Showmax steps up streaming battle with Premier League on mobile plan
After taking over Africa’s market mantle from US streaming giant, Netflix, in 2023, South Africa’s Showmax is turning to smartphones to tap into a wider pool of football fanatics. The MultiChoice-owned streamer has introduced mobile-only subscriptions for Premier League content as part of a new package for its second iteration- Showmax 2.0, launching in mid-February. “Showmax Premier League is a game-changing product that gives individuals a ticket to the football they love, wherever they are, on the device they always have with them, at a price that’s impossible not to love,” said Marc Jury, CEO of Showmax, in a statement. Mobile subscribers will pay US$3.69 (R69) per month for ‘the world’s first standalone Premier League plan for mobile.’ which is about 10 times cheaper than monthly DSTV subscriptions offering Premier League plans. The Premier League plan offers all 380 Premier League games live from SuperSport, as well as fan content, talk shows, interviews and more, on mobile only, said Showmax on its new website. “There are currently just over 450 million smartphones in the hands of individuals across Africa … and more than 250 million avid football lovers on the continent,” said Jury. Premier League Chief Executive Officer, Richard Masters said in the statement that Africa was incredibly important to the league and its clubs, with about 20% of television audiences on any given match day coming from Africa. Subscribers also have a choice to bundle up the Premier League with another new offering, the company’s Entertainment plan, which includes hit international and trending local series and movies, kids’ shows and more on mobile only. Alongside the Premier League, the new Showmax offering will introduce 21 new Showmax Originals that will see the streaming platform produce more than 1 300 hours of Showmax Originals by the close of 2024, representing a significant 150% increase in production output, compared to 2023. It has scheduled a migration plan to its new app and website for existing customers, from January 23 to mid-February, 2024. Showmax’s new platform is built on NBC Universal’s Peacock streaming platform, following a partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky in 2023. The partnership has given Showmax fresh muscle to maintain its lead as Africa’s largest streaming platform, in a very competitive market. In November 2023, tech research-based firm, Omdia Research showed that Showmax accounted for 40% of Africa’s streaming market, while Netflix controlled 35% of the eyeballs. Research firm, Digital TV said last year that Africa’s streaming video-on-demand sector has evolved into a battle between Netflix and local player Showmax, with the two expected to play a significant role in attracting 10 million new subscribers on the continent by the end of 2030. By the end of the review period, the African market is projected to have a total of 18 million streaming video-on-demand (SVOD) subscribers.
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👨🏿🚀Techcabal Daily – Amazon Prime hits pause in Africa
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية TGIF We’re excited to bring you a comprehensive roundup of funding, acquisitions, and significant developments in Africa’s tech ecosystem for Q4, 2023. Yes, we’re launching the State of Tech Report for Q4 2023 on Friday, January 26, 2023. Want to attend? Click this link to register. In today’s edition Amazon Prime is scaling back its Africa operations A $1 billion UNDP fund Globacom gets an extra 21 days to pay interconnect fees Egypt leaps into 5G Openview attacks DStv’s monopoly Funding tracker The World Wide Web3 Job Openings Streaming Amazon Prime lays off staff and pulls back from Africa Amazon Prime is scaling back its operations in Africa. The streaming platform is restructuring its business, reducing local content production and laying off staff in Africa and the Middle East to focus on European markets. This comes after Amazon Global announced that it was laying off hundreds of employees across its Prime Video and MGM studio teams. Although Amazon will still be present in Africa, it will only concentrate efforts on areas that “drive the highest impact and long-term success”. Ambitions take a turn: Amazon Prime’s retreat comes after big plans to become the top streaming platform on the continent. Marked by a hiring spree and inked partnerships with at least four local production studios, the platform had set up dedicated teams for their two biggest markets: Nigeria and South Africa. In 2021, the streaming platform was estimated to have 575,000 customers in sub-Saharan Africa, and they were projected to hit 1.9 million by 2026. Africa’s streaming market: Tech-focused professionals are financing and creating Nollywood content for international platforms, with Netflix’s The Black Book as an example, which was watched more than 70 million times in less than three weeks on Netflix. While Africa’s streaming market has seen growth, challenges persist. IrokoTV, Africa’s oldest streaming service, had only 46,000 active users in December 2022, a 76% decline from the beginning of the year. Last year, Netflix with its 1.2 million subscribers, also lost its market leader position to Showmax, MultiChoice’s streaming service, which now has 1.4 million subscribers on the continent. 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. Venture Capital Timbuktoo, the $1 billion UNDP fund Image Source: UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Rwanda, and seven other African countries have joined forces to launch the Timbuktoo African Innovation fund which will invest $1 billion in 1,000 tech startups across the continent in the next 10 years. Timbuktoo? Timbuktoo will invest in African startups across pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A stages. Of the $1 billion funds earmarked for investment, the Timbuktoo Fund will contribute $350 million of risk-tolerant capital which it hopes will attract an additional $650 million from private investors. Timbuktoo will also provide financing for accelerators and venture builders from the $1 billion fund. Spread of the funds: Timbuktoo is taking a targeted approach to disbursing the funds across the continent, in various sectors: Morocco (hospitality and tourism), Senegal (edtech), Nigeria (fintech), Ghana (agritech), South Africa (creative economy), Kenya (green tech), Rwanda (health tech), and Egypt (trade, logistics, and e-commerce). Secure payment gateway for your business Fincra payment gateway enables you to easily collect Naira payments as a business; you can collect payments in minutes through cards, bank transfers and PayAttitude. Create a free account and start collecting NGN payments with Fincra. Telecom Globacom gets an extra 21 days to pay interconnect fees Meme source: Tenor Glo users can rest now. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted the telecom a 21-day extension to settle interconnect fees owed to MTN, delaying a planned phased disconnection. Sidebar: Interconnect fees are the charges paid by one network operator to another for handling and terminating calls on the receiving network. ICYMI: Globacom reportedly owes MTN about ₦6 billion ($6.7 million) in interconnect fees, which led the NCC to approve the partial disconnection of Globacom from MTN Nigeria on January 8. The disconnection would have been implemented yesterday, but the commission extended the grace period after both telecoms agreed to work things out within the next 21 days. Had the phased disconnection proceeded, Globacom’s 61.39 million subscribers would have been unable to call MTN users, but MTN users would still have retained the ability to reach Glo users. A persistent dispute: Although Glo reportedly denied owing MTN any outstanding fees, this ongoing dispute over interconnect fees has persisted for over 15 years, with previous threats from MTN to disconnect Glo. In 2019, MTN disconnected Globacom for five days, resulting in Glo paying ₦2.6 billion ($3 million), out of a total ₦4.4 billion ($5.1 million) owed, in interconnect fees. During the same period, Airtel also issued threats to disconnect Glo. Telecom Telecom Egypt Secures 15-Year $150 Million 5G licence from NTRA Image source: Daily News Egypt In more telecom news, Egypt has taken the first leap into 5G. The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) of Egypt has awarded the nation’s first 5G licence to the state-owned Telecom Egypt. The announcement follows the Egyptian government’s plan, unveiled two months ago, to issue 5G licences. The $150 million licence isn’t exclusive, though, and the NTRA could award more 5G licences in the future. The future of 5G in Africa: While over a dozen African countries have launched 5G, it’s mostly in select cities or test projects. Building the full networks takes time, so even though Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya have officially started 5G, 4G will likely rule for a while longer. According to a report from Ericsson, from the present until 2029, 4G subscriptions are projected to constitute 49% of total mobile subscriptions in the region. In contrast, 5G subscriptions will make up 16% of all mobile subscriptions by that time. 4G is expected to remain the dominant technology for the foreseeable future due to its broader
Read MoreAmazon Prime to layoff staff and stop producing African content
Amazon Prime, the global streaming giant, is laying off staff and scaling back its local content production in Africa and the Middle East, according to a new report by Variety. The streaming platform, the third largest in Africa, is restructuring its business model to focus on its European market. Barry Furlong, the vice president of Prime’s EMEA division, told staff in an email that the decision was made to focus “on the areas that drive the highest impact and long-term success.” It’s unclear how many employees will be affected. Approved shows like “Ebuka Turns Up Africa” will still be rolled out as Amazon will still be present in Africa, but the platform will stop approving local shows in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa. Africa’s streaming market is projected to have at least 18 million paying streaming customers by 2029, up from 8 million customers last year. With a combined 75% of the streaming market, Netflix and Showmax are the market leaders. Despite this growth, streaming penetration remains low, as most of these customers are in South Africa and Nigeria. By 2029, only 7.7% of African households would be paying for at least one of these platforms. Amazon Prime was estimated to have 575,000 sub-Saharan customers in 2021, which was projected to reach 1.9 million in 2026. From lofty goals to a retreat Amazon Prime had lofty goals of being the biggest streaming platform in Africa, as it quickly hired lots of staff and signed at least four partnerships with local production studios when it landed in Africa in December 2021. Prime has two dedicated teams for Nigeria and South Africa, its two largest markets. While the Nigerian team operates out of London, the South African team works in Cape Town and Johannesburg. “We now have a dedicated local content strategy for the continent across the board, from originals to be developed and produced by Amazon Studios to an exciting licensing slate with top-tier producers,” Ned Mitchell, Prime’s head of originals for Africa, said in February. By then, Prime had announced multi-year partnerships with Nigerian studios like Anthill, Inkblot, and Greoh. But it was its partnership with Jade Osiberu’s Greoh that stood out. The three-year deal would allow all of Osiberu’s movies and shows to be exclusively available on Amazon Prime and the first movie out of this partnership, ‘Gangs of Lagos’, broke multiple records. Within two months, it was the 9th most watched non-English title on Prime. Its success also inspired the creation of a new film-financing firm, Capital Films. Prime scaling back its presence on the African continent also offers a new challenge to a new business model where tech-focused professionals are increasingly financing Nollywood movies or even creating them to sell to international streaming platforms. This business model has seen successes like Netflix’s ‘The Black Book,’ which was watched more than 70 million times in less than three weeks on Netflix. African streaming platforms have also struggled in recent years, as Video Play, Telkom One and Kwese TV have all shut down. In November, TechCabal reported that IrokoTV, Africa’s oldest streaming service, had only 46,000 active users in December 2022, a 76% decline from the beginning of the year. IrokoTV’s CEO, Jason Njoku, shared that the service had invested $30 million in Nigeria but had yet to profit from the country. First review of the new Showmax: A big leap forward with content & UI
Read MoreExclusive: How Timbuktoo, the UNDP-backed $1bn innovation fund will work
On Tuesday, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Rwanda, and seven other African countries announced the launch of Timbuktoo, an initiative that hopes to invest $1 billion over 10 years into 1000 tech startups across Africa. Touted the largest ever startup fund in Africa, Timbuktoo Africa Innovation Fund will commit $350 million of risk-tolerant capital to help attract an additional $650 million from private investors, Eleni Gabre-Madhin, Chief Innovation Officer at UNDP Africa told TechCabal via email. “What we’re trying to do is make it more attractive for domestic capital to come in at earlier stages… venture capital in Africa needs to be riskier,” Gabre-Madhin said at the launch event in Davos. Timbuktoo will provide financing for accelerators and venture builders from the $350 million, including investments of up to $800 million in venture firms in 8 African countries alongside private partners. These details have not been previously reported. The funds will “make pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A investments on an equity basis to startups,” Gabre-Madhin said. In Casablanca, Morocco, funds from Timbuktoo will target tourism and hospitality startups, in Dakar, Senegal it will target edtech. In Lagos, Nigeria, Timbuktoo and its commercial fund partners will focus on fintech startups, while in Accra, Ghana it will focus on agritech. In South Africa, Capetown’s hub will target creatives, with Greentech being the focus in Nairobi, Kenya. The Rwandan hub in Kigali will focus on health tech. Trade, logistics and e-commerce will be the fund’s focus in Cairo, Egypt. The fund will work with local universities to support tech ventures. Foreign development banks are major contributors to the venture capital African startups have received. Institutions from the International Finance Corporation and the European Investment Bank have backed first-time fund managers in Africa like Ventures Platforms, and Atlantica Ventures. Managers of Boost Africa, a venture capital facility run by the European Investment Bank are currently in the final stages of talks with the European Union over a new €159 million facility, Déborah Vouche, a private equity investment officer at the bank told TechCabal. Kigali’s rising fortunes as a financial centre The fund will be managed from Rwanda, a boon to Kigali’s financial centre Ambitions. Established in 2017, Kigali International Financial Centre is the #3 financial centre in Africa, only behind Casablanca in Morocco and Mauritius according to the latest ranking from the Global Financial Centres Index. At the launch event on Tuesday in Davos, Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame made the first public commitment of $3 million to the fund. “The decision to domicile the Timbuktoo Africa Innovation Fund within KIFC reaffirms our attractiveness as an international financial services hub,” Jean Marie Kananura, Chief Investment Officer, Rwanda Finance Limited, the parent company of the Kigali International Centre told TechCabal. Leading fintech firms like Flutterwave, Chippercash and Onafriq have opened offices in the country and say they plan to make Kigali their payments hub for East Africa.
Read More“The masses are expensive to serve”: Why Sparkle skipped retail for private banking
Nigeria’s retail banking market is dominated by traditional banks valued at trillions of Naira and fintechs with deep war chests, but Sparkle MFB, a digital bank that provides financial, lifestyle, and business support services to Nigerians, isn’t bullish on the mass market. Instead, Sparkle launched in 2019 and licenced as a microfinance bank, wants to be the one-stop shop for private banking, which refers to personalised financial services for high net-worth individuals (HNIs). “From a cost perspective, the masses are expensive to serve,” argues Uzoma Dozie, Sparkle’s CEO. “You have to think of how much it costs to acquire customers. What is the cost of servicing these customers? What’s the revenue per customer?” Sparkle is uninterested in metrics such as transaction value and number of customers but instead obsesses over value proposition. The digital bank wants to create long-term customer relationships and earn loyalty. But some of those numbers matter anyway. Sparkle claims it processes 11,000 daily transactions for its 220,000 customers. Its app offers a mix of banking services for individuals and businesses. While individuals can use features like savings, bill payments, and money transfers, businesses can access inventory and invoice management, a payment gateway, tax advisory, and employee management. These offerings are because of partnerships with Visa, Microsoft, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Nigeria. Yet, the startup wants to do more and is keen to introduce insurance, securities, and investments on its platform. It will need more partnerships to provide these services. There’s also Sparkle loans, a small-interest loan product with interest as low as 17% per annum. “We are going to lend at rates the banks do and at the speed of digital banks.” For Sparkle, lending is based on willingness and ability to pay. The digital bank will rely on data points from transactions on its platform for loan decisions. Private banking is also a contested space Many traditional banks offer private banking services to HNIs, but Sparkle, which raised $3.1 million from entirely Nigerian investors in 2021, is confident it can “handle private banking better than traditional banks” using artificial intelligence (AI). Dozie also believes his experience as a core banker is crucial. “I think the benefit that I have that everybody doesn’t have in this space is that I have done banking for 20 years. While I was at Diamond Bank, we worked with fintechs to provide digital solutions.” The digital bank is developing an AI chatbot that will act like a personal advisor or lifestyle concierge to its customers. “The chatbot can process the data and give the customers an informed decision. It is more intelligent than any relationship officer you will have in any bank because you have access to global information, and it is available 24 hours a day.” Dozie says Sparkle’s philosophy is to serve startups and small businesses that prefer digital banking. “We believe that digital is the future, and as infrastructure improves and people are pulled out of low-income, their only choice is digital. We are positioning ourselves for that,” he said.
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Latest ways to create virtual NIN 2024
In compliance with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) directive, individuals are now required to create a Virtual National Identification Number (VNIN) to facilitate the integration of their NIN with their mobile numbers. In other words, if you are for example an MTN subscriber who is trying to link your NIN to your MTN number, you will need this virtual NIN during the process. The Virtual National Identification Number, or VNIN, serves as a digital representation of your NIN, offering a secure method to present this crucial identification information. Its design prevents unauthorised cloning or duplication, ensuring the protection of sensitive personal data. How to create a Virtual NIN for use Firstly, kindly note that Virtual NIN numbers are generated to expire within 72 hours whether used or unused. Therefore, if you do not make use of the number before its 72-hour lifespan elapses, you will need to re-generate another one. To initiate the process of creating a VNIN, you should: Dial *996*3# on your mobile phones. Upon dialling, you will be prompted to select Option 3 for Virtual NIN. Subsequently, you will need to enter your NIN to proceed with the virtual number creation. As part of the authentication process, you’ll be required to input ‘109071’ as your Enterprise ID, establishing a link between their NIN and the virtual counterpart. For an alternative method, individuals can dial *346*3*your 11-digit NIN*109071# to generate a VNIN. This ensures flexibility in the process, accommodating different preferences. The service usually costs ₦20 per attempt. Creating a Virtual National Identification Number not only aligns with NIMC guidelines but also adds an extra layer of security to individuals’ identity information. The virtual format minimises the risk of unauthorised access, providing users with confidence in the protection of their private details. Final thoughts on creating a VNIN As the demand for digital identity verification grows, the introduction of VNINs is a significant step toward enhancing the security and efficiency of identity management systems. This innovation allows for a seamless integration of National Identification Numbers with mobile services, fostering a more connected and secure digital environment.
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How to link your NIN and MTN line online 2024
MTN offices in different states in Nigeria have recently been experiencing a deluge of customer visits. This development is partly due to the recent text messages many MTN customers have received asking them to visit an MTN store to link their MTN line with their NIN. The instruction comes with threats to block call and data services on the mobile numbers of customers who do not comply with the directive. We spoke to a couple of people and some complained that they had linked their NIN before and did not understand why they had to visit the MTN office again to retake the process. We tried to examine the process, and according to our test results, it is possible to carry out the linking online, but your line must have been verified to an extent. Here, we will show you how to check if your MTN number is linked, how to know if you are eligible to link your MTN line to your NIN online, and show you how to link it online if you are eligible or not. How to check if your MTN number is linked to your NIN To know if your line is or isn’t linked to your NIN, follow the steps below: Visit the MTN check portal at https://nin.mtn.ng/nin/status. You’ll then need to enter the digits of your MTN line. When you enter the number, you will receive an OTP, please correctly enter the OTP into the space provided. After that, you’ll receive a confirmation of your MTN line’s NIN linking status. Should the system validate your number as registered, you’ll see something like the below On the other hand, if your MTN line isn’t linked to your NIN, you will see the following response: If you are eligible for a possible online linking, after the number entering and OTP part, you will get a prompt with 3 verification paths. If you didn’t get these 3 promptings, continue reading, you can also use the information we will provide to link your NIN to your MTN number. The first option will require you to create a virtual NIN to link your number to your NIN. You will see the following fields you need to fill. Fill them, and if the details you entered can be validated, your line should be linked. How to use USSD to link your NIN to your MTN line This option may work for you even if you didn’t get the 3 option prompts after your NIN linking status appeared negative. So anyone trying to link their MTN line to their NIN without visiting an MTN office can simply do the following: Copy your NIN into clipboard Dial *996# on your MTN line You’ll receive a prompt like the one below: Select option one, and you’ll see a prompt like the one below: Select option 2 from the above and you should see a prompt like the one below: Now paste in your 11 digit NIN number. Afterwards, you should get the following pop up: After that, you’ll receive a couple of text messages confirming the successful linking of your NIN to your MTN line. The messages should be in the following formats: That’s it! That’s how you can link your MTN line to your NIN without having to visit an MTN store. Final thoughts If none of the options listed above help you to link your MTN line to your NIN, then you may need to visit any MTN physical store or office close to you to carry out the process.
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🚀Entering Tech #011: How to write a stellar CV
Plus: Here’s a free CV template you can customise! 18 || January || 2024 View in Browser In partnership with #Issue 55 How to write a stellar CV Share #EnteringTech Hi If you’ve been online this past week, mainly on X (Twitter), then you’ve seen the HR v Applicant conversation going on. If you haven’t, here’s a recap. An HR professional made a tweet on how difficult it was to get 20 suitable candidates from a pool of 600 applicants. Why is this contentious? Well, on the HR side of things, the talent teams are arguing that people are not as employable or are applying with second-rate CVs. On the other side, applicants are saying job descriptions these days are asking for too much and are unready to invest in talent. In today’s edition of EnteringTech, we’re taking another direction. Instead of talking about who’s wrong or right, we’re going to show you how to create the best CV so you’re getting jobs left and right. Let’s get into it. by Timi Odueso Tech trivia questions Some trivia before we begin. Answers are at the bottom of this newsletter. How long does the average recruiter spend on a CV/resume? What’s the average length of a CV? Why are CVs important? A CV—short for Curriculum Vitae—is a document that briefly summarises your work experience for prospective employers. They’re basically sales pitches that tell employers why they should buy hire you. In many cases, CVs are the first impressions of the corporate world; they’re the first thing your bosses and managers will learn about you. So to make a great first impression, you have to ensure your CV stands out. How do you curate resumes/CVs that shine? We spoke to two HR executives and here’s what Chiazagom Anisiebo and Felix Bissong have to say. Chiazagom Anisiebo and Felix Bissong Five tips on creating stellar CVs 1. Show results A great CV is the enemy of a math teacher—you have to show your results without focusing on the workings. In the tech world, what matters is what you’re able to build and how fast you’re able to build it. If you’re applying for a role as a product manager, your CV must show how many [successful] products you have built. “We want to see your achievement, not your job description. It’s also important that your achievements are quantifiable,” says Bissong. Instead of just stating what you did in old jobs, show what your efforts produced. Here’s an example: Responsible for building a newsletter product. Contributed to the 4x growth of a digital product within my first 18 months in the role. Measurable metrics—results—are what matter, and they’ll make your CV stand out. 2. Add only essential information You may have heard this before but your CV is not your autobiography. It’s your corporate FAQ. Only essential information regarding your corporate or work history should be added. Take out information like your date of birth, your primary and secondary schools, marital status, and your physical addresses. “A lot of people have unnecessary information in their CVs. The thing is, only relevant job experiences should be in your CV. A lot of times, you don’t even need to add all your past roles, especially when they don’t align with the role you’re applying to,” Anisiebo says. Your CV is selling you and your skills to potential employers. It’s the real-life elevator pitch! 3. One size doesn’t fit all CVs are not like wristwatches, one size type does not fit all. You have to create CVs for every job you’re applying to. The CV you send to TechCabal is not the one you’ll send to Zikoko. Each job has key requirements, and if your CV doesn’t measure up to them, it’ll be tossed aside. For every job you apply to, modify your CV to showcase the skills and requirements they’re looking for, if you have them. Both Anisiebo and Bisssong agree with the sentiment. For Anisiebo, she says “The goal is to create a CV that will get you in the door. Your CV should be crafted with keywords that match those in the job descriptions. If they don’t match, the HR Information System (HRIS) will not pick it up” If you’ve applied for jobs recently, you’ll notice that companies use sites like Bamboo HR, SeamlessHR or Lever to collect applications. These sites use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to qualify or disqualify candidates based on how their CVs match the job description. So if you have just one CV, you’re probably going to get a lot of nos. There are tools like JobScan and SkillSyncer that help make sure your CV has the right keywords for a job application. From Bissong’s view, the way to go about this is to first understand the sector, then the company, and finally the job description. “Edit your CV to fit the role, align your professional experience to the job description” he says. For example, a data analyst job might call for expertise in the Python language. A CV that states “proficient in all data languages” will not scale through, but one that specifically mentions proficiency in Python will. To be clear, we’re not asking you to lie about your skills. We’re asking you to make sure you specify the skills you have that match the job’s requirements. Simplify with Zido Streamline your global supply chain from procurement to distribution with Zido. Start here. 4. Size matters In today’s trivia, you’ll learn how long the average recruiters spend on one CV. A hint: it’s not that long. Like tech recruiter Joseph Gichuhi said in this edition of #EnteringTech, recruiters get hundreds and sometimes thousands of applications, depending on the role. The longer your CV is, the less time recruiters will have to focus on key aspects of your application. The optimal length of a CV should be two to three pages. 5. Choose the right format Finally, the format of your CV will also play a role in which
Read MoreBreaking: Glo avoids disconnection as NCC gives 21 days to reach agreement with MTN
Globacom, one of Nigeria’s major telcos, has been granted a further 21-day grace period to resolve and pay the interconnect fees — an amount charged by telco for calls terminating on their network — it owes MTN, one day after the telecoms regulator’s planned to begin a phased disconnection. “The Commission is pleased to announce that the parties have now reached an agreement to resolve all outstanding issues between them,” the Nigerian Communications Commission said in a press statement. “The Commission expects MTN and Glo to resolve all outstanding issues within the 21 days.” On January 8, the NCC issued a disconnection notice to Globacom, which permitted MTN to disconnect Glo subscribers over years of unpaid interconnect fees. According to one publication, Glo owes around ₦6 billion ($6.7 million) in fees to MTN. The standard interconnect fee for local calls in Nigeria is ₦4.30k per minute. A phased disconnection would have meant that Glo’s 61.39 million subscribers would have been unable to call MTN users. However, MTN users would still have been able to reach Glo users. According to the Daily Trust, Glo denied any claim that it owed MTN any outstanding fees. “We do not owe MTN any interconnect charges,” said an unnamed Glo official quoted by the publication. The dispute over interconnect fees stretches back over 15 years, with several threats from MTN to disconnect Glo. In 2019, MTN disconnected Globacom from its network for five days, forcing Glo to pay around ₦2.6 billion in owed interconnect fees out of a total ₦4.4 billion. Airtel also threatened to disconnect Glo during the same period.
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – The YC of Africa
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy pre-Friday At TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference last year, we were privileged to meet a lot of you, and one of our most important highlights was learning how differently-abled people are using tech in Nigeria. My colleagues Noah and Tobi spent some time with Victor Ekwueme, a visually impaired software developer who’s now leading a company that’s helping other visually impaired Nigerians find their path. We’d like to share Victor’s story with you. You should meet the blind Nigeria prodigy helping others see through tech. In today’s edition Patricia set to repay customers within 2–5 years Iyin Aboyeji launches “YC of Africa” Access Bank takes another stab at digital lending Unpacking Samung’s S24 Series OpenAI says no to politics The World Wide Web3 Opportunities Crypto Patricia announces five-year repayment plan for customers GIF Source: GIPHY Patricia’s customers are about to face a marathon to repayment. The crypto exchange’s latest time frame for repayment is now two to five years which the company says it set for “expectation management purposes.” After a $2 million hack in 2022 was revealed in May 2023, thousands of customers’ funds have been stuck in the crypto exchange. Since then, Patricia has tried several measures to repay its customers including an app relaunch, a stablecoin backed by the dollar, and fundraising. However, several customers remain frustrated as they have yet to recover their funds. PR stunt or genuine concern? Although Patricia claims it has paid 24% of its customers, a customer reportedly says Patricia requested a video testimonial as a precondition for getting their money back. Patricia says this will help ensure a safe process for everyone, but it remains to be seen why the company would need video testimonials if it has records of all its users. It calls into question if Patricia is showing genuine concern or pulling a PR stunt. Seven identified suspects: Hope flickered in the form of a police investigation in November 2023, when the police identified a politician as a suspect in the hack. He had confessed to diverting ₦607 million ($760,000) to his account. In January 2024, 7 more suspects were identified. They reportedly stole ₦142.8 million ($155,734) from the fintech. A trial slated for June 2024 offers a potential path to justice, but for customers desperate to access their funds, it’s a cruel consolation prize. 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 VC veterans launch Accelerate Africa to become the YC of Africa Aboyeji and Koschitzky-Kimani Iyin Aboyeji and Mia von Koschitzky-Kimani have invested over $10 million into 101 startups across Africa. Now, Aboyeji who was a two-time unicorn founder and Koschitzky-Kimani, an investment powerhouse, are teaming up under Future Africa to launch a new venture: Accelerate Africa. Both veterans want Accelerate Africa to become the Y Combinator (YC) of Africa, to help produce the next generation of global businesses. Speeding up new drivers: Accelerate Africa’s first cohort will run for eight weeks, admitting ten pre-seed and seed-stage startups from any sector and any African country. Think of founders who would have made it into YC but lack access now. The accelerator will run in person in two cities, Nairobi and Lagos, simultaneously for the first six weeks. The final two weeks will see collaboration between teams in Nairobi and Lagos. Success will be measured by how much follow-on funding the startups secure during and after the programme. According to the duo, selected startups will pitch to investors who typically write checks ranging from $250,000 to $500,000. Filling the vacuum: Accelerate Africa arrives at a time when established accelerators like YC are retreating from Africa. YC has been a major player in shaping Africa’s tech ecosystem. The accelerator has backed over a hundred African startups, including Flutterwave, Wave, and the Stripe-acquired Paystack. YC’s Winter 2022 batch comprised 24 startups from Africa. After this cohort, fewer African startups were accepted into the global accelerator. Its Summer 2022 batch had just eight African startups, a 63% decline from the previous cohort, and the Winter 2023 cohort welcomed only three startups. The American accelerator has made a significant shift towards its homeland, which comprised over 90% of the Winter 2023 cohort. Could Accelerate Africa be the mission that fills that void? Secure payment gateway for your business Fincra payment gateway enables you to easily collect Naira payments as a business; you can collect payments in minutes through cards, bank transfers and PayAttitude. Create a free account and start collecting NGN payments with Fincra. Fintech Access Bank takes another stab at digital lending Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle and Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella. Source: Vodafone Group After two years under the Quickbucks name and 7 million users, Access Bank’s Oxygen X is making a comeback. The company’s idea for Oxygen is to extend digital lending solutions beyond the bank’s existing customer base, targeting a broader market in Nigeria. Although the launch date is undisclosed, Access has secured approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to commence operations. Competition awaits: Unlike other holding companies in the financial services sector, such as GTCO and Stanbic who have Squad and Zest as their digital lending arm, Access is launching Oxygen X as a standalone digital lender, positioning it to compete directly with other digital lending players like OPay which has over 30 million users. The app’s rebrand needs to deliver though. The old version languishes with poor ratings due to clunky UX and weak offerings. To compete, significant service improvements are essential. If the app must win, it must give people better access. An expansion play: Access Corporation is on a strategic acquisition spree, expanding beyond traditional banking. In the past three years, the company has made six significant acquisitions ranging from its 2021 acquisitions of the Mozambiquan and Botswana arms of BancABC to the
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