- June 27 2023
How business trips can propel African startups to success
Noel K. Tshiani, founder of Congo Business Network, reflects on a recent trip from New York to Paris to participate in Viva Technology, Europe’s leading startup and tech event that was held in Paris from June 14 to 17, 2023. From this experience, he advises startups from Africa on how to maximise the benefits of business trips overseas. In today’s interconnected world, success for entrepreneurs relies on their ability to expand their horizons and tap into global markets. While virtual meetings on Zoom have become commonplace, nothing can replace the power of face-to-face conversations. In this piece for TechCabal, I discuss the value of business trips for entrepreneurs in Africa, with a specific focus on how travelling overseas to attend major business events in Europe can significantly increase a startup’s chances of success, especially for those from French-speaking countries who are looking for investors and strategic business partners with major corporate brands. 1. Breaking barriers and cultivating networks Business trips present a unique opportunity to overcome geographical barriers and develop valuable networks. Attending conferences such as Viva Technology or Ambition Africa in Europe allows African entrepreneurs to meet industry leaders, speak with potential investors, and connect with entrepreneurs who share similar ambitions. These face-to-face interactions foster trust, establish meaningful connections, and open doors to new collaborations that can propel startups forward. 2. Embracing cultural exchange and innovation Exposure to different cultures provides a fertile ground for innovation and growth. By immersing themselves in European business events, African entrepreneurs will gain insights into global trends, diverse perspectives, and emerging technologies such as the rise of artificial intelligence. This exposure sparks creativity, challenges conventional thinking, and enables entrepreneurs to bring fresh ideas back to their home markets, fostering innovation across various sectors, from fintech to agritech. 3. Accessing global markets and investment opportunities Business trips serve as a gateway to global markets and investment opportunities. Europe, with its vibrant startup ecosystem and thriving business environment, offers a multitude of prospects for African entrepreneurs. Notably, France stands out as the top startup ecosystem in the European Union. Attending conferences in Paris provides a real opportunity to showcase a startup’s solutions, connect with experienced accelerators such as Station F, attract international clients, and potentially secure funding from institutional investors such as Partech Africa. 4. Enhancing business sense and industry knowledge Attending tech startup events overseas delivers a unique learning experience. African entrepreneurs can access cutting-edge industry insights, attend workshops, and learn from renowned leaders such as Elon Musk and Marc Benioff who both recently attended Viva Technology in Paris. This exposure helps African entrepreneurs to refine their business sense, stay ahead of industry trends, and gain a competitive edge in their respective niches. 5. Bridging the perception gap Africa’s potential often goes unnoticed in Europe due to misconceptions and limited exposure to major brands. Actively participating in international business events allows African entrepreneurs to challenge stereotypes and showcase the diversity of the entrepreneurial ecosystems in Africa. Doing so promotes a positive narrative, highlighting the immense talent, innovation, and untapped opportunities in the continent in countries such as Senegal, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Things to know before embarking on a business trip To fully maximise the benefits of a business trip, African entrepreneurs should approach their travels strategically, focusing on key areas that can enhance their experiences and success outcomes. 1. Research extensively One of the fundamental steps is conducting thorough research before embarking on the trip. Dive deep into the conference agenda, study the list of speakers and attendees meticulously. By doing so, you can identify the most relevant sessions to attend, potential collaborators to connect with, and valuable networking opportunities to explore. Additionally, take some time to familiarise yourself with the city or country you will be visiting. This will provide insights into the local culture, customs, visa requirements, and business etiquette, ensuring that you navigate the environment with confidence and peace of mind. 2. Network strategically Polishing your networking skills is crucial when attending business conferences overseas. Prepare a compelling elevator pitch that showcases your unique value proposition as an entrepreneur in Africa. Be open and proactive in building relationships with individuals from diverse backgrounds. Engage in meaningful conversations, actively listen to others, and seek opportunities to offer value and support. Remember, effective networking can lead to fundraising for your startup, valuable partnerships, collaborations, and mentorship opportunities. 3. Know the local culture A key aspect of successful business interactions abroad is being culturally sensitive. Take the time to familiarise yourself with the cultural norms and etiquette of the host country. Show respect for local customs, traditions, and social norms. Being aware of and sensitive to cultural differences will enable you to establish strong connections, build trust, and foster successful collaborations. 4. Have a collaborative mindset Approach the conference with a mindset of collaboration rather than competition. Embrace the opportunity to connect and engage with fellow entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and potential partners. Seek mutually beneficial partnerships and explore ways to contribute to the global business community. By fostering a collaborative mindset, you can create a supportive network that uplifts and accelerates the growth of all involved. 5. Reserve your flights and hotel early When reserving your flight and lodging, consider practical factors such as the time difference and potential jet lag. Arriving well-rested and adjusted to the new time zone will ensure you’re in optimal condition for the conference. Additionally, look for hotels or meeting spaces that offer amenities tailored to your business needs, such as reliable Wi-Fi, well-equipped conference rooms, on-site printers, fitness facilities, and nearby restaurants with healthy dining options. 6. Pack a variety of clothes When packing for your business trip, pack smartly and consider the nature of the conference and its associated side events. Include appropriate business attire for formal occasions and television appearances. Additionally, pack casual clothes suitable for informal networking or tourism. If you are based in a French-speaking country, remember to bring marketing materials in English to give to potential
Read More- June 27 2023
Meet South Africa’s Google Black Founders Fund recipients
TechCabal spoke to two of the three South African startups selected for the Google Black Founders Fund. Last week, Google announced the startups selected for the third cohort of the Google Black Founders Fund. The $4 million fund seeks to help tackle systemic racial inequality in venture capital (VC) funding by providing equity-free grants and mentoring to early-stage, Black-led, and high-growth businesses across Africa and Europe. This year, 25 African startups were selected, of which 72% are led or co-founded by women. Of the 25, three are from South Africa—Excel@Uni, HealthDart, and ZinaCare. TechCabal caught up with Excel@Uni and HealthDart to get their thoughts on being selected for the programme, the pain points their startups are addressing, how they plan to leverage being a part of the programme, and much more. Excel@Uni In South Africa, only an estimated 26% of university students graduate within the prescribed time for their degree due to high tuition fees, limited access to scholarships and grants, and the need to work part-time or full-time jobs to support themselves or their families. Furthermore, Stats SA indicates that only 2.1% of unemployed people are university graduates, while 7.5% have other tertiary qualifications. The remaining 90% of unemployed people do not have any tertiary qualifications. While tertiary institutions and student funders—bursaries/scholarships—acknowledge the urgency of improving student success rates and career readiness. They however lack the tools, internal resources, and coordination to implement the pillars of student success at scale. Excel@Uni, a South African edtech platform caters to this need by increasing the odds of youths graduating on time, training them to be work-ready, and earning an income from their studies. This is why Lungelo Gumede, CEO of Excel@Uni told TechCabal belives “The status quo has thus failed to produce graduates at the pace and quality required. When underwhelming or stagnant persistence, retention, and completion rates are reviewed, it becomes clear that the funds invested in students today are not realising their full potential.” According to Gumede, being recognised by Google is a form of validation for the startup’s mission. He said funds received from Google’s Black Founders Fund will be used to deepen the startup’s market research. “Being recognised by an organisation like Google is a great form of validation for our mission, so naturally the team is ecstatic to have Google as a partner on our journey,” he told TechCabal. “We hope that it will help us to extend our market reach, as we try to encourage more scholarship donors to provide much-needed funding for tertiary students. We will play our part by using technology to ensure that the processes related to scholarship funding are as seamless as possible, alleviating the admin burden and ensuring that donors receive the return on investment in the form of higher completion stats and work-ready students,” he added. Excel@Uni builds software for student funders in South Africa that helps them to manage their data and make iterative improvements to their student success interventions. In addition to building software, Excel@Uni provides a collection of digital peer-to-peer wrap-around support offerings to assist customers—bursaries/scholarships—to achieve the necessary outcome of career readiness for students. “Our wrap-around support offerings include digitally enabled peer-to-peer private tutoring, peer-to-peer mentoring, career readiness resources and bursary/scholarship administration. We are adamant about taking scholarships and student success to the next level,” Gumede told TechCabal. While Excel@Uni is hoping to explore opportunities beyond its local scholarship market in the distant future, the edtech startup is keen on using Google Cloud’s offering to improve user experience of its app. HealthDart Fifty per cent of South Africans report visiting a pharmacy at least once a month, and 30% of adults are on chronic medication, per this report. However, accessing medication and enabling health consultations are often costly and inefficient processes. By leveraging technology, HealthDart enables patients to save up to 70% on medication and primary healthcare costs while receiving appropriate treatment for their health issues. For Njabulo Skhosana, CEO of HealthDart, it hasn’t been smooth sailing addressing the problem. “One of the key challenges was identifying the most effective approach to streamlining access to medication and healthcare consultations,” he told TechCabal. “Additionally, we encountered difficulties in optimising our technology stack to keep data costs low for lower-income customers. Despite these challenges, we have been dedicated to continuous improvement, actively seeking feedback from users and adapting our solutions to meet their needs.” Being selected as part of Google’s Founders Fund gives HealthDart access to Google’s cloud products and services. For Skhosana, tech-enabled healthcare is the future of healthcare; he asserted that HealthDart is on a mission to leverage technology to improve access to quality healthcare. “Our mission is to improve access to quality healthcare and medication by leveraging digital pharmacy, telemedicine, and health insurance integrations,” he said.
Read More- June 27 2023
Solcon Capital is betting on the future of deep tech. Here is why
A conversation with Andile Ngcaba, founder of Convergence Partners Investments, and CEO Pramod Venkatesh about the company’s rebranding to Solcon Capital. Earlier this month, technology investment firm Convergence Partners Investments announced its rebrand to Solcon Capital. Founded by South African businessman Andile Ngcaba in 2003, the firm was the first vehicle structured as a permanent capital vehicle in the Convergence Partners stable, which focuses on private equity through its current and future digital infrastructure funds. Under the new brand, Solcon Capital will focus on international deep tech investments in generative AI and large language models (LLM), synthetic data and big data, cybersecurity, and quantum computing in South Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. TechCabal spoke to Andile Ngcaba as well as Pramod Venkatesh, the CEO of Solcon Capital, to find out more about the rebranding, the rationale behind investing in deep tech, the potential impact of deep tech technologies in Africa and much more. What was the rationale behind the rebrand from Convergence Partners Investments to Solcon Capital? Pramod Venkatesh: Convergence Partners Investment has been operational in and investing in tech assets, both in Africa and globally, for the last 20 years. As part of that commemoration of 20 years in the market, one of the things we wanted to do was to establish the next rule of how we are going to take this forward. The current strategy for Convergence Partners Investments focuses on bringing technological breakthroughs in terms of infrastructure development, software and everything else into Africa and the rest of the world. As part of the rebrand to Solcon Capital, we have unveiled our 2035 strategy with a core focus on making permanent capital investments in deep tech in markets like India, Southeast Asia and the US. So effectively, we are now moving ahead from being an Africa-focused tech company to more of a global focused company. Andile Ngcaba: In the last 20 years, we have been investing in a number of companies building satellites, submarine cables, and being involved in deep software companies, and many other investments. Convergence Partners Investments, the entity rebranding to Solcon Capital, is a permanent capital vehicle investing on a very long-term basis in the companies we take equity in. We don’t have a timeline for exit and can invest for 15 years and beyond. To explain the name, Solcon is short for solar constant which refers to the measurement of the intensity of sun rays as they go through the atmosphere into Earth. We chose the name because of our involvement in space technologies, and our continued interest in space science. If you look at the logo, it shows 1011, which is a binary code. 10 means two and 11 means three, so the logo is a representation of the fact that the rebranding happened in 2023. Please share more information about Solcon Capital’s 2035 strategy. PV: In coming up with the strategy, we were looking at various different technologies which are going to be prominent in the next 10 to 15 years. And what we did was, we looked at how the market was reacting to those technologies, and also at the company’s growth, and we figured out the four most important areas we are going to be focusing on in terms of the strategy. Those are Artificial Intelligence, Web3, Space Tech, and Cybersecurity. With AI and generative AI, as you can see, that has taken the world by storm. Of course, artificial intelligence is not new but what has happened in the last one year or so is the advanced advent of generative AI, and the accessibility of AI to all right now. It’s already having a huge impact on companies but it is our belief that it’s going to be much more advanced as we move forward. So as part of our strategy, AI will be a focus of ours. The next area of focus in the 2035 strategy is Web 3.0. Now, that focus area does not mean that we’re going to be investing in cryptocurrencies or any of those. Our focus is mainly on the underlying technology, which is blockchain, and we are very bullish on that. What you see now is decentralisation having a huge impact in terms of how we look at certain industries like finance, infrastructure, etc and we will be looking at companies building products around that concept. And then we also have space tech in our strategy. When space tech is mentioned, it is mostly seen as something which is mainly for governments because it is such a massive and capital-heavy industry. But as Convergence, we have actually launched satellites before so for us, space tech is not necessarily about launching satellites, but the data which is being generated. If you look at companies like SpaceX, you see that there is definitely a huge amount of what you call “democratisation of space”, which means now you see private industry players are able to actually launch satellites. In terms of our focus, it’s going to be more on low elliptical orbit satellites. We believe that as time progresses, launching satellites is going to get cheaper so we will leverage that to launch satellites whose data we are going to use to build products and solutions. We understand that there are companies which might be still in the early stage of space tech right now but we do see some mature companies as well which are, for example, building analytics for farmers using the data from space on satellites. Those are the types of companies we will be looking to invest in. Lastly, in terms of areas of focus of our 2035 strategy, will be cybersecurity. As things become smarter, bad actors are also becoming smarter. For example, with the advent of AI came things like deep fakes . As the world gets smarter, the cybersecurity landscape is also going to see a major shift. We are extremely bullish on backing companies building products addressing the need for a safer internet. So in
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- June 27 2023
TechCabal Daily – Eyowo denies shutdown news
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning A reminder that if you’re participating in our referral programme, your referrals will only count if the email addresses are valid, i.e. you can only refer real people. So if you’re creating fake emails from existing domains in hopes of gaming the system, we’ve got bad news for you: it’s not going to work. We’re investing as much time in our stack as Elon Musk is investing in his upcoming match with Mark Zuckerberg. Check out our T&Cs page to see what you should and shouldn’t do. In today’s edition Eyowo denies shutdown rumours Refugees in Uganda get free internet Safaricom leads mobile money race Lagos to cement its position as a frontier tech city The World Wide Web3 Event: The Moonshot Conference Opportunities News Eyowo denies shutdown rumours Digital bank Eyowo has denied news of its shutdown. Yesterday, tech publication Technext, in an exclusive, reported that the Nigerian startup allegedly would shut down on June 27. An email from the startup’s founders attributed the closure to recent “market complications”. Eyowo co-CEOs Yomi Adedeji and Omoseindemi Olobayo, however, told TechCabal that the company has no plans to shut down. Eyowo co-CEOs Omoseindemi Olobayo and Yomi Adedeji Upcoming layoffs and a shuttered project: Olobayo, who confirmed that the company sent emails to employees about significant changes at Eyowo, claimed that the news reports making the rounds misinterpreted the email. Eyowo is decommissioning a product—Kwiksell, a retail management tool and has let go of employees whose roles have consequently become redundant “The company is indeed letting go of employees, but the number is 13 out of the current workforce of 110,” Olobayo said. A new model: Olobayo explained to TechCabal that the company is not dissolving but evolving into a different kind of business and mindset. Co-CEO Yomi Adedeji added, “We started out as an enterprise-focused company, but we have been evolving into a retail business that offers entrepreneurs and individuals a roadmap for their money. Today, we stepped into a new phase, which requires changing our enterprise DNA to a retail-focused DNA.” In a tweet posted last night, the company announced a pivot to a direct-to-consumers (D2C) operating model where it will “deliver revenue to selected entrepreneurs”. It also noted that its product, Eyowo X—which suffered a brief pause after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) pulled its licence in May—would not be affected. Zoom out: Earlier this year, employees at the company revealed that it had suffered several setbacks stemming from struggling products. At the time, the company admitted that its setbacks had caused several salary delays for its employees. You’ll be in good company Moniepoint has made it simple for your business to access payments while providing access to credit and other business tools. Open an account today on moniepoint.com/ng. Internet Refugees in Uganda get free internet Image soucre: Zikoko Memes In partnership with the World Bank, the Ugandan government is set to provide free internet access to refugees in Uganda. The partnership is created through the Universal Digital Acceleration Programme which is set to launch on July 1. Side bar: Uganda is home to most of the refugees in Africa. Many people flee there from unstable countries like South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Rwanda, Eritrea and Burundi, where political unrest exists. Per the United Nations, in April 2023, the country hosted 1.535 million refugees. More about the free internet: The people in these refugee camps are finding ways to support themselves and the World Bank wants to help them by giving them access to the internet through its Universal Digital Acceleration programme. According to Techpoint, the programme entails expanding the computer lab and providing free internet connection at Refugee and Hope International, a non-profit refugee home in Kampala. Fintech Safaricom leads the pack of mobile money players M-PESA is eating its rivals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Reports by Kenya’s Communications Authority show that Safaricom’s M-PESA rules the Kenyan mobile money jungle with a roaring 96.5% market share. This leaves Airtel Money with 3.4% of the market and T-Kash of Telkom Kenya with 0.1%. M-PESA continues to lead the mobile money race by a landslide despite all the Kenyan central bank has done to level the playing field for other telecoms providing the same service. Image source: YungNolly What has the central bank done? One of the most notable is interoperability. The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) lobbied for mobile money interoperability so that customers could access Safaricom bill payment services using either T-Kash or Airtel Money wallets. So far, it looks like Safaricom has taken up the most space in CBK’s lobby. Winning on every side: Safaricom is at the forefront of the subscription game with a staggering 43.7 million users. Its competitors—Airtel Kenya, Telkom Kenya, Equitel, and JTL—follow behind with 17.6 million, 2.7 million, 1.5 million, and 368,250 SIM subscriptions, respectively. It is also the only operator that offers 5G commercially. So, if you spot a Kenyan rocking a shiny new 5G device from Xiaomi, Samsung, or Apple, chances are they’re using Safaricom. Airtel and Telkom have their work cut out for them, it seems. Economy Lagos to cement position as frontier tech city Image source: TechCabal According to Disrupt Africa, startups based in Lagos accounted for over 87% of total tech startup funding in Nigeria, as of 2022. In the same year, the startup ecosystem in Lagos was ranked 82 out of 100 globally, from 41 the previous year, according to StartupBlink Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2023. Of course, the ascendancy of Lagos as an African tech powerhouse can be attributed to two key factors. First, the number of tech hubs in the city has grown from 10 to 85 in five years. Second, Lagos boasts a large pool of tech talent, with 67% of Nigeria’s developers choosing to stay in the city, as reported by a survey conducted by DevCenter. Amid this digital evolution, the Lagos
Read More- June 26 2023
Exclusive: Eyowo denies reports of a shutdown as it lays off 13 employees
Digital bank Eyowo has denied the reports claiming that it is shutting down on June 27. The CEO and founder confirmed that instead, the firm is decommissioning a product and letting go of about 11% of its employees. The Softcom-owned digital bank Eyowo has denied reports of a shutdown. Earlier today, TechNext published a news report claiming that Eyowo will shut down on June 27. A screenshot of an Eyowo email to employees accompanied the report. The email referenced an upcoming round of layoffs. Part of the email also said, “We are wrapping up Softcom and Eyowo as you know it.” Despite the email’s phrasing, Eyowo told TechCabal that it is not shutting down. The company’s executives clarified that the company is decommissioning a product—Kwiksell, a retail management tool and has let go of employees whose roles have consequently become redundant. The CEO of Eyowo, Omoseindemi Olobayo, speaking to TechCabal, confirmed that they sent emails to employees about significant changes at Eyowo. He, however, claimed that the news reports making the rounds misinterpreted the email. “The company is indeed letting go of employees, but the number is 13 out of the current workforce of 110,” Seinde said. The email published by TechNext read, “We are wrapping up Softcom and Eyowo as you know it. This means all our processes, procedures, responsibilities, and departments have now been dissolved.” Olobayo explained to TechCabal, “The company as an entity is not dissolving but evolving into a different kind of business and mindset.” The CEO Yomi added, “We started out as an enterprise-focused company, but we have been evolving into a retail business that offers entrepreneurs and individuals a roadmap for their money. Today, we stepped into a new phase, which requires changing our enterprise DNA to a retail-focused DNA.” The company confirmed that although the email mentioned dissolving departments, they are letting go of thirteen employees out of the 110 currently working there. “We are decommissioning a product, and that means some roles will no longer be needed. Additionally, when we mentioned dissolving departments in the email, it signifies that the team will no longer work in silos but will function in a closer and more integrated manner.” *This is a developing story
Read More- June 26 2023
Despite new rules, Nigerian banks aren’t asking customers for social media handles yet
New rules from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) say that financial institutions should collect and verify the social media handles of customers. The banks seem unsure of how to go about it. Last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced the Customer Due Diligence Regulation 2023. According to the new regulations, banks will now collect customers’ social media handles as part of the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. However, several banks told TechCabal that they are waiting on further clarification from the CBN before they begin to implement the guidelines. While some banks said that they are waiting on an official memo from the regulator, others said that they are currently deliberating on how to implement the new regulation. “There has to be a stakeholder engagement between the bank and the customers, then a memo would be issued out to compliance officers in regions on implementation steps,” a Fidelity bank personnel told TechCabal. Concerns about the rules mandating identification on social media Per the regulation, the CBN requires social media handles as means of identification but also requires institutions to monitor customers’ online activities, in certain cases, especially if a substantial portion of their business is conducted online. This has been received poorly by many Nigerians who have cited privacy, concerns. Yanuza, a Twitter user said, “We cannot watch silently as CBN goes after the very core of our digital rights which is our privacy by harvesting and linking our social media footprints to our accounts.” The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has also threatened to sue the CBN. Questions have also arisen regarding the reliability of individuals’ online personas as reliable data for financial institutions. While social media activity is increasingly acknowledged in legal proceedings, users can create fake profiles, manipulate images, impersonate others, and make false claims about their financial status. Moreover, fraudulent businesses operate on social media, posing as legitimate entities. However, the CBN thinks that financial institutions can better assess the customers for potential risks associated with money laundering, and terrorism financing. Moreover, the new requirements do not take into account Nigeria’s low internet penetration which makes social media platforms a luxury for many, unlike the previous one. In 2009, the CBN published anti-money laundering regulations that detailed KYC requirements but recognized that many individuals lacked formal means of identification due to financial constraints. To avoid inadvertently excluding the poor, in January 2013, the apex bank introduced a three-tiered KYC requirement that provided flexible opening requirements for low-value and medium-value account holders, with increasing requirements as transaction amounts escalated. This three-tiered KYC requirement is also referenced in the new regulation, albeit briefly. In Section 16 (2), the regulation states, “Financial institutions shall comply with Tiered KYC measures as stipulated in the CBN circulars on TKYC [tiered KYC] and the CBN AML, CFT and CPF Regulations.” However, it remains to be seen how the banks and financial institutions will comply with the new regulations. Previous circulars permit them to create internal processes for verifying the identities of customers who are genuinely unable to meet certain identification requirements. This new regulation does so too but mandates that such policies be brought for approval before implementation. So it is possible that just as email address— the only internet-based identity required then—was optional for lower tier bank accounts, the social media handles might also be an optional KYC requirement for customers of low socio-economic status who would otherwise be excluded from financial services.
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- June 26 2023
Lagos wants its innovation ecosystem to become a global leader
Africa’s tech startup ecosystem is experiencing rapid growth and attracting significant investments. Over the past two years, the number of tech startups in Africa has increased by 40%, while investments into the sector have surged from $1.3 billion in 2019 to $4.85 billion in 2022, reflecting investor confidence in the region’s potential. The rise of Lagos Amid this digital evolution, Lagos state has emerged as a frontrunner, capturing global attention and investor interest. “Lagos State is at the forefront of Africa’s digital transformation,” Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu declared in his keynote address at the recently-concluded GITEX Africa. “This emphasises the region’s pivotal role in shaping the continent’s tech narrative with strategic initiatives to propel Lagos State’s tech ecosystem to unprecedented heights,” he added. According to Disrupt Africa, startups based in Lagos accounted for over 87% of total tech startup funding in Nigeria as of 2022, solidifying the city’s position as the epicentre of the country’s tech scene. In 2022, the startup ecosystem in Lagos is ranked 82 out of 100 globally, from 41 the previous year, according to StartupBlink Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2023. The ascendancy of Lagos as an African tech powerhouse can be attributed to two key factors. Firstly, the number of tech hubs in the city has grown from 10 to 85 in five years. These hubs provide a collaborative space for entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors. Secondly, Lagos boasts a large pool of tech talent, with 67% of Nigeria’s developers choosing to stay in the city, as reported by a survey conducted by DevCenter. This concentration of skilled professionals fuels the local industry and attracts investments from across the world. Building the future The Sanwo-Olu-led government of Lagos is seeking to consolidate the state’s status as the foremost tech ecosystem in Africa. One way the administration is doing this is through its equity-free investments in startups, and its support for R&D initiatives in tertiary institutions. Startups such as Farmz2u, a Techstars-backed agritech venture, WellaHealth, Pricepally and GIVO are beneficiaries of the Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC) fund. Others include DOCi Healthcare, SolidLab, Adire Lounge, Celloop, Retreasure, Brickify, Scrapays, Amjurose, ThinkBikes, STEM METS, TeensCanCode, Terawork, SHIFA Technologies among others. The Science Research and Innovation Council has also driven and supported R&D projects with institutions like the University of Lagos, Lagos State University of Science & Technology, Yaba College of Technology and others. Some of the R&D projects include the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for viral load detection in medical images and the Conversion of Sargassum seaweed microalgae into multiple uses including alternative plastic replacement. According to Olatunbosun Alake, special adviser to the Lagos State governor on innovation and technology, the government has launched its own venture capital fund that is a fund of funds which will help derisk innovation funding at the very early stages for Nigerian startups. “The Lagos state government’s commitment to providing substantial support to the thriving startup ecosystem underscores its dedication to drive innovation and foster a favorable environment for entrepreneurial growth,” said Olatubosun. Lagos state is also focusing on cybersecurity, data privacy, and consumer protection to reinforce its role as a driving force for technological advancement across the continent. Lagos as a sub-national government is domesticating the Nigeria Startup Act and implementing supportive regulations. “We recognise the transformative power of the technology ecosystem and its ability to drive inclusive growth by injecting capital into the tech sector, propelling job creation, economic development, and unprecedented growth,” Sanwo-Olu emphasized. Removing obstacles However, as Lagos state embarks on its journey as a tech powerhouse, it faces significant challenges. Robust internet connectivity, reliable power infrastructure, and security, which are part of the pillars of a thriving digital economy, still need to be improved in Lagos. Given these existing infrastructural limitations, the government is confronting them head on. Over the past 24 months, Lagos State has been expanding on its Metrofibre Project: about 2900km of fibre optic cable has been deployed connecting multiple points of interest. A significant duct infrastructure has also been deployed to help derisk private sector investment in the internet connectivity market. This will increase internet connectivity to almost double digit rates in the coming years. “We are aware of the challenges we face regarding power and internet connectivity,” stated the Gov. Sanwo-Olu. “And we are actively working on improving these critical infrastructure elements to unlock the full potential of our tech ecosystem,” he added. Lagos state has also been at the forefront of the power sector reform. It helped push the national legislation for the decoupling of power from the federal government and on its own pushed its own power sector reform through the Lagos State House of Assembly. This will allow significant investment into the power sector in Lagos. The Lagos State Innovation MasterPlan also takes a comprehensive approach to addressing Innovation and Technology enablement in the State. The government aims to enhance the state’s tech ecosystem through infrastructure development, public-private partnerships, regulatory reforms, capacity building, and progress monitoring. Projections indicate that with sustained investments and infrastructure improvements, Lagos state’s digital economy will contribute about 40% to Nigeria’s GDP and increase job creation in the tech sector by 30%, according to Stears Insights. Lagos state’s journey towards reaching its digital economy ambitions is underway as it aims to lead Africa’s tech revolution by prioritizing digital policy initiatives.
Read More- June 26 2023
Despite Kenya’s central bank backing, mobile money rivals are no match for M-PESA
Kenya’s ICT services in Q3 2023 show a decrease in mobile money subscriptions, Safaricom’s dominance in the market, a rise in mobile and 5G subscriptions, and a higher penetration rate of feature phones over smartphones. Kenya’s ICT regulator, the Communications Authority (CA), has released interesting numbers that shed light on the country’s ICT services for the third quarter of its financial year (January to March 2023). The data is provided by different players in the industry, including mobile carriers and broadband providers, as per their license obligations. There is no beating M-PESA Mobile money subscriptions in Kenya decreased to 38.4 million in March 2023 from 38.6 million in the previous quarter. This represents a penetration rate of 76.0%, a 2.2% decrease from the previous quarter. The penetration rate decline is due to the decline in activities in mobile money services during the quarter under review. Safaricom’s M-PESA tops the mobile money market share at 96.5%. Airtel Money comes in second at just 3.4%, followed by Telkom Kenya’s T-Kash at 0.1%. Through the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), the state has been trying to make the mobile money space fair for all mobile money services, but such activities have not favoured small players. M-PESA is a dominant player in the payment services market in Kenya. Although Safaricom vehemently denies it is dominant, M-PESA takes the lion’s share of payment services channels. These channels have since been made interoperable, but the biggest boost could arise from agency interoperability. This could allow customers to use Airtel Money and T-Kash more by accessing M-PESA’s vast agency network. Currently, there are over 331,000 registered mobile money agents in the country. Other numbers A jump in mobile subscriptions The number of active mobile SIM subscriptions in Kenya increased to 66.1 million in March 2023, up from 65.7 million in the previous quarter. This represents a mobile penetration rate of 130.5%, a drop of 2.6% from the previous quarter. The decrease in the penetration rate has been linked to the revision of the country’s population figures from 49.4 million to 50.6 million. Safaricom leads in subscriptions with over 43.7 million, followed by Airtel Kenya, Telkom Kenya, Equitel, and JTL at 17.6 million, 2.7 million, 1.5 million, and 368,250 SIM subscriptions, respectively. 5G numbers are growing The overall number of mobile data/internet subscriptions during the quarter reached 47.96 million. Of this figure, around 67.1% were explicitly for mobile broadband. It’s worth noting that the demand for faster Internet speeds has led to a continuous rise in mobile broadband adoption among consumers. Over 21.2 million subscriptions are accessing the internet via 4G, followed by 2G at 17.7 million. 3G is still prominent, with over 10.5 million subscriptions. The latest generation, 5G, has 373,573 subscriptions, a notable jump from 299,000 recorded in the previous quarter. Multiple companies now sell 5G-powered devices, including affordable Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Samsung, and Apple. Safaricom is the only operator that offers 5G after commercially launching the service last October. It also offers 5G-specific data bundles with more data units than other bundles. Feature phones still rule The total number of mobile phone devices reached 62.96 million for the quarter under review. This translates to a device penetration rate of 124.5%, indicating more mobile phones than the total population. Further analysis reveals that the penetration rate for feature phones stood at 66.2% with over 33.4 million units, while for smartphones, it stood at 58.3% with 29.4 million handsets.
Read More- June 26 2023
Ecobank taps Africa Union’s PAPSS system for cross-border transfers
The Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPPS), which was launched to make cross-border transactions seamless, has since onboarded over 25 commercial banks on its system since its launch by the African Union and the Afreximbank in 2022. The partnership with Ecobank could make adoption even easier. Ecobank Group and the Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) have announced a partnership that will support cross-border transactions of the bank and its subsidiaries through PAPSS. The collaboration was announced at the 30th Afreximbank Annual Meeting in Accra, Ghana. For Ecobank Group CEO Jeremy Awori, “Partnerships such as the one we have signed on PAPSS are essential for the delivery and success of the AfCFTA and for our continent’s financial integration and economic development. We are committed to the success of PAPSS and are pleased to bring on board our payments and collections expertise from our African coverage of 33 markets.” “This partnership ensures that all partner banks and PAPSS can expand their reach rapidly and enable greater and wider intra-African trade. Today, we begin to change and rewrite the narrative of low intra-African trade by removing the barrier to efficient and instant payments and collections in African currencies,” Awori added. What is PAPSS, and why is it important? PAPSS is a pan-African payment system facilitating instant cross-border payments in local African currencies. It is a centralised platform that connects central banks, commercial banks, and other financial institutions across the continent. The platform was launched in January 2022 by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Union (AU). At launch, it was sold as a system that could reduce the cost and time of cross-border payments in Africa and boost intra-African trade. It has partnered with over 25 commercial banks since its launch and helps accelerates payment processing as a real-time gross settlement system. The system also boosts security compared to the current correspondent banking system, as it operates on a centralised platform governed by the AU and Afreximbank. At launch, PAPSS introduced a new settlement model called the Commercial Bank Settlement Model, which allows commercial banks to open and fund their settlement accounts at Afreximbank and manage their liquidity as per their banking requirements. The Ecobank angle Ecobank has a 33-subsidiary network on the continent, with several partnerships with individual banks in other countries. To this end, the partnership aims to allow traders from across continents to receive and send payments through the Ecobank network instantly. “Having the cooperation of Ecobank Group, one of the major banks in Africa, is a huge honour, but more importantly, it shows that PAPSS is the payment system that will transform the way that people in Africa conduct cross-border transactions. To this end, I appreciate the bank’s management for having faith in PAPSS,” said PAPSS CEO, Mike Ogbalu III. Not Ecobank’s first product in 2023 Earlier in May, Ecobank partnered with neobank platform Fingo App. The digital bank, accessed in Ecobank’s network in Africa, allows users to send funds to each other for free. It includes other features, such as utility payments. Fingo, launched in 2021, has since been licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and raised over $4 million in two rounds. It claims to be Kenya’s first digital bank, but that is inaccurate since NCBA launched NCBA Loop in 2017. Digital lender Branch has since joined the neobanking race in the country too.
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- June 26 2023
Next Wave: Questioning Africa’s booming tech event circus
Cet article est aussi disponible en français <!– In partnership with –> <!— –> First published 24 June 2023 Everyone wants to host the definitive “African tech event”, but what is the true value of an African tech event? One of the most fascinating things to watch has been the increasing number of tech events organised in or targeting Africa’s technology “ecosystem”. As the numbers continue to grow, the impromptu small group “mixers”, large multi-day multi-track conferences, even bigger exhibitions, plus the staid business and policy affairs are all blurring into each other. The African tech media circus is on a roll, and while I am not complaining, I can’t help but wonder if the generic versions of the same event format are not a sign that the newborn sector needs an infusion of inventiveness. Partner Message Calling technologists and creatives across Africa! Are you working on an innovative product that helps address disinformation and extremism challenges? If so, we want you to apply to the U.S.-West Africa Tech Challenge! The U.S.-West Africa Tech Challenge funds promising technologies that offer innovative solutions to help expose, understand, or counter disinformation, propaganda, and violent extremism within Coastal West Africa. We invite technologists from across Africa to submit an application to present their solutions for a chance to receive funding totaling $250,000 USD. The event will take place on September 27-28 2023 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Eight finalists will have the opportunity to present their tech to a panel of judges and an audience of government, civil society, and private sector stakeholders. The deadline for submissions is July 16, 2023. To receive the full details of how to apply, click the button below: See application details The tech event “industry” is a significant several-billion-dollar market globally. In the days and weeks after COVID-19 was officially recognised as a global health emergency, tech event cancellations in the US alone reportedly caused losses of more than $1.1 billion. This was according to PredictHQ, a market intelligence firm focused on the business of events and adjacent industries. That a firm (and likely several others) could find a viable business model in predicting how events shape retail and B2B businesses is a testament to how much value events generate—at least in the United States. You could see the immediate result of the losses facing the events industry in how virtual event startups received massive bouts of venture and public funding as investors (both venture capitalists and in public markets) saw the billions of dollars events market as up for grabs. Zoom anyone? Unfortunately, it did not last even beyond the first year of the COVID-19 health emergency. Not all and randomly selected on a Sunday afternoon, please don’t be angry with us, if we missed something | 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. Physical events are now on an upswing and Africa’s technology ecosystems, which received significant injections of capital in the three years following March 2020, are building their marketplaces of technology events. It is not new, it is just…a lot more and happening in more places than before. London, Paris, Dubai, Marrakech, Cape Town, Kigali, Lagos, Lusaka, Washington DC, heck I’ve seen African tech media being invited to Punjab (you may or may not see me rocking a dark green shalwar kameez in Lahore). The most recent events I have been part of were all first-time events and were excellent in their different ways. But for today’s Sunday essay, I would deeply appreciate responses from organisers (especially) and attendees. I happen to be on both sides. But I am one person and I don’t know it all and I have a responsibility to push the hard questions, no? So here are a few questions for you: Is there an actual events industry developing alongside or this is all just a sideshow? Let me explain. The business value of attending industry events, generally, is obvious. You get to meet people in person. That is often invaluable for a business and I understand that. But the more these events happen and are not differentiated, the more I question if the model (profit for organisers) is that valuable especially as more events resemble each other and are multiplying. Is there really a demand for and a deep-enough pocket for undifferentiated tech events happening throughout the year? If there is a growing demand for these events, that might be a proxy for learning how much business is generated by events. It sounds like data airlines and other types of travel/hospitality businesses will want to look into and use it to create custom packages. If there is not, the question is, how much do regionally disjointed events really help in fostering networking or connections? Or are the same set of people always seeing the same set of other people? If you’ve attended tech events (especially the conferences and exhibitions) in Africa, what were the top three things you looked forward to when deciding what event to be a part of? There is a school of thought that dismisses the overall value of attending events. I think it’s an incredibly short-sighted school of thought, especially when applied broadly and they got louder during the “focus on positive unit economics” era of venture capitalists, just a few months ago. And while there is merit to the argument that startup money is not supposed to fund tourism, one could just as easily dismiss the real chance to score new leads or even deals, find and nurture relationships. Or have the opportunity to do things as basic as increasing discoverability—especially for B2B firms. Partner Content: LiteUp Naija: Illuminating Nigeria with the power of the sun My point is not whether attending events can be
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