Technology
Ventures Platform Advocates Increased Funding for Africa Amid Global Slump
By Adedapo Adesanya
Ventures Platform, an early-stage venture capital fund investing in innovative startups across Africa, has called for increased investment in Africa amidst global economic shifts.
This was the crux of the second edition of its Africa Prosperity Summit held on Friday, November 15 2024, in Lagos, Nigeria.
The invitation-only event themed Funding the Next Billion: Africa’s VC Investment Landscape in a Post-ZIRP Era brought together over 150 Pan-African and global investors, venture fund managers, family offices, development finance institutions (DFIs), fund of funds, Limited Partners and key ecosystem players actively investing in Africa.
The event served as a call to action for global and local investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and thought leaders to reassess opportunities in emerging markets amidst rising global interest rates and economic shifts. Africa, with its dynamic entrepreneurial spirit and growing youth demographic, presents significant investment potential.
However, realising this potential requires a deep understanding of local contexts and a commitment to fund innovations, which the 2024 Africa Prosperity Summit sought to address.
Speaking at the summit, Mr Kola Aina, Founding Partner, Ventures Platform emphasized that Africa’s massive population boom is happening at the same time global venture capital is on a decline.
He references that since the post-COVID peak of venture capital investments in 2021 -influenced by the Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) era – global venture capital flows have declined by 70 per cent.
“The situation in Africa is no better – Africa has experienced a 67 per cent decline in venture capital funding, despite its requirement of 10x more capital to address infrastructure gaps and non-consumption and be at par with Asia in terms of VC investments.
“Africans are simply unable to consume the goods and services that they need, talk less of want. If we do nothing about this today, by 2050, the 1 billion Africans that will be born – will end up being chronic non-consumers,” he argued.
“At Ventures Platform, we believe that by investing in the right kinds of entrepreneurship and innovation, we can produce two powerful outcomes – high-quality jobs that will drive up incomes across Africa, and scaling up affordability and accessibility to products/services for millions of people across Africa. The combination of these two powerful forces is an effective way of driving up consumption across Africa.”
Also speaking at the event, Mr Efosa Ojomo, the Director of Global Prosperity at the Clayton Christensen Institute highlighted Africa’s potential as the modern investment frontier, drawing parallels to historical transformations in global economies.
He emphasised how venture capital can accelerate market creation on the continent, stating, “Venture capital is designed to de-risk an economy – or at least, a sector. Unlike other financial vehicles like private equity or bonds, VC takes on the highest risk.
“In Africa, where raising funds for critical infrastructure is particularly challenging, venture capital must go beyond funding to actively build entrepreneurial ecosystems in the early stages.”
In the second keynote by Mr Charlie Robertson, Head of Macro-strategy at FIM Partners, provided a comprehensive analysis of global macroeconomics and its impact on investment and industrialization.
Engaging investors, fund of funds, startup founders, and policymakers, he explored the risks, challenges, and opportunities Africa faces in comparison to other regions.
“As Africa charts its path to prosperity, the critical levers of education, electricity, and fertility rates will define its economic trajectory. Countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, and Nigeria are already making strides with central bank policies that have corrected currency misalignments, paving the way for current account improvements and reduced investment costs.
“With fertility rates beginning to decline and the potential for service-led growth through affordable solar power and advanced connectivity, Africa is poised to leapfrog traditional industrialization barriers. This is a pivotal moment for investors to recognize the continent’s unique opportunities and actively shape its future prosperity.”
This year’s edition also witnessed Ventures Platform launching its inaugural ClimateTech White Paper titled “Innovating for a Sustainable Future: Harnessing Venture Capital and Startup Entrepreneurship to Combat Climate Change in Africa”.
The landmark paper which was launched by three key drivers – Urgency, Climate disparity, and Opportunities for VCs and Startups, examines the roles of venture capitalists and startups in climate change mitigation and adaptation. It also provides a comprehensive guide for non-climate VCs and entrepreneurs, including the development of a proprietary framework for a coordinated climate response in the African tech sector.
By Adedapo Adesanya
WhatsApp will allow global users to select a username for their account, letting people connect on the platform without having to share their phone number.
WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta Platforms Incorporated, said people can now start reserving a unique username, which should be operational later this year.
WhatsApp, which normally works with phone numbers, is introducing this new feature to allow for some level of privacy when it comes to sharing phone numbers.
Usernames will be launching later this year, in a move to make the communications platform “even more private,” allowing users to keep their phone number concealed from people who are not already in their contacts.
The username launch will be rolling out gradually over the coming months, and users will be notified when the feature is available in their country.
“With over three billion people on WhatsApp, a lot of names overlap, which is why we’re opening reservations early so everyone has the opportunity to select the username that matters to them,” WhatsApp said in its announcement on Monday.
Users can reserve their username by heading to Settings > Account > Username in the latest version of WhatsApp.
Individuals and organisations will have the option to claim their existing Instagram or Facebook handles to help prevent WhatsApp impersonators.
It was reported that usernames for famous figures like celebrities and politicians have already been reserved to prevent them from being claimed. This means that if a person shares a name with a recognised public figure, they will have to create an alternative handle.
To avoid any issues, users can’t browse for people using their usernames, so they will need to know the exact username of a new contact before they can reach out to them.
Business Post understands that if a user already shared their phone number with WhatsApp contacts or group chats, the number will still be visible to them after they’ve enabled the username feature, so these privacy protections only apply to new conversations going forward.
WhatsApp is also introducing an “optional username key” that others will need to know before they can send a message. This is to help users control who can reach them with a WhatsApp username if it’s made public without their consent.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Any phone manufacturer that builds a factory in Nigeria has been promised unprecedented policy incentives and executive alignment by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The chairman of the industry’s regulatory agency, Mr Idris Olorunnimbe, made this pledge at the unveiling of the commission’s strategic blueprint aimed to drive domestic manufacturing of smartphones, tablets, and routing equipment.
He stated that some of the incentives to be enjoyed include specialised customs protocols and manufacturing tax holidays, to lower retail device costs for citizens.
According to him, the NCC is moving beyond mere market regulation to actively co-authoring an industrial renaissance with willing investors, highlighting the fundamental link between strong market regulations and consumer affordability.
“Regulation and market integrity are what make a market affordable in the first place. They are the precondition for it. A phone is only truly cheap if it is real, if it is safe, if it connects properly, and if it carries a warranty the buyer can rely on,” he declared.
Mr Olorunnimbe noted that the goal is to shatter the old paradigm that forces citizens to save up for months just to buy basic technology, urging the industry to “retire the assumption that a Nigerian must buy a phone outright, in one payment, on the day. That is not how it works anywhere else in the world.”
The commission’s intervention is expected to address a critical bottleneck in Nigeria’s otherwise booming telecom sector. While aggressive network expansion driven by the executive team has successfully placed coverage within the geographical reach of most citizens, the high upfront cost of compatible entry-level smartphones remains a persistent roadblock.
Central to this industrial masterplan is the integration of the hardware rollout with the NCC’s ongoing project to zero-rate educational websites across the federation. By removing data costs from educational content, the NCC is building a digital ecosystem where learning is universally accessible.
To maximise the impact of this framework, the regulator is advocating locally manufactured MiFi devices, routers, and smartphones to feature embedded, un-deletable shortcuts to national education repositories and open-source vocational training portals. This turns every locally produced device into an immediate, out-of-the-box digital classroom.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has said it will not rest on its laurels in promoting safer and more positive digital experiences for teens.
The firm gave this assurance at the Nigeria Youth Safety Summit, which it co-hosted with the Federal Ministry of Youth Development at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
This event brought together government officials, civil society organisations, parents, educators, creators and youth leaders to discuss digital wellbeing priorities, strengthen partnerships, and promote safer online experiences.
Meta used the opportunity to showcase its ongoing investments in youth safety through built-in protections, parental supervision tools, and digital literacy resources designed to help teens navigate the digital world safely and confidently.
At the centre of Meta’s youth safety efforts are Teen Accounts, a reimagined experience across Meta’s apps designed specifically for teenagers.
Teen Accounts include built-in protections that address parents’ concerns by promoting age-appropriate experiences, limiting unwanted contact, and encouraging healthier digital habits.
Teen Accounts are turned on automatically for all teens, with built-in protections including private accounts, the strictest messaging settings, sensitive content restrictions, limited interactions (tagging/mentions only from people they follow), time limit reminders after 60 minutes each day, and sleep mode between 10 pm and 7 am. Teens under 16 need a parent’s permission to change any of these settings to be less strict.
“At Meta, our goal is to provide teens with safe, age-appropriate online experiences, and events like the Nigeria Youth Safety Summit reflect our commitment to promoting safer and more positive digital experiences for teens.
“With products such as Teen Accounts, Meta is putting the right protections in place so teens can explore their interests and express their creativity in a safe, age-appropriate space.
“We will continue to build the safety features and tools that families need to support young people online,” the Head of Safety Police for EMEA at Meta, Sylvia Musalagani, stated.
“Child online safety is one of our central pillars, and we are steadfast in our mandate to safeguard the Nigerian child from technology-enabled violence. Children cannot navigate the complexities of the online world without informed adults guiding them because safety begins with the parents.
“Safety is a shared tripartite responsibility between parents, technological industries, and government. That is the fundamental premise of today’s summit, a hands-on walk-through of parental supervision tools and Teen Accounts.
“We appreciate Meta for the collaboration and for creating a platform for these important conversations,” the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Ms Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, said.
Also commenting, the Minister of Youth Development, Mr Ayodele Olawande, said, “We believe that keeping young people safe online is a shared responsibility. Government, technology companies, schools, parents, social organisations, community groups, and young people themselves all have a role to play. We encourage Meta to make the tools, guides, and learning materials from this initiative more widely available so that young people across Nigeria can continue to benefit from this laudable summit.”
It was learned that through keynote presentations, the Parents Learn & Brunch session held in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, and panel discussions featuring parent creators and parents, participants explored practical approaches to supporting safer online engagement.
The summit also reinforced the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in advancing digital wellbeing and online safety for young people.
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