Thursday, 15 September 2022

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Good morning!

Dennis here,

From tricycles to second-hand clothes, Nigeria is where everything that has no bearing in the West goes. Another one is coming back. Do you remember Nokia? That phone, famous for its battery?

Well top executives are in Nigeria and they made very compelling cases to the media it seems that Nokia is the future. Justin Maier, Vice President, Sub-Saharan Africa for Nokia's parent company, HMD Global bragged to the press: "We don’t want consumers to have to buy devices every six months. We want to make the devices so reliable that they last up to three years."

To that, I say, God forbid.

Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.

Summary of the news

Nokia's top executives announced plans to lead the Nigerian smartphone market again
Flutterwave had added Nigeria's eNaira as a payment option for merchants
Africa’s payments startups are about to face competition from the Brazilian unicorn, EBANX
Netflix has downsized its animation department, impacting 30 employees

Nokia execs announce plans for Nigeria

The CEO of HMD Global, Nokia's parent company, Florian Seiche on a visit to Nigeria alongside the Vice President, Sub-Saharan Africa, Justin Maier, said that the vision of Nokia is connecting the world without costing the world, Technext reports.

Speaking on the significance of the visit, the GM, West and Central Africa, Joseph Umunakwe said Florian is in Nigeria to understand the market personally as well as “align the company’s strategy to the outlook of the market.”

Florian Seiche said:

Nigeria has been a strategic location for our West African business. We recognise the innovative nature of the market and are committed to meeting and satisfying our customers. Our innovative devices are a testament to our commitment to being a customer-centric organisation.

Justin Maier, Vice President, Sub-Saharan Africa, said:

The visit is a high reflection of the impact the Nigerian business has had on the company. We continue to listen to our customers and design products that suit their everyday needs with devices they love, trust, and want to keep for longer.

We don’t want consumers to have to buy devices every six months. We want to make the devices so reliable that they last up to three years.

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Flutterwave adopts eNaira as a payment option

Africa-focused fintech firm Flutterwave said on Wednesday it has added Nigeria's eNaira as a payment option for merchants, a move that could help boost adoption of the digital currency, Reuters reports.

Nigeria, the first African nation to launch a digital currency, is targeting 8 million users for the app launched in October. But adoption has been slow as lenders worry the app would compete with their online platforms and reduce fee revenue.

"We... are confident that this number will grow further as we continue to innovate and expand," Flutterwave said in a statement.

Brazilian unicorn, EBANX comes to town

The Brazilian payment unicorn EBANX, is launching in Africa, beginning with Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. The move seeks to tap into Africa’s rising digital economy driven by the rise of fintech companies like Flutterwave, MFS Africa, and OPay. Last October, it filed documents for an initial public offering in the US, though the process has slowed down due to the ongoing economic downturn, Quartz reports.

João Del Valle, CEO and co-founder of EBANX, drew parallels between Africa’s present fintech momentum and the state of play in Latin America in 2012 when his company launched. But while Africa’s fintech-powered digital economy is fast growing, it is “only in its early days, and it’s projected to grow up and to the right for the next few decades,” Del Valle said, in a statement.

At least in its first year, EBANX will likely operate not as a disruptor of African fintech but as a student and potential partner of strong local players. It plans to learn from M-Pesa’s ubiquity in Kenya, and OZOW’s capabilities in electronic fund transfers in South Africa. In Nigeria, the use of USSD—allowing ease of access for those without smartphones—and bank transfers will be its target.

Netflix downsizes its animation department

Yet another round of layoffs at Netflix has unfortunately affected 30 Netflix Animation employees. Deadline first reported the news, and Netflix confirmed to TechCrunch that the company is downsizing the department, TechCrunch reports.

Earlier this year, Netflix brought on Karen Toliver as vice president of Animation Film Content and Traci Balthazor as vice president of Animation Film Production. The company told us that, similar to other major animation film studios, the idea is to downsize so the animation film production arm is better organized under a central leader — Balthazor.

Earlier this year, the streaming service laid off over 450 employees in a major workforce reduction. This was mainly due to slow revenue growth. It was reported that new changes at the company to animated projects could impact around 70 employees in the animation division. This comes after the streaming giant lost 970,000 subscribers in July, adding to the loss of 200,000 subs in April.