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Supported By
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Good morning!
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I was in the field last week reporting on the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on dispatch riders and logistics businesses. "It is vicious," one business owner said to me.
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From my reporting one thing is clear. It is not just the delivery business that is at stake if we don't fix the industry. It's the entire e-commerce and social commerce business that ned dispatch riders to met their customers. Read my reporting here.
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After years of being vocal about leadership, members of the ecosystem are now getting what many hope are opportunities to make meaningful change as police maklers and shoppers.
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Obi Ozor, the founder of Kobo 360, has been appointed the Commissioner of Transport in Enugu State. This cames barely a week after CcHUB boss, Tijani Bosun was presented for screening by President Bola Tinubu for a ministerial position.
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If this newsletter was forwarded to you, click here to subscribe now.
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Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.
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We are thrilled to share that MyCover.ai has successfully raised pre-seed funding of $1.25M! This round was led by Ventures Platform and Founders Factory Africa, with participation from TechStars Toronto.
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With this funding, we can strengthen our operations in Nigeria and strategically fuel our expansion into other African markets. Join us on this exciting journey as we tackle the issue of inadequate insurance access, coverage and affordability in Africa and beyond!
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Summary of the news
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- Kobo 360, has been appointed the Commissioner of Transport
- CBN said it will sanction commercial banks engaging in illegal sales of Forex
- CBN said it made 103.8 billion in profit last year
- TikToker Golden Dubai Princess has been arrested for defamation
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Ecosystem
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Vicious policies: Freelance dispatch riders in Nigeria with no full employment say that they have been spending more on trips and making less in the wake of subsidy removal. Riders say they have been losing more than 100% of profits so far.
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“Income has declined more than 100% when we factor in all the expenses, operations and increment of the fuel altogether,” Ayoade Ibrahim, the secretary of the app driver association, Amalgamated Union of App-based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWON) said.
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Logistics businesses have been unable to navigate the system and get back to profits as customers forgo delivery options due to the rise in prices.
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“Knowing fully well that logistics is usually the end point of every transaction, the increase has not only affected us as a logistics business, but the social commerce businesses, because at the end of the day, when they come to us and get the price and communicate to the customer. the customer says it’s too expensive,” Omowunmi Omoseyindemi, the co-founder and COO of the delivery company Fastryders said. “It’s either they don’t buy any more, or they prefer to pick it up at a later time.” (Technext)
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- Obi Ozor, the founder of Kobo 360, has been appointed the Commissioner of Transport in Enugu State. (Techpoint Africa)
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Policy
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CBN records profits: For the first time in five years, the CBN has published its audited financial statement, reporting what it said is an increase in its 2022 profits. CBN said it made a profit of N103.8 billion, an increase from the N75.1 billion declared a year earlier.
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CBN said in the report which also included its statement from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, that it had been making profits all through these past eight years. The apex bank achieved an impressive 80% surge in net interest income, reaching N1.8 trillion, up from N1 trillion in the preceding year. (Technext)
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- CBN has threatened to sanction commercial banks engaging in illegal sales of foreign exchange as the naira crashed to over N950/$1 at the parallel market as forex scarcity worsens. Allegations have risen that some banks are diverting most of their forex to the unofficial FX market rather than selling to their customers. “We need to name and shame commercial banks involved in such malpractices," acting CBN Governor, Folashodun Shonubi said. (Nairametrics)
- NITDA said it plans to build Artificial Intelligence (AI) developers’ communities across the country. "I believe we can start with three states this year, then strategize on how to extend it to other states; with time, extend it to local government areas," the DG, Kashifu Inuwa said. (Nairametrics)
- The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has released a fresh list of 154 companies it has given full approval to operate loan apps in the country. (Nairametrics)
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Social Tech
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Musk slash influencer money: Elon Musk-owned X has slashed its minimum ad revenue program for creators, from $50 to $10. The company added that creators’ eligibility for getting a share of the ad revenue will now be a minimum of 5m impressions within 3 months, instead of the initial 15m impressions. This move will enable more people to get paid for posting on the platform, according to Twitter.
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“We’re rolling out the program more broadly later this month and all eligible creators will be able to apply,” X said.
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Eligible creators are subscribers of Twitter Blue or verified organizations, those with more than 5 million tweet impressions per month for the last 3 months, and creators who pass human review for Creator Monetization Standards. Also, each approved creator will be compensated via Stripe, an online payment network. (Technext)
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- Instagram said that it will allow users to add music to their photo carousels in order to let them show off their musical taste. (TechCrunch)
- According to NCC, telcos in Nigeria including MTN, GlobalCom, Airtel, 9Mobile, and Smile Communications, collectively reaped N53.6 billion in revenue from SMS in 2022, from over 14.08 billion text messages sent at N4.00 per message. (Technext)
- Another influencer has been arrested by the police for defamation. Content creator Linda Cyril alerted the police over "Golden Dubai Princess," a TikToker who said she had it on good authority that Cyril's "womb has been use for ritual by her husband."
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Global News
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Sam Bankman-Fried behind bars: Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sent to jail on Friday after a federal judge in New York revoked his bail, accusing him of trying to influence witnesses who are poised to testify against him at a widely anticipated trial in less than two months.
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Bankman-Fried, 31, had been under house arrest at his parents’ home in California, since he was arrested in December on fraud charges stemming from FTX’s implosion.
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But at a hearing on Friday, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court in Manhattan said that arrangement would have to end, after prosecutors argued that Mr. Bankman-Fried had twice tried to interfere with witnesses in the case, including by giving documents to reporters.
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“He has gone up to the line over and over again, and I am going to revoke bail,” Judge Kaplan said from the bench. (New York Times)
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- Authorities in Argentina say that they are probing Sam Altman's Worldcoin, the latest government looking into the fast-rising digital assets that scan collectors' eyes. (Technext)
- eBay has recognised its first union after workers who won a vote to unionize. The company has finally recognized their union and committed to starting negotiations. (TheVerge)
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Latest in funding
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