Hey Guys,
Welcome to another edition of the Big 5 Daily, where we bring you the compilation of the biggest news in Africa.
We bring you the big exclusive that, FCMB has partnered with Passion Incubator to launch Tech Pitch Perfect Challenge. Fintech startups with innovative solutions can apply and pitch creative e-payment, e-collections and e-savings solutions that encourages saving and investments for business-to-customer transactions. Two selected startups will go home with a cash prize of 1 million naira and a shared co-working access for a year at Hub One. Passion Incubator is an early-stage technology accelerator with expertise in innovation program design and tech investments. Deadline for Submission is 8th April 2019. Interested? Apply here.
There is also news that, PEG Africa, a West Africa-based pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar company, has raised a US$25-million Series C funding round, taking its funding total to US$50-million, to expand service delivery to the region. This new round of fund follows a US$13.5 million round in 2017 and two other rounds in 2016. The company plans to use this latest round of investment to further establish itself as a market leader in West Africa. The company, headquartered in Ghana provides credit for solar home systems to underserved households in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal, and serves over 60,000 households.
Moving on, FSD Africa and Equity Bank Congo has partnered to boost financial inclusion in the Democratic republic of Congo in target of the unbanked in rural areas. The project is worth $2.8 million and will last for three years. It intends to train and enroll up to 4,000 people to become bank agents within 22 provinces in DRC. The ’Equity Cash Express’ agents will help the unbanked populations in the rural areas access financial services- savings accounts, credit and micro-insurance products, after their training.
Next, Oslo based Accelerator ‘Katapult’ has announced its plan to launch an African hub and accelerator program in East and West Africa towards the second half of the year. Katapult Accelerator is a Norwegian accelerator that works with startups who solve environmental and societal problems with artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain. All selected startups for the accelerator program will receive a sum of $150,000 investment in exchange for eight percent (8%) equity. The program will last for three months.
Finally, on the Big 5 Daily, Instagram launched a new feature called “Checkout with Instagram” on Tuesday, March 19th, 2019 in the U.S. The 130 million people who do business on Instagram can now purchase items without leaving the app. With this feature, Instagram, with more than 1 billion users is now preventing vendors from linking to their third party sites. Top brands like Adidas, Kylie Cosmetics and Warby Parker will no longer have to direct customers to their websites to make a purchase. Users can pay on Instagram with either PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover.
That’s it for the Big 5 Daily.
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