Friday, 02 September 2022

Partner(s)

Good morning!

Dennis here,

Flutterwave has gotten a new license from the CBN. The company announced that it has been granted a switching and processing license. This comes as the company gears for its IPO which is eminent. But this good news doesn't mean that the ecosystem is now on an upward trajectory.

Olu Oyinsan, the venture firm Oui’s founder and managing partner told Quartz recently that investors are now scrupulous asking more questions like, “Where is the user growth? Where is the revenue? Are the users you’re acquiring valuable? What’s the plan for profitability? There is now a flight to fundamentals.”

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

Summary of the news

CBN has granted Flutterwave a switching and processing license
Technology now contributes more than oil to Nigeria’s GDP
Universal+ will launch in SA this October
A Bolt driver hijacked a user’s account, booked trips and rated himself five stars

Flutterwave acquires switching and processing license

Flutterwave, the Nigerian fintech that has been rocked with multiple controversies all through the year announced yesterday that it has been granted a Switching and Processing License by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the highest licence given to fintech companies in the country, Technext reports. Only top-tier players in the tech ecosystem like Interswitch, eTranzact, 3Line, Unified Payments (UPSL), Cards Technology Limited (CTL) and a few others currently possess the licence.

This means that Flutterwave, which has before now depended on its Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) and International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licenses for its operations in Nigeria, can now carry out more functions including card processing services, non-bank acquiring, agency banking, and payment gateway services without a third party.

CEO and Co-founder, Olugbenga Agboola said:

This is big news for our customers, partners, investors, and other stakeholders. It is an important milestone in our growth story. Building a thriving payments ecosystem in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is in line with our goal of developing a world class and secure payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across the continent.

Chief Regulatory and Government Affairs Officer, Oluwabankole Falade said:

We’re thrilled to have been issued this license after fulfilling all of the regulatory requirements. The application process was very rigorous and included a detailed review of our operations as a business. As a switch, we have more responsibilities and will continue to work with Regulators to ensure we meet and exceed their expectations.

Onyedikachim Nwankwo, Head of Product Marketing said:

The license will allow us to offer more services and explore more payment use cases for our ecosystem. With this license, we can offer more value to our customers while taking more control of our value chain to enable an improved payments experience for our enterprise, medium scale and retail customers.

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Technology now contributes more than oil to Nigeria’s GDP

According to the recent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report by the National Bureau of Statistics, the information and communications technology (ICT) sector contributed 18.44% to Nigeria’s GDP in the second quarter of 2022. The sector saw a 6.55% growth rate from Q1 2022, TechCabal reports.

The contribution of the oil sector, which used to dominate the country’s GDP bottom line, fell to 6.33% in Q2 2022, a position lower than its 7.42% in Q2 2021 and 6.63% in Q1 2022.

With trade coming in second to ICT and contributing 16.81% to the economy, higher than the 16.6% it recorded in 2021 when the world was just recovering from the pandemic, and the 16.13% it recorded in Q1 2022, the non-oil sector dominated the economy.

Per the report, the non-oil sector contributed 93.67% to the nation’s GDP in the period in review. The figure is said to be higher than 92.58% in Q2 2021 and 93.37% in Q1 2022. The non-oil sector’s contribution grew by 4.77% from the previous rate.

The non-oil sector was driven mainly by telcos, trade, financial institutions, transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing (food, beverage and tobacco).

Africa streaming market gets new contender as Universal+ launches in SA by October

The African streaming market is about to receive a new contender as NBCUniversal has announced plans to launch its Universal+ service to subscribers on the MultiChoice Group’s DStv platform in South Africa by mid-October of this year, Technext reports.

South Africa will become the first African country to fully operationalize the Universal+ service. This comes on the heels of the service’s launch in Spain, Brazil, Latin America, and India. The new streaming platform will include movies and series from Universal TV, E!, DreamWorks, Studio Universal as well as Telemundo.

As a free and value-added offering, DStv subscribers will be able to access unlimited hours of intriguing entertainment, including the Safta award-winning Celebrity Game Night, through Catch Up on the DStv app or by connecting Explora and selecting Universal+.

Lee Raftery, MD for Europe, Middle East and Africa at NBCUniversal International Networks and Direct-To-Consumer said:

We’re thrilled to launch Universal+ with our long-standing partners DStv, giving their customers a brand-new way to enjoy a vastly expanded catalogue of our best content.

Simon Camerer, COO of MultiChoice South Africa said:

As Africa’s most loved storyteller, we are always looking to offer top entertainment to our DStv customers, and the addition of Universal+ aims to do just that. We are excited to bring the best of international content and the widest possible choice of great shows to satisfy all our viewers.

Bolt driver hijacks user’s account — books trips and rates himself five stars

A new investigation by MyBroadband shows that a rider made a series of fraudulent trips with a passenger's Bolt account.

MyBroadband reports that on investigating the issue, it noticed that seven of the eight fraudulent trips featured the same driver.

The eight fraudulent trips totalled R2,055, of which R1,436 were with the same driver.

When MyBroadband informed Bolt about the curious correlation, the company said they blocked the offending driver from the platform.

“Bolt can confirm that the driver has been blocked off the platform to ensure that this never takes place on the app,” Bolt SA country manager Takura Malaba said.

The user affected said they contacted Bolt support when they noticed the fraudulent charges and were frustrated by the feedback from the ride-hailing platform.

They also noticed that someone else’s email was linked to their profile but deleted it before making a note of the address.

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