West Africa
NCS: Nigerian government to inaugurates Funtua inland dry port November
The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, will in November inaugurate the ongoing Funtua Inland Dry Port project in Sokoto State. Also the French government has indicated its interest in collaborating with its Nigerian counterpart and therefore hinted that it will assist the government in form of financial assistance to the sector. The Executive Secretary/CEO Nigerian Shipper’s Council (NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello, made this known Thursday in Abuja during a meeting between the Council, Concessionaires for the Inland Dry Ports and the French Embassy. NSC ES, while highlighting the successes so far recorded by the Council stated that the federal government thought it necessary to bring shipping closer to the people by establishing ports in the hinterland. Hassan told the audien...
Uber Extends Moove Partnership to Include Ghana
Sourced from CNet. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_03d.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_03d.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Uber has extended its partnership with Moove to provide potential and current Uber drivers in Ghana with long-term access to vehicles. The largest partnership of its kind, the collaboration aims to lower existing barriers to car ownership on the continent and empower drivers to be their own boss within a shorter time frame. Drivers on the Uber platform now have access to brand new Volkswagen Polo among other models for either Flexi Car Weekly Rental or Drive to Own deals, including zero deposit, free maintenance, fuel, and smartphone allowance as well as free insurance. Moove’s partnership with Uber is expected to introduce low-barrier entry methods into the Ub...
Should West African Businesses Embrace Mobile Authentication for Security?
Sourced from International IDEA Digital technology has not only profoundly altered the way we live our lives, but also changed the pace of communication and commerce, allowing us to do everything, immediately. While this has effectively impacted every aspect of our lives, it also inevitably changed the way we are targeted by fraudsters. Along with the world transforming to digital, so has crime. According to an Accenture report published in 2019, the total value at risk of cybercrime over the next five years is an estimated $5.2 trillion. The average cyberattack costs $13 million, according to the same report, with phishing, social engineering and stolen device crime making up $2.4 million of the cost of an average attack. In West Africa, cybercrime is on the increase, with a recent analys...
Mukuru Partners with Thunes to Expand Footprint in Nigeria
/* custom css */ .tdi_3_6a6.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_6a6.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Mukuru has partnered with Thunes to expand its digital footprint across Nigeria. The fintech company expects this will streamline the process of cross-border money transfer through a single API connection, resulting in greater speed and operational efficiencies. “Our partnerships continue to be a source of both innovation and growth across our network, with our homegrown technology solutions continually evolving to meet the day-to-day needs of our customers,” says Mukuru CEO, Andy Jury. “We meet customers wherever they are, which today includes a variety of both physical and digital touchpoints across Africa, Europe and Asia.” This partnership with global payment netwo...
VP Osinbajo: Nigerian government democratising broadband connectivity
It’s the first in sub-Saharan Africa and one of the three such cutting-edge facilities on the continent, with top prime global certifications for smart card manufacturing and it is based in Lagos, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, relished yesterday afternoon while touring SecureID company’s premises, and affirmed Nigeria’s extremely bright economic future, which he said cannot be aborted despite current challenges. According to him, “the economic future of our nation is extremely bright. Yes, we have challenges today and they may look daunting. But let me assure you that these issues will be resolved. The march of this nation to its manifest destiny as Africa’s leading economic power will not be aborted. We are more than able to overcome.” An impressed Prof. Osinbajo said the Buhari Admi...
Kaspersky Expands Footprint in Nigeria and Ghana
Image sourced from Discover Germany Kaspersky has partnered with DataGroupIT to grow its cybersecurity business within Nigeria and Ghana. “DataGroupIT is a well-known distributor in Africa with a clear value-add when it comes to generating focused business growth, especially in the enterprise segment. It also has the capacity to support the Kaspersky business logistically and provide valuable technical expertise on Kaspersky solutions,” says Lehan van den Heever, Enterprise Cyber Security Advisor for Kaspersky in Africa. DataGroupIT has more than 1 000 clients in over 15 Sub-Saharan African countries with its professional teams delivering exceptional sales, pre-sale, logistic, marketing, and financial support. The partnership between the two organisations is expected to further enhanc...
MTN Ghana Promises $149 Million in Infrastructure Expansion
MTN Ghana has revealed its results for the quarter ended 31 March. The telco’s subscriberbase grew by 0.6 million to 25.0 million, as it improved its network and customerexperience. Continued demand for data and increased adoption of more digital payment services supported the active data subscribers’ growth of 0.4 million to reach 11.2 million and MoMo users growth of 0.1 million to reach 10.7 million. Most notably, MTN Ghana revealed that it would spend around $149 million in total CAPEX in the year to meet the heightened need for reliable and resilient voice, data and digital services. “We remain in line with our medium-term target to improve our margins and prudently manage our costs. EBITDA grew by 24.6%, with a corresponding margin expansion of 1.2 percentage points to 54.6%. Th...
MTN Nigeria Launches Unlimited Music Streaming Data Bundles
Sourced from TheTechieGuy (https://thetechieguy.com/) MTN Nigeria has partnered with Audiomack to offer subscribers tailored data bundles for streaming unlimited music and accessing content on Audiomack free of data charges. The partnership is expected to see MTN subscribers gain free access to Audiomack’s streaming service via their mobile devices on weekly and monthly subscriptions. The weekly plan offers 1.2GB + Free Audiomack while the monthly plan offers 2.5GB + Free Audiomack. “At Audiomack, we recognise the importance of access to quality music, and this coupled with Nigeria’s vibrant music industry has influenced this partnership,” says Dave Macli, CEO and Co-Founder of Audiomack Africa. “This relationship not only allows us to create shared value for MTN subscribers by delivering ...
Zeepay Ghana Acquires Zambian Mobile Money Platform
Image sourced from Modern Ghana Zeepay Ghana has revealed its plans to acquire a majority stake (51%) in Zambian company Mangwee Mobile Money – although, it is not yet known how much Zeepay paid for the majority stake. “The merger is the first of its kind – that two indigenous African fintech companies in mobile money operations have come together to grow. It represents a wind of change ongoing on the African continent,” reads a statement from Zeepay. Managing Director of Zeepay, Andrew Takyi-Appiah believes that this deal will allow Zeepay to expands its operations through Southern Africa. He says “this will give Zeepay access to Mozambique, Malawi, Angola and Namibia amongst others in our efforts to capture Africa’s $70billion remittance market and opportunity to deploy our award-winning...
