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Four Nigerian Techpreneurs Narrate Journey to Success to CNN

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CNN

By Ahmed Rahma

A global news platform, CNN, has given entrepreneurs in the technology industry in Nigeria an opportunity to showcase what they have to the world.

CNN, through its programme called Inside Africa, profiled some innovators, entrepreneurs, tech trailblazers and artistic visionaries shaping the future of the African continent.

Four start-ups stars; Olatunbosun Tijani, Odun Eweniyi, Chika Madubuko and Joel Kachi Benson, shared their journey into the space on the show.

Tijani, who spoke about his inspiration, hub’s strategy and latest project on the programme, was named one of the 100 Most Influential People on the continent by New Africa Magazine.

The Nigerian-British entrepreneur is the co-founder and CEO of Co-Creation Hub, a  pan-African innovation enabler that works at the forefront of accelerating the application of innovation and social capital for a better society.

About his inspiration, he said, “Science and technology can leapfrog development across Africa and there are so many smart people on this continent, we just need to build a platform that will enable them to create.”

Discussing the strategy of the Hub which has partnered with a healthcare logistics company that delivers lifesaving blood, a digital security platform promoting internet safety, and Google-sponsored ‘Pitch Drives’ that help introduce African start-ups to Asia, Tijani said, “I believe that Africa is going to be a lot stronger if we start to see the continent as one.

“How do we leverage the expertise and resources that you may find in a country like Kenya and lay eyes on the creativity and energy that you find in Nigeria?”

Speaking on his latest venture, the STEM café, an imaginative space dedicated solely to children, the brain behind one of Africa’s biggest networks of tech talents said, “I want to help build a generation of people in Africa with a strong belief in science, people that are comfortable in science, that can apply science to change things. So, it’s a maker space for kids.

“It’s a space where we don’t use curriculums. It’s a nonlinear way of teaching so we actually don’t teach but we encourage kids to build.”

Featured next was one of the founders of PiggyVest, a financial technology company that is teaching young people the value of their money, by helping them to save it, Eweniyi.

“PiggyVest is an automated saving and investment platform that helps young Nigerians put aside little amounts of money daily, weekly or monthly towards their targets or their responsibilities and eventually gives them access to micro-investments to get competency returns,” he explained.

According to Eweniyi, PiggyVest now has more than two million registered users despite the impact of COVID-19 on the economy stating that she remains committed to her original the mission of helping people save small in order to achieve big results.

“Whether we’re in a crisis or out of a crisis the mission remains the same, to get them to a place where they are financially free with the power to continue to manage their finances,” she said.

The third techpreneur that was introduced was Madubuko, the co-founder and CEO of Greymate Care.

This healthcare start-up is a pioneer in providing on-demand care in Nigeria and the CEO detailed the concept, narrating that, “Before Greymate Care was launched, you would normally find someone who was a caregiver or an auxiliary nurse signing up with the hospital or an agency, but then they stayed for so long without jobs.

“With Greymate Care they got more jobs quickly, and they got the appropriate jobs that matched the kind of services they could provide.”

Madubuko’s company is one of many start-ups revolutionising the healthcare industry. She speaks about differentiating her product. “I knew we had to be very innovative, we have to make our processes different, we have to differentiate ourselves in the market. We added a training curriculum, which was the best in Africa, training our caregivers to make sure that they can provide adequate care to our service users.

“Running background checks on our caregivers to make sure that service users feel safe letting them through their door.”

Finally, Inside Africa meets documentary filmmaker Benson, the founder and CEO of VR 360 Stories. Benson works as a virtual reality storyteller.

Speaking about his first experience of using a gadget, “I think it was February 2018 that I wore a headset for the first time. And my experience was a Coldplay concert. It was like I was there.

“And I remembered what the guy was trying to tell me two years before about putting viewers in the midst of the action. All I could see was the IDP camps that I’ve been filming in northeast Nigeria, the places that I had been to, and that I felt I did not properly express with my 2D camera. You know, what a tool for storytelling.”

Benson’s 360-degree immersion into the lives of internally displaced people was a first for a Nigerian filmmaker and it influenced another project focusing on the families of the Chibok schoolgirls.

He recalls the aims of the film, “With the Daughters of Chibok, what I wanted to do was to take people to Chibok and show them this reality that was almost unreal. It’s so far away, so distance, we’re so detached from the story. I wanted to put people in that space. But I also wanted to amplify the voices of these women that I saw.”

Nigeria’s techpreneurs are innovators across multiple fields of industry and are putting in the hard work to build businesses that both help and inspire.

Ahmed Rahma is a journalist with great interest in arts and craft. She is also a foodie who loves new ideas. She loves to travel and would love to visit other African countries someday. She is a sucker for historical movies and afrobeat.

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AI Legal Tech Firm Ivo Gets $55m for Contract Intelligence

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AI legal tech Ivo

By Dipo Olowookere

The sum of $55 million has been injected into an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered contract intelligence platform, Ivo, to support product development and scaling as the company deepens its reach across the hundreds of organizations that already rely on its product, including Uber, Shopify, Atlassian, Reddit, and Canva.

The Series B funding round comes after a year of substantial growth in product performance, customer adoption, and market traction to accelerate its mission of making contract intelligence available to every business.

Since its last funding round, Ivo has grown annual recurring revenue by 500 per cent, increased total customers by 134 per cent, and expanded adoption within the Fortune 500 by 250 per cent.

Business Post gathered that the latest funding support came from Blackbird, Costanoa Ventures, Uncork Capital, Fika Ventures, GD1 and Icehouse Ventures.

Ivo is purpose-built for in-house teams that need both reviews with surgical accuracy as well as visibility into their complete contract library.

The company’s AI-powered contract review solution, Ivo Review, allows users to complete reviews in a fraction of the time; customers report saving up to 75 per cent of the time that manual review would demand.

The product standardizes a company’s positions and precedents using playbooks built and implemented by lawyers. This means that every contract is reviewed accurately, consistently, and efficiently, critical for large and globally distributed teams.

“Our goal has always been to make interacting with contracts fast, accurate, and enjoyable. Every key relationship in a business is defined by an agreement, yet most organizations struggle to extract the insights inside them.

“Our focus is to give in-house teams a trustworthy solution that helps them work faster and gives them visibility into their contracts that was previously impossible,” the chief executive and co-founder of Ivo, Min-Kyu Jung, stated.

Also commenting, a Principal at Blackbird, Mr James Palmer, said, “In-house legal teams demand products that are deeply accurate and aligned to how they work. The most sophisticated teams are incredibly selective about the tools they trust.

“Ivo’s traction with some of the world’s best companies shows it consistently exceeds that bar. With exceptional product execution and an uncompromising quality bar, we believe Ivo is defining and leading the category.”

The Senior Manager for Contract Operations at Uber, Ms Kate Gardner, said, “Uber selected Ivo because it was intuitive to use, demonstrated a high level of accuracy, could work in multiple languages, and met its confidentiality requirements. Furthermore, the Ivo team was highly responsive to Uber’s needs.”

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Nigeria Leads in AI for Learning, Entrepreneurship—Google

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AI for Learning Nigeria

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

A new report released by global tech giant, Google, in collaboration with Ipsos, has revealed that Nigeria is writing the playbook on Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it leads in AI for learning and entrepreneurship.

In the study titled Our Life with AI: Helpfulness in the hands of more people, it was shown that Nigerians are using AI tools for everything from education to entrepreneurship at a remarkable rate, showing immense optimism for the technology’s future.

It was disclosed that about 88 per cent of Nigerian adults have used an AI chatbot, a huge 18-point jump from 2024, placing the West African country well ahead of the global average of 62 per cent.

It was also found out that while the top use for AI globally has shifted to learning, Nigerians are taking it a step further, using AI as a powerful tool for personal and professional development.

A staggering 93 per cent of Nigerians use AI to learn or understand complex topics, compared to 74 per cent globally, with 91 per cent using the tool to assist them with their work.

In addition, the research observed that 80 per cent of Nigerians are using AI to explore a new business or career change—nearly double the global average of 42 per cent.

Nigerians have overwhelmingly positive feelings about AI’s role in the classroom and beyond, seeing it as a game-changer for education, with 91 per cent feeling AI is having a positive impact on how we learn and access information versus 65 per cent globally.

The report showed that 95 per cent believe university students and educators are likely to benefit from AI, as 80 per cent of Nigerians are more excited about the possibilities of AI, versus just 20 per cent who are more concerned. Globally, the split is much closer at 53 per cent excited and 46 per cent concerned).

Commenting on the findings, the Communications and Public Affairs Manager for Google in West Africa, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, said, “It’s inspiring to see how Nigerians are creatively and purposefully using AI to unlock new opportunities for learning, growth, and economic empowerment.

“This report doesn’t just show high adoption rates; it tells the story of a nation that is actively shaping its future with technology, using AI as a tool to accelerate progress and achieve its ambitions. We’re committed to ensuring that AI remains a helpful and accessible tool for everyone.”

Business Post gathered that the research was conducted by Ipsos between September 22 and October 10, 2025, on behalf of Google.

For this survey, a sample of roughly 1,000 adults aged 18+ who are residents of Nigeria and were interviewed online, representing the country’s online population.

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NCC Grants Three Satellite Licences to Boost Broadband Services

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NCC

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has licensed three additional global internet service providers, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, BeetleSat-1, and and Germany-based Satelio IoT Services, as part of efforts to strengthen internet connectivity via satellite and to boost competition among existing internet service providers in the country.

Amazon Leo, formerly Project Kuiper, is Amazon’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network, designed to provide fast, reliable internet to customers and communities beyond the reach of existing networks, while BeetleSat (formerly NSLComm) is an international company with strong ties to both Israel and Spain, and its corporate structure involves multiple countries, building a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation of 250 satellites to provide high-throughput, low-latency, satellite internet, cellular backhaul, and mobility services globally, and Satelio IoT was approved for its planned 491-satellite IoT system, though only one satellite is currently in orbit.

NCC granted the global internet operators seven-year licences to each to operate in Nigeria from February 28, 2026, to February 28, 2033.

These operators were granted Ka-Band for their frequency band operations, and the licence is renewable after the seven years expiration, according to the regulator.

The NCC’s landing permit authorises Project Kuiper to operate its space segment in Nigeria as part of a global constellation of up to 3,236 satellites.

According to the NCC, the approval aligns with global best practices and reflects Nigeria’s willingness to open its satellite communications market to next-generation broadband providers.

The permit positions Project Kuiper to provide satellite internet services over Nigerian territory and sets the stage for intensified competition with Starlink, currently the most visible Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite internet provider in the country.

The permit also gives Amazon LEO and BeetleSat-1, the legal certainty to invest in ground infrastructure, local partnerships, and enterprise contracts, while giving Nigeria a wider market opportunity to play in space internet service delivery, where Starlink currently operates.

Amazon’s Kuiper will offer three categories of satellite services in Nigeria: Fixed Satellite Service (FSS), Mobile Satellite Service (MSS), and Earth Stations at Sea (ESAS).

FSS enables broadband connectivity between satellites and fixed ground stations, such as homes, enterprises, telecom base stations, and government facilities. This is the core service behind satellite home internet and enterprise backhaul; MSS, by contrast, is designed for mobility and resilience; and ESIM extends high-speed satellite broadband to moving platforms, including aircraft, ships, trains, and vehicles.

These systems rely on sophisticated antennas that can track satellites in real time while in motion, making them critical for aviation and maritime connectivity as well as logistics and transport sectors.

BeetleSat was founded in Israel, where its groundbreaking antenna technology was developed and supported by the Israel Space Agency.

In 2021, it formed a strategic alliance with the Spanish technology group Arquimea, which is now BeetleSat’s largest shareholder and main industrial partner.

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