Here are this week’s top headlines on startups, entrepreneurship, innovation and tech around Africa.
Dangote + Jumia. Dangote Cement has partnered Jumia Nigeria to sell cement online, in a bid to drastically reduce costs and curb logistic bottlenecks. A bag will retail for ₦2,500 and shipping is free but the catch is that there is a minimum order threshold and delivery is available only to Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
While this is definitely a novelty from a corporate perspective, it is not the first time anyone will attempt to sell cement online in Nigeria. In 2015, a third-party merchant listed a truckload of cement on Konga for ₦2m. There have also been startups like Cribpark playing in the building materials space.
Travelstart acquires majority stake in Safarinow. Yesterday, South African-based travel booking company Travelstart announced its acquisition of a majority stake in Cape Town-based SafariNow.com — South Africa’s largest accommodation booking website. Read more on Ventureburn.
These online messages could soon be a crime in South Africa. Living in South Africa? Here’s some motivation to watch what you say online or end up with a 3-year jail term. Read more on BusinessTech.
Faiba waya. On Tuesday, Jamii Telecom introduced “Faiba” (an obvious play on fibre internet), a new 4G-only mobile network, into the already competitive Kenyan market with the promise of free on-net calls for life and ridiculously cheap data bundles. Needless to say, the Kenyan consumer space was agog with the news. Read more on Techweez.
Make-IT accelerator programme. The Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) recently announced the selection of 15 African startups, from a pool of over 280 applicants, that will take part in its Make-IT accelerator programme next year. Read more on CcHub website.
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