Tag: nigeria

Ecommerce merges Mums Village with Baby Bliss

Editor
Bliss Group Africa.: Mothering and childcare focused e-commerce companies BabyBliss Nigeria and MumsVillage Kenya have merged to create a pan-African entity

Ecommerce merges Mums Village with Baby Bliss Childcare-focused e-commerce companies MumsVillage Kenya and BabyBliss Nigeria Mothering have merged to create a pan-African entity, Bliss Group Africa, providing what they say is an “unparalleled omnichannel commerce, community and content offering”. The mum and baby e-commerce opportunity currently stands at an estimated $2 billion in Kenya and $5 billion in Nigeria. Thanks to COVID-19, the e-commerce market has experienced explosive growth. What began as a trend has now become a behemoth estimated to grow at over 60 per cent in both markets.…

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Opera’s Opay Pulls Plug on ORide, OCar, Shifts focus to eCommerce & payments

Dianne Jacobs
Opera’s Opay Pulls Plug on ORide, OCar, Shifts focus to eCommerce & payments

News earlier in the week broke that Opera-backed Nigerian fintech startup, OPay has reportedly shut down all its business operations in Nigeria following a letter issued by its foreign investors amidst the poor economic climate caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.. A report claims that all verticals of the startup, including ride hailing, ORide and OTrike — which were still active in other states aside Lagos; the recently launched B2B and B2C eCommerce platforms, OMall and OTrade; OExpress for logistics; and food delivery feature, OFood will be closed down. Opay launched…

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9mobile hosts a Mobile Network Operators workshop

Dianne Jacobs
9mobile

9mobile, the leading telecom operator in Nigeria, in association with Google, and Kirusa, a global leader in communication solutions over data networks for consumers and enterprises, recently hosted a workshop in Lagos for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Aggregators, and brands to introduce Rich Communication Services (RCS), and showcase how RCS Business Messaging (RBM) is revolutionizing enterprise communication with their consumers. The workshop was attended by over 50 attendees, including representatives from MTN, Airtel, Glo, GTB, Zenith Bank, Unity Bank, Accion Microfinance, Interswitch, and Infobip, among others. Touted as the next-generation…

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Google Launched first Developers Space in Lagos

Dianne Jacobs
Google Developers space

Google launched its first Google Developers Space in Lagos, Nigeria last month. Previously referred to as the Google Launchpad Space, the Google Developers Space is a hub for African developers, entrepreneurs and startups. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, made a commitment to African entrepreneurs In July 2017,  to start the Launchpad Accelerator Africa program and launch a space to house these efforts in Nigeria. Google launched the Google Developers Space in Lagos to provide that home, and a space where entrepreneurs, developers, VCs and investors can connect and collaborate with each other.…

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Nigeria proposes law to tax local online purchases

olivia Craig
Voice App

Online purchases in Nigeria could soon come with a tax bill in part of plans to raise more revenue to fund a record budget, Nigeria’s government is considering a 5% Value Added Tax (VAT) specifically for online purchases. Babatunde Fowler, head of Nigeria’s federal tax agency, says the government may appoint banks as agents to deduct 5% VAT on all local online purchases with a bank card. The policy could be in place by early next year, Fowler said in an interview with Premium Times, a local online newspaper. This…

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Microsoft opens first Africa Development Centres in Nairobi and Lagos

Editor

It was almost three decades ago that Microsoft opened its first offices in Africa. In this time, they witnessed incredible growth on the continent – more internet connectivity, more digital capability and more innovation. Africans have expanded the applications of technology, changing the way communities bank, farm and even access healthcare. As the next step on Microsoft’s journey in Africa, and to better understand a continent rapidly adopting technology in the cloud, and at the edge, Microsoft launched its first Africa Development Centre (ADC). With two initial sites in Nairobi,…

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Nigerian Start up innovates Recycling; Q&A with Bilikiss Abiola, Founder WeCyclers

Dianne Jacobs

Bilikiss Adebiyi Abiola , Founder and CEO of Wecyclers The Nigerian tech startup space is developing at speed, and stands a good chance of being the Africa’s leader.  ITBusinessDirect spoke with  Bilikiss Adebiyi Abiola , Founder and CEO of Wecyclers, a company that offers  household recycling service using a fleet of low-cost cargo bikes. They are powering social change using the environment by allowing people in low-income communities in Nigeria to capture value from their waste. Question: How can you define the technology sector in Nigeria? Bilikiss: I believe it’s…

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Microsoft to target 1000 nonprofits for technology donations

Non-profits around the globe have limited resources, and often face the choice between investing in IT infrastructure and investing in programmes to support the communities that they serve. Microsoft created the Technology for Good programme to empower every non-profit to achieve more. The tech giant has restated its commitment to empowering them with the needed technology, and finding more creative ways to solve humanity’s greatest challenges to further technology adoption among Non-profits in Nigeria. According to the Guardian, the tech giant helps non-profits do more good with Microsoft’s cloud technology,…

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#SheTechsAfrica: Miss.Africa Seed Fund Announces its 2016/17 Prize Winners

Dianne Jacobs

Closing the global digital gender divide is a pressing concern. Women are yet to reach their full potential as participants in all aspects of society. Closing this digital gender gap can help empower women and girls to actively participate in governance as civil society members and political leaders. The Miss.Africa digital Program, a Pan-African trust program of DotConnectAfrica (DCA) , is aimed in attracting more young girls and women to the Internet platform to enable them form a sizable demographic of Internet users in Africa, thereby involving them in complementary…

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Nigerians Take The Lead In Mobile Online Shopping

Dianne Jacobs
Online Shopping

When compared with other countries in the continent, Nigerians take the lead when it comes to mobile online shopping, local retailers or foreign notwithstanding. A research conducted by Ipsos in Nigeria indicates that this trend is not likely to wane anytime soon. Nigerians love mobile commerce. The research conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Paypal shows that Nigerians are the keenest shoppers on the African continent. 72% of these shoppers use their smartphones to shop. This places Nigeria after China(86%) and India (82%) when ranked according to incidences of shopping…

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