Africa Data Centres has announced that enterprise cloud services provider Unitellas will be bringing Zadara’s global federated edge service to its new facility in Lagos, Nigeria.

Unitellas is a Nigerian-based full-stack managed infrastructure-as-a-service provider and distributor of “Zadara” - a renowned global leader of Edge cloud services. According to Tesh Durvasula, CEO of Africa Data Centres: “West African enterprises are looking at cloud technology, but it will be vital to build trust to mitigate concerns around data sovereignty...

As part of its commitment to increase access to digital education, global edtech company Snapplify is investing heavily in West Africa.

The company, established in South Africa in 2012, has already had hundreds of registrations by educational institutions in the region. ‘Schools and tertiary institutions are looking for high-quality education tools that are relevant and appropriate for their region,’ said Snapplify CEO Wesley Lynch. ‘Snapplify is offering them just that.’ To support its expansion in the...

African digital payments company DPO has announced the appointment of Judy Waruiru as Managing Director for Africa effective in January 2023. 

In her new role, Judy will be responsible for DPO business in more than twenty countries across Africa. As MD, she will also serve as the Country Corporate Officer for Kenya within the Network International Group. Judy has been with the DPO since 2019 and was appointed as Deputy Managing Director in early 2022. Her previous position was Chief Operating...

Pan-African payment technology company Cellulant has been granted a Payments Systems Operator license by the National Bank of Uganda in line with the National Payments System Act, 2020. The Act provides guidance in streamlining operators in the burgeoning fintech space in Uganda.

Cellulant Group founded in 2003, has a history of delivering inventive technical and financial solutions implemented with a seamless user experience. The company today powers collections and payouts for thousands of businesses in...

Equity Bank has enhanced its PayPal withdrawal service by migrating it from the previous web-based portal to Equity Mobile App and Equity Online, its internet banking platform. This shift will boost efficiency for Kenyans who receive payments through the international payment solutions provider.               

Customers will now enjoy seamless PayPal account linking and withdrawal service alongside other numerous bank services on Equity Online and Mobile App. The move streamlines the onboarding process for customers’ PayPal accounts and is...

Nokia today announced its partner Liquid Intelligent Technologies will provide innovative Nokia fiber technologies to PayGoZo for offering economical, uncapped and ultra-fast internet as part of The Kayamandi Township Fiber Project.

The initial proof of concept phase, which was launched in September 2022, will see more than 15,000 people connected in the Kayamandi township in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape province in South Africa. The partnership comprises...

The African music industry has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years due to a variety of factors, including collaborations with local and international artists, music streaming, and social media.

However, only a select number of artists are enjoying this success, and many talented creators are still struggling to break through. This is why Spotify has launched Spotify Talks Africa, a video series that brings the continent’s music industry stakeholders together in conversation. Spotify Talks Africa is...

Startup Wise Guys (SWG), Europe’s startup accelerator and one of its most active investment funds, has selected the second batch of participants for its €7.5 million fund for African startup investment. 

The program, the first-ever African, B2B SaaS-focused accelerator, opened to applicants in October 2021, with the first batch of successful participants graduating in June 2022. The second round generated almost 500 applications. SWG selects and works with approximately 10 startups per batch...

Japanese printing and information technology company Epson has set aside KES 83 billion to support environmental sustainability efforts over the next ten years. The company says it is putting its focus on decarbonization, resource recycling and an accelerated programme to develop environmental-friendly technologies.

Epson regional head, of East and West Africa, Mukesh Bector says that the company is also working towards more energy-efficient products. “Depletion of natural resources and other environmental problems have become increasingly...

Wipro Limited a global information technology, consulting and business process services company, has announced the appointment of Warren Zambelli as the Managing Director for Africa.

Zambelli has over 20 years of experience spanning capital markets, banking, insurance, telecom and retail. His formative years were spent in various front-office environments affording him context for how products and services are consumed, post which he entered professional services, partaking in the...

The Jobtech Alliance, an ecosystem-building initiative around inclusive jobtech in Africa has launched two programs– the Catalyst Jobtech Accelerator and the Jobtech Innovation Lab– designed to support digital platforms that connect people to work opportunities that build livelihoods.

Steered by Mercy Corps and BFA Global, the Jobtech Alliance aims to create an enabling environment for entrepreneurs to build platforms that deliver quality livelihoods, are inclusive, and enable users to engage in decent work. Building on the...

MFS Africa has been granted three licences by the Central Bank of Uganda to allow the fintech company to extend and deepen its offering in the country.

The licences obtained - PSP (Payment Service Provider), PSO (Payment Systems Operator), and IPI (Issuer of a Payment Instrument) - will allow MFS Africa to offer a more robust range of services. MFS Africa has been driving the next stage of this revolution, providing access to more options, connections, and interoperability to millions of digital stores...

Microsoft has now made Dynamics 365 and Power Platform generally available in its enterprise-grade data centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

This move reinforces Microsoft's commitment to investing in South Africa and increasing cloud capacity and capabilities to enable organisations in the public and private sector to accelerate growth through innovation, agility, and resilience. The multiple hyperscale data centre locations within South Africa now provide Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and...

CMC Networks has launched IP Premier, a high-performance dedicated internet access (DIA) solution designed to accelerate the adoption of SD-WAN across Africa.

IP Premier provides strict service level agreements (SLAs) related to jitter, packet loss and round-trip delay (RTD), in addition to the standard availability. It provides a trusted foundation for rolling out SD-WAN services and delivering optimised user experience in some of the most challenging markets in the world. The firm says IP Premier delivers...

Mastercard has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) to provide micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with access to digital, payment and training tools.

The MoU will boost the capacity of MSMEs to grow their businesses while supporting the startup fintech community in Lagos. Established in 2016, the LSETF tackles unemployment and promotes entrepreneurship in Lagos State by empowering its residents with job and wealth creation opportunities...

A report by payment services company Mastercard has revealed that South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are among the most vibrant fintech markets in the continent. The study conducted to evaluate and determine the state of fintechs in the African markets also said that fintechs in Africa grew by 81% in 2021.

The report titled ‘The Future of Fintech: Rapid Growth Attracts Smart Capital, further revealed that fintech startups took up 27% of all the record-breaking deals closed and 61% of the US$2.7 billion pumped into the startup ecosystem in 2021...

The African Business Roundtable (ABR), set up in 1990 by the African Development Bank has long since become and remained the foremost institution promoting the interests of the African private sector.

The champion of the local industry, both large and small, the ABR has not slowed down its efforts in bringing to the international stage the impressive potential that lies in African zeal and diligence. Thirty-two years on, the ABR is keeping with the times in every way possible. It's latest move in this...

Organisations around the world are on high alert for rapid and effective ways to boost their sustainability through cutting their carbon emissions – but are they missing the obvious?

Notoriously energy hungry data centres are an issue that every enterprise can tackle. Using edge computing to move the processing of data closer to where it’s created can reduce the amount of data centre capacity you need. Added to this, edge computing can support Artificial Intelligence (AI)...

At the start of the pandemic, anything that could facilitate remote work for scattered business teams, flourished overnight. Microsoft saw two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.

Video calling company Zoom’s sales went up 370%. And communication platform Discord’s value more than doubled. And cloud is no different. In 2020, 87% of global IT decision-makers concurred that the pandemic would accelerate the shift to cloud. And it has, says Benjamin Coetzer, Director of...

Data is the foundation of an intelligent business. But data, data consumers and the business expectations of data have changed. The shifting realities call for a higher level of data maturity and the right technologies to achieve outcomes.

It’s time for businesses to rethink and modernize data management strategies to ensure they’re set up to achieve better outcomes and digitally differentiate.  As every organization races to transform, here are some key shifts...

For many organisations, the last few years have been the most disruptive in living memory. Organisations and their IT teams have had to accommodate huge changes to the way people work and deploy new technology tools to support their teams while unlocking new capabilities to meet changing customer demands.

Since the start of the pandemic, organisations have had to enable remote and hybrid work environments, digitise their supply chains to better deal with disruptions, and utilise technology to develop new business processes and revenue...

In 2021, remittance inflows to Kenya reached an all-time record of USD 3.71 billion, an increase of more than ten times since 2005. Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data further shows that in the first nine months of 2022, remittance inflows equaled USD 2.9 billion, a slight improvement from USD 2.7 billion in the first nine months of 2021.

In line with the rising cost of living and inflation globally, the importance of remittance inflows to countries like Kenya are vitally important. A recent multi-country study by the global payments company, WorldRemit, shows that migrants...