Researchers at the International Data Corporation (IDC) said global smartphone shipments are expected to decline 3.5 percent to 1.31 billion units in 2022.
The IDC’s latest Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker forecast obtained by TechEconomy said due to increasing challenges with supply and demand, IDC is significantly reducing its forecast for 2022, which previously predicted 1.6 percent growth.
According to the report, Apple will be the “least impacted vendor” because of its control over its supply chain and because iPhone customers are in the higher-priced segment and are not as impacted by macroeconomic issues like inflation.
Weakening demand, inflation, supply chain constraints, and geopolitical tensions are impacting all smartphone vendors, resulting in cutbacks. Even major smartphone manufacturers like Samsung and Apple have cut orders.
IDC says that it expects the challenges to ease by the end of the year, barring any new setbacks. The 2023 market is expected to recover with 5 percent growth.
The forecast also predicted that semiconductor supply issues are also expected to ease in the second half of 2022.
“The ongoing semiconductor supply issues will ease up in the second half of 2022. On the SoC side, 4G SoC supply has been tight, but the market continues to shift towards 5G SoCs,” said Phil Solis, Research Director, IDC.
“The bigger problem has been the tight supply of components such as PMICs, display drivers, and discrete Wi-Fi chips.
Capacity is being increased for these semiconductors that are made in higher process nodes and newer versions of Wi-Fi chips are being made with newer process nodes. At the same time, demand is dropping.
Combined, these supply and demand changes will put the market more in equilibrium.”
Apple in the second fiscal quarter of 2022 had difficulty meeting demand for the current iPhone, iPad, and Mac models because of supply constraints, and the company said in April that it expects those issues to continue into the third fiscal quarter.
At the current time, the Mac and iPad appear much more affected by supply chain issues than the iPhone.
World Environment Day takes place on 5 June, and this year’s theme is “Only One Earth”.
The theme is a global call for collective and transformative action by various stakeholders to appreciate, protect and restore our planet.
An initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme, aims to encourage communities worldwide to raise awareness on the protection of our environment.
South Africa is experiencing significant impacts of climate change, including extreme weather patterns. Recently, South Africa experienced devastating floods in the KwaZulu Natal and Eastern Cape provinces taking the lives of 443 people and destroying several thousand homes and major infrastructure.
A report on “Making Africa’s Case in the Climate Debate” found that, out of all African countries, South Africa has experienced the most extreme weather events in the past 12 years.
The world at large is faced with the reality of climate change with a 2022 United Nations report noting that the planet is quickly approaching global warming of more than double the 1.5-degree limit. So, how do we, as individuals, tackle something as big as climate change? Where do we even begin?
“As Vodacom, we’ve always maintained that business success should not come at a cost to the environment”, says Jorge Mendes, Chief Officer of Consumer Business at Vodacom. “In commemorating World Environment Day, we would like to call on our customers to join us on our journey to protect the planet by reducing our collective impact to the environment. We are optimistic that together we can create a future where good business and doing good are the same thing,” says Mendes.
Here are five ways that Vodacom is actively enabling customers to make better buying decisions, so we can all put the environment first.
To reduce the effect of plastic waste on the environment, Vodacom is actively replacing its current SIM cards with Eco-SIM cards, which are made from recycled plastic in a half-sized format.
In an effort to reduce plastic waste on the environment, Vodacom customers can play their part in reducing plastic waste by only using eco-sim cards.
To date, over 500 tons of paper and 300 tons of plastic have been saved thanks to the Eco-SIM cards initiative which has resulted in smaller starter Packs and less packaging.
2. Eco-rated Devices
In 2021, Vodacom introduced an industry-wide Eco-rating assessment where the Eco Rating score is a number used to indicate the environmental performance of mobile phones and is based on an objective assessment of both life cycle and environmental impact indicators.
The highest possible score is 100 for maximum environmental performance. Based on the scoring out of 100, with the closer the score to 100, the better the environmental performance of the device, the rating system helps customers make better buying decisions with the option to purchase devices with the lowest impact to the environment.
The Eco-rating label is based on factors such as durability, repairability, resource and climate efficiency and end-of-life recyclability.
3. Waste Reduction
Vodacom’s plastic-to-paper initiative, which replaces plastic bags with reusable eco-friendly paper bags in Vodacom retail stores, has prevented 2.5 million plastic carrier bags from entering the environment.
All retail stores have a waste management plan to enable the reduction of its water, electricity consumption and waste generation.
Additionally, a live carbon footprint dashboard displaying hourly, daily, and monthly data illustrates whether the store is meeting its carbon footprint KPI’s.
The dashboard is web enabled and screened live in store so staff and members of the public are able to view the stores performance.
4. Device Repair and Refurbishment
Vodacom aims to extend the useful life of devices as far as possible and to ultimately reduce volumes of electronic waste.
Vodacom’s Advanced Repair Centre (ARC) supporting an extensive repair network of 37 repair centres across all regions within South Africa, inclusive of two higher level repair hubs situated in Cape Town and Durban, have the capability to repair devices across all networks in the quickest possible time.
Depending on the make, model and condition of a phone, the device may either be repaired, refurbished or sent for recycling.
In FY22, more than 321 000 devices were repaired at the ARC and its supportive repair network, with just over 6 000 phones identified for responsible recycling. Customers on any network can feel free to bring in their devices for service or repairs, as this facility is available to everyone.
5. Vodacom Green Stores
Since November 2021, Vodacom has introduced two pilot ‘green stores’ into its retail channel. The green credentials are a result of the stores using electronics that are 5-star graded for energy savings. As well as LED lighting to reduce energy consumption.
| Vodacom promotes Green environment
Additional digital offerings such as Self-Checkout Kiosks, Digital Express Stores and e-Receipts will further reduce paper consumption within the Retail Channel.
In the six months since the launch of e-Receipts, we have issued over 127 000 digital receipts replacing the need to print paper receipts.
“We constantly looking at ways to make it much easier for our customers to make more environmental-friendly choices. From reducing waste from our operations to replacing plastic bags with reusable, in-store paper bags, Vodacom is turning its sustainability strategy into a reality – a reality that customers can also embrace and fully participate in. It’s an important enabler of the company’s purpose; to connect for a better future, and ultimately, a better world,” concludes Mendes.
The adoption of technology solutions such as variable renewables (solar photovoltaics and wind power) will address the problem of carbonization in the power sector; Abubakar Aliyu, Minister of Power has said.
According to Minister, Nigeria and other African countries must embrace technologies that will enhance capabilities for commercial purposes.
“The dependence on fossil fuels and hydrocarbons will soon be unsustainable as nations match towards various Net Zero commitments and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs),” Aliyu said.
Those were his remarks during the closing of the Nigeria-Africa Natural Resource and Energy Summit (NAFFNIS) 2022.
The summit themed “Towards A Greener Africa,” was organized by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) and CORE International Mining and Marketing Company, as well as other stakeholders.
“As the World is gradually moving towards less dependence on fossil fuels and their derivatives, we have to put strategies and plans in place to evolve and to develop our renewable energy opportunities so we are not left behind.
Energy security, availability, affordability, and sustainability are going to be at the center of our discussion as we match towards a greener World.
For Nigeria, we have committed to Net Zero by the year 2060.
“It is interesting to observe that most Africans still do not have access to electricity. Clearly, discussions on renewable energy access are overshadowed by other immediate concerns and challenges like security, hunger, wars, terrorism, and the like.”
With the unique capabilities of blockchain technology set to revolutionise transparency, record-keeping, efficiency, and the effectiveness of transactions in the business world – boardrooms across Africa are beginning to incorporate the technology and applications such as Web3.0, decentralised finance (DeFi), and the metaverse in discussions around corporate innovation and digital strategy.
But while conversations around this technology are becoming popular amongst board members, more needs to be done to enhance executive-level knowledge, understanding, and buy-in of blockchain technology and its applications for businesses in traditional African industries such as mining, agriculture, and manufacturing.
This is according to Ian Putter, Head of the Blockchain Centre of Excellence at Standard Bank Group and Regional Director of the Blockchain Research Institute Africa.
He explains that: “Peer-reviewed research has found that, on average, only 11 per cent of executives have a good understanding of blockchain, with only 4 per cent having had hands on experience with the technology. As a result, companies have limited knowledge of how blockchain can be used in their organisation. Despite this, research shows a clear appreciation amongst business leadership for the significant role that blockchain will play in the transformation of traditional industries and business models.”
To enhance knowledge and understanding of blockchain, and its applications towards driving sustainable development on the continent across multiple industries, the Standard Bank Group has partnered with Canada-based Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) to expand its research capabilities to Africa.
In doing so, the organisation seeks to bring together top industry leaders, academics, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and researchers from across the continent, to collaborate on ground-breaking research on blockchain technology in an effort to bridge the gap between its technological functionality and real-world needs of the market.
In doing so, BRI Africa will be hosting an online seminar on 7 June, where a panel of global experts – including BRI co-founders, Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott – will discuss real-world applications for blockchain technology beyond crypto assets and unpack opportunities for collaboration with BRI Africa.
Don Tapscott is one of the world’s leading authorities on the impact of technology on business and society having authored 16 books, including co-authoring the global bestseller ‘Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies is Changing the World’ with Alex Tapscott, now translated into 20 languages.
He has coined many concepts that are part of the business lexicon today and is sought by corporate and government leaders globally.
Thereafter, in 2017, Don and Alex co-founded the Blockchain Research Institute, whose 100+ projects are the definitive investigation into blockchain strategy, use-cases, implementation challenges, and organizational transformations.
To attend this exclusive seminar, interested individuals are encouraged to RSVP by Tuesday the 7th of June at 12h00 CAT.
The Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) is a global independent think tank, dedicated to exploring and sharing knowledge about the strategic implications of blockchain in business, government, and society and has been leading this digital transformation since 2016.
Co-founded by best-selling blockchain authors Don and Alex Tapscott, BRI is funded by a consortium of international corporations and government agencies.
With a focus on digital transformation, BRI presents over-the-horizon research, high-level events, and online courses, designed to help members navigate the blockchain space and take the lead in digital transformation.
The retail market in Nigeria consisting of micro businesses is worth over 100 billion dollars, reports have revealed.
This sector makes up 50 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), making it the major source of economic growth, productivity, and competitiveness.
However, this market is with its own challenges as it is clustered, with products often overpriced because prices are largely unregulated.
Existent are the challenges of adulterated goods, excessive intermediaries, and the long distances some retailers cover to get to the market, especially those in hard-to-reach locations.
With growing digital technology, B2B e-commerce operators are rising to these challenges by empowering micro businesses to grow and maximise profits.
Through their digital platform, retailers buy consumable goods at manufacturers’ and authorised distributors rates and even those goods are freely delivered.
These automatically save them stress, time and money of having to shop from the open markets.
Micro business owners are guaranteed genuine goods through the services of B2B e-commerce companies like Alerzo for example.
This is even made easier for them as they can use their mobile Apps and websites, e.g. Alerzoshop, which allows retailers to order goods and get the goods delivered directly to them.
Furthermore, they do not have to spend time for business and profit-making on the road to visit the open market for restocking when they get their goods ordered from Alerzoshop.
This has resulted in 85 percent of retailers reducing their two to four times a week restock trips to zero.
The micro business owners have eliminated intermediaries that usually contribute to excessive pricing of goods, as they are sure of buying at the manufacturers’ or legal distributors’ rate when they use Alerzoshop.
Through AlerzoPay, a digital payment and fintech platform for first and third party transactions, retailers no longer have to face the risk of moving around with heavy cash, as it is the case with retailers who shop from open markets.
Also with Alerzo logistics, micro business owners get their goods delivered without making any payments. Meanwhile, in less than four years of its existence, Alerzo, the B2B e-commerce business founded by Adewale Opaleye which focuses on supplying much-needed products to retailers, by sourcing products from manufacturers based on orders from customers has improved the profitability of over 80,000 retail owners.
The firm’s ecosystem of digital product consists of Alerzoshop – mobile App and website that allow retailers to order goods; AlerzoPay – digital payment and fintech platform for first and third party transactions; Alerzo Logistics – end to end logistics service: from first mile to last mile (delivery to retailers).
Largely, there is hope for micro businesses as the e-commerce businesses are passionate about empowering a broad community of micro businesses across the country, with the securing of right investments and partners. They assure continued engagement with governments and regulatory authorities to find the best solutions to challenges in the micro business environments.
The crash in the cryptocurrency market which occurred last month may see more coins and blockchains platforms collapse in the coming years, experts are saying.
Crypto assets have plummeted in 2022, losing more than $1 trillion in market value as investors flee the risk assets. While this trend slightly continues, crypto players are beginning to lose confidence, and others leaving the market and refocusing on a different venture.
Experts say many of the over 19,000 digital coins and blockchain platforms in existence today will disappear and fall out soon.
In an interview monitored by TechEconomy, Bertrand Perez, CEO of the Web3 Foundation, told CNBC that one of the effects of what the world has seen last week with the Terra issue is – “we’re at the stage where basically there are far too many blockchains out there, too many tokens. And that’s confusing users. And that’s also bringing some risks for the users.
“Like at the beginning of the internet, you were having lots of dotcom companies and lots of them were scams and were not bringing any value, and all that got cleared. And now we have very useful and legit companies.”
Experts are concerned that the number of digital coins is just too much when compared to the number of fiat currencies which is around 180. Coins such as Bitcoin, and Ethereum will continue to exist while many of the junk coins die a natural death.
Digital coins like Shiba Inu which appears to be recovering from the market crash are not out of the woods yet. There are still many threats surrounding this coin that could turn it into the next Luna.
“Things are not looking good for the meme coin Shiba Inu, with our panel expecting it to be worth US$0.000018750 by the end of 2022.
This would mark a 7.6% drop in its value from its current price of US$0.00002029,” Analytics Insight said in its latest price prediction report, originally published on May 10.
The report further said that its group of 36 experts expected Shiba Inu’s value to “plummet” and close at US$0.000002500 in 2025 and US$0.000000325 by 2030-end.
To be sure, Finder’s values don’t predict if the token can see a surge in-between, which means that short-term traders may still make profits as it falls to zero.
According to crypto experts, Shiba Inu is almost in the same category as Luna.
They are projects that have not been built on a solid product. They have no real use cases. The biggest challenge for the Shiba Inu project is the lack of usability. This is because Shiba Inu started as a meme currency and built its huge market cap based on hype and not on a real product.
Eversend, a multi-currency payments platform for Africans and Africans in the diaspora that experience inconvenient and expensive financial services, has reinforced its commitment to users with an all-inclusive payment platform and a modified look to support this transition.
One key new feature is a B2B crypto-fiat payments application that enables businesses to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method.
| Eversend, a multi-currency payments platform
This solution allows companies to hold, payout, collect and convert fiat and cryptocurrencies under one platform, ensuring connectedness and accessibility, which is integral to Eversend’s business offerings.
The API and web-based platform that allows you to move from fiat currencies to crypto and back is being launched in crypto-friendly markets.
“Since our launch in 2019, we have evolved to serve our customers holistically by building features like multi-currency wallets, virtual cards, and cross border payments. Now we are introducing collections, payouts, and currency exchange for businesses. This distinctly shows that we have matured into a different company than three years ago”, says Stone Atwine, Eversend CEO and Co-founder.
A new brand identity was created to reflect Eversend’s offerings, the company’s future, and its core values; promoting economic stability, well-being, and livelihood through financial empowerment for communities. Although Eversend cuts across payments, it is centered around people and connections.
“The new logo and branding evoke emotion, expression, and dynamism, which are critical values in our thought process. Our new visual identity results from the valuable feedback received from our customers. For that reason, we agreed on a coin representing money and the letter E expressing emotions, connections, and Eversend”, comments Atwine.
Eversend is a leading African FX startup that has matured from a mobile application to a retail and business payments platform.
Launched in 2019, Eversend is an all-in-one payments platform offering cross-border payments, virtual cards, and crypto.
In addition, Eversend offers B2B and API-based payment services, including collections, payouts, and currency exchange.
Nigeria is the powerhouse of the West African economy and the country’s banking sector is embracing digitalisation and innovation.
While this has opened banking services to the population, it also makes the sector an attractive target for ransomware and malware attacks.
Data protection has become a key element of success in a digital world, a fact that is highlighted by the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), which was issued in 2019 and is the principal regulation and framework for data protection in Nigeria. With ransomware attacks on the rise, an attack is a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’.
The NDPR means that ignorance can no longer be used as an excuse for not protecting data.
More aware of the risk
Although digitalisation and open banking have changed the way financial services in Nigeria operate to a certain extent, the risk to data remains essentially the same as it ever was.
If malware breaches occur, or data is lost or deleted, there is a risk to business that can have detrimental consequences.
The NDPR recognises the critical nature of data and provides legal safeguards for the processing of personal data. The draft Data Protection Bill 2020, which will replace the NDPR if passed into law, will add to this by creating a regulatory framework for the protection and processing of personal data.
In line with global trends and best practices, there is now increased awareness around the need to protect data. While it has always been important, it is becoming mandatory because it is regulated.
From the inside out
Data security is a significant challenge for financial services organisations in Nigeria, and gaps in data protection mean vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious actors. With ransomware and other attacks on the increase, it has become imperative to address these gaps in a more proactive manner.
This starts from the inside, with internal processes and education on the risks and the need to safeguard data, particularly personal information.
Financial services and other organisations need to become stricter in how their internal users interact with data and become more proactive on monitoring, detecting anomalies, blocking suspicious activity, and essentially protecting data as a whole.
Becoming more proactive in approach
The first step in protecting data is the ability to identify critical and/or sensitive data as well as the risk that it is exposed or potentially exposed to. This requires an intelligent solution to help identify and highlight sensitive data that is either at risk or stored incorrectly.
Once it has been identified, it can be proactively protected or moved to more appropriate storage to avoid exposure and data leakage.
Once again, however, this begins with awareness, because if organisations do not know what data they have or where it is, it cannot be protected effectively. Proactive solutions are also essential, because reacting to an event after the fact means that it is more difficult to recover efficiently or at all.
Financial services are the foundation
Trust in financial systems is imperative for the stability of countries, and the trust of customers is the number one determinant of success.
These businesses are also large enterprises entrusted with extremely sensitive personal information. This not only makes them attractive targets for ransomware, it means that the reputational damage of an attack can have catastrophic consequences. Having a trusted partner that is a specialist in data protection is essential in helping financial services organisations in Nigeria keep up with the dual challenges of increased attacks and a growing body of legislation.
A complete protection solution, offered via Software as a Service (SaaS) through a trusted partner, helps financial services organisations to identify sensitive information and security gaps, be proactive in preparing for an attack, react efficiently and effectively protect data, their most important business asset.
As organisations focus on digitally transforming their enterprises, cybersecurity professionals have been facing an expansion of their attack surface – compounded by the digital explosion during the pandemic.
Almost every category of cyberattack increased over the course of 2021. The number of encrypted threats spiked by 167 percent, ransomware rose by 105 percent, and intrusion attempts climbed by 11 percent.
Cyber economy research giant Cybersecurity Ventures expects global cybercrime costs to grow by 15 percent per year, reaching $10.5 trillion USD by 2025.
Despite this, a PWC survey of security and technology executives last year showed that only 55 percent of cybercrime victims believed they were ‘well prepared’ to address these breaches — and 45 percent weren’t.
Proactive threat intelligence
In today’s world, ‘well prepared’ will never mean ‘invulnerable’. Faced with such a rapidly evolving threat landscape, it’s virtually impossible to address every risk.
| Patrick Evans, CEO of SLVA Cybersecurity
In fact, The Cyber Security Intelligence Agency reports that only 50 percent of organisations are remediating fewer than 15.5 percent of their vulnerabilities monthly, says Patrick Evans, CEO of specialist cybersecurity solutions provider SLVA Cybersecurity.
“IT managers are suffering from vulnerability fatigue. They’re caught in an infinite loop of testing and patching, draining resources and accumulating costs, often getting attacked through a vulnerability they were unaware of. Organisations must start moving away from trying to fix all vulnerabilities to focus on those that matter.”
Gartner’s Top 10 Security Projects for 2020-2021 report recommends risk-based vulnerability management: “Don’t try to patch everything; focus on vulnerabilities that are actually exploitable. Go beyond a bulk assessment of threats and use threat intelligence, attacker activity, and internal asset criticality to understand real organisational risk better.”
The use of vulnerability scanners is no longer sufficient, often overwhelming security specialists with the volume of vulnerabilities to remediate. “Not all detected vulnerabilities require immediate action,” says Evans. “Context is important. It’s not uncommon for organisations who take security seriously to use tools like vulnerability management, vulnerability prioritisation, breach and attack simulation, and pen testing – providing multiple vulnerability ratings that remain siloed. To be truly effective, a single, more comprehensive risk console is needed.”
New landscape, new solutions
An effective, comprehensive strategy today leverages threat intelligence and threat actor landscape to assign a tailored risk score to identified vulnerabilities.
To bring such a solution to local shores, SLVA Cybersecurity recently became the distribution partner and reseller for HivePro in South Africa. “With HivePro, security teams get a view of all their current approaches and where the top 15 percent of vulnerabilities lie so that they can prioritise those threats. Importantly, this happens on a continuous and evolving basis,” says Evans.
HivePro’s Uni5 uses the current known vulnerabilities and threats to provide a unified view of the true vulnerability risk in an organisation. It is the only vulnerability prioritisation technology that contextualises risk by checking the efficacy of an organisation’s compensatory controls, providing actionable intelligence for rapid vulnerability remediation.
Users see a combination of asset criticality, external threat context, internal compensatory control and patch intelligence to proactively reduce their attack surface before it gets exploited.
Uni5 uses four different groups for risk scoring: The first shows severe risks that could affect the organisation’s most critical assets and require immediate patching, the second group contains moderate threats to critical assets, the third shows high risks to non-critical assets and, lastly, moderate risks to non-critical assets.
Uni5 also orchestrates patch and configuration management to fix vulnerabilities, taking threat priorities into account. “These strategies are the way forward for organisations looking to take their threat intelligence to the next level. Perfection might not be possible in today’s ever-changing threat landscape, but proactive protection is,” says Evans.
As HivePro’s local distribution partner, SLVA Cybersecurity provides a zero-cost proof of value to clients, providing an immediate snapshot of the top 15percent of vulnerabilities that will place the business at risk. MSSPs, service providers and resellers can also partner with SLVA Cybersecurity to provide this solution to their clients
Eighteen months since the commencement of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), and despite less than ideal circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 43 African states have ratified the agreement.
What’s more, nearly 90 percent of negotiations on product-specific rules have been concluded, covering more than 70 percent of intra-African trade.
But while the foundations for enhanced exchanges between African markets may be laid, the emphasis is now on implementation, which demands that attention be placed on the continent’s payment landscape.
Among other things, AfCFTA is set to reinvigorate economic activity in markets across the continent.
In doing so, analysts at the World Bank believe that AfCFTA will lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty and raise the incomes of 68 million more, thanks in a part to higher levels of intra-African trade, which is set to generate a combined consumer and business spending of $6.7 trillion by 2030.
But as inter-governmental conversations around exchange controls and non-tariff barriers to trade begin to conclude, implementation is now becoming key. In that vein, it is important to acknowledge that – to reach these anticipated levels of spending, and in turn improve incomes and quality of life – consumers across the continent must have access to the relevant tools and technology required to participate in the world’s largest free trade market. Specifically, we need to support their ability to make payments, which has been the lifeblood of commerce since the earliest forms of exchange first emerged.
The provision of payment tools and technology is paramount in the African context, where 57% of the African population do not have a traditional bank account.
To address this challenge, developments in Africa’s payments landscape have been steered by collaboration between banks, telcos and fintech startups, to deliver new products and services in a more cost-effective manner for existing customers.
To this end, innovation and partnerships in African payments is helping to drive frictionless transactions and enhance borderless financial services across regions.
At the same time, regional payment systems are starting to be deployed across the continent, in a bid to allow payments to flow from one system to another and provide pan-regional settlement capability. One example of this is the ‘Tripartite Free Trade Area’ between the East African Community, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
In addition, the recently launched Pan-African Payment Settlement System (PAPSS), which has been designed to enable instant payments across African borders, will further drive this trend towards payment system interoperability.
These are welcomed developments, which are undoubtedly playing a key role in driving market integration across the continent.
However, to sustain this merging of African consumer bases – and to secure the ability of Africans to consume in the AfCFTA environment – we need to reflect on the continent’s sheer diversity in culture and circumstance and take note of the fragmented payments landscape that sees different communities, countries, and whole regions transacting in vastly different methods.
To fully realise the potential of the AfCFTA to stimulate consumer spending, contribute to economic growth, and enhance the quality of life then requires that African consumers be afforded a range of payment solutions to enable transactions across borders in methods that appeal to their different preferences and demands.
This will in turn promote financial inclusion, which will see more Africans able to engage with the enormous market opportunity that is the AfCFTA.
This has been the core mission of companies like Pay@, who have recently expanded their footprint across Africa, which seeks to promote financial inclusion and drive socio-economic growth.
This is achieved by developing tailored payments solutions – including mobile, card and smartphone payments, EFTs, wallets, and more – to African consumers, and in particular, those that find themselves in under- and unbanked communities.
For up-to-the-minute updates on trending stories and news, Twitter remains the social media platform that keeps you informed.
Twitter Partners with SuperSport on Upcoming FIFA2022 World Cup
Anticipation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup hit the full throttle for African sports enthusiasts following the announcement of the new partnership between Twitter and SuperSport. @NaijaNewsWireTweeted about the partnership announcement, which will bring real-time match highlights, live analysis, and commentary via Twitter Spaces as well as hand-curated Twitter moments closer to African football fans. Join the conversation as #TwitterNaija football fans anticipate the World Cup with #FIFA22.
Stefflon Don Disses Burnaboy in her New Single
British rapper Stefflon Don has knocked critics including her ex-boyfriend, Burnaboy in her new release “First of All”. On the track, she tells fans to mind their business after teasing them all night in anticipation of the release. Catch up with what was said on #TwitterNaija here.
#RHOL: Laura and Carolyn WWE Smackdown
On the 8th episode of #RHOLagos, it was all shades of drama and violence. Iyabo Ojo called a meeting of peace for the housewives following the argument between Laura and Carolyna over a WhatsApp message regarding lateness to Mariam’s dinner.
https://twitter.com/IYSexxy
The encounter resulted in a physical altercation and intervention by the film crew. Wigs and earrings went flying, and water was thrown. Tweeps shared their opinion on the latest episode using the hashtag #RHOLagos.
— The Nine Dots Prize (@NineDotsPrize) May 26, 2022
In an interview on the book, the author claimed she was the one who named the protesters “Soro Soke generation”. The author received a series of backlash on #TwitterNaija as people on Twitter accused her of profiting and taking credit for a term she did not initiate.
#BBNaijaShineYaEye Reunion: The housemates are back
The highly anticipated reality show reunion is back a year after the season finale. The reunion kicked off with glitz and glamour. Tweeps are anticipating all the drama and bants from the housemates as many unsaid tales and moments will be revealed. Here is a thread of the Tweets from fans of the show.
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 28, 2022
The encounter, which started 36 minutes later than supposed due to ‘security reasons’ in Paris, saw Vinicius Junior net the game’s only goal in 59 minutes. #UCLFinal was the tag that trended on the night.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has solicited the support of telecom consumers in complementing the Commission’s important efforts to ensure improved telecom service delivery in their communities.
Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman, NCC made the appeal at the second edition of the Village Square Dialogue (VSD), one of the Commission’s consumer outreach programmes.
The dialogue took place in Danbatta Local Government Area, Kano State recently with a focus on, “Protection of Telecom Infrastructure for Improved Quality of Service: The Role of Residents.”
While addressing telecoms consumers and traditional rulers at the forum, Danbatta, who was represented by NCC’s Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Bako Wakil, said to ensure improved telecom service delivery, a community must protect telecom infrastructure in its vicinity by allowing the installations of equipment and maintenance or repairs on sites by technical staff of service providers.
Danbatta also enjoined members of respective communities to guard against the destruction of telecoms infrastructure, through prompt notification of service providers of any ongoing road construction activities by companies or government agencies to avoid service disruption that may arise from damaged infrastructure.
The EVC further stated that protecting telecom infrastructure is very important in any community, as the ability to connect and communicate is fundamental to human existence considering its centrality in improving businesses, government services, education, communities and families to share information through seamless connections.
He also highlighted that technological advances have assisted people to gain access to learning opportunities outside traditional schooling.
“Today, you simply need a computer, smartphone, and the Internet connection to do so many things and telecom infrastructure in your communities provide the critical facilities that support Internet access to these devices and therefore, you are expected to protect the infrastructure,” he said.
Danbatta particularly noted that vandalism of telecom infrastructure has a negative impact on the community as its reduces coverage area, leading to ‘dead spots’ on the network which result in poor quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) by the consumers.
In addition, Danbatta said that destruction of telecom infrastructure discourages investment in network expansion by operators.
Besides the satisfaction of basic needs, and improvement in education, Danbatta told the participants that by protecting telecom infrastructure, they are helping to create jobs, promote e-commerce, assist farmers in the villages to connect with potential buyers in the cities, as well as enhancing connectivity through which citizens in both rural and urban areas are able to harvest their potentials, access information, and engage in social interactions among others.
“Therefore, as a community, you are expected to report cases of telecoms infrastructure vandalism to the nearest law enforcement agents such as the Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and share adequate information received from NCC with your family, friends, neighbours.
We believe that together and with your cooperation as critical stakeholders in the telecoms sector, we can all work with the law enforcement authorities in protecting telecom infrastructure in your community,” he added.
While reiterating the Commission’s commitment to ensuring that the telecoms consumer is protected, well informed, empowered and educated on telecoms-related issues, Danbatta reminded the participants of the availability of NCC-instituted toll-free number 622 for resolving telecom service-related complaints; the Emergency Number 112 to get succour during emergencies; the 2442 Do -Not-Disturb Short Code for managing cases of unsolicited text messages, among others.
The EVC also encouraged participants to leverage the various social media and web portals of the Commission to lodge complaints for effective and satisfactory resolutions.
“One of the NCC’s core mandates is to ensure that the consumer is the main focus of the Commission’s regulatory activities. This is why Section 104 of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 mandates the NCC to ensure that service providers meet such minimum standards of QoS as the Commission may, from time to time, specify and publish; deal reasonably with consumers; and adequately address consumer complaints”, Danbatta said.
The event was preceded by a courtesy visit to the District Head of Danbatta community, Alhaji Wada Waziri, who expressed delight at the mission of the Commission in his community. The maiden edition of the VSD took place in Ogun State in April, 2022.
About 733 million people worldwide still do not have access to electricity, while 670 million people will remain without electricity by 2030, this is more than 10 million projected last year.
According to the United Nations report, 2.4 billion people still cook with fuels detrimental to their health and the environment.
They attributed the surge to the COVID-19 pandemic, which slowed down the progress towards universal access to electricity and clean cooking fuels and technology, noting that fallout from the war in Ukraine could result in further setbacks.
It stressed that at the current rate of progress, 670 million people would remain without electricity by 2030, making it 10 million more than projected last year.
The findings are from the 2022 edition of ‘Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report’, which monitors global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG7) of ensuring affordable modern energy supply for everyone by 2030.
It said: “The world’s most vulnerable countries have been particularly affected. Nearly 90 million people in Asia and Africa, who previously gained access to electricity, can no longer afford to pay for their basic energy needs.
“The report said Africa remains the least electrified in the world, with 568 million people without access. Sub-Saharan
Africa’s share of the global population without electricity rose from 71 percent in 2018 to 77 percent in 2020, while most other regions saw declines.”
While commenting also, the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Francesco La Camera, said: “International public financing for renewable energy needs to accelerate, especially in the poorest, most vulnerable countries. We have failed to support those most in need.
“With only eight years left to achieve universal access to affordable and sustainable energy, we need radical actions to accelerate the increase of international public financial flows and distribute them in a more equitable manner, so that the 733 million people who are currently left behind can enjoy the benefits of clean energy access.”
From the report, COVID-19 impacts, such as lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, and diversion of fiscal resources to keep food and fuel prices affordable, have affected progress towards achieving SDG 7.
Leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Bitget has announced the appointment of Gracy Chen as Managing Director, who will lead Bitget’s growth strategies as the platform accelerates its global expansion plan.
With a presence in over 50 countries worldwide and operations in Nigeria and South Africa, Bitget has been growing at an unprecedented pace. Earlier this year, Bitget announced its derivatives trading volume reached an all-time high of $8.69 billion, representing a 300% growth when compared to the previous year.
Moreover, its user base also grew significantly to two million users worldwide. With Bitget’s exponential growth in the past year, Chen’s appointment will be particularly focused on managing growth across broader global markets.
Commenting on Chen’s appointment, CEO of Bitget, Sandra Lou said, “We are extremely pleased to have a seasoned professional like Gracy to join us, and look forward to leveraging her expertise in the space to further strengthen our growth strategies across international markets.”
Having witnessed the tremendous growth at Bitget since its launch in 2018, and most recently ranking top five globally by CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko for derivatives trading by volume, Chen was inspired to rejoin the Fin-tech industry and devote her full attention to the crypto space.
Upon her appointment, Chen will be overseeing the growth and expansion of global markets, strategy, execution, business and corporate development of Bitget.
She will also be elevating Bitget’s voice and presence in the broader crypto ecosystem and assisting the brand to further flourish under her leadership.
Chen joins Bitget having held executive roles at XRSPACE, a VR technology company headquartered in Taipei. Invited by Peter Chou, Chairman of XRSPACE, Gracy oversaw and led the marketing and business development functions, as well as government and public relations in the region.
Formerly an anchor and producer at Phoenix TV’s technology and finance channel, one of the largest media conglomerates in China, Chen has reported on financial news and events extensively, including the World Economic Forum. During her time at Phoenix, she interviewed tech leaders, including Kevin Kelly, founding editor of Wired.
“It is an exciting time to join a crypto platform that is leading the growth in global derivatives trading. I have always been an avid investor in crypto and related ventures. As an early investor of BitKeep, Bitget’s sister company, and Asia’s leading decentralized wallet, I have witnessed the brand’s development and growth throughout the years.
I am elated to be joining an organization full of driven and intelligent individuals, and to guide Bitget to chart even higher growths as the portal that transcends Web2 and Web3, connecting CeFi and DeFi, resulting in an expansive bridge to the vast web of crypto.” said, Gracy Chen.
CHHen was named a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum in 2015. A graduate of the National University of Singapore, Chen will also be pursuing an MBA degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO Plc) said it has obtained approval for the operation of its payment subsidiary, Habari, from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Erhi Obebeduo, Secretary, GTCO Group Company, disclosed this in a corporate filing on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Thursday.
The new subsidiary will serve to expand the group range of services to largely underserved markets in support of the CBN’s financial inclusion drive and contribute to the resilience of the global payment ecosystem.
Commenting on the new subsidiary, Segun Agbaje, Group Chief Executive Officer of GTCO Plc said: “Payments are central to the development of financial services globally and represent a key growth area for the Group.
“GTCO Plc has been at the forefront of delivering cutting-edge innovative solutions with its banking franchise and would leverage this capacity to transform the evolving payment space. with HabariPay, we have successfully created more value for our stakeholders.“
He stated further, “Our vision is an Africa where every payment is digital, and we hope to achieve this by increasingly leveraging technology to improve access to financial devices for individuals and empower businesses across Africa with the right digital tools to thrive”
