Nin Hao,
Victoria from Techpoint here,
Here's what I've got for you today:
- Meta to combat election misinformation in South Africa
- Content creators in Nigeria to earn on Instagram and Facebook
- Dodai raises $4 million Series A
Meta to combat election misinformation in South Africa
Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has partnered with South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to keep its platforms in check during the 2024 elections.
Nick Clegg, Meta's Global Affairs President, spilled the beans, revealing how the tech giant is training the IEC on using social media responsibly, especially with WhatsApp bots to share reliable election information.
Clegg acknowledges that 2024 will be tough, especially with new tech like generative AI in play. He's focused on putting safeguards in place to tackle misinformation.
Meta isn't facing this challenge alone. It’s joined forces with other tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and TikTok to combat misinformation. At the Munich Security Conference, they signed an agreement to tackle this issue together.
So far, elections in other countries haven't seen too much AI trickery, but Clegg's not letting his guard down. He's keeping an eye out for any surprises.
Meanwhile, South Africa's gearing up for its elections on May 29, 2024. With nearly 370 political parties in the mix and even independent candidates joining the race, it's going to be a wild one.
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But it's not all smooth sailing. The IEC's already had a couple of data leaks, causing a bit of a stir. They're under the microscope as the Information Regulator steps in to investigate.
But there is some good news, too. South Africans living abroad can now register to vote online for the first time ever. Over 30,000 folks have already jumped on board, making it easier for expats to have their say in the elections.
Content creators in Nigeria to earn on Instagram and Facebook
Good news for Nigeria's content creators: Meta plans to launch a new feature in June 2024 to allow users to monetise their content on Instagram and Facebook.
This reveal comes straight from Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, fresh off a meeting with President Tinubu at last week's presidential villa.
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, ‘Bosun Tijani, is all about that collaboration life. He's singing Meta's praises and discussing the need for teamwork to kick digital economy development into high gear.
Meanwhile, Clegg chatted about the tech giant’s massive 45,000km subsea cables that made landfall in Lagos and Akwa Ibom in February 2024. And let me tell you, the timing couldn't have been better.
A fortnight ago, damage to subsea cables across Africa caused Internet outages and disrupted banking services in several countries.
Here's the kicker: Meta's cables are buried 50% deeper under the seabed than usual. Why? Well, to make them less vulnerable to those kinds of disruptions. It's all about boosting connectivity, according to Clegg.
But here's the thing – connectivity and resilience aren't the only challenges. Most fibre providers weren't even using their broadband capacity to the max. On that front, work still needs to be done.
However, this project will double the capacity of all existing subsea cables once operational in early 2025.
Dodai raises $4 million Series A
Dodai, an electric vehicle startup in Ethiopia, scored $4 million in its Series A funding round!
The interesting thing about this funding round is who jumped on board. Not only did Nissay Capital, the venture capital division of a $500 billion Japanese asset management company, make its first-ever investment in Africa, but it also received funding from Musashi Seimitsu, a $3 billion automotive parts supplier.
Yuma Sasaki founded Dodai, which translates to "foundation" in Japanese, in 2023. Its main gig? Assembling and selling electric motorbikes all across Ethiopia.
So, where's all this cash going? Yuma's planning to use about 80% of it to bring in electric motorbike parts and lithium batteries from overseas. The rest? Well, that's earmarked for day-to-day expenses and cooking up some slick software for a battery-swapping system they're rolling out by the end of 2024.
Yuma's got big dreams for Dodai. He reckons these electric motorbikes can tackle some transportation challenges in Addis Ababa, create jobs, and even help the government kick its fuel habit.
With this investment, Dodai's gearing up for some serious growth. And who knows? Perhaps it will start zipping its bikes into other African markets down the road.
Last week on Techpoint Africa
- Canal+ acquires stake in Senegal's Marodi TV while eyeing full ownership of MultiChoice
- Ethiopia's Dodai raises $4 million Series A amid government's push to ban fuel vehicles
- Content creators in Nigeria and Kenya to monetise Meta platforms in June 2024
- South Africa’s communications regulator plans to cut call costs
- Uber faces backlash in Lagos as government demands real-time data sharing
- South Africa’s Telkom sells Swiftnet towers for over $355 million
- Kenya resists US pressure to revoke WorldCoin suspension over safety concerns
- Nigerian blockchain-powered fintech, Zone, formerly AppZone, raises $8.5 million in a seed round led by TLcom Capital and Flourish Ventures
- Nigeria loses over $593.6 million amid undersea cable repair
- NCC and NIMC team up to ease NIN-SIM linkage process
- High Court orders Binance to release Nigerians' information to EFCC to aid in ongoing investigation
- Naira devaluation forces Nigerian startups to seek local alternatives to AWS, Azure
- Moove raises $100 million in a Series B round, moves headquarters to the UAE
- Kuda secures payment licences for Tanzania and Canada expansion
- Kenya's mTek gets $1.25 million to integrate AI into its processes
- YouTube launches AI-generated content labelling tool to address misinformation
- Vodacom to lay off 80 employees in South Africa to cut cost
- Digital commerce startup tappi expands to Côte d'Ivoire, building on its partnership with MTN
- Union54 and Mastercard launch ChitChat, a social commerce platform with built-in USD digital wallets in Zambia
- P1 Ventures completes the second close of its second fund at $35 million
- HR expert shares 8-step approach to workplace conflict resolution
- Mobile Telecommunications Company and Huawei test 5G in Namibia
- Onafriq and M-PESA sign deal to enhance Ethiopia’s remittance flow
- TikTok and African Union partner on a digital safety campaign amid country bans
- A blockchain network for fiat: Why Zone's (formerly AppZone) blockchain might be Africa's first fintech innovation in years
- Access Bank gains grounds in Kenya with a $99.6 million NBK deal
- Kenyan government officials could face TikTok ban over privacy data concerns
- How Internet works in Africa
- LemFi and Visa partner to facilitate cross-border transactions in China, India
- Hormuud Telecom launches 5G service in key locations across Somalia
- Ivorian ANKA closes marketplace 6 months after a $5 million pre-Series A extension
- Ghana considers approving Starlink three months after declaring it illegal
- Tunisian Clusterlab raises $600k pre-seed from InstaDeep’s CEO to advance Arabic AI tech
- South Africa’s BNPL startup, Float, gets $11 million to launch card-linked instalment platform
- After acquiring Kenya's NBK in 2019, KCB Group is selling it to Nigeria's Access Bank
What I'm reading and watching
- NIN-SIM linkage enforcement plunges Nigeria’s mobile subscriptions to 218 million
- FORMER Atheist Explains WHAT CHANGED Her Mind About God
- Men's Rights vs Feminism: Is Toxic Masculinity Real?
Opportunities
- Seedstars has announced INFUSE 2024, a global invitation for innovative applications aimed at fortifying health systems against climate threats and improving immunisation delivery. Apply here.
- Explore this website to find multiple job opportunities in Data that align with your preferences.
- 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 productive week!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa.
