tech news
Ukheshe Partners with KCB to Boost Payment Services in East Africa
Ukheshe has partnered with the Kenya-based lender KCB Bank Kenya to issue both physical and virtual banking cards across East Africa. According to Victor Ndlovu, VP of Ukheshe Africa, the deal will include other innovative digital products such as QR issuing and acquiring. “By joining forces with KCB we are well-placed to address several open-loop market opportunities while boosting wider consumer adoption. Payment options across various segments will benefit such as payroll, companion cards, multi-currency prepaid cards, travel cards and gift cards, together with social security and other government benefit programs such as insurance claims.” Ndlovu says financial inclusion remains a massive challenge in the region and across the continent where millions of people are either unbanked or s...
Nutanix Appoints New Regional Sales Director Sub-Saharan Africa
Nutanix has appointed Rowen Grierson as regional sales director for Sub-Saharan Africa. Grierson succeeds Paul Ruinaard who has left to pursue personal interests. A seasoned professional, Grierson was formerly the regional sales director for the West, East and Central Africa regions, and with his new appointment will now add the Southern Africa territory to what is a growing market for the company. Prior to joining Nutanix he served a tenure in the leadership of Fortinet and was amongst others the territory manager for F5 in Sub-Saharan Africa. With more than 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, he has a proven track record in business and strategy development, sales execution, and customer experience. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_411.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_411.td-a-rec-img...
Airtel Africa Renews Spectrum License in Nigeria
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Africa has paid N71.6 billion to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to renew its 900 and 1800 MHZ spectrum licence for the next 10 years. Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, Raghunath Mandava says that their current license was due to expire at the end of November 2021. He goes on to say that the Nigerian market is the “largest market and we remain focused on bridging the digital divide and expanding our broadband capability in the country.” “On behalf of Airtel Nigeria and the Group, I would like to thank both the government of Nigeria and the NCC for their cooperation and support in this important process.” The new license is expected to remain vaild until 30 November 2031. Nokia and Airtel Partner to Lay 5G Foundations in Kenya Nokia and Air...
MTN Donates $25 million to the African Union’s COVID-19 vaccination programme
Sourced from TheTechieGuy (https://thetechieguy.com/) MTN is donating $25 million to support the African Union’s COVID-19 vaccination programme. This is expected to secure up to seven million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for health workers across the continent, which will contribute to the vaccination initiative of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). “The devastating impact of COVID-19 has been unprecedented and profound. Public and private partnerships are needed if we are to succeed in the fight against the pandemic and restore social and economic norms for our continent and our communities,” says Ralph Mupita, President and CEO of MTN. South Africa’s President and Chairperson of the African Union, Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the African Union ha...
4 Priorities Shaping CIO Strategies in 2021
With the economic rollercoaster ride of 2020, CIOs and business leaders are formulating and finalising strategies for what is hoped to be a new year of growth and recovery. There can be no doubt that technology and IT infrastructure will underpin and shape the majority of 2021 strategies – with the global pandemic having radically accelerated many digital transformation journeys (while propelling other businesses into newly formed digitisation initiatives). Arguably, the key to successfully leveraging technology to drive growth and recoveries in 2021 will be determined by the clarity of thinking around IT strategies – as well as leadership’s commitment to simplifying complexity while simultaneously harnessing emerging technology tools and platforms. All too often, decision-makers sway betw...
Does Your Business Use Device Fingerprinting Yet?
We’ve already predicted that 2021 will be a year of tremendous digital transformation for African companies. Unfortunately, this also means a rise in online risk and cybercrime. Today, we’re going to take a look at a particularly effective fraud prevention method: device fingerprinting, to see how African startups, financial institutions and online stores could use it to reduce their fraud rates. Understanding Device Fingerprinting Anyone who accesses the web needs to do it with an Internet connection and device. There is a ton of data associated with the configuration of software and hardware you use. In fraud prevention, the more information you have about a user, the better. The goal of device fingerprinting is therefore to extract as much information as possible from ...
Bolt Launches ‘Women Only’ Ride Hailing Service
Bolt has launched a ‘Women Only’ service that enables female passengers to request rides from female drivers only – their request for a ride will not be visible to male drivers. Drivers and passengers utilising Bolt’s Women Only service are protected by an app-integrated SOS emergency button, made possible through Bolt’s partnership with national safety platform Namola. The SOS button enables passengers and drivers to connect quickly and easily 24/7 to private armed response teams, private emergency medical services, and roadside assistance if they are involved in any medical or security emergency while on a Bolt ride. “Gender-based violence is a reality that women across South Africa contend with every day,” says Gareth Taylor, country manager for Bolt South Africa. “Women Only – a servic...
