New JAMB results 2024 updates
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released vital information regarding JAMB results 2024 updates. In a recent post via their official X (formerly Twitter) handle, in response to a candidate’s inquiry, JAMB emphasised that the only way to access your 2024 UTME results is through SMS verification. This update signifies a shift from previous years where candidates could access their JAMB results 2024 online through the JAMB portal. Here’s what you need to know: SMS Verification Only: To check your JAMB results 2024, you must send the SMS command “UTMERESULT” (without quotes) to either 55019 or 66019. Registered Phone Number Essential: Ensure you use the same phone number you employed during JAMB profile code generation. This ensures the results are delivered to the authorised candidate. No Online Access: Unlike previous years, JAMB results 2024 will not be accessible through the JAMB website. The board is solely relying on SMS verification for this year’s exercise. JAMB encourages all candidates who participated in the 2024 UTME to access their results using the SMS verification method. Other things to note about the UTME updates 2024 These are some things you may want to bear in mind about checking your JAMB results 2024: Lost or Damaged Sim Cards: If the phone number you used in registering for JAMB has somehow been misplaced or spoilt, you may need to retrieve it according to JAMB. Possibility of checking your results on JAMB portal: This method may eventually become available, however, it may come at a very much later date when the knowledge of your JAMB score can no longer help you take the required steps for your admission. Do not pay for result checking on the JAMB portal: Some candidates in, a bid to use the JAMB portal to access their results, have made payments as the portal stipulates, but ended up getting error prompts regarding the check. JAMB, through their X channel, has made it clear that students are not asked to make any payment on the portal for result checking as of 2024, May 7th. As such candidates who have made such payments may have forfeited their money. Final thoughts on new JAMB results 2024 updates If you need to retrieve your phone number due to loss or damage, you must act fast because 2024 admission processes such as Change of Institution are underway. The SMS option remains the only provision made by JAMB at the moment to access your JAMB 2024 results. Remember, JAMB may release further updates regarding the results, so staying informed through their official channels and verified platforms like TechCabal is recommended.
Read MoreChipper Cash resumes US operations two months after pausing services
Chipper Cash, a pan-African fintech startup, has resumed operations in the US after a two-month pause, and after a restructuring exercise that saw the company remove all US and UK roles, focusing its staff presence in Africa. Now, US-based customers can once again send money to friends and family in Chipper Cash’s African markets in Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, and Uganda. The company said in a statement that its “optimised account top-up experience now provides customers with dedicated bank account details. Sending money family and friends across Africa has never been easier.” Chipper has also asked customers to update the Chipper app on Apple app store and Google Play to effect the changes. A year ago, Chipper Cash launched operations in the US and secured money transmitter licenses in all 50 states in the country. Connor Headrick Chief of Staff, said that “these 40 licenses, in addition to the 15 we hold across the continent, further strengthens our global licensing portfolio to 55 licenses worldwide and is a testament to our global reach and commitment to regulatory compliance,” The push to expand its services was however halted in January when an unspecified banking partnership fell through, forcing Chipper Cash to pause its US money transfer services. With over $305 million raised in funding across 6 rounds led by Ribbit Capital and Bezos Expeditions, Chipper told TechCabal that it has 5 million verified users, with 1.4 million customers actively using the platform every quarter.
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UTME Conversion to DE 2024
Many students interested in pursuing higher education in Nigeria consider the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) pathways. UTME conversion to DE 2024 allows UTME candidates who meet specific criteria to leverage their UTME 2024 scores for direct entry applications. This conversion process benefits those who have the necessary qualifications for DE after registering for UTME. For instance, a candidate might have registered for UTME while awaiting their A-Level results, which qualify them for DE. UTME conversion to DE 2024 allows them to use their UTME scores to apply for admission directly into the second year of their chosen program. However, it’s important to note that the official process for UTME conversion to DE 2024 has not started yet. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) will announce the official commencement date and provide detailed guidelines. Regularly checking the JAMB website, their social media channels, and news platforms like TechCabal will help you stay updated. In the meantime, acquainting yourself with the specific requirements for your desired institutions for DE conversion is recommended. Next steps once UTME conversion to DE 2024 begins Here’s a glimpse into the possible steps for UTME conversion to direct entry based on procedures from previous years (Please note these are not confirmed steps for 2024, but are likelihoods based on recent years): 1. Wait for JAMB’s announcement of UTME conversion to DE 2024 JAMB will officially announce the commencement of UTME conversion to direct entry. Pay close attention to the official dates and deadlines. 2. Visit a JAMB Office Once the process opens, proceed to your nearest JAMB office. These offices are the only designated locations for UTME conversion to direct entry. 3 Present Required Documents Have your UTME result slip, certificates or diplomas that qualify you for DE application, and any other documents specified by JAMB readily available. 4. Complete the Conversion Process JAMB officials will guide you through the conversion process, which might involve an online application or form filling. Ensure you follow the instructions carefully. 5. Pay Conversion Fee There will likely be a processing fee associated with UTME conversion to direct entry. Be prepared to settle this fee at the JAMB office. Final thoughts on UTME conversion to DE 2024 Please bear in mind that this is based on previous years, and the official process for UTME conversion to direct entry 2024 might differ slightly. Therefore ensure you stay informed and prepare the required documents to ensure a smooth transition from UTME to direct entry for the 2024 admissions cycle.
Read MoreNigerian officials allegedly asked for $150 million bribe before arresting Binance staff
One month before Tigran Gambrayan, a compliance officer for the global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, was arrested in February, he was asked by Nigerian officials to pay $150 million in crypto, according to a report from the New York Times. The report suggested that the money was a bribe. Gambrayan and his colleague Nadeem Anjarwallar were given 48 hours to make that payment after meeting with Nigerian legislators. Following the payment request, Gamabaryan left Nigeria hurriedly and shared a three-page document describing the request with Binance lawyers and the company’s contacts in the Nigerian government. He came back to Nigeria a month later with Nadeem Anjarwalla, his colleague at Binance. That was the last time both Binance staff were free men after they were arrested in February for tax evasion and money laundering charges. Anjarwalla fled an Abuja hotel where he was held before the trial in March. Nigerian officials also threatened to arrest Richard Teng, the CEO of Binance. The arrest of Gambrayan and Anjarwalla set off a series of events in Nigeria after the country declared crypto a “national security” issue. Binance has since left the country as the company’s website has been blocked in Nigeria. Since then, Nigerian authorities have clamped down on cryptocurrencies as they believe that crypto traders use centralised exchanges to manipulate the country’s exchange rate. The SEC also told crypto traders on Monday that they should stop peer-to-peer trading on crypto platforms.
Read MoreForex traders vanish on the streets of Nigeria’s major cities after EFCC raids
Forex traders who trade on the street across major cities in Nigeria went into hiding today after a raid by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The raid comes two months after the Central Bank banned street trading of FX and tightened regulations for Bureau De Change operators. “The EFCC guys came in the morning, I was not there when they came, but many of the traders who came in the morning were arrested,” an FX trader in Port Harcourt who asked not to be named for safety reasons told TechCabal. Another Forex trader in Gbagada, Lagos, confirmed that all the FX traders in the area were in hiding. “They arrested people in Shitta and Lagos market,” he claimed. In February, the EFCC arrested over 100 currency traders in Lagos. One month later, the Central Bank revoked the operating licences of more than 4,000 Bureau De Change operators (BDCs). Today’s raids and arrests are part of several policy actions by Nigerian authorities to restore confidence in its volatile FX markets. While the naira briefly became the world’s best-performing currency in March, it weakened again as the US dollar strengthened against most major currencies. This week, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) met with blockchain players and asked pleaded with them to stop p2p trading, days after TechCabal reported that a ban was imminent. The office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) also designated crypto a national issue last week and ordered five fintechs to stop onboarding new customers.
Read MoreJumia lowers operating losses 70% in Q1 2024 even as profit remains elusive
Jumia, a leading African e-commerce platform, lowered its operating losses by 70% in Q1 2024 after brutal cost-cutting measures that saw it trim advertising costs to $3.8 million, a 30% drop compared to Q1 2023. Despite these cuts, profitability remained elusive as macroeconomic conditions in most of its markets squeezed consumer purchasing power. Key takeaways: Jumia’s reported revenue of $48.9 million for the quarter It cut its operational losses to $8.3 million Quarterly active users shrank to 1.9 million “Significant currency devaluations in some of our largest markets impacted both purchasing power and supply availability making for a difficult operating environment,” said Francis Dufay, Jumia’s CEO, on a Tuesday earnings call. The e-commerce giant recorded revenues of $48.9 million in Q1 2024, 18.5% higher than Q1 2023 and credited the increase with the sales of big-ticket items such as electronics and home and living items, partially offset by the impact of foreign exchange. “Our ability to secure sufficient inventory and offer a diversified product assortment at competitive prices continues to keep consumers engaged on our platform.” The company’s Gross Merchandise Value, a measure of the value of all goods bought on its platform, increased to $181.5 million by 5%, driven by corporate sales, improved marketplace margins, and a reduction in spending on customer incentives and promotions. The company also shared plans to attract a stickier and higher-quality customer base. “Jumia’s cohort data shows that 39% of the company’s fourth quarter 2023 cohort of new customers completed a second purchase within 90 days as compared to 36% in the fourth quarter of 2022 cohort re-ordering in first quarter of 2023,” the company said. The company will undergo a disciplined and targeted approach to marketing spend focused on targeting more efficient marketing channels, such as search engine optimization (SEO) and customer relationship management (CRM). In terms of runway, Jumia has a cash balance of $28.6 million and a liquidity position of $101.5 million. The company said 79% of its Liquidity Position was held in USD, helping to limit risk and Jumia’s exposure to shifts in local currency valuations. A bright spot in its report is the growth in JumiaPay transactions which reached $2 million in the first quarter of 2024, up 51.8% year-over-year. The growth was driven by the rollout of JumiaPay on delivery in one of Jumia’s largest markets. Dufay had earlier said the company was exploring plans to rollout Jumia Pay delivery in Nigeria as he estimates that 50% of transactions could be cashless by 2024 ending. Over the past month, Jumia’s share price has grown 5%, demonstrating some shareholder confidence. The stock currently trades at $5.47 at the time of this report. .
Read MoreIdentity startup, Seamfix, raises $4.5 million in first funding round to expand outside Nigeria
Seamfix, a 17-year-old identity solutions startup, has raised $4.5 million in funding from Alitheia IDF, its first institutional investor as it looks to expand its business outside Nigeria. Chimezie Emewulu, the company’s co-founder and CEO, told TechCabal that the company raised the funding to expand into more stable African markets as the fluctuation of the naira has impacted the dollar growth of company revenue. Seamfix will expand to Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. “From a naira perspective, we see that we are growing year over year but from a dollar perspective, we’re going backwards,” he said. In the past year, the Naira has sharply lost its value against the greenback following two devaluations by the Tinubu administration. “That’s why we deliberately decided to start expanding to other countries so that we can earn more in forex,” Emewelu added. Seamfix creates digital identities and verification for large organisations and governments in Africa. The company also provides transaction accreditation solutions for these customers. It is already present in Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia, and also leverages its partnership with the MTN group to provide its identity solution in countries where the telco is present. Digital identity remains a significant problem in Africa, as 542 million people do not have identity cards. Solving the identity problem in Africa would help countries boost GDP growth by as much as 7% but it will cost an estimated $6 billion. Since its inception, Seamfix has built identity solutions for Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission [NIMC], MTN, Glo, Airtel and financial institutions like United Bank for Africa, Interswitch and Union Bank. Its partnership with NIMC helped over 100 million Nigerians acquire national identification numbers, while it helped telcos register their 200 million customers in compliance with regulatory standards. Seamfix makes money by selling its identity solution to organisations, charging customers for verifying their identity, selling yearly licenses to organisations that access its database of identities, and charging for API calls. Emewelu told TechCabal that the company has processed more than 500 million identities. Founded by Chimezie Emewulu and Chibuzor Onwurah, classmates who wanted to ‘seamlessly fix’ problems with technology, Seamfix initially built custom products that digitised the workflow of organisations but pivoted to building identity management solutions in 2015. Emewulu told TechCabal that a client project, which involved building a solution that allowed university students to take exams online, made Seamfix realise the identity problem on the continent after students were caught impersonating other students during papers. “We implemented a biometric system that took pictures and fingerprint data. Anytime the students show up again under capture, the fingerprint system will generate evidence that this person has come before,” he said. After initial success with the identity verification solution, Seamfix partnered with 9 Mobile to register its customers. However, it took until 2015, when Seamfix helped MTN Nigeria reduce an initial $5.2 billion fine to $1.7 billion by bringing its customer registration process up to regulatory standard, that the company’s solution achieved significant market penetration.
Read MoreAmazon launches SA marketplace
Amazon has launched its South African market, officially beginning operations in its first African country. With 3,000 pickup points, buyers will also enjoy free delivery on their first order. News of Amazon’s South Africa marketplace launch broke in early 2022, with February 2023 slated as the launch date. The company ramped up hiring throughout 2023 and announced an official launch date in October 2023. The American e-commerce giant enters a market dominated by Naspers-owned Takealot which accounts for 48% of all online sales in the country. Takealot has stated that it sees Amazon’s entry into South Africa as a validation of the attractiveness of the country’s e-commerce market. E-commerce proxy battle between Walmart and Amazon brewing in South Africa Amazon’s entry sets up an interesting battle with incumbents like Takealot, whose competitive advantage is a great understanding of the South African market. The retail giant will also have to contend with the country’s rigid competition regulation landscape which has seen incumbents having to significantly restructure their operations. For example, in July 2023, the country’s competition regulator ordered Takealot to segregate its retail division from its marketplace operations. This was to prevent its retail services from accessing seller data and unilaterally stopping sellers from competing for certain brands. However, despite the complexities of operating in the South African market, Amazon also possesses competitive advantages to weather the storm. The company already has a significant market in SA, with Amazon.com being one of the most visited websites in the country. Amazon also has the financial muscle to take on Takealot which has over the years seen its growth rate dwindle from 72% annually to 15% over the last two years.
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Nigeria raises levy on e-transfers by 900%, analysts call for a transaction cap
Nigeria’s Central Bank will begin the implementation of an amended 2015 Cybersecurity Act that will levy a 0.5% fee on all electronic transactions on May 20, an increase of 900% from an earlier levy of 0.005%. It means an electronic transfer of ₦1,000 will attract a ₦5 fee while a ₦100,000 transfer will attract a ₦500 fee. The cybersecurity levy will be charged in addition to existing fees like stamp duty, a ₦50 charge on electronic receipt or transfer of money in any deposit money bank or financial institution on sums of ₦10,000 or more. When the levy goes into effect in two weeks, it will have only a few exceptions: money transfers within the same bank, salary payments, school fees payments, and loan repayments. Financial industry experts argue the new levy will constitute a burden for low-income earners who rely on electronic transactions for daily activities. The value of electronic transactions in Nigeria rose by 66% to over ₦600 trillion in 2023, according to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS). The Cybersecurity Act was first passed in 2015 and introduced a 0.005% levy on electronic transfers. A June 2018 CBN memo directed banks to collect the levy on “electronic transactions occurring in a bank or on a mobile money scheme or any other payment platform that have an accompanying service charge.” In 2024, the Act was amended and the levy was increased by 900% to 0.05% and it was extended the levy to cover fintechs, payment service providers, and other financial institutions. “It’s a little bit regressive. What we should be advocating for is an amendment to the law. There should be a cap on the transactions,” said a financial industry expert who asked not to be named so he could speak freely. On May 3, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu called for an implementation of the amended act, highlighting the increased influence of the NSA. The cybersecurity levy will be remitted monthly to the National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF), managed by the NSA. Last week, the NSA ordered five fintechs to stop onboarding new customers and deemed crypto a national security issue.
Read MoreSEC chief invokes patriotism, asks traders to stop P2P trading as fears of a ban linger
The past week has been a rollercoaster for Nigeria’s crypto industry, with an imminent ban on p2p trading threatening to undo progress towards positive regulations. A publicised meeting of crypto industry players and the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday afternoon was expected to ease uncertainty. Instead, it showed that the SEC, widely considered one of the country’s more progressive regulators, also believes that a handful of retail crypto traders are to blame for the volatility in the FX market. “What is very critical and which has brought about this meeting is the concerns regarding crypto P2P traders and their effect on the exchange rate,” said Emomotimi Agama, the recently appointed Director General of the SEC. He reiterated the need for crypto exchanges to delist naira from p2p trading pairs, a decision many had implemented in March 2024 after scrutiny of Binance began. ‘We ask that those involved in sharp practices that undermine national interest should cease and desist.” The DG spent the first thirty minutes pleading with crypto traders using the P2P method to stop citing the same national security concerns that have formed the core of the argument for a ban. “One of the things that needs to happen to save this space is the delisting of the naira on peer-to-peer platforms.” He encouraged the industry to root out “bad actors” giving the industry a bad reputation by naming and shaming them. And if an appeal to patriotism was insufficient, the SEC threw the industry a bone by promising it would not draft any regulation without its contribution. Some 300 guests were asked to share ideas and concerns that could help the regulator decide how to regulate Nigeria’s crypto market. “We have an open door policy towards all that mean well for this country, especially in the fintech community.” Ultimately, the crypto traders asked that the SEC set up a working committee and give them a month to prepare proposals. While it’s clear some type of regulation is coming, this meeting served only one purpose: to give the semblance of a regulator working with the industry to find a way forward. The fears over a p2p ban are very much alive.
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