Online Marketplaces has potential to create 3 million jobs in Africa by 2025

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Online marketplaces such as Jumia, Souq, Uber, and Travelstart could create around 3 million new jobs by 2025 across Africa. This is according to findings of a new report released today by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Titled ‘’How Online Marketplaces Can Power Employment in Africa’’ the report notes that these digital platforms, which match buyers and providers of goods and services, could also raise incomes and boost inclusive economic growth with minimal disruption to existing businesses and workforce norms. Speaking during the launch of the report, Patrick Dupoux, a senior…

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MTN launches ‘world first’ WhatsApp-based Airtime Top-up service

MTN says it will become the first mobile network in the world to let customers buy airtime and data bundles and check their balances directly on Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp. The service, MTN Chat, will help customers manage their accounts “off a secure and convenient platform they already know and love”, said Mapula Bodibe, MTN SA’s consumer business executive. “It’s imperative that companies focus on improving self-service experiences to retain and grow customers and this is an important step for MTN,” Bodibe said. Calling it a world first for the…

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Women VCs investments explains the inequality in their field

Female venture capitalists (VCs) have made steady progress over the past few decades, but still make up a small percentage of VCs overall. Data released today (Mar. 25) by grassroots initiative Women in VC reveals the limitations that female VCs are working under, and how they affect the progress of women in VC as well as female founders. The vast majority of female VCs are investing primarily in early-stage startups, in the seed and series A funding rounds. Part of the reason they are investing mostly in the early stages…

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Miss.Africa Digital Celebrates International Women’s Day With its Annual Seed Fund Application Drive

Miss.Africa Digital Seed Fund 2019

DCA Trust celebrated the Women’s Day by launching the 2019 Miss.Africa Digital Seed Fund Application Drive. Parallel to my advocacy on the philosophy of positive “tech disruption”, and how it has the ability to create a welcome change in our societies, if we regularly engage in doing something out of our comfort zone for our mind, body and spirit, I’m a great believer that we will find ourselves in a much better space as human beings, as well as be more effective in our work.” 2019: Year of work-life-balance, –…

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Africa’s e-commerce giant Jumia to list on the New York Stock Exchange

Reports of an initial public offering (IPO) by Jumia, the pan-African conglomerate of e-commerce businesses, have been finally confirmed but details of its financials do not paint a pretty picture. Jumia has filed to launch its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, documents from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show. The intended IPO is a landmark first for e-commerce and tech businesses on the continent. It could also mark a possible exit by Rocket Internet, Jumia’s German parent company, divesting its remaining 28% stake in the company.…

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MPESA option now available on Aliexpress App

Shopping online can seem like a daunting task to some people, especially considering the  limited payment options and security issues that bog online transactions. Alibaba-owned e-commerce platform, AliExpress, has slowly but steadily gained popularity in Kenya as the platform opens up the Chinese vast goods market to Kenyans. International shopping in Kenya has mainly relied on third-party services such a Vitumob or Something Random, that aim to connect locals to the well-established platforms like Amazon but recently we have seen these shopping websites make an effort to directly reach their…

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PesaPal adds new payments options on app in partnership with M-Pesa, Visa & MasterCard

Electronic payments firm PesaPal has added payment options in its integrated mobile money processing platform for shoppers and those making utility payments. The company said its users will be able to leverage on its new app — dubbed PesaPal Mobile — to buy airtime, pay bills, book flights and holidays, purchase event tickets and pay school fees. It has partnered with Safaricom’s M-Pesa, Visa and MasterCard to enable the payments “Available on both Android’s Google Play Store and Apple‘s App Store, the app is geared towards consumers looking to simplify…

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Ride-hailing platform Taxify rebrands as Bolt

Bolt Food

Taxify, the ride-hailing platform rebranded in SA as Bolt, after five years in the local market. Uber rival said on Thursday. “This update brings the brand identity in line with the company’s broader vision of transportation that has already expanded from ride-hailing with cars to motorbikes and scooter-sharing,” it said. CEO Markus Villig said in a statement that when the company was founded five years ago, its first product was a taxi-dispatch solution that gave it its original name. Since then, it has outgrown parts of its brand, he said.…

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Net Giants including Facebook, Telegram & Signal, are planning to roll out new cryptocurrencies

SAN FRANCISCO — Some of the world’s biggest internet messaging companies are hoping to succeed where cryptocurrency start-ups have failed by introducing mainstream consumers to the alternative world of digital coins. The internet outfits, including Facebook, Telegram and Signal, are planning to roll out new cryptocurrencies over the next year that are meant to allow users to send money to contacts on their messaging systems, like a Venmo or PayPal that can move across international borders. The most anticipated but secretive project is underway at Facebook. The company is working…

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Uber introduces an electronic chip in NTSA Kenya safety enforcement push

Taxi-hailing firm Uber has introduced a new safety measure that requires vehicle owners to first acquire an electronic chip windscreen sticker from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA). The sticker allows identification and authentication of car ownership before they are certified to offer its service. Uber in a notice to vehicle owners last week said starting March 1 all vehicles were required to have the NTSA’s Radio Frequency Identification sticker before receiving a go-ahead for further inspection at partner stations AutoXpress or Kingsway Tyres. In the latest safety drive,…

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