The Financial Market Council in Tunisia has released a draft regulation relating to the requirements for carrying out the activity of Crowdfunding in transferable securities.
The project consists of 53 articles divided into seven chapters that cover a variety of topics such as the necessary conditions for the formation of a crowdfunding platform, the governance of these platforms, and the protection of participants’ rights and funds.
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
The Ministry of Communication Technologies recently gave seventeen additional startup labels, increasing the total number of labels granted to 801, as part of the “Startup Act” initiative, which aims to support start-ups formed or established in Tunisia.
According to the government, these labels were awarded during a ceremony conducted on Monday for the month of November.
Startups
According to the third annual report “Startup Tunisia” by Smart Capital, the company in charge of administering this national programme, published at the end of October 2022, the year 2021 was highlighted by an exponential growth in applications and labelled startups.
The number of labels given grew by 17.2% from 192 in 2019 to 245 in 2021.
According to the same survey, the Tunisian startup ecosystem is still young and consists primarily of firms that are just starting out.
Almost 73% of startups were created within the last three years, while 18.31% were founded within the last year and 14.38% were founded between four and six years ago. The number of startups does not exceed 1.91% after 7 years.
Tunisia’s capital, Tunis, has the biggest concentration of startups (62.3% of job creation in 2021).
Apart from Greater Tunis, the central and northeast regions remain the most appealing for startup employment, accounting for 13.3% of total job creation in the central and 12.2% in the north.
With respective amounts of 5.6%, 2.8%, and 2.8%, the south-east, north-west, and center-west are the regions with the lowest number of employment produced.
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
Yazid Benmouhoub, general manager of the Algiers Stock Exchange, has announced the imminent establishment of a compartment dedicated to start-up funding to help the development of this type of company.
“The Algiers Stock Trading is prepared to establish a market for the exchange of shares and the financing of start-ups in accordance with the country’s new economic policy aimed at encouraging the foundation and development of such enterprises,” he said at an economic symposium in Oran (north-west).
Benmouhoub also announced that the Algiers Stock Exchange has developed a scheme to create financing instruments (bonds) that are Sharia-compliant through the Stock Exchange. “This initiative is presently being studied by the competent authorities,” he said, adding that the new goods aim to “diversify stock market services and allow a bigger number of enterprises to access.”
The Algiers Stock Exchange, founded in 1997, currently has only four companies listed on the main market, including the pharmaceutical group Saidal and Alliance Assurances. Only one company is listed in the SMEs division, and that is AOM Invest spa, which specialises in spa operations.
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. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh
The governor of the issuing institute shared by the six CEMAC states (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Chad, CAR, and Equatorial Guinea) has strongly discouraged people from investing in crypto-currencies during a press conference that marked the first extraordinary meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Central African States (Beac) for the year 2022 on November 18, 2022 in Ndjamena, the capital of Chad.
cryptocurrency
“Beac’s choice is to warn the public against investing in these risky speculative assets. Since the beginning of 2022, Bitcoin, for instance, has lost more than 70% of its value,” according to Abbas Mahamat Tolli (photo). He emphasised that cryptocurrency is still an unrecognised currency in the CEMAC market.
He insisted, “I would like to stress out that the only currency for all the countries of the CEMAC zone is the CFA franc. Thus, Abbas Mahamat Tolli upholds the position of the central bank in the face of RCA’s formalisation of a cryptocurrency on April 22, 2022.
The new rules governing the common financial market in the CEMAC countries, which include the floating of “digital assets” and “digital tokens,” were published a few weeks before the resignation of the former governor of the central bank of the CEMAC countries.
According to article 76 of this regulation, which was adopted on July 21, 2022 by the Ministerial Committee of the Monetary Union of Central Africa (UMAC) and made available to the public on July 14, 2022, “any intangible asset representing, in digital form, one or more rights issued, registered, stored, or transferred by means of a shared electronic recording device allowing to identify, directly or indirectly, constitutes a token.”
According to financial market participants involved in the development of this book, this concept encompasses not only cryptocurrency, but also video games, photos, and software.
Furthermore, “services on digital assets” are now among the activities permitted in the CEMAC financial market. Article 160 defines this as “the act of providing one or more of the following services or operations: storage of digital activities on behalf of a third party; purchase of digital assets against a legal tender currency or against other digital assets; operation of a digital asset trading platform; other services on digital assets such as the reception and transmission of orders on behalf of third parties, portfolio management.”
Furthermore, the inclusion of cryptoassets in the regulatory corpus of the sub-regional financial market does not bestow legal standing on cryptocurrencies in the CEMAC zone.
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. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh
If the Tunisia Startup Act enabled the establishment of a stable ecosystem and market penetration, the second version of the Startup Act will seek to address the inadequacies that have been created as barriers to the growth of startups.
“In my opinion, the fact that the state helps start-ups by buying their products is more important than funding,” said Zouber Turki, president of the Collège des start-ups, during a webinar hosted by IACE on Wednesday, November 16, on the topic “What is the contribution of the start-up Act 2.0 law to entrepreneurship in Tunisia.”
Three years after the Start-up Act went into effect, the speakers compiled an inventory of Tunisia’s start-up ecosystem during the online debate.
They also returned to the difficulties that entrepreneurs encounter.
Turki, while praising the work of the College members, stated that financing is a major issue that Tunisian start-ups face. However, he believes that the latter may advertise their technology solutions and get money elsewhere. The formation of start-ups beyond the university gates should not be a source of anxiety for the university professor, especially when Tunisia continues to gain from their technical solutions and services.
Returning to the process that resulted in the adoption of the first version of the Startup Act, Wissem El Mekki, director of the digital economy at the Ministry of Communication Technologies, stated that the new regulatory framework was driven by young people who aspired to revolutionise traditional investment and pushed for the adoption of agile regulation for innovation. He also stated that three years is insufficient time to conduct a review of the Startup Act.
However, “the second version of the law will allow the administration to clarify its vision regarding the policies adopted in terms of innovation,” he believes. “It will also allow the administration to straighten the course, make corrections, and improve the regulatory framework capable of contributing to the development of the ecosystem and overcoming the shortcomings that stand in the way of the growth of start-ups.”
Accelerate Funding
According to Mohamed Salah Frad, president of the Tunisian Association of Capital Investors (Atic), the start-up Act law has enabled the establishment of a strong ecosystem and the penetration of the market, as seen by the large number of labelled start-ups (more than 700 start-ups). However, some flaws have revealed. These are primarily issues of financing and the implementation of the notion of the state start-up.
Frad urged for the acceleration of financing for the 700 branded start-ups in this regard, predicting that the finance needs would be roughly 70 million dinars. Concerning the State start-up, Atic’s president emphasised that the public buyer must be convinced of its position as a growth engine for these young startups looking for markets. Using the start-ups Ahmini and BeSoftware as examples, Frad stated that the state has been unable to capitalise on these innovative solutions to improve its services, emphasising that in the United States, it is the state that has provided impetus to the growth of technology.
According to Oussama Messaoud, secretary general of the Tunisian start-ups association, the start-up Act has facilitated a paradigm change by fostering a dynamic and an environment of innovation and encouraging investors to take risks.
In light of the difficulties encountered by the administration and the banking system in applying the law (particularly for the special account in foreign currencies), Messaoud has called for the creation of new innovative financial products and mechanisms to attract investors interested in the Tunisian ecosystem. He also brought up the issue of start-ups that, once they reach a certain degree of development, are obliged to leave the nation in order to obtain funding and flourish.
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. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh
Senegal’s telecoms regulatory authority announced on Sunday a deal in the months-long dispute between Sonatel, an Orange-branded operator in West Africa, and the American start-up Wave in the money and mobile payments transfer sector.
Wave will be permitted to offer Orange telephone credit under the same terms as its competitor Orange Finances Mobiles, a subsidiary of Sonatel, according to an official of the Authority of Regulation of Telecommunications and Posts (ARTP) who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Wave declared in June 2021 that it had seized the ARTP because Sonatel was preventing the purchase of Orange phone credit over the Wave platform.
In a statement, ARTP stated that the mediation it had conducted had resulted in a “happy ending.” The ARTP entails the signature of a contract between the two parties for the sale of Orange telephone credit, as well as the option for Wave to connect to Sonatel’s application programming interfaces (API), allowing apps to communicate with one another.
It recalled asking Sonatel to “implement, without reservation, the principles of equal treatment and access, transparency, and non-discrimination” and to provide Wave the same terms as Orange Mobile Finances.
In 2021, Sonatel stated that it had made Wave a technical and economic offer comparable to those given to other service providers to distribute Orange telephone credit. However, Wave asked from Sonatel “remuneration greater than what we offered to offset the freebies it provides,” Sonatel claimed.
On Sunday, neither Wave nor Sonatel could be reached.
On its website, Wave claims to be the first network of financial services without account management fees on an African continent where only a small percentage of the population has access to a bank account. Sonatel’s recent entry into the Senegalese market has introduced new competition, particularly in the area of money transfers, which is common in Senegal.
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. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh
A huge opportunity is underway for foreign fintech firms desiring to enter Ethiopia. This is due to the revision to the country’s national payment system proclamation that has been submitted to the appropriate standing committee of parliament for further review and will let foreign investors to participate as a payment system operator or instrument issuer.
The 2011 proclamation, which became effective roughly three years ago after the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) issued implementer guidelines, is currently being changed to include foreign fintechs to engage and participate in the financial sector either separately or in conjunction with local investors.
Dr. Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister
The draught proclamation has the paid up capital issue indicated, in contrast to the present proclamation №718/2011.
The draught proclamation’s article 6 sub-article 6 stated that applicants for payment instrument issuer and payment system operator positions must satisfy a minimum paid up capital requirement that may be specified by the NBE directive.
Although the “licencing and authorization of payment instrument issuers directive no.ONPS/01/2020” that was issued in 2020 stated that a minimum paid up capital of 50 million birr shall be contributed in cash for those who want to invest in the sector, the proclamation that is currently being used has not mentioned about the paid up capital.
According to article 6.7 of the latest draft directive, foreign nationals may be permitted to operate a subsidiary that is licenced as a payment instrument issuer or payment system operator or engage in the business of issuing payment instruments or operating payment systems.
Foreign nationals and Ethiopian organisations wholly owned by foreign nationals are required to raise capital wholly paid in foreign currency in order to operate a payment system and/or issue payment instruments. This is stated in subarticle 8 of the constitution.
Additionally, according to Sub-Article 9, if foreigners own a portion of a fintech company, their capital must be paid in a currency that is recognised abroad.
The same article’s sub-article 12 mentions payment in foreign currency for joining the protected sector; however, NBE’s forthcoming decree will reveal the amount.
According to experts, the minimum paid-up capital requirement of 50 million birr is excessive when compared to other industries’ situations. Therefore, it is unlikely that the regulatory body will alter these figures for international investors, therefore new participants will need to raise foreign currency to make up the required paid-up capital.
The proclamation states that national payment systems must include systems for payments, clearing, and settlement as well as for sending, receiving, and processing payment orders and money transfers in either domestic or foreign currencies.
The proposed document also said that payment service providers, such as operators, participants, issuers of payment instruments, and any other entity acting as their agent or pursuant to outsourcing agreements, may operate fully or in part in the nation.
“Following the amendment of the proclamation, the ecosystem will be opened which means that highly experienced foreign companies will enter into the Ethiopian payment system. The move will uplift the success that we have so far achieved on the sector and will foster the use of a cashless economy in addition to ensuring financial inclusion besides strengthening the digital payment ecosystem,” Solomon Damtew, acting director of the directorate overseeing payments and settlement systems, recently said in a meeting with bank presidents convened by the National Bank of Ethiopia two months ago.
The two operators now engaged in the sector are Ethio Telecom’s tele birr and Kacha Digital Financial Services, while Safaricom Ethiopia is awaiting the approval of this new proclamation before launching its well-known mobile money service, M-Pesa.
Solomon recently claimed that the proclamation amendment will change the game because it permits reputable and seasoned foreign corporations to make market investments.
Despite only having been in business for roughly a year and a half, Telebirr has succeeded in converting half of the subscribers of the state-owned telecom company to mobile money users.
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. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh
The Nigeria Startup Act, introduced in Parliament by the Republic’s Presidency and the country’s inventive tech sector in March, has been signed into law by Nigeria’s president. The new law was adopted by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Wednesday, July 20 this year, and then later by the country’s House of Representatives.
The purpose of the Startup Bill is to “provide a favourable environment for a start-formation, up’s growth, and operation in Nigeria. Encourage the growth of talent in the technology sector and establish Nigeria’s startup ecosystem as the continent’s premier digital technology hub, with outstanding innovators with cutting-edge expertise and exportable ability,” the government says.
Since October 2021, the government has embarked on the establishment of a regulatory framework conducive to the emergence of innovative tech companies. Currently, Nigerian start-ups are the ones attracting the most investment in Africa. They have managed to thrive in a business environment built on long-term battles led by the private sector. Today, given the impact on the economic growth of States that several analysts attribute to start-ups in the digital age, the public sector is determined to provide them with a more favorable framework for expression.
Nigeria has included a number of amenities in its new law on startups that will hasten their maturity. These include a label that will provide businesses that acquire it with tax benefits, money resources via a fund set aside for support. The government also places a high priority on education.
Once the bill is approved, Nigeria will become one of the few African countries with start-up-specific regulations. Senegal, Tunisia, and Mali are among them.
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. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh
Algeria’s Minister of Knowledge Economy, Start-ups, and Microenterprises, Yacine El Mahdi Oualid, presented the bill on the status of the auto-entrepreneur to members of the National People’s Congress’s Business Commission Economics, Development, Industry, Commerce, and Planning (NPC) on Monday in Algiers.
Oualid stated during the presentation session, which was chaired by Kamel Belakhdar, President of the Commission, and was attended by Besma Azouar, Minister for Relations with Parliament, that the text of the law aims to “define the status of self-entrepreneur as well as the conditions and rules applicable to the exercise of the auto-entrepreneur activity.”
Minister for Startups, Yacine Oualid
According to the minister, the status of the auto-entrepreneur was established as a “major proposition” during the national summit on the knowledge economy held in Algiers on March 29 and 30, 2021.
The law’s text aims to organise “the new economic activities” that have emerged with the emergence of the knowledge economy and the digital economy and “which are not governed by any legal framework to date,” according to Oualid, who cited “the developer of web and mobile applications, the VTC, the administrator of social network platforms, and the infographer” as examples.
The Minister expressed confidence that the bill will “develop the entrepreneurial spirit and facilitate young people’s access to the labour market through self-employment,” as well as “reduce the number of people active in the parallel market without social coverage and contribute to the integration of this category into the official economy.”
The Minister also emphasised the role that this project will play in “lowering the costs of start-ups by allowing them to appeal to independent entrepreneurs and a common exploitation of human resources among the different companies,” as well as facilitating the export of certain digital services, within the framework of the new notes issued by the Bank of Algeria (BA) concerning the authorization to transfer all income from the export of digital services in forei
The minister noted in his presentation that the auto-entrepreneur status “has been adopted in several countries in the region,” particularly because it has proven its effectiveness in the organisation of economic activities, given that it constitutes “a multidisciplinary framework that meets the needs of all economic sectors and is also intended to be a strong tool, with a view to ensuring fiscal and financial integration.”
The Minister explained to the Commission members the conditions of eligibility for self-employment, which the law defines as “the individual practise of a lucrative activity that is on the list of eligible activities fixed by regulatory,” especially since the auto-entrepreneur’s annual turnover does not exceed 5 million DA.
However, the measure excludes from its reach “the liberal professions, regulated activities, and craftspeople.”
Furthermore, the law specifies the benefits offered to the auto-entrepreneur, such as “keeping simplified accounts, exemption from business register registration, subject to a favourable tax system, social security coverage, and the option of opening a commercial bank account.”
The law, on the other hand, imposes obligations on the auto-entrepreneur, such as registration in the National Register of Auto-Entrepreneurs, declaration to the National Social Security Fund for Non-Employees (CASNOS), and declaration of existence with the tax services in order to obtain the Tax Identification Number (NIF), all within 30 days of receiving the auto-entrepreneur card.
The legislation also mandates a declaration of turnover, the presentation of commercial and/or postal bank accounts every six (6) months, as well as a statement of turnover and the payment of royalties to the tax services in line with the applicable laws and regulations.
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. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh
Tunisia’s Ministry of Communication Technologies has recently awarded 19 new start-up labels for the September 2022 edition, bringing the total number of labels granted to 773, since the effective launch of the support project for startups and innovative SMEs.
The awarding ceremony of these labels was chaired by the Minister of Technologies and Communication, Nizar Ben Néji, according to a press release published by the ministerial department on its “Facebook” page.
Minister of Technologies and Communication, Nizar Ben Néji
Tunisia launched in March 2021, the project of start-ups and innovative SMEs, with funding from the World Bank (WB).
This initiative is part of the national “Emerging Tunisia” program aimed at making the country a distinguished interregional platform for the mobilization of African and global start-ups.
This project will finance the Fund of Funds, launched on the same date for 40 million euros (about 126.8 million dinars) during the first stage and should reach 200 million euros (634 million dinars).
This fund, co-financed by the World Bank and the German Development Bank, will strengthen the dynamics of start-ups through the creation of secondary investment funds specializing in the financing of start-ups and their support in the different phases of their development. growth.
For the record, Tunisia decreed in April 2018 the start-up law designed as a new legal framework for the management of innovative projects, which has enabled many young promoters to crystallize their project ideas.
Government decree no. 840 of 2018, dated October 11, 2018, also established the conditions, procedures, deadlines for awarding and withdrawing the start-up label and the benefits under start-up, as well as to establish the organization, prerogatives and business management methods of the start-up label award commission.
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. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh
