TerraPay, a global payments infrastructure company, has partnered with Flocash, a provider of payment services powering ecommerce in Middle East & Africa, for large cross-border business payments.

In a strategic move to further strengthen the global payments ecosystem, this partnership is a turning point for the majority of Flocash’s travel merchants starting with African markets, to efficiently and seamlessly manage their business payouts across the world instantly, with a single connection to...

MTN in partnership with ayoba, Africa's Super App, has reached an exciting milestone of over 10 million monthly active users. 2021 has been a fast-paced year so far for ayoba, who celebrated its second year in operation in May 2021.

The ayoba platform aims to harness growth in the African digital economy by breaking down barriers such as limited access to the internet and digital services, low smartphone penetration, lack of locally relevant content, and affordability...

Visa has announced it has completed the acquisition of Currencycloud, a global platform that enables banks and fintechs to provide innovative foreign exchange solutions for cross-border payments.

The acquisition will empower Visa and Currencycloud clients and partners to provide greater transparency, flexibility and control for consumers and businesses when making international payments or doing business in multiple currencies. The acquisition builds on an existing strategic...

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group  has approved a $1.5 million grant to assess policy gaps in the digital trade and e-commerce ecosystems in 10 countries in Africa.

The funds, sourced from the African Development Fund, the Bank’s concessional window, will go to the Smart Africa Alliance, an alliance of 32 African countries, international organisations and global corporations with a vision to create a single digital market in Africa by 2030. Nicholas Williams...

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has determined the new International Termination Rate (ITR) for voice services paid by overseas telecom carriers for terminating international calls on local networks in Nigeria at $0.045.

The new rate is contained in the ‘Determination of Mobile International Termination Rate’ issued by the Commission on November 25, 2021. The $0.045 rate is the floor price for ITR services and shall take effect from January 1, 2022. The rate...

As part of the Global Education Coalition (GEC), UNESCO and Huawei, in collaboration with the Government of Kenya through the Ministries of Education; ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs; and the ICT Authority, have provided free internet connectivity to 13 schools in Kenya.

The pilot project was launched in Maragima Primary School, Nyeri County, one of the 13 beneficiary schools. The launch was officiated by Mr. Joe Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs; UNESCO Regional...

Multinational corporation Acer has appointed Massimiliano Rossi as Regional Vice President (VP) for Middle East and Africa (MEA) alongside his ongoing role as Head of Product Business Unit (PBU) for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

Acer has also appointed Michele Montecchio as Country Manager for Middle East (ME) effective from 1 January, 2022 following the decision of Paul Collins who, after a successful tenure of driving the Acer Middle East and Africa business for...

Paylend, a Kenyan fintech startup focused on providing access to finance and digitizing MSMEs in Kenya announced it has raised $2 million seed investment from Next Chymia Consulting HK Limited, an Asian based company that provides blockchain applications, consultancy services and training to global entities.

Founded in September 2019, Paylend has digitized over 10,000 SMEs and growing with its users enjoying an array of services including access to credit for products and services and crowdfunding tools. Paylend’s mission is to support...

Since the beginning of 2021, Africa-based tech startups have raised more than $2.9 billion with Nigerian startups which are creating new products, services, and platforms raising $1.7 billion of this total or about 60% of it, a new report has found.

According to business consultant and venture capitalist Maxime Bayen’s business database Africa report, otherwise known as the Big Deal, Africa boasts a total of seven tech “unicorns,” or companies valued at over $1 billion...

The Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) has launched a Single Window Information for Trade (SWIFT) effectively automating all its services. The $125,000 project was financed by USAID Rwanda through TradeMark East Africa.

The automation is expected to drastically reduce the time and cost of seeking various services from the board by the business community and other clients due to shift from the manual system that required many physical visits to the board. Among the new and enhanced services now available...

Ayodeji Arikawe is co-founder and current Chief Technical Officer of ThriveAgric, an agricultural company started in 2017 with the purpose of optimizing farming processes and food production in Nigeria.

Could you introduce your company?

ThriveAgric is a technology driven agricultural company passionate about ensuring food security. We’re based in Nigeria and we solve three major problems smallholder farmers face by linking them to capital, data-driven best practices and access to local and global market for their...

COVID-19 has propelled the adoption of digital payment platforms for millions of people across the African continent. The need for contactless methods of making transactions, transformed what was once a nice-to-have into a necessity.

Indeed, whereas the pandemic has bolstered the adoption of digital payments across industries, demographics and payment types on the continent, Africa has always been at the forefront of the payments space led by mobile money services since...

South African small, medium and large enterprises are using technology at an unprecedented scale to help manage the uncertainty and disruption caused by the pandemic and broader changes in the business and consumer landscape.

Hospitals are using technology to improve the patient experience, banks are changing how they engage with customers through digital channels, sales teams are discovering the benefits of real-time insights into orders and...

A digital marketing agency is undoubtedly one of the most profitable and rewarding businesses you can operate in Africa for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it is actually comparatively easy to set up from nothing. While other types of businesses - such as a manufacturing business, clothes shop, or tech company - require a significant amount of capital (whether equipment, real estate, or a large workforce) to get off the ground, a digital marketing agency can be started with nothing but a laptop in your bedroom...

As we come to the end of the year, there is so much to look forward to in 2022 when it comes to cloud adoption in Africa. 2021 was a good year with more African organisations migrating to the cloud, driven mainly by the pandemic. 

According to industry analysts Gartner, Cloud spending rose 37% to $29 billion during the first quarter of 2020. This trend Gartner says is likely to persist, as the exodus to virtual work underscores the urgency for scalable, secure, reliable, cost-effective off-premises technology services. In fact, despite...

As the internet increasingly redefines human relations and penetration takes shape across Africa, the East African region is tapping into the numerous benefits that comes with connectivity.

Governments, private players and development partners are investing in bridging the digital divide gap and boosting connectivity across the region by making low-cost, high-quality internet access available to a critical mass. The end results have been booming local economies and enhanced...