Brands/Products
KreekAfrica Introduces Smart Way of Doing Business
By Adedapo Adesanya
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught the world, especially the business community, a lot. With stay-at-home directives and social distancing protocols becoming the order of the day, employees and companies alike, all over the globe, are suffering the consequences.
This means a business can no longer go on as it used to in the past and for some, the slowdown has turned into something more worrying.
One of the biggest problems the pandemic has caused is employment insecurities. And while things are easing up, the conversation about the traditional work structure has been brought to question.
Conversations are being started about how sustainable that structure is, especially during emergencies. During this pandemic, many businesses have broken down under the pressure to save cost and they have done this by laying off so many. This has increased the already large population of the unemployed in Africa, thereby leaving the economy even more vulnerable.
Also, when it comes to productivity, some businesses have taken a hit and the time wasted to get things back in order has cost even more. This is why there is a need to find a more sustainable way of doing business, a smart way.
Self-employment is looking like the way forward for those who have lost their jobs and this is already an employment option for many Africans. Therefore, the number of people considering this option increases.
While it is almost normal elsewhere in the world, with many platforms available for freelancers to put their skills and qualifications to use, Africa is still having difficulties in this area.
Many African freelancers who don’t have any option than to use the Western platforms don’t get the same opportunities as their Western counterparts and are also more likely to experience discrimination.
The pandemic and all these other issues has brought to light the fact that when the whole world is facing the same problem, self-reliance becomes paramount.
Therefore, an opportunity has opened up for Africa to create its own solutions and this makes platforms like Kreekafrica.com very necessary.
KreekAfrica presents a platform for African businesses and Freelancers to connect and transact business.
With a lot of employees being laid off, there are a lot of skills that more or less will be wasted without the right opportunity. Businesses are also short on staff, but still do not have enough resources to keep too many in-house employees.
Kreekafrica.com thereby creates the opportunity for these two parties to come together to collaborate. Hiring freelancers take some of the cost of keeping employees in-house, especially when it comes to paying utilities etc.
It is also relatively cheaper to get a freelancer complete a project. Freelancing also presents a flexible employment option, with regard to working hours and eliminates commuting which takes some time off work.
Therefore, productivity does not have to be compromised on for all parties involved. Small and large businesses alike can benefit from this shift and individuals will now have control over who to work for, and for how long.
With technology becoming more widespread on the continent, implementation of this smart way of doing businesses is not going to be much of a problem.
A lot of Africans, especially the youth, which forms a large population, are already privy to how to use technological equipment. Internet connection is also quite widespread across the continent for shifting to remote work is not going to be much of a problem.
But without initiatives like Kreek Africa, the resources and potential that Africa has to change situations into their favour might all go to waste.
It is, therefore, a welcome solution to the employment issue in Africa, especially during times like these.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
An institutional investor, First Ally Capital, has strengthened a leading Nigerian financial technology company, Mathesis Analytics, to scale its proprietary credit decisioning infrastructure.
It made this possible by injecting fresh capital into the firm, which specialises in AI-powered credit decisioning infrastructure, an action that will directly support the growth and scaling of Mathesis’ core mission of providing the intelligence and infrastructure needed to bridge the credit gap for millions of unscored or underscored individuals across Nigeria.
With this investment, Mathesis will enable financial institutions to confidently assess and extend credit to borrowers who lack a formal credit history by leveraging an expanded pool of alternative behavioural and transactional data.
To date, Mathesis’ systems have supported more than 8 million loans for over 2 million unique borrowers in Nigeria, and the company is actively deploying its infrastructure to establish a growing pan-African footprint.
With the investment from First Ally Capital, Mathesis is well positioned to transform how the credit ecosystem operates, driving financial inclusion in partnership with lenders across the continent.
A significant barrier to credit access in Nigeria, which prides itself on being Africa’s largest economy, is data fragmentation. Borrowers frequently build positive financial behaviours across multiple digital platforms by repaying microfinance loans, saving through fintech wallets, or servicing Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) facilities.
However, under traditional credit infrastructure, these achievements remain invisible to new lenders.
Mathesis addresses this challenge through the concept of Personal Equity—the quantified expression of an individual’s financial behaviour aggregated across every institution with which they have transacted.
By translating these disparate signals into a precise, portable measure of creditworthiness, Mathesis creates a comprehensive credit identity that reflects the full breadth of a person’s financial life.
“True financial inclusion cannot be achieved in a vacuum; it requires structural collaboration in which lenders and fintech companies work as partners within the ecosystem.
“This investment from First Ally Capital validates our approach to reshaping credit infrastructure. By quantifying Personal Equity, we empower lenders to safely look beyond the constraints of formal credit histories and recognise a borrower’s true creditworthiness. This capital enables us to accelerate our pan-African expansion while maintaining the robust, institutional-grade infrastructure our partners rely on,” the chief executive of Mathesis Analytics, Winston Osuchukwu, stated.
On his part, the chief executive of First Ally Capital, Mr Ebenezer Olufowose, said, “At First Ally Capital, we pride ourselves on being a one-stop destination for financial solutions, offering a diverse portfolio of services ranging from investment banking and asset management to trusteeship, inclusive banking, and real estate.
“Our investment in Mathesis Analytics reflects our strong belief in the company’s vision and our commitment to supporting forward-thinking enterprises that deliver excellence.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The chief executive of Canal+ Africa, Mr David Mignot, has disclosed that MultiChoice is now fully integrated into the media group.
Mr Mignot disclosed this via a statement issued on Thursday, noting that this development marks a new phase in the evolution of one of Africa’s leading pay television operators.
He noted that the integration positions MultiChoice within a global media organisation with an extensive international footprint.
“MultiChoice is now a full subsidiary of a truly international media group operating in 70 countries. The group was founded in France, is listed in London and Johannesburg, and has a strong African presence with operations in more than 45 countries,” Mr Mignot said.
The statement underscores the scale of the combined business, highlighting Canal+’s global reach alongside its significant investments across Africa.
The completion of the transaction is expected to strengthen MultiChoice’s position in the African media and entertainment market by giving it access to the broader resources, expertise and international capabilities of the Canal+ Group, while reinforcing the group’s commitment to the continent.
MultiChoice operates across sub-Saharan Africa through platforms including DStv and GOtv, serving millions of subscribers with entertainment, sports and news content.
By Adedapo Adesanya
FoodCourt, a Nigerian cloud kitchen startup backed by Y Combinator, has suspended operations after months of unpaid salaries and mounting debts to vendors triggered a staff strike and forced the company to halt customer orders, according to a report by TechCabal.
The publication reported that customers first noticed on March 4 that they could no longer place orders through the FoodCourt app after the company disabled ordering as kitchen workers, delivery personnel and branch staff embarked on strike over unpaid wages. The company also owed outstanding payments to vendors.
By April 19, FoodCourt had temporarily shut its last operating branch after suspending activities across its Lagos and Abuja locations while seeking fresh funding and restructuring the business, according to the report.
The company’s chief executive, Mr Henry Nneji, said the decision to pause operations was not caused by a single issue but by a combination of operational, organisational and working-capital challenges.
“It’s important to clarify that the decision to pause operations wasn’t driven by one single issue. We reached a point where it became clear that continuing to patch those issues while operating wasn’t the right long-term decision,” he said.
“The objective is to build a stronger business than the one that existed before the suspension. We fully intend to bring FoodCourt back,” he added in an emailed response.
The company acknowledged outstanding obligations to employees, vendors, riders and service providers, but declined to disclose the number of affected workers or the total amount owed. It said efforts were underway to resolve the liabilities as part of its restructuring process.
It was also reported that the startup’s financial difficulties worsened after expansion into additional locations increased operating costs, while its cloud kitchen model came under pressure from rising labour, logistics, food and marketing expenses.
Despite the shutdown, Mr Nneji said FoodCourt intends to relaunch after completing its restructuring, adding that the company believes demand for its products remains strong.
Founded in 2021 by Henry Nneji and Paul Adokiye Iruene, FoodCourt operates cloud kitchens under multiple virtual restaurant brands through its consumer app. According to TechCabal, the startup had previously disclosed raising $1.7 million, delivering more than one million meals and reaching $4.3 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2024.
