Trending
- Fresh reforms to unlock Burkina-Ghana trade opportunities
- Integration vital in unlocking Africa’s $180Bn digital trade economy
- Tanzanian Prof Janabi nominated to steer WHO Africa Region office
- The anatomy of Italy-backed Mattei Plan to speed up Africa’s growth
- Global energy chiefs demand rapid shift in Africa’s resource strategy
- Why infrastructure, investment, and local talent is key to Africa’s LNG sector growth
- Amnesty lifts the veil on human trafficking, abuse of Kenyan maids in Saudi Arabia
- Kenya’s wealthy pivot to food, tech, and homegrown ventures amid global uncertainty
Tech & Business
- The strategic partnership between Cassava Technologies and Zindi aims to empower local talent to drive AI innovation by leveraging GPU-powered resources to solve Africa’s unique challenges.
- collaboration is poised to see both entities explore opportunities to leverage each other’s platforms, ecosystems, and communities to expand reach, growth and impact.
- Part of the partnership will involve the launch of a dedicated AI challenge aimed at uncovering emerging talent and high-impact innovations.
The pace of AI innovation in Africa has received a timely boost with two companies Cassava Technologies and Zindi, a platform that unites data scientists across the continent, agreeing to partner to accelerate uptake of the new technology.
In a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the two firms have agreed to speed up the delivery of GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-powered applications to address unique challenges in Africa, a move that is poised to significantly improve digital transformation across economies.
The move …
- Safaricom CEO Dr. Peter Ndegwa credits performance to strategic investments in technology, expansion into Ethiopia, and a diversified digital services portfolio.
- Group Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) rose sharply by 29.5 per cent to KES104.1 billion.
- Telco to pay shareholders a total of KES48.08 billion in total dividend for the year.
Nairobi-based Safaricom has made regional business history, becoming the first company in East Africa to post over $3 billion in annual revenue. The company’s total earnings rose by 11.2 per cent to KES388.7 billion for the financial year ending March 31, 2025, driven by strategic investments in technology, expansion into Ethiopia, and a diversified digital services portfolio.
The telco giant’s net income surged by 10.8 per cent to KES69.8 billion, marking one of its strongest financial years yet. As a reward to shareholders, the company announced a final dividend of KES0.65 per ordinary share, adding to an interim …
- Collaboration marks a step towards leveraging stablecoins and blockchain infrastructure to boost Onafriq’s payment network.
- Companies say by integrating USDC, they seek to simplify financial transactions for institutions and individuals, reduce costs, and strengthen trust.
- Currently, over 80% of intra-African payments are routed through correspondent banks outside the continent and settled in foreign currencies.
Payments company Onafriq has joined hands with Circle, stablecoin market leader and issuer of USDC, in a deal aimed at transforming cross-border payments and digital financial services across Africa.
In a statement, the two firms noted that their collaboration marks a significant step towards compliantly leveraging stablecoins and blockchain infrastructure to boost Onafriq’s payment network, positioning it at the forefront of the digital payment’s revolution for real-world financial applications.
“Our partnership with Circle is an important milestone, reinforcing Onafriq’s commitment to harnessing technology to remove complexity from cross-border payments. By integrating USDC, we aim to simplify …
- Fintech Raenest will be the key sponsor of the seventh edition of Africa Tech Summit Nairobi in February 2025.
- The a B2B Summit, expo, and awards forum projects to attract over 2,000 industry leaders, corporates, investors, and global delegates.
- Conference will feature four key track themes: Africa Money & DeFi, Africa Climate Tech & Investment, Africa Startup, and the Africa Mobile & App segments.
For the second year in a row, Nigerian fintech heavyweight Raenest is set to headline the Africa Tech Summit 2025 edition, reaffirming the company’s commitment to fostering growth, and collaboration in Africa.
According to the organizers, Raenest will be the key sponsor of the seventh edition of Africa Tech Summit Nairobi, which is set to be held on February 12th and 13th, 2025, at the Sarit Expo Centre.
“We are thrilled to continue as the headline sponsor of Africa Tech Summit Nairobi. This platform is pivotal …
- This initiative focuses on training developers to become certified in NVIDIA’s technologies, creating talent knowledgeable in AI, data science, and GPU processing.
- By nurturing a workforce skilled in AI and advanced tech, this alliance will drive innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth.
- Young developers will gain job opportunities and contribute to solutions in healthcare, finance, and agriculture.
Africa’s youth population, one of the fastest-growing in the world, presents both a challenge and an opportunity.
With millions of young Africans entering the job market each year, the continent faces a pressing need to generate work opportunities to check a worsening joblessness crisis.
However, in this era of digital transformation, the gig economy has emerged as a beacon of hope for Africa’s young workforce.
Two tech firms, Gebeya Inc. and NVIDIA, are rising to the occasion by launching an ambitious program to train 50,000 African developers, signaling strong intent to bridge …
- A new alliance between fintechs Network International and Ant International is set to stir up the digital finance ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
- Deal will see banks, fintechs, and telcos across the MEA gain access to a cutting-edge digital wallet suite.
- With Alipay+ Wallet Tech, Network aims to offer businesses enhanced experience in digital payments.
The push to enhance financial inclusion and digital wallet offerings in Africa has received a shot in the arm with Network International and Ant International announcing a strategic partnership aimed at revolutionizing mobile wallet technology.
Through this collaboration, banks, fintechs, and telecommunications companies across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region will gain access to cutting-edge digital wallet solutions, bolstering financial inclusion and the digital transformation landscape.
The partnership agreement, signed at a ceremony attended by H.E. Jamal Abdulla AlSuwaidi, the UAE Ambassador to Singapore, marks a new chapter for digital payment expansion …
- Financing by Venture Capital Firms (VC) is the leading source for injecting capital into startups, accounting for 29 percent of the deals.
- Findings show that venture debt is becoming a crucial funding tool, especially for climate tech startups with limited access to traditional equity financing.
- The survey notes that to support this growth, investments in digital and energy infrastructure are essential.
Kenya is emerging as a leader in sourcing capital for its agricultural technology and food startups across the African continent. A large portion of capital for African startups still comes from foreign countries, with approximately 60 per cent, coming from international sources, primarily the United States and the United Kingdom.
On the continent, however, most investors are concentrated in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, where innovation and funding activity are most prominent. Large-scale investments in solar energy solutions and precision agriculture partly drive Kenya’s dominance in the sector.
Read …
- Vantage Capital invested $71 million in Camusat to fund the expansion of its telecom infrastructure division, AktivCo, and refinance debt.
- Camusat aims to drive sustainable telecom growth by partnering with major mobile network operators in Africa, focusing on decarbonization and low-carbon infrastructure.
- The partnership supports Camusat’s strategic expansion in emerging markets, while Vantage Capital’s investment emphasizes environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.
Fund manager Vantage Capital has finalized a $71.5 million (€66 million) mezzanine investment in Camusat Holding S.A.S, a key player in the telecommunications infrastructure industry in Africa and across the world.
This investment is set to fuel the expansion of AktivCo, Camusat’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) division, and refinance existing debt. The deal, which is part of a larger $87.7 million (€81 million) financing package, was conducted in consortium with Eurazeo, a European-based investment firm.
Powering Africa’s telecommunications infrastructure
Camusat has established itself as a key partner for mobile network …
- In Kenya, mobile phone users are opting for internet calls and texting as a measure to cut on costs.
- Last year, customers spent more time on a single on-net call averaging 2.8 minutes.
- Safaricom customers spent more on off-net calls, averaging at 1.4 minutes while Airtel accounted for 33.3% of voice and 10.3% of SMS traffic in Kenya.
An increasing number of mobile phone users in Kenya prefer using internet calls and texting as a measure to cut communication costs, a 2023 report by the Communications Authority shows. This shift is steadily eroding both voice and text revenues for mobile network providers in Kenya.
The report shows that the minutes of use per month per subscription decreased to 120.4 minutes in the three months to December 2023 compared to a higher 123.4 minutes during the previous quarter.
Similarly, short messages sent per month per subscription declined marginally to 65.4 from …
