Nigerian fintech company Storspay announced on Monday (May 1st), the successful completion of a $320,000 funding round. The deal allows the startup to join the New York-based accelerator Techstars for a 13-week fundraising and mentoring program. The funds raised will allow the fintech to develop its technology and improve the financial well-being of entrepreneurs through its decentralized Internet lending infrastructure.
The Cameroonian Union of hospitality employers SPIHT launched, Tuesday (April 25), a digital platform for the promotion of the local hotel and tourism industry.
The platform, called Waka Waka 237, allows visitors to find and book hotel rooms, apartments, restaurants, tourist sites, and travel agencies throughout Cameroon.
The Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and the African Securities Exchange Association (ASEA), on Friday April, 14, signed a memorandum of understanding to improve cross-border payment systems and promote the development of financial markets in Africa.
According to the release announcing the memorandum, the partnership will, among other things, create a reliable and efficient payment system that will allow investors to easily carry out transactions on various transactions on the continent.
The National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) has filed a lawsuit against the federal government regarding the proposed imposition of a 5% excise duty on telecommunications services. According to the organization, this decision is unjust in view of the multiple taxes already paid by telecom consumers. In September 2022, the Nigerian government abandoned its plan to introduce a 5% excise duty on telecom services. Today the executive is trying a second time to impose this tax because it wants to primarily rely on taxation to finance its 2023 budget.
The Central African Republic component of the Central African Backbone (CAB-RCA) project is finally entering its operational phase. The infrastructures were officially handed over to the Central African government on Monday, January 7th in the presence of partners. Spanning 935 km, they connect the Central African Republic (CAR) to the Republic of Congo and Cameroon. The network's commercialization is expected to begin "soon."
Data center operator iColo, a subsidiary of Digital Realty, inaugurated its first operator-neutral data center in Maputo, Mozambique on Wednesday, February 8th. Named MPM1, the infrastructure is expected to allow the company to expand its footprint and meet growing connectivity needs along the East Coast of Africa. The project was first announced in October 2021.
Wholesale bandwidth provider West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) has laid the 2Africa fiber optic submarine cable at the Durban Open Access Data Centers (OADC) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This is the fourth and final landing of this infrastructure in the rainbow nation.
The arrival of 2Africa in KwaZulu-Natal comes about three weeks after Vodacom laid the same cable system in its Gqeberha facilities in Eastern Cape. A month earlier, MTN SA and MTN GlobalConnect landed the cable in Yzerfontein and Duynefontein in the Western Cape.
The partial privatization of Ethio Telecom is part of the process of liberalizing the Ethiopian telecom market. The government had originally planned to sell 40% of the historic operator. Finally, it announces that it wants to sell "up to 45% of Ethio Telecom's capital to an international company as part of the partial privatization" of the historic operator. To this end, the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance has launched a call for proposals published on Thursday, February 9.
Disrupt Africa has released its annual report on funding for African startups and announces a historic record despite the global slowdown in the venture capital sector. For the first time, the media claims, the $3 billion mark has been surpassed. This is also the first time that this report is made available for free thanks to several sponsors Flat6Labs, MarketForce, 4Di Capital, Mercy Corps Ventures, Newtown Partners, and InsiderPR