Manao ahoana,
Jumia Food has announced its expansion into Meru and Nanyuki, broadening its presence in Kenya’s smaller cities.
Customers can now order their preferred KFC meals from the convenience of their homes in Meru and Nanyuki.
Jumia Food is already available in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, and Nakuru, with plans to expand into additional secondary cities in the coming months.
Here's what I've got for you today:
- South Africa's investigating unit wants clarity on Telkom-Ramphosa case
- FCCPC to impose up to ₦10 million fines on PoS operators
- TikTok introduces text posts
South Africa's investigating unit wants clarity on Telkom-Ramphosa case
Remember this? Telkom wins court case against South African President
Well, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is now considering its legal options in light of the Pretoria High Court's decision invalidating its ability to probe Telkom's affairs.
The unit states the court found Telkom is not a “state institution” and could not investigate its affairs. Now it needs clarification on what that judgment means.
Why? The unit says clarifying what constitutes a state institution is crucial and will strengthen its efforts to root out corruption and poor management in the operation of all state institutions.
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“In terms of the Special Investigating Units and Special Tribunals Act 74 0f 1996, the SIU is empowered to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration in the affairs of state institutions like government departments, municipalities and state-owned entities; to recover financial losses suffered by the state and prevent further losses,” the unit says.
It also contends that there are grounds for an appeal and that a higher court should decide on and resolve the matter of the state institution. If this is not made clear, it could set an unfavourable precedent where some public institutions might unintentionally be exempt from the SIU's investigation.
Last week, Telkom triumphed in its legal battle with President Cyril Ramaphosa over his order authorising the SIU to investigate any possible wrongdoing in the telco's assets’ sales.
FCCPC to impose up to ₦10 million fines on PoS operators
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has threatened to impose fines of up to ₦10 million on Point of Sale operators who disobey its order regarding the proposed increase in PoS charges.
The FCCPC states that each PoS operator is free to raise prices as they see fit to generate a profit from their business.
It claims, however, that the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) is not permitted by law to set prices for its members.
In June 2023, the AMMBAN, Lagos Chapter, released a revised PoS price list, stating that the increase reflects the current economic climate in the country.
Early in July, the FCCPC warned AMMBAN, its members, and PoS operators, urging them not to engage in price-fixing or change the costs of their services.
The association began implementing its new prices on July 17, 2023, despite getting kickbacks from several stakeholders.
So, the Commission says PoS operators disobeying its order could pay fines of up to ₦10,000,000 for corporate entities and up to ₦1,000,000 and/or a three-month prison sentence for individuals.
Additionally, despite the Commission's preference to avoid interfering with small businesses' operations, Babatunde Irukera, CEO of the FCCPC, asserts that the Commission will — if necessary — deny merchant services and privileges to PoS operators or AMMBAN members who persist in behaviour that is incompatible with the law and economic efficiency.
TikTok introduces text posts
TikTok is introducing text posts to compete with Twitter — now X — and Threads.
The social media platform says the new content option will give creators another means of self-expression by enabling them to share their stories, poems, lyrics, and other written content.
TikTok began as a platform for short-form video but later added image support to compete with Instagram.
How do you use the new feature? You can select from three options on the Camera page of the app: photo, video, and text to post on TikTok. When you choose the text option, a page where you can enter the text for your post will be displayed.
Then you can edit your text by including sounds, tagging a location, turning on comments, and activating Duets. Along with tags and hashtags, you can add stickers to text posts.
Several background colours are also available for selection. You can save your drafts and keep them with other unpublished posts for later editing, just like with video or photo posts, or you can delete them entirely.
TikTok's decision to include text posts at this time is not surprising. Remember when Threads launched? Meta's microblogging platform also took advantage of Twitter's questionable decisions and limitations on non-paying users.
TikTok most likely wants to give users another option for posting text-based content. However, the appearance of text posts on the app may discourage people from using them in the same way they use Twitter.
What I'm reading and watching
- Twitter (now X) CEO Linda Yaccarino claims usage at ‘all time high’ in memo to staff
- Yuval Noah Harari: AI and the future of humanity
- The Desire to Not Exist
Opportunities
- Toggl is looking for a remote Product Designer. Apply here.
- Fairblock is hiring a Software Engineer. Apply here.
- African Startups can now apply to join the first cohort of the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator programme. Startups up to the Series A stage are encouraged to apply for the opportunity to acquire unrivaled expertise, beneficial industry connections, cutting-edge technology, and potential investment funding. Apply by August 25, 2023 here.
- African startups can apply for the SaaS Accelerator Program, which supports early-stage digital B2B SaaS startups. Apply here.
- Flapmax is looking for African startup leaders to apply for the second edition of its FAST Accelerator programme. Apply here.
- Moolu Venture Lab is organising another edition of the Emerald PitchFest Competition for startups in Nigeria. Apply here.
- If you are a software engineer, creative designer, product manager, design researcher, or a techie looking for an internship role, please, check out this website.
Have a lovely Tuesday!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa.
