A selection of tech news from Nigeria and Africa at large.
Flutterwave Tuition | cybersecurity laboratory | FinTech collaboration | insurtech MyCover.ai funding | Flex Finance | Co-Creation Hub GIZ innovations
Flutterwave introduces Tuition to help African students pay fees for overseas education – Tech In Africa
The Nigerian fintech firm Flutterwave has launched a trailblazing product named ‘Tuition,’ aiming to address the difficulties parents, guardians, and sponsors face when funding their children’s overseas education. This product seeks to reshape the educational payment framework in Africa and beyond.
Tuition offers a user-friendly payment structure, facilitating parents, guardians, and sponsors to pay assorted fees smoothly to educational boadies within Africa and overseas in their local currencies. This includes an initial roll-out to about 40 institutions in the UK, and it’s anticipated to expand to more institutions across Africa, the UK, the U.S., Canada, France, and Germany as the product increasingly attracts attention. Read more here:
Nigeria to build cybersecurity laboratory in 2024 – Nairametrics
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has said that the agency will be collaborating with the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Certified Fraud Investigator of Nigeria (CIFCFIN) to establish a cybersecurity laboratory next year.
The Director General of the agency, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, disclosed this while receiving CIFCFIN’s President, Dr. Iliyasu Gashinbak, and his team at the NITDA headquarters.
According to him, the collaboration was necessary to promote digital forensics, reinvigorate the tech ecosystem, and mitigate cybercrimes in the digital space.
The Director-General said that perpetrators of cybercrimes invested well in research, information technology, and powerful tools to launch attacks, adding that taking proactive steps to counter them was non-negotiable. Read more here:
CBN signs FinTech collaboration agreements with the Central Bank of Egypt – Nairametrics
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has signed a FinTech collaboration agreement with the Central Bank of Egypt. This announcement was disclosed via the official Twitter handle of the apex bank.
The Deputy Governor of CBN, Mrs Aishah Ahmad says the partnership would deepen cross-border regulatory collaboration, and information sharing, boost innovation and grow regional technology investments. This agreement was signed during the “Seamless North Africa 2023” conference at the Egypt International Exhibition Center in New Cairo, Egypt. The Seamless North Africa conference brings together the entire financial ecosystem to discuss, debate and evaluate the future of money.
She said: “We look forward to cultivating an innovative space for fintech startups and entrepreneurs in Egypt and Nigeria to accelerate financial inclusion, deepen our payment systems and drive economic growth across the African Continent.” Read more here:
Nigerian insurtech startup MyCover.ai secures $1.25m pre-seed funding – Disrupt Africa
Nigerian insurtech startup MyCover.ai has closed a US$1.25 million pre-seed funding round to bolster its in-house operations and tech talent, invest heavily in its proprietary technology, and strategically expand its operations into other African markets.
Founded in 2021, MyCover.ai is focused on addressing the pain points that exist in the African insurance market, such as the lack of access, inadequate coverage, the unaffordability of insurance products and the poor customer experience surrounding insurance processes.
By operating across three essential touchpoints, the company addresses these problems – underwriting and product development, distribution, and insurance claims, where the claims processes are streamlined for insurance companies and the end-users. The company provides an open insurance API that integrates with leading insurance companies, such as Hygeia, Leadway, Sovereign Trust, AIICO Insurance and Allianz, to offer over 30 personalised insurance products, allowing other businesses and innovators to embed these insurance products into their platforms. Read more here:
How Flex Finance helps African businesses save money with its spend management solution – Techpoint
As Internet and smartphone penetration has grown in many parts of Africa, a slew of startups have thrown their hats in the ring, eager to provide a reliable solution for the over 40 million businesses on the continent. Flex Finance, a spend management startup founded by Yemi Olulana, is one of such startups, and hopes to ease the process for African businesses, tapping into an estimated $4.2 trillion worth of B2B spending.
Why is spend management a big deal?
One of the most important benefits of spend management is cash flow management. By accurately tracking a business’ finances, entrepreneurs can avoid unnecessary or unproductive spending and possibly improve profitability in the long run. Spend management can also help businesses decide how to allocate their budget, negotiate better terms with suppliers, and plan effectively.
For many African businesses, the use of manual solutions means they struggle with properly managing their finances. For them, Flex Finance provides an all-in-one solution. Read more here:
CcHub, GIZ launch to help African universities foster student-led innovations – Disrupt Africa
Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) has announced a new co-funded initiative to support innovation within African universities, in partnership with the Make-IT in Africa project implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Called the UNI:NNOVATORS Startups-in-Residence Programme, the new initiative will see CcHub support 30 student-led innovations in Nigeria, Namibia, and Kenya in an effort to strengthen and accelerate the participation of academic institutions in the emerging innovation ecosystem across Africa.
The selected startup teams will participate in a design sprint to improve on their research-based innovations and build prototypes focused on greentech and smart city solutions in specific sectors – agriculture, energy, circular economy, water and healthcare. Read more here:
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Image Credit: Techinafrica.com
