Nigeria’s Prospa has just closed a $3.8 million pre-seed round that will allow the fintech startup to offer small businesses banking and software services. The West-African-based firm caters to freelancers and entrepreneurs acting as the “operating system” for their businesses by providing bank accounts, tax support, advice on creating a unique name, and more. The start-up, launched by trio Frederik Obasi, Chioma Ugo, and Rodney Jackson-Cole, has already had some success over the last few months – in March, it was one of the 10 African startups participating in Y Combinator’s (YC)
El Salvador has become the first country to accept Bitcoin as a legal currency in a move that has got the world debating whether cryptocurrency should be used in this way. The country has reportedly already bought its first 400 bitcoins, worth an estimated $21 million based on bitcoin’s value at the time of the announcement, according to a series of tweets by the country’s President – Nayib Bukele. Millions of people are now expected to download the government’s new digital wallet app which gives away $30 in Bitcoin to every
A group of tech and diversity pioneers is calling for robust action to be taken as Facebook’s facial recognition software mistakenly labeled a video featuring Black men as “about primates.” Marcel Hedman, the founder of A. I group Nural Research, a company that explores how artificial intelligence is tackling global challenges, described the long-standing issue as a “multi-layered” problem that can “definitely be solved.” Mr. Hedman, 22, based in London, said: “There was definitely no shock when I heard about the Facebook incident, and I think the reason why is
Hubspot is hiring When Mohamed Gueye was six years old, growing up in Senegal, his interest in tech began when he saw a computer for the first time. His dad bought it, and he was fascinated by the images that were shown on its screen. Today, Mohamed works at HubSpot in Massachusetts as a technical lead. In this interview, he shares his path working his way up from a supermarket into tech, his experience at HubSpot, and the importance of not getting stuck into one way of thinking. Hi Mohamed,
We are living through two pandemics. COVID-19 and the disease of racism. One we are protecting ourselves from, and the other we seem to ignore until it gets to the point of civil unrest. It does not have to be this way; if we lived our lives fighting racism at home, in government, and the workplace, we would not have the unrest we see in the streets now. I can’t control what people do in all of those areas, but economic freedom is a key to solving the problem. Venture
What is the most powerful way you can transform a company’s culture? One year ago when I joined Brandwatch as VP of Global Community & Belonging I made a gamble that only habits, not one-off actions, would help us achieve the progress we wanted. From hiring more Black people at all levels, to delivering bias and inclusion training to all employees from leadership downwards, our diversity and inclusion goals at Brandwatch have always been bold. But being bold about belonging means you have to have an appetite for risk. And
Techish is back with a brand new episode! Abadesi and Michael discuss Rihanna joining the billy club, as Forbes reports she is worth $1.7B and what it means to be a billionaire nowadays (0:15) They also break down: Square acquires Afterpay for $30B and the risks of buy now pay later companies (7:53) Instagram makes changes for under 16’s but is it too little too late? (15:20) Fleets is no more, the unofficial ‘mega block’ and not being afraid to kill projects (23:23) Why smaller active wear brands are beating big brands like Nike
Radancy is hiring on pocitjobs.com Eboney Robinson’s journey to tech began in 2012 when her mother picked up a flyer. It was for the SLICE Program, which provides employment and educational opportunities to young people from low-income backgrounds. Today, Eboney works at Radancy, an enterprise SaaS talent acquisition platform, as a Senior Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer and is the first in her family to be employed in the technology industry. In this interview, she discusses her job at Radancy, what initially sparked her interest in technology, and how she’s giving
Techish is back with a brand new episode! Abadesi and Michael discuss why Facebook is looking to target churches and commercialize religious services on the app —is this another step too far for the social platform? They also break down: Freedom day, mask mandates and vaccines passports Chinese tech stocks crash due to China imposing tighter regulations on publicly traded companies Simone Biles putting health before glory and why Gen Z prioritize their mental health Sponsors FreeWill is hiring a Engineering Manager. Check out the role here Podia is hiring a Support Agent. Check
Techish is back with a brand new episode! Abadesi and Michael discuss fashion designer Virgil Abloh selling a majority stake in Off-White to LVMH but what is the cost of losing its Black-owned status? (21:58) They also break down: Twitter’s new dislike button (1:03) Bezos vs Branson’s space flight (5:30) Clubhouse is open to the public but is it too late? (9:32) Why Black employees prefer to work remotely and the Netflix employees that were caught slipping on Slack (12:20) Sponsors Get your ticket for Inbound 2021! Speakers include Oprah Winfrey, Tristan Walker, and
