Category: Economics

Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) and global technology company Mastercard today announced a strategic agreement that will enable the bank to provide payment cards to tech-enabled companies including fintechs in Kenya. The Agreement, a first of its kind in the region, will enable tech-enabled companies to issue their own card propositions through DTB, using Mastercard’s technology. The … Read More “DTB and Mastercard sign agreement to boost payment solutions for fintechs in Kenya” »

Airtel Africa, prominent telecommunications and mobile money services provider operating in 14 African countries, has reaffirmed its dedication to advancing digitalization across the continent. This commitment aims to unlock fresh prospects and foster comprehensive, sustainable growth. During a meeting with the President of Malawi, His Excellency Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, Dr. Segun Ogunsanya, the Group … Read More “Airtel Africa Champions Africa’s Digitalization Agenda – IT News Africa” »

South African growth-stage investor Knife Capital has reached the final close of its $50 million fund. The third fund addresses a critical funding gap in growth stages where local investors have historically fallen short.  In a February 2021 interview with managing partner Andrea Bohmert, she noted that Africa had become an incubator for international investors … Read More “South African VC Knife Capital closes $50M Series B fund for startups with high exit potential” »

by Patrick T. FALLON The wildfires devastated the town of Lahaina in Hawaii. Fast-moving wildfires have claimed at least 36 lives in the US tourist paradise of Hawaii, where rescuers raced Thursday to evacuate more people from the worst-hit island of Maui. Brushfires on Maui’s west coast—fueled by high winds from a hurricane passing to … Read More “At least 36 dead in Hawaii wildfires, tourists evacuated” »

Researchers at Notre Dame University are testing a robotic sea turtle that could one day be used to guide turtle hatchlings to the ocean. The team of researchers designed and built a robotic sea turtle, which they are testing in varied environments on Notre Dame’s campus. Sea turtles are intriguing animals for scientists due to their … Read More “Robotic sea turtle could help lead hatchlings to safety” »

The paper is titled, Vision-Language-Action Models Transfer Web Knowledge to Robotic Control, and reveals new capabilities to transfer web knowledge to real-world robot: “High-capacity models pretrained on broad web-scale datasets provide an effective and powerful platform for a wide range of downstream tasks.” In particular, the great replacement of jobs has doubled down on low-skilled … Read More “Google’s Deepmind AI Scores Major Advance In Robotic Control” »

Lagos State is Africa’s biggest innovation hub. The Technology ecosystem in the state has witnessed significant advancement not just by the ingenuity of Lagosians but by direct investment from the Government, Venture funds, Development Finance Institutions, Strategic corporate partnerships and an array of ever-growing innovative communities. The Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led government in Lagos initiated the T.H.E.M.E.S … Read More “Consistency in governance framework is driving significant advancement for innovation and technology in Lagos” »

KnowBe4, the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, today announced the results of its Q2 2023 top-clicked phishing report. The results include the top email subjects clicked on in phishing tests and reflect the use of HR business-related messages that pique interest from employees and can potentially affect them. … Read More “Phishing Test Reveals Top Malicious Email Subjects are HR Related | IT News Africa” »

Reconstruction of Hupehsuchus about to engulf a shoal of shrimps. Credit: Artwork by Shunyi Shu, © Long Cheng, Wuhan Center of China Geological Survey A remarkable new fossil from China reveals for the first time that a group of reptiles were already using whale-like filter feeding 250 million years ago. New research by a team … Read More “Whale like filter-feeding discovered in prehistoric marine reptile” »