Fintech companies in Nigeria are rapidly growing. In Q1 last year, funding for African startups hit a new record, with approximately 89% of all funding allocated to fintech startups in the region. Nigeria is one of many African countries working to make financial services accessible to everyone. As smartphone users grow and digital IDs become the norm – all eyes are on fintech startups to pave the way for financial inclusion in Nigeria. Nigeria’s mission to achieve financial inclusion A quick Google search will tell you that there are at least 150 fintech
A TIME investigation has exposed the horrendous conditions many Kenyan workers had been subject to while working under OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. OpenAI’s toxic working conditions Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI, alongside the recent announcement of the platform’s $29 billion valuation, has sparked speculation. According to a recent TIME investigation, Kenyan workers hired to moderate the platform’s content had been left ‘mentally scarred’ from the harsh working conditions they were exposed to. ChatGPT had reportedly been prone to blurting out violent, sexist, and racist remarks due to being trained
South African startup Carry1st has raised $27 million in latest funding round to tap into the gaming industry in Africa. Carry1st’s funding round The funding round, led by gaming-focused VC firm BITKRFT Ventures, also included VC Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), TTV Capital, Lateral Capital, Alumni Ventures, and Kepple Ventures. The investment will help Carry1st create a steady financial infrastructure to prepare for Africa’s fast-paced gaming space. “We’re delighted to partner with BITKRAFT, one of the world’s top gaming VC firms, alongside a16z and other existing investors as we continue on our
Nigerian filmmaker and artist Malik Afegbua is challenging the misconceptions around African beauty, especially within the older generation. Artificial Intelligence has grown to become a trendy part of internet culture today. Despite being a controversial tech tool, one scroll through your internet feed will show you how many people are gearing toward an AI world. Malik Afegbua’s fashion show which displayed photos of elegant old-fashioned seniors in the chicest African attire, took the internet by storm. The series of images, called Fashion Show for Seniors, has garnered over 100,000
Content moderation on social media has taken a turn for the worse. Meta has announced that their leading subcontractor for content moderation in Africa, Sama, has officially closed. The third-party contractor, contracted by the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, has decided to move away from policing harmful content, resulting in several employees without work permits. Following the announcement, 200 employees from the moderation hub in Kenya – representing approximately 3% of the team – will be let go. The news announced on Tuesday, comes months after Meta was sued in East
If you don’t know Nelly Cheboi yet, now is the time to start doing your research. Nelly Cheboi, the founder of Kenyan recycling company, TechLit Africa, has been named CNN’s Hero Of The Year for her revolutionary work across Africa. Who is Nelly Cheboi? Nelly Cheboi, who grew up in a poor rural village in Kenya, redistributes recycled technology to rebuild computer labs in African schools. At a very young age, Cheboi was exposed to the struggles of poverty. Yet, despite having no computer access, Cheboi landed a scholarship to study computer
Africa is the dumping ground for 85% of the planet’s e-waste – a situation likely to get worse as Apple prepares to switch iPhone lightning ports to USB-C ports. The E-Waste Issue In Africa E-waste is becoming a prominent issue in Africa because old goods are exported from high-income countries to low-income countries. In addition, as fewer regulations are being enforced in Africa, it is easy for discarded electronic items to find their way into the continent. Discarded chargers generate more than 11,000 tons of e-waste each year, and according
The African tech ecosystem has taken a significant hit in Q3 2022 due to a lack of funding from investors. In 2021, fintech startups successfully raised $2 billion in funding and once dominated the African startup funding space, but the significant increase signifies a problematic time for African startups – so why is that? Several factors have contributed to the slowdown, from the economic downturn which has forced many investors to deploy less capital to the decline in venture capital funding for crypto startups together this has caused global fintech
Many crypto traders in Africa who frequently use FTX platforms have been shocked and unable to withdraw their funds after an unexpected collapse. FTX’s collapse hits Africa hard The cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, and its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, decided to step down from his position. Once valued at $32 billion, FTX, the platform is now valued at nothing with mountains of debts. According to TechCrunch, over 100,000 Africans used FTX to convert their local currencies to dollars and to bump up their savings. This was
Twitter recently terminated the contracts of almost all its staff based in Ghana, but the former employees are fighting back. The team has accused the social media giant of “deliberately and recklessly flouting the laws of Ghana” and, with legal assistance, are demanding national labor laws are followed. Violation of Labor Laws Three days after opening a physical office in Accra, Ghana—the first in Africa—Twitter locked staff out of their emails and work laptops. Since then, the African employees have not been offered any concrete information about compensation or the
