Hi guys, here is the Big 5 Daily!
Over 70 percent of Kenyan adults used mobile money in 2017, this information ranks the country as one of the world’s foremost mobile money penetration nation, Citi Research posited. Uganda, Tanzania, and Ghana follow with over 40 to 50 per cent mobile money users.
The report also indicated that the largest players in the mobile money scene globally include China’s Alibaba and Tencent, Safaricom of Kenya, Telenor in Asia, and Brac Bank in Bangladesh.
Also, the Submarine cable operator that serves the east and west coasts of Africa, SEACOM has finalised its 100% acquisition of KwaZulu-Natal, South African based Internet service provider SAI. With this acquisition, SAI will be re-branded as the SEACOM KwaZulu-Natal office and will oversee expansion of fibre infrastructure across the region for business customers.
Meanwhile, L’Oréal has announced an investment fund in Partech Africa. The investment fund launched early 2018 within Partech and it is meant for the development of “Tech” projects in Africa.
In 2018 Partech launched an Africa-focused fund which will look to provide early-stage funding to promising start-ups and founders on the continent. The fund targets a total amount of $100 million, making it one of the largest Africa-focused funds.
Accenture is Hunting for Top 30 Tech Start-ups in Africa… In order to give exposure and opportunities to leading innovative ventures, Accenture has announced its own list of Africa’s Top 30 Tech Start-up initiative. The company said it is looking for digital pioneers who are solving critical challenges facing the continent with technology.
Nigeria’s healthcare technology and logistics start-up, Lifebank has won 2018 MIT Solve Global Challenges. LifeBank and the other Solve finalist teams pitched their solutions to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Peter Sands and other judges at the Solve Challenge Finals in New York City.
For winning this challenge, the start-up would be receiving up to $50,000 in equity-free funding to accelerate its expansion timeline.
And that is all for the day’s Big 5! See you tomorrow.