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Google Launches First Product Development Centre in Nairobi

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Google Product Development Centre

By Adedapo Adesanya

Google has launched a product development centre in Nairobi, Kenya, marking the first on the continent. The facility is to build transformative products and services for the African market and the world.

This comes after the tech giant revealed plans to invest $1 billion over the next five years in October last year.

The centre is Google’s second major research and development investment in Africa after the tech giant set up an AI and research centre in Nigeria’s West African neighbour, Ghana, in 2019.

This is part of plans by the company to hire over 100 tech talents, including software engineers, researchers and designers over the next two years.

According to Google VP for Products, Ms Suzanne Frey, this will help solve difficult and technical challenges, such as improving the smartphone experience for people in Africa or building a more reliable internet infrastructure for the continent.

With this new development, Google joins the growing list of tech giants setting up innovations hub in the East African country.

Two weeks ago, Visa announced that it had set up its first innovation centre to co-create payment and commerce solutions with partners.

Microsoft has also launched a research and development centre in the Kenyan capital.

“Africa has been at the forefront of innovation, and we believe that we are going to continue to develop and innovate right here from the continent,” said Google’s policy lead for Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr Charles Murito.

Africa, despite having a market of 1.2 billion people, remains at the bottom of the global digital economy value chain due to the high cost of mobile and fixed internet as expensive smartphones lockout over half of the population from web services.

Google said the investment will focus to bridge this gap by offering faster internet to more people at lower connectivity costs.

A new subsea cable Equiano is planned to run through South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria and St Helena and connect the continent with Europe.

This will add to the already existing 40,000-kilometre 4G and 5G subsea cable by the 2Africa consortium, that connects 19 African countries to Europe and the Middle East.

In efforts to help make smartphones more affordable to Africans, Google has partnered with Safaricom in a device financing plan to make Android devices more accessible.

The company is moving the initiative to partners like Airtel, MTN, Orange, Transsion Holdings and Vodacom to help millions of first-time smartphone users gain access to quality, affordable Android smartphones.

Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.

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Hadron by Tether Integrates Chainalysis

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Hadron by Tether

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

Hadron by Tether has set a new standard for compliant tokenization with the integration of Chainalysis’ compliance and monitoring tools.

This upgrade brings institutional-grade oversight to Hadron by Tether by further strengthening its position as a trusted and regulation-ready marketplace for token issuance and asset management.

With this, the system can now monitor transactions to flag suspicious activity and enable ongoing compliance, and also streamlines onboarding and due diligence processes.

“With Hadron by Tether, we’re building the gold standard for compliant, secure, and scalable tokenization.

“By integrating Chainalysis directly into the platform, we’re offering institutional-grade transparency, compliance, and risk mitigation without compromising on decentralization or control,” the chief executive of Tether, Mr Paolo Ardoino, said.

“Chainalysis has always believed that trust is the foundation for the future of digital assets.

“We’re proud of this work with Hadron by Tether that will bring digital assets and blockchain technology to more institutions and organizations underpinned by our technology and blockchain intelligence that make the solution ready for a compliance-first world,” the chief executive of Chainalysis, Mr Jonathan Levin, stated.

Designed for institutions, corporations, and governments, Hadron by Tether enables the creation, management, and deployment of tokenized assets such as stablecoins, bonds, funds, and commodity-backed tokens across multiple blockchains.

With the integration of Chainalysis, participants now gain access to enhanced risk detection, real-time transaction monitoring, and full Know Your Transaction (KYT) support – ensuring adherence to global regulatory standards from day one.

This latest enhancement follows Tether’s broader commitment to security and accountability. As the issuer of USD₮, the most widely used stablecoin in the world, Tether has collaborated with over 255 law enforcement agencies across 55 countries and helped freeze more than $2.7 billion in illicit assets to date.

The same compliance ethos is now embedded in Hadron by Tether, empowering asset issuers to operate with confidence in an increasingly regulated environment.

The Chainalysis integration represents a major step in making Hadron by Tether not only a powerful platform for tokenization, but also a future-proof infrastructure layer for digital assets.

Tether previously announced it had adopted Chainalysis’ ecosystem monitoring solution to enhance surveillance across secondary markets and bolster compliance across all Tether tokens.

Now, those same advanced tools are directly accessible to Hadron participants, reinforcing a unified compliance standard across Tether’s expanding digital asset ecosystem.

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Zoho Unveils New AI Assistant for Zoho Creator

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By Aduragbemi Omiyale

To facilitate faster, simpler, and more intelligent app building, Zoho Corporation has launched new services and features within its low-code application development platform, Zoho Creator.

The new Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistant, CoCreator, can be used to build applications by using voice and written prompts, process flows and business specification documents.

In a statement to Business Post on Monday, the global technology company said this milestone reflects its commitment to investing in AI capabilities that offer real-time, practical, and secure advantages to business users.

Powered by Zia, CoCreator drives shorter go-to-market timeframes and democratises app creation for users of varying  skill levels—all without requiring add-ons to a customer’s existing subscription.

Zia has served as a bridge across Zoho’s entire product suite, including Creator, since its launch in 2015.

As AI becomes increasingly central to business operations, Zoho’s complete ownership of its tech stack and deep AI integration provides customers with a higher level of contextual AI across all company workflows compared to competitors. This empowers users with a system that truly understands their data and anticipates its usage.

Among the newly-launched capabilities is the Idea-to-App Generation feature, allowing businesses to utilise ZohoAI or OpenAI to develop full-fledged applications including contextual integrations, automations, permission sets and insightful dashboards.

By using text or voice prompts, process flow diagrams, or systems documentations like software requirement specifications (SRS), Creator will provide domain-specific suggestions, ideas for relevant fields, and modules tailored to a customer’s business

Contextual component generation AI enhances existing applications by offering prompt-based form generation. Zia also proactively suggests contextual fields within forms, a functionality missing from many low-code development platforms.

Developers of all skill levels can generate and optimise code blocks contextually within apps using Zia’s prompter, and also annotate existing code blocks for future maintenance.

Further advancing business capabilities, users can rapidly transform unstructured data from various file types and databases into custom applications and remove inconsistencies using the AI-driven data cleansing and modelling feature.

Additionally, the newly-introduced AI Skills enables businesses to build apps with specialised skills that interpret natural language instructions in the business context and automate complex chains of actions intelligently. This feature is currently available in early access and will be widely available from June 2025.

“Since we introduced Creator in 2006, our mission has been to make app development simpler and faster, without compromising on functionality.

“AI now takes us to the next level, shortening the time from an idea to an app.

“Today’s announcement significantly raises the baseline on speed of quality app creation with deep capabilities, without adding costs,” the Country Head for Zoho Nigeria, Mr Kehinde Ogundare, stated.

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The Unsung Heroes of Fintech: How Creatives Are Driving Growth and Trust in the Financial Industry

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Unsung Heroes of Fintech samuel olaniran

By Samuel Olaniran

Many experts have highlighted the growing impact of creatives—especially those in product and brand design—across the financial industry, and how their work helps financial companies build trust, communicate value propositions, and drive growth.

These creatives shape the overall product and visual identity of financial brands, creating not just logos, colour schemes, and layouts, but also cohesive design systems that convey professionalism and reliability. This is crucial because trust is vital in finance. A strong, consistent brand and product design helps customers feel secure and confident in their financial decisions.

In digital platforms, product designers improve user experience. They ensure mobile apps, websites, and other tools are not only visually appealing but also functional and easy to navigate. A smooth, intuitive interface encourages users to engage more, making digital banking and investing more accessible to a wider audience. This can drive growth, as people are more likely to trust and stick with platforms that are easy to use.

Brand and product designers also simplify complex financial data through infographics and visualizations. Finance can be overwhelming, but clear visuals and product-led storytelling make it easier for customers to understand. Infographics turn complicated reports into digestible, engaging content, which can help customers make better financial decisions.

Marketing in finance also relies heavily on thoughtful brand design. Designers create visually appealing campaigns that catch the attention of potential customers. Whether it’s an ad on social media or an email newsletter, well-crafted design helps companies stand out and build a strong online presence.

In a competitive industry like fintech, where innovation is key, product and brand design can be the difference between success and failure.

As financial institutions grow globally, product designers help adapt their offerings and messaging to different cultures. By adjusting colours, symbols, and user interface elements to fit local preferences, they ensure financial products are accessible to a wider audience. This helps companies expand into new markets while keeping their brand relevant and consistent.

Looking ahead, the role of product and brand designers will only become more important. Their creative work is key to building trust, improving user experience, simplifying data, and leading marketing efforts. As finance continues to evolve, their role will remain essential in helping companies grow and connect with customers.

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