Since the launch of its $100 million fund, Grofin in Nigeria and Ghana has brought some relief to startups and SMEs.
Guido Boysen, chief investment officer of GroFin, told CNBC Africa that there was significant interest in SMEs business funding as banks were reluctant to fund SMEs.
GroFin is a development financier specialising in financing and supporting small and growing businesses in Africa and the Middle East.
“The interest has been great; we have been actively investing in nine African countries including Nigeria and Ghana,” he added.
Boysen said the fund offers additional products and services to SMEs who need funding to grow their businesses.
Uber partners with mi-Fone
Uber, the international technology company, and the mi-Fone mobile devices brand have joined forces to deliver seamless Uber access to mi-Fone customers.
Starting in March, the Uber app will be embedded in all new mi-Fone android smartphones. mi-Fone will be one of Uber’s key mobile partners across Africa in markets such as Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
mi-Fone was founded by Alpesh Patel in 2008 and is the first African mobile devices brand.
‘Facebook isn’t the enemy in messaging’ – Mark Zuckerberg
In a talk at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Facebook chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg, commented on the tension between telecommunication networks and messaging platforms. He said greater use of messaging services, especially to send photos and video, means more traffic – and more revenue – for telecom networks.
Telecom carriers simply need to shift to business models that make money from data transmission instead of voice or text messages, Zuckerberg said, adding that many networks have already made this adjustment.
Zuckerberg also said he didn’t believe that messaging apps should be regulated by government in the same way traditional network operators are because the telecom carriers build infrastructure, from fibre optics to cellular towers, and Facebook doesn’t. He also said Facebook favoured governments giving telecom providers the freedom to build out 5G capacity. (Bloomberg News)
