Meta Launches Metaverse Experience in Africa

Tech Top 5 News BY Nosa Alekhuogie

Meta Platforms Incorporated, the genitor institution of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has launched its archetypal Metaverse acquisition successful Africa astatine a mixed-reality performance successful Lagos, Nigeria.
The event, tagged #FlexNaija, introduced creators to a bold caller satellite of possibilities successful the Metaverse with 3 large introduction points aimed astatine expanding the dynamism and versatility of the net idiosyncratic experience.

The 3 introduction points, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Avatars, and Augmented Reality, would unfastened up creators to the aboriginal of societal media by exposing them to expanding and monetising their contented and leveraging connected modern exertion to summation engagement with their communities successful the future.
 Speaking with journalists astatine the event, the Communication Manager for Anglophone West Africa, Ms Oluwasola Obagbemi, noted that the determination to motorboat Africa’s Metaverse travel successful Nigeria is strategical arsenic Nigerian creators play a starring relation successful contented instauration successful Africa and the world.
Obagbemi added that Meta birthed the run incubated earlier successful the twelvemonth to collaborate with creators to amplify the idiosyncratic acquisition of creators and their communities.

“This run started with an incubation wherever our squad sat with apical contented creators successful Nigeria crossed antithetic fields to co-create. Metaverse is not thing that would beryllium built by Meta alone,” stated Obagbemi. “So, we are saying that creators should beryllium the archetypal successful Nigeria to physique and co-create.”
She added, “With NFTs, radical tin merchantability their integer collectibles, with Avatars radical tin person their ain illustration online, and past determination is the augmented world which immoderate radical telephone spark AR, with which radical tin link with virtual reality.”

HP to Lay disconnected 6,000 Workers
HP Inc. announced that it would laic disconnected thousands of workers implicit the adjacent 3 years, becoming the latest tech institution to downsize staffing amid a souring economical clime significantly.
The machine shaper disclosed the large occupation cuts successful a connection accompanying its lacklustre quarterly net study recently. It besides said income dropped much than 11 per cent compared to the aforesaid play past year.
“The institution expects to trim gross planetary headcount by astir 4,000-6,000 employees,” HP said. These actions are expected to beryllium completed by the extremity of fiscal 2025.”

HP had antecedently reported having a planetary headcount of immoderate 51,000 employees.
HP President and CEO Enrique Lores stated that the company’s  “Future Ready strategy” volition “enable america to amended service our customers and thrust semipermanent worth instauration by reducing our costs and reinvesting successful cardinal maturation initiatives to presumption our concern for the future.”
The quality makes HP the latest successful a increasing database of once-high-flying tech companies announcing important occupation cuts.

Nigerian Fintechs Cleared successful Kenya
Kenya’s Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) has withdrawn its allegation of wealth laundering against Korapay, a Nigerian fintech startup. The withdrawal was filed astatine the High Court of Kenya’s Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division connected October 19 by Stephen Githinji, the authorities counsel, connected behalf of ARA.
This was decided aft the Kenyan authorities checked and validated the company’s records and transportation processes.
Part of the papers filed by ARA stated, “Please enactment that investigations are present finalised. I would similar to corroborate that allegations of wealth laundering and paper fraud against (Kora) were not established. Please dainty this connection arsenic final.”

Concerning the allegation, Kora’s Chief Operations Officer, Gideon Orovwiroro, said the institution consistently maintained its innocence during the proceedings period.
“We are gladsome that the ARA and the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) person yet dropped each charges and ratified Kora. We would besides similar to commend some agencies for their professionalism and thoroughness successful seeing this probe to the conclusive end,” Orovwiroro said.
“Kora acknowledges the imaginable Kenya presents arsenic we prosecute our ngo to marque it casual for planetary businesses to judge payments successful Africa and for African businesses to judge planetary payments.”
In July, the Kenyan tribunal froze the accounts of Nigerian fintech companies Kora and Kandon Technologies Limited for allegedly siphoning $51 cardinal into the country.

The tribunal froze $249,990 (Sh29.5 million) belonging to Kora’s relationship with Equity Bank, portion Kandon Technologies Ltd had its $126,841 (Sh15 million) successful 2 accounts astatine UBA slope frozen.
According to the ruling, some companies were barred from withdrawing oregon transferring wealth successful the stated accounts for six months truthful that ARA could implicit investigations into the allegations.

Jumia Undergoes Restructuring
E-commerce radical Jumia Technologies AG precocious underwent a dense restructuring pursuing its co-CEOs’ expelling and plunging stock price.
Earlier this month, the institution removed founders and co-CEOs Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec and appointed a caller absorption board.
Acting CEO Francis Dufay said the institution would absorption connected its important e-commerce offerings, discontinue non-performing areas of the business, and trim its selling efforts. Jumia volition unopen down Jumia Prime, a subscription programme similar amazon.com premier service, introduced 3 years ago, allowing customers to person escaped deliveries.

Jumia Logistics, the company’s in-house logistics service, volition beryllium discontinued successful 7 countries but stay successful captious markets similar Nigeria, Morocco, and Ivory Coast. Dufay added that it identified jobs chopped to go a “lean organisation to fulfil our mission.”
“Jumia eliminated market delivery, expanding the minimum handbasket size for escaped deliveries and restricting escaped deliveries to large cities. Price subsidies and selling blitzes volition besides stop. Jumia slashed advertizing costs by 31.5 per cent twelvemonth connected year, Q3 results show.”

According to Dufay, elder institution executives would besides apt relocate to offices connected the continent. Low net penetration, analyzable logistics, anemic infrastructure, and a reticence to store online proceed to clasp the assemblage backmost connected the continent of Africa.
The depreciation of section currencies against the dollar successful Jumia’s markets, peculiarly Nigeria, Egypt, Senegal, and Ivory Coast, has besides negatively impacted maturation margins.
Dufay said the way to profitability required pugnacious decisions.
“It’s afloat successful our hands to marque it happen,” helium said.
Since then, the pan-African group’s stock terms has fallen much than 70 per cent implicit doubts astir the sustainability of its concern model.

Female-led Fintech Raises $2m Seed Funding
An all-female-led fintech, Pivo has raised $2 cardinal successful effect circular funding.
Pivo helps freight carriers get paid faster by providing banking services and integer invoicing tools that way payments.
The startup, which was portion of Y Combinator’s S22 batch, counts Precursor Ventures, Vested World, Y Combinator, FoundersX and Mercy Corp Ventures arsenic its investors successful this round.
The company, founded by Mrs Nkiru Amadi-Emina and Mrs Ijeoma Akwiwu, provides fiscal services, credit, payments and disbursal absorption to SME vendors wrong ample manufacturing proviso chains.
In a statement, the institution said it intends to usage the financing to upgrade existing products, physique caller ones, prosecute talent, and grow extracurricular of Lagos, its archetypal marketplace and different African countries, peculiarly successful East.

Tech Personality of The Week:
Tola Adesanmi

This week’s tech property is Tola Adesanmi, CEO and cofounder of Spleet.
Spleet is simply a Nigerian startup focused connected gathering the lodging needs of the mean Nigerian. It helps radical database their homes, get verified renters, and get paid. It is besides a fiscal services solution making renting an flat successful Africa easier.
According to Adesanmi, it was birthed from the tendency to code immoderate of the issues successful the Nigerian lodging marketplace which  led them to make a level that partners with flat owners to database their properties and provides renters with the enactment of paying rent monthly, quarterly, oregon biannually.
Since its inception astir 4 years ago, Spleet has managed implicit $3.5 cardinal successful rent, onboarded implicit 35 idiosyncratic and firm landlords and housed much than 1,000 tenants.
Spleet raised a $625,000 pre-seed backing circular successful March and has swiftly followed that up with a $2.6 cardinal effect round.