MultiChoice counts $1.7 billion in losses

Friday, 22 September 2023

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Good morning!

Welcome to the end of another week. On this week's edition of the State of the Ecosystem, we have Wally Adeyemo, the son of Nigerian immigrants in the States, who has risen through the ranks to become the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.

Then MultiChoice investors are seeing huge losses. Over $1.7 billion was lost in the last six months as the cable giant struggled to retain high-end subscribers and find new revenue sources. At the start of March 2023, its share price exceeded R147 ($7.86).

Then there is new data on private equity deal exits. In the last 10 years, there have been 51 private equity exits out of 427 investments (and 478 private equity deals worth $8.6 billion) in the East African market, per the East Africa Venture Capital Association (EAVCA).

Also, the CBN has postponed its Monetary Policy Committee meeting, where it decides its monetary direction, including interest rates. This is the second time since the meeting started that it has been postponed. At the time of reporting, the CBN had not said why it decided to postpone the meeting.

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

A word from MyCover.ai

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Summary of the news

MultiChoice investors lost $1.7 billion in six months
In 10 years, East Africa has seen 51 private equity exits out deals worth $8.6B
Former TikTok workers say they faced racism at the company
The CBN has postponed its Monetary Policy Committee meeting

Ecosystem

The road to exit: In the last 10 years, there have been 51 private equity exits out of 427 investments (and 478 private equity deals worth $8.6 billion) in the East African market, per the East Africa Venture Capital Association (EAVCA).

The region recorded a jump in exit activity during FY 2022, marking the highest numbers in a decade. The financial services sector saw 14 exits, followed by healthcare and energy, with nine and seven exits, respectively.

Kenya led the pack with 36 exits per country, followed by Uganda at eight and Rwanda with three. Tanzania and Ethiopia recorded two and one exit, respectively. (TechCabal)

Other ecosystem news:

MultiChoice investors lost R32 billion ($1.7 billion) in six months as it struggled to retain high-end subscribers and find new revenue sources. At the start of March 2023, its share price exceeded R147 ($7.86). On March 13, when it issued a warning that the revenue growth in its South African business would fall short of expectations, it decreased to about R120 ($6.41) per share. (Techpoint Africa)

9mobile has appointed John Vasikaran, who has more than 20 years in the African telecoms industry, as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO). (Nairametrics)

State of the Ecosystem

Wally Adeyemo, the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, was in Nigeria most the this week.

When he met with the members of the tech ecosystem on Tuesday at Vibranium Valley, what was important to me was his plans for some of the obvious problems that have posed barriers to innovation in the country, especially regarding African startups getting American bank accounts.

I was able to squeeze the question in and he was gracious enough to offer an answer. In this week's edition of our State of the Ecosystem, Wally Adeyemo speaks on removing barriers for tech innovation to flourish in Nigeria.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

On why he came to Nigeria

Part of the reason why I’m here in Nigeria now is because we want to partner to make sure that the talents have the opportunities to help grow an economy that works for Nigeria.

On removing barriers to Nigerian startups accessing American financial markets

My view is that American investors, American companies want to be partners in doing that work...We want to make sure that as the United States we are partnering [with them] to remove barriers. To make sure that Nigerian investors have the ability to access the US market and American investors can access the Nigerian market. It’s an issue that I look forward to following up on when I get back to the United States.

On President Tinubu's work to provoke innovation

We are encouraged by the early steps of the new Nigerian administration and we are looking forward to doing just that.

On his overarching goal in the country

That these entrepreneurs have the ability to use the funds that they’ve raised to build innovative companies that help improve the Nigerian economy and the American economy going forward.

Policy

No credit today: The CBN has postponed its Monetary Policy Committee meeting, where it decides its monetary direction, including interest rates. This is the second time since the meeting started that it has been postponed. At the time of reporting, the CBN had not said why it decided to postpone the meeting.

The first time it was postponed was in January 2020, from January 20-21 to January 23-24. At that time, the CBN also did not provide a reason for the postponement.

In a statement, Isa AbdulMumin, Director of Corporate Communications, said a new date would be communicated in due course.

The meeting is supposed to be the 293rd series of the committee. It was initially scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, September 25 and 26, 2023. (BusinessDay)

Giveaway continues

Social Tech

Wannabe Picasso: ChatGPT can now generate images — and they are shockingly detailed. On Wednesday, OpenAI, the San Francisco artificial intelligence start-up, released a new version of its DALL-E image generator to a small group of testers and folded the technology into ChatGPT, its popular online chatbot.

Called DALL-E 3, it can produce more convincing images than previous versions of the technology, showing a particular knack for images containing letters, numbers and human hands, the company said.

“It is far better at understanding and representing what the user is asking for,” said Aditya Ramesh, an OpenAI researcher, adding that the technology was built to have a more precise grasp of the English language. (New York Times)

Other social tech news:

TikTok is testing a search partnership with Google, a move that underscores the rapid pace at which the way people search online is evolving. (Insider)
Elon Musk said that long-form posts on X garner over three billion daily views. (Nairametrics)
A new study reveals that search queries related to the Metaverse have dropped by a staggering 71%, in just one year. (Technext)
Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3 during its recent hardware event in New York City, introducing the two laptops alongside a flurry of AI-powered features for Windows 11, Microsoft 365, and Bing. The high-end Surface Laptop Studio 2 starts at $1,099, while the Surface Laptop Go 3 starts at $799; both are slated to launch on October 3rd. (TheVerge)

Global News

Musk's next steps: Elon Musk has dropped a trailer for his "everything app" X, which looks like the platform has ambitions to become YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, LinkedIn, Patreon, Venmo, FaceTime and Amazon all in one... and yet also serve as a "global town square" where users can have meaningful social dialogue.

Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, posted the trailer on Thursday and described it as a "hint of what's to come."

The trailer takes the viewer through various new features that have already been launched on X (such as the creator payment scheme) and some yet-to-be-released features. A few, like video calling on the platform, have been hinted at previously, but the trailer mashes together this and a host of other services other apps already offer, like live TV viewing a la YouTube. (TheMessenger)

Other global news:

Indian actor, Anil Kapoor, known for flicks like Slumdog Millionaire won a lawsuit he filed against AI, to safeguard his personality rights, including his name, image, voice, and other aspects of his likeness. This week an Indian court issued an order that recognized Kapoor’s personality rights and prohibited the unauthorized utilization of his attributes across various media formats on a global scale. (Technext)
Roblox has laid off 30 employees from its talent acquisition team, signalling a shift in the company’s focus from expansion to the bottom line. “The aggressive growth targets Roblox was operating against in the past few years required a heavier investment in our TA organization,” said a Roblox spokesperson. (TechCrunch)
The family of an American man is suing Google Maps for negligence after he tragically lost his life, crashing into a creek under a collapsed bridge. The crash was allegedly due to misleading directions from Google Maps. (Technext)
A new investigation has discovered that content on TikTok is the source of a new wave of anti-social frenzies that has engulfed the real world. The report also alleges that the company has been reluctant to address this issue due to concerns about hindering its business growth. (Technext)
Former TikTok workers say they faced racism at the company. And when they complained to TikTok about their treatment, they were retaliated against, according to a complaint filed with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (Washington Post)