Browsing: Eric Osiakwan

• The Cortex Hub and Angel Fair Africa have reached the milestone of a decade of nurturing innovation, fostering entrepreneurship, and connecting African startups with investors.
• The initiative aimed to create an innovation hub in the Eastern Cape to unlock the latent potential of the region’s emerging talent pool and drive technological innovation and break down barriers hindering growth.
• It was initiated by the author, who had previously worked in the ICT field during the apartheid era and had a personal interest in driving technological advancement and economic empowerment in the region.

In a landscape defined by the ebb and flow of African entrepreneurship, milestones are more than mere time markers; they stand as beacons of progress. This year, we gather to celebrate an extraordinary achievement as both The Cortex Hub and Angel Fair Africa reach the impressive milestone of a decade. A decade of unwavering dedication to nurturing innovation, fostering …

Mergers and acquisitions worth US$52B were completed in South Africa during the first half of 2021, with the value of deals growing by 958% from 2020 with the tech sector in the lead according to Refinitiv Data that provides financial markets and infrastructure data . According to Digest Africa, the value of mergers and acquisitions in the African tech ecosystem in 2018 was US$504M with 24 out of the 39 deals taking place in South Africa making it the country with the most mergers, acquisitions and exits among the KINGS countries. …

Financial technology (FinTech) is a major force shaping the structure of the financial industry in sub-Saharan Africa. New technologies are being developed and implemented in sub-Saharan Africa with the potential to change the competitive landscape in the financial sector.

In an area that traditionally suffered limited access to financial services such as Credit, insurance, and banking Financial technology [FinTech] has aided in accelerating financial inclusion in this sub-Saharan Africa region.

While the bell has long been chiming for businesses to rapidly adapt, harness the power of data and streamline their digital processes, COVID-19 reprioritized the need for these capabilities. It made these elements of digital strategy essential, and at a frightening pace.

The Fintech sector in Africa has since rapidly emerged with more and more startups coming up as compared to other years. As consumers avoided touching cash or point of sale devices, digital payment usage increased dramatically and continues …

An extended road trip, an excursion to the other side of town or going somewhere that is different from your daily life is ultimately one of the things many of us would like to experience. But the ideal Dream holiday vacation is different for each of us.

So what is your idea of recreation? Do you budget for what allows you to recharge? what exactly nourishes you? For some, it’s soaking up the sun by the water. For others, it’s a creative pursuit, exploring a new location, trying new cuisine or engaging in an adventure sport.

But in as much as many of us are knowledgeable about our potential destinations and activities- planning and saving towards this course in one way or the other is arguably a bit difficult, that’s why SaveApp group in partnership with Hotel Online has come to bridge this gap, to ease your planning headache , …

Nairobi is the leading Fintech ecosystem city in Africa according to the 2021 Global Fintech Rankings published on 8^th July 2021 in which it jumped 26 places to the 37^th position globally beating both Lagos and Accra[1]. Kenya’s President, His Excellency Uhuru Kenya stated at a UK summit that “Nairobi International Financial Centre (NIFC) has come of age to be the leading financial hub on the continent”[2]. Kenya is making a major incursion to position itself as the financial hub of Africa on the back of its fintech advantage as President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a $184 million deal with Dominic Raab, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and First Secretary of State of the UK during his three-day official visit to that country[3]. Kenya’s leadership of the Fintech world in African gives it the impetus to be an international …

Despite the effects of Covid-19 Africa remains the ripe land of opportunities and as the conversation about Investing in Africa is shifting from one of deficits and gaps to one about Opportunities, Prospects, Trends, Innovation and creativity, in the Companies and industries who have paid close attention to how business in Africa operates.

Africa continues to be the newest destination for emerging market investors and according to Eric Osiakwan, the managing partner at Chanzo Capital, half of the world’s fastest-growing economies have been in Africa, with Ghana and Ethiopia among the countries which showed a real GDP growth of 8 percent in 2018.

In an interview with this reporter at the Social House hotel in Lavington area of Nairobi, Eric Osiakwan a renowned tech investor and entrepreneur says that Investors seek out emerging markets for the prospect of high returns, as they often experience faster economic growth as measured …

Africa’s leading Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), MTN, Vodacom and Safaricom, have recently made bold plans to venture into the increasingly dynamic world of fintech. On 23^rd June 2021, Safaricom launched its super app, which creates an ecosystem of mini-apps from the network operator as well as third-party apps that feed off the super app[1]. A month prior to this development, Safaricom, the leading MNO in Kenya announced plans to release an Application Protocol Interface (API) for the super app to enable third-party app developers to build more products and services on top of the super app[2]. This means the super app is going to be an app store that consolidates the reach of Safaricom.

In May, MTN also announced plans to become a tech platform to rival the likes of Apple and WeChat as part of their Ambition 2025 which is currently being implemented[3]…

I ended my May 2021 essay with the hypothesis “…leading fintechs might turn around and start acquiring the banks” and, sure enough, on the 12^th of May 2021, the Competition Authority of Kenya in a gazette notice approved the acquisition of 84.89% stake in Century Microfinance Bank by Branch International Limited – a leading global fintech with operations in Kenya[1]. One of the signs of a maturing ecosystem is home grown ventures mature into unicorns[2], gazelles and zebras[3], increased mergers and acquisitions[4] and the entry of global tech giants hungry for a piece of the action – the subject of this essay. So, whilst the Branch acquisition was unexpected, it was unsurprising when Twitter announced on 14^th April 2021 that they are setting up their Africa HQ in Ghana[5]. On the very same day Amazon announced an investment of …

On 1^st of April, as I was publishing my Uniconization of African Fintech piece[1], Mastercard was busy announcing their $100 million investment into Airtel Money (Airtel Africa’s mobile money subsidiary) to acquire a minority position – half what TPG Capital did[2]. Even though I had gotten wind of the transaction knowing that Mastercard was already in bed with Airtel Money[3] – some part of me thought of it as an April fools joke…. On the 12^th of April 2021, Mobile Telecom Network (MTN) announced the valuation of their mobile money business at $5 billion making it the 7^th African fintech unicorn with plans to bring in minority shareholders before going public[4]. Given that Visa is already in bed with MPESA (Vodacom and Safaricom’s mobile money business)[5], it is a matter of time before Visa also invests. The unicornization …