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Binance Takes Crypto Education To Nigerian University Campuses

Boluwatife Aponmade
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Binance Takes Crypto Education To Nigerian University Campuses

Binance is bringing crypto education to Nigerian universities. Binance is the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider and it is sponsoring a Campus Masterclass Series for Nigerian university students as part of its objective to increase crypto adoption and financial inclusion for Africans.

Binance Takes Crypto Education To Nigerian University Campuses

In a post-pandemic world afflicted by economic downturn and rising prices, the Binance Campus Masterclass Series aims to empower students by introducing them to practical strategies to obtain financial freedom. Binance is ensuring that students have access to basic resources to help them succeed in school and beyond as blockchain technology continues to revolutionize economies.

The blockchain titan is organizing offline educational activities in three universities for the first season of the series: Federal University of Technology, Owerri; Federal University of Technology, Minna; and Federal University of Lafia, Nassarawa.

The activities of the series started in FUTMinna on 3 February 2022, educating crypto fans about the opportunities available in the crypto ecosystem. The event recorded more than 400 people in attendance, learning about the basics of blockchain, the Binance ecosystem, the basics of trading, and how to protect their crypto and avoid getting scammed.

Binance continues to be at the leading position of crypto education, making sure that crypto enthusiasts are well-grounded with necessary information. Its education system is targeted at increasing crypto awareness in Africa, the Binance Campus Masterclass started in January 2020, providing education that ranges from crypto trading to crypto careers in the blockchain. Ever since Binance has given free crypto education to more than 541,000 Africans.

19 February 2022, Binance is going to host a new educational event at FWT Theatre in Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) that will be led by Binance Campus Ambassadors.

Emmanuel Babalola, Director at Binance Africa said, “Education about Blockchain is at the center of our focus in the global market. As a blockchain infrastructure provider, we are committed to making sure that enough people have access to the right information about the workings of the ecosystem.”

“Africa is a very paramount market for Binance because we see the immense opportunity blockchain brings to the entire world”, Emmanuel said.

South African Stitch Secures $21M for Its API Infrastructure And Embedded Finance Platform

Hassan Barakat
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South African Stitch Secures $21M for Its API Infrastructure And Embedded Finance Platform

Stitch, a prominent players building and operating APIs in Africa has secured $21 million in Series A funding.

This was after the $4 million Stitch raised out of stealth in February 2021, a prequel to the $2 million extension round it secured four months ago, bringing its seed round to $6 million.

Stitch has raised $27 million in total to date.

The API fintech in South Africa allows organisations to create, develop, and grow financial products. With the new capital, the company wants to develop a “financial graph” ecosystem across Africa, according to a statement made by the company.

The financial graph, according to the company, is an architecture for financial building blocks that enables businesses to develop code once, launch in numerous markets, and scale more quickly thanks to interoperability between geographies, providers, banks, and other forms of financial accounts.

Stitch’s specialises in e-commerce, marketplaces, and platforms, as well as fintechs, which are its most important clients.

As in previous years, African fintechs outpaced other firms in terms of raising venture money, particularly in 2021, when they raised 50-60% of overall VC funding, according to reports.

Stitch debuted its payments solution in South Africa in April 2021, and the next six months saw a 50 percent increase in payments volume month over month.

Stitch launched its payment service in Nigeria in October, with plans to process $10 million in monthly payments by the end of the year.

Pillay, who co-founded Stitch with Natalie Cuthbert and Priyen Pillay, didn’t provide an update on this measure during the call, but did say that since introducing the product last April, Stitch had witnessed a 104 percent month-over-month growth in payments value.

In Q4 2021, the platform had a 44 percent month-over-month increase in customers and a 72 percent increase in linked financial accounts.

“As we continue to develop the payments offering and look at monthly and recurring payments, which are fascinating feature sets for us,” Pillay said, “we’re proud of the partners and customers we have here.”

“A handful of our customers recently went live in Nigeria, which has been quite exciting for us.” We just accept payments there, but we’re keen to expand our offerings. This year, we’ll look into adding data and identity, as well as expanding the payment system in the same way that we do in South Africa.”

The Spruce House Partnership, a long-term investment business based in New York, led this round of fundraising. PayPal Ventures, TrueLayer, firstminute capital, The Raba Partnership, CRE Venture Capital, Village Global, as well as fintech founders and firms including TrueLayer, founders of Chipper Cash, Quovo, and Unit, and Guillaume Pousaz’s Zinal Growth, all participated in the round.

“We’ve been watching African startups for a long time. “Our due diligence revealed that this is one of the most talented teams on the continent, and we are pleased to be a part of what they are creating at Stitch,” Ben Stein, co-founder of The Spruce House Partnership, stated.

Stitch said the funding will allow it to expand its team across offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Lagos, create new product offerings and enter new markets across the continent.

Duplo Raises $1.3M Pre-Seed to Focus on Retail Market for The Next 3 Months

Hassan Barakat
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Duplo Raises $1.3M Pre-Seed to Focus on Retail Market for The Next 3 Months

Duplo, a fintech based in Lagos, is seeking to address inefficiencies in the FMCG industry by automating payment processes for B2B businesses, beginning with those in the industry.

Yele Oyekola, a former product lead at Carbon, founded Duplo as a result of his work as an economic policy officer for the United Nations in Africa, where he saw firsthand how individuals and businesses were overly dependant on currency while travelling several nations.

In an interview with TechCrunch, the chief executive officer remarked, “We’re aiming to make cash obsolete in Africa, where a lot of businesses in the distribution area extensively trade in cash for obvious reasons.”

“As a result, we’re concentrating our efforts on distributors, merchants, and aggregators to eliminate the use of cash in this value chain because we all know how expensive cash is and how difficult it is to move with concerns like theft and fraud.”

Distributors can use Duplo to build individual virtual accounts for retailers and agents to make real-time payments or bank transfers, and the platform will automatically reconcile their books.

However, in the FMCG market, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution.

Because bank transfers are costly for certain businesses and agents, they prefer to do transactions using mobile money agencies.

Duplo is unconcerned about this because shops can still use mobile money agents to make transactions to these identical virtual accounts; reconciliation is then performed.

Every transaction carried out on Duplo’s platform is subject to a 1% fee. Businesses also pay between $100 ($0.20) and $1,000 ($2.00) to open virtual accounts, depending on their size.

There is a no-code solution for B2B enterprises to maximize trade with their business clients, vendors, and suppliers, in addition to products that enable B2B companies to automate their payment flows. The platform also provides a dashboard to attribute payment flows to a certain customer, store, or region, as well as the ability to issue or pay invoices, offer credit to their business customers, and extend credit to their business customers.

“We assist organizations automate, embed, and launch payment products,” says the company. In other words, inflows and outflows, automatic reconciliations for firms, and payments embedded in markets. Then there are companies that want to provide BNPL services to smaller companies,” said Oyekola, who co-founded Duplo with Tunde Akinnuwa in September 2021.

Customers reported cost savings of more than 12% during the three-month pilot phase, according to the firm, which debuted it three months ago.

Duplo has also increased by 60% month over month to service over 20 enterprise companies.

Currently, it has processed more than $380,000; however, according to the CEO, Duplo intends to reach $40 million in annualized TPV by the end of Q2.

Duplo was accepted into Y Combinator in November and is currently a part of the accelerator’s current winter batch.

To accelerate its expansion, the YC-backed startup has raised a $1.3 million pre-seed round led by Oui Capital, an early-stage pan-African venture capital firm.

MyAsia VC, Y Combinator, Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, and Mono CEO Abdul Hassan were among the local and foreign investors who took part.

“As a business, there’s just a ton of potential opportunity that we can get into very quickly,” Oyekola said.

“And, while we’re focusing on the retail market for the next three months, we’re also talking to firms in other industries about how our APIs can help them automate their entire payment process.”

Stellas Digital Bank Launches ‘Ghost Mode’ to Fix Major Fintech Fraud Loophole in Nigeria

Boluwatife Aponmade
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Stellas Digital Bank Launches ‘Ghost Mode’ to Fix Major Fintech Fraud Loophole in Nigeria

Interbank transactions have gotten faster in Nigeria due to the launch of the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) scheme in 2011. The NIBSS Instant Payment Scheme is an infrastructure that many experts have praised as being one of the best in the world.

It is rather unfortunate that this speed of execution means that fraudsters have been able to execute with more speed. Nigeria has lost $13 billion to cybercrime in the last 10 years, and in the last nine months of 2020, it has lost $12 million to electronic fraud.
Nigeria’s banking space is one of the most important sectors, as these companies are given the task of providing essential services to several people. A growing trend has been observed, interestingly, of how banks are moving from physical branches to having an online presence.

It is however not clear how much Nigerian consumer behavior has taken on this trend, investors are staking their bets that these companies will usher in the future of banking sectors.

With various hooks like micro-lending, efficient customer lending, free transfers, etc, Nigerian banks plan to capture segments of the market that have undergone relative neglect by traditional banks. Although, fraud is still the bone of contention between both traditional banks and digital banks. The newly launched Stellas digital bank aims to protect a major loophole.

An executive with extensive experience in the field of investment banking space, led by Bukola Solomon, Stellas microfinance bank started in 2017 to provide convenient access to financial services. It soon became one of the leading financial services providers in Nigeria.

“We have seen a lot of instances where people need to make transactions but they want it to be private and confidential. With our Ghost Mode feature, you can execute confidential transactions, it also serves as a security feature. Transactions can be encrypted such that, even if anybody can gain access to your phone or that of the recipient, your details are still secure”, Solomon said.

Stellas plan to protect its users’ identities when they make transactions, to guard against identity theft, and ensure that there is privacy and security.

$219 million was lost to identity theft in 2020, this usually stems from different forms like social media activities, credit cards, or emails. Solomon explained that transferring money to a stranger you bought things from could be a potential loophole for identity theft.

Bukola also said that all transactions are fully covered by the National Deposit Insurance Commission (NDIC) and will comply with anti-money laundering and anti-fraud regulations.

Solomon spoke about the Ghost Mode feature, he said the company has integrated a budgeting feature that will help users create better economic plans for themselves.
“We have 10,000 users already and we hope that it reaches 200,000 in the first month of its launch”, Solomon explained.

It is very likely that Stellas would be giving its digital banking services to its already existing customers, but would be refreshing to see how it will hit 200,000 users in one month.

Nigeria’s digital banking space, graced by the likes of Kuda, Fairmoney, Sparkle, and Carbon, is set to have a very exciting look.

Mr. Green Africa Secures Latest Round of Funding

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe
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Mr. Green Africa Secures Latest Round of Funding

Mr. Green Africa a Kenyan plastic recycling startup has secured a major round of funds by driven investors and key industry stakeholders. As a result, this will help to scale its business model across the African continent.

 Mr. Green Africa is a circular recycling startup that has a technology-driven plastics collection model. This helps waste collection at the source, absorbing informal waste workers, micro-entrepreneur, and consumers into a formal value chain.

The startup works hand in hand with brand owners to realize its sustainable packaging goals. In other words, it accesses ethically source, locally produced Post Consumer Recyclate (PCR).

It is on a mission to turn waste into value hence, integrating and strengthening a localized circular economy in emerging markets.

An undisclosed amount of funds from DOB Equity, Global Innovation Fund, and Unilever was initially raised by Mr. Green Africa.

DOB Equity, a Dutch family-backed impact investor in East Africa, and Global Innovation Fund are returning investors. In addition, they now have Water Unite Impact Investment Vehicle.

This is a partnership between Water Unite and Wellers Impact, the BESTSELLER Foundation, AlphaMundi Group, Minderoo, and DOW.

This investment will give room for the startup to build its success and also scale its business model.

By improving the output quality of recycled plastics to a food-grade standard and increasing their capacity, the startup will be contributing to a larger circular plastic economy.

In conclusion, the company is planning to create a new sourcing stream by introducing consumers to deposit waste back into MGA collection systems.

It also plans to increase the capacity of its production plant to process 15,000-20,000 MT plastic waste in the East Africa region.

 

 

ProXalys a Senegalese Retail-Tech Raises$150k Pre-Seed Funding

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe
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ProXalys a Senegalese Retail-Tech Raises$150k Pre-Seed Funding

ProXalys, a Senegalese startup that specializes in digital transformation in B2B commerce, has raised US$150,000 in pre-seed funding.

This pre-seed funding is for expansion across the country then, across the West African region.

ProXalys was founded in 2021 by Thierno Sakho with the aim to modernize and empower informal traders in Senegal. Also, digitizing the whole value chain and re-inventing supply chain processes.

The tech startup has 3 tools for managing and capturing financial flows in real-time on a daily basis. This is an order-taking app for informal distributors and an IT system administrative management. 

It is also a supply chain logistics management system. Hence, it provides a procurement service for products used everyday.

It is crucial for the informal sector to undergo digitization. The goal of the tech startup is to help informal traders withstand the dual of digital and distribution revolution which is created by large multinationals.

The intention is to strengthen and modernize the distribution channels by multinationals operating on the continent.

The $150,000 pre-seed funds is from Haskè Ventures. This is a venture builder in Dakar that is focus on transforming the startup landscape.

ProXalys will use this capital to reinforce its technology and development of its physical infrastructure. This will include the consolidation of its fleet of vehicles and warehouses.

With over 100 users, the startup is also working on boosting agricultural value chain. Also, it intends to expand its reach in Dakar and major cities of Senegal with a focus to reach the whole of the West African region.

This goal will be achieved with the recent funds from the pre-seed investment. 

Danbatta Says The Media will Continue Being Strategic Partners With NCC

Boluwatife Aponmade
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Danbatta Says The Media will Continue Being Strategic Partners With NCC

Mass media, either in print, broadcast, online or other genres will continue to remain central and important stakeholders to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in its faithfulness to delivering its regulatory mandates as written in the Nigerian Communication Act (NCA) 2003 and other policy measures.

Prof. Umar Danbatta, NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief executive Officer (EVC/CEO), disclosed this on Tuesday as he greeted a delegation from the top echelon of the Management of National Economy, a media organization, who paid the Commission a courtesy visit at its Abuja headquarters. Danbatta said NCC remains firmly dedicated to enhancing its already established connection with the media, speaking through the Commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde.
The fact that the commission, through its regulatory actions in the telecom ecosystem, maintains a crucial position in the official architecture erected to boost national economic development, is undeniable, according to Umar.

According to EVC, the Commission has done effectively in the eyes of stakeholders, and it acknowledges the importance of the media in its successes. He stated that the commission’s relationship with the press has been friendly over the years and that the commission will never take the press for granted or act in any way that might jeopardize the relationship.

Going through the memory lane of the importance of media support in the achievements of NCC, the EVC declared that the positive, prominent, accurate, timely, and adequate reporting of the Commission by a broad spectrum of the media agency, eased Commission’s burden in putting its activities in the public space and enabled its efforts to have the support of other important stakeholders onboard in the telecommunication sphere.

Danbatta thanked the media for its peak response in reporting the notable contributions of telecoms to GDP, especially the significance of the sector’s achievement in taking Nigeria out of recession.

Also, EVC recalled the noteworthy media reportage of the measures put in place for the deployment of 5G services in Nigeria, particularly the successful sale of the 3.5GHz spectrum rollout of the 5G services. He implored all newsmen and other telecom professionals to increase the Commission’s voice in the publicity and sensitization of the citizens and all stakeholders on the importance of the new generation network towards the economic development of the nation.

The NCC executive said that the Commission enthusiastically yearns for a big collaboration will all stakeholders in the line of telecommunication to ensure goal-oriented reporting of the unfolding national developments in the digital economy sector, due to the benefits that citizens, businesses, and the nation at large can derive from.

Danbatta thanked the Management of National Economy for the visit, commendations, and support to the Commission for a long time and also expressed the commitment of NCC to sustaining a favorable relationship with the media.

The delegation from the National Economy was chaired by Chief Mike Okpare, who was the Vice-Chairman. Other members of the delegation are Fadilah Ismail, Head of Advertisement; Kirk Leigh, Chief Operating Officer; Bayo Amodu, Head of Stories; and Cees Harmon, General Editor.

Keystone Startup Advantage 2022 for Tech Startups and SMEs

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe
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Keystone Startup Advantage 2022 for Tech Startups and SMEs

The keystone startup advantage (KSA) program 2022 is a social enterprise initiative that aligns with the United Nations Envision #2030 sustainable development goal (UN SDG). It is a special incubator program with offerings to attend to the needs of startups/SMEs.

The UN SDG (8) states that:

“To promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all”

What to expect in the Keystone startup advantage program

  • 3 months investor readiness program- this program will use a blended approach as it tends to offer a hybrid option virtually and physically. The modules will be tutor-led and self-study with an e-learning platform that is friendly. The program will be an intensive one with designs to have a group and one-on-one mentoring and coaching sessions during the period.
  • A platform to bring together innovative SMEs and Tech startups with potential investors.
  • An opportunity to win a 3 million naira grant to support business operations of 3 successful SMEs/Startups. 
  • First-hand connection with Tech thought leaders and listening to their success stories.
  • Getting access to skills and knowledge that will help fast track their businesses to the next growth phase.
  • Participation in a Demo day where entrepreneurs get to pitch their ideas to selected investors.
  • A chance to be a part of a startup community/ecosystem and access the opportunities and network it offers.

Requirements

  • The focus will be on startups/SMEs in fintech, creative, education, agro, health, and other potential growth sectors. Sectors with technology-driven and innovative ideas/solutions that will attract the interest of investors. Investors can be both locally and internationally.
  • Startups and SMEs to be considered are those that have gone past the ideation stage. Also, those in the validation phase or have scaled through the validation phase.

KSA Program Application

Applications will be open by January 31, 2022, for eligible and interested participants to apply here.

In conclusion, through the keystone startup advantage program, the vision as a bank is to impact 1000 startups in 5 years by impacting 100 annually.

Amidst Fintech Boom, Analysis Shows How African Banks May Still Have An Advantage

Boluwatife Aponmade
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Amidst Fintech Boom, Analysis Shows How African Banks May Still Have An Advantage

Without a doubt, Africa is currently undergoing a ‘Financial Revolution’ caused by new startups in fintech. Traditional financial service providers, banks appear to be scrambling to keep up with the trend.

For a long time, banks had the opportunity to reform the financial sector. However, due to the competition provided by fintech companies, they have been slow till now. How can these financial institutions possibly catch up and gain an advantage? According to a recent report by CR2, a Dublin-based financial software vendor, this is an important talking point.
Africa’s fintech takeover is being fueled by advances in mobile internet usage and revenue from international venture capitalists, according to the paper titled “Africa’s Fintech Transformation: Traditional Banks Can Still Gain an Edge”.

The success of M-Pesa in Kenya, which was able to emerge as a compelling case study on the sustainability and scalability of financial technology on the continent while not being supported by any VC funds, piqued investors’ interest in African fintech.

As a result of this, foreign investors have crowded to the continent, bringing with them billions of dollars from years back which have mostly gone into fintech startups. Some of which are Paystack, Chipper Cash, and other fintech startups are now giving traditional banks a run for their money. Many thanks to partnerships with some globally-recognized financial players like PayPal and Visa, the rush continues to grow in favor of African fintech.

Although, this does not necessarily mean that African banks have been rendered completely powerless in the face of impending revolution. As the new report by CR2 already said, some of the biggest banks on the continent went into a state of panic early and ever since, have begun to improve on their ‘legacy infrastructure’ and at the same time building new ones, just to be able to meet more unbanked customers. However, there is more they can do. CR2 recommended the below as a way African banks can gain an advantage in the face of the impending digital revolution happening in the African financial economy.

1. African banks should look into considering offering a seamless digital training experience for their customers.
2. They should widen their service offerings to unbanked market segments.
3. African banks should look into providing day-to-day payment options for customers and also include innovative remittances and lifestyle banking.
4. They should pick a digital banking platform vendor that supports Open API banking.
5. African banks should operate on both smartphones and USSD to expand access to segments of Africa’s population, with or without the connectivity of Wi-Fi and other mobile phone features.
6. African banks should also connect ATM access to continue to give access to cash parallel to online payment options.

4th Edition of Africa Tech Summit Set to Hold Live in Nairobi

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe
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4th Edition of Africa Tech Summit Set to Hold Live in Nairobi

The 4th edition of the Africa Tech Summit will hold live in Nairobi, Kenya on the 23rd-24th of Feb 2022. An opportunity for the African tech ecosystem to finally be able to connect again in person.

The leading African tech event is again ready to network and provide unrivaled insights and business opportunities across the 3 summits.

It will be bringing together tech leaders and international players from the African continent under one roof.

About the Africa Tech Summit

This 2022 edition will be hosting 3 tracks which include

  • Africa Start-up Summit
  • The Money and Defi Summit and 
  • Africa Mobile Summit

This will drive interaction and show a future line of sight across a range of sectors.

As funding into African tech start-ups was increasing in 2021, the Africa Start-up Summit keeps showcasing the rapid movement of startup ecosystems.

It was unpacking key trends and insights for 2022 with leading investors, corporates, and startups displaying investment opportunities.

Looking at the exponential development of Fintech and the use of cryptocurrencies across Africa, the Money and Defi summit will feature African fintech leaders, platforms, and thought-leaders.

This will be done with the support of Celo and VerifyMe as they take a deep dive into opportunities in Fintech, Cryptocurrency, and Decentralized Finance (Defi) on the continent.

Lastly, the Africa mobile summit with the support of Gebeya will give a cross-sectional view of new technologies. Also, solutions and growth opportunities across the big mobile and digital landscape.

The African tech summit (ATS) is synonymous with connecting industry leaders and driving investment and business forward. 

ATS is happy to be back in person and it’s more exciting as it expands the summit in Kenya with support from partners across Africa.

The event will be connecting more than 500 tech leaders over 2 days from across the African tech ecosystem. There will be 3 summits, expo, workshops, ventures showcase, deal room, and networking opportunities.

The Super early bird tickets are available and limited. Grab yours here before it’s gone.

 

 

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