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Visa Launches Global Crypto Advisory Services

Crypto

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December 9, 2021

Visa Launches Global Crypto Advisory Services

Visa Inc, the largest payment processor in the world launched Visa global Crypto Advisory services on Wednesday 8 Dec 2021. This initiative was required due to the rise in the adoption of digital currencies which is taking a high hold in popular consciousness.

Visa’s Global Crypto Advisory Services

The launch of the Visa global crypto advisory services is coming up against the viewpoint of unprecedented investors who were demanding Cryptocurrency services. This move is hereby geared towards financial institutions that are looking to acquire and retain customers with a cryptocurrency service, dealers wanting to delve into NFTs(Non-Fungible Tokens) or even the Central Banks considering and wanting to explore digital currency.

Visa stated that over sixty(60) platforms have worked together with them and provided a worthwhile experience for its product specialists and consultants.

Visa stated that they are caple of rendering assistance to financial institutions by

“evaluating crypto opportunities, development of concrete strategies, and take lead on new user experiences along with innovations like crypto rewards programs and CBDC-integrated consumer wallets.”

Visa’s service also includes creating awareness to institutions about crypto, allowing clients access to the use of payment processor’s network for digital offerings, and also helping to manage runnings at the backend.

“We approached Visa to delve and learn about cryptocurrency and stablecoins and also the use cases that will be most relevant for our retail and commercial business lines,” said the executive vice president at UMB Bank, Uma Wilson.

Visa’s Survey on Cryptocurrency

On Wednesday the 8th of December, Visa also released a survey report titled “The Crypto Phenomenon: Consumer Attitudes and Usage.” This report has a survey of over 6,000 final decision-makers across 8 major markets which are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, South Africa, Hong Kong, the UK, and the United States.

The survey result stated that:

“All of the survey participants who have liberties over their finances are all almost aware of cryptocurrency at 94% worldwide”

Also, “almost 1 out of 3 crypto-aware adults currently owns or use crypto, and most of those in that group (say about 62%) said their use in the past year has increased”.

The survey also revealed that

“Amidst current crypto owners, 81 percent show interest in crypto-linked cards that will allow for conversion and spending of crypto at retailers shop the same way a debit or credit card can be used. 84% of owners are much interested in crypto rewards that allow the reward of their card spending in form of crypto”

A new global report by Visa shows 40% of crypto owners would likely or most likely switch their primary bank to the one that’s able to offer crypto-related products or services in the next 12 months.

Visa is presently using its network to access buying, selling, and owning digital currencies. It as well gives a credit card that allows users to earn bitcoin while shopping and also allows for the use of USD coin, a crypto stablecoin that has the exact value as the U.S dollar to sort transactions on its payment network.

Although for crypto coins such as BTC to be used as a medium of exchange, the price has to be stable, said Vasant Prabhu, Visa’s chief financial officer.

“If the price of BTC fluctuates from $60,000 – $50,000 in just a few hours, it will be very difficult for a merchant to accept it as a currency” Prabhu stated.

The Visa head of crypto, recently mentioned: “Cryptocurrency is becoming cultural and cool.” He explained further that it is a “whole new class” of mainstream and consumers are entering the space because of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Though, Visa’s chief financial officer Prabhu, also mentioned that ” I am not sure if Crypto coins such as BTC will ever be a medium of exchange although Stablecoins will,” adding that when the time is right, Visa would facilitate the transactions.

Visa was part of the TRM funding round that was held this week for cryptocurrency transaction monitoring and a platform for forensics.

MTN ICT and Business Skills Training Initiative

Opportunities

Hassan Barakat

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December 9, 2021

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The MTN ICT and business skills training initiative aims to build the capacity of young people between 18 to 35 years in the areas of ICT and entrepreneurship skills in order to improve their entrepreneurial and employability abilities.

The initiative is organised by MTN Foundation. MTN Nigeria is a subsidiary of the MTN Group, a multinational telecommunications conglomerate with operations in 21 African and Middle Eastern nations.

We’ve accomplished a lot together, but there’s still a lot more to be done. If the last decade has taught us anything, it is how much more we can accomplish when we work together.

We are confident that in the coming years, we will continue to make headlines together.

MTN Foundation is organising another phase of its ICT and entrepreneurship skills training.

Since the commencement of the training in 2018, four rounds of this initiative have been implemented, with 3,052 teenagers successfully taught throughout ten states (Oyo, Kano, Imo, Nasarawa, Rivers, Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Borno, Kaduna, and Katsina). Google, Oracle, KPMG, IBM, Digital Bridge Institute, and Cisco collaborated to make this happen.

The fifth phase is commencing soon. Young entrepreneurs who live and operate small enterprises in the following states will be eligible for this round.

Adamawa
Anambra
Cross River
Jigawa
Kogi
Lagos

Entries close December 20, 2021

Register for MTN ICT and Business Skills Training here

Kenyan Fintech Startup Kwara Secures $4M Seed Funding

Fintech

Mena Adediran

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December 9, 2021

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Kenyan Fintech Startup Kwara Secures $4M Seed Funding

Kenyan fintech startup, Kwara has raised $4million in a seed round which it aims to utilize in building a neobank powered by credit unions.

Kwara was founded in 2019 to foster credit unions’ — also referred to as Savings and Credit Cooperatives Societies (SACCOs) — digitalisation by providing them with Back-end-as-a-service (BaaS) software. In the past two years of operating, the startup has grown from serving only 2 clients to serving 50. Showing that Kenya’s credit unions are welcoming the change to digital platforms.

The plan for Kwara now is to build the neobank which will allow credit union members to have access to quick loans and other services such as insurance, offering end-to-end solutions to its clientele. Kwara’s neobank app, which is set to launch in the middle of next year, will enable people to sign up with a credit union of their choice in order to access a range of financial services.

Cynthia Wandia, Kwara co-founder and CEO, said to TechCrunch, “We want to make credit unions as efficient as they can be by giving their members the kind of neobank experiences they wish to have.”

David Hwan, Kwara co-founder and COO, further explained that the app will empower users to monitor their financial statements, apply for loans and make loan repayments. He said that by providing this app, credit unions can be afforded more freedom to focus on their core business or “more value-added tasks.”

The seed round was led by Breega VC firm and had other participants including SoftBank Vision Fund Emerge, Do Good Invest, Future Africa, Norrsken Impact Accelerator, amongst others.

Regarding this investment, Ben Marrel, Breega’s founding partner, said; “Over the years, we’ve seen an increasing interest in how to build wealth through community, as well as a shift in consumer preferences towards digital-first banking. Kwara’s unique approach is a catalyst for a new way of retail banking through digital-first credit unions.”

So far, Kwara’s clients have seen a membership growth of over 19% year-on-year, and Kwara has processed $40million worth of transactions between credit unions and their members.

eHealth Africa Academy All-Female Cohort January 2022

Opportunities

Mena Adediran

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December 8, 2021

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eHealth Africa Academy All-Female Cohort January 2022

eHealth Africa Academy is a free 2-month web development training programme. Applications for the first female-only cohort of the academy, to be hosted in January 2022, are now open.

The decision to conduct a female-only cohort is part of the eHealth Africa (eHA) Academy’s commitment to reduce the barriers for women starting tech careers. “We are excited about this cohort, to play our part in closing the gender gap within the tech space,” said Oladele Oloruntoba, eHA New Business Development Manager.

The Academy combines modules, workshops, mentoring, and a specific project to train members of the programme and help with kick-starting their careers. Successful participants, at the end of the training, will be linked to internships in software development, quality assurance engineering, business analysis, as well as UI/UX design.

eHealth Africa, a non-profit organization based in Kano, Nigeria, develops “stronger” health systems in Africa with data-driven solutions. The organization provides underserved communities with tech-enabled tools to promote healthy living.

eHealth Africa launched eHealth Academy in Conakry, Guinea in 2016. An 8-week curriculum in software development and network engineering was developed by the eHealth Africa (eHA) team. The Academy was free for every participant, and the courses were taught by expert instructors. The purpose of the programme was to improve the skills of West African software developers.

To date, eHealth Africa Academy has hosted 20 sessions with a number of 74 participants out of the total 1,632 applications received.

As stated earlier, the programme is 100% free, however, the following requirements must be met to ensure successful participation:

Basic computer knowledge
Having access to a laptop
Having access to an internet connection.

The modules to be taught include:

Introduction to Web Design & Development/Development Tools
Introduction to HTML & CSS
Introduction to Javascript
HTML/JS: Making Web Pages Interactive.

Applicants have to complete an assessment, which will determine whether their application will be accepted.

To join the academy, apply here.

MTN Announces Appointment Of New Digital And Fintech CTIO

Fintech

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe

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December 8, 2021

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MTN Announces Appointment Of New Digital And Fintech CTIO

Earlier today MTN group announced the appointment of Hermann Tischendorf as the new Digital And Fintech CTIO.

“We are delighted to have a seasoned executive like Hermann’s caliber on board to grow our DigiFin team,” says Serigne Dioum the Chief Digital and Fintech Officer of MTN group.

“He brings required skills and experience that will aid the acceleration of innovative digital and fintech advancements in line with our strategic intent of leading digital solutions for Africa progress.”

Hermann has a Master’s degree in Business Administration along with a Diploma with Honours from Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Austria. He studied Banking and Finance at the Anderson School of Management, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

Hermann, coming from 4Finance Group, where he was Chief Technology Officer has 30 years of experience in the financial services sector. He has also occupied lots of senior roles making him a good fit for the role.

Hermann will be bringing onboard a solid track record of success in directing organizational expansion, digital product development, operations management, IT budget allocation, alongside mergers and acquisitions.

MTN believes the new digital and fintech CTIO, Hermann, will bring transformation and disruption to its mobile payment platform and help to improve customer engagement, experience, acquisition, and loyalty.

Hermann will take responsibility for the development of new products and services, allowing for the growth of a nascent ecosystem and to scale up existing streams of revenue.

His appointment as MTN’s new Digital And Fintech CTIO took effect on 1 December 2021.

Digital Payroll Platform, Bento, Expands To Three Markets

Startups

Mena Adediran

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December 8, 2021

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Digital Payroll Platform, Bento, Expands To Three Markets

Bento, Nigerian digital payroll and human resources management platform, is entering Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda, with plans to further expand into six additional African markets in the coming year. The markets considered for the next expansion include Egypt, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, and Ethiopia.

Bento, founded in 2019, digitalizes the processes involved in paying salaries and other HR management procedures. The app enables businesses to automate the payment of employee salaries as well as taxes and pensions.

Ebun Okubanjo, Bento co-founder and CEO, explained that observing companies make use of traditional/analogue methods to manage their workers is a source of inspiration to build the operating system that provides businesses with world-class payroll and HRM tools. The goal is to have a “profound impact” in Africa for the coming generations.

Bento is also planning to offer credit solutions to employees, with other services such as savings, investments, and unemployment insurance. To make provision for instant loans to users, Bento has a partnership with the Israeli fintech company, Tarya.

As of now, in Nigeria, Bento serves over 900 businesses some of which include; Hygeia, Tangerine Africa, Branch, Paystack, Kobo360, and LORI Systems.

Chidozie David Okonkwo, Bento co-founder, and COO said regarding this development; “We’re starting with payroll and HRM, but moving rapidly towards Salary 2.0, where we redefine the intersection of work and life and transform the way people earn, spend and borrow on the continent.

“Having successfully established product-market fit in Nigeria, one of the most difficult markets to penetrate in Africa, we’re excited to roll out across the continent and solve the real problems we know millions of employers and employees face on a daily basis,” Okonkwo added.

Commodity Staking Gains The Interest of More Than 80% African Users on Mineplex Marketplace

Crypto

Hassan Barakat

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December 8, 2021

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Commodity Staking Gains The Interest of More Than 80% African Users on Mineplex Marketplace

Commodity staking has gained the interest of more than 80% African users on Mineplex marketplace, a new report says.

This number eclipses that of Asian users (23 percent), European users (14%), and Americans (9 percent) who find commodities staking intriguing. Mineplex Banking claimed this commodities staking option fills in as a zero-cost alternative to alternative loans and allows users to acquire products they can’t afford right away.

“The strong degree of interest among African users in the new financial instrument could be attributed to the necessity to reform the system of access to consumer products and their purchases for cryptocurrencies for residents of African nations,” the paper states.

The report claimed that African users’ apparent preference for staked crypto could be due to changing interests and inclinations.

To highlight this point, the paper used South Africa as an example of a country that typifies this interest in staked crypto, with the Economist reporting that 86 percent of the adult population had borrowed a loan.

Similarly, with commodity staking, African consumers, who are faster and more eager to try new tools, can buy devices and gadgets for as little as 10% of their original price, according to the survey. The remaining monies for the purchase are obtained, according to the article, by staking available capital. At the end of the staking period, the products are delivered.

According to the report, South Africans can borrow from microfinance businesses that operate as online stores and marketplaces in addition to traditional financial institutions, which have strict debt payback schedules. These online retailers and marketplaces, unlike banks, allow consumers flexible payment arrangements.

As Crypto Adoption Increases, Africa Leads Retail-Sized Bitcoin Transaction

Crypto

Hassan Barakat

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December 8, 2021

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As Crypto adoption increases, Africa leads retail-sized bitcoin transaction. Cryptocurrencies have grown in popularity all over the world over the last few years. Africa, while being the smallest continent in terms of the crypto economy, stands out by having the most dynamic market.

Over the last few years, the cryptocurrency market has experienced tremendous expansion. In reality, it was reported that Africa received about $105 billion in cryptocurrency between July 2020 and mid-2021.

In a recent survey on crypto adoption around the world, Chainalysis rated Africa as the third fastest-growing region. West African countries, such as Ghana, are among the highest levels of crypto adoption, with a crypto trade volume of $27.4 million in the first quarter of 2021.

One of the most interesting aspects of the cryptocurrency sector in Africa is that, unlike other parts of the world, it is leading in small-scale bitcoin and crypto transfers. In general, institutional adoption is fast increasing over the world. This demonstrates just how popular cryptocurrencies are among African retail dealers.

Cryptocurrencies are growing increasingly popular in the region for a variety of reasons. One of the most serious is the region’s population’s distrust of fiat currency. The majority of African countries, especially those in Western Africa, have seen high levels of inflation, making it difficult for citizens to keep their wealth.

Cryptocurrencies are a fantastic tool for many people in the region to retain their riches. Furthermore, many people from Western Africa work abroad and send money home to their families.

Another major factor driving the crypto industry’s rapid growth in the region is how simple it has become to enter the market in recent years. For African traders to enter the market, all they need to do is find a reputable exchange, open accounts, deposit funds, and begin buying, holding, and selling cryptos.

Trading automation is also making it much easier for African traders to trade cryptocurrencies. Traders in the region can profit from the market without spending a lot of time on market analysis by using a bitcoin auto trader bot.

This, among other factors, is paving the way for Africa’s cryptocurrency sector. It’s no surprise that Africa is one of the top regions for crypto adoption, according to several studies and surveys.

Despite the fact that the transactions are not significant, they are frequently carried out by retail traders rather than major institutions. This demonstrates that cryptocurrencies are quite popular among ordinary people in the region, giving the reason for optimism about the cryptocurrency industry’s future expansion in Africa.

ImaliPay Brings Fintech Options to South African Gig Workers

Fintech

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe

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December 8, 2021

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ImaliPay Brings Fintech Options to South African Gig Workers

ImaliPay, a fintech platform has made South Africa its third African major market after Nigeria and Kenya. The financial service platform for gig economy workers aims at helping Africa gig economy workers shape their financial freedom journey and improve on financial security.

Co-founded in 2020 by Tatenda Furusa and Sanmi Akinmusire, ImaliPay provides both new and existing gig workers or freelancers the capacity to seamlessly save their income and also receive in-kind loans through a buy-now-pay-later model tied to their trade thereby allowing workers access essential tools needed to perform their jobs and earn more revenue.

As gig workers either save money or repay loans on time, they are building a credit history that will in turn unlock more formal financial services for them in the future. As of today, workers on ImaliPay’s platform are able to earn 3x-5x more, all thanks to the firm’s buy-now-pay-later services.

The fintech startup raised some funding in March and has been able to partly utilize that capital to launch its operations in South Africa. Having already had ongoing operations in Nigeria and Kenya, and since its launch in 2020 has been able to power over 400,000 liters of fuel and also enable a total of 30 million trips on ride-sharing platforms.

“In South Africa alone, we have over four million (4M) gig workers,” said the Group Partnerships Manager at ImaliPay, Alexandria Akena.

“We aim to be able to achieve more inclusive financial participation for every one of them. We are coming into South Africa with a robust ecosystem of marketplace vendors that will serve our customers nationwide.”

ImaliPay’s fintech platform will leverage Stitch as its payments and open banking partner to offer customers an itch-free payments experience.

“All thanks to Stitch, gig workers using ImaliPay can easily make payments on the tools they purchased as soon as they begin to earn revenue. Stitch makes it easier for payment to be made into ImaliPay by linking their bank accounts so that it can be done with a single click,” Akena said.

The ImaliPay fintech team is launching in South Africa with some vendor partners and will focus first on their buy-now-pay-later services, with savings to follow. Through the ImaliPay platform, gig workers can easily purchase petrol, smartphones, airtime, and other tools via a WhatsApp chatbot, and receive vouchers to be used to purchase their required tools needed from partner vendors.

Blockchain Africa Conference March 2022

Events

Mena Adediran

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December 8, 2021

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Blockchain Africa Conference 2022, organized by Bitcoin Events, is the 8th edition of the annual event. It is held on Thursday, 17 March 2022 to Friday, 18 March 2022 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Bitcoin Events began hosting the Blockchain Africa Conference in 2015. Over the years, the event has seen seven editions, more than 7,000 people in attendance, 230 speakers and has had attendees from 150 countries.

The Conference is known to have attracted well-recognised leaders in the blockchain and crypto industries. Some of which include: Charles Hoskinson, Founder and CEO of IOHK, Founder of Cardano, and Director of The Bitcoin Project; Sam Bankman-Fried, Founder at Alameda Research, and CEO and Founder of FTX.

Blockchain Africa Conference is aimed at exploring Blockchain opportunities and benefits in Africa and the whole world at large. With countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa being ranked in the top 20 of the 2021 global crypto adoption index; Africa has shown great acceptance towards cryptocurrencies, which reports say could be used to solve Africa’s digital divide — as many people still remain unable to access basic technological and internet services. Blockchain technology helps to bridge this gap through access to cheaper, easier and more flexible transactions.

According to Chainanalysis 2021, Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, Africa’s cryptocurrency adoption grew by 1200% between July 2020 and June 2021. The report records that Africa received a sum of $105.6 billion worth of cryptocurrency in that period. This fast-paced adoption of cryptocurrency has made Africa a prime market for cryptocurrencies and financial technology services.

To register for the event, buy tickets on the official website.

Visa’s Global Crypto Advisory Services

Visa’s Survey on Cryptocurrency

Entries close December 20, 2021

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