PalmPay’s Chika Nwosu stresses the need for African fintech founders to build investor confidence amidst economic challenges at Nigeria Fintech Week. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

At the recently concluded 2024 Nigeria Fintech Week, held in Lagos from 8 to 10 October, PalmPay’s managing director for Nigeria, Chika Nwosu, highlighted the need for fintech founders to strengthen investor confidence to drive more investment across the continent

He emphasised that working closely with investors is crucial for creating value.

Investment challenges

Nwosu pointed out that while the fintech ecosystem is not saturated, founders should focus on building investor confidence amid challenges such as currency devaluation and rising interest rates. “We have seen that most of the currencies of sub-Saharan Africa have plummeted against the US dollar, including the Egyptian pound, Naira, Rand, Cedi, Congolese franc, and Kenyan shilling. This devaluation is impacting the value of investments, which in turn, lowers investor confidence and makes it difficult for fintech startups to secure funding,” he said.

During a panel discussion titled "Safeguarding the Funding Pipeline for Fintech in Africa," Nwosu suggested that founders can tackle these challenges by diversifying revenue streams and expanding into multiple regions. He noted that dependence on one market could expose fintechs to economic fluctuations. “By entering diverse markets, fintechs can spread their risk and minimise the impact of instability in any single region,” he added. PalmPay, for instance, operates in Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, and other markets.

The 2024 Nigeria Fintech Week, themed "Positioning Africa’s Fintech Ecosystem to Accelerate Growth," focused on attracting investors with a long-term vision for Africa. According to FintechNGR president Ade Bajomo, “Investments in the fintech sector in Africa declined significantly, dropping 77% to US$186 million from US$826mn in H1 2023. The number of deals decreased 30% year-on-year and average deal size fell to US$4mn in H1 2024 from US$10.5mn in H1 2023. However, we still have many growth opportunities in the continent.”

MWC Kigali unites innovators, political leaders to shape Africa’s digital future with bold discussions on AI, FinTech, connectivity, and content creation. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

MWC Kigali, Africa’s premier and most influential connectivity event, will bring together innovators and political leaders from across the continent to drive the digital economy and foster socio-economic growth

The event will feature keynotes and panel discussions led by industry experts and leading enterprises, focusing on four main themes: Connected Continent, The AI Future, FinTech, and Africa’s Digital DNA.

Recently confirmed speakers include Sunil Taldar, CEO of Airtel Africa; Kate Kallot, founder & CEO of Amini; Mats Granryd, GSMA’s director general; Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU secretary-general; Pelonomi Moiloa, CEO & co-founder of Lelapa AI; Serigne Dioum, FinTech CEO at MTN Group; Paula Ingabire, Rwanda’s minister of ICT and Innovation; Derrick Ashong, CEO & founder of Take Back the Mic; and Louis Manu, CEO of Wi-Flix.

For the first time on the continent, the GSMA Ministerial Programme will be hosted at MWC Kigali, reinforcing a commitment to advancing Africa’s digital agenda. This programme will gather Africa’s most influential telecommunications leaders to discuss key policy and regulatory issues vital to the region.

The Mobile for Development (M4D) team will once again be at the forefront, driving digital innovation to tackle global inequalities. The M4D ‘Mobile for Development Theatre’ will host keynote sessions, panels, and discussions on topics ranging from AI for impact and humanitarian innovation to agriculture, climate, digital inclusion, and gender. Also returning is the Mobile Money Leadership Forum, where key trends and innovations in mobile financial services will be explored.

MWC Kigali's keynotes will address Africa’s most urgent digital connectivity issues. The first keynote will explore how digital technologies are shaping socio-economic development and addressing the continent’s specific challenges. The second will focus on AI’s transformative potential in driving inclusive and sustainable growth across Africa. The third keynote will delve into the rapid evolution of the FinTech landscape and the technologies shaping investment opportunities. Finally, the fourth keynote will explore the growing influence of Africa’s content creators on the global stage.

Nigerian Satellite Week 2024: NIGCOMSAT hosts a four day event from October 16-19, focusing on satellite tech, innovation, and Nigeria's digital future. (Image source: NIGCOMSAT)

NIGCOMSAT is set to host the inaugural Nigerian Satellite Week, a four-day event scheduled from 16 to 19 October, 2024

This gathering will bring together both domestic and international stakeholders from the public and private sectors to discuss key industry trends. Additionally, it will offer a platform for organizations to showcase their products and services to a diverse audience, including satellite operators, original equipment manufacturers, internet service providers, broadcasting organisations, security agencies, and government institutions, among others. The theme for this event is "Empowering Nigeria’s Digital Future: Innovations in Satellite Technology and Entrepreneurship."

Nigeria’s Space and Satellite History

NIGCOMSAT is committed to preserving and promoting Nigeria’s space sector legacy. This includes educating future generations about NIGCOMSAT's history, the innovations made by Nigerians at home and abroad, and the global advancement of space technology. During Nigerian Satellite Week, there will be a focus on the history of Nigeria’s space industry, including significant milestones like NigComSat-1, NigComSat-1R, the success of Project774, the NIGCOMSAT Accelerator Programme, and much more.

The Opening Press Conference

Scheduled for 16 October, the Opening Press Conference will introduce guests and facilitators, promising to be a grand event. This session will feature insights from the guest list, which includes prominent figures in the satellite and technology sectors. Attendees will gain an overview of the event’s strategic goals, initiatives, and opportunities to engage with industry leaders.

The Accelerator Demo Day

One of NIGCOMSAT’s most significant projects of the year is its Accelerator Programme, culminating in a Demo Day during Nigerian Satellite Week. Scheduled for October 17th, this event will see selected teams presenting their cutting-edge solutions to experts, investors, and attendees. This is an opportunity to witness the future of satellite technology and entrepreneurship, as these innovators showcase their potential to make impactful changes in the industry.

NIGCOMSAT’s Stakeholder Meeting

Believing that people are central to its operations, NIGCOMSAT will host a Stakeholder Meeting on 18 October. This gathering will bring together key players, government representatives, and partners to discuss recent developments, address pressing challenges, and align on a strategic path forward. The meeting will serve as an open forum for collaboration, ensuring that all voices are heard. By attending, participants can contribute to the conversations that will shape the future of Nigeria’s space sector, and potentially the global one as well.

Leon Wang, president of Huawei's data communication product line at HUAWEI AFRICA CONNECT 2024. (Image source: Huawei)

HUAWEI AFRICA CONNECT 2024 — themed "Accelerate Industrial Intelligence" — was successfully held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 2-3, 2024. The event showcased the Xinghe Intelligent Network Solution for the Southern Africa region, assisting all industries in progressing towards Net5.5G and accelerating their intelligent journeys

Intelligent transformation and upgrading are gaining momentum globally, with Southern African countries actively exploring their paths to digital and intelligent transformation. In the rapidly approaching intelligent era, networks are one of the most crucial ICT infrastructures. To usher in this era, the entire industry has reached a preliminary consensus that the next generation of data communication networks is Net5.5G.

Digital era to the intelligent era

In his keynote speech, Leon Wang, president of Huawei's data communication product line, stated, "Intelligent technologies are fast approaching, driving us to constantly innovate networking technologies so as to better embrace business changes. Huawei offers the Xinghe Intelligent Network Solution based on the Net5.5G target architecture, to accelerate industrial intelligence and build a solid bridge to the intelligent world."

Huawei's Xinghe Intelligent Network offerings include the Xinghe Intelligent Campus, Xinghe Intelligent Fabric, Xinghe Intelligent WAN, and Xinghe Intelligent Network Security.

Xinghe Intelligent Campus: Huawei's all-scenario Wi-Fi 7 products double the wireless signal strength and increase the number of concurrent users by 50%. Additionally, Huawei's audio and video assurance solution, unique in the industry, intelligently identifies and prioritises audio and video applications to ensure an always-optimal experience. Regarding wireless network security, Huawei launched Wi-Fi Shield technology, ensuring robust wireless network security.

Xinghe Intelligent Fabric: By leveraging AI Turbo and a network scale load balancing (NSLB) algorithm, Xinghe Intelligent Fabric performs intelligent optimisation for network-wide load balancing, achieving over 98% high link utilisation on average. Furthermore, Xinghe Intelligent Fabric ensures link- and device-level switchovers within milliseconds, as well as network-level switchovers within seconds. These three-level fast switchovers efficiently unleash intelligent computing power.

Xinghe Intelligent WAN: Utilising intelligent algorithms, Xinghe Intelligent WAN intelligently schedules tens of millions of service flows on the entire network and flexibly adjusts service bandwidth on demand. Additionally, latency-based path selection and end-to-end network slicing ensure efficient data transmission. By empowering network devices with AI, Xinghe Intelligent WAN can self-learn application traffic behavior, detect traffic exceptions in seconds, and deliver optimal application experience.

Xinghe Intelligent Network Security: With the Xinghe Intelligent Network Security Solution, enterprises benefit from integrated intelligent security protection across clouds, networks, edges, and endpoints. The security brain on the cloud automatically handles 99% of security events in a closed-loop approach. Specifically, four security engines leverage AI algorithms to detect threats with 99.95% accuracy. Moreover, the industry's first two-dimensional threat graph engine enables parallel threat detection, with the ransomware detection rate reaching 100%.

Additionally, Huawei unveiled an extensive range of Xinghe Intelligent Industry Network solutions to meet the unique needs of diverse industries like public services, finance, and electric power. Other key announcements included complete cost-effective distribution solutions and products, enabling small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enjoy intelligent services easily and conveniently.

The intelligent era calls for intelligent networks. With this in mind, Huawei will continue to lead the development of intelligent networks and innovate its Xinghe Intelligent Network products and solutions, thereby accelerating digital-intelligent transformation in Southern Africa.