Technology
Verve Enables Seamless Payments for Millions of Consumers
As Africa’s payments ecosystem continues to evolve, contactless technology is emerging as a critical driver of speed, security, and convenience for both consumers and merchants. Leading this transformation is Verve, Africa’s foremost domestic payment card and digital token brand, which is accelerating adoption through its rapidly growing network of contactless solutions.
With over 30 million Verve contactless cards issued to date, the company has made remarkable progress in simplifying everyday payments. Whether at supermarkets, fuel stations, airport terminals, or restaurants, Verve’s contactless cards are enabling faster, more secure transactions across Nigeria and other key African markets.
A standout feature of Verve’s offering is its extensive acceptance footprint. Today, the contactless cards are accepted at about 90% of payment terminals across retail outlets nationwide. This high level of integration not only enhances user convenience but also reflects the strength of Verve’s merchant network and its strategic partnerships with financial institutions and fintech providers.
Verve’s Tap-and-Go solution is engineered to streamline the payment experience while maintaining rigorous security standards. Every transaction is powered in compliance with global security protocols and offering users both protection and ease of use.
The company’s investment in contactless infrastructure is guided by a clear strategy: to reduce payment friction and enhance transaction speed, without compromising security. This includes close collaboration with banks, fintechs, and merchants to enable seamless integration and consistent service delivery across the payment value chain.
In a region where terminal inefficiencies and payment delays can impact business performance, Verve’s approach is already creating measurable value. For merchants, shorter queues and increased transaction throughput improve customer service and operational efficiency. For consumers, faster payments enhance satisfaction and build trust in digital payment channels.
What sets Verve apart is its thoughtful adaptation of technology to local market realities. For example, the requirement for PIN verification after tapping adds an extra layer of security, addressing consumer concerns around fraud and unauthorised transactions. This localization of global standards reflects Verve’s commitment to innovation that is both secure and contextually relevant
Industry analysts project sustained growth in contactless adoption across Africa, driven by mobile-first populations that increasingly demand fast, secure, and reliable transaction experiences. Verve’s early leadership in this space firmly positions it as a key enabler in Africa’s payment transformation journey.
As the company scales its infrastructure and deepens strategic partnerships across markets, Verve remains focused on delivering seamless, secure, and inclusive payment solutions, meeting the rising demand for digital financial services across the continent.
This contactless push is part of a broader innovation strategy, as Verve continues to invest in customer-centric technologies that align with global best practices while addressing the unique needs of African markets.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
One of the players in the Nigerian gaming industry, Secure Electronic Technology (SET) Plc, has appointed Ms Leticia Otomewo as its acting secretary.
This followed the expiration of the company’s service contract with the former occupier of the seat, Ms Irene Attoe, on January 31, 2026.
A statement to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday said Ms Otomewo would remain the organisation’s scribe in an acting capacity, pending the ratification and appointment of a substantive company secretary at the next board meeting.
She was described in the notice signed by the Managing Director of the firm, Mr Oyeyemi Olusoji, as “a results-driven executive with 22 years of experience in driving business growth, leading high-performing teams, and delivering innovative solutions.”
The acting secretary is also said to be “a collaborative leader with a passion for mentoring and developing talent.”
“The company assures the investing public that all Company Secretariat responsibilities and regulatory obligations will continue to be discharged in full compliance with the Companies and Allied Matters Act, applicable regulations, and the Nigerian Exchange Limited Listing Rules,” the disclosure assured.
Meanwhile, the board thanked Ms Attoe “for professionalism and contributions to the Company during the period of her engagement and wishes her well in her future endeavours.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Russian government on Thursday confirmed it has blocked the WhatsApp messaging service, as it moves to further control information flow in the country.
It urged Russians to use a new state-backed platform called Max instead of the Meta-owned service.
WhatsApp issued a statement earlier saying Russia had attempted to “fully block” its messaging service in the country to force people toward Max, which it described as a “surveillance app.”
“Today the Russian government attempted to fully block WhatsApp in an effort to drive people to a state-owned surveillance app,” WhatsApp posted on social media platform X.
“Trying to isolate over 100 million users from private and secure communication is a backwards step and can only lead to less safety for people in Russia,” it said, adding: “We continue to do everything we can to keep users connected.”
Russia’s latest move against social media platforms and messaging services like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram comes amid a wider attempt to drive users toward domestic and more easily controlled and monitored services, such as Max.
Russia’s telecoms watchdog, Roskomnadzor, has accused messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp of failing to comply with Russian legislation requiring companies to store Russian users’ data inside the country, and of failing to introduce measures to stop their platforms from being used for allegedly criminal or terrorist purposes.
It has used this as a basis for slowing down or blocking their operations, with restrictions coming into force since last year.
For Telegram, it may be next, but so far the Russian government has been admittedly slowing down its operations “due to the fact that the company isn’t complying with the requirements of Russian legislation.”
The chat service, founded by Russian developers but headquartered in Dubai, has been a principal target for Roskomnadzor’s scrutiny and increasing restrictions, with users reporting sluggish performance on the app since January.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian startup, Decide, has emerged as the fourth most accurate Artificial Intelligence (AI) agent for spreadsheet tasks globally, according to results from SpreadsheetBench, a widely referenced benchmark for evaluating AI performance on real-world spreadsheet problems.
According to the founder, Mr Abiodun Adetona, the ranking places Decide alongside well-funded global AI startups, including Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
Mr Adetona, an ex-Flutterwave developer, also revealed that Decide now has over 3,000 users, including some who are paying customers, a signal to the ability of the startup to scale in the near future.
SpreadsheetBench is a comprehensive evaluation framework designed to push Large Language Models (LLMs) to their limits in understanding and manipulating spreadsheet data. While many benchmarks focus on simple table QA, SpreadsheetBench treats a spreadsheet as a complex ecosystem involving spatial layouts, formulas, and multi-step reasoning. So far, only three agents rank higher than Decide, namely Nobie Agent, Shortcut.ai, and Qingqiu Agent.
Mr Adetona said SpreadsheetBench measures how well AI agents can handle practical spreadsheet tasks such as writing formulas, cleaning messy data, working across multiple sheets, and reasoning through complex Excel workflows. Decide recorded an 82.5% accuracy score, solving 330 out of 400 verified tasks.
“The result reflects sustained investment in applied research, product iteration, and learning from real-world spreadsheet workloads across a wide range of use cases,” Mr Adetona told Business Post.
For Mr Adetona, who built Decide out of frustration with how much time professionals spend manually cleaning data, debugging formulas, and moving between sheets, “This milestone highlights how focused engineering and domain-specific AI development can deliver frontier-level performance outside of large research organisations. By concentrating on practical business data problems and building systems grounded in real user environments, we believe smaller teams can contribute meaningfully to advancing applied AI.”
“For Decide, this is a foundation for continued progress in intelligent spreadsheet and analytics automation,” he added.
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