Uganda’s parliament has passed a law to tax those who use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Viber, and WhatsApp, as reported by BBC. The law imposes a 200 shilling [$0.05, £0.04] daily levy on people using internet messaging platforms. President Yoweri Museveni had pushed for the changes, arguing that social media encouraged gossip. The… Read More »
Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana are top agri-tech markets in Africa accounting for over 60 per cent of start-ups that are active on the continent, a new report shows. The report by Africa’s start-up portal, Disrupt Africa, shows that Kenya accounts for 23.2 per cent of all African agri-tech start-ups (19 companies). Kenya has been the… Read More »
In an effort to increase exposure of African startups to global investors and resources, Africa Startup Ecosystem announced the launch of the first digital accelerator for the region. The accelerator program begins with a full startup development boot camp covering ideation, product development, marketing, customer acquisition and funding. The boot camp is followed by workshop… Read More »
Africa could be getting its first unicorn startup if we are to go by the rumors that are currently circulating get fulfilled. Nigerian digital payments and commerce company Interswitch will likely go public on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in 2016, sources confirm. The Lagos based fintech firm, majority owned by private equity group Helios… Read More »
On Wednesday, Kenyan traffic app Ma3Route announced it had raised a pre-seed round of US$25,000 that will help in expansion and addition of new features. The funding came from a group of five investors. Mostly bootstrapped since its launch in late 2012, Ma3Route is a crowdsourcing technology platform that looks to solve mobility issues in… Read More »
One of the largest e-commerce companies on the continent with a valuation of about $1.1 billion Africa Internet Group (AIG) has raised $245 million in one of the largest fundraising rounds by an African-focused tech firm. The funding which was announced on Thursday comes from U.S. investment bankers Goldman Sachs, French insurance multinational AXA, German… Read More »
On Wednesday, Kenyan-based business incubator Nailab held its first ever VC carousel in a bid to create a direct link between startups to investors. The first of its kind among local incubators and accelerators, the carousel saw entrepreneurs who have gone through the Nailab incubation program, from season 3 through to season 6 and are… Read More »
The Twitter accounts of the Kenyan defence forces and its spokesman have been hacked by activists protesting about corruption. “All of you who have stolen money #Kenya, we are coming after you,” reads one post. The hacked posts were signed as being from activist group Anonymous. Kenyan military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir often uses Twitter… Read More »
In a bid to encourage Kenyan girls to embrace ICT, Cisco played host to a group of 26 girls aged between 14-18 years. All this took place during an event dubbed ‘Girls in ICT Day’ that was launched in 2010. The 26 girls from various institutions were mentored by representatives from from Global Peace Foundation,… Read More »
After exiting telecom business in India, Essar Telecom is now in talks to sell its Kenya business to Indian telecom major Airtel and Kenya’s leading operator Safaricom for about USD 100 million. “Airtel Networks Kenya Limited has sought an approval from the Communications Authority of Kenya to acquire the telecommunications licenses and subscribers of Essar… Read More »
