Global video streaming subscription platform, Netflix, has mulled a plan to help produce three movies in Kenya and invest $284,719.05, about (Sh33-million) to train actors in the country. Netflix said that the three productions will be revealed later, close to their premier dates on the platform. The sponsor will allow Kenyan students to study film and TV-focused courses in local colleges and universities abroad.
The disclosures are part of a memorandum of understanding signed between Netflix and the ICT ministry of Kenya to improve skill capacity and support the local movie industry.
Netflix’s Director of Series in Africa, Dorothy Ghettuba
“Netflix is excited by the potential of Kenya’s next generation of creative storytellers. We believe there are great stories in Kenya and we want to do our part for Kenya’s creative community by supporting the development of the local film and TV industry and talent pipelines, both in front of and behind the camera, through partnership initiatives,” said Netflix’s Director of Series in Africa, Dorothy Ghettuba.
“We also hope that the stories will encompass themes which are unique to Kenya, which our global audiences will find appealing,” Ghettuba said.
In March, Netflix announced that it would be investing $62-million into SA film production and that it would start showing more South African content and productions on the streaming platform that currently has more than 200 million subscribers from 190 countries.
Netflix reported a staggering loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022. As a result, the giant streaming service company resorted to introducing a cheaper plan that will allow advertisements on the platform, which is something of a novelty considering the fact that it had rejected the idea in the past.
The US streaming service also said it would no longer allow password-sharing on the platform because it wanted to increase its subscribers. Netflix also hopes it will broaden its customer base by investing in Africa.
“We welcome this partnership with Netflix because Kenya has many stories to tell the world and all the initiatives with the various partners will help us ensure we have the ability to create quality stories,” said ICT ministry Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Green hydrogen will be one of the largest economic opportunities over the next 30 years. Driven by international actions to combat climate change, it has the potential to revolutionise numerous value chains in the energy industry and across both the mobility and manufacturing sectors. With rapidly improving technology and decreasing costs for fuel cells, green hydrogen is becoming a more appealing fuel alternative in Africa.
At the core of green hydrogen production is the availability of renewable energy that is not being utilised for its prime role as electricity supply. For Europe, the lack of spare renewable energy capacity will be a roadblock for the hydrogen economy and so the search is on for viable locations for production. Pilot projects have started in Chile and the Middle East, but the greatest opportunities lie in Africa with many European backed schemes at various stages in the planning process.
Director-general of the South Africa Department for Science and Innovations, Dr Phil Mjwara
Backed by Africa’s extensive renewable energy resources – the International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that renewable energy capacity in Africa could reach 310GW by 2030. The hope is that development of green hydrogen projects will not only address continent-wide energy demand, increasing energy security and contribute to domestic energy independence, but will provide an environmentally sustainable fuel alternative for years to come. The big question, however, is whether that hydrogen production will benefit the African energy transition or be shipped back to Europe.
In South Africa, the government is attempting to match the synergies between platinum mining, renewable energy, and hydrogen production to form a hydrogen hub. Platinum is a key component in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) electrolysis used to produce hydrogen at scale and in fuel cells themselves. The hydrogen valley will serve as an industrial cluster, bringing various hydrogen applications in the country together to form an integrated hydrogen ecosystem.
The initiative is part of the work being done to support the implementation of the National Hydrogen Society Roadmap, which was recently approved by Cabinet, as well as phase 3 of the country’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.
Speaking at the launch, the director-general of the South Africa Department for Science and Innovations, Dr Phil Mjwara, said the establishment of a hydrogen valley was an important national initiative. “The implementation of phase 3 of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan is driven by the core elements of ‘reconstruct’ and ‘transform’, and this entails building a sustainable, resilient and inclusive economy,” he said. “The establishment of a South African hydrogen valley is therefore seen as an opportunity that has great potential to unlock growth, revitalise the industrial sector, and position South Africa to be an exporter of cost-effective green hydrogen to the world. Hydrogen therefore remains an integral part of our Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.”
South Africa’s proposed hydrogen valley will start near Mokopane in Limpopo, where platinum group metals (PGMs) are mined, extending through the industrial and commercial corridor to Johannesburg and leading finally to Durban. The hydrogen valley will be used to establish, accelerate, and embed niche innovations through upscaling and replication. Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies offer an alternative source of clean electricity, while hydrogen allows for energy to be stored and delivered in usable form.
The feasibility study, conducted by Engie, identifies nine hydrogen-related projects across the mobility, industrial and construction sectors that could be used as a springboard for the establishment of the hydrogen valley. One project will focus on converting heavy-duty diesel-powered trucks to fuel cell-powered trucks, which will support increased consumption of hydrogen in the transport sector. The projects will also facilitate the commercialisation of publicly funded intellectual property, while contributing to the beneficiation of PGMs in targeted geographic areas. Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies offer an alternative source of clean electricity, while hydrogen allows for energy to be stored and delivered in usable form. Using hydrogen as an energy carrier could potentially reduce South Africa’s dependence on fossil fuels that cause global warming, while reducing the country’s reliance on imported oil.
Namibia to develop hydrogen hub
In West Africa, an ambitious project to produce 300,000 tonnes of green hydrogen each year is taking shape. The Namibian Government has appointed Hyphen Hydrogen Energy to develop the country’s first large-scale, vertically integrated green hydrogen project in the Tsau //Khaeb national park. The project, worth an estimated $9.4 billion, will produce either pure green hydrogen or in derivative form such as green ammonia.
“The first phase, which is expected to enter production in 2026, will see the creation of 2 GW of renewable electricity generation capacity to produce green hydrogen for conversion into green ammonia, at an estimated capital cost of $4.4 billion,” Marco Raffinetti, Hyphen CEO, says. “Further expansion phases in the late 2020s will expand combined renewable generation capacity to 5 GW and 3 GW of electrolyser capacity, increasing the combined total investment to $9.4 billion.”
Once fully developed, the project will provide a major boost to Namibia in terms of foreign direct investment and job creation. The $9.4 billion investment amounts to the same order of magnitude of the country’s current GDP and will see 15,000 direct jobs created during the four-year construction of both phases, with a further 3,000 jobs created permanently during the operational phase. More than 90 per cent of all these jobs created are expected to be filled by Namibians. In addition to taxes, Hyphen will pay concession fees, royalties, a sovereign wealth fund contribution and an environmental levy to the government.
“The Tsau //Khaeb national park is among the top five locations in the world for low-cost hydrogen production, benefiting from a combination of co-located onshore wind and solar resources near the sea and land export routes to market,” Raffinetti adds. “Namibia’s world class natural resources, combined with a progressive, pro-investment and visionary government under the leadership of President Hage Geingob, has enabled the country to move with incredible speed to position itself as the leading edge of Africa’s ambitions to enter the green hydrogen production space.
“This collective deep technical expertise across the entire green hydrogen value chain, combined with our financial strength and experience in developing, fundraising, and implementing infrastructure projects in Africa, will be crucial in successfully delivering a project of this magnitude and complexity.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Maverick former Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey has spoken about Twitter and its future, days after the company was bought for $44 billion by Elon Musk. In the vague thread, Dorsey said he doesn’t believe in permanent bans, with the exception of illegal activity.
“As I’ve said before, I don’t believe any permanent ban (with the exception of illegal activity) is right, or should be possible. This is why we need a protocol that’s resilient to the layers above,” said Dorsey, who stepped down from his role at Twitter in November 2021 and currently works as the Block Head of Block.
Jack Dorsey, founder and CEO of Twitter
While Dorsey’s thread didn’t name names, there’s a possibility that he’s referring to some of Twitter’s most controversial moments that have resurfaced amid Musk’s purchase of Twitter — including the platform’s choice to ban former President Donald J. Trump from the platform and the temporary ban of The New York Post after it published an article related to U.S. President Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s laptop. The social media giant’s chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde has recently been under attack online from trolls after Musk posted a meme about her
This storm in mind, Dorsey’s words today shed a very soft, dim light on his stance about whether controversial figures, even those who spread misinformation, should be allowed on the platform.
“Some things can be fixed immediately, and others require rethinking and reimplementing the entire system. It is important to me that we get critical feedback in all of its forms, but also important that we get the space and time to address it. All of that should be done publicly,” Dorsey said in the same Twitter thread.
Earlier this week, Dorsey said that “Elon is the singular solution I trust…I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.” But, there’s a tension there: If Dorsey believes in Musk, but Musk tweets memes at the cost of Twitter’s executive team, is Twitter really on the trajectory to get more transparent? As Dorsey said, the company needs “space and time to address” some of its most critical feedback. Morale plays a role in the rebuilding.
“What matters is how the service works and acts, and how quickly it learns and improves,” Dorsey said in today’s tweet storm. “My biggest failing was that quickness part. I’m confident that part at least is being addressed, and will be fixed.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The price of Dogecoin (DOGE), the cryptocurrency Musk often promotes on social media, increased nearly 14% Almost immediately after it was announced that Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion.
Several days after the announcement was made Dogecoin’s price continued to rise – up to 26% – peaking at $0.1675. But Dogecoin wasn’t the only crypto to see a spike in its price after Twitter accepted Musk’s bid to buy the company. Mushe (XMU) also saw a rise in its price. Mushe’s price has grown 44% over the past seven days as the popularity of the token continues to grow in the presale. Another community-centric crypto, Dogelon Mars (ELON) also saw an initial spike of over 10% before settling down to see a modest rise of 0.64% the day after the announcement. As of the time of writing, the prices have settled and returned to their normal levels, but Mushe has remained strong and held its price.
Dogecoin
Musk’s “midas touch” has heavily benefited community-centric cryptocurrencies. Thanks to Musk’s frequent mentions of Dogecoin, he single-handedly helped push the coin to “the moon” as it reached a record high of $0.73 last year. In a tweet from April 2021, Musk called himself the “Dogefather” a play on his fondness for cryptocurrency. Musk’s preference for the coin is summed up in five words from his February 2021 tweet in which he wrote, “Dogecoin is the people’s crypto.” The price increases of Dogecoin align almost perfectly with Musk’s tweets. After tweeting that Tesla would start accepting Dogecoin as payment for branded products, the price of the coin increased by 33% according to CoinGecko.
Musk is one of the biggest buyers of crypto, with Tesla investing about $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency in 2021. Musk’s influence in the crypto space is heavily felt. Currently, Dogecoin is the only digital currency Tesla accepts. The items eligible for purchase with Dogecoins include Tesla-branded belt buckles and children’s all-terrain vehicles. All popular items that usually sell out quickly.
When Mushe launched its tokens for presale on April 18, the price was $0.005 per token. Now, similar to Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies, Mushe has seen a significant jump in its price. As of the time of writing, Mushe is priced at $0.019 per token. This is a great time for crypto enthusiasts and investors to purchase Mushe tokens as there are a limited number of tokens available and the price is expected to continue to increase beyond the July 4th launch date.
Both Dogecoin and Mushe are community-centric cryptocurrencies that are truly decentralized. Mushe has limitless scalability and interoperability. Token holders can safely, easily and quickly complete transactions via compatible wallets and exchanges such as the forthcoming Mushe Wallet and MusheSwap platforms. MusheSwap allows investors to trade on multiple blockchains without any restrictions and with low transaction fees.
Dogecoin and Mushe were founded on the principle of allowing people true financial freedom. The community of people that support both cryptocurrencies believe in the mission as well. They are committed to being a community that helps support the adoption and growth of digital currencies.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Leading South African pharmaceutical retail chain, Dis-Chem Pharmacies is partnering with Clickatell, a CPaaS innovator and Chat Commerce leader to enable WhatsApp as its customer communication channel to engage with its customers.
Dis-Chem customers can now quickly and easily access various services through WhatsApp by sending “Hi” to 0860 347 243. The easy to navigate menu then allows shoppers to choose which action they want to perform.
whatsapp
Utilising a conversational approach through WhatsApp, Dis-Chem’s millions of customers can: register for a Benefit Card and existing members can update their personal details; check their loyalty points balance; report lost or stolen cards and receive a digital replacement immediately; and register for Dis-Chem’s Baby Programme.
Dis-Chem will also use the channel to alert customers when their repeat medication is due for collection or when delivery from their preferred store is ready through “Pack My Meds”, which is Dis-Chem’s online repeat medicine ordering platform. Lastly, the channel provides a general FAQ section that has information about clinic services, delivery services, and other store information.
“Consumers have shown they prefer to use chat channels, and WhatsApp in particular, to engage with each other and with their favourite brands. It makes excellent sense for Dis-Chem to offer WhatsApp as a fast and cost-effective way for their customers to do business with the retailer,” said Werner Lindemann, Clickatell’s Commercial SVP for Growth Markets.
“What’s more, it provides them with a platform that is perfectly designed to administer support and time-efficient responses and new functionality anytime. We are looking forward to building the partnership with Dis-Chem over the coming months and years as we innovate and co-create new services using the chat app that will meet their customers’ growing digital expectations.”
Retailers using Chat Commerce technology can enjoy significant gains including higher revenue growth, stronger customer retention, reduced service costs, and increased marketing effectiveness.
An Aberdeen Research survey commissioned by Clickatell shows organisations can benefit from a 75% boost in annual revenue growth and a 48% increase in customer retention rates.
“Delivering the WhatsApp channel to our customers resolves an immediate customer experience need, adds to our ability to continue to deliver superior convenience and gives us an excellent opportunity to expand our digital offering in the future. Our teams have worked closely to ensure our customers will find the user interface intuitive and the service immediately convenient and valuable,” comments Lynne Blignaut, Head of Loyalty & Customer Rewards at Dis-Chem.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Vodacom, South Africa’s leading telco and the Ireland-based IT services company Accenture have partnered to launch Vodacom Managed Security services through Vodacom Business. The partnership was publically announced yesterday via press release. Vodacom Managed Security services is a new solution that creates custom cybersecurity modules for small businesses in South Africa.
According to Vodacom, South Africa has among the most cybercrime incidents in the world and a lack of sufficient investment in cybersecurity has led to this crisis. This is particularly true for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that simply don’t have the same human capital, technology assets, and financial resources as larger businesses.
Vodacom Business and Accenture have launched the Vodacom Managed Security Services to offer a tailored security approach to these enterprises so that they can acquire security solutions on a modular basis.
Kabelo Makwane, ME for Cloud, Hosting & Security at Vodacom Business
The Vodacom Managed Security Services, while tailored for both small and medium-sized businesses, are scalable to large enterprises and initially focus on business needs to simplify cybersecurity and ransomware risk.
The companies have taken a differentiated approach to safety, offering cyber security as a service to South African SMEs and covering assessment, protection, detection, and response. Under these four pillars, clients can invest in seven modular offerings.
Essentially, this solution brings world-class cybersecurity expertise to businesses that do not have the experience, time, or financial resources to keep up with the rapidly evolving threat landscape,” says Boland Lithebe, Security Lead for Accenture in Africa.
Vodacom Managed Security Services is an extension of the existing Smart Service Offering partnership between Vodacom Business and Accenture.
For Vodacom, this solution is an evolution of the managed cybersecurity strategy the company has been building over the last few years. Combining Vodacom Business’s expertise and insights with Accenture’s cybersecurity strategies, forensics and consulting services has resulted in a solution that will protect small and medium businesses from cyber threats.
“SMEs are crucial to our country’s economic growth and must be supported with simple and easy to deploy solutions to thrive in our increasingly digitised society. Businesses have become increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats that are growing in sophistication and require a smarter response to protect a company’s digital assets,” says Kabelo Makwane, ME for Cloud, Hosting & Security at Vodacom Business.
Bespoke Security Offering
For protection, Vodacom Managed Security Services include Phishing Awareness and Firewall Management. The former brings the human element into perspective in simulated e-mail attacks targeting employees, followed by training on best security practices.
Firewall Management is about provisioning, managing, and operating a small or medium-sized business’s firewall to protect its digital assets. The detection and response pillars comprise a dedicated Vodacom Managed Security Services team of cybersecurity experts overseeing each client’s portfolio.
Here, Managed Detection and Response deliver early-warning detection with 24/7, real-time monitoring, while Breach Response and Forensics offer rapid intervention from the team should a breach occur, with a forensic analysis conducted to proactively manage similar incidents in the future.
Under the assessment pillar, businesses can benefit from Cyber Exposure Diagnostics, Penetration Testing, and a Vulnerability Assessment. The first of these services give small and mid-size enterprises a roadmap of what security should be in place by analysing all cybersecurity aspects from their technology and infrastructure to security hygiene.
Penetration Testing is conducted by a Vodacom Managed Security Services expert in a simulation of a real attack to expose areas of weakness, while the automated Vulnerability Assessment scans for easy-access points in the company’s existing technology and infrastructure. For the latter, considering that new vulnerabilities appear daily, this is something businesses should do frequently.
Clients investing in Vodacom Managed Security Services will have an opportunity to select a bespoke package of services and can add additional services or remove them based on their threat-analysis needs.
“In a world where every touchpoint in a company’s digital footprint must be secured, Vodacom and Accenture are committed to doing so, supporting businesses by protecting their assets as they successfully navigate their digital journey and become future-ready,” says Makwane
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Despite the world’s best efforts to get everyone off passwords and onto something else (e.g., MFA, passwordless authentication, biometrics, zero trust, etc.) for decades, passwords have pervasively persisted. Today, nearly everyone has multiple forms of MFA for different applications and websites AND many, many passwords.
The average person has somewhere between three to seven unique passwords that they share among over 170 websites and services.
And, unfortunately, those passwords often get stolen or guessed. This is why I recommend the following password policy guide:
Most computer security experts agree with these policy recommendations, but more than a few readers might be shaking their heads, especially at the recommendations to use 20+ character passwords/passphrases.
Why in the world would anyone need a 20+ character password to protect against password hacking attacks?
In general, password attacks fall into four different major categories:
Password theft
Password guessing
Password hash theft and cracking
Unauthorized password resetting or bypass
Each will be expanded on below.
Password Theft
Theft of passwords is by far the most prolific type of password attack, usually by social engineering of some type, but it can also be due to malware and hacking tools. The most common theft method is a traditional phishing email where the sender is pretending to be some organization that the potential victim has a relationship with, which contains a message and link prompting the user to type in their real login name and password.
Cybersecurity
Here is a common example, a password thief’s message pretending to be from Zoom telling me my Zoom service (which I use frequently) has been suspended:
The sender’s email address and the URL link I would have to click are clearly not from Zoom.com, as it would be if the email was legit.
Password Guessing
Passwords can also be guessed. All the attacker needs is an accessible login portal the victim can log into with a login name and password, and the ability to guess multiple times over a long period of time.
Then, the attacker manually guesses or uses an automated password guessing tool. The shorter and simpler the password, the easier it is to guess. If the involved login portal does not have “rate throttling” or “account lockout”, an attacker can guess a dozen to thousands of times a minute.
Since most users’ passwords are less than 12 characters long and not perfectly random, most of those types of passwords can be broken in a period of days to a few months. The average home user rarely changes their password, and most business passwords are only changed once every 90 to 365 days. If an attacker can be given unfettered and unmonitored access to a login portal, they can often keep guessing until they are successful.
One Internet-based company, Akamai, said they saw 61 billion password guessing (e.g., password stuffing) attacks in just 18 months.
Password Hash Theft and Cracking
Another popular password attack is password hash cracking. In most modern-day operating systems, any typed in password is transformed by a cryptographic hash algorithm into a representative hash of the password (i.e., password hash).
Here are some example password hashes of the word ‘frog’ using a handful of hash algorithms supported by popular operating systems:
A user’s password hash is stored in password authentication databases that the operating system uses to authenticate the user. If an attacker can retrieve a user’s password hash, however, they do this, they can guess at (i.e., crack) the password hash by comparing it to a bunch of possible passwords that have already been pre-computed to their hash. This is known as password hash cracking.
Password hash cracking is done externally to the user’s login system. The hacker does not need to be on the victim’s network, and rate throttling and account lockout cannot be implemented to slow down the guessing. Attackers with the appropriate password hash cracking hardware (called password hash cracking rigs), can guess up to many tens of trillions of passwords per second. With that sort of speed, very few passwords below 20 characters will be able to withstand the attack.
It is well-known that within the password hacking community, “normal” human-created passwords up to 18 characters are routinely broken in real-world attack scenarios in days to weeks. However, if the password is truly random, something like what a password manager program could create, then the perfectly random password needs to only be 11-12 characters long to withstand all known password guessing and cracking attacks.
Unauthorized Password Resetting or Bypass
Another common password attack is for a hacker to utilize a method which resets the user’s password or simply bypasses it altogether. Most popular large authentication systems allow users to self-reset their own passwords.
These are needed because one of the most popular support calls is a user forgetting or needing to reset their password. Password calls to tech support are so common that if they were all handled by a human, it would require significantly more resources and money than the involved organization has to spend. So, many/most organizations create or enable a self-help portal that the user can use to reset their password. Unfortunately, hackers know about these two and will use various tricks to reset the user’s password without the user’s permission.
How the hacker is able to do this varies by the authentication system and self-help reset portal, but just know that millions of passwords are reset each year by attackers. The hacker then takes over the account (known as account takeover), changes the user’s password again, and begins using the account in an unauthorized way. Many times, the user is unable to recover the account and it is lost to the hacker forever.
In summary, passwords are compromised by the many tens of millions each year, using password theft, guessing, hash cracking and unauthorized password resetting.
The password attack defences can be summarized by the following, in order of importance:
Use phishing-resistant MFA whenever possible
Mitigate social engineering to prevent password theft
Use a different, non-guessable password for each site and service
Use a password manager wherever you are able to allow perfectly random passwords to be created and used, without the user having to create or re-type them
Where a password manager cannot be allowed, users should create long and/or complex passwords or passphrases, different for each site and service
All passwords should be changed, at least annually
There are dozens of other good password attack mitigations which should be implemented by users and administrators.
If you can use phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA) instead of a password, try to do that. A hacker cannot steal, guess or bypass your password if you do not have one. It is key to use phishing-resistant MFA whenever possible. Most MFA is easily bypassed by simple phishing attacks, which negates most of the reasons for moving from passwords to MFA.
There is no other single defence that does more to prevent password theft than to mitigate social engineering and phishing.
The second-best thing a user can do is to make sure they use different passwords for every site and service. This prevents one compromised password from more easily allowing additional compromises to other sites and services used by the user.
A perfectly random 11-12-character password, like those created and used by password manager programs, is considered unguessable and uncrackable by any known password guessing attack (i.e., strong passwords can still be stolen). Humans have a hard time creating and using perfectly random passwords, especially when a different one is needed for every site and service. For that reason, every user should use a password manager program when possible. In a perfect scenario, the only password the user would have to create, remember and use, would be the passwords/passphrases needed to log into their device(s) and their password manager program.
The password manager program would handle all password logins after that.
Roger Grimes is a Data-Driven Defense Evangelist at KnowBe4.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
NALA, a Tanzania based Fintech company, has teamed up with Kenya’s Cellulant, a Pan-African Payments Company, to oversee and allow remittance payments from the United Kingdom and the United States into Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ghana for customers. Besides Official Direct Assistance (ODA), remittances make up the second-largest source of external resources for Sub-Subsaharan Africa, according to Cellulant.
NALA’s COO, Nicolai Eddy
In 2019, approximately $48 billion was remitted in Africa, with Nigeria receiving roughly 50% of this amount, followed by Ghana and Kenya. Despite a decline in remittance inflows in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, countries such as Kenya and Ghana experienced an increase in cross-border payments. Remittance inflows into Sub-Saharan picked up again and grew roughly by 6% in 2021.
Transaction fees absorb a large percentage of the billions sent to Africa every year. The cost of sending money into Africa is the highest across all regions. Tanzania and Kenya remain the highest with charges at 17% and 21% respectively for every $200 sent. With increased intra-African trade between Africa and the rest of the world, the transaction cost is one of the barriers to success in facilitating cross-border payments.
The new partnership between Cellulant and NALA aims to facilitate seamless cross-border payments and significantly reduce the cost of sending money from the UK and the US into Africa.
“Today, Sub-Saharan Africa is the most expensive region to transfer money into,” NALA’s COO, Nicolai Eddy, said.
“In Tanzania and across the African continent, there is a huge opportunity to harness technology to reduce payment fees and build next-generation payment and banking products. At NALA, we’ve built a completely digital platform for individuals and businesses based in the UK and US to send money to their friends, family, and employees in Africa. Cellulant is one of the early payment pioneers on the continent, and we chose to partner with them because of their deep expertise in the space and their strong technical capabilities.”
Cellulant provides a single API payments platform, Tingg, that enables global, regional and local businesses to collect payments online and offline while allowing anyone to pay from their mobile money, local and international cards or directly from their bank. The platform powers payments for 220 million consumers on a single inclusive network, allowing interoperability across Africa.
“Cellulant solves a huge challenge for businesses coming into Africa since they have to deal with 54-55 different payment providers and multiple currencies, with at least one for each country. With our presence in 35 countries, we are able to cover all these needs through a Single platform, Single API, Single contract, One web tool and a Single point of managing all operations. This partnership complements Nala’s fully digital cross-border payment capabilities with the necessary infrastructure to enable them to deliver their services in the continent effectively,” said David Waithaka, Cellulant’s Chief Revenue Officer.
NALA, a Y-Combinator-backed company, provides an app for Africans living in the United Kingdom and the United States to send money to the continent seamlessly. NALA is currently active in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana and is preparing to join the Nigerian and Ethiopian markets. The company is looking forward to expanding its services across Africa, the United States, and Canada
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Huawei is investing big money to lessen its reliance on US technology. Few companies devote more of their revenue to research than Huawei Technologies, for which developing new technologies is a matter of thwarting crippling US trade and investment sanctions.
China’s largest tech giant almost doubled its R&D budget over the past five years to US$22.1-billion in 2021 — more than any company in the world outside America. That’s 22.4% of its sales that year, nearly double Amazon.com’s and Google-owner Alphabet’s proportions and more than triple iPhone-maker Apple’s. Only Meta Platforms came close among the so-called Faang contingent with 20.9%.
Meng Wanzhou, the eldest daughter of billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei
That growing war chest underscores Huawei’s do-or-die effort to develop chips, networking gear and even smartphones free of American technology, barred since 2019 after Washington accused Huawei of jeopardising US national security. The sweeping sanctions wiped out nearly a third of revenue in 2021, inflating the ratio the Chinese firm spent on research — though that’s still up in absolute terms from the previous year.
Huawei cannot acquire advanced technologies, we have to increase investment in technology development
“The true value of Huawei lies in the R&D capabilities we have accumulated though our constant, long-term investment in research,” Meng Wanzhou, the eldest daughter of billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei, said in March during her first briefing since emerging from house arrest in Canada on charges of violating US sanctions. “It’s in the company’s basic law that we will spend 10% of our annual revenue in R&D.”
Huawei, which isn’t publicly traded, was one of just six companies worldwide that spent more than $20-billion on R&D last year. Its tally rivalled Microsoft’s and came in about $1-billion less than Apple and $2.5-billion shy of Meta. That approach has paid dividends so far — the Chinese networking giant received 2 770 US patents last year, putting it at number 5 behind perennial leader IBM, according to an independent study.
Amazon and Alphabet towered over all with total outlays of $56-billion and $31.6-billion, respectively. The median among the 15 companies in the SuperTech Index was $2.9-billion.
While sanctions imposed during Donald Trump’s presidency have hobbled its smartphone business and barred its 5G gear across parts of Europe and Asia, the company has managed to raise capital by selling off assets and relying on its industry-leading IP portfolio. In 2021, Huawei sold its Honor phone unit to a state-led conglomerate, and unloaded its x86 server business on another Chinese consortium.
While Huawei’s 2021 research budget doubled from five years earlier based on its annual reports, the yearly growth slowed. Meta quadrupled its own spending — a function of its new focus on developing metaverse technology. Amazon more than tripled its own R&D budget, according to calendar-year figures, reflecting different fiscal periods.
The Chinese firm said it had 195 000 employees in 2021, of which 107 000 — 55% — “worked in R&D”. An accurate comparison of technical staff is difficult as various companies use different definitions. By comparison, about 60 000 or a third of Microsoft’s employees are classified as R&D staff, according to its annual report.
“The problems Huawei faces right now can’t be solved by cutting expense,” Guo Ping, the former rotating chairman and now chairman of Huawei’s supervisory board, told reporters during the briefing. “Huawei cannot acquire advanced technologies, we have to increase investment in technology development.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The Walt Disney Co Africa has reached an agreement to distribute Disney+, its Internet streaming service that will be launched in South Africa next month, on MultiChoice Group’s DStv set-top boxes.
To this end, Disney+ will be available on launch day, 18 May, on MultiChoice’s DStv Explora Ultra decoders. Launched in November 2020, the Explora Ultra allows third-party platforms to offer their services via DStv. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are both already available as apps on the Explora Ultra, along with MultiChoice’s own Showmax offering.
Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group chief executive officer
Disney said in a statement that DStv customers will be offered exclusive contract packages and bundle deals, though it didn’t provide details, saying these will be provided closer to the launch date. DStv has long carried Disney channels on its satellite content bouquets and, due to existing contracts, will continue to do so beyond next month’s launch of Disney+.
“MultiChoice’s partnership with Disney+ leads with an expanded choice of content, ease and convenience of subscription and payment, with the DStv Explora Ultra as an enabler,” said MultiChoice Group CEO Calvo Mawela in the Disney statement.
Disney announced last week that Disney+ will be available in resolutions of up to 4K, with subscribers able to stream to four devices simultaneously. Disney earlier revealed that Disney+ would be launched in South Africa – and many other countries around the world – on 18 May.
Pricing is R119/month or R1 190/year, though Disney has said it will offer a big discount to annual subscribers at launch. Viewers who express their interest on the Disney+ website before launch day will receive an “exclusive offer link”, providing a year’s access at R950, it said.
The launch of Disney+ in South Africa adds to the growing raft of streaming video entertainment services available to South Africans with large-cap and uncapped broadband connections.
Other international platforms already available to local viewers include Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and BritBox. Local competitors include Showmax, eVOD and TelkomOne.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
