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Africa’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Progress Uneven

October 4, 2023

Africa’s progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 aspirations has been uneven, with significant differences among subregions, countries, and rural and urban areas. This calls for accelerated efforts to ensure that Africa achieves the global goals by the 2030 deadline, the latest Africa Sustainable Development report has stated.

The 2023 report, titled “Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and African Union Agenda 2063 at all levels”, was released on the margins of the 78th United Nations General Assembly. It was produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the African Development Bank.

The report assessed Africa’s progress in implementing five main SDGs, highlighting progress, the challenges, and the numerous opportunities for improving Africa’s development prospects. Its findings suggest steady progress on key SDG targets, particularly on 4G mobile network coverage, and access to potable water and electricity.

“Africa’s steady progress on the SDGs is commendable. It is heartening to learn that the continent is on track to achieving some targets, particularly the goals related to innovation and technology, which are powerful enablers for advancing sustainable development,” noted Ms Ahunna Eziakonwa, Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa, UNDP.

The report warns that although Africa is progressing toward achieving the SDGs, the number of on-track targets is less than those requiring acceleration or reversal. It calls for timely interventions to accelerate countries’ progress on key SDGs and the Agenda 2063 aspirations, goals, and targets.

António Pedro, Acting Executive Secretary of ECA, stated: “Africa must create green growth by adding value to its green minerals. This green growth through green minerals must be central to Africa’s SDG rescue strategy. Africa also needs scaled-up concessional financing to regain momentum on the SDGs and the Agenda 2063.”

Albert M. Muchanga, Commissioner for Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission, called for improved communication between parties working on Africa’s sustainable development. “The time has come for the Agenda 2063, the 2030 Agenda, and the African Development Bank’s ‘High 5’ (https://apo-opa.info/3OiFCJL) agenda to be aligned to make it easier for member states to domesticate,” he reiterated.

Gerald Esambe Njume, Principal Climate Change and Green Growth Officer at the African Development Bank said: “Harnessing Africa’s green growth opportunities requires significant efforts in putting forward a strategic vision and governance structure, ensuring sectoral planning, allocating adequate budgetary resources, and establishing sound institutional and coordination arrangements.”

Key findings:

On SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), African countries have improved access to safely managed drinking water services, but a significant disparity remains between rural and urban areas. Three in five Africans, or 411 million people, still lack safely managed drinking water. Also, only Egypt and Tunisia out of the 48 countries assessed are on track to achieve universal basic sanitation by 2030. The report calls on African countries to invest in water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure and to strengthen integrated water resource management capacity.

On affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), the report finds that electrification rates have increased, but the use of clean cooking fuels and technologies remains limited. Also, the shift from non-renewable to renewable energy is slow. The report calls for funding increases for infrastructure and technology to boost sustainable power generation across Africa.

For innovation, industry, and infrastructure (SDG 9), the report reveals that Africa is on track in terms of its mobile network coverage, and based on current trends, the continent will meet the relevant Goal 9 target by 2030. The report, therefore, calls for the acceleration of rural road construction and expansion to achieve rural connectivity and regional integration to bridge the urban-rural divide. According to the report, this will advance intra-African trade and thus facilitate the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

Regarding sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), the report’s findings suggest a modest overall decline in the share of Africans living in urban slums. It recommends greater investment in infrastructure to improve access to public transport, waste management and air quality in African cities.

Concerning partnerships (SDG 17), mobilizing funding remains challenging for African countries. The report calls for higher domestic resource mobilization and efforts to address debt vulnerabilities.

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

South Africa’s National Development Plan is Failing

October 3, 2023

There are indications that South Africa is set to miss all but one of the 2030 development targets the National Planning Commission set just over a decade ago.

Of nine targets set in the National Development Plan, ranging from employment to investment, five measures have deteriorated from their baseline, one is unchanged and three have improved, the commission said in a 10-year review on the progress of the plan. Still, of the three that improved only one is ahead of the target set.

“Economic growth has been stagnating, investment restrained, employment declining relative to a growing population, and poverty and inequality consequently remaining entrenched,” the commission said. “There is a greater need for the state to work closer with the private sector.”

The commission was established to advise the president and cabinet on long-term development goals as South Africa struggled to overcome the challenges of inequality, poverty and unemployment that the government has blamed on the legacy of apartheid.

While South Africa made significant gains in growing its economy and reducing unemployment between 2000 and 2008, much of that progress unravelled during the nine-year tenure of President Jacob Zuma, which ended in 2018. The government estimated that during his term in office, at least R500-billion was stolen from state coffers. He has denied wrongdoing.

In its report, the commission listed the progress, or lack of, made towards the targets between 2012 and 2022.

In 2011 the economy expanded 3.3% and in recent years has fallen well short of a 2030 target of 5.4% growth. Unemployment surged to 32.9% against a target of 6% and a level of 25.4% in 2011. Investment, or gross fixed capital formation, as a percentage of GDP, has fallen to 14.1% from 19.4% while a target of 30% was set.

Progress has been seen in boosting the labour force participation rate to 59.4% from 55.4% putting it ahead of the target of 56.6%.

The employment number has also risen to 16.1 million from 13.6 million, against a 2030 target of 24 million, but that increase has come as the population expanded.

Particularly stubborn has been the Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, which hasn’t shifted from 0.69 against a target of 0.60. South Africa is the most unequal country in the world for which data is available, according to the Thomas Piketty-backed World Inequality Lab.

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

Webafrica to Buy Mweb from Dimension Data

Webafrica has agreed to buy Mweb, one of South Africa’s largest and oldest internet service providers, from Dimension Data. The deal is done and the parties are now awaiting the approval of the Competition Commission, which is expected to pronounce on it soon, possibly by 1 November.

Webafrica CEO Sean Nourse confirmed to the media that the parties have signed the necessary paperwork and that the combinations, if approved, will double the size of the company, adding more than 300 Mweb employees to its 350-strong workforce. No layoffs are anticipated.

Nourse, who previously headed up Mweb for Dimension Data, moved to WebAfrica three years ago. Mweb, which is headed by Manelisa Mavuso, will continue to operate independently.

Nourse, who previously headed up Mweb for Dimension Data, moved to Webafrica three years ago, replacing Tim Wyatt-Gunning in the CEO role. It decided to put in an offer to buy Mweb after Dimension Data put the business up for sale.

He declined to say how many customers Mweb has on its books, but they number in the hundreds of thousands. A majority of these are on fibre, though the business still has a large legacy copper DSL base as well as customers on fixed-LTE services.

Dimension Data has been trying to sell the Mweb business since at least 2021. Nourse declined to comment on the price Webafrica is paying for Mweb, but said the deal is being entirely funded through its own balance sheet.

Mweb was founded in 1997 and is still remembered for its “Big Black Box” marketing campaign that enticed people to sign up for the internet – in those days, before Telkom launched DSL, it was dial-up only.

Internet Solutions (IS), part of Dimension Data, bought Mweb from Naspers in 2017. Mweb’s business customer base was then integrated into IS and does not form part of the transaction with Webafrica.

Dimension Data CEO Alan Turnley-Jones said the sale of Mweb is in line with the IT services group’s “strategy of focusing on core markets servicing the enterprise client base”.

“We are continually refining our portfolio of services to ensure relevance to our clients. Dimension Data is also on a journey to integrate with our global shareholder, NTT. The decision to sell Mweb will enable us to accelerate this journey and to focus on our core competencies, while leveraging NTT’s capability in platform delivered managed services,” he said in a statement issued to TechCentral.

Amazon Steps up AI Race With $4-billion Anthropic Deal

Amazon.com said on Monday said it will invest up to US$4-billion in cash in the high-profile start-up Anthropic, in its effort to compete with growing cloud rivals on artificial intelligence.

Amazon’s employees and cloud customers will gain early access to technology from Anthropic as part of the deal, which they can infuse into their businesses. The San Francisco-based start-up also committed to rely primarily on Amazon’s cloud services, including training its future AI models on large quantities of proprietary chips it would buy from the online retailing and computing giant.

In a joint interview, the CEOs of Amazon’s cloud division and Anthropic said the immediate investment will be $1.25-billion, with either party having the authority to trigger another $2.75-billion in funding by Amazon.

The news represents perhaps Amazon’s biggest answer yet to challenges from Microsoft and Google

They declined to state how much Amazon now would own of Anthropic or the start-up’s updated valuation, last estimated at more than $4-billion. Amazon said it would not gain a board seat and that its stake amounted to a minority position.

The news represents perhaps Amazon’s biggest answer yet to challenges from Microsoft and Google, smaller cloud rivals that have marketed or developed powerful AI this year. The deal also shows ongoing manoeuvering by the cloud companies to secure ties with AI start-ups reshaping their industry.

Since 2019, Microsoft has put billions of dollars into its partnership with ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI, giving its customers special access to the startup’s prose-writing, image-generating technology.

Google meanwhile helped pioneer this branch of AI and in May invested in Anthropic’s $450-million fundraise, in a relationship the start-up said is not going away.

For Amazon, Monday’s deal may spell an uptick in demand, including for chips powering AI. Anthropic agreed to work on developing technology for Amazon’s in-house Trainium and Inferentia chips, for instance.

Adam Selipsky, Amazon Web Services’s CEO, said the pact “will help make Anthropic’s models better, will help make our chip technology and our AI infrastructure better”.

Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s CEO, said his company “has obtained the money in a way that allows it to prioritise safety” and “allows us to continue to scale up our models”.

Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI executives including Amodei, is one of a series of companies building so-called generative AI, systems that can draft content as if a human created it. Anthropic has aimed to distinguish its work by training AI to adhere to moral values.

Amodei declined to state if its latest financing was competitive.

Anthropic is continuing an agreement it announced with Google in February, he said. Anthropic is using Google’s custom chips and has planned to make its technology available via Google Cloud and elsewhere.

Yet with Monday’s deal, Anthropic is giving a boost to Amazon Bedrock, a service that has attracted thousands of users to start building AI applications.

Amazon’s customers will gain features from Anthropic early, such as the ability to customise their AI. Selipsky said: “Both companies are committing that, for many years to come, future versions of Claude will be available on Amazon Bedrock, and that’s important.”

Anthropic’s Claude 2 is an AI model that is able to respond to particularly large prompts, setting it up to analyse long business or legal documents. Amodei said the deal “allows us to work more closely to drive enterprise usage for Claude”, which he said represented much of the demand on Bedrock so far.

LexisNexis, a data analytics company, is working with Anthropic and Amazon to make its own legal search capabilities more “intelligent”, Amodei said. Other customers include Bridgewater Associates and Lonely Planet, he said.

Anthropic has yet to gain the name recognition or usage of OpenAI, the start-up behind the GPT-4 model and ChatGPT, which is one of the fastest-growing software applications in history.

Amazon has aimed to give customers a broad range of AI models so they have little reason to look further afield for cloud services. Asked if Amazon would invest in additional AI start-ups beyond Anthropic, Selipsky said: “I honestly don’t know what the future will hold.”

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

Apple Used Bing as Google ‘Bargaining Chip

A Microsoft executive said the company has tried for years to displace Google as the default web browser on iPhones, but that Apple never seriously considered switching to Microsoft’s Bing and was content to use it as a “bargaining chip” with the search giant.

“Apple is making more money on Bing than Bing does,” Mikhail Parakhin, the head of Microsoft’s advertising and web services, testified during the US government’s antitrust trial against Google in Washington. “We are always trying to convince Apple to use our search engine.”

Parakhin, who joined Microsoft in 2019 from Russian search engine Yandex, said Microsoft met with Apple as recently as 2021 to discuss a potential switch to Bing, but didn’t make any progress.

Apple has used Google as the default search engine in its Safari browser since 2003.

In response to Google’s lawyers, Parakhin said it was “uneconomical for Microsoft to invest more” in technology for the mobile search market. “Unless Microsoft gets a more significant, or firmer guarantee of distribution, it makes it uneconomical to invest.”

Apple has used Google as the default search engine in its Safari browser since 2003 in exchange for a share of the advertising revenue earned through searches made on its devices. The US justice department alleges that the contract and others like it have allowed Google to maintain its monopoly over the online search market illegally.

Google denies the government’s claim and says users choose its search engine because it is the best one.

The exact amount of money Apple earns from the Google deal is confidential, but the justice department said it’s between $4-billion and $7-billion/year. On Tuesday, a top Apple executive testified that the iPhone maker agreed to “support and defend” the contract with Google in any regulatory challenges including the justice department’s lawsuit.

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

Starlink Chooses Jumia for Retail Distribution Across African Markets

Jumia, the African e-commerce platform, has unveiled a groundbreaking partnership with satellite internet provider Starlink to introduce the Starlink Residential Kit in Africa. This innovative kit, designed to seamlessly connect users to the internet, streamlines the process with its pre-configured components, requiring only the download of the Starlink App and strategic placement of the Starlink satellite dish to ensure an unobstructed view of the sky. A simple plug-in is all that remains for users to achieve connectivity.

The primary objective of this collaborative effort is to eradicate the digital divide that has persisted in underserved regions of Africa. Initially launching in Nigeria, this partnership is poised for expansion into Kenya, with plans to eventually encompass all African nations where Jumia maintains its operational presence.

Jumia, known for its robust marketplace, is backed by its proprietary logistics arm, Jumia Logistics, and boasts a digital payment and fintech platform, JumiaPay. Its collaborator in this venture, Starlink, stands as the pioneer and largest satellite constellation in the world, utilizing low Earth orbit technology to deliver high-speed broadband internet capable of supporting activities such as streaming, online gaming, and video calls.

With Jumia’s extensive reach and Starlink’s satellite constellation, engineered under the stewardship of parent company SpaceX, the alliance envisions a future where millions of Africans can harness the transformative potential of high-speed internet.

This development closely follows the recent announcement from integrated network services firm Paratus Group, which disclosed its agreement to act as a distributor for Starlink’s high-speed services across the African continent. Starlink services will be made immediately available through Paratus in Mozambique, Kenya, Rwanda, and Nigeria, with further expansion into additional countries on the horizon.

Jumia Starlink Jumia Starlink

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

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 continent’s pioneers in this regard

Scientists Win Nobel Prize for Covid-19 Vaccine Discoveries

October 2, 2023

Hungarian scientist Katalin Karikó and US colleague Drew Weissman, who met in line for a photocopier before making mRNA molecule discoveries together that paved the way for Covid-19 vaccines, won the 2023 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday.

“The laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times,” the Swedish award-giving body said in the latest accolade for the pair.

The prize, among the most prestigious in the scientific world, was selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute medical university and comes with 11 million Swedish crowns (about R19-million) to share between them.

Katalin Karikó and US colleague Drew Weissman — Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman

Coronavirus vaccines were estimated to have helped save almost 20 million lives globally.

Karikó was senior vice president and head of RNA protein replacement at BioNTech until 2022 and has since acted as an adviser to the company. She is also a professor at the University of Szeged in Hungary and adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. Weissman is professor in vaccine research at the Perelman School.

The two laureates jointly developed so-called nucleoside base modifications, which stop the immune system from launching an inflammatory attack against lab-made mRNA, previously seen as a major hurdle against any therapeutic use of the technology.

German biotech firm BioNTech said in June that about 1.5 billion people had received its mRNA shot, co-developed with major drugmaker Pfizer, across the world.

Nobel Prize

The European Medicines Agency earlier this year cited estimates that in the first year of the pandemic alone, coronavirus vaccines were estimated to have helped save almost 20 million lives globally. BioNTech and Pfizer’s mRNA vaccines were the most widely used Covid shots used in the Western world.

The Nobel winners showed in 2005 that adjustments to nucleosides, the molecular letters that write the mRNA’s genetic code, can keep the mRNA under the immune system’s radar.

“This year’s Nobel Prize recognises their basic science discovery that fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with the immune system and had a major impact on society during the recent pandemic,” said Rickard Sandberg, member of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute.

“Together they have saved millions of lives, prevented severe Covid-19, reduced the overall disease burden and enabled societies to open up again.”

Messenger or mRNA, discovered in 1961, is a natural molecule that serves as a recipe for the body’s production of proteins. To use man-made mRNA to instruct human cells to make therapeutic proteins, long regarded as impossible, was commercially pioneered during the pandemic.

The technology means a radical break from established biotech medicines, which are generated in complex reactors by genetically modified living cells, then isolated and purified. Messenger RNA, by contrast, works like software that can be injected into the body to instruct human cells to churn out the desired proteins.

Prospective uses include drugs against cancer and vaccines against malaria, influenza and rabies.

The medicine prize kicks off this year’s awards with the remaining five to be unveiled in the coming days.

The prizes, first handed out in 1901, were created by Swedish dynamite inventor and wealthy businessman Alfred Nobel, and are awarded for achievements in science, literature and peace, and in later years also for economics.

The Swedish king will present the prizes at a ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel’s death, followed by a lavish banquet at city hall.

Last year’s medicine prize went to Swede Svante Paabo for sequencing the genome of the Neanderthal, an extinct relative of present-day humans, and for discovering a previously unknown human relative, the Denisovans.

Other past winners include Alexander Fleming, who shared the 1945 prize for the discovery of penicillin, and Karl Landsteiner in 1930 for his discovery of human blood groups.

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

eMedia Sues MultiChoice Over Rugby Rights

eMedia Holdings, the parent of Openview and e.tv, has filed papers against MultiChoice in the high court, MultiChoice.

This is after Openview published full-page advertisements in various Sunday newspapers in which it hinted that it had taken the matter on review.

Apparently written in the form of a poem, the ad states: “The court is engaged, the court will decide if digitally migrated Openview homes will get to the Rugby World Cup. The court will decide if Openview homes, who must pay TV licences, get to see the Rugby World Cup on SABC 2.”

The court will decide if digitally migrated Openview homes will get to the Rugby World Cup. It’s not the first time that Openview and eMedia have taken aim at MultiChoice over the rugby rights.

Last month, when it emerged that MultiChoice’s sublicensing deal with the SABC prohibited the public broadcaster from carrying the games on Openview, a free-to-air satellite platform that carries the SABC channels, eMedia threatened legal action against the pay-TV broadcaster. This threat came even though it wasn’t party to the discussions with the SABC and MultiChoice over broadcasting the games from the World Cup.

In an open letter to MultiChoice on 8 September, eMedia first threatened court action. That letter, which copied in sports minister Zizi Kodwa, communications minister Mondli Gungubele, trade, industry & competition minister Ebrahim Patel and Competition Commission head Doris Tshepe , accused MultiChoice of forcing a deal on the SABC that “undermines consumer welfare and is contrary to the public interest”.

‘Without merit’

The SABC reportedly paid US$2-million (about R38-million) that would allow it to broadcast 16 of the 48 Rugby World Cup games, including all matches involving the Springboks.

eMedia CEO Khalik Sherrif said in a statement about the SABC deal: “The anticompetitive action is nothing short of domination in trying to prescribe to the free-to-air partner on how to use its broadcasting rights. We believe the action should be strongly condemned and opposed. The 3.2 million households which have been affected by the decision should voice their dissatisfaction.”

A spokesman for MultiChoice said on Sunday that the company will oppose eMedia’s court challenge. “We are in receipt of the application served to us by eMedia. We consider the application to be without merit and have notified eMedia of our intention to oppose it.”

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

Telkom Appoints a New Group CFO

Telkom has appointed Transnet’s Nonkululeko Dlamini as its new group chief financial officer with effect from 1 December. Dlamini will also be appointed as an executive director on the board.

At the same time, incumbent CFO Dirk Reyneke will step down from the board as of end-November and move into the role of chief capital projects officer. And non-executive director Mteto Nyati, who also serves on the Eskom board, has stepped down from Telkom, citing capacity constraints.

New CFO Dlamini is currently CFO at Transnet, the deeply troubled state-owned logistics company. Before Transnet, she was CFO at the Industrial Development Corporation and acting CFO at Eskom, where she also held various other management positions.

Reyneke will work closely with Dlamini “to ensure her seamless transition to the group CFO role”, Telkom 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

How South African Crypto Startup VALR Processed $10B in 5 Years

South African cryptocurrency startup VALR has achieved a significant milestone by processing over $10 billion in trading volume since its establishment in 2018. Founded by former Rand Merchant Bank executive Farzam Ehsani, VALR’s accomplishment highlights the growing presence of cryptocurrency trading in South Africa.

At the current exchange rate, this trading volume amounts to approximately R190 billion. VALR, which claims to be Africa’s largest Bitcoin exchange by trading volume, shared this achievement in a recent statement.

Additionally, VALR announced that it has received preliminary approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (Vara) as part of its global expansion strategy. This expansion is being pursued through VALR’s subsidiary, VALR FZE.

Since its inception, VALR has successfully raised $55 million in funding and currently serves a customer base of over half a million retail clients and around 900 corporate and institutional customers. The company now aims to replicate its success on a global scale by establishing operations in Dubai and targeting markets in Asia, the Middle East, and the United Arab Emirates.

While this preliminary approval from Vara does not immediately permit VALR to offer virtual asset services in Dubai, it is considered a significant step towards the company’s goal of establishing a virtual asset exchange in the region. VALR emphasized its commitment to maintaining high standards of operational integrity, regulatory compliance, and security.

Farzam Ehsani, co-founder of VALR, expressed the importance of this milestone, stating, “Obtaining initial approval from Vara is a significant milestone that marks a major step forward in VALR’s global expansion plans.”

Blake Player, VALR’s head of growth, also noted, “We see Asia, the Middle East, and the United Arab Emirates as attractive markets with significant crypto flows. Dubai is quickly gaining recognition as a forward-thinking and pragmatic jurisdiction for crypto businesses.”

In conclusion, VALR’s achievement of processing $10 billion in trading volume over five years illustrates the growing presence of cryptocurrency trading in South Africa. Its plans for international expansion through its Dubai offices reflect its ambition to further contribute to the global cryptocurrency landscape while adhering to regulatory standards.

VALR crypto VALR crypto

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

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 continent’s pioneers in this regard