Author: ITPulse

Google today announced Umoja, the first ever fiber optic route to directly connect Africa with Australia to increase the reach and reliability of digital connectivity for the continent, accelerate economic growth, and deepen resilience. Umoja, built in collaboration with Liquid Technologies is anchored in Kenya and will pass through Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, including the Google Cloud region, before crossing the Indian Ocean to Australia The essence is to form a highly scalable route through Africa, including access points that will allow other countries to take advantage of the network. Umoja…

Nigeria got a shot in the arm for its infrastructure development plans as the African Development Bank (AfDB) pledged $1.44 billion. This investment targets key areas like energy, transportation, water, and sanitation. The announcement came during the Nasarawa Investment Summit 2024. Lamin Barrow, Director General of the Bank’s Nigeria Country Department, highlighted the significant infrastructure gap hindering Nigeria’s economic diversification and global competitiveness. The National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan estimates Nigeria needs a staggering $2.3 trillion by 2043 to bridge this gap. The energy and transport sectors alone require $759 billion and $575 billion respectively. “The African Development Bank is…

Andela, a global leader in sourcing remote tech talent, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a week-long series of events held across nine countries. From May 17th to 25th, Andela hosted key stakeholders in the US, UK, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Egypt, Brazil, and Pakistan, attracting over 550 attendees. The events served as a platform to showcase Andela’s impressive achievements over the past decade. Here are seven key milestones highlighted during the celebrations: Building a Tech Talent Powerhouse: Andela has fostered one of the world’s largest tech communities, boasting over 5 million members. Exceptional Talent, Satisfied Clients: Andela boasts a…

By Oloruntobi Oluwaseun Ojumu As software engineering teams strive to inject artificial intelligence into more aspects of modern software systems, there is a significant trade-off of velocity/scalability for a sense of responsibility. Many engineering teams focus a great deal on model velocity/scalability; they often prioritize this value at the expense of not being responsible, interpretable, and fair enough before being safely deployed in production. As a software engineer with deep insight into interactions of machine learning systems with production-grade deployments, I have firsthand seen how a lack of focus on these imperatives leads to brittle, biased systems that erode user confidence,…

The Nigerian communications landscape is constantly evolving, and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is committed to keeping pace. As part of this commitment, the NCC recently held a public inquiry on three vital regulatory instruments that play a crucial role in shaping the sector. The public inquiry provided a platform for stakeholders to have their voices heard and contribute to shaping the future of the communications sector. Speaking at the public inquiry held at the corporate headquarters of NCC in Abuja yesterday, the Executive Vice Chairman of the commission, Dr. Aminu Maida explained that the public inquiry underscores the Commission’s…

The UK government is backing Nigeria’s capital market growth through its MOBILIST programme (Mobilising Institutional Capital Through Listed Product Structures). This collaboration aims to unlock private investment for sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Nigeria. Nigeria’s capital market has the potential to fuel the country’s economic goals, including a clean energy transition. However, achieving the SDGs by 2030 requires an estimated $10 billion annually. Recent MOBILIST events in Lagos brought together key players from Nigeria’s financial sector to discuss overcoming challenges to SDG investment in the public markets. This builds on the partnership launched last year between MOBILIST and the Nigerian…

By Andrew Egan With brands recognising the power of conversations, AI-driven solutions, and phygital experiences, consumers can anticipate more personalised, seamless, and satisfying engagements with businesses this year. As technological innovations continue to shape the business landscape, 2024 is poised to be a transformative year for customer experience. However, businesses must keep an eye on the emerging trends shaping the landscape as they realign their strategies to prioritise customer satisfaction. Balancing customer experience trends against business process optimisation Increasingly, the emphasis on Customer Experience (CX) is prompting organisations to adopt creative ways to use customers to start, and sometimes complete,…

Efficiently managing your business finances isn’t just a task, it’s the key to scaling your business for sustainable growth. Several tools exist today to help businesses achieve their financial management goals and establish themselves in a very competitive market. One such tool is the virtual account, offering several benefits for multinational corporations, startups and SMEs, helping these businesses achieve their financial management goals while scaling sustainably. In our article, “What is a virtual account and why you need it for your business,” we explained the basic concept of virtual accounts, including the types of virtual accounts, and benefits. Taking it…

…. Jim Dildine Named as Sophos’ New CFO Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced that Joe Levy is now chief executive officer (CEO) of the company. Levy has been acting CEO since Feb. 15. To drive a critical role in the execution of his strategy to shape the future of Sophos, Levy has named Jim Dildine Sophos’ new chief financial officer (CFO) and a member of his senior management team. Levy is a nearly 30-year veteran of innovating and leading cybersecurity product development, services and companies. During his nine-year tenure at Sophos, Levy…

Africa marks a significant leap forward in connectivity, courtesy of a partnership announcement by Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a major African tech company with Eutelsat, a world leader in satellite services, to bring cutting-edge Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite internet to the continent. “We’re committed to bringing the latest technology to Africa. This partnership allows us to offer high-speed LEO services across Africa, empowering businesses with new possibilities,” said Liquid CEO Ahmed El Beheiry. The partnership leverages Eutelsat’s innovative OneWeb LEO satellite network, which offer a significant advantage over traditional satellites. Such advantages include: Lower latency: Reduced signal delay for faster…