Nigeria Archives - Memeburn

Uber by the numbers in South Africa, Kenya & Nigeria
By Hadlee Simons on 17 November, 2016
Uber tracks you all the time, so it knows a lot about you. It knows when you're sleeping, it knows when you're awake. It knows when you've been bad or good... You get the picture. That means it must sit on a treasure trove of data and related insights, then. Fortunately, Uber South Africa's Timothy Willis delivered some rather interesting numbers. Uber had a number of intriguing stats to share at AfricaCom - now if only we could get our hands on all their data... Willis also confirmed that UberPool didn't have a launch date in South Africa yet. "You have to reach a...

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Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg visits Nigeria in African knowledge quest
By Matthew Alexander on 31 August, 2016
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is currently on a business trip to Africa, according to his Facebook page. Zuckerberg stopped over in Nigeria, Facebook's largest African market, to learn more about the country's development and startup scene. Zuckerberg was in Rome, Italy with his wife Priscilla Chan earlier this week. "This is my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa," he reveals on a Facebook post. "I'll be meeting with developers and entrepreneurs, and learning about the startup ecosystem in Nigeria. The energy here is amazing and I'm excited to learn as much as I can. Our first stop is the Co-creation Hub Nigeria (CcHUB)...

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Amplify hopes to strike gold in Nigeria with recurrent payments
By Paul Adepoju on 20 June, 2016
2016 is fast becoming a payment-focused year in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem considering the numerous updates in the ecosystem and the launch of new platforms, services, and the rejuvenation of old ones. The question being asked by many stakeholders is “what’s it about payment in Nigeria?” Earlier this month, yet another payment startup launched in Nigeria to offer payment services, it’s called Amplify and its uniqueness is that it is focused on recurrent payment. The startup was incubated and enjoying the support of MEST Incubator. In an exclusive interview with Segun Adeyemi, Co-Founder of Amplify, he said in spite of the...
On Nigeria’s digital integration: Q&A with Anakle COO
By Nur Bremmen: Staff reporter on 23 February, 2016
Nigeria's digital industry is getting very interesting. More social media campaigns are popping up and during the last elections digital ideas took centre stage. In September 2015 the number of mobile internet users on Nigeria’s telecoms networks clocked in at 97.21 million, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). This is huge, according to the GSMA this is the largest mobile market on the continent. Nigerian digital agencies see this, they see the potential of an internet connected society and the are playing to that. In 2014, a cheeky little game pop up on the web call The Brideprice app....
10 of Africa’s most innovative apps of 2015 you should know about
By Nur Bremmen: Staff reporter on 18 November, 2015
Pan-African competition AppsAfrica has concluded earlier this week, announcing the continent's ten most innovative mobile applications of 2015. With entries stretching from Nigeria to Togo and South Africa, the awards recognised a variety of platforms, that include live video and radio streaming to e-readers and many more. "Our mission is always to promote and honour the fantastic innovation across the mobile and tech ecosystem in Africa," AppsAfrica wrote in a blogpost. "We had diverse entries from 21 countries and both the finalists and winners are a testament to how technology is being used to disrupt business models, empower people and drive...

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What does success mean for women in Africa?
By Mich Atagana on 29 September, 2015
Over the last few weeks, Nigerians have taken to Twitter to discuss what it meant to be a woman in Nigeria. The conversation highlighted the various issues women in Nigeria face on a daily basis, including prejudice, stereotypes and having to prove themselves. The tweets ranged from the morbidly horrifying to the questionably unfair. Nigerian women it seems have it hard, but the truth be told women all over the world have it hard. Often we talk about the way African women are treated in life and in business, we discuss how African women are not moving forward at...
Majority of Facebook users in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria connect to small businesses
By Nur Bremmen: Staff reporter on 17 September, 2015
The majority of Facebook users in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria use the platform to connect with small businesses. This is according to new statistics released by the social networking giant, which revealed that 63% of Kenya's Facebook users connect to SMEs, 61% in South Africa and 54% in Nigeria. By introducing new features to Facebook Pages over the last few months, the California-based company is hoping to further drive customer-to-business engagement on its platform. "With more than a billion people visiting Pages on Facebook every month, Pages are the best place for businesses, and in particular small businesses, to...

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Wella Health: Charting course for digital health startups in Nigeria
By Paul Adepoju on 26 May, 2015
In Nigeria, very few professionals enjoy job security like doctors. This is why it is not every day that you see someone no longer thrilled by the intrigues of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the emergency room or the beautiful sights of couples hugging and longing to hold their newborn baby wrapped. It is not easy to leave the hospital environment to become an entrepreneur, armed with nothing but an idea and hoping to attract enthusiastic users and endear investors with big bucks. Read more on Ventureburn.

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#Fuelpocalypse: 10 tweets that sum up Nigeria’s crazy fuel crisis
By Mich Atagana on 25 May, 2015
Nigerians are not having fun right now. The current fuel crisis has left many in the country stranded as most domestic flights have been cancelled. The situation is rather ironic, when you consider that Nigeria is one of the largest oil producers in Africa. The heightened fuel scarcity comes days before the current government exits office, which has caused some speculation as to its response to the issue. Nigeria is a country riddled with major power issues leaving the bulk of the population to rely on generators to not only power their businesses, but their lives as well. Now, the...
6 trends that will help accelerate Nigeria’s tech revolution #MWA2015
By Paul Adepoju on 24 April, 2015
On Day One of Mobile West Africa in Lagos, Nigeria, a panel of five experts predicted what they believe are the next things that would happen to accelerate the evolution of the tech industry in Nigeria. Members of the panel were James McNab who's Africa's MD of Basebone, Toyosi Akerele, founder and CEO of RISE Group, Omatsola Osawaru Barrow sales executive at MTN Nigeria, Valentine Obi who's CEO of eTranzact International, and Emmanuel Revmatas -- a director at Samsung Electronics West Africa. 1. Relevant and engaging apps Barrow believes in the next few years we will witness the release of more applications...
Facebook’s Internet.org is coming to Nigeria #MWA2015
By Paul Adepoju on 23 April, 2015
Facebook on Wednesday announced plans to launch Internet.org app next month in Nigeria. The Internet.org app encourages telecoms to provide free and affordable access to certain web services like Facebook and Wikipedia. Announcing the plan for Nigeria, head of public policy for Facebook Africa Ebele Okobi, told participants at the Mobile West Africa 2015 conference, that the imminent launch in Nigeria follows similar ones in other African countries including Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya. Speaking to Memeburn on the sidelines of the conference, she added that the app could be launched on more than one telecoms network in Nigeria, making the...

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Why Africa’s mobile games should become powerful marketing tools #MWA2015
By Paul Adepoju on 22 April, 2015
Even though the opportunities for them are quite vast and numerous, mobile game companies in most parts of Africa are still trying to crack the market with varying degrees of success. In a fireside chat at Mobile West Africa 2015 with Zubair Abubakar, the Nigerian game developer and co-founder of ChopUp admitted that no game company in Africa is at the same level of monetisation as their counterparts such as King's Candy Crush which makes more than US$1-million weekly from in-app sales alone. This is while the local industry continues to grow in terms of number of companies, games and...

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African women in tech: Nkem Begho on being geeky and manly in the tech space
By Mich Atagana on 31 October, 2014
"Women in tech are thought to be geeky and manly. They are thought to have no fashion sense and probably all wear nerd glasses. I find that women in tech are perceived as unsexy, however I believe that your profession has nothing to do with how you look or who you are as a person." -- Nkem Begho Where are the women in tech? Who are the women building technology or working in technology in Africa? These questions and many more are asked on a daily basis. When it comes to technology in Africa, the general consensus is that...
How is the internet improving people’s lives in Africa? [T4A]
By Mich Atagana on 8 October, 2014
There are five key characteristics reflecting how the internet has "greatly improved" people's lives in Africa, so says research conducted by On Device Research. The company, which presented its findings of a survey conducted recently, addressed some key consumption patterns for audiences in Africa and how the internet has changed their lives and the ways they consume content. "The data is representative of mobile internet users. That means that in the UK it is all smartphones whereas in the African markets the vast majority are feature phone users," said Alistair Hill of On Device told the audiences at the Tech4Africa conference,...

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Screw the robot apocalypse, our tech future is all about doing good
By Mich Atagana on 5 August, 2014
After a 20-something-hour flight, I am about to face an immigration officer in the United States – not always the best experience. It's my turn and I edge forward. "What is the purpose of your visit?" he asks me. "I am here for Microsoft's Imagine Cup," I respond. "That's great," he exclaims (surprising). "Are you one of the students? What have you built? Will it change the world?" Unfortunately I had to inform him that I am not a developer genius about to change the world, but he's right, there are students from 34 countries here that are about to. Microsoft created the...

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