Author: Editorial Staff

THERE are currently 960 million mobile subscriptions across Africa – an 80 percent penetration rate among the continent’s population. Internet penetration is at 18 percent with 216 million internet users, according to the latest Jumia mobile trend report for Africa. The 2017 edition of the African Mobile Trends Paper is the third white paper presentation from Jumia delving into mobile trends across Africa and specifically Nigeria. The study takes a look at the how the market has democratised mobile internet use, the consumer behaviours driving increased smartphone adoption and the role of mobile brands, mobile operators and m-commerce in creating…

TIGO, Tanzania’s leading digital lifestyle company, has announced the opening of a new state of the art call centre, the first of its kind in the country. Boasting the latest technology, the call centre, complete with embedded data security measures to protect customer information and identity, has been designed to offer Tigo customers dedicated world-class service. Migrating from E1 to the latest in call centre technology – the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), allows for a wide range of functionality and agility necessary to service Tigo’s dynamic 10 million-strong, and growing, loyal customer base. With USSD/SMS platform for query follow-up and escalation and…

THE World Bank has launched XL Africa (www.XL-Africa.com), a five-month business acceleration programme designed to support the 20 most promising digital start-ups from sub-Saharan Africa. Start-ups will receive mentoring from global and local experts, learn through a tailor-made curriculum, increase their regional visibility, and get access to potential corporate partners and investors. With support from prominent African investment groups, XL Africa will help the 20 selected start-ups attract early stage capital between $250,000 and $1.5 million. ‘Digital start-ups are important drivers of innovation in Africa,’ says Makhtar Diop, vice president for the Africa Region at the World Bank. ‘To scale…

NAMBIA’S leading financial service provider, Bank Windhoek, has embraced mobile technology to launch the first mobile fuel payment system in Namibia. GoPay, built in collaboration with WIZZIT International, allows Namibians to pay for fuel on the go, without having to use cards or cash. This development comes as a result of increasing pressure on African banks to offer mobile payment solutions to customers.  Experts predict African banks unwilling to embrace mobile payments can bid farewell to sustainable growth on the continent. The urgency to embrace this technology is reaching a critical point. Banks looking to increase market share and penetration…

MARRIOTT International, the international hotel chain, has  announced its first property in Kenya with the opening of Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Hurlingham. Owned by Kamcan Properties, the hotel is strategically located in the upmarket suburb, close to the city centre and within easy access from the surrounding business areas of Westlands, Kilimani and Nairobi Central as well as from the Kenyatta International Airport and the Wilson Airport. ‘Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi, Hurlingham is a significant addition to our fast growing portfolio in the region offering a perfect blend of stylish comfort and genuine service at an honest value,’…

ECONET Media has signed a multi-territory broadcast agreement with TURNER, which includes some of its most acclaimed kids and news channels. This agreement is significant as it adds some of the world’s most loved broadcast brands to Kwesé TV’s diverse content offering which is premised on delivering premium programming for the whole family. The deal will see the African broadcaster debut news channel CNN International and adds the much-loved Cartoon Network and Boomerang channels to its kids and family oriented programming portfolio starting May 3. President and group chief executive officer of Econet Media, Joseph Hundah said: ‘We are a…

TWENTRY-THREE years after the genocide against the Tutsi that led to the deaths of one million people in three months, the government of Rwanda government is still chasing some 400 fugitives accused of taking part in the killings. These are the number of requests for extradition that the government has made, the country’s High Commissioner in London, Yamina Karitanyi, has said. She added that many of these requests for those who allegedly took part in the 1994 genocide were in Europe and she thanked countries such as the US, Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, which ‘have…

RIGHT now, Africa is like a house exposed to all winds. This thought occurred to me a few days ago, while watching a news item about the United States’ decision to end operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), though Joseph Kony, the LRA’s ruthless leader, has not been captured. The Americans’ move did not come as a shock to me, given that President Donald Trump has made no secret of his intention to put his country first. What hit me like a kick in the stomach was the realisation that, more than 50 years after independence, most African countries…

THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), an ally of South Africa’s ruling ANC, has  called on President Jacob Zuma to step down. ‘Cosatu no longer believes that the president is the right person to lead the country and the movement … the time has arrived for him to step down,’ said Cosatu general-secretary, Bheki Ntshalintshali. ‘Cosatu no longer believes in his leadership abilities.’ Ntshalintshali was briefing the media in Braamfontein after a special sitting of Cosatu’s central executive committee on April 3. The federation has blamed Zuma for the country’s downgrade by S&P Global Ratings on earlier that…

Sudan has rejected a new US travel advisory warning Americans against visiting the country, particularly three conflict zones, due to risks of ‘terrorism and violent crimes’. The latest advisory was issued by the US State Department on March 30 and posted on the website of the American embassy in Khartoum. It replaces a previous travel warning issued in January 2016. It said ‘terrorist groups are active in Sudan and have stated their intent to harm Westerners and Western interests through suicide operations, bombings, shootings and kidnappings … Violent crimes targeting Westerners, including kidnappings, armed robberies, home invasions, and car-jacking, occur…