Category: e-Business

Ozconcert has launched ‘CONCERTOZ’, the first online platform in Nigeria where performers, talents and service providers can be hired for events.

At its unveiling, the company expressed enthusiasm over the new product and revealed that it will make entertainment accessible to everyone at a cost that would not break the bank.

While sharing insight on it, the Chief Executive Officer, Agho Charles Osazee stated that CONCERTOZ was designed to help prospective service providers reach a wider audience and ease the stress of hiring service providers for event planners.

“Entertainment is everywhere in Nigeria and yet very hard and expensive to access with little or no option of entertainers. Don’t go through hell to surprise your loved ones or get entertained. With just a few clicks, you can have a party without leaving your house. Hire a service provider faster than you order a pizza,” he said.

The company’s Head of Operation, Elvis Omorotionmwan, said product “is meant to breach the gap between service providers and persons needing their service.”

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He also said that the company has “carefully selected service providers who are skilled and experts in what they do. This is to ensure an excellent user experience and guarantee that we deliver good value for your money.”

The Head of Legal, Joy Ayara, also stated that Concertoz has been built in a way that the intellectual property rights of the performers are protected.

“We only get the right to republish and not ownership. It is very safe to work with Concertoz, our policies have been drafted in a way to ensure that it is easy to understand and the interest of all parties involved is well protected,” Ayara explained.

Co-founder and Head, IT Department, Abel Odachukwu, added: “Concertoz has been a project in its ideation state for some time now and we are glad to finally launch this product to the benefit of the general public.

“From the moment the idea was shared, we thought hard about the best ways to make the process from sign up, listing, and user hiring the creatives as easy as possible and we successfully created Concertoz as a platform that is easy to use for everyone.”

Concertoz is the first online event marketplace in Nigeria where individuals and organizations can buy Instruments, hire instrumentalists, party planners, interior decors, MCs, comedians, musicians, caterers, makeup artists, photographers and all other necessities to host small or large scale events, parties and conferences.

Citing a recent Instagram Live broadcast in which the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, laid out the social network’s renewed focus on video content, the organisers of SBI Media Workshop have said their decision this year to also lean towards video is in alignment with global trends.

The SBI Media Workshop, which enters its second year in 2021,“will be showing young Nigerians how to be a part of this movement around video,”said Rotimi Bankole, CEO of SBI Media, the agency which stages the training event as part of its corporate social responsibility.

The theme of this year’s edition is tap into the video evolution.

While Instagram, which began as a photo-sharing application may be the one platform currently attracting attention for its pivot towards video, its policy shift reflects not only an industry development but also audience and brand preferences.

Social media users, for instance, have been spending more time watching videos, according to a survey by Limelight Networks.

In 2019, the study found that users spent a weekly average of six hours and 48 minutes watching videos. This was a growth of 59 per cent from 2016.

Aside from that, Generation Z are proving to be choosing video over other forms of communication with 50 per cent of them, as revealed in a You Tube research, declaring that they“could not live”without watching videos everyday.

On the brand side, Pinterest, an ideas discovery and sharing socialnetwork, said its users are 2.6times more likely to make a purchase after viewing a brand’s video on Pinterest.

This, obviously, is positive news for marketers, 93percent of whom reported, in a 2018Consumer Trends State of Social Video report, that running a video on social media landed them a new customer.

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At home in Nigeria, said Bankole: “The staggering growth seen in the influencer economy is an indication of what the shift to video. Five years ago, how many Nigerian social media influencers could we name? And how many of them have viable and on going brand partnerships due to the videos they post on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.”

The free one-day workshop, he added, was launched in 2020 to give young Nigerians the tools to employ themselves in an interconnected world where“media was becoming more and more democratised.

”Besides, having only an internet-connected smartphone in the present age is a quick gateway into a potentially lucrative world of content creators.”

Therefore, said the organisers, the event, which has been scheduled to hold in Ikeja, Lagos on November27 will feature top-tier video producers, technical personnel and marketing managers.

These speakers are expected to teach participants the “key factors in content design, equipment selection, post-production, channel maintenance, and brand partnerships.”

Bankole has said the workshop will maintain the same youthful and colourful ambience under which it was held at RadissonHotel, Ikeja in 2020.

MDXI, a subsidiary of MainOne Company, is set to host a one-day webinar on cloud solutions for businesses on Thursday.
The event with the theme: ‘Optimising Business Operations with MDXi Cloud solutions’, will hold virtual in line with current rent COVID-19 guidelines.

Justifying the need for the webinar, the organisers cited recent findings by McKinsey which revealed that many companies are experiencing one or more failure modes as part of their cloud journey as a result of lack of flexibility and cost optimisation benefits despite migrating to public cloud platforms, and chaotic on-premise cloud environments leading to security risks.

To address the hiccups, the webinar which is targeted at banks, pension funds administrators and capital market operators will feature presentations, case studies and panel discussions on cloud solutions that will be relevant to Chief Technical Officers and Technical heads in these organisations.

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MDXi, a MainOne company and West Africa’s leading commercial data centre and interconnection operator offers a variety of colocation, cloud and interconnection services, delivered via world-class infrastructure, a highly skilled and certified support team.

Its carrier neutral data centers with combined capacity of 5 MW across the key markets of Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire provide access to all leading internet exchanges, network providers and ISPs in the West African region.

THE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said the task of attracting investments into the broadband infrastructure space is a collective responsibility.

Its Vice chairman/Vice Chairman, Prof Garba Danbatta, who spoke during the Nigeria e-Government Summit in Lagos, said collaboration was also very important.

The forum was entitled: “e-Government: Opportunities and challenges.”

Danbatta sought the collaboration of stakeholders to remove barriers to investmentment which include multiple taxation and regulation, arbitrary pricing of bottleneck resources such as Right-of-Way (RoW), time-consuming and unfriendly approval processes.

“These factors discourage investments in digital infrastructure and reduce the speed at which we provide our people with access to seamless digital service infrastructure for e-Governance and other services,” Danbatta said.

He highlighted the various regulatory measures of the Commission toward deepening the adoption of e-Government and other internet-driven services in the country.

Represented by the Commission’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Adeleke Adewolu, Danbatta said the NCC has been working with  stakeholders to deepen penetration of broadband infrastructure and services which support the growth of e-Governance and other critical digital economy objectives throughout Nigeria.

The EVC of NCC said the Commission recently unveiled its second Strategic Vision Plan (SVP)- 2021-2025, which enables it to effectively align with efforts of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030; the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025, and other digital economy polices and global best practices.

“Leveraging the successes we achieved under our previous SVP, we are repositioning both the Commission and the entire industry to facilitate the availability of solid infrastructure and to proliferate digital platforms that effectively and efficiently enable digital inclusion throughout Nigeria,” he said.

Highlighting some of the activities of the Commission geared towards ensuring accessibility to efficient and affordable network infrastructure to power e-Government and other digital economy initiatives in the country, Danbatta, pointed out that, following the presidential approval of the Fifth Generation (5G) Policy, the NCC has developed a 5G Deployment Plan for Nigeria’s digital economy.

Danbatta said the Commission has set up a committee to auction the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) band for 5G deployment in Nigeria, and the details will be announced in due course. He also disclosed that the regulator is currently updating the National Frequency Allocation Table (NFAT) to achieve more efficient spectrum allocation and usage to reflect World Radio Communications Conference (WRC)-19 recommendations. He declared that the update of the spectrum allocation table is among several other initiatives being implemented by NCC to ensure efficient use of spectrum resource in the country.

The summit was organised by DigiServe Network Services Limited, in partnership with NCC, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).

Earlier, Executive Chairman, DigiServe Network Services, Lanre Ajayi, in his opening address, said with the advent of democracy, expectations of citizens from governments are higher because citizens rate their governments largely on how efficient and effective government services are delivered to them.

“Hence, e-Government, which is essentially about the deployment of technologies in government processes and service delivery to citizens, provides immense opportunities for governments to deliver services to citizens most effectively and efficiently,” he said.

 

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), African ICT Foundation (AfictF) and InnovationBed.Africa and others are expected to participate atAfrica Tech Alliance Forum  (#AfriTECH 2021).

The hybrid event is scheduled tomorrow at Oriental Hotel, Lekki Lagos. It has Zoho Corporation as lead sponsor with support also from Rack Centre, CloudFlex Computing Limited, Digital Encode, Galaxy Backbone Limited, Notion Technologies, NewWave Ecosystems Limited (Konn3ct.com) and Zinochrome International Nigeria Limited.

Others are industry stakeholders such as ATCON, ALTON, NNiRA, NCS and ISPON.

Audience at #AfriTECH2021 will cut across C-Suite Executives, founders, presidents of companies/organisations, presidents of industry associations, startups/entrepreneurs and government officials, among others.

A statement by the editor of TechEconomy.ng; the organisers of the forum, Peter Oluka, said COVID-19 has pushed businesses to embrace technology and transformed business forever.

“Recent surveys and reports from PwC, Microsoft, McKinsey, IDC, etc showed that responses to COVID-19 have spurred the adoption of digital technologies by several years—and that many of these changes could be here for the long haul. It is important to know how these apply to your organisation and how to source the skills needed to sustain your organisation,” he said.

This, Oluka added, informed the choice of the central theme of the Forum: ‘Embracing change and digital transformation in the ‘New Normal’.

Olatomiwa Williams, the Country Manager of Microsoft Nigeria, will deliver the keynote address.

Other confirmed special guests and speakers are; Prof. Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman, NCC; Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); Prof. Muhammed Abubakar, managing director/CEO, Galaxy Backbone Limited; Dr. Ayotunde (Tunde) Coker, managing director/CEO, Rack Centre; Dr. Oluseyi Akindeinde, chief technical officer, Digital Encode Limited; Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani, president, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON); Prof. Adesina Sodiya, president, Nigeria Computer Society, Mr. Aderemi Adejumo, MD/CEO, Cloudflex Computing Service Limited, Mr. Tony Ojobo, president, Africa ICT Foundation (AFictF); Mr. Muhammed Rudman, president, Nigeria Internet Registration Association of Nigeria (NiRA), Mr. Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, president, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Jude Ozinegbe, CEO/Managing Partner at Zinochrome Int’l; Mr. Gbenga Nana, MD/CEO, Notion Technology Limited; Mr. Femi Williams, MD/CEO, NewWave Ecosystems Limited, amongst others.

Participation at the Forum is FREE, but participants are expected to pre-register via the link: https://africatechallianceforum.africa/ to have opportunity to witness the keynote address, goodwill messages, product launches, brand promotion, panel sessions and the inaugural #AfriTECH Awards/recognition.

The forum which has received supports from NCC, NITDA, Rack Centre, Digital Encode, Galaxy Backbone Limited, Zinochrome Int’lalso enjoys media coverage by TechNext.ng, ITPulse.com.ng; ITNewsNigeria.ng; NigeriaCommunicationsWeek.com.ng; TechTv.net.ng; Rave TV; GrassRoots.ng; ITRealms.com.ng, Digivation Network and TechandBiz.com.ng, BusinessRemarks, Businessmetrics amongst others.

 

 

Mobile money has been adjudged a revolutionary tool for expanding financial services access in low resource environments. Mobile phone users are able to quickly transfer money at low cost without need for access to a banking account but the technology been limited to person-to-person use, writes LUCAS AJANAKU.

The statistics are very impressive. Seventy per cent of consumers in sub-Saharan Africa believe that faster transactions would encourage them to use mobile money services more in the future, according to the latest Ericsson Consumer and Market Insight report entitled: Mobile financial services on the rise.

Despite challenges such as absence of robust telecom infrastructure, operational risks and regulatory challenges associated  with inability of  policymakers and private sector companies to regulate mobile money to protect against operational risks, encourage its use, and build a network of agents, mobile money can generate financial resilience, encourage higher savings for households, enhances transparency and and many more.

According to the Digital Identification and Finance Initiative (DigiFI’s) framing paper, so far, the use of mobile money has been concentrated in the person-to-person (P2P) payments space as well as in certain regions/countries.

“Person-to-business payments, business-to-business, and government-to-business payments are rarely transferred through mobile money. In addition, even for countries with a high mobile money penetration in the P2P space, there is limited evidence on whether it has transformed financial markets or the use of physical cash.

“Although there has been significant work on the impacts of mobile money on households, and some work on the impacts on microenterprises, questions remain around how to increase the take-up of mobile money in countries with low penetration. The possible benefits for governments to use mobile money for person-to-government (P2G) payments, for example, as a tool for tax collection, also remains largely unexplored. While there is a large potential to use mobile money for P2G payments, this still needs to be rigorously explored,” DigiFI added.

But as part of measures to encourage the deployment of mobile technology into financial service, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) started the implementation of its Mobile Banking Framework in collaboration with the deposit money banks (DMBs), payment service providers and other stakeholders. Under the existing guidelines, a total of 21 mobile money operators’ licences were issued by the apex bank while it released the list of 47 firms as approved international money transfer operators (IMTOs).

IMTOs accept cash for the purpose of transmitting to persons resident in Nigeria or another country. They also carry out cross-border transfer services for personal purposes such as money transfer services towards family maintenance and money transfer services for foreign tourists visiting Nigeria.

To deepen foreign exchange liquidity, the apex bank directed DMBs to close naira accounts of IMTOs last December.

“This is to ensure that diaspora remittances are received by beneficiaries in foreign currency only (cash and/or transfers to domiciliary accounts of recipients),” the CBN had said.

The research, which was conducted by Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab early this year, surveyed 3,200 consumers across six sub-Saharan African countries including Nigeria, Senegal, Angola, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Ethiopia to assess the growth of mobile financial services in the light of technology and infrastructure gains across the region, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic impact on financial behavior, showed that nearly half of all consumers in sub-Saharan Africa use mobile financial services in 2021 – a more-than three-fold increase over the last six years.

The report also highlighted the impact of the pandemic on mobile financial services uptake, with 54 per cent of consumers, saying that they use mobile financial services transactions more.

About 70 per cent are more positive towards mobile financial services as a preferred contactless alternative to cash.

The report said users identified faster transactions as the number one factor that would encourage them to use mobile money services more often in the near future. About 70 per cent believe that faster transactions would encourage them to use mobile money services more while 51 per cent highlighted higher security.

Most non-users are now aware of mobile financial services with as many as eight-in-10 saying they are very interested to start using it.

Vice President and Head of Digital Services, Ericsson Middle East and Africa, Lucky La Riccia, said: “This new research underlines the significant empowering role that mobile financial services play in Sub-Saharan Africa, both in combating the impact of the pandemic and in fuelling economic development across Africa through the transformational potential of expanded and affordable access to financial solutions.

“Our aim is to support the digitalisation of Africa through technologies such as mobile broadband. Ericsson’s mobile financial solutions support this aim as we accelerate financial inclusion.”

Communications Service Providers (CSPs) are the most popular mobile financial services supplier, with up to 90 per cent of sub-Saharan African mobile financial services users now using the technology through these companies.

Mobile financial services are currently enabling basic financial services such as withdrawal, transfer, storing money, as well as advanced services such as microfinance and insurance.

Ericsson’s mobile financial solutions are aimed at making management of financials as easy as sending a text so that banking can be conveniently brought to billions worldwide.

The Ericsson Wallet Platform is already used by numerous CSPs worldwide to serve nearly 300 million registered users. Ericsson’s Wallet Platform provides secure, reliable, and flexible platforms that help build an interconnected and transparent financial ecosystem, supporting CSPs and countries in the region to fulfill economic growth.

 

 

 

 

Africa is an emerging market that has enjoyed substantial economic growth in recent years. With a steadily rising GDP, the continent offers much potential for many industries looking to expand.

Gambling and sports betting are leading the field, with many African nations already showing a voracious appetite. The good news for African casino players is that there are many companies keen to expand into the market in the near future.

Improved Technology Offering Opportunities

Casino games are fast-moving and have advanced graphics, which means that a slow connection speed simply can’t keep up. It can also eat more significant amounts of data than simple web-based online scrolling. For these reasons, playing casino games has been historically tricky for African players who didn’t have access to an infrastructure that offered what they needed.

The rapid advances in technology mean that internet access in Africa is no longer considered a luxury. In the first quarter of 2021, Nigeria had the sixth-highest number of internet users in the world – and there are many other African countries that are also experiencing great demand.

What’s particularly interesting about African access to the internet is that around 75% uses mobile technology. Less than a quarter of users rely on PCs to browse online, so that leaves millions of potential casino players waiting for companies to offer their services.

Mobile play has become a high priority for gambling firms in recent years, and there are now many mobile casino apps that offer a full authentic experience. As casinos move into Africa, players will be able to sign up with just a phone number and nothing more.

Major Casinos Confirm Move Into Africa

The emerging market in Africa has caught the attention of some of the top global casinos who are keen to reach new audiences. With Africa already demonstrating enthusiasm for sports betting, they could soon be able to play casino games too.

Entain is one of the leading names in the casino world, and they have already taken steps to move into the African continent. CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen has confirmed that the company plans to be active in the sports betting market by the end of 2021.

The casino giant has been vocal about its future in Africa and made it clear that it hopes to reach a broad African market with sports betting and traditional casino games.

To help facilitate the move, Entain owns a 51% share in subsidiary outfit Impala Digital, which it believes will be vital to its launch and sustained operation in Africa.

Although Entain is only just moving into the African market, the name will already be familiar to some, thanks to their charitable work. This will no doubt help and reinforce projects already assisting communities.

The Entain Foundation is an initiative set up by the company as a charitable endeavour to support worthy projects worldwide. Combining resources with Chance for Childhood, the Entain Foundation has sponsored a project in Ghana for education in early childhood: Change the First 1000 Days.

Current CEO Nygaard-Andersen and all previous CEOs of Entain have been clear about the company’s desire to contribute to communities around the world, making a “transformational positive impact”.

Some technologists and innovators have met in Aba to find a solution to  the dependence on machine parts and equipment imports put at $9 billion last year, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Leading technologists and innovators are working to reduce the imports of machine parts and equipment estimated at $9 billion last year. This is by enhancing technological capacities.

To stimulate the environment for new technologies and innovation, the Hardware Convention 2021 was held in Aba.

The Hardware Convention was organised by Clintonel Innovation Centre (CIC), hardware Startup Incubator that provides training, mentoring and equipment for young people to create engineering innovations, build indigenous products and start up technology businesses.

Its convener wasTochukwu Chukwueke. participants  included Emeka Okoye, Emeka Okafor, Anna Crawford, Prof. Rebecca Shipley, Jorge Appiah, Tony Alaegor, Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, Julian Mbakwe, Ifeoma Malo and Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata.

Chukwueke said  his colleagues need the support of the Federal and states governments  as well as the  international community to excel.

He stressed that building technological capacities must be a priority for the economy to explore the benefits of automation and manufacturing.

Chukwueke said the negligence of the hardware sector was one of the major reasons Nigeria is suffering from 33 per cent unemployment rate (one of the highest in the world) and 60 percent poverty rate.

His words: “The hardware sector is responsible for producing and maintaining the tools, machines and equipment required by the manufacturing sector which is a major employer.

“Today, industries rely heavily on importation for virtually all the machinery they use, causing Nigeria to lose a lot of forex and the naira to depreciate in value.

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“Last year, Nigeria imported machinery worth $9 billion, $3 billion for manufacturing tools. The hardware sector is also responsible for producing military equipment as well as several consumer goods like electronics and domestic appliances. If we develop the hardware sector within the next 10 years, Nigeria will save over $100 billion in forex, generate employment for 20 million people and grow our gross domestic product (GDP) by 50 per cent.

‘’Until we pay serious attention to developing the  hardware sector, Nigeria may never experience any meaningful development, job creation or poverty reduction.”

According to him,  stakeholders   are nurturing a multi-industrial hardware innovation hub to drive development of equipment and adoption of emerging technologies in Aba.

To achieve this, Chukwueke urged investors to support fabrication and hardware hubs, adding that a lot is happening to grow the local tech sector.

According to him, there are local capacities for building hardware to power PCs, vehicles, electrical devices, adding local innovators are proving solutions to tackle numerous challenges the industry is facing exploring opportunities created by emerging technologies driven by conductor-enabled devices.

Through its made-in-Aba initiative, Chukwueke noted that he and other innovators had been ramping up its efforts using financial incentives, to accelerate the development of its domestic semiconductor industry, and establish Nigeria as a tech leader.

 

To give businesses the extra boost they need to position themselves to capture future opportunities, several initiatives have been taken by Lagos Government focusing on helping businesses shift to digital technologies, DANIEL ESSIET reports

An artisan can reap massive economic benefits if equipped with the right digital capabilities.

While most organisations have stepped up digital transformation, not many tradesmen and artisans have the capability to seize the immense opportunities emerging in the digital space.

It is against this background that the Lagos State government wants artisans and tradesmen to hone their digital skills to keep pace with changing business demands.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the government is boosting digital capacities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and artisans to take advantage of emerging business opportunities.

In addition, a five-acre area has been allocated to the Lagos State Council of Tradesmen and Artisans (LASCOTA) to build a centre and help the country become a manufacturing hub.

Speaking at the graduation and Eighth Tradesmen and Artisans Day in Ikeja, Lagos,  Sanwo-Olu reiterated that the government was providing financial support to SMEs and artisans to  enable them create good jobs and secure the long-term growth of  the  economy.

He said the role of artisans and traders was critical in achieving sustainable growth and prosperity of the people.

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In line with this also, he said the government was establishing industrial hubs in various sectors across the state in view of the anticipated multiplier effect within the value-chain.

The governor, and others presented certificates to some of the artisans and traders who were retrained. The beneficiaries, drawn from various associations under the auspices of LASCOTA, were trained in 43 trades.

The Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs. Yetunde Arobieke, said the training of 2000 tradesmen and artisans was a demonstration of the government’s commitment to empowering residents.

According to her, the up skilling programme was developed to equip the registered members of the informal sector towards becoming 21st-century artisans and tradesmen in line with the T.H.E.M.E.S. Agenda and ensure that every resident benefits from the policies and programmes of the government to achieve the ‘Greater Lagos’ vision.

The capacity building programme, according to her,  has broaden the scope of the participants as it was designed to impact positively on their skillset and sharpen their entrepreneurial knowledge to provide a competitive advantage.

LACOSTA President, Alhaji Nurudeen Buhari, commended the governor for its interest in artisans and traders.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs. Kafayat Ajenifuja, said the ministry is establishing industrial hubs in various sectors across the state in view of the anticipated multiplier effect within the value-chain.

About 57 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa remains financially excluded while close to 30 percent remains without a form of identification and 60 percent of the continent has no internet connectivity, leaving these individuals unable to access government assistance and basic financial services.

To address these challenges, Mastercard said has partnered  African fintech and Start Path company Paycode to provide both company’s offerings on one biometric smart card that will help increase access to critical services and advance economic inclusion for Africans living in remote communities.

Mastercard’s Community Pass platform will be included in Paycode’s Electronic Data And Payments Technology platform (EDAPT) that currently provides a secure, biometric identity as well as a digital bank account. Individuals can access digital financial services offline in real-time even if they lack a formal identity document such as a birth certificate or passport.

Together, Paycode and Mastercard deliver a path to prosperity, enabling users to manage day-to-day needs including paying school fees for children, getting vaccinations for their families, selling goods, and growing their businesses.

To enable this, Community Pass allows a person’s face or palm to be recognized at both online and offline locations, while ensuring best-in-class security of their individual data. Community Pass also leverages consistent technology standards so that an individual can seamlessly access financial, health, agricultural, or aid services across providers, including government disbursements.

The partnership’s goal is to onboard 30 million individuals living in remote, unconnected areas of Africa over the next three years, enabling them to access the products and services they need with a Community Pass biometric smart card that runs on Paycode’s EDAPT platform.

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Speaking on the partnership, SVP, Sales & Market Development, H&D for Mastercard, Ricardo Pareja, said: “Adding Inclusive ID functionality to Paycode biometric smart cards helps reach those currently excluded from critical government programs and ensures we are addressing basic financial needs of a dispersed population. As we seek to drive beyond inclusion to fostering prosperity in communities across the globe, a critical focus for Mastercard is to help enable the interoperability and scale of solutions like those provided by Paycode.”

Paycode expressed delight at the partnership. Ittts CEO, Ralph Pecker, said:  “We are proud to partner with global leaders like Mastercard to effect positive change for people on the ground and drive innovation in financial services delivery in deep rural areas. As leaders in last mile delivery and proof of life financial services technology, we play the important role of providing solutions that bring tremendous growth and financial access offline in real-time to the financial and technology sectors in Africa.”

Vice President, Business Development – Governments at Mastercard, Selim Ergoz, said shared digital tools and scalable channels can bridge the digital access gap.

“We believe that shared digital tools and scalable channels can drastically improve the reach and access to services, by reducing the cost to serve those communities as well as improving the effectiveness of service delivery. At Mastercard, we are committed to building an inclusive, sustainable economy where everyone has the opportunity to reach their potential. “Our trusted network powers digital transactions every day, making them safe, simple and smart and we apply this innovation to the most connected and the most remote communities around the world. By partnering with Paycode we will bring Mastercard’s suite of inclusion products to people in Africa that were previously unreachable, and that’s a game changer,” Ergoz said.

Last year, Mastercard pledged to connect 1 billion people, including 50 million micro and small businesses, to the digital economy by 2025. As part of these efforts, the technology company has a direct focus on providing 25 million women entrepreneurs with solutions to grow their businesses.

Paycode’s mission is to give biometric identity and affordable access to basic financial services to over 50 million unbanked and underserved people in Africa by 2025.

Across the world, an estimated 3.4 billion people still struggle to meet basic needs such as access to food, life-saving healthcare, and schooling, and small businesses struggle to receive funding. Community Pass was developed as a shared interoperable digital platform designed by Mastercard to address these different needs.  Individuals can be recognized as the same person in different scenarios and make safe, secure, and convenient digital transactions – whether they are receiving healthcare services at a local clinic, checking into a school or redeeming humanitarian cash aid to purchase goods at a local store.