Author: Brand Spot

Internet Service Provider, Mawingu, is on the verge of closing a new investment round in the coming months, as it moves to capture a larger share of the digital market in the country. With over 7,000 active users, Mawingu is the country’s largest Internet service provider catering to rural Kenya, with presence in 15 counties, notably in the Mount Kenya region. The company has already begun to increase its outreach into towns which have not been well served and generally neglected by the larger players in the industry. In the past few months, Mawingu has expanded into Marsabit, Garissa, Wajir,…

Flourish Ventures, a global venture capital firm investing in mission-driven fintech entrepreneurs, today announced the launch of affiliate Madica, a structured investment program for pre-seed stage technology companies in Africa. Aiming to serve mission-driven and under-represented founders, the new sector-agnostic program will invest capital in tech startups and offer founders tailored mentorship and world-class company-building support. Over the next three years, Madica, seeks to back 25-30 African entrepreneurs with up to $200,000 each, coupled with multi-year programmatic support. The new investment program aims to address systemic challenges faced by early-stage founders in Africa, such as limited access to capital, industry…

NTT Ltd., a leading global IT infrastructure and services company, has today launched its 2022 Global Network Report, which found that 61% of CEOs in Middle East and Africa believe their network is slowing down business growth. Globally, of CEOs 70 percent believe their network maturity level is negatively affecting their business delivery. The adoption of hybrid, distributed work environments with multiple connected devices is erupting through enterprises but, despite investments, just two in five businesses say they are very satisfied with their current network capabilities. This has resulted in a new era of network modernization, with most executives relying…

Safaricom has partnered with Google to promote and grow Short Video content (YouTube shorts) on YouTube by offering low-cost bundles for its users. The two-month campaign will see Safaricom customers enjoy affordable 1GB data bundles for as low as KES. 10 to view and post content on their YouTube channels. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/j-jtXvcTev0 “In this era of limitless information, we have access to platforms like YouTube Shorts, which allow us to frequently produce and consume content. I believe that this new data bundle offer will help in uplifting new talent by giving them more opportunities to showcase their skills and talents and…

Driving the need for this investment is the increasingly rapid pace of digital transformation worldwide – a trend that chafes against the World Bank’s talent deficit forecast of 10 million people to 2027. More than 170 countries have announced digital strategies, and digital transformation is seen as the key to improving GDP and productivity. It is a key focus for industries including ICT, finance, manufacturing and agriculture. The talent shortage is most pronounced in Asia but is also a concern internationally for the ICT community, governments, employers and workers. According to the International Labor Organization, the “lack of skilled labor…

Browser-derived super app, Phoenix, announced recently that it has closed a 100 million USD Series-A fundraising round. A renowned sovereign fund participated in the round alongside previous strategic investors including top internet companies and tech-focused funds. Since its Nigeria launch in late 2019, the super app has served over 400 million users in Africa, Asia, and Latin America with a built-in search engine, content feeds, productivity tools and a range of localized in-app features. The company combines its edges in AI-powered algorithmic personalization — both the content feeds and app functionalities are highly curated based on users’ preferences. Local and…

Over 350 companies from over 18 countries including Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Rwanda have submitted applications for the Digital Transformation (dx100) Symposium & Awards (formerly CIO100). Themed Catalysing C-Suite Engagement in Digital Transformation and Open Government, the event will be held from 23-25 November 2022 at Leisure Lodge, Diani, Mombasa. The application window for the Digital Transformation (dx100) Awards has since closed. Now in its 14th year, the Awards which are organised by dx (formerly CIO Africa) celebrate 100 organisations (and the people within them) that are using information technology in innovative ways to deliver business value. Unlike…

As the demand for cloud-based services grows across Africa due to the adoption of hybrid work, Microsoft has announced a partnership with Liquid Cloud through its Africa Transformation Office (ATO) to provide cloud services to businesses across the continent. Liquid Cloud and the ATO will collaborate to deliver resilient cloud in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to meet regulatory and data residency requirements, address low latency workloads, strengthen resilience, and enable business continuity. “We witnessed an accelerated adoption of cloud technologies in Africa, and businesses are now reaping the benefits of their investment. Our customers are increasingly…

Purple Elephant Ventures (PEV) has announced that it has closed a pre-seed round of $1M USD from a group of well-known global investors. Tourism, Africa’s third-largest industry and employer of tens of millions across the continent, suffered tremendously during the Covid pandemic and is highly vulnerable to the effects of the changing climate. “We’re sitting on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to modernize a major continental industry while driving real climate-action victories,” says CEO Ben Peterson, who set up the venture studio in partnership with co-founders Jan Van der de Willebois, a former investment banker at Dyer & Blair where he led…

When the  CBK Amendment Bill, 2021 was signed into law last year, the Central Bank was given powers to police the lenders. One way the digital lenders were considered a nuisance was contacting people the borrowers know as a way of shaming them and thus forcing them to pay their loans. This is why the bill signed into law and the Data Protection Regulations, 2021 are crucial in protecting borrowers. The Office of the Data Protection Commission (ODPC) plays a very important role in ensuring this is enforced.  The lenders are no longer allowed to contact any person or share…