First Google Startup Week Lagos attracts top UK, African venture capitalists - ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

The first-ever Google Startup Week ended in Lagos, with some of Africa and United Kingdom (UK)-based top venture capitalists (VCs) on ground for exploration, reports ITREALMS.

This, ITREALMS also reports, saw the Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa graduating some 12 new startups from across Africa, and who pitched for funding,

Select alumni from classes 1, 2 and 3 are fresh out of a three-month Google for Startups UK Africa Immersion Programme in London. This is a 12-week immersion programme designed to bring the best of Google and the London startup ecosystem to tech companies from Africa that do not yet have a presence in the UK.

In partnership with Launchpad Accelerator Africa, the program aims to connect high potential early stage startups with the dedicated support of Google for Startups UK to help them take their startup to the next level.

“Every year, Africa’s economic growth continues to strengthen. Google for Startups has put its weight behind supporting the continent’s startups as they continue to build great products tackling key global social issues. This is an incredibly exciting space which is very relevant to UK ecosystem and investors,” says Marta Krupinska, head of Google for Startups UK.

Having completed their London Immersion, Launchpad Accelerator Africa Class 1, 2 and 3 alumni met with investors from the UK and Africa during Google Startup Week in Lagos to pitch for funding to take their businesses further.

Launchpad Accelerator Africa Class 4 graduated this week, as part of the Google Startup Week activities. Class 4 comprises 12 startups from six countries, addressing six different sectors.

Google Startup Week also saw participants from all 4 classes get a chance to meet, engage with each other, and share their experiences for the first time.

Class 4’s startups have collectively raised $4.3m, created over 300 jobs and signed up over 110 000 users. They had collectively raised in excess of $600 000 before the programme, and have been able to use Launchpad Accelerator Africa to scale their businesses to new levels.

“We believe Africans can solve Africa’s problems,” says the programme’s head of startup success and services, Fola Olatunji-David. “In running Launchpad Accelerator Africa we specifically look to work with startups with that share this vision. Launchpad Class 4 is tackling some of Africa’s most pressing challenges, including access to financial services, education, and agriculture.”

Since Launchpad Accelerator Africa was first announced in late 2017, the programme has worked with 47 startups on their growth journey. These companies have raised millions of dollars in investments, and created hundreds of jobs across the continent.

All the selected startups receive working space, and access to expert advisers from Google, Silicon Valley, and Africa. Participants also receive travel and PR support during each three-month programme.

The Class 4 startups graduating at Google Startup Week Lagos, in alphabetical order, are:

1. Afara Partners (Nigeria): Afara Partners offers platforms that provide services to the financially underserved/excluded.



2. BrandBook (South Africa): BrandBook is a mobile app that incentivises users to take a picture of their receipts, allowing it to harvest consumer purchase behaviour across all channels.

3. Elewa (Kenya): Elewa is a toolkit for establishing scalable high-quality training programs within existing education- or professional institutions.

4. Eversend (Uganda): Eversend is a multi-currency e-wallet that allows you to exchange, spend and send money at the best possible rates. It also includes insurance, virtual debit cards, and bill payments.

5. OZÉ (Ghana): OZÉ brings African small businesses into the digital era, equipping their owners to make data-driven decisions to improve their performance and access capital.

6. Phenomenal Technologies (Zimbabwe): Phenomenal Technologies offers low-cost field excursions for learners through virtual reality.

7. REACH (Nigeria): REACH recognises, categorises and interprets transaction data from SMS and other sources, making this data available as individual financial and market insights.

8. Sortd (South Africa): Sortd aims to re-invent email with the world's first All-in-One productivity suite for Gmail and GSuite.

9. TradeBuza (Nigeria): The TradeBuza is a cloud-based web and mobile application, which digitises contract farming and trade.

10. Tulaa (Kenya): Tulaa is an online-to-offline marketplace for smallholder farmers in Africa.

11. XEND (Nigeria) : XEND allows users to make and receive payments, offline or online.

12. WorkPay (Kenya): WorkPay is a cloud-based employee management and payment solution using the power of mobile and biometrics.

London Immersion Africa Startups:

13. 54gene (Nigeria) - African DNA makes up only 2% of genetic research material used in pharmaceutical research. Founded in 2019, 54gene is creating the world’s first and largest pan-African biobank.

14. Fieldinsight (Nigeria) - Fieldinsight helps to collect data in a structured manner using mobile and IoT devices. It then aggregates and represents this data through visualisations to help businesses make the best decisions.

15. Kwara (Kenya) - Kwara powers financial cooperatives with technology so they can meet their members needs instantly.

16. OkHi (Kenya) - 4 billion people across emerging markets do not have a physical address, costing economies $175bn a year. Based in Nairobi, OkHi creates digital addresses for people, which they can use (for free) to access reliable business services.

17. Paps (Senegal) - Paps is an African logistics startup focused on the last mile delivery and domestic markets, with strong client care orientation, allowing live tracking, intelligent address systems and automatic dispatch.

18. Piggyvest (Nigeria) - Piggyvest is an automated savings and investments platform that helps Nigerians save little amounts of money periodically, and then invest those funds for competitive returns.

19. PayGo Energy (Kenya) - PayGo Energy’s connected home gas meter links to a global IoT-based infrastructure for cooking gas delivery within high-density, high-demand urban communities — changing the entire cooking experience for households and unlocking access to clean cooking for a billion people.

20. ThankUCash (Nigeria) - ThankUCash is an analytics and rewards platform built to enable banks and businesses in Africa to acquire, reward and retain loyal customers.

21. Thrive Agric (Nigeria) - Thrive Agric provides farmers with access to finance, data-driven advisory and access to a market upon harvest.

22. Voyc (South Africa) - Voyc is on a mission to accelerate the world's transition towards customer-centricity by making it easy for companies to understand their customers.
Chuks Egbuna/EDitor
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FinTech causing positive disruptions says Adeduntan - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The chief executive officer (CEO), First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Adesola Adeduntan, has declared that financial technology is causing positive disruption in the financial services industry, reports ITREALMS.

Adeduntan in an address to the FirstBank Fintech Summit 3.0 in Lagos, made this declaration, pointing out that this year’s summit indicated the Bank’s commitment to putting its customers first. “FirstBank is keen at offering excellent financial services by devising new ways of effectively and efficiently meeting customers’ financial needs,” he said.

“The impact of technology in lifestyle business and other areas of today’s customer is huge,” he said.

FirstBank, he noted, therefore follows global trends in collaborating with Fintechs and other big technology companies on several transformational initiatives to be able to satisfy its customers’ needs.

He also said that “Customer experience and innovation are key in our approach to satisfying our customers. As a leading banking services solutions provider, FirstBank has continued to set the pace in the financial services industry, coming up with new initiatives to provide financial products and services with greater speed, accountability and efficiency.”

Adeduntan opined that the third edition of the FirstBank Fintech Summit indicates the Bank’s commitment to putting its customers first. According to him, FirstBank is keen at offering excellent financial services by devising new ways of effectively and efficiently meeting customers’ financial needs.

The main purpose of the FirstBank Fintech summit, he said, was to converge thought leaders in the FinTech space to champion discourse around financial technology and proffer solutions that will shape the future of banking.

Remmy Nweke/DoP

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Financial inclusion and rise of payment - ITREALMS

Commentary@ITREALMS: 

Technology is an almost indispensable part of human history. It has however never quite progressed as projected. It almost always manages to beat expectations. The automobile, the television and even the computer all defied expectations. One of the biggest fears about technology was always about job loss. This fear never quite materialised.

Technology always manages to achieve net job gain. Rather than take jobs, technology constantly creates jobs and sometimes even whole new industries thus boosting productivity. After all is said and done, technology is now an ally, an ally to humans, an ally for human development.

On the flip side, a major challenge for development is poverty. it has been described as easily one of the most prevalent and challenging issues in the world. Beyond the definitions and categorisation, however, the stark reality is that poverty is deprivation. According to the United Nations (UN), “To be poor is to be deprived. And the worst kind of deprivation is financial exclusion.”

It is precisely the desire to curb, curtail or else eliminate financial exclusion that has financial inclusion has become a real big deal in the last decade.

And why not, traditional banks have struggled to reach large segments of the population, both in the urban and rural areas. They have struggled to reach the unbanked. They have struggled to provide services beyond the formal settings.

Banks have been unable to achieve financial inclusion. New ideas are needed. New methods are required. New technologies must come to play.

Thankfully, it is already beginning to happen. It started with payments. In the first instance card and later gradually online payments until eCommerce started to buzz. Interswitch is a pioneer in this space. Now, it has graduated to the level of firms, technology firms, offering the full range of financial services.

Today, these firms, technology firms offering financial services are aptly referred to as fintechs. They are at the root of disruption ravaging the financial services sector and are spreading fast. They are working actively to change the narrative. They seem committed to contributing to efforts to close the financial inclusion gap. They are emerging as the real MVP of financial inclusion.

Fintech, according to Investopedia, is used to describe new tech that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services.

Fintechs are however not only technology-driven but equally deeply customer-focused, data-powered and service-oriented. They are also currently springing up like mushrooms across the country. This is not surprising as emerging markets, such as Nigeria, are the today the hotbeds for producing smart and simple financial solutions at an incredibly rapid rate. This makes sense in a country where so many are currently financially excluded.

In using modern technologies innovatively to enhance the delivery of financial products and services, fintechs find themselves not just providing alternative finance but in direct competition with banks.

This need not be the case. Yes, for a long time, fintechs offered mobile-only propositions because they lacked the legacy infrastructure and associated costs of the banks. Banks, on the other hand, lack the technology and agility of the fintechs.

But now, the future is in collaboration. No, not a competition, but cooperation and collaboration. At this point, banks and fintech must find a way to shake hands and get things done. There are huge opportunities to bridge the gap if the parties will collaborate. They must go together if the goal is true financial inclusion.

The opportunity is huge. Unconfirmed reports indicate that over 90 per cent of transactions in Nigeria are still cash-based. The opportunity to provide financial services is enormous. Every player in the sector must therefore actively collaborate to bring in a substantial portion of the 90 per cent into the formal system.

Here again, fintechs are showing the way. The driving payments as a strategy to boost financial inclusion. This is precisely why the emergence of new players like Opay is welcomed. A new fintech that entered the market with a completely new business model, one that may just be the way to go.

Opay is ensuring that a growing number of people to use its digital payments solution by offering everyday services. Think ORide, OFood, OBus and others.

Fintechs are enabling payments, increasing the number of people with access to financial services and creating jobs. Consider the massive number of agents that now dots the landscape. It is therefore not far-fetched to think that fintechs are driving financial inclusion and jump-starting efforts to free people from the clutches of poverty.

Besides, fintechs are pushing the frontier. They are rapidly expanding the borders from basic financial service such as payment to lending, savings and insurance among others. They can leverage data analytics to provide personalised loans, improve the loan disbursement timeline and promote prompt, somethings almost same day quick loans.

Firms such as Renmoney are in this space, promoting unprecedented access to quick loans. It is now so easy for anyone that desires quick loans (business or personal) to access it.

Financial inclusion, according to the World Bank, means that “individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs – transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance – delivered responsibly and sustainably.” Fintechs are making this a reality for millions of Nigerians. It is beyond commendable.

Without a doubt, the association between financial inclusion efforts and the reduction of poverty rates is a key driver for the future expansion of digital financial services (DFS).

Progress has been made. Reports indicate that about 50 per cent of adults in the country have access to financial services. It can be better. A lot more still needs to be done.

Thankfully, some banks have seen the light. They are promoting services using USSD, such that customers with the most basic mobile phones can perform essential banking services.

Here, consider Stanbic IBTC’s *909# among others. ALAT by Wema, a first in its class, is also worthy of study. With USSD and other mobile financial solutions, people can access top-notch financial services without stepping into a bank.

Also, now that the telecoms behemoths are getting into mobile money and digital financial services, a huge leap is imminent. They are expected to help advance the quest to reach the unbanked with financial services. this is plausible as there are currently over 150 million connected lines in Nigeria.

The licensing telecoms service providers is a great way to democratise access to financial services in Nigeria. There are reports that MTN plans to roll out over five hundred thousand MoMo Agent across the country, through it Y’ello Digital Financial Services (YDFS) subsidiary.

This is the future. The future is already here.

Undeniably for the benefits of technology to successfully and fully harnessed to improve financial inclusion in Nigeria the right developmental and regulatory framework must be in place.

As the world looks to end poverty, technology and fintechs are in the thick of things. Access to financial services is on the rise. The government should focus on enabling the safe and sustainable development of this critical section of the economy.

Policies that seek penalise for using e-payment must be abolished, regulations that restrain e-commerce must be scrapped and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) must shelf the plan to tax online transactions.

Fintechs and indeed all technology solutions providers deserve a break. They are today driving financial inclusion. They are heroes of Nigeria’s financial inclusion success story. They are helping to end poverty.

*Elvis Eromosele, a Corporate Communication professional and public affairs analyst lives in Lagos.

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Ministry lied on mobile data cost: Nigeria among 5 cheapest countries - ITREALMS

Exclusive@ITREALMS:

Latest study has shown that Nigeria is among the top five cheapest countries of the world on mobile data, ITREALMS can authoritatively report.

ITREALMS investigations, revealed that the study conducted recently by the United Kingdom (UK)-based Cable, identified Nigeria as the fourth cheapest mobile data worldwide, thereby disputing greatly the recent claims by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy that Nigeria ranks among the highest in data price.

This study, ITREALMS gathered, also placed Nigeria among the top five cheapest countries as far as cost of mobile data is concerned, with estimated data costing $2.22, based on average cost of 1 Gigabyte of mobile data per country.

Further investigations by ITREALMS indicated that the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy lied when it recently posited that Nigeria was among the highest on cost of data, asserting “… data price being charged in Nigeria is among the highest even compared to countries that have far less population than Nigeria.”

As it stands, ITREALMS reports that India is leading as the cheapest country for mobile data selling at $0.26, followed by Russia with $0.91 and Italy $1.73 with Nigeria coming fourth at $2.22, followed closely by Australia with $2.47, within the top five cheapest countries.

ITREALMS further gathered that France got the 6th position with mobile data selling at $2.99, followed by Brazil at $3.50, Spain at $3.79, United Kingdom took the 9th position with $6.66 and Germany crowned the top 10 cheapest on average cost of 1GB mobile data at $6.66, among others.

Equally, ITREALMS gathered that some 6,313 mobile data plans in 230 countries were gathered and analyzed by Cable, within the period under review.

This report, ITREALMS also gathered goes to dispute the insinuation by government officials that Nigeria ranks high on cost of data, which necessitated the purported intrusive policy direction from the office of Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.

As said by the minister, in a recent press statement made available to ITREALMS, “the directive followed incessant complaints he received from subscribers against the telecoms companies on the high cost and illegal deduction of data, which he said he would not allow to continue… data price being charged in Nigeria is among the highest even compared to countries that have far less population than Nigeria.”

Commenting on this, some industry observers described the claim above as fake news and wondered what has become the role of Research and Development Department of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).ITREALMS notes that with a population of over 197 million, Nigeria accounts for about 47 per cent of West Africa’s population and has one of the largest populations of youth in the world, according to the World Bank.

Also, the bank said, Nigeria has Africa’s biggest economy, is the biggest oil exporter, and has the largest natural gas reserves on the continent. Nigeria emerged from a recession in 2017, with a growth rate of 0.8 per cent, driven mainly by the oil sector. Non-agricultural growth, which remained negative up to the third quarter of 2017, strengthened through 2018 with services (primarily Information and Communication Technology, ICT) resuming as the key driver.

So, economic growth is expected to hover just above 2 per cent in 2019 and over the medium term.

Remmy Nweke/Editor

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UN award: Obi applauds Chimamanda, charges govts to include work in school curricula – ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The former governor of Anambra State and Vice-Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi, has applauded the internationally-renowned author, Chimamanda Adichie on her recent United Nations Foundations Global Award on literature, reports ITREALMS.

He also enjoined governments and agencies responsible for school curricula to ensure the inclusion of the works and master-pieces of Nigerian authors such as Chimamanda who is internationally-acclaimed for their literary prowess.

Speaking to correspondents on arrival at the international wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Obi who was among world leaders that converged in New York to celebrate the Chimamanda’s award which begets glory to the country.

“As you can see, I am just returning from New York where I witnessed the award to Chimamanda who has continued to conquer the literary world; thus bringing honour and glory to Nigeria. Each time I read her books or about her numerous value-added activities, I remember the wise one that preferred to discover a single demonstration in Geometry than win the throne of Persia,” he said.

Obi also said it was heart-warming to learn that Chimamanda was the first Nigerian to win the award, stressing “We address her as an ‘Award-Winning Author’ as she has won many quality honours through her writings and advocacy. In most cases, she was the first African to win certain categories of those awards”.

ITREALMS reports that Obi recalled his invitation to Chimamanda to Anambra State during his tenure as the Governor, and said it was part of his efforts to encourage the youths to adopt people like her as role models rather than men devoid of honour and integrity, whose only credentials was being lucky to make money.

Obi further called on governments and agencies responsible for school curricula to include the works and master-pieces of Nigerian authors such as Chimamanda who is internationally-acclaimed for their literary prowess and finesse.

Uj. N. Dominic/Editor

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Pix: Mr. Peter Obi (middle) and the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina Mohammed (right) shortly after Chimamanda Adichie (left) received the UN Foundations Global leadership Award for her work on literature.

Will Buhari ever call Pantami to order? - ITREALMS

Commentary@ITREALMS:

Telecoms Act and intrusive Ministers:

The Telecommunication Act of 2003 that empowered the regulatory rights, functions and composition of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) appeared to have envisaged that someone like Dr Isa Pantami would one day become the minister of Communications.

So, it set out in its provisions to put a check on such a minister who would attempt to interfere in the work of the Commission and the sanity of the industry.

It is such clause, conspicuously written in that Act that has put in check Pantami’s predecessors who made attempts to infringe on the statutory rights of the Commission.

When will Buhari call Pantami to order?

This is what the Act says in respect of the minister’s relationship with the NCC in Section 23, chapter 3, part 1 titled Functions Of the Minister And National Frequency Management Council: “In execution of his functions and relationship with the Commission, the Minister shall at all times ensure that the independence of the Commission, in regard to the discharge of its functions and operations under this Act, is protected and not compromised in any manner whatsoever.”

Parameters for Ministers:

The Act limits the minister to:

· formulation, determination and monitoring, of the general policy for the communications sector in Nigeria with a view to ensuring, amongst others,

· utilization of the sector as a platform for the economic and social development of Nigeria ;

· negotiation and execution of international communications treaties and agreements, on behalf of Nigeria, between sovereign countries and international organisations and bodies ; and

· representation of Nigeria, in conjunction with the Commission, at proceedings of international organisations and for a on matters relating to communications.

… Even on policy formulation:

Even on policy formulation and review for the industry the minister is requested to cause the Commission on his behalf to first carry out a public consultative process on the proposed policy formulation or modification.

And on formulating and determining the policy or amendments thereto, the Minister and the Council are compelled to take into consideration the findings of the consultative process under subsection (1) of this section.

On general policy direction:

The Minister is also empowered to, in writing, from time to time, notify the Commission or and express his views on the general policy direction of the Federal Government in respect of the communications sector.

There is nowhere in the NCC Act the minister is allowed to control the work of the NCC and infringe on its operations, as he is currently doing.

ALSO READ: Voicemail: ALTON accuses Pantami of meddlesomeness - ITREALMS

NCC has operated in the past without interference, especially under the times of Presidents Olusegun Obadanjo, late Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan who ensured the NCC was not impaired in carrying out its functions.

We’ve seen likes of Pantami:

Those who tried to interfere with the running of the NCC, notably, the current governor of Kaduna, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and late Dora Akunyili were put under check by Obasanjo. El-Rufai was at the time he tried to challenge the independence of the NCC, a director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprise, while late Akunyili was minister of communications.

Is telecom regulator walking in tandem?

Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, who was Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, from 2000 to 2010, told the story of the shinning regulatory successes of the NCC, in a book titled: Ernest Ndukwe & Telecom Regulation- A Walk In Tandem, written by Aaron Ukodie thus: “The relative shinning performance of the NCC currently could be attributed to the fact that my predecessors were not as fortunate as I am. One operated under late Sanni Abacha, where the supposed regulator was not allowed to act on its initiatives.

Democracy and liberalized telecoms industry:

“But here we are in a civilian democratic government and pioneering, as it were, a complete liberalization of the telecoms industry.

“Here we with a President who understands what the independence of a regulatory body is, and who is anxious to see winning actions. All this, put together, places us at a vantage point to perform creditably”.

Though Nigeria is still under a democratic government, at least on paper, the acts of the current minister seem to suggest that democratic ethos would not be adhered to in the management of the sector.

Ministerial infringement reverses 20-year gains:

The current Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Umar Danbatta and his board of directors, have carried out their regulatory functions creditably well before the coming of Pantami, who now appeared to be using his alleged closeness to the president to seek to upturn the best regulatory practices of the industry and the NCC. Those watching the ongoing trend fear that should Pantami continues in infringements on the right of the NCC, and the president does not call him to order, the 20 years gains of the industry may begin to reverse.

*First published in eWorld by Aaron Ukodie, author and ICT analyst.

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Oxford@20: Fayemi, Tambuwal to speak on democracy in Nigeria - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Governor of Ekiti State and the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi, and the Governor of Sokoto State and the Deputy Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Mallam Aminu Tambuwal, will both speak at an International Conference on “20 Years of Democracy in Nigeria: 1999-2019” at Oxford University, United Kingdom on Friday, 6th December 2019.

The one-day Conference is hosted by the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford. Governors Fayemi and Tambuwal, who will be the special guests at the conference, are expected to reflect on Nigeria’s Fourth Republic in their addresses to the international audience.

Renowned American scholar of democracy and author of Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria: The Failure of the First Republic, Professor Larry Diamond, will give the keynote address at the conference where many scholars based in Nigeria, Europe and the United States will present papers. Diamond will speak on “20 years of Semi-Democracy in Nigeria: Future Challenges for Democratic Development.”

The convener of the conference, Professor Wale Adebanwi, who is the Director of the Oxford African Studies Centre and Rhodes Professor of Race Relations states that: “As Nigeria celebrates two decades of democracy, the structural errors of the state and the fundamental contradictions of the society that democratic governance was expected to confront or manage have deepened. The hopes invested in the country’s return to democratic rule in 1999 seem to be flagging as Nigeria is confronted with a myriad of political, economic and social crises. Yet, given her historical experiences, there is no better alternative to democratic governance in Nigeria.” In light of this, the participants at the conference “will explore the political, economic and social forces, processes, and challenges which have shaped Nigeria in the Fourth Republic.”

Those expected to present papers at the conference include Professor Eghosa Osaghae, formerly the Vice Chancellor of the Igbinedon University, Dr Jubrin Ibrahim of the Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja, Dr Peter Lewis of Johns Hopkins University, USA, Professor Adigun Agbaje of the University of Ibadan, Professor Okechukwu Ibeanu of INEC, Abuja, Dr Aliyu Moddibo Umar, former FCT Minister and currently a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University, Ms Idayat Hassan of the CCD, Abuja, Dr Zainab Usman of the World Bank, Dr Kingsley Moghalu, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Nic Cheeseman of Birmingham University, UK, Professor Rotimi Suberu of Bennington University, USA, Professor Ebenezer Obadare of the University of Kansas, USA, Dr Adam Higazi of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Professor Ricardo Soares de Oliviera of Oxford University.

Ayo Midele/Editor

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Brighter future: Ovia urges Nigerian youth to disrupt innovations - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The founder and chairman, Zenith Bank plc, Mr. Jim Ovia has urged Nigerian youth to leverage technology and be part of the disruptive innovation eco-system, reports ITREALMS.

Ovia gave this charge at the Zenith Tech Fair in Lagos which commenced Wednesday at Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, in his welcome address.

According to him, "Catalyzing Disruptive Innovation through Youth Empowerment" will ensure that Nigerian youths and future of the country is bright.

The event which is a showcase of leading technology innovation across every aspects of life, Ovia encourage participants especially the youth to talk about technology, as the interest radiates from talking about what you think on a given innovation thereby proffering solution.

ITREALMS reports that the Country Director, Google Nigeria, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor, while dwelling on ‘Machine Learning and Quantum Computing: The Next Frontier’ that quantum computing is the future as it has potentials to change the way we live or think, hence Google said its ground breaking Sycamore superconducting quantum chip had taken just 200 seconds to complete a task that the world’s most powerful computer would need 10,000 years to finish.

She quoted Google chief executive, Sundar Pichai to buttress her point, saying that “With this breakthrough, we’re now one step closer to applying quantum computing to, for example, design more efficient batteries, create fertilizer using less energy, and figure out what molecules might make effective medicines.”

For the Managing Director of Huawei Technologies Nigeria, Mr. Eric Zhang on the ‘Opportunities for 5G in Nigeria,’ beckoned on participants to think about a world in which not just people but all things are connected cars to the roads they are on; doctors to the personal medical devices of their patients, augmented reality available to help people shop and learn and explore wherever they are.

“This requires a massive increase in the level of connectivity. 5G will impact every industry, from mobile phones to healthcare, autos, banking, manufacturing, distribution,” Zhang was quoted as saying by his represented at the occasion.

The 2019 Zenith Tech Fair with the main theme: Future Forward, is powered by Zenith Bank as a showcase of leading technology innovation across every aspect of life.

Chuks Egbuna/Editor

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Funnel e-logistic services debuts - ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

Nigeria’s pioneer e-logistics company, the Funnel Logistics Technologies Ltd, has launched its electronic courier aggregation platform, Funnel, reports ITREALMS.

The platform is an electronic facilitator for efficient and seamless request cum fulfilment of deliveries through the best courier operators across Nigeria.

The Funnel technology platform brings together customers in need of courier services and a diverse range of courier service operators at very competitive rates. Subscribers on the Funnel platform can request to have their parcels picked-up and delivered by their preferred courier services at highly discounted rates.

The Chief Executive Officer, Funnel Logistics Technologies Ltd, Mr. Tunde Oloyede, expressed their excitement over the launch of the pioneer service in the country.

“The Funnel platform provides innovative solutions to ease Nigerians’ everyday last-mile logistics pain points. At Funnel, our mission is to be the primary electronic facilitator for efficient request and fulfillment of deliveries across Africa” he said.

The Funnel technology platform can be used by retailers, e-commerce platforms and their customers. Social media retailers can initiate delivery requests from within their chats with customers; and customers of e-Commerce platforms can now choose and pay for their preferred delivery service during checkout. Best of all, anyone can request a pick-up and delivery to any part of Nigeria from their mobile phone/PC without placing a single call/message. Every step from the initiation of the request, to follow up, tracking deliveries and receipt of parcels, will all be done within our apps.

Oloyede further explained that users on the Funnel platform have a range of courier service providers to choose from, He said “We have partnered with the most reliable courier companies (DHL, FedEx, Smartpost, Rapiid, EMS, and many others), and negotiated highly discounted rates with them, to ensure that our users get the best value for their money”.

With the launch of Funnel into the Nigeria market, it is expected that Nigerians will be able to move their parcels, documents, and goods from one point to the other with significantly less hassle. All they need do is go to Funnel.ng to get started.

Once registration is completed, making a request or integrating businesses onto the Funnel platform takes just four simple steps which can be completed in less than 2 minutes.

The Funnel apps are easy to use for subscribers of all types; including individuals, businesses, e-Commerce platforms, online stores, warehouses and retailers. It has an intuitive dashboard that allows customers to track orders, provide businesses with various reports that can be used for decision making and planning, gives warehouses the flexibility to print their shipping labels easily.

“A critical bit of our model is to provide as many easy to use tools as possible (apps, plugins, APIs) that offer our potential users and clientele efficient and seamless access to delivery services from our courier partners. So, logistics is made easy for both the customer who is requesting a service and the services provider”. Oloyede said.

Chuks Egbuna/Editor

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ALTON @20: Cautions on hate speech, set to celebrate members - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

All is now set for the 20th anniversary and award ceremony of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) billed for this Friday in Lagos, reports ITREALMS.

This is coming as ALTON warned top government officials overt hate speech against telecom operators, which is capable of causing civil unrest and vandalisation of telecommunications.

ALTON chairman, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo made this known in Lagos while speaking with ITREALMS on the 20th anniversary celebration.

He said, ALTON has impacted on the national socio—economic development of the country, and applauded Nigeria ICT Media for their support over the last 20 years and for telling the good story about the sector.

He also used the opportunity to clarify the rumour making a round in the industry that ALTON was a subset of anybody before now.

“We were never a subsidiary of any group of association and neither were we at any point in time a sub-set of another association,” he declared.

Adebayo pointed out that ALTON was formed in 1999, then known as the National Association of Telecom Operators (NALTO) and incorporated in the year 2000 as the Association Of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) a corporate body, duly registered under the laws of Federal Republic of Nigeria as an Incorporated Trustee, and officially recognized by the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and other regulatory agencies as the industry body for all providers of telecommunications and subsidiary services in Nigeria.

He insisted "We were never a subsidiary of any group of Association."

Emphasising that ALTON founding fathers, some of who are still with alive, constituted the association to address the peculiar early challenges faced by Private Telecom Operators (PTO) as they were called at the time, some of these were issues of signaling protocol issues, interconnectivity, billing issues, multiple regulation and taxation issues of right of way and protection of the overall interest of private investors in the sector, which at the time, NITEL the incumbent did everything possible to frustrate their existence.

Membership of ALTON, he told ITREALMS, includes all the major telecommunications licensees in Nigeria, particularly Mobile Network Operators (MNO) Infrastructure Companies (Infrocos) Fixed and Mobile Fixed voice and data operators across the various segments are all members of ALTON.

"Since inception, ALTON continues to play a key role in market development of the telecommunications industry. Its intervention on behalf of members on several issues such as challenges of multiple taxation, multiple regulations, rates and tariff determination, market competition, unfavorable government policies, Telecommunications as Critical National Infrastructure has been of immense benefit to the Nigerian telecommunications industry at large," he said.

ITREALMS reported that he paid special tribute to the first batch of board of trustees and executive members including Late General Tanko Ayuba Rtd, Chief Adebayo Akande, Chief Ezekiel Fatoye, Chief Mike Adenuga, Mrs. Alero Nwanna, Late Engr. Alaba Charles Joseph, Mrs. Arnina Oyagbola, Mr. Chandon Kelwal Ramani, Alhaji Bashir El-Rufai, Chief Maan Lababidi, Mr. Albert Mashi, Late Mr. Chioke Ogugua, Engr. Adamu M. Yahaya Treasurers | Chairman, Technical, late Mr. Chioke Ogugua Chairman, Legal/Regulatory, Engr. Bayo Banjo Chairman, Commercial/Finance, and Mr. Rueben Muoka Chairman, Publicity/Events.

Chuks Egbuna/Editor

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