The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, has requested Nokia Networks to increase its investments in Research and Development (R&D) to support the growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigeria.

Maida spoke when a delegation from Nokia Networks of Finland led by the Deputy Minister, Under-Secretary of State for International Trade from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Jarno Syrjala, visited the Commission recently to explore further opportunities for mutually-beneficial relationships.

He told the delegation that the Nigerian government is keenly interested in harnessing Nokia’s capabilities through technology transfer to support Nigerian youths in technical skills.

The Nigerian government is targeting training of three million youths in ICT skills to advance the country’s digital economy.  “We are keen on getting the youths employed, as our Ministry is targeting three million youths for skills acquisition,” the EVC said.

Maida informed the Nokia contingent that the Commission places primacy in R&D as the bedrock of any knowledge economy, and for advancement of innovation.

He, therefore, urged Nokia and other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), to explore R&D opportunities to deepen local content development in Nigeria.

While congratulating Maida on his appointment by President Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s chief telecom regulator, Syrjala said the purpose of the visit was to explore areas of collaboration to support Nigeria’s digital economy agenda.

Syrjala recalled Nokia’s continued partnership with communications service providers in Nigeria, as well as cable and other operators to deliver critical network systems with high performance, reliability, and security.

He noted that Nokia already has an R&D centre in Nigeria, and would target greater investment in this regard.

Nairobi, Kenya: Latitude59, Europe’s premier startup and tech event, is hosting its first ever high-level event on African soil with the Latitude59 Kenya Edition taking place in Nairobi on 6 December 2023.

This annual one-day event, which has been running for 11 years since its inception in Estonia in 2011,brings together players from across the entire digital and startup ecosystem to engage in knowledge-sharing and best practice conversations, and to unpack and explore solutions to those challenges facing the digital startup community, especially on the African continent.

Internationally, Latitude59 has been widely hailed as a catalyst for digital innovation across the European startup space that has catapulted a number of startups onto a global stage. Liisi Org, CEO of Latitude59, says the mission of the Latitude59 event is essentially to create a better world through technology and innovation. “Since the first event back in 2011, we have experienced an explosion of energy and massive growth in the global digital startup space, with Africa being no
exception,” Org says.

The Kenyan startup scene is considered one of the fastest growing and most evolved ecosystems on the African continent. Kenya is seen as a mobile-first society, with a young, connected and digitally savvy population that is eager to help drive economic prosperity and societal change within their communities, and across the nation.

Org believes that whilst the main issues facing the digital and startup community in Africa vastly differ from those of its European counterparts, the underlying principles remain the same. “The golden thread that connects us all is the search for creative solutions to address economic,environmental, and societal challenges. We’ve seen how digital integration and innovation creates jobs, empowers individuals, and connects previously marginalised societies with the wider global markets.

“With this move into Africa, and Kenya specifically, the Latitude59 event creates a platform which connects the Estonian and Kenyan startup ecosystems. We want to pave the way for open dialogue and knowledge and experience sharing to foster valuable relationships between all stakeholders,” Org says.

Latitute59 extends an invitation to stakeholders from across the entire African digital and startup ecosystem to attend this high-performance networking event.
“We invite all interested parties to register to attend the Latitude59 Kenya Edition, meet up with global startup founders, early-stage and established startups, and of course investors and fund managers and everyone else keen to explore the massive opportunities and mutual learnings to be gained from being part of the Latitude59 digital global village,” Org says.

The programme features top innovators and speakers from the international and African tech and startup communities on pertinent issues facing Kenya’s current ecosystem such as access to finance, digitalisation, sustainability and logistics and collaboration. Latitute59 Pitch Competition and prize money
One of the highlights of the Latitude59 Kenya edition event will be a startup pitch competition, which presents the winning pitch with the chance to win an investment of €100,000 as well as a spot in the Startup Wise Guys accelerator program. The Latitude59 Kenya Edition winners will also move on to
compete in the main event pitching competition during the Latitude59 event taking place in Estonia in May 2024.

During the Latitude59 Spring 2023 event in Estonia in May, the top three winning startups received a combined total of €1,3.m in prize money. Incidentally, following the successful outcome of its participation at the Latitude59 event, one of these winning startups has just announced the completion of a pre-seed round of €755 000.

Petra Wolkenstein, General Partner of Estonia’s Startup Wise Guys Africa fund, says it is essential to create opportunities for startups to connect and build relationships with trusted partners to help ensure sustainable implementation and acceleration of their businesses. “We are excited to cooperate
with Latitude59 in Kenya to provide startups a stage to share their vision and showcase their success,” Wolkenstein says.

Startup Wise Guys are calling all early-stage startup founders from the East African region to submit their applications here for the pitch competition by no later than Saturday, 25 November.The Latitude59 Kenya Edition would not have been possible without the support from the event partners. One of the Latitude59’s prime project partners for this first African event, Admirals, is the Estonian-based global online trading and investment platform that has been active in the African
market for a few years were core contributors to bringing the Latitude59 Kenya edition to life.

Elaborating on Admirals’ support for this first-of-its-kind event in Kenya, Boriss Gubaidulin, Admirals Director for the African region, says Estonia’s economic and trade relations with African countries are intensifying, with a growing mutual interest in exploring avenues of cooperation.“We have witnessed an increased intent and commitment to drive innovation from both private and government level. This is evident from several supporting innovation and research policies currently
being drafted and implemented. In Kenya specifically, initiatives aimed at innovators, researchers, and startups are being rolled out to fast-track innovation and digital transformation,” he says.

“This bodes well for the future of Kenya as Africa’s leading tech nation. The Latitude59 event hopes to build on this momentum and will lay the foundation for the bridge to connect our global startup ecosystems,” Gubaidulin concludes.

Gubaidulin will also be participating in the panel discussion on “Bridging the Gap in Financial Inclusion”along with other industry experts, who are expected to delve into the transformative role of digital finance in fostering greater financial inclusivity across the African continent. Entrepreneurs, investors,and anyone passionate about the future of finance will find this a prime opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of how technology can drive meaningful change and empower individuals economically. Don’t miss out on this chance to be part of the conversation shaping the future of financial inclusion in Africa.
Latitude59 takes place on Wednesday, 6 December 2023, at the Sarit Expo Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.Tickets are available here: www.latitude59.ee/kenya.

The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida has said that quality of service in the telecommunications sector is non-negotiable as he called for industry collaboration to make this a reality.

Maida, who spoke in Lagos at an interactive session with chief executive officers in the industry on Thursday, assured of collaborations within the industry and commitment to transparency in the telecom ecosystem.

He told the industry chieftains to appreciate that they have a very important role to play in an industry to consolidate on the achievements already recorded in the sector, which is an enabler of Nigeria’s digital economy.

Speaking as his confirmation as the substantive chief executive officer of the Commission was taking place at the Senate Chambers, Maida noted that the expectations of telecom consumers are very high.

“People actually expect telecom services to work. I don’t think they really appreciate what it takes to deliver these services. So, it has come to a stage they just see telecom service as utility like water and electricity. Like a social service, it needs to work. We need to really come together in the industry and deliver value to the customer,” he said.

He also spoke about compliance to industry regulations and standards. “When it comes to compliance, this is an area where we are going to be placing a lot more focus, and things are going to be a lot more urgent.  I am not going to be asking for compliance after the fact. That is going to be a very key area of focus for me.

“So, we owe it to ourselves to benchmark ourselves against the best, not against other sectors. We have to just take ourselves as setting the benchmark for every person else. So, let people compare and say we have to be as good as telecom.”

On broadband, Maida said the Commission has a very short time to do so much. “A lot has been done with the Infrastructure Company (InfraCo) licensing. We just have to re-imagine, look at it again, and see whether that is the right approach and re-imagine how we approach it.  We now need to start getting into the states, and perhaps we might need to sit down and see how we can do that differently. Again, on the broadband issue, we need to increase the investment,” he said.

The new NCC boss said that he considered operating entities as a very crucial segment of the national telecom development, hence his desire to hear directly from industry CEOs about the issues, challenges, and opportunities.

“We also have to be clear that this is not just a conversation about you representing your shareholders. This is a conversation about Nigeria. This is a conversation about moving Nigeria forward. So, your shareholders are one part of your stakeholders, but Nigerians are also another critical, in fact, your most important stakeholders. So, this conversation is going to be about you having your shareholders, but you also have Nigerians to whom you will have to deliver services,” he said.

The CEOs, who expressed delight at the consultative approach of the EVC, promised to work closely in support of Maida’s mandate.

President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Tony Emoekpere, said the industry is reassured by the steps that Maida has taken in convening the interactive session. “We are really encouraged that your first action is to meet with us here at this interactive session. What you have done to invite us here to hear what we have to say is the right step,” he said.

Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, commended the interactive session for providing a platform for discussing the issues in the industry. He said the approach of the new boss of the NCC is very promising.

PalmPay, a leading Africa-focused fintech platform, has said that the future of money is now; therefore, the company has put in place adequate infrastructure, and the right measures to ensure that its millions of customers are guaranteed adequate security.

Speaking while making a presentation titled “Future of Money, Security, Customer Experience (CX)” at the Africa Tech Alliance (AfriTECH 3.0) held at The Providence Hotel, Ikeja GRA, last week, Mr. Chika Nwosu, the Managing Director of PalmPay, said that besides the operator putting the right things in place, the consumers also must the aware of how to protect themselves.

Nwosu who was represented at the Forum by Temitayo Oduwole, Head of IT and Payments at PalmPay, recounted the origin of money and its evolution to this moment and said that people are gradually moving away from paper money, where physical cash transactions are made, to what is today known as digital money where online and digital transactions now hold sway.

“All the services that we need are driven by technology, even the medium of exchange is also driven by technology. And the future of money right now is digital. If you look at the before and the now, right now because money has gone digital, we are experiencing a kind of transformation in the digital space. In terms of convenience, in terms of the ease of payment, that is what the future of money holds and that’s what we’re getting right now.

“I’m sure most people don’t even go around with cash again. Any transaction that you want to do, you can easily do that transaction on your phone, using your mobile wallet, using your card. So that is how money has transformed from being a cash-oriented medium to a digital medium right now,” he said.

Nwosu said PalmPay was prepared for this new regime of money and put a lot of robust infrastructure in place for risk management aimed at balancing the user experience with security in its app, adding that it has ensured that at any point in time, it puts measures in place that forestall a customer’s account being compromised.

“We have an AI in place, a logic that understands the pattern of your account, the pattern of your transaction. If it sees that somebody is doing something irrational or something out of the ordinary that you do on a normal day, because of the pattern that we’ve been able to build, we can block that transaction.

“And because we’re also going to have to look at technology-as-a-service, rather than having our infrastructure on prep, we’re having our infrastructure on the cloud. These are things that speak to infrastructure as a service, and technology-as-a-service, and are driving our reliability and sustainability today,” Nwosu said.

Nwosu admitted that though digital money is essential due to its speed, convenience, and accessibility, it also comes with its own threats and its own security challenges, especially in the face of nefarious activities around cybercrime.

“There are different channels by which people can access their money. However, in accessing this money, there is a potential challenge of having your funds being taken over by some people that you don’t want them to have access to it. There are lots of things happening around the future of money in terms of safety and in terms of security.

“We have online fraud. We have a local simulation. Identity theft is on the rise. We are being infused into devices, into servers. We have phishing in which e-mails are sent to deceive you to believe that the e-mails are coming from a genuine source. These are things that can affect or impact the digital money currency.

“The most important thing, again, is that at any point in time, as much as we are creating the environment to make sure that fraud is actually reduced in terms of cyber security, we are addressing all the things that need to be addressed so that from a digital money perspective, we are able to access the money without any fear. We can do a transaction without any fear.

“It’s also very important to understand that any time a fraud happens, a notification is very important. Next slide, please. Lack of security awareness is top of the reasons why consumers are scammed or defrauded. And what we try to do in PalmPay is to raise that awareness, to let our customers know that their personal information is only personal to them,” he said.

The Managing Director stated that lack of knowledge to protect personal information, patronizing fake sites and social media pages, and attempts or pivots on unofficial channels, are some of the things that could lead to customers being scammed or defrauded.

On PalmPay’s approach to enhancing customer security on its app, Nwosu said over the past four years it has been in the Nigerian market, it has been able to marry security with customer experience, which has remained the attraction to its brand.

“What we’ve done is binding. Your phone is bound such that even if you change your phone, you put in your credentials, and there’s an OTP that has been sent to revalidate and authorize the customer who is trying to do that transaction. One of the other things that we’ve also done to make sure that our customers are well protected is to have an inactive session set up.

“An inactive session has to do with if you’re not doing anything on your app, then it’s time out. It doesn’t give room for people to have access to that phone or your mobile app and try to do something. Because if you keep the mobile app up, anybody could actually have access to it, and they could do any transaction. Not to forget the fact that for every transaction that you do as well, it’s been enabled. We have a metric just to make sure that it is the right person that is accessing your account at any point in time,” Nwosu concluded.

In a groundbreaking development, Mali and Russia have officially inked a deal to collaboratively construct a state-of-the-art Gold Refinery in the capital city of Mali, Bamako. The agreement, aimed at bolstering Mali’s control over its gold production, involves the establishment of a refinery capable of processing an impressive 200 tonnes of gold annually.

The strategic initiative is set to empower Mali to assert authority over all aspects of gold production within the country, enabling the accurate application of taxes and duties. This move signifies a significant step towards economic autonomy for Mali in the gold sector.

Ironically, despite France possessing the fourth-largest gold reserves globally, totaling 2,436 tons, the country lacks a single gold mine within its borders. Mali, historically occupied by France, holds a starkly different scenario – despite boasting 860 gold mines, the nation has no gold reserves in its banks. This anomaly persisted during the French military presence that endured until 2022, during which Mali produced 50 tons of gold annually.

The recent geopolitical shift in Mali, marked by the dismissal of French military mercenaries by President Colonel Assimi Goita following public protests, adds a layer of complexity to the historical context. The move reflects the determination of Mali to assert its sovereignty and control over its resources.

The circumstances surrounding how France acquired its substantial gold reserves, a matter of ongoing discourse, raises intriguing questions about the historical dynamics between the two nations.

As Mali embarks on this transformative project with Russia, the establishment of the Gold Refinery stands as a symbol of the nation’s commitment to shaping its economic destiny and securing control over its valuable resources. This collaborative effort is poised to redefine Mali’s position in the global gold market and contribute to the nation’s economic development.