Happy new week guys!
Welcome to a fresh week and a brand-new edition of the Big 5 Daily.
We start with big news, Africa’s biggest music streaming platform Boomplay has raised $20 million to expand its music streaming business in more sub-Saharan countries and to build up its database of music tracks. The funding comes from Chinese investors Maison Capital and Seas Capital, with other undisclosed investors. Boomplay had earlier signed a multi-year direct licensing agreement with Warner Music Group. The deal made more than 1 million WMG songs available to Boomplay users in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
We also have news that Nihilent, a global IT service management company has officially opened the first ‘UX’ User experience lab in Africa. The lab will cater to all business types and verticals B2B and B2C product/content validation, driving projects, facilitating design workshops and bringing to market the next big disruption. The lab is located at Bryanston in South Africa. The lab is home to teams of psychological professionals who will work closely with customers to continually enhance user experience.
Moving on, Founder Institute has opened submission for the Lagos 2019 program, following a Lagos Chapter that was launched last month. The Institute facilitates entrepreneurs with the support network and structured process that is necessary to building a company. Early application for the Semester closes on 28 April, while the final admissions deadline is on the 2nd of June. Early application before the deadline will grant the applicants access to take a free Predictive Admissions Assessment which is normally priced at $25, and will be eligible for an early course fee of $399. Late applicants will pay a course fee of $499. Interested? Click here
ETHGLOBAL and Linum Labs has opened its submission windows for the ETHCapeTown Hackathon. The hackathon is designed to encourage participants develop innovative concepts into actionable solutions. The event aims to educate and inspire communities with creative use of blockchain technology. Participants will be exposed to great minds within the blockchain space with an opportunity to win prizes for the work that they produce during the hackathon. Applications open April 19th – 21st. Interested? Apply here.
Finally, The Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Nigeria has approved N5.5 billion ($15 million) to fund a new scheme targeted at creating employment for 60,000 Nigerians aged 18-25 years. The new scheme is called the N-Power knowledge multi-track youth empowerment program. The sum of N259,000 will be spent on the training of each beneficiary and another N207,000 for the provision of work tools for each of them. He noted that the scheme was conceived to train and equip young Nigerians with the ability to handle electronic equipment.
… and that’s it for the Big 5 daily.
Thanks for joining!
