Allegations leveled against Afrika’s most valuable fintech, Flutterwave, appear to be gaining traction by the day. The three billion-dollar corporation has been accused of further fraud, sexual harassment, misrepresentation, and workplace bullying. To date, none of the charges have been addressed by Flutterwave, its Board of Directors, its investors, or its CEO.
Flutterwave’s current CEO and co-founder, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, informed the then CEO and co-founder, Iyinoluwa “E” Aboyeji, that a share allocation of 10% would have to be transferred to “Greg,” Flutterwave’s CTO, as first revealed by award-winning Nigerian investigative journalist David Hundeyin. Later, it was revealed that “Greg” was a made-up figure established by GB to give himself an extra 10% of the Flutterwave shares instead of the 62,5 % he and E were intended to split.
With Flutterwave facing several allegations of improper conduct in South Africa, thousands of South Africans took to social media and WhatsApp groups to express frustration on delayed debited payments referenced “Flutterwave Uber” or “Flutterwave Ubereats”. A statement by both FNB South Africa and Nedbank cited technical errors from Flutterwave as the payment processor.
Through a company-wide email by the CEO to employees, dubbed “not an official statement” by appointed PR firm Wimbart, Flutterwave sought to address the serious allegations. However, both the e-mail and the statement by the company sent to iAfrikan.com are mere fluttering statements as they fail to address any of the allegations made to date. Read the full story.
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The University of Johannesburg will start offering blockchain-issued certificates
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has become Africa’s first higher education institution to employ blockchain technology to print digital security controls on graduate diplomas. Certificate security will be improved thanks to new blockchain-based certificate capabilities. QR codes will be printed on all certificates, which may be scanned with a smartphone to verify that the information on the certificate is correct and that it was granted by UJ.
Graduates will be able to securely examine and order missing or damaged certificates, as well as share their certificates securely with other parties or employers at no cost, thanks to the university’s blockchain-issued certificates. Read
A $250 million data center is under construction in Nigeria
Nigerian founded cloud computing company, Kasi Cloud Ltd, has broken ground on the construction of a $250 million colocation data center in Lekki, Lagos. Kasi has said that it is on a mission to build Nigeria’s leading sustainable interconnection and data center platform for Afrika, specifically designed to support digital ecosystems.
Once fully constructed, Nigeria’s colocation data centers will tally up to 12, making it the Afrikan state with the second-highest number of data centers behind South Africa (26 data centers as of the first quarter of 2022). It will also be the second data center to be located in Lekki joining the one built by MainOne. Read
Ethio Telecom and Safaricom sign deal to share cellular towers
Safaricom and Ethiopian state-controlled competitor Ethio Telecom have struck an agreement to share mobile telecommunication towers. Concerning interconnection and capacity lease agreements, the parties came to an agreement that tariffs, the load-bearing capacity of the towers, the actual space within sites, antenna tilt and height, and the negative effects on service quality when antennas are shared, as well as the different standards used by the equipment provider, had to be discussed and agreed upon in order to reach a consensus.
Since 2015, Ethiopia’s 16 million Internet users have been facing internet outages, owing to the state-owned operator’s control over online communication. The most severe shutdowns to date happened in the Amhara and Oromia areas in 2019 and 2020. Read
Wave secured an e-money license in Senegal
Wave has announced that it has received an e-money license in Senegal. Before this had to rely on third-party banks like United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Ecobank to fuel its mobile money business model. Read
Equiano submarine internet cable lands in Nigeria
Equiano’s arrival in Nigeria is expected to result in faster internet speeds and significantly improve people’s experiences while online. Read
What is Happening?
