A selection of tech news from Nigeria and Africa at large.
SA Ed-Tech Injini Partners With Mastercard | Nigerian Fintech Fairmoney Acquires Payforce | Cameroonian Ed-Tech Prepdia Expands | $618m For Young Nigerians In Tech | Swiftvee Introduces Pryswys | World Bank Taps Nigeria Tech
SA ed-tech incubator Injini partners with Mastercard Foundation for the fellowship programme – Disrupt Africa
South African ed-tech incubator Injini has partnered the Mastercard Foundation to launch the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship Programme, which offers selected companies access to funding and other types of support.
Founded in 2017, Injini, which is a member of the UVU Africa Group, is a registered non-profit company that exists for the sole purpose of improving educational outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. The only ed-tech specialised accelerator in Africa, its programmes and research via the Injini Think Tank contribute towards its mission to increase the quality, accessibility, and relevance of education in the region.
In partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, Injini is now on the search for innovative ed-tech startups to apply for its latest programme – this time focused on impacting education in South Africa. This initiative, known as the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship Programme, will provide eligible startups with direct grant funding, product quality evaluation and certification, intensive skills development, coaching and mentorship, bespoke market research and market access through Injini’s network of stakeholders across the education innovation landscape. Read more here
Nigerian credit-led fintech FairMoney acquires PayForce in retail-merchant banking play – TechCrunch
Nigerian credit-led digital banking platform FairMoney has acquired PayForce (a sub-brand of YC-backed CrowdForce), a merchant payment service that serves small businesses, as the digital lender looks to broaden its financial services proposition to merchants.
Both startups declined to disclose the terms of the deal. However, according to sources, the transaction was a cash-and-stock deal in the range of $15 million to $20 million. As part of the deal, CrowdForce CEO Oluwatomi Ayorinde joins FairMoney, where he will head the company’s payments business unit: PayForce by FairMoney. Most African consumers and businesses remain financially underserved — and in Nigeria, where 64 million people, according to the World Bank, are underbanked, there’s a massive opportunity to provide access to financial services to both sets of customers. Read more here
Cameroonian ed-tech startup Prepdia expands to Gabon – Disrupt Africa
Cameroonian startup Prepdia, which is helping learners improve their outcomes by reliably connecting them with professional tutors for in-person and online lessons, has expanded to Gabon after seeing impressive growth in its home market.
Founded in 2019, Prepdia helps users quickly and efficiently connect with a vetted, reliable tutor in their local area. So far it has assisted more than 1,200 learners with more than 400 tutors across the country and sold more than 75,000 hours of lessons.
It has also begun its expansion into the rest of Francophone Africa, starting in Gabon, where it already has more than 50 tutors registered. Bootstrapped thus far, the startup is considering raising funds in the near future in order to help it achieve its expansion goals in the region. Read more here
$618m For Young Nigerians In Tech, Creative Sectors As Osinbajo Launches Scheme – The Radiance
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (middle) and African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina (fourth left) with entrepreneurs during the launch of Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (i-Dice) Programme at the State House, Abuja… yesterday
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday, launched a $600 million programme for young Nigerians in the technology and creative sectors with a call on African governments and the private sector to do more to support growth of innovation in Africa.
He spoke at the official unveiling of Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (i-DICE) Programme in Abuja.
The programme is to support young Nigerians, aged 15 to 35, and who are entrepreneurs in early stages in creative, innovative and technology-enabled ventures.
“I think it is now imperative to commence a coordinated approach towards innovation on the continent, bringing together all stakeholders to coordinate efforts at scaling up investments and building programmes that provide the right enabling environment and produce talent pipelines that support the growth of innovation on the continent,” Osinbajo said in his keynote address. Read more here
swiftVEE introduces PrysWys to help South African farmers reduce input costs – TechinAfrica
SwiftVEE, a South African company that was one of the first to trade livestock, has released PrysWys, an app that will help farmers save money on inputs. PrysWys is a retail service that connects farmers directly to manufacturers of inputs. It is available in the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, and the web. In some cases, this can cut costs by almost 50%.
Russel Luck, the CEO of swiftVEE, said that PrysWys was made to stop input costs for farmers from going up in the current economy. “After having a lot of success trading livestock online, we’ve noticed that farmers pay much more for their inputs at traditional stores. We think the best way to solve this problem is with digital technology.
With PrysWys, farmers can list all the products they need for their farms and receive electronic price quotes. Farmers can see prices, get their hands on products, and save money with this app. Read more here
World Bank taps tech to create jobs in Nigeria, others – TheGuardian News
The World Bank has hinged job creation in Nigeria and other parts of Africa on digital technologies.
In its report titled: Digital Africa: ‘Technological Transformation for Jobs,’ released on Monday, the World Bank noted that Africa’s jobs challenge is to put in place business environments conducive to sustainable “good jobs” for its growing workforce.
It noted that Continental Africa’s workforce is estimated to triple by the twenty-second century—from almost 875 million working-age people (ages 15–64) in 2025 to over 2.5 billion by 2100 (UN DESA 2022a). As a result, the bank noted that Africa’s share of the global workforce would increase from 16 per cent to over 41 per cent, surpassing South Asia and East Asia and the Pacific for the largest global share by 2100. Read more here
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Image Credit: The Radiance on Freepik
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