A snapshot of Sabi at Moonshot by TechCabal
At TechCabal’s flagship conference, Moonshot, Anu Adedoyin Adasolum, co-founder and CEO of Sabi, a Nigerian B2B platform, spoke to Big Cabal Media CEO Tomiwa Aladekomo about how Sabi works. “Sabi [in Nigerian speak] means to know what to do,” Anu Adedoyin Adasolum, CEO of Nigerian B2B platform Sabi, explained to the teeming audience at the Moonshot by TechCabal conference. The three-year-old startup has been helping African businesses solve the problems of Africa’s fragmented commerce sector. “We make money by helping people make money,” Adasolum said. In Nigeria, and many African countries, commerce is challenging due to inadequate infrastructure, and access-related problems. This slows the growth of businesses. Sabi, through its online tools and in-person services, fills the gaps in the fractured supply and demand chain for small and large enterprises on the continent. For example, if a farmer has a lot of groundnut produce, Sabi can connect her to different off-takers so that she doesn’t have to be worried about demand. Through its online tools or in-person services, Sabi helps businesses find demand, access credit or working capital, and manage inventory and supply, from sourcing goods to safely transporting them to off-takers. Currently, Sabi’s biggest customer base is in agriculture, but Sabi extends its services to small, medium, and large businesses in sectors like fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), electronics and pharmaceuticals. Smaller merchants can access credit, order products, and manage inventory and sales through Sabi’s app. Big producers of commodities in the agriculture, minerals, or chemicals sector can use any of Sabi’s initiatives such as Technology Rails for African Commodities Exchange (TRACE) to close commercial agreements, facilitate exports, imports and more. Larger-sized businesses, who are typically wholesalers or distributors, would typically work with Sabi through any of its relationship managers. De-risking the process Sabi works with about 200,000 businesses and has to manage risks so it conducts customer assessments. “We have a very large network, so it is very unlikely that we do not know you or anyone that you work with,” Adasolum told Aladekomo. “We will use that information from our network to understand your history and determine if you are reliable or not.” Once Sabi confirms the reliability of a client, it leverages its network and partnerships to meet the business’s needs. For example, if a client needs capital to fulfill a ₦200 million ($255,901) purchase order from a reputable buyer, and they have 100 farmers supplying the products, Sabi can connect you with a finance partner. “We vouch for your credibility and ensure the transaction’s legitimacy,” Adasolum said. “We also manage the logistics, from paying the farmers to overseeing the product’s transport and delivery to the buyer.” Adasolum also revealed that Sabi is currently exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) can streamline its processes. While some AI applications might align with the data products that Sabi offers at an enterprise level, the team is gradually developing ideas for how AI can be integrated into the business. Adasolum anticipates that, in the coming year, parts of Sabi’s tech stack will be replaced by AI solutions as they continue to innovate. If you would like to watch the full conversation with Sabi’s CEO, head over to our YouTube channel!
Read MoreExclusive: Bolt Kenya denies acquisition bid by Little Cab
Bolt Kenya, one of the most popular ride-hailing apps in the East African country, has denied having buyout discussions with Little Cab, a Kenyan competitor, after a report by Kenyan publication Business Daily, claimed both companies were in talks. The publication said that Bolt and Little Cab’s talks only ended after the National Transport Authority of Kenya (NTSA) renewed Bolt’s annual operating licence. “Bolt has not engaged in any discussions regarding a potential buyout, as we are not available for acquisition,” Bolt Kenya told TechCabal in an email. “We appreciate the interest expressed by one of our competitors in our company; however, we remain steadfast in our commitment to operate within the market under the Bolt brand.” Little Cab’s CEO, Kamal Budhabhatti, who heads the app’s parent company Craft Silicon, said they had sent Bolt a letter proposing a “possible collaboration.” “Bolt had gotten some challenge in getting the licence from the Kenyan transport authority,” he said. “Such mergers and acquisitions have happened in other parts of the world like Southeast Asia between Uber and Grab.” Kamal further clarified that the letter aimed to open the door for discussions. Little Cab stopped collaboration attempts after Bolt got its licence. In the last couple of weeks, Bolt’s licence renewal exercise was halted by NTSA following multiple assault complaints from customers and riders. The NTSA asked the company to provide a plan to address the concerns. The ride-hailing platform then dropped the controversial and “illegal” booking fee and said it had opened a local office in Nairobi to address driver partner grievances. Little Cab, which operates in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Ghana, says it bootstrapped itself to profitability and has a valuation of about $80 million. It plans to expand to two other African markets in 2024. In August 2022, Little Cab revealed plans to sell 25% of its stake to private investors in a move aimed at boosting its valuation to $100 million. The sale has since been dropped because, per the CEO, Little is profitable. Its current valuation is between $200-250 million. On the other hand, in early 2022, Bolt raised $711 million in a new round of funding led by Sequoia Capital and Fidelity. This investment valued the company at about $8.4 billion, up from $4.8 billion five months earlier.
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Exclusive: IROKOtv’s user numbers show Africa’s oldest streamer is behind competition
IROKOtv, the first-ever dedicated streaming service for Nigerian films, had one of its best months in January 2022, according to internal documents seen by TechCabal. It started 2022 with 192,174 active users, but by the end of the year, those numbers fell to 46,000, a 76% decline. IROKOtv’s subscriber numbers have continued downhill since then, a person with direct knowledge of its numbers shared with TechCabal. They blamed a slowdown in shipping new content and IROKOtv’s malfunctioning app for the slump. Two sources also said the company’s decision to halt paid advertising, which gulped a large chunk of its $300,000 monthly expense in 2021, and the layoff of its marketing team have hurt the business. ”We shifted from subscriber growth as a metric,” IROKOtv told TechCabal in a statement while declining to comment on its user numbers. The company also said it entered a content deal with FilmOne Entertainment that spans 2024. Crucial app upgrades are behind schedule In September, the absence of IROKOtv in app stores sparked rumours that the company was shutting down. Its CEO, Jason Njoku, dismissed those claims. He told TechCabal that IROKOtv was migrating its software stack to a new platform designed to serve a primarily international audience. The platform upgrade will include specific configurations for locations with faster internet and smart television devices, including Roku adapters. Njoku, who shares the struggles of building a streaming business on his blog, argues that the sector’s peculiar challenges have kept several platforms small. Digital TV Research, which studies the streaming and pay-TV industry, estimated that the African streaming market had 3.75 million subscribers in 2020, with IROKOtv accounting for 8.6% of the market or 322,500 users. The company was predicted to reach just under 600,000 subscribers by 2025. However, data seen by TechCabal shows that IROKOtv, at under 200,000 subscribers in January 2022, is significantly far from the mark. Its shrinking customer base in recent months and average revenue per user of under $10 coincide with increasing competition in the African streaming market. Betting on an international market IROKOtv is now staking its future on a large international subscriber base, particularly the African diaspora in the US, Canada, the UK, and continental Europe. This ambition is not new. In 2020, during the pandemic, Njoku announced that the company was “defocusing our Africa growth efforts” to focus on international markets with much higher average consumer spending. He explained that IROKOtv had lost over $30 million during its lifetime and has been “bleeding millions of dollars annually trying to build Internet TV in Africa.” “Thankfully, we have an international business to fall back upon,” Njoku said at the time, explaining that its international business represented 80% of the company’s revenue. However, a declining customer base could put additional pressure on the company’s resources. Company data from 2022 shows that IROKOtv’s international customer base is small. While the streaming platform averaged 95,647 monthly users in 2022, only 4,855 were international subscribers. A person with knowledge of IROKOtv’s business said the company came into 2023 intending to improve user retention, identifying technical issues as a critical reason for losing 76% of users. Yet, fixing these issues has not been straightforward, with the source citing financial, labour and operational constraints. The company used to own ROK, a movie studio and distribution company that produced over 500 movies and TV series for IROKOtv and ROK’s dedicated cable TV channels on pay-TV service DStv and SKY, a UK cable company. In 2019, IROKOtv sold ROK to Canal+ Group, a French media company ramping up expansion plans on the continent. The sale was a shock since Njoku had previously explained in 2018 that “content is king.” “No one really cares about IROKOtv,” he wrote in a 2018 blog post. “Yes, it’s a brand they have come to know and love… But what they are really interested in and fall in love with is the content. ROK on DStv demonstrated this fact, without a shadow of a doubt.” The sale of ROK cut IROKOtv from a direct vital source of content, making it dependent on Canal+ despite Njoku bemoaning the high cost of content acquisition. IROKOtv told TechCabal in a press statement that it asked ROK to pause supplying content earlier in the year. “It became increasingly important to control the flow of dollar-denominated content to our platforms as a cost-control mechanism,” the statement said. A former IROKOtv employee said over the last year, the company typically received several user complaints that new movies announced via email and push notifications were unavailable. The ex-employee said the team was unaware of this development at first and assumed it was caused by technical issues on the client’s end. “They would call us, and we would walk them through basic troubleshooting, telling them to try a better internet connection, reboot the app, all to no avail.” This continued until the team stumbled on information that ROK Studios, its former sister company and now content partner, had stopped supplying movies. A content distribution executive at Rok Studios confirmed that content distribution to IROKOtv was paused but declined to say when or why. “But we still have a working relationship with IROKOtv, “ she said, declining to offer additional details. This sort of communication gap across teams has also hampered other growth plans, another source said. “The app has needed fixing since the start of the year, but for months, the engineering team remained more occupied with Njoku’s other products—BettyBingo and Black Bet.” IROKOtv disputed this version of events, clarifying that it doesn’t have an “engineering team to be overstretched.” In the following months, IROKOtv slowed down and eventually halted its paid marketing campaigns, which primarily helped to acquire new international customers. The source claimed that the company spent over $4,000 on ads, which brought in over 4000 subscriptions in January. In February, the company spent about half of that, which brought in less than 1,500 subscriptions. “Eventually, the customer support team kept getting fewer leads for subscribers, and they learned that it
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Novastar Ventures closes $40 million fund
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning It’s that time of the year when we ask you how we’ve been doing so far. What do you like about this newsletter, and what do you think we can do better? Please take out a couple of minutes to fill our survey. Let us know how we can improve. And if you’d rather say it to our faces, please schedule a 1:1 session with us here. We’d be happy to speak with you. In today’s edition Novastar Ventures closes $40 million fund MNT-Halan raises $130 million Elon Musk launches new AI Twitter is selling inactive usernames for $50,000 The World Wide Web3 Opportunities Funding Novastar Ventures closes $40 million fund GIF source: Zikoko Memes Novastar Ventures, an Africa-focused investment firm, has partnered with Japanese venture capital firm SBI Holdings to launch a $40 million African fund for Novastar’s upcoming funds. Launched in 2019, Novastar Ventures invests in early-stage startups in Africa. Its portfolio includes Nigerian fintech Moniepoint, electric mobility startup BasiGo, and healthtech mPharma. According to Steve Beck, co-founder and managing partner of Novastar, the venture firm has seen a 20x increase since its launch and has successfully secured over $200 million from global institutional patrons. With the investment, SBI Holdings aims to attract other Japanese investors to invest in Novastar’s funds, and in return, Novastar will offer SBI Holdings the opportunity to co-invest in startups and provide valuable market insights. Although SBI Holdings’ investment gives it a minority stake in Novastar, Novastar’s partners—Mavuno Capital, Jumia Partners, Sterling Bank and KPMG Africa—will retain control of the company’s core management. SBI Holdings will also have a non-executive seat on Novastar’s Management Board. Lights out: The Novastar and SBI Holdings partnership is a win-win for both sides. Novastar gets access to SBI’s capital and expertise, while SBI gets exposure to Africa’s fast-growing startup ecosystem. Access payments with Moniepoint Moniepoint has made it simple for your business to access payments while providing access to credit and other business tools. Open an account today here. Funding Egypt’s MNT-Halan raises $130 million debt funding Image source: MNT-Halan Egyptian fintech unicorn MNT-Halan has raised $130 million through a bond issuance this week. This brings its total raise this year to $530 million. In February, the company raised $400 million in equity and debt financing from Chimera Investments and other investors. At the time, MNT-Halan was also valued at $1 billion, giving it its unicorn status. It also announced plans to raise $600 million this year, and it looks like it’s achieving that goal with this recent raise. The fintech is also reportedly targeting another $150 million by year-end. More investors: Its more recent $130 million raise was led by investment bank CI Capital. Launched in 2018, MNT-Halan offers digital banking, payments, and e-commerce services to the unbanked. With more than 1.5 million quarterly active users across small and micro business lending, payments, consumer finance, and e-commerce. The fintech has served more than seven million customers in Egypt. “We are seeing very strong demand for off-balance sheet funding as we enter 2024. This is primarily a result of the high quality of our underwriting,” CEO Mounir Nakhla said, commenting on the recent raise. Zoom out: MNT-Halan has raised most of its funding this year through its loan portfolio, which is now worth $650 million and growing by 4–5% per month, according to Nakhla. Join the Paystack private beta Paystack has launched a private beta to offer payment tools to businesses in Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, and Rwanda. Learn more about Paystack’s entry into 3 new markets → AI Elon Musk announces new “fun” AI bot GIF source: Tenor Move over ChatGPT, there’s a new bot in town. Yesterday, chief twit Elon Musk announced a new artificial intelligence service, Grok which is “intended to answer almost anything”. According to the X announcement, Grok is “is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humour!” It’ll mock you, just like Musk: To demonstrate how much of a hard guy Grok is, Musk, in a tweet, asked Grok to draw up the recipe for cocaine, and Grok responded, “Just a moment while I pull up the recipe for homemade cocaine. You know, because I’m totally going to help you with that.” Hold your funny bones though, Grok isn’t available for use just yet. Like many of Musk’s social plans, the bot is premature. It’s still in its early stages of growth, only has two months of training and will only be available to a select few. If you’re interested in testing out Grok, you can sign up for the waitlist here (caveat, only verified users on X can join the waitlist). Per Musk, Grok will become a feature exclusive to X Premium, allowing users to access the chatbot for a monthly fee of $16. This underscores Musk’s commitment to maximising X’s profitability by monetising every aspect. The big picture: AI services are the new NFTs, but ones that are actually useful. After ChatGPT’s launch in November 2022 saw a quick rise in users—about 100 million within two months to be exact—several other companies like Google and Microsoft have also launched their AIs. Now, an estimated 1.5 billion people across the world are using one AI chatbot or the other. And the AI space is only getting bigger. Yesterday, at its first developer conference, OpenAI announced plans for a custom GPT Builder feature. The ChatGPT parent company is creating a tool that will let users create and manage custom AI agents, and it will even pay the creators of these agents depending on how much their services are used. On the financial side, these chatbots are expensive to run. Research and consulting firm SemiAnalysis estimated that ChatGPT was costing OpenAI a remarkable $700,000 per day in computing costs alone. Social media Twitter is selling inactive handles for $50,000 GIF source: Zikoko
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Next Wave: The mental price of being a founder
Cet article est aussi disponible en français <!– In partnership with –> <!–TopBanner Join us for TechCabal Battlefield, Moonshot’s startup competition where you can showcase your startup idea to a global audience and an esteemed panel of judges and stand a chance to win up to 2.5 million naira in funding for your business! Click to register for TC Battlefield First published 5 November 2023 “A startup is a lonely place. You are working on something that no one believes in, that you’ve been told time and time again will never work. It’s you against the world.” – Marc Randolph, co-founder, Netflix. The mental health of tech founders isn’t often talked about in our ecosystem. In the early days of building, a founder is likely to be constantly travelling, bootstrapping, wearing many hats in the business, and often, neglecting themselves and forgetting to take a break. These can take a cognitive and psychological toll on them, leading to stress and anxiety, poor judgement, and a breakdown in their personal relationships. Founders go through a lot of mental stress—imposter syndrome, doubt, and the justified need for validation from their team, investors, and customers. Fundraising is a primary source of stress for founders | Chart by Mobolaji Adebayo, TC Insights “I think being a founder is a lonely journey,” Dennis Mary, founder of web3 startup Yuki, told me. “Nobody seems to understand you. This includes your team and family. Being a founder can be mentally draining, especially when you face rejections from applications like Techstars, for instance. You can begin to start questioning yourself. You have to figure things out all the time. Sometimes, when there is bad news, you have to absorb it first before thinking about how to pass it on to your team.” Partner Content: Surviving the Nigerian market: Entrepreneurship nuggets from Chuks Aylor Ope Onaboye, CEO of e-commerce fulfilment startup Renda, said that many founders are scared of failure but would never make that struggle public. This fear of failure is further compounded by the current drought of venture capital funding, macroeconomic shocks, and worst of all, the witnessing of the shutdown of other once-promising startups. Sometimes, having no support system to lean on by way of family, friends or spouses can be disheartening, especially when they are not in the same field as the founder and therefore cannot understand what the founders are building. Article continues after this ad The National Science Week (NSW) is a hallmark event in Uganda’s calendar, celebrated every year to honor Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI). The event will feature a dedicated Investor Summit, bringing together some of the world’s leading pan African Venture Capitalists, Investors, and Startups.. Find out how you can participate Seventy-two percent of founders have said that launching their business had a negative impact on their health, according to information obtained from data-sharing platform, Startup Snapshot. The data which sampled over 400 early-stage startup founders across the globe reported that 81% of founders are not really open about their stressors, fears and challenges, similar to what Onaboye said. Twenty-three percent are seeing a therapist, according to the aforementioned report. It’s important that founders guard their health jealously as they solve hard problems daily. Inadequate sleep can lead to health problems like hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, and stroke. A combination of healthy food and exercise can make it easier to get the required amount of sleep required by the body to live a better quality of life. Simple exercise routines daily can give the body the much-required vitality to do its best work while avoiding terminal illness. Founders must take breaks when they begin to experience burnouts; they must set realistic goals for their companies and not feel undue pressure to prematurely expand the business, say, regionally. Setting realistic projections to achieving success is important for tech entrepreneurs to save not just themselves but their team. A founder must not allow the business to revolve around them, their personality, or whims. The business’s operations must not cease if its founder dares to go on leave. Delegating work and getting more team members involved in the running of the business should be encouraged through open workplace communication and the documentation of progress on projects and the establishment of enduring systems for the business. Article continues after this ad Every Sunday Africa’s technology industry leaders, investors, operators, and regulators turn to Next Wave for insightful commentary on where the continent’s digital economy is headed. In an era of news and noise, Next Wave is the opportunity to reach decision makers in Africa’s fast growing world of technology with your unique message. Get in touch today Joseph Olaoluwa, Senior Reporter, TechCabal. Feel free to email joseph.olaoluwa[at]bigcabal.com, with your thoughts about this edition of NextWave. Or just click reply to share your thoughts and feedback. We’d love to hear from you Psst! Down here! Thanks for reading today’s Next Wave. Please share. Or subscribe if someone shared it to you here for free to get fresh perspectives on the progress of digital innovation in Africa every Sunday. As always feel free to email a reply or response to this essay. I enjoy reading those emails a lot. TC Daily newsletter is out daily (Mon – Fri) brief of all the technology and business stories you need to know. Get it in your inbox each weekday at 7 AM (WAT). Follow TechCabal on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay engaged in our real-time conversations on tech and innovation in Africa. If you liked this edition of Next Wave, please share with your friends. And feel free to reply with thoughts and feedback. We welcome those. 18, Nnobi Street, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria View in Map You received this email because you signed up on our website or made purchase from us.If you know longer wish to recieve these emails, please unsubscribe
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Showmax to discontinue services outside Africa
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning Chowdeck, the Y Combinator-backed Nigerian food delivery startup, says it has crossed ₦1 billion ($1.2 million) in monthly gross merchandise value (GMV). This marks a 10x growth spurt for a company that reportedly crossed ₦100 million monthly GMV just ten months ago. Want to know how they did it? Chowdeck founder Femi Aluko breaks it down in this TechCabal exclusive. In today’s edition Norrsken22 closes $205 million fund Showmax to exit non-African countries Twitter continues to ignore ex-Africa team Funding tracker The World Wide Web3 Opportunities Funding Norrsken22 closes $205 million fund GIF source: Zikoko Memes Africa-focused venture capital firm Norrsken22 has closed its debut Africa Tech Growth Fund at $205 million, $5 million more than its $200 million goal. The VC firm launched its Africa Tech Growth Fund in January 2022 with $110 million, but support for the fund slowed as Africa’s funding scene tightened between 2022 and 2023. Side bar: While African startups raised about $5 billion in 2022, funding in 2023, as of October 2023, stood at $2.7 billion. The $205 million completes the firm’s debut fund. The round was supported by a group of 30 unicorn founders globally including Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola, Skype Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, iZettle co-founder Jacob de Geer, and Delivery Hero co-founder Niklas Östberg. What’s the money for? Norrsken22 is looking to invest in growth-stage startups across the continent. The fund is looking to invest in 20 startups, with its ticket size averaging $10 million. According to managing partner Natalie Kolbe who spoke to TechCrunch, 50% of the fund will be used to build its portfolio with Series A and B companies, and the rest for investment in Series B and C companies. Its portfolio of companies presently includes B2B retail startup Sabi, auto-financing startup Autochek, identity verification platform SmileID, fintech Shara, and digital bank Tymebank. Access payments with Moniepoint Moniepoint has made it simple for your business to access payments while providing access to credit and other business tools. Open an account today here. Streaming Showmax to discontinue services outside Africa Showmax is maxing out its efforts in Africa…and Africa alone. The MultiChoice streaming service announced, last week, that it would discontinue its streaming services outside Africa by December 1, 2023. This means Showmax users outside the continent will no longer be able to access the service by then. Why? In a statement shared with customers, the company said, “For the moment, we will be focused specifically on the African market and on meeting the needs of our growing customer communities across the dynamic continent.” This move comes weeks after the company also announced the shutdown of its paid tier Showmax Pro which offered users access to live sports and news from SuperSport. Showmax 2.0 is coming to screens: It’s also a part of Showmax’s total revamp to Showmax 2.0. Image source: Showmax The full details of Showmax 2.0 are unknown for now, but it does include a partnership with NBC Universal’s Peacock which will bring new content to Showmax. The partnership saw MultiChoice sell 30% of its stake in Showmax to NBC Universal for $30 million. While Showmax 2.0 is set for launch in March 2024, prices for the service have already been increased since July 2023 with its Premium Plus subscription tier getting a $2 increase. Zoom out: Meanwhile, MultiChoice is also increasing the prices of its DStv and GOtv services across the continent. Its Nigerian viewers, last Friday, received news of a 19% increase across subscription packages—the country’s second increment of 2023 since May when an 18% increment was implemented. So far, MultiChoice is scrambling to compete with an incursion from international streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and DisneyPlus. As of 2021, Netflix had the highest number of subscribers at 2.6 million, beating Showmax’s 800,000 subscribers. Join the Paystack private beta Paystack has launched a private beta to offer payment tools to businesses in Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, and Rwanda. Learn more about Paystack’s entry into 3 new markets → Big Tech Twitter continues to ignore ex-Africa team Image source: Twitter A year after abruptly laying them off, Twitter—now X—is yet to give its Africa team their severance packages. The team of 20, headquartered in Ghana, had announced the launch of a new office a week prior to their layoffs. While teams across other continents received—in emails informing them of their layoffs—emails to the Twitter Africa team included no details on severance packages. All requests to the Twitter headquarters were also not responded to. BBC reported that the team then engaged a team of lawyers from Agrncy Seven Seven who were in contact with the Elon Musk-led company, but Twitter stopped responding to the lawyers in May 2023, right when discussions were almost at a close. Now, the team is once again considering legal action against Twitter/X for violating Ghanaian labour laws. Last week, BBC once again reported that the team has yet to get its severance package from Twitter/X. While the ex-Twitter Africa team had reestablished contact, and both parties had agreed that all settlements would conclude by October 5, the BBC reports that Twitter/X once again ignored the deadline, the latest in a string of missed deadlines. “Every time we get close, they go silent for weeks on end with no explanation. It has been one year since they were all laid off, defeating the entire purpose of a redundancy package, which is meant to cushion employees against the adverse effects of being laid off,” said Carla Olympio from Agency Seven Seven. The big picture: The ex-Twitter Africa team is just one of several ex-Twitter employees who are being taunted by billionaire Musk’s indifference. There are reportedly over 2,200 arbitration cases against Twitter/X by ex-employees who, after Musk’s bungled Twitter takeover, were left without severance packages. The company globally owes at least $500 million in severance packages, an amount Musk doesn’t seem to be interested in paying—just as he’s not
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How Victor Ekwueme is helping the blind see through tech
In Nigeria, access to opportunities for people with disabilities is an uphill climb. Amidst the challenges, Victor Ekwueme is shining a light through tech, especially for visually impaired persons. If you sit beside software developer Victor Ekwueme while he’s writing or coding, you may think he’s a snob who only wants to be in his world; he would have his earphones on, and his stare at his screen wouldn’t waver. What you may not realise immediately is that he cannot see you. His earphones are for him to listen to his screen reader telling him what key he’s hitting. Ekwueme, 44, is among the nearly seven million people who are blind in Nigeria. He was born to renowned professor of music, composer, and actor Lazarus “Laz” Ekwueme and Lucy Ekwueme, a professor of music education. Before he became visually impaired, he earned a degree in computer science from the University of Lagos in 2002. In 2004, after getting his first master’s degree in information technology from the University of Nottingham, Ekwueme noticed that his sight was failing. Whenever he looked down, he could only partially see objects in his upper vision field, and if he looked up, he could only partially see things below. A medical diagnosis later revealed that he had retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic eye defect affecting 1 in 4,000 people. It is incurable; this bug he could not fix. Rather than take the blow sitting down, Ekwueme decided to take matters into his own hands. “I felt that as I was losing my vision, there was little time left for me. So I started consuming as much knowledge as I could find,” he told TechCabal. “I read various books because I felt they would help me if I lost my vision. I read developmental books as well, but that’s when I came across an MIT course on EdX, Introduction to Python Programming.” In 2011, after he won the Apps4Africa hackathon for his app called HospitalManager, his eyesight deteriorated to the point where he couldn’t continue working on creating the app. He decided then to get a job. As his eyesight declined, Ekwueme had to get an assistant to navigate daily life. His assistant, Tobi, a computer science student, introduced him to the screen reader on his personal computer, which allowed him to do certain tasks independently. Initially, Victor listed his disability on his CV, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, he hardly ever got called for interviews. He decided to remove that detail, and the interviews started coming. Despite his obvious skills, no one offered him a role. “I remember once I went for an interview, and they gave me an assessment. My assistant was with me, and I mentioned that he’d read the assessment without giving anything away. The recruiter in charge said I should read it myself. I told him I was blind, and I couldn’t, and they just cut the interview short,” Ekwueme revealed. Victor Ekwueme at Moonshot Many people with visual impairments can relate to Ekwueme’s story. In 1994, Opeoluwa Akinola, CEO and co-founder of AccessTech, had the same experience. Akinola also has retinitis pigmentosa. As a young graduate of the University of Lagos, Akinola interviewed at an audit firm. Due to the confidential nature of the job, he wasn’t allowed to have an assistant read documents for him. He didn’t have access to assistive technology to work independently. This was the moment Akinola decided that he’d make sure that people with visual impairments did not get axed out of opportunities because of their disability. Twenty-six years later, Akinola created AccessTech, an organisation dedicated to providing assistive technology tools and training blind people on digital skills. AccessTech wants inclusion through assistive technology Though officially incorporated in 2020, AccessTech dates way back to when Akinola vowed that blind people would stop missing out on jobs on a large scale. Between 1999 and 2007, he trained as a computer technician, taught himself how to use the computer and then developed the curriculum at the Nigerwives Computer Training and Braille Production Centre, an NGO that taught blind people digital literacy. While working as a consultant, he also got certified as a professional in accessibility core competencies. He’s one of the three people who are certified in Nigeria. Now, AccessTech partners with organisations in the US, Europe, and Asia to provide assistive technology in the form of devices and training on how to use and maintain such devices. One such partnership is the Assistive Technology Experience Centre in Lagos, in partnership with Microsoft AI4 Accessibility which was launched in April 2023. It’s within this programme that they have collaborated with Ekwueme to teach rudimentary data analytics to young people with visual impairments. “The objective of this training is to open up opportunities for blind persons as data analysts. Most blind children are relegated to the humanities while growing up; they’re not allowed to explore their talents. Most blind people typically end up as lawyers, teachers or in the civil service. We believe that opening up a tech career will help them diversify their opportunities,” Emmanuela Akinola, co-founder and COO of AccessTech, told TechCabal. As an expert in data analytics, and with his disability, Ekwueme is the perfect tutor in the training’s pilot edition. The participants are advanced users of computers with screen readers and have a good understanding of statistics. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 26.3 million people in the African Region have a form of visual impairment. Of these, 20.4 million have low vision and 5.9 million are estimated to be completely blind. It is estimated that 15.3% of the world’s blind population resides in Africa. AccessTech has considered this and is not limiting its scope to Lagos. They’re hoping they can partner with the Nigerian government to include visually impaired persons in the three million technical training programme instituted by Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s minister of communications and information technology, and eventually expand their footprint to other African countries. “The goal is to have
Read MoreAt Black Ops Operators Happy Hour, experts explore the role of operators in the Nigerian tech ecosystem
Speaking at Black Ops’ Operators Happy Hour event in Lagos, experts highlighted the importance of operators in the Nigerian tech ecosystem. When you think of what drives Nigerian startups, what naturally comes to mind are the engineering and product teams. But tech isn’t everything. Enter operators who are responsible for the overall functionality of startups. Think of sales and marketing, human resources (HR), finance, customer service, customer experience, operations, etc. Since they work behind the scenes, the spotlight is barely on them. The role of these operators in the Nigerian tech ecosystem was a major talking point at the Operators Happy Hour event organised by Black Ops, a community for African operators, on October 19th, 2023, in Lagos. [ad] Speaking during a panel discussion moderated by Gerald Black, partner Black Ops, Uwem Uwemakpan, head of investments at Launch Africa Ventures said founders must bring operators into the business from the get-go. “It is the foundation of the business. As you are thinking about driving the vision, you must also think about who else can help you in this journey. You need people on your team who can pick up these things in your absence and run the business,” he said. The operator’s job lies at the intersection of strategy, operations, and technical depth. If anything, a clear understanding of how businesses work and expertise are critical to the role. Hence, for early-stage founders, hiring the right and seasoned operators may come at a high cost. But, another panelist, Babajide Duroshola, General Manager, M-Kopa, opined that founders should hire based on their financial strength. He said, “I’d use a simple example. When you have a child and want to hire a nanny, you get the one you can afford. And as you start to grow, you then hire experienced ones. That is the way businesses should run.” For Ololade Odunsi, Portfolio Talent Lead at Founders Factory Africa, operators are the engine of every startup. However, they are often left behind in innovation. “In most startups, the technology is there for customers to use, but as HR, you are doing payroll and building reports on Excel sheets. It is a problem. Still, it is important operators can build efficiency in that semi-manual environment,” she noted. One consensus from the panel is the need to support operators considering their essential place in the ecosystem. More than ever, there is a greater need for operators who can keep costs under control, manage risks, and achieve profitability. While the founders hold the vision for the business, it is ultimately up to them to allow operators freely and do whatever is needed to ensure business growth, Launch Africa’s Uwem said.
Read MoreZambia startup Save&Remit wins pitch competition at Africa Fintech Summit
Zambian startup Save&Remit has won the Alpha Expo pitch competition at the Africa Fintech Summit. Trade Lenda from Nigeria and aXion Zorn from Uganda came second and third respectively. Zambian fintech startup Save&Remit won the Alpha Expo pitch competition at the Africa Fintech Summit in Lusaka, Zambia. The company won a $2,500 cash prize, beating out 14 other startups. Second place went to Trade Lenda from Nigeria for their small business digital bank product. Third place went to aXiom Zorn from Uganda for their data analytics platform which enables credit scoring for smallhold farmers. Founded in 2020, Save&Remit’s flagship product is a digital saving platform that lets cooperatives and SMEs save from their mobile phones. Its features include digital ledger book, digital identity, digital and financial literacy, disbursements and security. Key takeaways Zambian startup Save&Remit has won the Alpha Expo pitch competition Trade Lenda from Nigeria and aXion Zorn from Uganda came second and third respectively. “It’s great to win the pitch competition among such great other startups. In terms of our platform, we look forward to expanding beyond Zambia as research shows there is significant demand for the kind of service we offer,” founder Putty Muuka told TechCabal. “The winners and other pitching startups are building products that are solving problems across multiple sectors,” said Amara Muoneke, one of the judges for the pitch competition.” You see the scalability in what they are building, and they also understand their customers and users very well.” The pitch competition was sponsored by USAID.
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Inflation is rising across Africa, can DeFi help?
Image source: CNBC Africa Whichever way we look at it, it is evident that the current economic reality is challenging with inflation soaring in emerging markets, especially Africa. In Nigeria, inflation is at 26.72%, and in Ghana, it’s at a whopping 40.1%, and even up to 63.30% in Sudan. The average annual inflation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in 2023 sits at 12.5%, making it the second highest in any other region of the world after the Middle East and North Africa region. The escalating cost of living, caused by various factors, has left many grappling with eroded purchasing power. This has made saving for financial objectives more daunting than ever. The challenge has grown more pressing, necessitating innovative solutions to fortify the financial resilience of individuals and economies. In recent years, innovators have leveraged financial technology with its innovative tools, to help individuals to budget, save, and invest wisely, thereby mitigating the impact of inflation on their livelihood. The proliferation of DeFi powered by blockchain technology offers an array of solutions to reshape the economic future of Africans. Innovations like blockchain technology offer transparency and security in financial transactions, reducing corruption and fraudulent practices that can exacerbate inflation. This not only reduces corruption and fraud but also instills confidence in financial processes, which is essential in combating inflation. Additionally, the importance of inflation-resistant investments cannot be overstated when dealing with inflation. DeFi solutions often feature stablecoins, which are digital currencies pegged to real-world assets or fiat currencies. These stablecoins can provide a reliable store of value through high fixed yields and are immune to inflation’s erosive effects. According to Seçkin Çağlın, co-founder of Cenoa, at a recent edition of TechCabal Live on October 27, “To fight inflation, you need to make sure your money grows faster than inflation so you don’t lose money,” The growth of peer-to-peer lending and transfer platforms enabled by DeFi also creates alternative sources of financing, and facilitates cross-border transactions with ease, reducing the risks associated with currency devaluation and fluctuations in exchange rates. This way, Africans can source for financing and also protect their wealth from the damaging effects of inflation by diversifying into other assets that can thrive even in inflationary environments. On lending and credit solutions provided by fintechs, Yasmine Mohamed Henna, co-founder of Sympl said, “When it comes to inflation, it is important for fintech not to overburden the people with credit that they cannot pay. The solutions must align with the reality of the country that is adversely affected by inflation.” DeFi platforms offer the opportunity to explore a wide array of investment options, from yield farming to liquidity provision. These investments can be chosen strategically to counteract inflation’s impact. However, despite the various solutions offered by fintech including decentralised finance and blockchain technology, there is still a knowledge and trust gap which presents a problem, leading to mistrust and resistance to change among potential and existing DeFi users. This also includes the regulatory bottlenecks that already exist. While there is still a lot of work to be done with regulation and education, the mistrust isn’t unfounded as the rise of cyberattacks on fintechs and the concerns about data protections are problems that need to be addressed to build reliability on fintechs. On building trust, Emre Ertan, co-founder at Cenoa advised, “Fintechs need to be highly transparent to build trust among users. You need to give control back to the users so they are assured that they are using the right platform.” Peter Onu, manager, remittance architecture and strategy at MTN Group Fintech, also mentioned that a good way to build trust is to provide people with what they need. ******* This article is part of the TechCabal Live series brought to you by TechCabal in partnership with Cenoa. Cenoa is a borderless super wallet that improves access to dollar-based products
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