Q&A with Matt Roberts-Davies, M-Changa; Create Innovative Products That Match Local Culture

ITBusiness spoke with Matt Roberts-Davies, the Business Development Manager/Experience Director at M-Changa, a fundraiser management platform that provides cutting edge end-to-end management tools to enhance fundraising success. The session is majorly on the tech trends in Africa and the novelty of the internet of things (IoT). 1. How can you define the technology sector in Kenya? There is a lot of buzz around tech in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city. One of the main reasons for this is the success of M-Pesa, a digital wallet that has reached mass adoption in…

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Samsung Pay to launch in India in first half of 2017

samsung

Samsung plans to launch its Samsung Pay mobile payment solution in India in the first half of 2017, according to a person familiar with the matter Mashable Reports. For bringing Samsung Pay in India, the company has partnered with American Express (Amex), said the person, adding that the company may be exploring opportunities with giants such as Visa and MasterCard as well. American Express has been one of the partners of Samsung for the epayment solutions in several other regions including the USA, South Korea and Australia. Elsewhere, Samsung has…

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#ELLE101: #WomenInBusiness Twitter Chat with Sophia Bekele

ElleAfrique Women in Business

On 6th May 2016, Elle Afrique a blogzine for the #PowerfulAfricanGoddess, hosted an incisive Twitter Chat with Sophia Bekele, Business Executive and Philanthropist.  The #WomenInBusiness chat proved to be very enlightening for Women.  As a seasoned entrepreneur  Miss Bekele had a few nuggets of wisdom to share on women in business and what some of her experiences have been thus far. She touched on the importance of networking in business. “Networking is the subtle building of human capital through connections. Traditionally Business has been built and expanded via networks, tech has…

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Android app Malware steals two-factor SMS codes, hijacks big Australian banks systems

Millions of customers of Australia’s largest banks are the target of a sophisticated Android attack which steals banking details and thwarts two-factor authentication security. Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ Bank customers are all at risk from the malware which hides on infected devices waiting until users open legitimate banking apps. The malware then superimposes a fake login screen over the top in order to capture usernames and passwords. The malware is designed to mimic 20 mobile banking apps from Australia, New Zealand and Turkey, as well as…

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Startups are bringing mobile banking to the last mile in Africa

Mobile banking has provided financial inclusion for developing countries. A new wave of startups is now taking the tech beyond mobile wallets. When Ismail Ahmed moved from Somalia to England in 1988, he regularly sent money back home. He experienced exorbitant fees, transfer offices with erratic opening hours, and was often worried about how easily his family would be able to retrieve the money. In 2010 Ahmed founded WorldRemit, an online service that allows users to send money internationally via a PC or phone. Today, more than 250,000 transactions flow…

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Africa’s mobile money platform Mpesa expands to Europe

Editor’s note: Tomorrow Transformed explores innovative approaches and opportunities available in business and society through technology. (CNN) — Snapchat may be the latest application with a new mobilepayment feature launched this week, but the idea that made Snapcash possible was spawned more than seven years ago in Africa. When M-Pesa came on the scene in 2007 — a money transfer system devised by Vodafone and Kenya-based Safaricom – it sparked a mini-revolution. With the touch of a button, relatives in Nairobi could transfer cash instantly to their remote up-country families…

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Disrupting mobile banking in Kenya; Equity Bank joins the list

EQUITY Bank, whose micro-loans offerings have helped increase the number of Kenyans using formal financial services, is looking to break into Kenya’s booming mobile telecoms market. The bank says it will use the Mobile Virtual Network Operator licence it was granted in April to make financial services even more accessible and affordable. Kenyans transacted more than US$20 billion through their mobile phones in 2013, and Kenya leads the world in its adoption of mobile payments. Equity is looking to tap into this booming market by employing innovative Taiwanese-made ultra-slim “subscriber…

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African Mobile Money platform Mpesa adopted in Europe

Vodafone brings Africa’s M-Pesa mobile money to Europe * Launch targets 7 mln in Romania who mainly use cash * M-Pesa has 16.8 mln active customers in emerging markets * Mobile payments expected to grow rapidly in coming years By Kate Holton LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) – Vodafone brought the mobile money service that has revolutionised banking in Africa to Romania on Monday, offering M-Pesa text-message transactions to millions of customers in its first push into Europe. Vodafone said it had chosen Romania to target the seven million people there…

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Ericsson chosen for money platform in Peru

Asbanc, Peru’s national bank association, has chosen Ericsson to design and build what is claimed will be the country’s largest private initiative aimed at financial inclusion. The aim is to deliver the underlying infrastructure over which financial services can be pitched to the country’s mobile users, most of whom do not have access to traditional bank accounts. The platform will have a staged rollout but Asbanc wants to see services generally available in Peru during 2015. Ericsson’s platform is intended to host services from different financial institutions and other companies…

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Online retail begins to click in Africa’s biggest market

The headquarters for this Internet startup is cheekily nicknamed “Graceland” and its co-heads are young Harvard graduates with grand plans who have rapidly expanded the business over the past year. Silicon Valley? Not even close. This emerging world Internet company, called Jumia, is now located in Nigeria, and the founders of the business here say there is no better place to pursue their strategy. Nigeria, Africa’s biggest market of 160 million people, has seen Internet access expand rapidly in recent years, opening opportunities for companies to exploit. While major obstacles…

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