque-writing
VC funding of African tech startups dips by 54% in H1 2023 as funding crunch continues. According to data from research firm MAGNiTT, VC firms invested $951 million in the African tech ecosystem in H1 2023. It’s a 54% drop compared to H1 2022. VC firms also completed 214 deals, a 50% decline from the 2022 numbers. Exits continue to be few and far between in 2023 with only 15 exits so far. Fintech continues to be the VC darling even in a downturn, with fintech startups clocking 29% of the total funding. Ecommerce and transport and logistics startups complete the top three receiving 12% and 11% of the total funding respectively. By country, Nigeria lead the pack in terms of deal volume, followed by Kenya and South Africa. In terms of deal value, Egypt leads the continent, mainly driven by the $260 million MNT Halan deal in February, followed by South Africa which saw a 3% reduction in deal value and Nigeria. Interestingly, accelerators, and not VCs, led most of the cheque-writing by volume in this half of the year, accounting for five of the top 10 investments in the time period. Accelerators made up the top 4 of the most active investors, with ARM Labs Lagos, Catalyst fund, The Baobab Network, and Norrsken Global leading the way with 13, 19, 9, and 8 deals respectively. In terms of value, the entire top 10 comprise international investment, with Chimera Capital, Tencent, Blue Earth Capital, Sumitomo Corporation, and Apis Partners leading the way. Exits wise, 15 represents 25% of the entire 2022 total of 60 exits on the continent , with Kenya leading the way with four exits. As the VC funding crunch continues, investors seem to be focusing their attention on making early-stage bets, with 57% of all investment into the continent going to early-stage startups, a 5% increase compared to 2022 figures.
Read MoreWhy DRC will soon be a major player in global tech scene
Noel K. Tshiani, founder of Congo Business Network, shares his vision for tech startups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, based on his conviction that the country has the potential to emerge as a major tech hub in Central Africa. He is optimistic about the future of the DRC’s startup and tech ecosystem, believing that with improved policies and increased investments, Kinshasa can become a major player in the global tech scene. When we think of the world’s most prominent tech startup ecosystems, places like Silicon Valley, New York, Paris, Lagos, or Nairobi might come to mind. But what about the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa? Despite some challenges, this country, with a vast reservoir of natural resources estimated at $24 trillion and a population of 100 million, has significant potential to build a vibrant startup and tech ecosystem. I want to share my vision – a future that requires the public and private sectors to be ambitious, innovative, and persistent. Startups are the engines of innovation, job creation and economic growth. They bring fresh ideas to market, disrupt established industries, and push the boundaries of what is possible. I came to the United States in 1996 and have since seen the American economy transformed by tech startups like Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. In the DRC, we need this kind of dynamism now more than ever. The DRC’s young population is one of its greatest strengths. Nearly 60% of Congolese are under the age of 25. With the right support and opportunities, these young people can be the creators of startups and tech solutions that will drive the country’s economy forward. One key support mechanism that cannot be overlooked is the exposure and learning opportunities that come from attending international tech and business events such as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Viva Technology in Paris, or Ambition Africa in Paris. These major events allow entrepreneurs to interact with potential investors, business partners and journalists, expanding their professional networks and opening doors to growth opportunities. They also provide an opportunity to learn about the latest trends in the global technology landscape, an invaluable asset in an industry characterised by rapid change and innovation, such as the rise of artificial intelligence. Interestingly, a few countries in Africa have already passed startup laws, which are legal frameworks designed to support the growth and development of startups. These countries include Tunisia (2018), Senegal (2019), Nigeria (2022), Democratic Republic of Congo (2022), Côte d’Ivoire (2023), Ghana (2023), Kenya (2023), Rwanda (2023), Ethiopia (2023), and Uganda (2023). This is particularly noteworthy because very few of these countries-Tunisia, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of Congo-are in French-speaking Africa. The law aims to promote entrepreneurship, facilitate the creation and growth of startups, and create an enabling environment for innovation. The DRC could take inspiration from these African countries, learn from their successes, and tailor its policies to the unique context of startups within its borders. Among French-speaking countries in Africa that have adopted similar legislation, the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a population of over 100 million, offers immense potential for international investors. The country boasts not only a dynamic and diversified domestic market but also creative, innovative and ambitious entrepreneurs. To compare, Tunisia has a population of 12 million, Senegal 18 million and Côte d’Ivoire 29 million. The DRC’s potential is therefore much greater for tech startups such as fintechs, and it can position itself as an essential destination for international investors, especially those from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands, where tech startup ecosystems are extremely dynamic. And to unlock this potential, we must first address some of the structural challenges that hinder the growth of startups in the DRC. We need to improve access to reliable internet and electricity, strengthen the country’s education system with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and math, and develop a financial system that supports venture capital and other forms of startup funding. The government plays a critical role in creating an enabling environment for startups. Clear, supportive laws and regulations can help foster innovation, while investments in infrastructure can help reduce the cost of doing business. The idea is to create an ecosystem in which entrepreneurs can thrive and be rewarded for their work. In addition, fostering partnerships between the public sector, private companies, and international organizations can support the growth of Kinshasa’s tech ecosystem in the coming years. For example, tech hubs and co-working spaces can act as springboards where ideas and talent come together, creating an environment conducive to the growth and success of startups. We also need to harness the power of the Congolese diaspora, particularly in Canada, the United States, France and Belgium. This diaspora is a huge reservoir of talent, experience and financial resources. Initiatives to connect diaspora professionals and entrepreneurs with their counterparts in the DRC could provide invaluable opportunities for mentorship, investment, and business partnerships. We must not forget how important it is to include women, people living in rural areas, and marginalised communities in our efforts to build a thriving startup and tech ecosystem. Programs that ensure access to digital skills training, startup funding, and investment guarantees for these groups can help ensure that the benefits of the digital revolution are widely shared in the country. I see a future where Congolese startups are not just players in the local market, but formidable competitors on the international stage. I see a future where the words “tech startup” evoke not only Silicon Valley, but also Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Goma, Matadi, and Mbuji Mayi. I also see a future where Congolese startups are not just players in the local market, but formidable competitors on the international stage. I see a future where the words “tech startup” evoke not only Silicon Valley, but also Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Goma, Matadi, and Mbuji Mayi. My vision for the DRC’s startup and tech ecosystem is ambitious but achievable. By tapping into our collective strengths, addressing our
Read MoreFraud concerns may stall contactless payments implementation by banks
New guidelines from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) place the burden of fraud on banks. This may stall contactless payment implementation by banks. On June 30, 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced new guidelines for the operations of contactless payments in the country. Per the new rules, such transactions will be limited to ₦15,000 for a single payment or ₦50,000 daily. However, Several banks who spoke to TechCabal said they are unsure of how to implement the guidelines. “Yes, we are aware of the guidelines but we are yet to get direction on the implementation process,” an Access Bank personnel told TechCabal. A Fidelity Bank source said the bank is working on an in-house implementation plan. According to the CBN guidelines, users can tap or wave their devices—including smartphones and cards—that are enabled with contactless technology to make payments without inputting a PIN to confirm the transaction. Contactless payments are powered by radio frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC) technology which allows enabled devices to initiate and authorise payment transactions without additional confirmation from the user. But the primary problem with the use of contactless payments is the risk of fraud arising from the absence of authorization, meaning a serious cause of concern for banks and financial institutions involved. This YouTube video tells how scammers used contactless payment to steal from a Denver woman’s bank account. However, the CBN is betting that its decision to cap the transaction amount on contactless payments will mitigate fraud risks. Why? It works. According to the data analytics company FICO, “data from UK Finance revealed that in 2020 there was a total of £574 million lost through card fraud. However, only £16 million of this figure represented contactless payment fraud. A MasterCard staff who declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media explained that the use case for contactless payments was tied to the need to collect small payments en masse at tolls and queues quickly. Even though the central bank stipulates an upper limit of N15,000, card issuers can offer lower-limit contactless cards depending on their risk appetite. The big worry for banks is how to handle fraud The guidelines also place the burden of fraud on acquirers (the bank of the payment recipient), issuers (the bank of the customers), and merchants (the business) who offer contactless payment channels. Placing the burden of managing fraud on merchants and banks would make it difficult for banks to seek to implement the new provisions, said Adedeji Olowe, founder of Lendrsqr, a software firm that enables digital lending businesses. “Abroad, where there are consequences for bad behaviour if your card was stolen and used for contactless, the bank covers the fraud. We both know nobody dares do that in Nigeria,” he commented. While it remains to be seen how the banks will handle contactless payment implementation, they represent a new hurdle for their security architecture, especially in light of the recent reports of hacks targeted at traditional Nigerian banks and even fintechs. In 2019, Nigerian financial institutions spent a reported N200 billion on cybersecurity. Securing contactless payments is going to increase that budget. At the Digital PayExpo hosted by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the CBN in June 2023, Chinwe Uzoho, Regional Managing Director, West & Central Africa, of Network International, pointed out that it costs a lot to secure contact payment systems. “You have to choose between fraud and secure payments,” she said, In June, Globus Bank reportedly lost N1.7 billion to hackers. TechCabal also reported how Glade, a Techstars-backed fintech, suffered an internal breach that cost over $200,000. Considering that some of Nigeria’s worst cyberattacks are underreported, chances are more hacks have possibly happened in recent times without public knowledge. So one thing is clear: for these guidelines to work, banks must brace up their security architecture as cybersecurity becomes more problematic in Nigeria.
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