(2nd Left): Amicky Carol Akiwumi MBE (Founder, Money4U) Amicky Carol Akiwumi has has just returned from an incredible journey to Nigeria (Lagos) and Ghana (Accra and Tema) where she led the Money4YOU team to equip hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs, women, young people, caregivers and high school students with financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills, knowledge and confidence. Money4YOU is a non-profit organisation that exists to eradicate the economic inequalities experienced by under-represented youth, nonprofits and entrepreneurs. Formed in 2014, its vision is a world where disadvantaged and marginalised communities thrive because they have access to financial management education and the confidence to engage…
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Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRaza (Executive Governor, Kwara State of Nigeria) A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Kwara State Government (represented by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq) and IHS Nigeria (represented by CEO, Mohamad Darwish) for the development of a technology innovation facility in the state. The project, tagged ‘Ilorin Innovation Hub,’ forms part of the Kwara State Government’s efforts to stimulate and deepen the synergy between technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, investment, and job creation for youth in the 18 to 35 age range. Mohamad Darwish (CEO & Co-Founder, IHS Nigeria 📸IHS Nigeria Under the Ilorin Innovation Hub project, IHS Nigeria…
Born in 1992, Joy Nkiru Ikpeoha first came to the island province of Hainan (South China) in 2015 to study Chinese language at Hainan University. Four years later, she extended her studies to include a Master’s degree in enterprise management, which she obtained in 2022. Her entrepreneurial journey began this year when she established a company in the provincial capital of Haikou, Says Ikpeoha: “My company is about helping foreign talents in Haikou or Hainan to set up their own businesses, and kind of feel at home here in Hainan,” Ikpeoha explained. The company also provides other services to foreign…
Julie Ako (co-Founder, Albantsho) Creative Nigerian tech startup, Albantsho, which offers a suite of easy-to-use screenwriting tools for African creators, has launched its latest feature tagged The Scriptwriter. Currently available free of charge to users across Africa, The Scriptwriter ensures that screenwriters are able to create polished stories that meet formatting requirements of international standard. The platform rivals similar tools with its block-based script editor that has user-friendly interfaces. Says Julie Ako (who co-founded the startup with Nikita Mokgware) in 2020: “The creative aspect of screenwriting can be very mentally demanding, but that doesn’t mean professionals can afford to focus…
Tripitaca (re-branded as Triply) started business in the CEO mother’s house, but today supports more than 2300 guesthouses across Kenya by streamlining their operations and helping them grow. Peter Wachira is the CEO of Tripitaca. In 2019, at the age of 22, he launched his own agency to manage small guesthouses in Kenya, and in two short years, he was handling over 1,000 Airbnb-type guest houses across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. While at it, Peter realised how difficult and splintered it could be to run a guesthouse, for some of the following reasons: – Bookings were made on paper or Excel…
Olumide Olatunji (Managing Director, Access Bank Ghana) Access Bank Ghana has been named the SME-Friendly Bank of the Year at the recently concluded 2023 BRANDCOM Awards – in recognition of the bank’s ‘exceptional dedication to providing SMEs with access to customized financial solutions, business advisory services, and innovative tools that enable them to thrive and contribute to Ghana’s economic growth’. In reaction to the award, Olumide Olatunji (Managing Director, Access Bank Ghana) said: “We are honoured to receive this prestigious recognition, which reflects our unwavering commitment to supporting the growth and success of SMEs in Ghana. “SMEs are the backbone…
(L-R): Pricepally co-Founders Luther Lawoyin (CEO), Deepak Bansal (CTO), Mosun Lawoyin (CXO) and Jummai Abalaka (COO) Pricepally, a Nigerian online grocery store for fresh produce and packaged food, has raised $1.3 million seed funding, backed by Samurai Incubate (a Japanese VC that also participated in the startup’s 2021 pre-seed round), SOSV, ELEA, Hi2 Global, Chui Ventures and ex-Unilever executive David Mureithi. According to Pricepally, this latest round of funding will serve to expand beyond three Nigerian cities (Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt), and re-introduce group buying in order to keep up with its promise of enabling consumers purchase food affordably. The startup facilitates same- or next-day delivery of…
Botlhale AI, specialists in multilingual speech and text conversational AI for African languages, have won the Startup of the Year award at the just-concluded Africa Tech Festival, held in Cape Town, South Africa. Founded by Sange Maxaku, Thapelo Nthite, and Xolisani Nkwentsha, the company is breaking language barriers for African businesses and their customers by unleashing the power of human language technologies in African languages. Team Botlhale AI Simply put, Botlhale AI is redefining communication by helping organisations engage with customers in languages they trust and understand, using methods ranging from Multilingual Chatbots to Call Centre analytics.
🎥 @IDC It’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), and IDC South Africa in collaboration with the Graça Machel Trust (through the Women Creating Wealth Programme) have selected 120 women-owned enterprises to participate in an Investor Readiness Programme, over a period of 18 months. Women Creating Wealth (WCW) is the Graça Machel Trust’s flagship entrepreneurship program designed to build women entrepreneurs’ confidence, skills and networks to scale their businesses and transition from income generation to wealth creation. The program has already impacted 1 000 women entrepreneurs in Malawi, Zambia Tanzania and South Africa and is currently being deployed additionally, in Kenya, Senegal and Uganda. The…
(L-R): Shekel Mobility co-founders, Sanmi Olukanmi and Benjamin Oladokun 📸 Shekel Mobility Shekel Mobility (SM), the B2B marketplace that empowers auto dealers to find, finance, and sell cars, has secured over $7 million in funding, comprising $3.2 million in equity and over $4 million in debt. SM helps car dealers find, finance and sell cars in the $30 billion African used car market, and intends to build the largest auto dealership ecosystem, with annual transactions worth $10 billion by 2025. According to co-founder, Benjamen Oladokun, the funds will be applied to quadrupling the startup’s current Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) of…