DEMO Africa invests N1.99b in participating startups

 ITRealms:

Since the inaugural event of DEMO Africa in 2012, to date, an estimated US$10 million about N1.99 billion has been invested in the participating startups, ITRealms reports.

DEMO Africa is co-hosted with the Nigerian Ministry of Communication Technology (NMCT), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and VC4Africa. It is the flagship initiative of LIONS@frica - a partnership founded by the U.S. Department of State and other private and public sector organizations, including the World Bank’s infoDev program for innovation and entrepreneurship, Microsoft, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Startup Weekend.

According to a press statement, infoDev / World Bank Group’ s Digital Entrepreneurship Program (DEP) works to scale up high potential firms and secure venture financing in Africa.

The activities, ITRealms gathered, require a pipeline of quality entrepreneurs, and events like DEMO Africa provide an opportunity to build awareness on the program and its partners like the network of mobile application laboratories (mLabs) and innovation hubs, including CTIC in Dakar, Senegal, mLab East Africa / Kenya and mLab South Africa.

The statement also added that since the inaugural event in 2012, DEMO Africa has generated significant traction within the international tech community. Last year’s edition in Nigeria attracted over 500 attendees and, to date, ITRealms learnt.

DEMO Africa 2015, a two-day event in which thirty of the most innovative African companies will launch their new tech products before an audience of international investors, IT buyers, and media, will kick off in Lagos on September 24^, 2015.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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MasterCard Index scores Nigeria 91.4 points

MasterCard says Nigerian consumers are still very optimistic on its products and have a high level of confidence in the country’s economic overall, scoring Nigeria 91.4 points.

This position was contained in the MasterCard Worldwide Index (MCWI) of Consumer Confidence, using the company’s five key economic indicators, namely, regular income prospects, quality of life, economy, employment prospects and stock market.

The aforementioned indicators were rated 97.9, 94.9, 93.9, 92.0 and 78.6 points in that other, based on a survey which measured consumer confidence on prevailing expectations in the market for the next six months.

According to the Country Manager, West Africa, MasterCard Worldwide, Omokehinde Ojomuyide, the Index score is calculated with zero as the most pessimistic, 100 as most optimistic and 50 as neutral.

She elucidated that the most recent survey was conducted between 24 April 2012 and 10 June 2012, and involved 11,376 respondents aged 18 to 64 across 25 markets spanning the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions. 

On the African continent, the survey was conducted in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa.

Although the index and accompanying reports may not represent MasterCard financial performance, globally, the Country Manager, noted that the company carries out this Index in order to provide informed understanding in the shifts of Nigerian consumer sentiment, as well as to assist in the identification of market trends over time.

“Nigerians remain one of the most optimistic groups of consumers among those surveyed by MasterCard on the continent, with an Index score of 91.4 points in this latest set of results – over 12 points higher than the average of the five African countries surveyed,” she says.

 

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2012 Blog Action Day gets date

Bloggers all over the world are gearing up for the 2012 Blog Action Day (BAD) which has now been fixed for October 15, 2012, this year.

The event, which comes with the theme “The Power of We” while bloggers could also use the #powerofwe hashtag, and invited registrations for Blog Action Day.

Explaining the theme for this year, the coordinators, said that the firstly, the popularity of the subjects Community, Equality, Transparency/Anti-Corruption and Freedom, in the theme poll have ran via Facebook and Twitter, over the last few weeks.
Secondly, “we felt that Blog Action Day needed to reflect the ever growing movements of people working together for positive social change.”

Whether using digital tools like blogs, social networks and mobiles, or meeting face to face in local community halls, neighbours house, and public streets, that greater numbers of people have been coming together to make change, either for their own communities or the world at large.
For the team at Blog Action Day, they see The Power of We as a celebration of people working together to make a positive difference in the world, and hope participants take part actively.
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