By Aduragbemi Omiyale

Some budding entrepreneurs in Kano State recently received the backing of a leading integrated and digital commerce firm, Interswitch, at the maiden Kano Startup Weekend (KSW) themed Igniting Innovation & Empowering Entrepreneurs.

The event, which held on December 14 and 15, 2025, saw Interswitch providing practical insights, exposure to developer-friendly platforms, and guidance on building scalable digital businesses.

KSW 2025 is the flagship entrepreneurship and innovation event hosted by the Kano State Government through the Kano State Information Technology Development Agency (KASITDA).

Aligned with the Kano State Digital Transformation Agenda (2025–2030), the event aimed to ignite Kano’s startup ecosystem, foster collaboration, and position the state as a leading hub for technology and innovation in Nigeria and beyond.

The weekend featured pitch presentations from startups across technology, education, agriculture, mobility, and digital services, complemented by expert-led sessions on product development, funding readiness, customer acquisition, and scaling strategies. These engagements equipped founders with tools to refine their ideas while connecting with partners capable of supporting their next stage of growth.

Giving his keynote speech, the Chief Information Officer of Interswitch, Mr Patrick Okebu, emphasised the strategic importance of supporting regional innovation ecosystems. He said:

“Kano Startup Weekend reflects the depth of entrepreneurial potential emerging from Northern Nigeria. At Interswitch, we recognise that innovation thrives when founders have access to the right platforms, mentorship, and enabling infrastructure.

“Our support for this event aligns with our commitment to empowering startups with payment and digital commerce solutions that help them build confidently, scale sustainably, and compete effectively in today’s economy,” he said.

Beyond individual mentorship and the pitch sessions, KSW 2025 created opportunities for meaningful collaboration between the public sector, private organisations, investors, and the startup community, demonstrating how strong partnerships can accelerate innovation and drive inclusive economic growth.

The success of the inaugural Kano Startup Weekend highlighted the growing momentum within Kano State’s technology ecosystem and the increasing role of strategic partnerships in driving inclusive innovation. Interswitch noted that initiatives such as KSW are critical to expanding economic opportunity, nurturing local talent, and strengthening Nigeria’s broader digital economy.

Today, Salesforce published its AI Fluency Playbook, a practical guide for businesses to prepare their workforce to confidently collaborate with AI to give employees agents and drive business impact at speed and scale.

Why it matters: As companies look to become an Agentic Enterprise, success will depend on their workforce’s ability to harness and apply agentic AI in their daily work. Businesses that build AI-fluent workforces will drive greater growth and position themselves to attract top talent and become the best place to work. And it’s not just businesses that benefit – employees who use AI daily report 64% higher productivity, 58% better focus, and 81% greater job satisfaction.

Go deeper: The AI Fluency Playbook is built from Salesforce’s own experience deploying AI agents as Customer Zero for Agentforce. Today, Salesforce employees are collaborating with agents and 85% say they feel confident using AI tools to drive productivity in their daily work – a 16% increase year over year. The results are clear: In just one year, Agentforce in Slack saved employees over 500,000 hours, Engagement Agent worked over 190,000 leads with the sales team, and Service Agent handled 2+ million support requests for the customer service team.

AI agents are fundamentally redefining the workplace by automating repetitive, mundane tasks and augmenting the creative and strategic potential of every worker. However, simply deploying the technology is not enough; to truly transform daily operations and achieve superior business outcomes, employees must be equipped with the specific knowledge and tools required for seamless human-agent collaboration.

To bridge this gap, organizations can cultivate comprehensive AI fluency through a three-pillared approach: AI Engagement, which focuses on building employee sentiment and cultural confidence; AI Activation, which ensures consistent integration of AI into daily workflows; and AI Expertise, which develops the essential human and technical proficiencies needed to drive successful adoption at scale.

What customers are saying: “We’re focused on the most important skills that are needed for today and for the future,” said Ali Bebo, Chief Human Resources Officer at Pearson. “Today is all about learning agility – human skills like learning, adaptability, communication, and critical thinking are so important for the era of agentic AI.”

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have introduced new rules that will ensure faster refunds for failed airtime and data purchases, following rising consumer complaints over debits without value.

Under the new rules, refunds are expected to be completed within 30 seconds, except where a transaction remains pending, in which case the resolution can take up to 24 hours.

The new framework, contained in a statement issued by NCC’s Head of Public Affairs, Ms Nnenna Ukoha, on Thursday, targets unsuccessful transactions linked to network downtime, system failures and human errors that affect subscribers nationwide.

According to the statement, the guideline was developed after months of joint engagements involving telecom operators, banks, value-added service providers and other industry stakeholders.

The NCC said the framework brings the financial and telecommunications sectors up to speed on how failed transactions are handled and resolved.

“These engagements were prompted by a rising incidence of failed airtime and data purchases, where subscribers were debited without receiving value and experienced delays in resolution.

“The framework represents a unified position by both the telecommunications and financial sectors on addressing such complaints.

“It identifies and tackles the root causes of failed airtime and data transactions, including instances where bank accounts are debited without successful delivery of services,” she said.

Under the framework, Ms Ukoha said mobile network operators and banks are bound by a service level agreement that clearly defines their roles in transaction processing and refunds.

She emphasised that operators are also required to notify customers by SMS on the status of every airtime or data transaction.

The rules also address erroneous recharges to ported lines, incorrect airtime or data purchases, and instances where transactions are made to the wrong phone number.

On her part, the Director of Consumer Affairs at the NCC, Mrs Freda Bruce-Bennett, said the framework also introduces a central monitoring system to improve oversight.

She said the dashboard will be jointly managed by the NCC and the CBN to track failed transactions, refunds and breaches of service timelines in real time.

“We are grateful to all stakeholders, particularly the CBN and its leadership, for their tireless commitment to resolving this issue and arriving at this framework,” she said.

The official said failed top-ups are among the top three complaints received by the commission, adding that implementation of the framework is expected to begin on March 1, subject to final approvals and completion of technical integration by all operators and banks.