Konga ignites 'Tech Month' with Starlink support, global OEM partnerships - ITREALMS

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Nigeria’s leading composite e-commerce giant, Konga, has officially flagged off its highly anticipated Konga Tech Month, a month-long strategic campaign designed to accelerate digital adoption across the federation, reports ITREALMS.

Running throughout May 2026, the initiative presents a compelling opportunity for consumers, SMEs, and corporate entities to acquire premium technology products at significant discounts of up to 50 percent.

StartupSouth ignites Enugu's innovation ecosystem ahead @10th edition - ITREALMS

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The Digital Transformation Summit, scheduled for July 25, 2025, in Enugu State, will bring together stakeholders from across sectors to explore how digital transformation can unlock value, deepen resilience, and scale up high-impact ventures in Nigeria's South-East region.

This summit is part of the build-up to StartupSouthX, the 10th edition of the South-South and South-East’s premier innovation conference.

TD Africa’s Accra Synergy summit, ignites tech transformation - ITREALMS

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Accra, Ghana, witnessed a remarkable gathering of tech industry leaders, visionaries, and policy-makers as TD Africa hosted the Accra Synergy Summit on Thursday, February 20th. 

The prestigious event, held at the Kempinski Hotel Accra, brought together some of the most influential minds in the technology ecosystem, further cementing TD Africa’s role as a transformative force in Sub-Saharan Africa’s tech landscape.

Mastercard $1m grant ignites African business growth

ITRealms:

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth has confirmed commitment to a grant of up to USD$1 million over three years to support the growth of small business owners in Africa and Rwanda particularly, reports ITRealms.

Ensuring that the first phase of the roll out of the grant is successful, Mastercard has partnered with the African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC), locally known as Inkomoko. The team develops and grooms entrepreneurs in industries such as technology, agriculture and energy – three of East Africa’s biggest and fastest growing sectors, and priorities in Rwanda.

ITRealms recalls that this was proclaimed during the 2016 World Economic Forum on Africa (WEF Africa) in Kigali, Rwanda, which saw Mastercard committed to supporting Rwanda’s vision of financially empowering its citizens, with the grant established to support achieving this goal. The commitment is in line with driving poverty out of Rwanda through job creation, ensuring gender equality through equal access to opportunities, and delivering decent work prospects which will enable economic growth.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners are key drivers of the local economy – currently making up 97.8 percent of the private sector in the country. Inkomoko’s one-year programme removes the barriers local entrepreneurs face in the areas of skills development, networks, and financing, through providing mentoring, technical support, capacity building, and direct access to affordable capital.

What makes the partnership between Mastercard and Inkomoko unique is the support of both Rwandan nationals as well as some of the 160,000 refugees currently living in Rwanda. In collaboration with the United Nations Agency on Refugees (UNHCR), the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDIMAR) and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Inkomoko will roll out a programme aimed at fostering the social and economic independence of refugees in Rwanda.

With a large population of refugees, the role of private and public partnerships remains crucial to the inclusive growth and development of all those displaced. Mastercard, together with the African Entrepreneur Collective, has committed to assisting entrepreneurs in Rwanda regardless of their circumstances, a vision shared and driven by the Rwandan government.

“Connecting entrepreneurs, especially women and refugees, to the networks that power the modern world – like financial services – unlocks their economic potential and accelerates a cycle of equitable and sustainable economic growth,” says Shamina Singh, President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

The Inkomoko entrepreneurship programme aims to restore the dignity of refugees living in Rwanda by empowering these small business owners with vital support to grow their businesses. The programme will work with 4,000 refugees in Rwanda over the next three years.

“The intention is to connect refugees with the tools and skills necessary to enable them to become self-sufficient and independent entrepreneurs to improve their own livelihoods, create jobs for others in their communities, and contribute to Rwanda’s larger economic development. Rwanda’s refugee camps and host communities are places of vibrant social and economic activity with bustling markets, shops, restaurants, and industries,” says Julienne Oyler, Executive Director of African Entrepreneur Collective. “Supporting and developing entrepreneurs in these areas will have tremendous impact on the communities themselves and the country at large.”

Rwanda has become a bustling centre of commerce in Africa, and by implementing programmes that broadly target high potential local entrepreneurs, broad-based economic growth can be advanced by equipping the country’s next generation of business owners with the right tools to hone their financial literacy – the foundation of financial inclusion and growth.

In this way, the support provided as part of the grant not only falls in with the country’s Vision 2020 strategy to create a knowledge-based, cashless economy with 90 percent financial inclusion, it also contributes to Rwanda meeting its Sustainable Development Goals, most notably in terms of eradicating poverty and driving gender equality through the empowerment and entrepreneurship.

Facilitating inclusive growth is an important way to build social and economic development, and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth remains committed to working with partners in both the public and private spheres to drive that development. “Microentrepreneurs drive the local economy, and through our partnership with African Entrepreneur Collective, we look forward to empowering them with the tools and training to grow their businesses and advance the lives of their families and communities,” concludes Singh.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Yudala Zero Gravity ignites Lagos Praise explosion

ITRealms Art & Fashion:

Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the nation, at the weekend, witnessed an out-pouring of praise as a star-studded cast of Gospel artistes delivered spirit-rousing performances to draw the curtains on the multi-city mega music concert powered by Yudala in partnership with renowned entertainment outfit, New Concept Media Group (NCMG), reports ITRealms Art & Fashion.

Held penultimate Sunday, November 20^th with the build-up to the much publicized event dominated by news of the calibre of artistes Yudala on lined up, including the likes of Chioma Jesus, Joe Praise, Frank Edwards, Buchi, Sammie Okposo, Sola Allyson, Prince Gozie Okeke (Akanchawa), Chinyere Udoma, Enkay and Tope Alabi, among others.

ITRealms Art & Fashion reports that Sunday’s event was equally remarkable for the number of dignitaries it attracted, among whom was the former Governor, Anambra State, Dr. Peter Obi; erstwhile Managing Director, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Phillip Odozua; Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya; former Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe; Chairman, Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, several anointed men of God and Senior Pastors of major churches, among many others.

As it was, the event fully lived up to expectations as many reveled in the out-pouring of praise and worship which featured heavily in the performances of the Gospel ministers on parade.

The evening of mega praise got underway with an opening performance by reggae Gospel exponent, Buchi which set the stage for a soul-lifting came by the Exalted Tribe – the renowned choir of Harvesters International Christian Centre (HICC).

Up next was Joe Praise with an energetic rendition of some of his most popular songs which got the crowd excited. The excitement levels went a notch higher as Frank Edwards led the audience on another thrilling and high-tempo performance.

From Chioma Jesus with her divine prophecies and personal testimonies of God’s goodness through the Yoruba language-infused deliveries of Sola Allyson and Tope Alabi and down to customary energy and drive of Sammie Okposo, the event was a praise-filled roller-coaster ride for attendees, with many rushing forward to the stage for a closer feel of the action.

Fast-rising act Enkay also did not disappoint with a performance that got many on their feet while Chinyere Udoma and Prince Gozie Okeke made sure the night ended on a high note for the many who stayed back in spite of the knowledge that the next day Monday marked the start of another working week.

For some lucky attendees, Sunday’s event will not be forgotten in a hurry as loads of freebies including smartphones, laptops, free airtime and more were won, courtesy of major partners of Yudala Zero Gravity 2016 such as Hewlett Packard (HP), InnJoo Mobile, Airtel, Lenovo and other give-aways by Tecno and Infinix and Phillips, among others.

Interestingly, the give-away of the grand prize – a Kia Rio donated by Kia Motors – had to be put off until the end of the Yudala Black Friday campaign tagged – The Real Black Friday – which runs from Thursday November 24^th till Monday November 28^th. This was as a result of the clarion call by many unqualified attendees who pleaded to participate in the Yudala Black Friday sales and thereby stand a better chance of winning the Kia Rio.

The Yudala Zero Gravity Mega Music Concerts kicked off on October 2^nd 2016 with a Contemporary Music Concert at Landmark Centre, Lagos and featured major stops in the nation’s capital Abuja and Enugu with huge crowds of attendees turning out in both cities before returning to Lagos for Sunday’s event – a Rock Gospel Concert which featured some of Nigeria’s finest collection of Gospel artistes.

Uj. N Dominic/GEE

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