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Aug 10, 2024 | 
medium.com | Mariam Muhammad
Growing up, i was an avid reader, a young teenager obsessed with Wattpad, eagerly anticipating the next chapter of my favourite story. I loved the idea of being a reader, and even more, being referred to as a bookworm. As I envisioned having a home with a cosy corner filled with books written by my favourite authors, I soon discovered that the reality of reading was a stark contrast to this idyllic image, and my love for reading started to fade.
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Jun 28, 2024 | 
techcabal.com | Hannatu Asheolge |Ganiu Oloruntade |Mariam Muhammad
This year, Kano entered the list of top 1,000 startup cities in the world for the first time. In the past four years, the city, known as the commercial capital of northern Nigeria, has seen a spike in startup activities, owing to the success of pioneer tech entrepreneurs and a buzzing tech community.
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Jun 12, 2024 | 
techcabal.com | Kenn Abuya |Olumuyiwa Olowogboyega |Ngozi E. Chukwu |Mariam Muhammad
A Kenyan court has set aside a February 2024 interim order that forced B2B e-commerce startup Wasoko to keep nine employees on its payroll despite laying them off in December 2023. The court said the employees were “undeserving” of the order after they withheld crucial information. Despite reinstating the employees, they failed to show up for work, Wasoko’s lawyers argued. One of the claimants was still employed by Wasoko at the time of the order and participated in redundancy negotiations.
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Jun 7, 2024 | 
techcabal.com | Ganiu Oloruntade |Towobola Bambgose |Mariam Muhammad |Hannatu Asheolge
Despite a decline in fraud incidents in Q1 2024, financial industry players agree fraud is an existential challenge. Traditional banks and fintechs have historically fought fraud through internal controls, strengthening security infrastructure, and having adequate information on customers (KYC processes). Banks also share information among themselves, helping them identify and restrict the accounts of bad actors pending investigation.
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Jun 6, 2024 | 
techcabal.com | Kenn Abuya |Timi Odueso |Ngozi E. Chukwu |Mariam Muhammad
Copia layoffs will raise questions about the company’s future two weeks after it entered into administration. Two weeks after an internal memo showed that the B2C e-commerce platform was struggling to make payroll, Copia Global has laid off at least 1,060 employees, suggesting the company may be on the brink of a shutdown or massively scaling back operations.
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Jun 4, 2024 | 
techcabal.com | Kenn Abuya |Ngozi E. Chukwu |Mariam Muhammad |Joseph Olaoluwa
Copia Global, a Kenyan B2C e-commerce platform that allows retailers to shop and restock essential goods using a mobile app or USSD, has stopped taking orders from Central and Eastern Kenya one week after cashflow challenges forced it to go into administration. The new administrators have cut back on Copia’s markets to preserve cash as it seeks new investors, TechCabal has learned. The six affected markets are Naivasha, Machakos, Meru, Embu, Kericho, and Eldoret.
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May 24, 2024 | 
techcabal.com | Ephraim Modise |Frank Eleanya |Mariam Muhammad |Stephen Agwaibor
The central theme at Africa Tech Week, held at Century City, Cape Town, was artificial intelligence (AI). Although AI has been a big subject at most tech events in South Africa over the past year, this particular AI focus had a different feel to it in that government, corporates, and startups at the event seemed to have more refined AI strategies, compared to a few months ago.
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May 24, 2024 | 
techcabal.com | Kenn Abuya |Frank Eleanya |Ngozi E. Chukwu |Mariam Muhammad
Copia Global, a B2C e-commerce platform and the parent company of Copia Kenya has entered administration one week after a TechCabal report revealed the company was considering shutting down. The startup has appointed Makenzi Muthusi and Julius Ngonga of KPMG, an audit and advisory firm, to manage the administration process, per a statement shared with TechCabal.
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May 20, 2024 | 
techcabal.com | Ngozi E. Chukwu |Hannatu Asheolge |Kenn Abuya |Mariam Muhammad
Two top executives at The Guardian, a legacy Nigerian newspaper, say the company is suing logistics startup Kwik to collect millions of naira in unpaid rent for two office floors in the newspaper’s Abuja building. Nearly a year after Kwik’s controversial lease ended, those executives claim that The Guardian has not regained access to the property.
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May 18, 2024 | 
techcabal.com | Kenn Abuya |Muktar Oladunmade |Mariam Muhammad |Joseph Olaoluwa
Copia Global, a Kenyan B2C e-commerce startup that has raised $123 million in venture funding across seven rounds, is considering laying off employees or shutting down, citing “uncertainties.”The layoffs, which could affect over 1,000 employees, would be a drastic cost-cutting measure for a company that announced an extension of its Series C round in December 2023. ”It is important to highlight that uncertainties lie ahead.
