ABB to Divest Cable Business to NKT Cables

By Precious Olisa A Cameroon-based company, Koree, has emerged as the winner of the 2023 edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge, going home with a prize of $50,000. The firm was announced as the winner of the contest by the panel of judges during the competition’s grand finale at the bank’s headquarters at the Pan African Centre in Lomé, Togo. The organisations made it to the final from an initial pool of over 1,400 fintechs from 64 countries, underscoring the significant growth in popularity of the competition since its inception six years ago, as well as the wealth of innovation

By Adedapo Adesanya A new research from global payments giant, Visa, done across 17 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) has revealed a disconnect between consumers’ confidence in recognising fraud and their online behaviour, highlighting the importance of staying alert and mindful of fraud attempts. The study forms Visa’s Stay Secure Campaign, focused on raising consumer awareness, strengthening education, and building confidence to combat social engineering threats. Despite more than half of consumers (56 per cent) claiming to be savvy enough to sidestep online and phone scams, it was found that 90 per cent

By Adedapo Adesanya The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, has announced a N1 billion partnership between the ministry and IHS Towers, one of the largest independent communications infrastructure firms in the world, to establish the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) Learning Community. The ministry earlier this month released a 31-page policy document titled Accelerating our Collective Prosperity through Technical Efficiency which outlined plans to boost the country’s economy through the use of technology. It said it would collaborate with other ministries and parastatals, including private sector stakeholders to drive opportunities for startups to facilitate the

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Three Nigerian startups are among the 11 small firms selected by Google for its Artificial Intelligence (AI) First Accelerator Program for Africa. The beneficiaries will undergo a 10-week accelerator journey and will get $350,000 as an allocation in Google Cloud Credits, and further enjoy mentorship sessions, technical guidance, and networking opportunities to enhance their reach and impact. The 11 startups were picked from a vast pool of innovative talent. At the end of the scheme, they would be required to use cutting-edge AI to address both the continent’s challenges and broader global issues. “At Google, we’ve been

ADVFN has joined forces with TradeIt to allow ADVFN and iHub users to send trades directly to major US brokerages from within iHub and ADVFN iOS apps. ADVFN, known in the investing community for its cutting edge data products and the most popular stock forum in the world, has already seen a rise in the popularity of its mobile offering; in-app execution is expected to accelerate this. “Our user base relies on our aggregated newsfeeds, forums and live market data to generate trade ideas,” said Matthew Collom, Director of ADVFN, “This partnership gives them the ability to trade quickly on

By Adedapo Adesanya Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), in partnership with two other commercial banks, has acted as Mandated Lead Arranger of a €90 million 10-year senior debt financing package for the Terminal Industriel Polyvalent de San Pedro (TIPSP) in Côte d’Ivoire’s secondary port, San Pedro. The concession is a 35-year agreement between TIPSP and the Autonomous Port of San Pedro, the state-owned port authority, encompassing the design, construction, financing, operation, and maintenance of a greenfield multipurpose bulk terminal. The concession grants TIPSP exclusive rights to handle the import of cement clinker, gypsum, and limestone, as well as fertilizers and hydrocarbons

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has disclosed that it plans to launch another satellite through the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NigComSat) before the end of the year. This was disclosed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami, during a tour of facilities at the agency’s base in Abuja. He said: “That approval of federal government which I have secured has been forwarded to NigComSat. Now, it is on the table of NigComSat to answer that question. I want to make sure that as I said that 2022 is NigComSat year along with NIPOST. I want to

By Dipo Olowookere Sugarmade has announced the signing of a new contract to become the exclusive manufacturer of the SmelPro cannabis transport system, which enables nearly smell proof and discrete shipping of cannabis. Additionally, the firm has acquired an option to purchase the company marketing the innovative product. The SmelPro product is a significant improvement over currently available transport units used in the cannabis sector. SmelPro utilizes the proprietary polyamide sandwiched tri-liners developed for Sugarmades CannaShroud product, combined with active carbon filtration to virtually eliminate all odors. The units are designed to be easy to carry, or to be worn

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Federal Government has announced lowering of the country’s growth forecast for next year after considering different factors. Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma, disclosed on Wednesday that the decision was taken at the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held in Abuja. The meeting, presided over by the Acting President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, took place yesterday at the Presidential Villa. Mr Udoma said the council, at the meeting, approved lowering of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate forecast for 2018 to 3.5 percent. He said the Nigerian government had earlier projected a

By Investors Hub European stocks have declined on Thursday as a slew of negative catalysts have sapped investors’ appetite for risk. A summit between President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended with no agreement after North Korea reportedly wanted all sanctions lifted, something the U.S. was not prepared to do. The British pound has hit fresh multi-month highs against both the dollar and euro on reports that Brexit could be delayed by up to two years. Spain’s Amadeus IT Group SA has fallen sharply after reporting a 1 percent increase in its adjusted profit for fiscal

By Ahmed Rahma A telecommunication company, 9mobile has commenced the National Identification Number (NIN) registration exercise in selected experience centres in Lagos and Abuja. In a statement on Monday, the telco stated that the development followed federal government’s approval granting telecoms the licence for NIN enrollment to ease the pressure of large crowd turnout at the various enrollment centres of the Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC). The Chief Commercial Officer, 9mobile, Mr Stjepan Udovicic said, “9mobile  will always seek opportunities to collaborate with regulators and other stakeholders on initiatives that will enable Nigerians to achieve their full potential.” “We are