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June 8 2023

TechCabal Daily – More telecoms for Nigeria

Lire en français Read this email in French. 8 JUNE, 2023 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Happy pre-Friday In more AI news, Microsoft has launched a new AI aid for Windows 11 called Windows Copilot. Copilot is a personal assistant that will empower its users by enabling swift action, customisable settings, and seamless interaction with preferred applications. If you’re on Windows 11, you should be able to test it out. In today’s edition NCC grants 25 firms telecom licences Nigerian banks to pay less for transfer Safaricom’s smart water Samsung is starting e-waste collection in Kenya The World Wide Web3 Event: The Moonshot Conference Opportunities NCC GRANTS 25 FIRMS TELECOM LICENCES The Nigerians Communications Commission (NCC) has granted licences to 25 companies to offer telecom services under the Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) framework. What is an MVNO? A Mobile Virtual Network Operator is a company that provides wireless communication services without owning the underlying network infrastructure used to serve its customers. The newly licensed companies will offer services similar to other telecommunications providers like MTN, 9mobile, Airtel, and Globacom, despite not having their own infrastructure. Instead, they will use the existing infrastructure of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the country. So far, seven companies have been licensed under tier 2 and 3, three companies under tier 4, and eight companies under tier 5. See the names of all companies here. Cost of each licence: The MNVO licence, which is a 5-tier classification, has different services required of players in each tier. Per The Guardian Nigeria, all 25 companies acquired licences in tier 2 to 5, and none obtained a tier 1 licence. The tier 5 licence costs ₦500 million ($1.1 million), tier 4 costs ₦200 million ($432,900). Both the tier 3 and tier 4 licences cost ₦130 million ($ 281,385) and ₦60 million ($131,063) respectively, while the tier 1 licence cost ₦35 million($75,757). The NCC has collected licensing fees totalling around ₦5.9 billion ($12.7 million) by granting MVNO licences to these 25 companies. MONIEPOINT RANKED 2ND FASTEST-GROWING AFRICAN COMPANY Moniepoint is Africa’s second-fastest growing company, as shown in FTs latest report. We also processed 1 billion transactions worth $43 billion in Q1 alone. Read all about it here. This is partner content. NIGERIAN BANKS TO PAY LESS FOR TRANSFERS Nigerian banks asked and they have received. Upon the request of commercial banks, Nigeria’s Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has reduced the cost of transactions from ₦5 ($0.011) to ₦3.75 ($0.0081). The new prices will take effect on July 1, 2023, but insiders and experts say that this doesn’t mean that banks will be charging their customers less transaction fees. Why won’t they? Every single kobo matters and banks know it all too well. Fees and commissions play a major role in their non-interest income, making them one of the biggest contributors. Just take a look at the numbers from 2022: Access Bank raked in ₦145.7 billion ($315.5 million), Zenith Bank secured ₦132.8 billion ($287 million), Ecobank pocketed ₦200.9 billion ($434.8 million), and UBA snagged ₦128.2 billion ($277.4 million), all from those charges and commissions. Let’s face it, these banks won’t give up a single kobo unless someone really means business. And by that, we mean the big boss: the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Has that happened before? Yes. In December 2019, the CBN made banks reduce their fees to increase access to banking services to more Nigerians. The banks that hesitated were fined. If the CBN makes the same move again they may have to comply. MORE FROM TECHCABAL One year after its launch, MTN’s MoMo still needs to reach more Nigerians. Entering Tech #33: How Data Community Africa helps data professionals. Twiga confirms that it laid off its sales team in 2022 as it adjusts its commercial model. SAFARICOM INTRODUCES SMART WATER SYSTEM IN CAMPUSES Kenyan telecom Safaricom and the Kenya Water Institute (KEWI) are partnering to introduce a smart water system that could make a real splash at the Nairobi and Kitui campuses. Side bar: Smart water management uses real-time data to detect loss & leakage, ensure accurate billing, enhance revenue collection, improve operational efficiency, and as a result save costs. It isn’t just about the H2O; Per TechtrendsKe, the smart water system will be used to facilitate, create, and run a practical smart water management curriculum for students at the institutions. Through this partnership, Safaricom seeks to paddle Kenya towards a future where clean water and sustainable management flow freely. This aligns perfectly with Sustainable Development Goal 6, which seeks to ensure the availability and sustainable management of clean water and sanitation for all. SAMSUNG LAUNCHES E-WASTE PROGRAMME IN NAIROBI Samsung Electronics East Africa has partnered with home appliances store, Housewife’s Paradise, to collect e-waste for recycling in Kenya. As part of a joint effort on environmental conservation, the e-waste collection will commence in Nairobi, and then expand nationwide by the end of the year. The process: Housewife’s Paradise will collect Samsung brand-only e-waste from customers at their desired time and date. Subsequently, the collected waste will be transported to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Centre (WEEE), Kenya’s official Samsung recycling partner, and disposed of according to established global standards. According to the head of division at Samsung, Ronald Mitei, Samsung has been actively committed to a responsible e-waste management system and they aim to expand and enhance their efforts to reduce any adverse environmental effects caused by their products. “We have been dedicated to responsible e-waste management for the last few years and we now want to scale it up to ensure that we minimise any negative environmental impact of our products. This includes taking responsibility for the end-of-life phase of our products to prevent environmental harm. Our e-waste programme and recycling programme are an important part of this commitment,” he said. This programme comes as the world celebrates United Nations World Environment Day, and it aims to raise awareness and encourage action to protect the environment by collecting e-waste. EXPERIENCE VIVA TECHNOLOGY Book your

June 8 2023

Sweden’s Medius to acquire Tunisian-born Expensya in a 9-figure deal

Medius, the Swedish business expense management company, plans to acquire Tunisian-born but Paris-headquartered Expensya for an undisclosed sum. A source with knowledge of the deal says Medius could pay several hundred million for Expensya. A press statement seen by TechCabal describes the acquisition as “ one of the largest in the MENA region.” Expensya was founded in 2014 by Karim Jouini (CEO) and Jihed Othmani (CTO) to provide automated expense management tools for European businesses. Expensya’s software allows businesses to offer autonomous spending (within specified rules and limits) freeing up time and streamlining employee expensing. Integrations with popular ERP applications like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics allow financial comptrollers to maintain control and visibility across all business spending and simplify staff reimbursement. Initially built in Tunis, Expensya is headquartered in Paris but still maintains the bulk of its back office operation in Africa. Per TechCabal reporting last year, only 50 of 160 employees were based outside Africa with the rest working out from an office in the Tunisian capital. Expensya cofounders, Karim Jouini (CEO) and Jihed Othmani (CTO). Photo source: JeuneAfrique | © Expensya Before this acquisition, Expensya had raised a total of $25.6 million, with the latest being a $20 million Series B that was announced in April 2021. Press statements announcing the pending acquisition say Expensya more than doubled its recurring revenue in two years (from 2021) and grew its customer base to 6000 businesses (700,000 active individual users) spread across 100 countries. Expensya now employs more than 200 employees, mainly based in Tunisia, France, and Germany. Read also: How this Tunisian startup won big in Europe “Mid-size organizations and their CFOs are clearly looking for one common platform to efficiently manage all their spend,” said Karim Jouini, CEO of Expensya. “By combining our employee spend management solution and payment cards, with Medius’s AP automation platform, we now cover the whole indirect spend of companies.” Founded in 2001, Medius is a cloud-based spend management technology provider based in Stockholm, the Swedish capital. In 2017, California-based private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners acquired Medius for an undisclosed sum. In March, Marlin sold a minority stake in Medius to Advent International, another private equity firm, for an undisclosed sum. Industry watchers reported that the minority single-asset stake sale was close to $500 million after Marlin revalued Medius downwards, suggesting that Medius retained a value substantially above the billion-dollar mark. “Expensya has developed a leading employee spend management solution in Europe,” Jim Lucier, Medius CEO said in a published press statement “Its founders, Karim and Jihed, and its leadership team share our ambition to transform the spend management category,” he added. Medius is especially keen to leverage Expensya’s technology to boost its spend management automation platform for travel businesses. According to Kevin Permenter, research director for Financial Applications at International Data Corporation, “Medius’s planned acquisition of Expensya will help financial leaders get a holistic view of their organization’s travel performance and financial position by enabling data from travel and expense activities to flow between the relevant finance functions.” Medius has sought to grow its business suite by acquiring emerging firms operating in the same or, adjacent space. In 2019 it acquired Wax Digital, a UK Procurement payment provider. And in 2022, it bought OnPay Solutions, a US-based Accounts Payable and cloud-based invoice processing company. The acquisition, when completed, will be the second 9-figure acquisition of a startup of Tunisian origin. In January this year, Oxford University spinoff, BioNTech, acquired InstaDeep, another Tunisian-born startup for $680 million. The deal represented the largest startup exit to date for an African-born startup.

June 7 2023

With its share price down 55%, Tingo Group will address Hinderburg research allegations today

Nigerian fintech, Tingo Group, says it will make a formal statement concerning the allegations by Hindenburg today and appoint a legal firm to manage the situation. Tingo Group, a NASDAQ-listed agri-fintech company accused of being an “exceptionally obvious scam” by the Hindenburg research group, has said it will publicly address such allegations today. The group shared this in its 2023 special meeting of shareholders today. The company’s response is critical, given that its share price dipped by -55% on NASDAQ after Hindenburg’s lengthy expose. TechCabal listened in on Tingo’s shareholder meeting, which lasted only eight minutes. Tingo’s Group senior chief financial officer Ben Trippier was on the call. However, it was unclear if Dozy Mmobuosi, the Group’s Founder and CEO, was on the call. Nevertheless, Tingo said it would “make a formal statement concerning the allegations by Hindenburg later today” but didn’t disclose any specific time. Tingo told shareholders on the call, “Most of you are aware of certain allegations which were published yesterday regarding the company. We intend to make a formal statement concerning certain of these claims later today.” Tingo further said it will appoint a “well-known International legal firm” to help address the current claims. “In addition, as is required for good corporate governance, we are in the process of appointing a well-known international legal firm as special legal counsel to assist the board in examining these allegations and producing a report to address the same,” the company concluded. Another issue discussed during the meeting was a proposal to increase the number of authorized shares and common stock from 425 million to 750 million. The company’s board approved the proposal. *This is a developing story

June 7 2023

Twiga confirms that it laid off its sales team in 2022 as it adjusts its commercial model

Twiga shifted its sales model after restructuring operations that eliminated internal sales teams. It has the right to terminate working relationships with underperforming independent contracts. Twiga Foods, a business-to-business (B2B) platform that connects farmers and food vendors, has confirmed that it no longer has an in-house sales team after a cost-cutting move it implemented last year. The cost-cutting move was a round of layoffs in October 2022 that affected 211 people, and the company’s CEO Peter Njonjo has clarified that contrary to some claims, there have been no new in-house workforce cuts. However, he shared that Twiga has changed its sales model and now works with several independent agents instead of full-time salespeople. In an email to TechCabal, Njonjo said, “We made the changes to our commercial team last year in October. We wanted to convert the role of a salesperson from that of an employee to a free agent. We made redundant the role of a Trade Development Representative and thus impacted 211 people. We paid all dues as per the Kenyan Employment Act. Other big companies followed suit in Kenya.” The layoffs mean that Twiga no longer has a sales department staffed with full-timers. Njonjo defended the firings as converting the salespeople to ‘free agents.’ “We no longer have dedicated sales agents in Twiga,” said Njonjo. Twiga’s new agent model According to Njonjo, Twiga stopped working with several sales agents following a performance evaluation. “Under the new agent model we rolled out last year, we are always reviewing sub-optimal sales territories, and it has been quite an iterative process. The decision to merge sales clusters drove the reduction in the number of agents, mainly driven by the viability of those clusters (driven by performance over time). The agents are independent actors, where in most cases they don’t work exclusively for the company, so this was based on the viability of those clusters,” added the CEO. Njonjo’s Twiga did not disclose the exact number of affected sales agents. One of the independent agents told TechCabal that Twiga assigns areas they should cover. The source also confirmed that Twiga does not restrict agents in terms of companies they work with. Still, they have to meet set goals to continue contracting for the company. Yesterday, Twiga let go about 60% of their sales team of 450 in Nairobi, citing harsh business environment.We always tout innovation as a watertight solution. But FCMG distribution has been showing players fire for a while. Seems it doesn’t matter if you’re traditional or not. — Spry Voice (@SpryVoice) June 6, 2023 Twiga assesses the agents monthly. If they do not serve their clients satisfactorily, they are replaced by a waiting list of new applicants. Njonjo says a waiting list of 2000 people is ready to be onboarded as sales agents. This is likely why Twiga is stringent in handling agents because if they cannot perform, a new set of agents would replace them. This business model has perhaps led to an online discussion faulting Twiga for firings. While that might be the case, Twiga has not laid off any permanent employees. Adopting the model makes it clear that underperforming independent agents will continue to be laid off. Last week, Twiga transferred its rights at the Galana-Kulalu Scheme to Selu Limited. Selu Limited has been set up as a specialised entity to invest in the irrigation project. The aim is to develop 20,000 acres of land for maize production, utilising innovative and sustainable farming methods. Towards the end of 2021, Twiga Foods secured $50 million in new funding to support its East and West Africa expansion efforts. The investment was raised by its existing investors, including the International Finance Corporation, TLcom Capital, Creadev, Juven, and DOB Equity. What do you think about our stories? Tell us how you feel by taking this quick 3-minute survey.

June 7 2023

NIBSS cuts instant transfer fees, but banks will not lower customer transaction fees

Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Nigeria’s largest payment infrastructure, has reduced the processing fee for transactions on its platform. How does that affect you? According to documents seen by TechCabal, NIBSS has reduced the processing fee for transactions on NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP). The new ₦3.75 pricing for instant transfers—down from ₦5—will take effect on July 1, 2023. An anonymous source at NIBSS told TechCabal that the reduction resulted from commercial banks asking for a reduction in the cost of transactions. The source added that the reduction would not affect the transaction fees banks charge their customers. It’s a position that financial services experts agree with. Adedeji Olowe, the founder of Lendsqr, told TechCabal, “[The] truth is, the impact would be nothing except the Central Bank compels banks to reduce pricing.” Olowe’s comments ring true, as only the CBN can instruct banks to reduce their transaction fees. Currently, banks charge a ₦10 fee for transactions under ₦5,000, ₦26 for transactions between ₦5,000 and ₦50,000, and ₦50 for transactions above ₦50,000. Would the NIBSS reduction affect transfer fees for customers? Abubakar Idris, a business journalist, told TechCabal that for banks and fintechs, “every kobo counts”. “A reduction in NIBSS fees won’t necessarily trigger any decrease in customers’ payment fees,” he said. Idris added that for fintechs, the cost of serving customers is not decreasing. “Server fees are in dollars, compensation for talent has become competitive, and rising inflation and devaluation mean businesses are already struggling to stay afloat”, he said. Additionally, transaction fees are a critical revenue source for Nigerian banks. In 2022, Access Bank, Zenith Bank, Ecobank, and UBA made ₦145.7 billion, ₦132.8 billion, ₦200.9 billion, ₦128.2 billion, respectively, from fees and commissions. These figures made fees and commissions the largest or second-largest contributors to the banks’ non-interest income. It explains why the banks hope that the CBN doesn’t ask them to reduce their fees. In December 2019, the CBN, in a move to offer stability and improve financial inclusion, compelled banks to reduce their fees. Some banks hesitated due to concerns over their profit margins. Their hesitance was met with fines. But Charles Odogwu, the growth head for NowNow, believes that it’s not a binary conversation. He says that if banks lower transaction fees, it can “stimulate increased transaction volume”. He added that this could translate into more revenue opportunities for banks, “especially if they have a significant market share in electronic payment services”. On the flip side, he said that reducing transaction fees may impact banks’ profit margins. “If the price reduction is significant, banks may experience a decline in transaction fee revenue, which could affect their overall profitability”, Odogwu said.

June 7 2023

Entering Tech #33: How Data Community Africa helps data professionals

From a festival to a community. 07 || June || 2023 View in Browser Brought to you by Issue #33 Communities: Data Community Africa Share this newsletter Greetings ET people If you’re looking to enter or go further in the gripping world of data-driven wonders, where numbers dance and insights sparkle, then this edition of Entering Tech is for you. A few weeks ago, we began the discussion on communities in tech and how the right ones can help you thrive in your chosen field. Today, we’re talking data! If you’re already on your journey in this field, or looking to get in; fear not; you don’t have to go it alone. Say hello to Data Community Africa, the space for connecting with like-minded souls who share your passion for turning raw data into gold. In this community, you’ll be able to learn more and grow through learning programmes, certified courses, job and internship opportunities and the good old power of community. Happy reading, and may the data gods be ever in your favour! by Pamela Tetteh and Timi Odueso. Tech trivia This week’s trivia is inspired by Apple’s new $3,500 AR goggles. What’s the difference between virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality? What is Data Community Africa? A few weeks ago, in a now-deleted tweet, I mentioned I was looking for an exceptional data analyst to feature on the Entering Tech Shorts. Almost immediately, I got two recommendations from Tina Okonkwo—a data analyst we featured in Entering Tech #10—and another acquaintance. Both Tina and the acquaintance had recommended the same people: David Abu and Olanrewaju Oyinbooke. Within minutes, I had not only the Twitter handles of these two guys, but their email addresses and phone numbers as well. When I asked how they both had these contacts, their responses were similar: David and Ola are popular in the data community because they’re helping newbies learn about data. This story bears semblance to how Data Community Africa started: a tweet, and people looking to make change. In March 2022, David Abu tweeted, “We want to run a data conference in Nigeria that includes all data roles in the workplace. It will be called DATAFEST2022. The goal is to understand different aspects of data and how all data life cycles have evolved over time.” With Gift Ojeabulu, a data scientist with over 10 years of experience, and Olanrewaju Oyinbooke, Abu hosted the first-ever event showcasing all data roles in the African space. But what started off as DataFestAfrica, an event attended by over 4,000 people, has now evolved into a community of like-minded individuals who are relentlessly pursuing three goals: community, job opportunities and scaling—so people in data can grow in their career journeys. And that’s how Data Community Africa started. How Data Community Africa works Data analysts, scientists, and everyone in data 2,000 Nil. Absolutely free Discord If you’re wondering what the benefits of joining Data Community Africa are, here are a few: A. Monthly learning programme: Every month, the community hosts a series of online workshops and tutorials designed to help data professionals in Africa learn new skills and stay up-to-date on the latest trends in data science and machine learning. The programme is open to all levels of experience, from beginners to experienced professionals. In the past, the programmes have hosted tutors like Bitergia’s Ruth Ikegah. B. Job Opportunities: Data Community Africa has partnered with a number of companies to offer job opportunities for data professionals. For example, it recently partnered with the African Development Bank to offer a data fellowship programme for young data professionals to develop the skills they need to work in the financial sector. It’s also partnered with Propel and Deep Brown Consulting to help data professionals find jobs. Since the community kicked off less than 6 months ago, at least eight community members have found jobs! C. Skill development: So we’ve mentioned the monthly learning programme at Data Community Africa. But there are even more opportunities where newbies can gain data skills. The community offers a variety of skill development opportunities for data professionals, including online courses, workshops, and meetups. For example, it has partnered with DataCamp—a global data learning platform to offer online courses and certification programmes that data professionals can complete to demonstrate their skills and knowledge. D. Events: Data Community Africa started from an event, so it stands that the community will keep hosting physical meet-ups and other events for its members. While we have it on good account that DataFestAfrica 2023 is coming soon , members have also participated in datathons where data professionals can show off their skills and win prizes of up to ₦400,000 ($900). E. Community: Finally, there’s the first reason Gift and David founded Data Community Africa in the first place: to bring data professionals together in a space where they can grow. And the Community has a lot of that. On Discord, DCA has over 2,000 members while its Twitter page boasts of 17.3k engaged followers. What people say about Data Community Africa Speaking of community, here are a few rockstars who you will meet when you join Data Community Africa and what they’re saying: If you’re a data professional or you’re looking to enter tech through data, the good news is that Data Community Africa is free and ready to help. All you have to do is click a button. Join Data Community Africa on Discord The Entering Tech Shorts Speaking of data, what do data analysts do and how can you become one? In this one-minute video, senior cloud advocate at Microsoft, Olanrewaju Oyinbooke, explains what data analysts do and if Professor X from the X-men really is one. Watch the 1-minute YouTube Short here! Ask a techie Q. What are the career paths in technical writing? There’s a lot you can do with technical writing. Other than just documenting processes for tech and product teams, here are a couple of other career paths technical writing fits in. Technical writers

June 7 2023

One year after its launch, MTN’s MoMo still needs to reach more Nigerians

MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) began exactly May 2022. Now in June 2023, exactly a year and a month later, it is yet to be adopted by Nigerians on the street. Trying to find an MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) agent is like searching for a needle in a haystack. For weeks, I’d meant to sign up and try MoMo, but I kept running into problems. One problem: While trying to register with USSD, a prompt asked for my state and local government area. Because you fill in these details using only the first three letters of the local government area, there’s no way to differentiate between Ojodu Berger and Ojo, for instance. I figured that finding a MoMo agent would solve the problem. So on Friday, I walked the length of Ilori Moses street—for the second time in a week—to find a MoMo agent. As I widened my search area, the responses were the same: most of the POS operators did not offer MTN’s Mobile Money service and couldn’t direct me to agents who did. It wasn’t a big surprise considering that the CEO of MoMo PSB Eli Hini, admitted on a call with TechCabal that the service is still seeking adoption. Per its 2023 first quarter result, MoMo has 3.2 million monthly active mobile money (MoMo PSB) wallets, accounting for 43.2% of the telco’s users. While MTN’s impressive distribution lets it reach 19 million people, it still has a long way to go in becoming a service of choice. According to Hini, “We have over 3.5 million people who use wallets on a 30-day basis to perform transactions and that’s where our focus is— to grow and allow many people who need our wallets to experience transactions that are fast and easy to process. We want to reach more people in Nigeria. By all means, we also enable traditional banks and mobile money account holders. Therefore, it should be possible to be able to pay your mechanic, plumber or service provider who doesn’t have a bank account but has a mobile phone.” But there’s still some way to go before MoMo has a commanding market presence. In conversation with mobile money agents in Lagos, TechCabal found that MoMo is not especially popular with users. Finding MoMo users in Lagos “People are not using the wallets, it is not common here. There is only one lady that makes use of her MoMo wallet and I fund her,” Eniola Alatise, an agent who runs both the MoMo and POS service in Ikeja tells me. Another agent on the network based in Magboro, Ogun state, Temitope Bukola, admits that usage is lower than the regular POS. “Very few people use it, most of the main users are agents that use it for transfer and selling of recharge cards. People use it, but not like the regular POS,” she explained. Another agent, Afariogun Michael, who operates a POS business in addition to the mobile money service, in Oshodi, one of Nigeria’s thriving markets told TechCabal that for the MoMo service, the customer figure is an average of 30 customers on a daily basis. Even with this more optimistic figure, it was still hard finding MoMo users. Of the three people I spoke with at Ojo, Lagos, only one, a law student uses the service. Recovering from a difficult start Days after MTN launched MoMo in 2022, it lost over ₦10.5 billion to unauthorised transfers caused by a system glitch. According to a suit dated May 30, 2022, MoMo alleged that ₦22.3 billion ($48 million) was transferred in error to 8,000 accounts maintained by the 18 banks’ customers using MoMo. It is possible that a lack of trust could be stalling wider adoption. But Hini told TechCabal that the firm is now past that and it has appealed to super agents and fintech companies to use its platform, as it can assure better security. “What we have done as a business is give comfort to our customers and also the assurance that we as a business have enhanced our governance within the period and improved on various interventions and controls. Remember that in this ecosystem, you have interactions that are not dependent on your platform and we have third party integration as well. A lot of work we have done is to strengthen controls along integration and partnership arrangements,” he said on the call. MoMo’s CEO envisions a future where the service is home to the banked, unbanked and underserved. Yet, there’s still some way to go if MoMo will replicate the success of mobile money services like Mpesa or Wave.

June 7 2023

Ride-hailing drivers in Nigeria begin nationwide strike as they ask Uber and Bolt to increase fares by 200%

Across Nigeria, ride-hailing drivers are protesting. They’re demanding that Uber, Bolt and other ride-hailing companies increase fares by at least 200%. A typical weekday morning in Lagos is rush hour, a good time of the day for cab drivers. But this Wednesday, ride-hailing drivers—think: Uber, Bolt, LagRide, Indriver—are protesting. At the direction of the Amalgamated Union of App-based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWON), ride-hailing drivers are following a sit-at-home order until the ride-hailing companies increase their base fares. The union also has other demands. According to the National Vice President for Southwest Nigeria (AUATWON), Kolawole Aina, “Each local government in Lagos State and by extension, all states in Nigeria will be protesting today at the same time.” TechCabal also understands that the drivers plan to picket the offices of Uber in Victoria Island and Bolt in Lekki. “All e-hailing platforms are shut down from today till Friday,” Aina told TechCabal over the phone. “The riders should find another alternative,” he said. AUATWON is hopeful that the strike will not last long. “The strike may not have to last that long if they (Uber and Bolt) do what we ask in time,” Somoye Olalekan, the Public Relations Officer for the union, who is leading the protest in Ifako Ijaiye local government, another location for today’s strike, told TechCabal. At the time of filing this report, protest activities have begun in Edo State. Comrade Jolaiya Moses told TechCabal he would join the movement from there. Despite the strike action, which is supposed to run till Friday, I could still find a driver on the Bolt app who was five minutes away. As with most ride-hailing strikes, enforcement is difficult because many gig workers need to work daily to survive or make repayments to the owners of cars or make good on loans. The AUATWON task force understands the enforcement problem, and in Ifako-Ijaiye, the union is stopping drivers who are working. AUATWON’s demands As TechCabal reported on Tuesday, at the heart of this week’s strike is a demand by AUATWON asking ride-hailing companies to increase fares by a minimum of 200%. The union is also asking for a 50% reduction in commission—Uber and Bolt collect a 20% commission on every ride—and an end to the deactivation of drivers who refuse to work due to the low fares and attendant unprofitability. The union is also seeking the recognition of AUATWON as the representative body for their interests. *This is a developing story.

June 7 2023

Inaugural GITEX Africa leaves a firm imprint of Morocco’s surging tech ambition

Morocco is positioning itself as a gateway to Africa’s technology sector and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which shares the same ambitions for the Middle East is more than happy to help. Last week, thousands of visitors descended on the red city of Marrakech for GITEX Africa. It was the first time the popular tech trade show was being organised outside of the UAE. For three days, the 45,000-square-metre purpose-built exhibition space at Place Bab Jdid, Bd Al Yarmouk in Marrakech hummed with activity as attendees waded through multiple simultaneous conference tracks and 900 exhibition stalls. Among the exhibitors were 100 startups from a Moroccan government-supported startup development programme selected to demonstrate the country’s startup ambitions. Coming from the organiser of a 42-year-old technology trade show that has been held at the Dubai World Trade Centre since 1981, it represented an acknowledgement of the coming-to-age of technology startups in Africa. The long road to Morocco According to Trixie LohMirmand, executive vice president at the Dubai World Trade Centre, GITEX Africa, Morocco, was organised in the seven-month space between the official announcement last October. But the GITEX event brand, which now boasts itself as the biggest technology event in 2023, worked its way up from relatively humble beginnings in 1981. In 1981, Dubai was in the early stages of recasting itself from a sleepy port town and residence of the British agent for the former Trucial States, into a modern port city. Jebel Ali Port had been commissioned only two years prior and the new highway linking Dubai to Abu Dhabi, the capital, was barely a year old. One of the projects being constructed around the same time as the port and highway was the 38-storey, 184-metre-tall Sheikh Rashid Tower (now the Dubai World Trade Centre). Purpose-built for events and trade shows, the tower, which was commissioned in 1979, was Dubai’s tallest building at the time and became the site of the first Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITE) trade show which was held in 1981. The 2009 launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system at a GITEX trade show in Dubai put the regional event on the global tech trade show map. Since then, Dubai World Trade Centre has hosted successive tech trade shows each year, attracting thousands of attendees each year. In October last year, as technology startups in Africa neared a record-breaking fundraising year, Kaoun International and the Dubai World Trade Centre announced that it was bringing GITEX Global to Africa. Beyond North Africa’s broken regional market By positioning the event in all but name as a celebration of relations with the UAE, GITEX Africa signalled a decided Moroccan turn towards Middle-Eastern partners in the Gulf. The currently untenable alternative is a deeply fragmented regional market that encompasses neighbouring North African states, with the possible exception of Egypt. Last year, Morocco’s relatively stable relations with Tunisia broke down after Tunisian president, Kais Saied, met with the leader of Polisario Front, a militant Sahrawhi nationalist group claiming Western Sahara for itself. Algeria to the east has not had good relations with Rabat. And Mauritania in the southwest is a smaller and far less wealthy market, compared to a wealthy Gulf partner like the UAE. Read also: Here’s why startup funding in the Maghreb ecosystem is low Morocco is also seeking to position itself as a gateway destination for technology investment, especially from friendly Gulf countries like the UAE. “Morocco is a source of pride for Arab countries,” Omar Sultan Al Olama, the UAE’s minister of state for artificial intelligence, digital economy, and remote work applications enthused at the opening ceremony of GITEX Africa. “The UAE is here to celebrate a year of fruitful partnership between the emirate and the Kingdom of Morocco,” he added. The UAE was Morocco’s second-largest source of foreign investment last year. Investments made by Emirati entities surpassed $14 billion in 2021, accounting for 21% of total FDI in Moroccan markets according to reporting from Zawya. With Morocco’s well-established but unyielding traditional banking and finance industry, it could be a genius move to be positioned as the funnel for capital meant for emerging African markets. It is certainly a bold statement. On the other hand, increased appetite for alternative investment asset classes like venture capital has seen private investment firms and Silicon Valley investors turn to family offices and Middle-Eastern sovereign wealth funds for capital. What would be harder is convincing funds seeking to invest in technology hotbeds in Africa to route it through Morocco instead of allocating capital directly to investment firms in Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya or South Africa. Building a tech kingdom In speeches and panel sessions, various attending government officials from Morocco emphasised plans to make Morocco a nerve centre for technology investments in Africa. “The impact of this first African edition on the Moroccan tech ecosystem might not be immediate, but we are definitely expecting long-term benefits,” Mehdi Al Aloui, head of the startup department at the Moroccan Development Agency said. One of the drawbacks the country will need to address is its well-reported stifling bureaucracy. Besides hindering the growth of the startup ecosystem, bureaucracy in the country is equally standing in the way of major economic reforms, one report claimed. A Startup Act can help and Moroccan officials at GITEX Africa seem open to the idea, but the country already has several startup support initiatives and programmes running. Morocco also ranks high on Doing Business Index, but analysis by The Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis, and the Middle East Institute suggest that easy and quick legislative fixes that boost DBI rankings have had little impact on changing administrative practices on the ground. Hosting one of Africa’s largest tech trade shows and conferences this year is a bold step, but a seachange in Morocco’s fortune as a key technology player and innovation centre will both require the government to be less visible. Hosting brilliant event showcases is nice, but lifting the suffocating weight of bureaucracy and allowing private innovation enterprises to flourish,

June 7 2023

TechCabal Daily – An “exceptionally obvious” Bingo play?

Lire en français Read this email in French. 7 JUNE, 2023 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Good morning We’ve got exciting updates coming next week! Our referral system relaunches, and TC Daily will look a lot different. Don’t worry, though, we’ll give a full feature when the time comes. Image source: Aderemi Adesida/TechCabal In today’s edition Hindenburg research calls Tingo a scam Mara’s second layoffs Updates from Apple’s WWDC Jumia to extend into Uganda The World Wide Web3 Event: The Moonshot Conference Opportunities HINDENBURG RESEARCH CALLS TINGO A SCAM Hindenburg Research, a US-based investment research firm, has accused Tingo Group, a Nigerian company, of being an “exceptionally obvious scam with completely fabricated financials”. Tingo’s lies: Hindenburg accused Tingo’s founder and CEO Dozy Mmuobuosi of lying about creating the first mobile payment app in Nigeria. It also reported that the Malaysian university which Dozy claimed gave him a PhD said that no one by his name was found in their verification system. Tingo founder Dozy Mmuobuosi More fabrications: In 2021, Tingo announced that it had partnered with Nigerian bank FCMB to expand its mobile services, which would birth its payment group, TingoPay. Two days after the announcement, FCMB debunked the claim. Hindenburg also reported that Tingo photoshopped its logo on another PoS operator’s devices and claimed that the PoS and other merchant products were offerings of its payment group, TingoPay. The firm also said it found that no links to the TingoPay app are on the Google Play Store or the Apple Store. The company also reportedly photoshopped pictures of aeroplanes which it posted online in 2019 as planes of its airline “Tingo Airlines”. The Athletic reported in February that Tingo Airlines’ registered address was removed from its documents, with a note saying that the address was “invalid or ineffective and was forged”. Disappearing acts: Tingo also claimed that its mobile handset leasing, call, and data segments generated $128 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2023. Hindenburg reported that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) showed no record of Tingo being a mobile licencee, despite the company’s claims of having 12 million mobile customers. Hindenburg also debunked Tingo’s claim that its agricultural export business, Tingo DMCC, was on track to deliver over $1.34 billion in 9 months—more than Nigeria’s export in the whole of the previous year. Even worse, the company was not listed in the Nigerian customs database. In addition, Hindenburg found that the links on the website for NWASSA Twigo’s marketplace for farmers in Ghana are not working. More drama in store: Tingo Group’s share price has been plummeting since Hinderberg Research published its findings and announced that it is shorting the company’s shares. Tingo’s shareholder’s meeting is, however, set to hold at 2 PM WAT today. MONIEPOINT RANKED 2ND FASTEST-GROWING AFRICAN COMPANY Moniepoint is Africa’s second-fastest growing company, as shown in FTs latest report. We also processed 1 billion transactions worth $43 billion in Q1 alone. Read all about it here. This is partner content. MARA’S SECOND ROUND OF LAYOFFS Web3 startup Mara has enforced its second round of layoffs. The first layoffs in December coincided with the resignation of a co-founder Kate Kallot and the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, a sister company of Alameda Research, one of Mara’s investors. The startup, however, told TechCabal that the job cuts had nothing to do with the crash of the exchange. The second layoff: The second round of layoffs happened in May. While one report described a pattern of frivolous spending by Mara’s management team, a source told TechCabal that the startup restructured the team with a renewed focus on existing users and launching other projects that will drive crypto adoption in Africa. One source said the layoff mostly affected staff in marketing, communications, and community management. Another source told TechCabal that a number of staff in other teams were laid off too. But it appears that the startup has not frozen hiring. A source disclosed to TechCabal that the company has just hired several engineers despite the layoffs. MORE FROM TECHCABAL Struggling ride-hailing drivers in Nigeria reject Bolt’s revised pricing. Digital support: Embracing virtual strength for mental health. UPDATES FROM APPLE’S WORLDWIDE DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE Apple is investing heavily in mixed reality (MR). On Monday, at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), it unveiled Vision Pro, its mixed reality and first 3D camera headset. Here’s everything that was announced at the WWDC. The Vision Pro AR Headset: Although there’s no exact release date, we know Apple’s new product costs a whopping $3,499 and will be launched in early 2024. With a new spatial operating system called Vision OS, a bunch of iPad and iPhone apps will be ready to go on Vision Pro when it launches. Per CNN, the new mixed reality headset will work with apps like Apple’s new Reality Composer Pro, an innovative app simplifying the creation of complex scenes featuring life-like objects. Popular productivity apps like Microsoft Word, Excel, and Teams, as well as video conferencing tools such as Zoom and Cisco’s Webex, will be included on Vision Pro. A report by Apple Insider gives a more detailed explanation of the new product. New Macs: Apple had some exciting news for its Mac line, with updates that include a fresh 15-inch MacBook Air with a price that starts at $1,299, a revamped Mac Studio, and a Mac Pro featuring the advanced Apple M2 Ultra Silicon. Software updates: Apple also announced iOS 17, its next update for the iPhone and iPad. iOS 17 brings new updates to FaceTime, Messages, and the phone app to make your iPhone experience more user-friendly and personal. It offers interactive widgets, iPhone-like lock screen customisation options and live activities on the lock screen for iPads. iOS17 will not support the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus. More announcements were made, like the new operating system for Apple’s Mac desktops and MacBook called MacOS 14 Sonoma and WatchOS 10 for the Apple Watch. You can find the rest of the announcement here.