Author: ITPulse

Google for Startups (GfS) today announced the 25 African-based startups selected for this year’s $ 4 million Black Founders Fund. The Black Founders Fund, now in its third year, aims to help tackle systemic racial inequality in venture capital (VC) funding by providing equity-free grants and mentoring to early-stage Black-led high-growth businesses across Europe and Africa. The selected cohort of 40 startups from Europe and Africa, includes 25 African startups that embody the diverse entrepreneurial spirit across the African continent. Startups led or co-founded by women make up 72% of the group, highlighting the role women play in shaping Africa’s…

Last Thursday, Technext hosted the second edition of the Convo in Lagos. With the theme “Maximizing for geometric growth”, the event featured a fireside chat with Olu Akanmu, the president and co-CEO of Opay and Kehinde Ogundare, the country manager for Zoho in Nigeria. The event had in attendance over 70 startup founders, top company executives, and stakeholders in the Nigerian tech ecosystem. Both speakers, Olu Akanmu and Kehinde Ogundare shared valuable insights from years of leading businesses and maximising resources to grow and scale exponentially.  Technext Convo was designed to be an exclusive event for key stakeholders in select…

Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economies, has a longstanding history of grappling with currency stability and foreign exchange challenges. Over the year, the Nigerian government has employed various measures to manage its currency, the naira, including pegging it to a specific exchange rate. This naturally created two exchange rates, the official and the black market. The disparity between the two provided an avenue for people with access to dollars to buy at the official rate and resell at the black market. Many millionaires and a few billionaires were created through this distorted system. Floating the exchange rate is meant…

Nigeria’s Innovative approach in the development of the Startup Act has been celebrated by the global technology ecosystem stakeholders during the Deep Tech Roundtable, held as part of ‘The Assembly’, one of the strategic sessions of TNW. This year’s The Next Web (TNW) Conference was held from 15th to 16th June, 2023, at the Taets Art and Event Park, Amsterdam. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, the Director General/CEO, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), was in attendance as a Special Guest and participated in several roundtable sessions including ‘The Assembly’ and the Startup Genome Ecosystem Leadership Forum. The DG who was…

SHELT Global Limited has achieved ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Certification both globally and locally in Nigeria under Cyber Immune Limited. Announcing this in statement, Mr. Youssef Abillama, Managing Partner of SHELT Global Limited said: “I am very proud of my team today for this certification. It means a lot for us as a cybersecurity-as-as-service provider to be recognized as a company that holds best practices for managing risks related to data security on an international standard, knowing we put these best practices into place for our partners and clients.” SHELT GLOBAL LIMITED is a technologically advanced European based Managed Security Service provider (MSSP),…

The Association of Licensed Data Protection Compliance Organisations of Nigeria (ALDAPCON) has lauded President Bola Tinubu for signing the Nigeria Data Protection Bill, 2023 into law. The Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 provides a legal framework for the protection of personal information, and the practice of data protection in Nigeria which ALDAPCON has aggressively championed. The new law establishes the Nigeria Data Protection Commission and replaces the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) established by President Buhari in February 2022. Led by the National Commissioner, Dr, Vincent Olatunji, the Commission is charged with the responsibility for regulating the practice of data…

Payment is an important driver of commerce and socio-economic development. The evolution of payment is today revolutionizing society.    Across the African continent, technology intertwines with tradition forging a path toward financial inclusion. As digital payment infrastructure expands, businesses flourish and communities thrive. The once-insurmountable challenges of accessing financial services are being overcome, opening doors of opportunity for individuals and enterprises alike.                                      From the bustling streets of Nairobi to the vibrant cities of Johannesburg, and the ancient wonders of Egypt to the thriving markets of Nigeria, a transformative wave is sweeping across Africa. In this digital age, the continent…

Interswitch has said the ‘The Coded Meetup’ it hosted recently is aimed at empowering developers and other tech ecosystem stakeholders. Africa’s leading integrated payments and digital commerce company hosted an insightful session in Lagos in Lagos where the company presented a plethora of its cutting-edge APIs designed to strengthen the digital payment ecosystem in the country and beyond. The Developer Connect Series is a catalyst for collaboration, innovation and growth within the Interswitch Developer Community.  Attendees, consisting of seasoned Developers, Product Designers, Product Managers and those just starting their tech careers, enjoyed immersive learning, gained valuable insights and were awash…

Tezza Academy is taking strategic steps to broaden its industry partnerships and enhance its IT training model. The software training academy aims to foster collaborations with key economic players across various sectors such as oil and gas, IT and telecoms, banking and insurance, healthcare and education, manufacturing, and construction. These partnerships are intended to facilitate discussions on incorporating trained IT skill sets and creating more opportunities for talented Nigerian youths with advanced IT skills. Under the leadership of its founder, Roland Omoresemi, Tezza Academy commenced operations in November 2020, building upon the foundations of Tezza Boot Camp. Initially admitting 20…

In December 2015, the share price of First Bank of Nigeria Limited was trading around N4.8 band. About seven years later, precisely last December, the value held tightly to N15, growing by over threefold amid general asset and economic doldrums. The steep rise in the valuation of the financial institution deviates remarkably from the average performance of FUGAZ, an acronym describing the top five Nigerian banks by market capitalisation. In the past seven years, the share prices of the leading banks appreciated by an average of 90 percent as against over 200 percent growth seen in FirstBank. Deflated by the…