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Nigerian Wealth Management Platform Risevest, Looks to Expand to Kenya With Acquisition of Hisa

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Nigerian wealth management/investment platform Risevest is set to expand into the Kenyan market, with ongoing talks to acquire Kenyan investment startup Hisa.

This strategic move aims to broaden Risevest’s footprint in East Africa and tap into the growing demand for investment solutions in the region. Hisa, known for its innovative approach to investment, provides a platform that allows users invest in stocks and other financial instruments.

By integrating Hisa’s platform, Risevest will not only gain a foothold in Kenya, but also strengthen its ability to provide international investment options, particularly in US stocks.

However, it is worth noting that Risevest’s acquisition of Hisa is currently still in talks, after one person with direct knowledge of the deal said the conversation between both companies is still ongoing.

“We are always discussing with other companies to see where potential alignments can be created, but for now, nothing is concrete with Hisa yet”, Eke Urum, Risevest’s founder and CEO told Techcabal.

Acquiring Hisa will allow RiseVest to gain market share in Kenya without registering a new entity and obtaining new licences. Established in 2014, Risevest provides Nigerians with access to dollar-denominated investments, helping them hedge against local currency devaluation and inflation. The platform allows users to invest in global stocks, bonds, and real estate with as little as $10.

Also, the platform provides users access to over 3,500 stocks and bonds and real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the US, UK, and Europe. It offers a range of investment options, including long-term investments, short-term investments, and automated investments.

Over the years, Risevest has grown to become a significant player in the Nigerian fintech landscape, offering a range of investment products managed by a world-class team using smart algorithms.

Hisa, on the other hand, Founded in 2020 by Eric Asuma, the platorm is licenced by the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA) and the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

The platform has been making waves in the Kenyan fintech scene by enabling users to buy fractional shares of US stocks, thereby lowering the entry barrier for investors. It aims to enable Kenyans to trade both local and global stocks.

In 2022, Hisa raised US$ 250,000 in pre-seed funding from angel investors such as Faida Investment Bank, Estonia based VC Startup Wise Guys, Chipper Cash Founder Ham Serunjogi and Majid Moujaled at a post money valuation of US$ 5 million. 

This acquisition of Hisa by Risevest, is expected to strengthen the platform’s abilities and expand the services it offers. Notably, as financial technology continues to evolve rapidly in Africa, Risevest’s move highlights the increasing competition among fintech companies to capture market share and provide innovative financial solutions to a growing number of tech-savvy investors across the continent.

Mt. Gox Creditors Start Receiving Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash on Kraken

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After years of anticipation and legal proceedings, the Mt. Gox saga is reaching a pivotal moment as creditors begin to receive Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) through the Kraken exchange platform. This event marks a significant milestone in one of the cryptocurrency industry’s most infamous episodes.

Mt. Gox, once the world’s leading Bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy in 2014 following a catastrophic hack that resulted in the loss of 850,000 BTC, valued at approximately $56 billion at current market rates. The collapse sent shockwaves through the nascent cryptocurrency community and left many investors without access to their digital assets.

Several key factors contributed to its downfall, painting a picture of vulnerability in the face of rapid growth and the challenges of an emerging technological frontier.

Security Breaches: Mt. Gox’s history with security was troubled, with multiple hacks over the years. In 2011, hackers exploited stolen credentials to transfer Bitcoins, and deficiencies in network protocols led to thousands of Bitcoins being lost.

Operational Mismanagement: The exchange was plagued by operational issues, including chronic withdrawal delays and a lack of transparency. These issues were exacerbated by technical bugs that prevented the company from having a firm grasp on transaction details.

Transaction Malleability: A significant technical issue faced by Mt. Gox was transaction malleability, a bug that allowed users to alter transaction IDs. This issue contributed to the confusion and loss of funds, although its role has been disputed within the community.

Regulatory Challenges: Mt. Gox faced regulatory hurdles, including the seizure of its US-based accounts due to compliance issues with financial regulations. This not only affected its operations but also eroded user trust.

The distribution process has been a complex and lengthy one, with Kraken playing a crucial role in facilitating the return of funds to the affected parties. Kraken CEO Dave Ripley announced the successful distribution of assets, emphasizing the exchange’s commitment to resolving the matter that has lingered for nearly a decade.

The repayment program’s impact on the cryptocurrency market has been a subject of intense speculation. As the distribution commenced, there were concerns about potential market volatility, with some fearing that a mass sell-off by the creditors could lead to a significant price drop. However, reports suggest that Mt. Gox creditors are not rushing to sell their newly received BTC, alleviating some of the apprehensions about immediate market disruption.

Bitcoin’s price experienced a slight dip to near $65,000, reflecting the market’s sensitivity to the potential sell pressure from the distribution. Despite initial concerns, the majority of Mt. Gox creditors are reportedly not rushing to sell their newly reclaimed BTC, suggesting a cautious approach to reintegration into the market.

Bitcoin Cash, on the other hand, saw a more pronounced decline, dropping by 7% as the news of the distribution influenced market sentiment. This price movement underscores the interconnectedness of the cryptocurrency ecosystem and the influence that major events can have on asset valuations.

The completion of this distribution by Kraken is not just a logistical success; it represents a step towards maturation for the cryptocurrency industry. It highlights the advancements in security, governance, and legal frameworks that have been developed since the early days of Bitcoin trading.

As the industry continues to evolve, the resolution of the Mt. Gox case will likely be looked back upon as a defining moment—a testament to the resilience of the cryptocurrency community and its commitment to establishing a secure and trustworthy environment for digital assets.

Wood Filament for 3D Printing: 6 Best Options

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There are several colored filaments that give the impression of wood, but in reality, they usually just look and feel like plastic because they don’t actually contain any wood particles. Depending on the filament producer, wood filaments nowadays typically contain a combination of 70% PLA and 30% hardwood fibers. We promise you will be amazed by how realistic the prints feel, even if the wood content is very low. Because they are the most popular, wood-infused PLA filaments for 3D printing will be the focus of this essay.

1. Amolene Wood Filament

Key Features:

  • Material contains 30% real wood fiber
  • Unparalleled wood grain and texture
  • High-speed printing support
  • No bubble, No jamming, No warping

The recycled wood filaments used to make AMOLEN 3D printers are compatible with the vast majority of consumer-grade FDM 3D printers on the market today. Combining PLA with reclaimed wood particles makes it an eco-friendly product. Aside from a few key differences, it prints identically to standard PLA filament. The surface wood color and texture are very stunning. When the extrusion temperature is between 190 and 220°C, it can function with even a modest heat bed.

A diameter variation of no more than 30 microns or slightly less is possible due to its precise dimensions. If you want your 3D printing to be consistently good, this is the way to go.

Designed with professional 3D printer users in mind, it meets or exceeds all quality and performance standards with its wood filament and extremely tight tolerances. Get this wood filament if you care about your 3D printer running smoothly and without issues. It produces first-rate outcomes with no bubbles, jams, or warping and excellent shaping.

The careful packing ensures that it melts easily and feeds continuously. You can use this wood filament without worrying that it will jam the extruder or nozzle. Designers, engineers, and anyone else interested in 3D printing that demands the best will often consider this wood filament to be their first pick for this reason. Actually, you’d have a hard time finding a more suitable filament than this one. Once the hot end is heated to the correct temperature, it flows effortlessly out of the nozzle.

The filament diameter is the industry standard 1 75 mm, and it comes on 1.0 kg spools. You may get it in walnut and dark wood finishes. The price is quite affordable.

2. Sunlu Wood Filament

Key Features:

  • printing temp: 205?-225?
  • 75mm with a precision of +/- 0.05mm
  • no nozzle clogging

To achieve the desired wood grain pattern and color, SUNLU Wood Filament uses a carefully balanced blend of polymer and 20% recycled wood particles.

The clog-free filament is crucial in its development and production to ensure a steady and trouble-free 3D printing platform. Once it has cured for at least 24 hours, it is vacuum-packed in aluminum foil to prevent moisture damage and guarantee a high-quality print. One thing to keep in mind is that wood prints at a little different speed than other PLA fibers. How hot the filaments are when printed is a major factor here.

For a high-quality print, the folks at Sunlu use both mechanical winding and rigorous hand inspection. Because of this, you can be certain that your wood filaments will be neat and easy to feed into your 3D printer’s nozzle. If you are not completely happy with their 3D print filaments, the company offers a three-month money-back guarantee. You can get this printing material in spools weighing 1 kilogram, and the diameter of the wood filament is 175 millimeters. At a reasonable price, it comes in a light wood color with an oak-like feel.

Price: $26.99.

3. ISANMATE’s 3D Printer Filament

Key Features:

  • Filament Diameter: 1.75mm
  • Tolerance: +/-0.02mm
  • Length Around: 340m
  • Print Temp: 190-220 degrees
  • Hot Bed Temp: 50?
  • Print Speed: 40-80mm/s

This PLA, also known as ISANMATE’s Wood Filament comes with Dimensional Accuracy +/- 0.03 mm, 1.75 mm Filament, PLA, 1 KG Spool of Various Colourful Rainbow.

iSANMATE Wood Filament features a wood color and texture in addition to 80% PLA and 20% wood flour. It works wonderfully with 3D printers to make things that have that lovely wooden feel.

Superior high-layer-height bonding, durability, and non-toxicity characterize this premium 3D printer filament. Despite being incredibly user-friendly, it outperforms standard PLA filament in terms of strength. The diameter of the spool is 197 mm.

The company’s customer service is top-notch, and this 3D printer filament has a limited guarantee of one year. They aim to address all customer concerns promptly and usually respond within 24 hours.

Price: $18.99.

4. Polymaker

Key Features:

  • Wood mimic PLA matte finish
  • Weight: 600g
  • Diameter: 1.75mm/2.85
  • Print temperature: 190-210?C
  • Print speed: 30-50mm/s

Polymaker, a popular 3D printer filament maker, produces PolyWood, a line of wood PLA filament. PlasticWood comes in two different sizes, 1.75 mm and 2.85 mm, but it only comes in one color: a light wood that looks incredibly real.

Polywood isn’t normally on this list because it doesn’t have any wood fibers. Instead, its special “foaming” process adds wood’s qualities to PLA plastic. Because of this way of making things, their wood filament is about 35–40% less dense than standard PLA filament. It looks and feels like wood.

According to the many reviews found online, people seem to like how PolyWood prints turn out in terms of texture and surface appearance. However, it’s important to know that this thread costs about $50 per kilogram, which is quite expensive.

Price: $50 per kg.

5. Lay Wood Flex

Key Features:

  • Composition: 65% PLA, 35% wood
  • Diameter: 1.75 mm
  • Price per kg: ?$100 (250-g spool at ?$25)
  • Printing temperatures: 190-250 °C (hot end); heated bed not required

Lay Filaments stands apart from the crowd because of the extensive selection of high-quality filaments it offers for 3D printing. The first person to ever make a wood filament was Kai Parthy, a German inventor and creator of Lay Filaments. The LayWood-Flex is one of the wood filament varieties introduced by Lay Filaments since then.

The composition of LayWood-Flex includes a flexibilizer, a bonding polymer, and wood fibers amounting to 35% by weight. In terms of surface smoothness, texture, pliability, and odor, these substances aim to imitate real wood.

For all appearances and textures, LayWood-Flex is real wood. As a result, it’s great for making sandable and paintable components. It is possible to change colors because the temperature range at the hot end is so broad. The wood particles burn more quickly at higher temperatures, giving the material a darker look.

6. Protopasta

Key Features:

  • Nozzle: 0.4 mm standard brass w/ sock
  • Nozzle Temp: 205C
  • Bed Temp: 60C
  • Bed Type: Glass, PEI, BuildTak, or other
  • Great for rigid, artistic prints with no special hardware required

Protopasta is a reputable and widely recognized company that makes high-quality fibers. This company has been around since 2013 and makes products that are biodegradable, reusable, and recyclable.

Their high-quality matte fiber wood HTPLA has a lifelike wood look and sticks well to the bed. Little bits of gold and black make these colors look even more like real wood. People who have used this filament say they are happy with the results and don’t have to make many changes to their slicing settings. The only bad thing they said was that it stringed more than normal PLA. This filament comes in different types of wood, such as olive, walnut, mahogany, and more.

Price: $6

Having looked at the wood filament for 3D printing, it’s also important to have a look at the best 3D printing software that you can use to prepare your designs for 3D printing. There are many that are available but we recommend using SelfCAD. SelfCAD is an easy to use 3D design software that you can use to create both simple and complex designs with ease.

It comes with interesting 3D modeling tools like freehand drawing and sketching that you can use to create designs from scratch. There are also easy-to-use selection modes as well as various modification tools to help you modify your designs based on your requirements. It has an image-to-3D feature that makes it easier to turn photos to 3D models. You can also import STL files and modify them based on your needs.

The software also comes with an in-built online slicer that one can use to prepare designs for 3D printing. The video below shows how to slice STL files and generate the Gcode to send to the 3D printer.

Elevate Your 3D Printing: Choose the Perfect Wood Filament

Wood filaments are a type of composite filament that usually incorporates wood particles into a PLA (Polylactic Acid) basis. While exact percentages may vary by product and maker, the typical make-up of wood filament is 30% wood and 70% PLA. Most of the filament’s characteristics are associated with PLA since it is the major component.

When compared to standard plastic filaments, the distinctive visual quality of 3D-printed wood objects is the primary draw. The texture and appearance of 3D-printed models made from wood filaments are very similar to those of real wood. 3D printing allows for the creation of patterns and designs that would be highly challenging, if not impossible, to accomplish with conventional woodworking methods. Composite 3D printing filaments made of metal or carbon fiber are far more likely to distort and shrink than wood filaments, which are far less abrasive.

The Uncommon Leadership of Selfless Joe Biden to Save America

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Mr. President: Last night, you provided one of the most important business cases for ages. Yes, if I have to relinquish power for my team to win, that is normal, and I will do it. You did it before the nation, and that is leadership.

Nations rise when great entrepreneurs emerge. But nations only ascend  when visionary political leaders build the platforms where those entrepreneurs operate on. Those platforms are the rule of law, catalytic and generation-shaping physical infrastructures, and the trust in the future.

I want to salute you because last night, you taught me a lesson: any great project must be above and beyond any human, including the personal ambition of the United States President. In the Igbo Nation, elders say “the okro crop will never grow taller than the planter”, meaning that the next generation of Democrats you are seeding by this decision will always remain your boys and girls.

I voted for you last time. But I would have passed this election because I had felt you were not the best in this cycle. But after your decision over the weekend, I will be voting. And across my network, the excitement is huge, even as you  challenged us that if you, Mr President, could lose power to save power, we must learn.

I was in your entourage in 2014 when you traveled to Marrakech Morocco. That day you made a speech, and noted that when the nation of US was born, Morocco was the first to recognize it as an independent country. Today, Ndubuisi says that you are the most selfless leader of the 21st century, for relinquishing the most powerful job on earth to save your nation. 

History will be kind, and this is irrespective of whatever happens between Harris and Trump; either is more prepared than you!

Dangote Ventures into Gabon, Explores Investment Opportunities Amid Spat with Nigeria

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Alhaji Aliko Dangote, renowned as Africa’s richest man and the driving force behind Dangote Industries Limited, is setting his sights on Gabon amid a recent spat with Nigerian regulatory authorities.

The investment interest in Gabon is coming at the invitation of Gabon’s President, Brice Oligui Nguema, and signals a potential expansion of Dangote’s industrial empire into new territories.

Dangote is currently grappling with several challenges in his home country Nigeria, including the supply of crude oil to his state-of-the-art refinery and concerns regarding product quality standards.

The Dangote Group, well-known for its extensive investments in cement and fertilizer production across Africa, announced its chairman’s visit to Gabon on their official social media platforms. The announcement highlighted Dangote’s exploration of opportunities in cement and fertilizer production in the Central African country. This initiative aligns with the group’s broader strategy to diversify and expand its industrial footprint across the continent.

A Continental Footprint in Cement and Fertilizer

The Dangote Group’s foray into Gabon is part of a larger narrative of continental expansion. Beyond Nigeria, the conglomerate has established a significant presence in various African countries, including Cameroon, Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Zambia.

These operations have not only bolstered the group’s standing as a leading player in the cement industry but have also played a crucial role in infrastructure development across these regions.

The group’s cement plants are renowned for their scale and efficiency, often setting benchmarks in production capacity and technological innovation. These facilities have been instrumental in meeting the growing demand for cement, a critical component in construction and development projects across Africa.

In addition to cement, the Dangote Group has made substantial investments in fertilizer production. The Dangote Fertilizer Plant, located in Lagos, Nigeria, stands as one of the largest in Africa, with a production capacity of 3 million metric tons of Urea annually. This plant is a critical asset in addressing the continent’s agricultural needs, particularly as African nations strive to enhance food security amidst global supply chain disruptions.

Africa’s Challenge with Fertilizer and Food Security

Africa’s reliance on imported fertilizers, particularly from Europe, has long been a point of concern, especially as it impacts farming and food security in the continent. The recent geopolitical tensions, notably the war between Russia and Ukraine, have compounded these vulnerabilities, highlighting the urgent need for local production capabilities.

Data from 2020 reveals that Africa’s average usage of synthetic fertilizers was a mere 26 kilograms per hectare of cropland. This figure pales in comparison to the European Union’s average of over 135 kilograms per hectare, and the even higher averages in North and South America and Asia, which stand above 150 and 187 kilograms per hectare, respectively. This disparity in fertilizer usage significantly impacts crop yields and, by extension, food security across the continent.

The Dangote Group’s investment in fertilizer production is, therefore, not just a business venture but a strategic intervention aimed at addressing these critical challenges. By producing fertilizers locally, the group hopes to reduce dependency on imports, lower costs for farmers, and ultimately enhance agricultural productivity.

Dangote’s Troubles Back Home

While Aliko Dangote’s visit to Gabon represents a forward-looking expansion, it has been overshadowed by the challenges back home. The company’s flagship oil refinery, with a massive capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, has been at the center of disputes with Nigerian regulatory bodies. These disputes primarily revolve around the supply of crude oil to the refinery and concerns about the quality of the products being produced.

The Nigerian oil sector, known for its complex market dynamics, has posed various challenges for the Dangote Group. These issues are part of broader regulatory challenges in Nigeria, which has been a focal point for discussions on industry standards, compliance, and market reforms.

The Dangote Group continues to push forward with its ambitious projects amid the challenges. The refinery, once fully operational, is expected to transform Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, significantly reducing the country’s reliance on imported petroleum products and creating numerous jobs.

While Dangote’s exploration of new investment opportunities in Gabon is seen as part of his broader vision of industrializing Africa, diversifying the group’s portfolio, and tapping into new markets, many believe that he is sending a warning message to the Nigerian government on his investment choices.