Airtel Africa’s mobile money business has received its third big investment of the year, scooping up $200 million from an affiliate of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, according to a report in Finextra. Qatar Holding is making the investment in Airtel Mobile Commerce (AMC), the holding company for several of Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations, at a $2.65 billion valuation. In March, the Rise Fund, the impact investing arm of TPG, invested $200 million at the same valuation. Weeks later, Mastercard put $100 million into the business. AMC is working to own and operate the mobile money businesses across all of…
Author: DigitalTimesNG
Google Cloud and SAP SE have announced an expanded strategic partnership to help customers execute business transformations, migrate critical business systems to the cloud, and augment existing business systems with Google Cloud capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Under this expanded partnership, Google Cloud will be a strategic cloud partner for the RISE with SAP offering. The two companies will partner to accelerate customers’ cloud migrations and business process migrations. In addition, customers can benefit from the planned global availability of multiple SAP® services and products on Google Cloud’s reliable, scalable cloud infrastructure and high-speed network, including…
SAP Africa has appointed Tracy Bolton as its new Chief Operating Officer for the Africa region. Bolton, a 25-year IT industry veteran who has held several leadership positions at SAP over the past nine years, will be squarely focused on customers’ success and on ensuring SAP delivers business value while helping industries digitally transform. In addition, Bolton will work to remove complexity from engagements with customers while ensuring the correct resources are engaging at the right time to help customers get the most value from their digital and business transformation efforts. Cathy Smith, Managing Director at SAP Africa, says Bolton…
Ecobank Nigeria has said that it has relaunched its Credit Card products with a wide range of benefits to customers including access to International Point of Sale (POS) and Automated Teller Machines (ATM). Korede Demola-Adeniyi, Head, Consumer Banking at Ecobank Nigeria, who made the announcement in Lagos, said the Ecobank Platinum and Gold Credit Cards would afford holders the opportunity to shop now and pay later while also ensuring customer safety by eliminating the risk of carrying cash. Demola-Adeniyi added that the Ecobank credit card can be used in-store, on the web, and via all digital channels. “Our card types…
As Nigeria is moving fast towards diversifying its economy using technology, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has proposed a partnership with the Republic of Namibia in the areas of Innovations and Entrepreneurship through African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA). This is because Africa as a continent lost out during the First, Second and Third Industrial Revolutions due to the huge capital investments but with the Fourth Industrial Revolution comes endless opportunities that all it needs is talent and a vibrant, young technological driven generation. It is, therefore, imperative for African countries to encourage “Made in Africa” products by…
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has denied a report in an online publication (not DigitalTimesNG) that it has renewed MTN Nigeria’s license for another 10-year period. The NCC said on Monday in a statement signed by its Director, Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde that though MTN Nigeria had applied for the renewal of the Unified Access and Service (UASL) License granted it by the Commission, the application is yet to be approved as it is still undergoing the required regulatory processes. The NCC statement reads in part: “The attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission has been drawn to a publication…
Stakeholders in West Africa’s ICT sector have agreed to embrace the universality of the internet with the aim of deepening internet penetration across the region and ensuring safe internet. UNESCO and the African ICT Foundation jointly organised a knowledge sharing session on how to mainstream Internet Universality and ROAM (Rights, Openness, Access and Multi-stakeholder approach) principles. The session, which was held on the occasion of the West African Internet Governance Forum 2021, focused on how to encourage more countries to use ROAM-X indicators for improving national Internet development and digital policies in West Africa. The session was moderated by the…
By Aliyu MOMODU In the heat of the debate over the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and the propriety and workability of electronic transmission of results, the House of Representatives invited the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, the nation’s telecoms regulator. The House also invited the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to answer some questions. But as it has now turned out, the invitation to NCC was needless, baseless and at best a futile exercise in red-herring. The NCC, it must be stated, is one of the best performing public institutions in Nigeria with its exemplary culture of good corporate governance noised…
The company’s decision reinforces its support for the SME community and will allow business owners to simplify billing and payment processes, helping companies receive payments faster.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has in a bid to further protect telecoms infrastructure in the country, restated its commitment to continue to strengthen collaboration with judicial institutions in Nigeria. Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, gave the assurance during a courtesy visit by a high-powered delegation of the Kano State Judiciary to the chief telecom regulator at the NCC Kano Zonal Office, in Kano, over the weekend. Addressing the judicial delegation, Danbatta said, while the Commission is doing everything within its regulatory mandate to enforce compliance among licensees as well as collaborating with stakeholders…