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Africa’s First CBDC Wallet Hits Almost 500k Downloads

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe
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Africa’s First CBDC Wallet Hits Almost 500k Downloads

CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) is an electronic or digital token of a country’s currency that often has blockchain at its core regulated by the nation’s monetary authority or central bank.

As of the moment, all over the world, 12 countries are piloting CBDCs, out of ​​which seven countries focus on retail CBDC, and the other five countries focus on wholesale. Africa continent is rapidly adopting retail digital currency technology while Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Tunisia are all piloting CBDCs.

Nigeria with a population of 213 million is the most populous in Africa and the first on the continent to launch a CBDC project (eNaira). After the launch of eNaira on the 25th of Oct. 2021, news has been making rounds that about 17,00 transactions totaling N62million (US$151,170) have already taken place.

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Friday announced that in just 19 days after the launch of the Central Bank Digital Currency, it is picking up steam across the globe as the digital wallet for its own currency, the eNaira has 488,000 downloads in 160 countries across the globe.

In February, Nigeria put a ban on cryptocurrency trading through banks as CBN cites concerns of volatility posing risk to local investors. A report from Statista showed that Nigeria led the world in crypto adoption per capita, with 32% of respondents owning crypto assets in 2020.

However, the digital wallet (eNaira) seems to have relived the effect of the ban on many crypto traders in the country.

The eNaira is expected to roll out in three phases;

Firstly, the CBN takes responsibility for the issuance, distribution, redemption, and destruction of the currency, while it monitors the data stored on a cloud server.

Secondly, financial institutions can request the ability to issue stable coins.

While in the third phase, the Nigerian government will process its own digital payments between citizens and businesses.

Apply for Senior Back-end Engineer at OLX Group

Hassan Barakat
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Apply for Senior Back-end Engineer at OLX Group

OLX Group is looking for an experienced Back-end developer to join their team. You will be responsible for the server side of our web applications. If you have excellent programming skills and a passion for developing applications or improving existing ones, the team would like to meet you.

As a Back-end developer, you’ll work closely with our engineers to ensure system consistency and improve user experience. Ultimately, you should be able to develop and maintain functional and stable web applications to meet our company’s needs.

Requirements

What will you be doing?

  • Hit the ground running – Gather up-to-date and in-depth understanding of the OLX MENA code base and technologies stack within weeks;
  • Actively participate in planning sessions around new product features, deliver detailed roll-out and roll-back strategies for releases;
  • Research and apply industry trends as part of your daily work;
  • Create unit tests in accordance with our established standards to cover assigned work;
  • Write and maintain exemplary code by following best programming practices;
  • Actively contribute in post-release maintenance issues;
  • Develop elegant solutions for complex problems;
  • Pioneer reliability and efficiency of our current code base, platforms and/or core systems;
  • Impact on the direction and scope of OLX’s technical vision within your stream;
  • Contribute in defining the architecture of your product steam;
  • Gain a detailed understanding of the complete architecture of our product and the position of your product stream in it;
  • Participate in peer-programming sessions and provide guidance on tasks, irrespective of complexity or scale;
  • Code review all major pull requests, defining programming standards and providing constructive feedback;
  • Provide and share a broad knowledge of technologies and architectures and function as a mentor within the scope of your product stream and outside of it when required;
  • Capacity to push back requirements when incomplete;
  • Ability to handle the entire software development end to end life cycle;
  • Liaise with the other back end engineers within your product stream, QA team, design team and your Tech Team Lead;
  • Liaise with other tech teams to share innovations from your stream;

Who they are looking for?

  • 5+ years of professional back-end software engineering experience;
  • Experience working on high-traffic and large-scale web products;
  • Experience with web infrastructure, distributed systems, performance analysis and search infrastructure;
  • Driven to gain insight into different new and old technologies;
  • Been on at least one “death march” and know exactly why some things are to be avoided;
  • 5+ years of experience in analysis, design, coding and implementation of next generation web applications in PHP;
  • 2+ years of experience in API based architectures e.g. SOA;
  • Ability to prioritize tasks and quickly and adjust in a rapidly changing environment;
  • Maintain and ensure optimal software quality within the assigned product;
  • Being actively involved in forming a product vertical team of excellent back end engineers that deliver high-quality code;
  • Passionate about making a difference, a self-starter who takes initiatives and follows through them;

To apply

Visit this website

 

The Nigerian Communications Commission Warns About a New Hacker Gang That Is Targeting Telcos and ISPs

Yeseerah Lawal
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The Nigerian Communications Commission Warns About a New Hacker Gang That Is Targeting Telcos and ISPs

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has once again informed the public of the existence of another hacker gang conducting cyberespionage in the African telecoms arena, in keeping with its commitment to keep stakeholders in the country’s telecoms industry informed, educated, and protected.

According to NCC, an Iranian hacking group known as Lyceum (also known as Hexane, Siamesekitten, or Spirlin) has been reported to be targeting telecommunication companies, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and Ministries of Foreign Affairs in Africa with upgraded malware in recent politically motivated cyber spying.

The advanced persistent threat (APT) organization has already been linked to attacks on Middle Eastern oil and gas firms. The group’s focus now appears to have shifted to the technology industry. In addition, the APT is in charge of a campaign against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of an undisclosed African government.

Lyceum’s initial onslaught routes, according to the attackers’ manner of operation, include credential stuffing and brute-force attacks. As a result, after a victim’s machine has been infiltrated, the attackers monitor specific targets. Lyceum will attempt to deploy two types of malware in this mode: Shark and Milan (known together as James).

Backdoors are backdoors in both cases. Shark, a 32-bit executable is created in C# and .NET and creates a configuration file for DNS tunneling or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) C2 connections, while Milan is a 32-bit Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that obtains data.

Both can communicate with the command-and-control (C2) servers of the group. The APT has a C2 server network of over 20 domains that links to the group’s backdoors, including six that were previously unrelated to the threat actors.

Individual accounts at firms of interest are typically targeted, and once breached, these accounts are used as a springboard to launch spear-phishing assaults against high-profile officials in an organization, according to reports. 

According to the report, these attackers not only seek out data on subscribers and related third-party organizations, but once infiltrated, threat actors or their sponsors can also utilize these industries to monitor individuals of interest.

However, in order to protect against such threats, the NCC wishes to re-echo ngCERT findings that telecom businesses and ISPs alike must implement numerous layers of security in addition to continuous network monitoring.

Consumers of telecom services and the general public are recommended to: 

  1. Use firewalls consistently (software, hardware, and cloud firewalls).
  2. Enable a Web Application Firewall to aid in the detection and prevention of web application-based attacks by inspecting HTTP traffic.
  3. Use up-to-date antivirus software to identify and prevent a wide range of malware, trojans, and viruses that APT hackers may use to infect your computer.
  4. Make advantage of Intrusion Prevention Systems to keep an eye on your network.
  5. Create a secure sandboxing environment that allows you to open and operate untrusted programs or codes without jeopardizing your operating system’s security.
  6. Make sure to use a virtual private network (VPN) to prevent APT hackers from gaining initial access to your company’s network.
  7. Enable anti-spam and anti-malware protection in your email apps, and train your personnel on how to spot potentially hazardous communications.

Apply for Network Consulting Engineer at Arit of Africa Limited.

Hassan Barakat
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Apply for Network Consulting Engineer at Arit of Africa Limited.

About this job

Arit of Africa Ltd is a world-class IT services organization that specializes in the deployment of high-end IT systems, solutions, and services. We are a customer-centric organization providing a range of solutions to meet the demands and challenges of our customers.

Requirements

  • Job Type: Full Time
  • Qualification: BA/BSc/HND
  • Experience: 3 – 10 years
  • Location: Lagos
  • Job Field: ICT / Computer

 

Responsibilities

  • Implement sales and marketing strategy and scheme
  • Build good relationships with new and existing clients
  • Build and develop clients to deliver set targets.
  • Maintains excellent relationships with clients and other stakeholders to obtain all necessary information as may be required, to facilitate the successful conduct of business.
  • Provide regular feedback to senior management about marketplace and competitor activity.
  • Ensure clients are well equipped with sales materials and technical training.
  • Persuading clients that a product or service will best meet their requirement with all technical details
  • Providing after-sales support services for Customers
  • Making technical presentations and demonstrating how a product will meet client needs
  • Providing pre-sales technical assistance and product education
  • Pre-Sales on Pre-Assigned Products, Solutions, and Technologies
  • Ensure Technology Solutions are well implemented according to World Class Best Practices.
  • Tenacious & creative sales approach
  • Driven and motivated by results
  • Passionate about performance marketing
  • Strong presenter and negotiator
  • Excellent written skills
  • Organized with good attention to detail
  • A self-starter who can spot new opportunities
  • Able to work as part of wide and varied team.

Experience

  • Degree in Information Technology or related field with 3-10 years of experience
  • Demonstrate strong leadership qualities in Client Relationship and Administration.
  • CCIE /CCNP Security required

 

To Apply

Visit this website

Method of Application

Interested and qualified candidates should send their applications to: careers@aritofafrica.com using the Job Title as the subject of the email.

Apply for Network Consulting Engineer Role here.

 

Apply for the Google Ghana Research Internship 2022

Mena Adediran
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Apply for the Google Ghana Research Internship 2022

The Google Ghana Research Internship is a chance for Ghanaians or Africans residing in Ghana to work for Google.

Google is a renowned technology organization that is leading the market and providing a range of internet-related services and products to people. As such, research happens everyday and probably every hour at Google in the various departments and teams in the company.

The research touches users through both services and products such as Google Search, Google Maps, Google Assistant, Google Translate, Google Cloud, etc. Google achieves this by enlisting a wide variety of projects that make use of the “latest state-of-the-art technologies that push the boundaries of what is possible.”

What Am I Expected To Do As A Research Intern?

At Google, research-focused engineering interns are embedded throughout the company. They contribute to the setup of large-scale tests — creating experiments, sampling implementations and designing new architectures, etc. Research-focused engineering interns work on real-world problems such as artificial intelligence, data mining, hardware and software performance analysis, core search, etc.

Basically, you will take part in cutting-edge research to develop solutions for real-world, large-scale problems.

What Requirements Do I Need To Meet?

Google has stipulated the requirements into two:

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Currently enrolled in a Master’s or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.
  • Experience (classroom/work) in Natural Language Understanding, Computer Vision, and/or Machine Learning.
  • Experience with one or more general-purpose programming languages: Java, C++, Python or Go.
  • Experience with research from previous internships, full-time industry experience, personal projects, lab work, and/or published papers (being listed as author).

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Returning to your degree after completing the internship.
  • Ability to design and execute research agendas.
  • Available to work full-time for a minimum of 13 weeks.

Application Deadline:

November 26, 2021

To Apply:

Submit an application

Cairo Hosts 6th African Fintech Summit

Boluwatife Aponmade
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Cairo Hosts 6th African Fintech Summit

Africa is the second-fastest-growing financial market and the largest user of mobile money transfer systems in today’s world. In 2021, startup companies doubled from $160 million in 2020 to $330 million in African Fintech.

As the middle-class Africans continue to experience expansions in the adoption of digital services, coupled with the underserved informal economy, it will also increase the demand for Fintech. Because many of the African Fintech startups operate only in their area of origin, it will be a long-term major challenge to integrate fast-growing and new startup networks in the continent.

The importance of the summit is to attract foreign investment into the growing financial technology sector (Fintech) in Africa, it will as well give leverage and prospects to entrepreneurial opportunities across the globe. Hence, the 6th African Fintech summit will hold in Cairo, Egypt today, 16th of November till 17th November, 2021.

The conference is expected to focus on bringing investments to major African Financial centers in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa as well as itself. In the short while, fintech leaders may expand internet and cellular access in urban and especially rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa that lack access to banking and other formal financial services.

Cairo Hosts 6th African Tech Summit

AFTS (African Fintech Summit) is a board is fintech pioneers where ideas are explored, collaborations formed and investments mobilized. AFTS meets twice a year to discuss Finance in technology and entrepreneurial opportunities in Washington D.C, every April during the spring meetings of the World Bank Group and every November in a different African city.

This year, Cairo will be the one to host the 2021 AFTS meeting, a powerful community of Fintech ecosystem that bridges the gap between the Northern and the sub-Saharan Africans.

Apply: MIT Solve Youth Innovation Challenge

Mena Adediran
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Apply: MIT Solve Youth Innovation Challenge

Solv(ED) Youth Innovation Challenge is an offshoot of MIT Solve of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This challenge was opened on September 17, 2021. Solv(ED) is created to prompt young people age 24 and younger, from any and every part of the world to become problem-solvers in their communities and the world by extension.

The Solv(ED) Youth Innovation Challenge is seeking tech-based solutions that offer the following:

  • Improves learning opportunities and outcomes for learners across their lifetimes, from early childhood on.
  • Supports financial and economic opportunities for all.
  • Accelerates healthcare access and health outcomes — reducing and eliminating disparities in health.
  • Takes action to combat climate change and its impact.
  • Addresses an unmet social, environmental, or economic need that has not been mentioned in the four topics above.
  • Applicants are welcome whether their solution is still a concept, a product that is being sampled, a service being anchored in their local community, an operational nonprofit, or a for-profit organization.

What Do I Stand To Gain?

  • The 10 “most promising” solutions will be judged and selected to share over $200,000 in prize funding.
  • Selected participants will also receive mentorship and training from the MIT (Massachusetts Institute for Technology) and MIT Solve community.

Application Deadline:

January 18, 2022 11:59 (EST)

To Apply:

Submit a solution

 

 

Call for Applications: Kofi Annan Award for Innovation in Africa 2021

Mena Adediran
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Call for Applications: Kofi Annan Award for Innovation in Africa 2021

The Kofi Annan Award is powered by the Austrian Federal Chancellery, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator, the Austrian Development Agency, and the Kofi Annan Foundation, all in collaboration.

The award is focused on picking out and supporting social entrepreneurs with digital or technology-powered solutions for people in Africa, to aid them in laying the foundations for their ideas.

The 2021 Kofi Annan Award theme is centered on innovative solutions that contribute to Sustainable Development Goal 3, Good Health and Well-Being as well as a keen focus on “high quality” universal health coverage.

What Does This Award Offer?

The partnering organizations aforementioned have come together to offer the following benefits to solutions that tackle the “urgent healthcare needs of people across Africa”:

  • 9 teams will be selected to participate in an entirely virtual WFP Innovation Bootcamp — they will get the chance to work with and get guidance from technical and industry mentors.
  • Projects that make it to Bootcamp have the opportunity to apply to the Austrian Development Agency for 3 spots for a cash price of €250,000.
  • The 3 ventures that are each awarded €250,000 will also join the WFP Sprint Programme, a 12-month acceleration program with access to mentorship, and a global network of partners.
  • The final 9 ventures will be able to tap into and leverage a network of relevant businesses, investors, and mentors.

What Are The Organisers Looking For?

  • Applications from social entrepreneurs with digital or technology-powered solutions for people in Africa that tackle one or more of the following challenges:
  • Availability and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines (including production, transport, and distribution, as well as financial mechanisms allowing for affordability).
  • Access to quality essential healthcare services (including telemedicine etc.)
  • Availability and access to mental health services (including training of mental health practitioners, telehealth solutions, and projects aiming at de-stigmatization).
  • Better prevention and prophylaxis: early warning, risk reduction, and management of health risks.
  • Improve financial risk protection for the most vulnerable (including micro-insurance solutions, reduction of out-of-pocket expenses, prepayment, and pooling of resources for health).
  • Wildcard: high potential disruptive innovations in the digital health space.

Am I Eligible?

The criteria for eligibility are as follows:

  • Your company must be a for-profit legal entity and incorporated for at least two years at the time of application.
  • Your solution is anchored in at least one African country.
  • You must have existing contacts/presence in the country of implementation— country office or other permanent presence, subsidiary, long-term operations, or partnerships in the country.
  • Your innovation addresses one or more areas of SDG 3 Target Indicator 8.
  • The entity does not fall under any of the points listed in the solemn declaration.
  • Your innovation has more than 1 million people in the total addressable market.
  • Your startup pays attention to environmental protection and climate change, gender equality and women empowerment, as well as social inclusion (leave no one behind).
  • Your startup is not required to make a monetary contribution to the proposed project budget.
  • Your innovation should have a strong proof-of-concept with initial traction and a clear path to scale.

Application Deadline:

1 December 2021 11:59pm (CET / GMT+1)

 

How To Apply:

Fill the form

Apply for Engineer Role at MTN

Hassan Barakat
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Apply for Engineer Role at MTN
MTN Nigeria is part of the MTN Group, Africa’s leading cellular telecommunications company. On May 16, 2001, MTN became the first GSM network to make a call following the globally lauded Nigerian GSM auction conducted by the Nigerian Communications Commission earlier in the year.

About This Role

Job Identification: Engineer
Location: Ikoyi, Lagos
Job Category: MTN Level 2
Job Schedule: Full time
Reports To: Manager-Presales
Division: Enterprise Business

Description

• Assist the sales team in defining corporate clients technical needs with Network Group
• Assist the BAC and Sector Manager in a technical presentation to clients
• Identify and tailor technical solutions to suit client needs
• Analyze, develop and implement solutions for optimum data usage
• Monitor and control products implemented
• Assist the sales teams with new business growth by defining corporate clients’ technical needs.
• Define clients’ technical requirements
• Project manage the technical solution delivery to clients requirements gathering, design/configuration, Proof of concept, and implementation
• Disseminate technical information to the entire salesforce
• Provide technical and system solution support to the business solution’s sales team
• Continuously seek self-professional development to sharpen skills and capabilities in a versatile and evolving digital landscape.
• Foster active collaboration and relationships with employees across all levels and divisions in line with MTN’s VB and values.

Requirements Education:

• First Degree in any related discipline
• Fluent in English

Experience:

• 3 – 7 years of experience in an area of specialization; with experience with working with others
• Experience working in a medium organization
• Experience in technical sales preferably in the telecoms environment.
• Business processes and Strategic planning implementation.

Apply for Engineer role at MTN here

Cryptocurrency Adoption Puts Zanzibar in the Limelight

Abidemi Ogunyemi-Aderibigbe
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Cryptocurrency Adoption Puts Zanzibar in the Limelight

According to reports, Africa is booming in cryptocurrency adoption. Digital currency which is the new normal is spreading fast across the globe.

Digital currency (or digital money) is an electronic means of payment that is accounted for and transferred through an online system. An example of digital currency is BTC.

Zanzibar, a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa, is reportedly considering the adoption and regulation of cryptocurrencies such as BTC.

As the Africa cryptocurrency market saw a surge of over 1200% within a year, the Zanzibar Minister of State (Economy and Investment), Mudrick Soraga had met with some local crypto enthusiasts earlier this year who convinced him that Zanzibar needs to adopt crypto as an official means of the transaction following the total crypto market hitting over $3 trillion.

Now according to the official, the government of Zanzibar is looking to hold meetings with stakeholders in the third week of the month and presently seeking opinions on the matter before delving into it. 

However, according to The Citizen, Zanzibar has a lot of work and processes to undergo before it can adopt cryptocurrency.

Therefore, according to a professor at the State University of Zanzibar, Haji Semboja, the local government will have to come up with policies that have detailed aims and objectives of adopting digital currencies, how it works, and the benefits attached through the Bank of Tanzania.

The Cryptocurrency Adoption

The Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan had urged the country’s central bank to start considering the idea of digital currencies like Bitcoin not long after El Salvador passed its Bitcoin law in June. 

The East African country’s latest move comes as no surprise as many other African countries will surely follow in the footsteps of El Salvador by either making cryptocurrency a legal tender or merely adopting it for transactions like central bank settlements.

Markets like Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa had some of the highest grassroots adoptions in the world and ranked in the top 20 Global Crypto Adoption Index as African countries could make a case as the local crypto market surge of over 1,200% within the past year.

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