TechNigeria: A weekly digest of what went down in Nigeria’s tech space

What a week! History will not forget what transpired any time soon.
The Federal Government banned Twitter, joining the likes of China and Iran where access to the micro-blogging site is restricted.
Apart from the Twitter ban ordeal, the week was a great one, opening Nigerians and Africans (by extension) to various opportunity windows.
Let’s get into details:

The controversial Twitter ban

What started as a speculation have become a reality Nigerians currently have to live with. We chose to say “currently” because even the first lady, Aishatu Buhari didn’t sound completely sure if the ban was going to be permanent.
The first lady had earlier tweeted before the ban that she was going to deactivate her account “for now,” bringing some analysts to the conclusion that the ban might be lifted in no time. But how reliable is this?

In Nigeria, data management platform, Statista, revealed that about 61.4 per cent of Nigerian social media users use Twitter. You can imagine such plunge if no one would use VPN to access Twitter.
However, Twitter’s Senior Manager on Policy Communications for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Sarah Hart, has reacted saying the platform is investigating the development.

Opportunity window

One of the major reason Nigeria keeps growing in recent times is tech. Again, during the week, tech-giant, Google, launched a new initiative aimed at supporting the growth and recovery of SMEs in Africa.

So, what is this all about? Titled International Small Business Month, the initiative is expected to assist and position African SMEs to gain strong hold within their respective industries.
Since the near-crash of Bitcoin, a lot of investment scheme with tech-backing has been a general turnoff for most people.
Perhaps, with this Google’s initiative, SMEs and their owners can leverage to make up for major losses incurred as the tech-driven programme will enable SMEs in Africa to expand their customer base.

Fellowship for aspiring African investors

Another story of interest is the Dream VC fellowship.
According to the VC, the fellowship is designed to provide more access and opportunities to traditionally underrepresented individuals in the African VC space.

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The organisers acknowledged the growing number of investors in Africa. And, are hopeful that helping them to get their feet will go a long way to enhance their activities.

West African Summit in Senegal

Also during the week, AfricArena, in partnership with Senegal Government and ITC United Nations #FastTrackTech Africa project announced their resolution to stage the forthcoming West Africa Summit in Dakar, Senegal.
What’s the significance of the event? Aside from given West African countries an opportunity to mix and cross fertilize ideas, the event was purposefully curated to bring together West African tech players.
But how has this such events add up in the past? And, how motivated are people towards its attendance?

New launch

We also shared the news on the launch of Nigerian payments startup, Traction Apps.
The venture launched as a one-stop-shop management tool to run businesses, whether online or offline.
However, we discovered that the venture was initially founded in August 2020, but debuted with solution offerings around PoS, USSD and bank transfers.
Going by the new launch, and as it penetrates its industry, Traction Apps might soon become an aggregator payments platform for SMEs, with additional management tools including inventory, invoicing and point of sale.

Tech meets Agric

An Abuja-based agritech startup, Thrive, also launched a one-year farmer support project as the year gradually approaches a midpoint.
Unlike other support developments, the Thrive’s initiative aims to support 50 000 smallholder farmers that grow rice, maize, and soybean in Nigeria.
Why is this important? It is expected that beneficiaries will receive enough support and resources as the programme comes in partnership with the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub).

The big raiser

Analysts have opined that a raiser as big as US$2.6 million can only come through for a sector in healthtech.
Quite true as we recorded the amount for CribMD, a Nigerian e-health startup, popularly called “Uber for doctors.”
The fund is expected to catalyse CribMD’s expansion plans as the 12 month old sttartup continues to connect users with doctors for house calls and telemedicine services via its on-demand platform.

Remark:
Thank you for joining us this week. That will be all. Take care and stay here for more updates.

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