TymeBank, one of the world’s fastest growing digital banks has announced that it has onboarded eight million customers as at 6 October 2023, which means one in every five eligible* South Africans now has a TymeBank account.
Commenting on this latest milestone, TymeBank CEO Coen Jonker says: “We are immensely proud of the fact that we have acquired eight million customers since launching in February 2019. Our performance reinforces our position as one of the world’s fastest growing digital banks and a credible alternative to the legacy banks for South Africans. This pace of growth also brings us closer to our ambition of becoming one of the top three retail banks in the country.”
TymeBank’s customer acquisition rate has continued to accelerate, with more than 200,000 customers signing up every month and a 70% account activity rate on a rolling 30-day basis.
TymeBank
“What is particularly pleasing is the fact that the last million customers were acquired in record time – just under five months, despite ongoing challenges.
“Our success can also be attributed to our tried-and-tested ‘phygital’ model, which seamlessly integrates the convenience of digital banking into physical retail ecosystems, while the strength of our partnerships with leading retailers such as Pick n Pay, Boxer and more recently TFG, allows us to optimise our distribution network,” says Jonker.
According to the bank, growth has been achieved despite ongoing outages at Home Affairs, which hinders the bank’s ability to securely verify customers’ identities during the onboarding process.
Loadshedding has also had an impact. Although TymeBank kiosks have battery backup, load shedding affects the operation of stores and shopping centres, and intermittent power supply compromises the network operators the bank relies on for moving data.
Since launching PayShap in August as the only bank to allow payments to mobile numbers linked to any bank account for free, TymeBank has seen a steady increase in the usage of this real-time payment service. The bank’s fixed deposit product – launched earlier this year and offering South Africa’s best savings rates (11%) – has also been a huge success.
“We continue to see huge demand for our unique proposition that combines free banking and South Africa’s best savings rates. This has broadened our appeal among more affluent consumers, and we are now approaching R1 billion in balances for our fixed deposit product,” says TymeBank Chief Commercial Officer, Cheslyn Jacobs.
On the other end of the spectrum, TymeBank continues to gain traction among SASSA recipients. “We have put great effort into disbursing SASSA grants to beneficiaries and customer growth in that segment is solid. Our model is an ideal one for grant beneficiaries and more and more of them are choosing us to get their grant payments efficiently,” says Jacobs.
TymeBank’s acquisition of Retail Capital, the largest SME funder of its kind in the sector, is also yielding good results. The bank now funds over 50,000 businesses with ~R9.5 billion of working capital; its funding portfolio has grown by 20% since the Retail Capital business was acquired in December last year.
Further proving the success of TymeBank’s formula is GoTyme Bank in the Philippines, which is currently growing at the same pace (200,000 customers per month) as its sister bank in South Africa. Launched in October 2022, GoTyme Bank reached the 1-million customer mark in August this year.
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
Salient Predictions, a trailblazer in the field of weather forecasting analytics, has secured a substantial $2.9 million grant courtesy of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This financial backing is poised to be instrumental in advancing their mission to provide more accurate and actionable weather forecasts for smallholder farmers in East Africa. The endeavor will be carried out in close collaboration with regional technology and weather partners, seeking to cost-effectively develop sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) weather predictions. The ultimate aim is to boost agricultural productivity and enhance food security within East Africa, especially in the face of a changing and unpredictable climate.
Matt Stein, co-founder and CEO of Salient, underscored the alignment of this initiative with their overarching mission of promoting climate resiliency. He expressed their commitment to aiding smallholder farmers in East Africa and supplying improved S2S forecasts, made possible through the integration of data from ground-based weather stations. Stein stated, “Supporting smallholder farmers in East Africa is well aligned with Salient’s mission of enabling climate resiliency and responding to the challenges of our changing climate.”
Matt Stein, co-founder and CEO of Salient
The financial backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is anticipated to be instrumental in delivering climate-informed decision support tools. These tools will enable farmers to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. For instance, farmers will be better equipped to make crucial decisions regarding the choice of crops or varieties to plant ahead of each growing season, relying on forecasts of seasonal weather patterns rather than merely extrapolating from historical trends.
Georgina Campbell Flatter, the Executive Director at TomorrowNow, a non-profit organization affiliated with Tomorrow.io and an in-region partner of Salient, expressed her enthusiasm for leveraging Salient’s expertise. She highlighted the transformative potential of their next-generation sub-seasonal to seasonal weather forecasting in East Africa, emphasizing the shared commitment to positively impact the lives of countless small-scale farmers. Flatter said, “Together with our partners, we endeavor to make a profound impact on the lives of millions of small-scale farmers.”
Alex Sananka, Data Science Manager at One Acre Fund, underscored the pivotal role played by farmers in ensuring food security and prosperity. He noted that the current weather forecasts in East Africa extend only up to 14 days ahead. However, the availability of Salient’s S2S forecasting solution is poised to be a game-changer, enabling the provision of more extended lead-time forecasts. This, in turn, will better support millions of farmers in the region in making informed decisions about the crops and seed varieties to plant. Sananka expressed his excitement about the possibilities this solution brings to the farming community in East Africa.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the con
The government of Lesotho through the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Public Services, Labour and Employment attained Chairmanship of the African Regional Labour Administration Centre (ARLAC) at the event held in Maseru on Tuesday.
When opening the meeting, the Minister of Public Services, labour and Employment, Mr. Ramoeletsi Richard Ramoeletsi said it is common cause that sound labour administration systems are fundamental for good labour market governance, equitable economic development and the effective implementation of international labour standards and decent work agenda.
Mr. Ramoeletsi said this meeting comes at a significant time when Lesotho has reconfigured ministries and the former Ministry of Labour and Employment merged with Public Service. Also the ratification of Convention 151 which extends unionisation and collective bargaining rights to public officers is a notable milestone achieved by the government.
He added that this meeting takes place when the global economy is going through a difficult patch due to declining growth rates, noting that the mandate of the African Regional Labour Administration Centre (ARLAC) is to strengthen the labour administration system in member countries.
He said re-engineering ARLAC is one of the council’s important resolutions as it will keep the centre at pace with the current labour market development and needs as well as the accelerated technological advancements, hence ARLAC should take advantage of this opportunity to diversify its programmes. resources mobilisation strategies and partnership development strategies for it to be the centre of excellence in labour administration.
Moreover, Mr. Ramoeletsi said ARLAC as a training institution has to be financially stable, noting that its stability depends upon the Member States’ commitment to honour their obligation to pay their annual subscription.
In conclusion, the Minister said ARLAC needs to partner with other institutions regionally and globally to leverage its research and development, noting that Lesotho Institute of Public Administration and Management is ready to partner with ARLAC for not only widened publicity of ARLAC but also for joint training on the labour market governance institutions.
The incoming Chairpersonship of ARLAC also the Principal Secretary of Public Services, labour and Employment, Ms. Makhoabane Ledimo said the committee of Senior Officials is an important component of the ARLAC governance system as it consists of the chief accounting officers within the Ministries of Labour, Employment, in ARLAC member countries.
In conclusion, she said she recognised the importance of the responsibility that the committee of Senior Officials has entrusted her with and she pledged to carry out her duties and obligations in a trustworthy and diligent manner.
Also speaking, the ARLAC acting Executive Chief, Dr Locary Hlabanu said they failed to achieve the 5-year strategic plan they drafted due to challenges that they have encountered, however, he noted that they are proud of the progress they made in the key strategic priorities they set out to achieve.
Dr Hlabanu said ARLAC as a regional institution has continued to play a key role in facilitating policy formulation and building professional capacity in labour administration and generally, in labour market issues.
ARLAC is mandated to strengthen labour administration systems in English-speaking African member countries through training, research, consultancy and advisory services.
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
Improved 5G access is vital to growing the economy, a conference hosted by communications regulator Icasa has heard. Improved broadband penetration – and particularly 5G – is vital to growing South Africa’s economy, a conference hosted by a communications regulator has heard.
“The deeper the broadband fabric, the more you can achieve,” said Africa Analysis MD Dobek Pater, who was discussing the potential impact of 5G networks at the South African 5G Forum in Pretoria on Wednesday.
5G offers faster speeds and can connect more devices, improving the quality of internet services in crowded areas and enabling a network designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together, including machines, objects and devices.
The wireless technology is meant to deliver multi-gigabit-per-second peak data speeds, ultra-low latency, more reliability, massive network capacity, increased availability and a more uniform user experience.
Pater said studies show a clear positive relationship between higher connectivity and higher GDP growth rates and said good-quality broadband will be crucial in order not to become marginalised as a society.
In South Africa, the 5G network build-out is still in its early deployment phase, although equipment suppliers are moving to develop infrastructure and to try to reduce costs.
In 2022, 16 countries in Africa had commercial 5G up and running; over the next five years, 5G coverage will accelerate quickly as operators build infrastructure.
Job creation
New skill sets will be necessary to carry out the human/machine interaction and data analytics, which Pater believes will lead to job creation and economic growth.
These include jobs relating to maintenance of 5G infrastructure, the installation of internet-of-things devices, and indirect work that is not necessarily related to network infrastructure and devices but is fully dependent on the availability of 5G networks.
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
While South Africa’s private equity market may be attracting the attention of the nation’s biggest fund managers, international investors are giving it a wide berth put off by lethargic output.
Private equity funds are struggling to raise foreign investment because off assumptions that South Africa doesn’t need development aid and because offshore investors are wary of locking their money in a country experiencing low growth, according to Samantha Pokroy, CEO of Sanari Capital.
“South Africa is middle income only by virtue of averaging,” Pokroy said in an interview. “We have a tremendously unequal society and there’s an enormous developmental need to tackle structural inequalities. Private equity is very well placed to focus on structural inequalities because of the level of influence that we have in the economy, in the businesses that we invest in.”
Samantha Pokroy, CEO of Sanari Capital.
The International Monetary Fund expects economic expansion of only 0.3% this year
The International Monetary Fund expects economic expansion of only 0.3% this year, and for growth to remain below 2% until at least 2028, with output held back by record electricity outages and logistical constraints. The focus on the top-line number blinds investors to pockets of growth, Pokroy said.
“Because of the fact that our market is not considered a hot market, there’s actually an enormous amount of untapped opportunities, which are extremely well priced,” she said.
Private equity funds raised R19.6-billion last year, a 22% jump from the previous year, according to the South Africa Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. Only 15% of that was from foreign corporates and other PE funds, the industry body said.
The Sanari 3S Growth Fund raised R1.25-billion rand in fundraising from investors including Africa’s largest asset manager the Public Investment Corp and Alexforbes Investments, which has R450-billion in assets under management and administration. The 10-year fund will have a final fundraising round by May.
In the first round last year, Sanari received R465-million, which it invested in Edulife Group, a network of private schools, technology company LightWare LiDAR, and biometric verification company Identity.
With the cash infusion, the fund can now book bigger deals both at home and on the continent and is increasing deal sizes to R50-million to R250-million from a cap of R20-million. It seeks portfolio returns of at least 25%.
The fund’s already targeting four other investments ranging from industrial technology, software and application, to health care and another group of schools with a footprint in nine African countries.
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 parent company of Vodacom, Vodafone Group, said it had made its first 4G calls using Open RAN as it invests in chipsets with Intel. Vodafone Group underlined its commitment to Open RAN networks on Monday by confirming it would create purpose-built chipset architecture for the nascent technology with Intel.
The European operator and parent of South Africa’s Vodacom Group also said it had made its first 4G calls using Open RAN over network sites shared with Orange in Romania, and it was partnering with Nokia to pilot the technology in Italy.
Open RAN allows mobile operators to mix and match equipment from various suppliers, potentially increasing flexibility.
The market remains dominated by proprietary solutions from Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei
Progress has been slow, however, and the market remains dominated by proprietary solutions from Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei, although the latter has been hit by government restrictions in countries including Britain.
Vodafone agreed in 2022 to work with US chip-maker Intel on the potential to design its own chip architecture.
The company’s director of network architecture, Santiago Tenorio, confirmed the partners would jointly create chipsets at its campus in Malaga, Spain.
The chipsets will be available to smaller third-party vendors to test their own algorithms without a large financial outlay in silicon, Tenorio said at the FYUZ industry event in Madrid.
He said the ability to produce silicon designs in testing sample quantities would significantly speed up the time to deliver innovation.
“Combining Vodafone’s networking expertise with Intel’s strength in silicon architecture design will enable rapid prototyping, verification and testing, eventually leading to a faster mass production of the chips the industry needs to accelerate,” he said.
Vodafone and Orange said on Monday they had successfully made 4G calls over a cluster of sites in a rural area near Bucharest based on Open RAN technology.
The two companies used hardware and software provided by Samsung, Wind River and Dell in the pilot, they said.
In Italy, Vodafone said a pilot with Nokia aimed to prove that Nokia’s Open RAN solution could achieve the same functionality and performance as its purpose-built RAN.
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
TymeBank, a South African digital bank, has marked a significant achievement by reaching eight million customers as of October 6, 2023. This milestone highlights that TymeBank now serves one in every five eligible* South Africans.
CEO of TymeBank, Coen Jonker, commented, “We are pleased to have acquired eight million customers since our launch in February 2019. This reinforces our position as a rapidly growing digital bank and a credible alternative to traditional banks in South Africa. This growth aligns with our goal of becoming one of the top three retail banks in the country.”
TymeBank
TymeBank continues to see a consistent increase in its customer base, with over 200,000 customers joining every month and a 70% account activity rate over a rolling 30-day period.
Jonker credited this success to their ‘phygital’ model, integrating digital banking into physical retail environments. He also acknowledged partnerships with retailers like Pick n Pay, Boxer, and TFG, which have helped optimize their distribution network.
Challenges persist, including ongoing outages at Home Affairs affecting customer identity verification during onboarding. Load shedding, although mitigated by backup power for TymeBank kiosks, disrupts store operations and impacts the network infrastructure.
TymeBank introduced PayShap, a unique service allowing free payments to mobile numbers linked to any bank account, in August. Their fixed deposit product, offering South Africa’s best savings rates at 11%, has been well-received.
Cheslyn Jacobs, TymeBank’s Chief Commercial Officer, noted, “We continue to see strong demand for our proposition, appealing to a wider range of consumers. We are nearing a balance of R1 billion in our fixed deposit product.”
TymeBank is also gaining traction among SASSA recipients, facilitating efficient grant payments.
The bank’s acquisition of Retail Capital, a major SME funder, has positively impacted their funding portfolio. They now support over 50,000 businesses with approximately R9.5 billion in working capital, representing a 20% increase since acquiring Retail Capital.
TymeBank’s international venture, GoTyme Bank in the Philippines, is progressing at a similar rate, reaching one million customers within a year of its launch.
In summary, TymeBank’s growth trajectory and innovative approach have led to this remarkable achievement of eight million customers in just four years, establishing the bank as a notable player in the digital banking landscape.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the con
The African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a child of circumstance.
Bank President Professor Benedict Okey Oramah puts most poignantly in well publicized message to stakeholders and the general public: “It was conceived at a time of great difficulty for the continent”, he says as he takes stock of the great strides and achievements of Africa’s award-winning trade and investment institution.
Before its establishment back in 1993, the mere sight of African countries trading amongst themselves seemed hard to behold. Like pawns on the global economic chessboard, African states were bit players sacrificed for bigger scores by the major trading nations. They themselves could not harness the strength that comes with a unified position on issues affecting them, leaving them as vulnerable single players whose weaknesses the developed economies took advantage of.
Prof Benedict Oramah, president Afriexim bank
Three decades of working on its mandate of focused expansion, diversification and development of African trade, while operating as a first class, profit-oriented, socially responsible financial institution and a center of excellence in African trade matters, Afreximbank now stands tall among its peers in the multilateral financial institutions sphere to the approval of African leaders.
Early October, this year, in recognition of the Bank’s assistance to his country’s trade and economy in general, President Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Brazzaville honoured Bank President Oramah and Dr George Elombi, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President, Corporate Governance and Legal Services, with the highest Presidential award of Officer of the Order of Merit. It was a clear testimony (shared by several other leaders as well) to Afreximbank’s far-reaching impact as the continent’s pillar of support in matters of trade and investment even to the most vulnerable economies.
Over the years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A key driver of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the African Union (AU), the Bank is setting up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries to effectively participate in the AfCFTA.
The Bank’s growth has been nothing but momentous. At the end of 2022, its total assets and guarantees stood at over US$31 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$5.2 billion. It disbursed more than US$86 billion between 2016 and 2022 and has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure.
Afreximbank Group’s total balance sheet assets grew by 8% from US$27.9 billion as of 31 December 2022 (FY-2022) to approximately US$30.1 billion as of 30 June 30 2023. The growth was driven by the increase in loans and advances to customers, which grew by 13% to close the period at US$26 billion. The liquidity position remained strong at US$3 billion, representing 11% of total assets and achieving a Liquidity Coverage ratio of 310%.
Due to increased volume of interest-earning assets, particularly loans and advances and higher interest rates, total interest income recorded a strong growth of 107.1% to reach $1.1 billion for the half-year (H1-2023) period compared to $540.8 million for the same period in 2022.
Net interest income amounted to $663.6 million, up 76% from the prior year, mainly due to continuous effective management of interest expenses. Net Interest Margin as a result increased to 4.77%, compared to 3.47% last year.
The Group’s shareholders’ funds rose by 7.63% to US$5.6 billion as of 30 June 2023 compared to FY-2022. The growth was largely attributable to the $261 million fresh equity contributions from existing and new shareholders who have supported the ongoing General Capital Increase exercise which aims to raise US$2.6 billion paid-in equity by 2026. In addition, the growth in shareholders’ funds was also underpinned by $125.5 million internally generated net earnings after taking into account the approved dividend and other appropriations which amounted to US$209 million.
Speaking on the results achieved so far, Mr. Denys Denya, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President, Finance, Administration and Banking Services, said that the strong set of results is driven largely by a focused execution of the Bank’s mandate as a countercyclical lender which generated increased volume of interest-earning assets, particularly loans and advances and benefited from a rising interest rate environment.
The Bank has been playing pioneering roles in different facets of both financial and development intermediation across Africa such as;
Promoting regional value chains: Afreximbank is supporting the development of regional value chains in Africa. This involves financing projects that link businesses in different African countries, and providing technical assistance to help businesses participate in regional value chains.
Developing trade infrastructure: Afreximbank is investing in trade infrastructure, such as roads, ports, and airports, to make it easier and cheaper to move goods around Africa.
Providing trade information and services: Afreximbank provides trade information and services to African businesses, such as market research, trade finance, and risk mitigation services.
In 2022, Afreximbank launched the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which is a digital payment platform that allows businesses to make payments across Africa without having to go through a third currency. PAPSS is expected to reduce the cost of cross-border payments in Africa by up to 40%.
In 2023, Afreximbank launched the Africa Trade Gateway (ATG), which is a suite of digital platforms that provides businesses with access to trade finance, trade information, and other trade-related services. The ATG is designed to make it easier and more efficient for businesses to trade with each other across Africa.
Afreximbank is also working to develop a number of other initiatives to support the AfCFTA, such as the Afreximbank Adjustment Facility, which will provide financial support to countries that are negatively impacted by the AfCFTA, and the Afreximbank Trade Insurance Programme, which will provide insurance against trade risks.
By supporting intra-African trade, the AfCFTA, and regional value chains, Afreximbank is helping to create a single Africa trade bloc. This will boost economic growth and development across the continent, and create jobs and opportunities for Africans.
Like President Nguesso, other African leaders are acknowledging and applauding the important role Afreximbank is playing in Africa. President William Ruto of Kenya says that “Afreximbank is our organisation. It supports our development, financing and implementation of identified projects.” President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria has assured the Bank of Nigeria’s support, saying that Africa’s largest economy is open for foreign direct investment and ready to make use of opportunities provided by the Bank.
Commending the leadership of Afreximbank for efforts aimed at linking Africans in the diaspora, the Prime Minister of Bahamas Mr. Philip Davis said that “Afreximbank’s growing presence in the Caribbean, underpinned by a physical presence, is a testament to our shared goal of a joint vision of pan-African prosperity”.
The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Motley described the regional headquarters established by Afreximbank in the Caribbean as “one of the most outstanding Pan-African achievements of our era.” It is an outcome of the first African- Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) initiated by Afreximbank in Bridgestone last September, after 500 years of deleterious relations between Africa and the Caribbean.
Excited with the huge potential of the continental bank on their continent, Prime Minister Motley said “the Caribbean Community eagerly anticipates the effective linking of a fully constructed CARICOM Single Market and Economy to a fully integrated and operational African Continental Free Trade Area undergirded by air, maritime and telecommunications connectivity between the Caribbean and Africa.” He added: “We, in the Caribbean Community, are determined to reclaim our Atlantic destiny, to reconnect with our African “heartland” and to realize the dreams and aspirations of the Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey and so many others of our outstanding Pan-Africanists, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and Afreximbank are simply playing a role in helping us to accomplish this.”
Speaking on the need for an institution of Afreximbank’s stature, President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana said that the African continent would be unable to achieve its growth objectives unless it had strong development financial institutions.
Akufo-Addo called on African countries to support Afreximbank so it could expand its catalytic role in Africa, enhance its operations and be able to work consistently for Africa and the African Diaspora.
Speaking on the Bank’s agenda on climate finance recently, Prof Oramah disclosed that “Afreximbank is working to co-ordinate and support programmes which mobilise finance for climate-related initiatives, optimise nature-based solutions on the continent, and promote African food security and sustainable water supply, as well as investing in improvements to systems which manage and contain disasters when they occur.”
He announced that, to deal with the considerable intra-African trade finance gap, Afreximbank disbursed over $20 billion in the five years to 2021 and projected to double those disbursements to $40 billion in the five years to 2026.
In recognition of its extensive and impactful intermediation in trade and development, the African Banker recently bestowed on Afreximbank, the 2023 African Bank of the Year and the DFI of the Year awards.
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
DuckDuckGo said its talks with Apple failed because the iPhone maker was reluctant to give up Google’s billions. Apple considered switching to DuckDuckGo. The CEO of privacy-oriented search engine DuckDuckGo said its talks with Apple about a potential contract failed because the smartphone maker was reluctant to give up Google’s multibillion-dollar pay cheques, according to newly transcripts of a landmark antitrust trial of the Alphabet unit.
Gabriel Weinberg, who also founded the company, testified on 21 September on the effect on DuckDuckGo of Google’s US$10-billion in annual payments to smartphone makers and others to keep its search engine as the default on computers or mobile devices.
Google CEO, Sundar Pichai
Some of his testimony took place outside of public view.
The potential deal died in 2019, Weinberg argued, because of the Google payments to Apple
A redacted transcript unsealed late on Wednesday showed DuckDuckGo had struck a deal with Apple in 2014 to be shown as an option on Apple devices. Soon after, DuckDuckGo began pressing Apple to be made the default choice for users who wanted to work in privacy mode, which limited data collected on the user.
App makers seek to be the default in their area, whether it be search or maps or anything else, because many users are unable or reluctant to change defaults.
Weinberg said Apple seemed “really interested” in 2016, and executives of the two companies had meetings in 2017 and 2018 to discuss the shift to DuckDuckGo as the default in privacy mode. DuckDuckGo has about 2.5% of the search market, he testified.
In those meetings, Weinberg said, Apple executives would bring up the concern that its distribution agreements with Google may bar the change. The potential deal died in 2019, Weinberg argued, because of the Google payments.
Buying Bing
Apple’s John Giannandrea, in charge of machine learning and AI strategy whose testimony behind closed doors was also unsealed late on Wednesday, had testified in September that Apple had compared Bing and Google with an eye towards playing the two against each other.
Giannandrea testified about Apple’s toying with the idea of buying Bing or using it as a default search engine instead of Google, an idea that Giannandrea opposed because of Bing’s lower-quality search results.
The US justice department has said that Google, which has some 90% of the search market, pays about $10-billion annually to Apple, other smartphone makers and others to be the default search. That clout in search has made Google a heavy hitter in the lucrative advertising market, boosting its profits.
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
Mauritius’s state-owned telecommunications operator is assessing opportunities in several African nations as part of a key strategic initiative to diversify out of the Indian Ocean island market. Mauritius Telecom is evaluating potential acquisitions in places such as Seychelles, Madagascar, Congo Brazzaville and Ghana, CEO Kapil Reesaul said in an interview. While expansion could be through an existing mobile operator, the company won’t limit itself to mobile communications.
“We have the resources and the capacity to invest, backed by well-reputed banks based on our strong financial foothold,” Reesaul said. “We are hence seeking new markets and niche markets where we are confident we will be able to replicate what we have achieved in Mauritius.”
Kapil Reesaul
It has invested R1.1-billion in a new submarine fibre cable connecting Mauritius to South Africa
The Port Louis-based operator has built an unchallenged position in the island nation of 1.26 million people with 100% fibre-to-home coverage, 1.05 million mobile subscribers and 393 000 fixed lines. Its profit jumped 79% last year.
The Mauritian government is the biggest shareholder with a 33.49% direct stake, and another 25.55% through state-run SBM Holdings and the National Pension Fund. France’s Orange has 40% through an investment vehicle, according to the operator’s 2022 annual report.
Ahead of acquisitions, Mauritius Telecom has invested R1.1-billion in a new submarine fibre cable connecting Mauritius to South Africa. The next step will be its extension to India and Singapore for an estimated $120-million, said Reesaul, who was appointed CEO in August 2022.
“We are currently in talks with Indian operators as well as Orange and Cable & Wireless of Seychelles,” he said.
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
