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Startup “Unicorns” Help Mobile Money Soar in Africa
Image sourced from WeeTracker. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_c6c.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_c6c.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } A recent GSMA report reveals that there are 1.2 billion registered global mobile money accounts. 560-million of these registered accounts are in Africa. The GSMA, which represents several mobile network firms, states that “Sub-Saharan Africa has been at the forefront of the mobile money industry for over a decade, and in 2020 continued to account for the majority of growth.” FinTech Unicorns Running Wild in Africa Now, five African fintech startups, Flutterwave, ChipperCash, Interswitch, Paga and OPay are now being identified as “unicorns” by investors, the business media and analysts following the surge of mobile payments. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_4...
Remote Work is Here to Stay: 4 Critical Elements Companies MUST Address
Sourced from Getty Images. Every business has to protect three critical assets – its staff, customers and its data. When one has six-foot walls around their home, one hopes to protect their physical property and household goods. Unfortunately, most people’s defences are woefully inadequate when it comes to their digital property. When COVID-19 struck last year, many businesses within a week were mandated to have their staff work from home. From an IT perspective, it meant slapping a band-aid on a wound. However, more than a year later, with many companies embarking on a process to get their staff back into the offices, IT assets remain at risk. The reality is that remote working is here to stay, and that an increase in remote work has led to surges in cyber attacks worldwide. Locally and i...
Nigerian Government Intensifies Internet Control Bid After Twitter Ban
Image sourced from CNN. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_1d7.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_1d7.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has begun ramping up efforts to regulate online media in Nigeria, just two weeks after Twitter was indefinitely banned in the West African country. Now, the federal government has asked that the House of Representatives pass a law that will enable the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to control all forms of internet broadcasting and social media. Many Nigerian users believe that this is but further attempts to stifle the country’s civic space – effectively crippling free speech and public dissent online. Nigeria Govt is asking House of Reps to amend the NBC Act and include “internet broadcasting”. That...
Kenyans Are Being Registered for Political Parties Without Knowledge or Consent
Image sourced from The World. Kenyan users are reporting on social media that they are being signed up as members of political parties in the country without their knowledge or consent via the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP). Many are finding the developments baffling: According to the Registrar of Political Parties (@ORPPKenya), I am a registered member of ANC. Eeerm, since when? Why? How? @anc_party how did I get on your membership roll and how do I get out? pic.twitter.com/KqcD53OBEH — E. Chenze (@echenze) June 18, 2021 As of yet, there is no clear answer for why this is happening. Theories are running rampant on social media. Some users are claiming that information is being leaked via security breaches in Safaricom’s M-Pesa platform. Though this is a significantly ...
Satya Nadella Becomes Microsoft’s First Chair & CEO Since Bill Gates
Sourced from Getty Images. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_342.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_342.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s current CEO was elected by the tech giant’s board to be its new chair on Wednesday. This is the first time in more than 20 years that the roles of CEO and chair have been held by the same person. The last person who simultaneously held both positions was Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, before stepping down as CEO 21 years ago at the turn of the millennium. Gates stepped down as Microsoft’s chair in 2014 and left the company’s board entirely last year in a bid to focus on his philanthropic priorities. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_564.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_564.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } In February 201...
SA Schools May Face Penalties for PoPIA Non-Compliance
Image sourced from Business Tech. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_b41.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_b41.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } With the third wave of COVID-19 crashing upon South Africans and amidst increasing calls for schooling to be temporarily suspended, it could prove helpful for educational institutions across the country to use the time away from teaching to put some focus into protecting their data privacy. Schools and other tertiary institutions store and process more personal information than most other organisations, they are by far the most affected by the Protection of Personal Information Act, No 4 of 2012 (PoPIA), which comes into effect on 1 July 2021. PoPIA Applies to Schools, Universities /* custom css */ .tdi_3_cab.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi...
How VPNs Can Shield Nigerian Users from Government – An Interview with the VP of ExpressVPN
“Outrage as Buhari bans Twitter.” Image sourced from Reuters. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_fa6.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_fa6.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } 5 June, on a brisk Friday evening, the Nigerian government sought to indefinitely ban users in the country from accessing social media network Twitter. A decision based on the government’s reaction to the service’s deletion of a Tweet that was posted from President Muhammadu Buhari’s official Twitter account. In an official statement, the government declared that Twitter was “undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.” The Tweet in question, believed to have been posted by Buhari himself, had been referring to the bloody two-year-long Nigeria-Biafra war. A conflict that saw the deaths of an estimated one to...
Vodafone and UNHCR Expand Connected Education for Refugees in Mozambique
/* custom css */ .tdi_4_200.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_200.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Ahead of World Refugee Day (June 20), Vodafone Foundation and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), have expanded their Instant Network Schools (INS) programme – which supports over 94,000 refugee students and communities in four African countries – into Mozambique. Two new INS, in the Maratane Refugee Settlement and the city of Nampula, will benefit nearly 9,000 students in the 7th-12th grades, 25,000 family members and over 200 teachers. Instant Network Schools /* custom css */ .tdi_3_68b.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_68b.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } INS transforms existing classrooms into multimedia hubs for learning, complete with internet connectivity, sustaina...
Android Has 47 Times More Malware Than iOS According to Apple CEO
Image sourced from Reuters. CEO of Apple, Tim Cook has said that Android has significantly more malware than iOS and that “sideloading” smartphone apps is something “not in the best interest of users.” Virtually speaking at the VivaTech 2021 conference in Paris, France, on June 16, Cook claims that Android carries “47 times more malware” than Apple’s OS because of the way that iOS has been designed. Namely, that there’s only one App Store and that all Apps loaded to the Store undergo a strict review process. App Sideloading Android-operating devices allow users to sideload apps, meaning that users can download apps directly from third parties or websites into their phones without having to go through the Google Play store. Obviously, unaware users can be caught off-guard by malware in side...
More than Half a Billion 5G Subscribers Expected by End of 2021 via New Report
Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company, Ericsson projects that 5G mobile subscriptions will exceed 580-million by the end of 2021, driven by an estimated one million new 5G mobile subscriptions every day. The forecast, which features in the twentieth edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, enhances the expectation that 5G will become the fastest adopted mobile generation. About 3.50-billion 5G subscriptions and 60% 5G world population coverage are forecast by the end of 2026. However, the pace of adoption varies widely by region. Europe is off to a slower start and has continued to fall far behind China, the U.S., Korea, Japan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets in the pace of 5G deployments. 5G is expected to surpass a billion subscriptions two years a...
6 Surprising Future Tech Norms Shaped by the Pandemic
Image sourced from Texas News Today The move to handling essential elements of everyday life online, prompted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, will remain a fundamental reality for people around the world long after the pandemic has passed, a comprehensive new consumer report by Ericsson predicts. The Future Urban Reality, the Ericsson ConsumerLab report is Ericsson’s largest consumer study to date. It reveals key insights about what consumers believe will happen beyond the pandemic to the year 2025. Representing the equivalent opinions of 2.3-billion consumers across 31 markets worldwide, the report predicts that consumers will not only continue to manage routine activities – such as remote work, e-learning, e-health and online grocery shopping – online but will also add an average of 2.5...
Windows 11 Has Leaked Revealing Brand New Start Menu, UI, and More
Image sourced from Paul Thurrot. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_ced.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_ced.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Microsoft’s upcoming operating system, the much-rumoured and nebulous Windows 11 has leaked online, with footage revealing a new, more-simplified user interface, start menu, acoustics and much more. check out our full Windows 11 hands-on for more. And yes, there’s a dark mode and you can move the Start menu back to the left side 💻 Lots more information here: https://t.co/VDS08QPsl5 pic.twitter.com/3wP57DEJak — Tom Warren (@tomwarren) June 16, 2021 The Verge writes that the new operating system features a UI very similar to that which was originally running on Windows 10X. Window 10X featured a simplified version of the UI for dual-sc...
