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ArabyAds Raises $30m in Pre-Series B Funding Round from AfricInvest

By
Samuel Nwite
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0

The African tech ecosystem has been thriving on fintech, logistics, edtech etc., a new sector is gradually rising up to take a place among the others.

Adtech startups in some African regions have caught the attention of investors, who are now betting big on the companies’ growth potential. The latest among them is Egyptian ArabyAds, a growing force in the MENA region’s ad space.

ArabyAds announced that it has raised $30m in a Pre-Series B funding round from AfricInvest, a pan-African investment platform managing multiple alternative asset classes including private equity, venture capital and private credit.

“We are delighted to welcome AfricInvest as one of our long-term investors and thank them for placing their trust in our vision to build value for all stakeholders in the ecosystem. ArabyAds is committed to transforming the digital advertising landscape with innovation and has been leading the way to deliver performance advertising with its platform offerings,”Mahmoud Fathy, CEO and co-founder of ArabyAds said.

“Our fundamentals are strong, and as one of the fastest and profitably-growing companies in the MENA region, ArabyAds is now looking to expand its presence in newer markets where it can leverage its scalable, secure, and end-to-end platforms to help e-commerce businesses scale effortlessly across the globe,” he said.

The transaction marks the eighth investment for AfricInvest’s Maghreb Private Equity Fund IV, which provides growth capital to small and mid-cap companies to expand regionally and across the African continent, spurring productivity growth and sustainable job creation.

ArabyAds will use the new financing to expand its footprint and further invest it to accelerate its technological advancement and talent acquisition to support the growth.

 “This funding round enables us to increase the pace of our international expansion, providing ArabyAds an opportunity to further deliver meaningful technology solutions to e-commerce companies globally. At ArabyAds, our vision is to create a sustainable business with financial prudence and I am sure we will be able to replicate our success story in the new geographies as well,” Gulrez Alam, chief investment and strategy officer at ArabyAds said. 

Founded in 2013 in Egypt, with headquarters in the UAE and tech hubs across Egypt, Tunisia, and Jordan, ArabyAds helps advertisers in customer acquisition, retention, and monetization by leveraging its technology platforms for influencer marketing (iConnect), Coupon based advertising (Boostiny), retail media (Ritelo), live commerce (Dmenta), and on-device contextual advertising (Deviceboost).

The startup leverages innovation and delivers measurable results to its advertisers with data-led, transparency-first & omnichannel marketing.

Skander Oueslati, chief investment officer at AfricInvest says the investment is in line with the company’s goal to disrupt the adtech industry through innovative technology.

“We are pleased to partner with ArabyAds at a time when the technology company is looking to further disrupt the AdTech industry through its transformative technology platforms. ArabyAds has established a strong brand and excellent reputation in the MENA region and is widely recognized for its reliability and expertise in digital marketing and advertising,” he said.

Apple Sets September 5th As Deadline For Employees To Return Back To The Office

By
Ojukwu Emmanuel
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0

Recall that the covid-19 pandemic necessitated a paradigm shift in the workplace, that saw employees resort to working remotely. As the virus receded, many companies began setting return to work. Recently, a large percentage of employers are now demanding that employees return to the workplace.

After two years of working remotely, American multinational technology company, Apple has ordered its employees to resume work at the office for at least three days a week from September 5th, 2022. The company workers will be mandated to be in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with one additional day to be determined by individual teams.

This is Apple’s latest attempt to get its employees back to the office, as it disclosed that this new policy would initially be implemented in silicon valley, before being extended to other workplaces. The new policy was implemented a few weeks after Apple decided to abandon its requirement for masks in common areas of offices.

Apple’s new order of return to the office, has however irked some of its employees who are hesitant to return to the workplace. The company currently wants all hands on deck as it is set to release its latest iPhone 14 and new watches as well as updated Macs and loads, which are also being prepared for release this year.

Employees at Apple seem to have loved the remote mode of work, as they argue that they are able to perform just as well when they work remotely as when they are in the office. Apple’s employees have proceeded to make their thoughts heard through a petition, demanding location flexible work, that went in circulation among its employees over the weekend.

The petition written by workers at the company, titled “Apple Together”, claims that employees have been doing exceptional work throughout the pandemic whether they have been working from home or the office. In April, several of Apple’s employees suggested that they were willing to quit over the company’s return to office policies.

Although several companies have implemented permanent work-from-home policies for employees, such as Spotify, Reddit, etc, Apple did not implement this policy, as the company has made it clear that employees would need to return in person for effective collaboration. Following the demand of  employees back to the workplace, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook reveals that working remotely is not entirely bad, however, there are some things it cannot replicate.

In his words;

“For all that we’ve been able to achieve while many of us have been the truth is that there has been something essential missing from the past year. Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it cannot replicate”.

Experts have disclosed that low-quality meetings often translate into less productivity. With Apple’s three days work policy, the company appears to be more inclined towards the line of offering workers a hybrid strategy which is still somewhat flexible.

As the covid-19 virus seems to be almost non-existent, it is interesting to note that Apple is not the only company that wants its workers to return to the office. It has been reported that about 50% of companies across the globe want workers back in the office.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has already demanded that workers at the company should quit working remotely and return to the office full-time, or quit their job. Goldman Sachs is already back full-time, and 90% of JP Morgan’s staff presently go to work at least three days a week.

A survey tracking remote work since the early pandemic shows more companies are coming around to a post-pandemic hybrid work schedule with an average of 30% of workdays done from home compared to 5% pre-pandemic period.

The Regulatory Framework Governing International Mobile Money Remittance Services (IMMRS) in Nigeria

By
Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ogbuka
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0
Naira USD

In one of my previous articles, i explained the Regulatory Framework governing International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO)Services  in Nigeria as well as its scope in terms of permissible and non-permissible activities.

In this article, the topic will be International Mobile Money Remittance services, a sub-category of Mobile Money Operators (MMO) in Nigeria and the focal points treated therein will be :-

– The Regulatory Framework governing IMMRS

– The permissible and non-permissible activities allowed for IMMRS

– The recognized participants in an IMMRS venture

– The licensing requirements for IMMRS

What is the Regulatory Framework governing IMMRS in Nigeria?

IMMRS licensing and operation in Nigeria is governed by the Central Bank of Nigeria which maintains a Regulatory oversight through the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) and mainly the CBN Guidelines on International Mobile Money Remittance Services in Nigeria 2015(or ‘the guidelines’) with the following objectives:-

– The provision of minimum standards and requirements for the operation of International funds remittance over/via mobile services in Nigeria.

– The specification of delivery channels for offering International funds remittance over mobile devices in a cost-effective manner.

– The provision of an enabling environment for International funds remittance over mobile devices in the Nigerian economy.

– The provision of broad guidelines for the implementation of processes and flows of International Money Transfer services, from initiation to completion.

What are the permissible and non-permissible activities for IMMRS in Nigeria?

Permissible Activities

– Inbound remittances via Mobile phone transfers & other hand held devices to persons resident in Nigeria & foreign visitors in Nigeria.

– Outbound Person-to-Pereson remittances from Nigeria to beneficiaries in other countries for purposes of family maintenance and personal expenses.

Non-Permissible Activities

– The facilitating of transactions or rendering remittance services for corporate customers.

Who are the participants in an IMMRS venture?

A typical IMMRS scheme in Nigeria is made up of the following participants :-

– Banks 

– Mobile Network Operators

– Infrastructure Providers

– Consumers

What are the licensing/authorization requirements for IMMRS in Nigeria?

Institutions seeking to venture into IMMRS will have to send through their lawyer an application for an authorization to the Central Bank of Nigeria which may be granted as long as:-

– The applicant holds a Mobile Money Operators license (this is a license category also governed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, you can consult your lawyer on how to secure this type of license).

– The applicant, if a foreign-based entrant, is a registered corporate entity licensed over there to engage in monetary transfer activities.

– The applicant has a net worth of $1 Billion (strictly for Foreign applicants).

– The applicant is established in at least 20 countries in with at least 10 years experience.

– The applicant is in a partnership with an authorized dealer bank in Nigeria.

– Foreign-based companies seeking to render IMMRS services in Nigeria need not be licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria but must obtain an approval from the CBN to operate in Nigeria. 

– Institutions seeking IMMRS licensing have to be preferably registered as Consortiums and in addition to the main application to the CBN for authorization have to submit the following:-

a). Evidence of the formation of the consortium that will deploy the IMMRS project (a Certificate of Incorporation).

b). The consortium’s profile & functional contact details.

c). A shareholding structure of the Consortium.

d). Statutory CAC forms for Returns on Allotment of Shares as well as Particulars of Directors.

e). CVs of the board of directors/management of the Consortium.

f). A Business plan of the Consortium.

g). The IT policy of the Consortium.

h). The Enterprise Risk Management Framework of the Consortium.

i). The Contingency & Disaster Recovery Plan(Business continuity programme) of the Consortium.

j). Draft agreements with the following:-

– Technical partners

– Participating banks

– Switching companies

– Merchants

– Telecommunications companies

– Any other party

k). Project deployment plan

l). Evidence of payment of a non-refundable application fee of 1 Million Naira.

What are the operational requirements for IMMRS Operators in Nigeria?

IMMRS operators in Nigeria must :-

– Be issued with a unique code by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement by NIBBS. 

– Be issued a unique short code by the Nigerian Communications Commission.

– Ensure that its Telecommunications equipment is the type approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

– Register users of the scheme based on Tech standards and the requirements of the guidelines.

– Ensure “Know – Your – Customer” (KYC) requirement compliance in its user registration process.

Conclusion :- It is hoped from the above write-up that a clearer understanding of the Regulatory Framework governing International Mobile Money Remittance services as different from International Money Transfer Services has been achieved going forward.

When Lawyers Become Agberos – And Living On The Mindset of Scarcity

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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1

I watched a video on how some lawyers destroyed registration booths during the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference – and carted away registration materials: “Nigerian lawyers go on rampage, destroying registration booths and conference bags at NBA conference last night August 23..

“According to reports, the lawyers had gathered to collect conference bags which had hindered them from collecting other conference materials. The lawyers became impatient over the slow pace at which they were being attended to. Some of them forcefully reached out to get the bags containing the conference materials and this led to chaos that saw the registration booths being destroyed.”

We condemn this attitude exhibited by the supposedly learned men. But this is not typical: Nigerians live on the mindset of scarcity and that has remained our problem. We always think things will never get to us. And that is the reason we cut corners, fight and mess up things. Even the demons of corruption are rooted therein: steal for the great grandkids since before they are born, everything would have gone. But for experienced lawyers to do this, it means Nigeria is fading faster than some of us might have thought.

Those days in FUTO, we used to “fight”, bulldoze, etc just to pay the N25 school fees. The question remains: why must you fight to do that? In reality, it makes no sense why a student will push and be pushed to pay school fees. Then, go to motor parks: check what happens there. The bus has 14 seats and 7 people are waiting, yet, those 7 will push to board.

I do hope the Nigerian Bar Association issues small penalties to these lawyers. We cannot have angry lawyers in Nigeria. The woman in Akwa Ibom who locked up Inibehe Effiong is enough evidence!

https://youtu.be/4cln4pzzt_s

Lawyers Destroy Registration Booths – Learned men of the Noble Profession indeed in Nigeria!

By
Stanley Alieke
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0

Most of you might have read with utter disbelief how some lawyers (Barristers and solicitors of the Supreme Court) turned themselves into “covid 19” hoodlums and motor park “agberos” and behaved in the most despicable manner yesterday that even the local touts watching shook their heads and were in awe of such behaviors.

It is everyone’s knowledge that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), an umbrella body for all lawyers in Nigeria is currently having its Annual General Convention. This year’s is taking place in Lagos as last year’s took place in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

I am ashamed to admit that what you heard or read about the incident is true, stop doubting it. Yes, it is awful and quite unfortunate. What led to this act of gross indiscipline amongst some lawyers was that there was a shortage of some conference materials and some lawyers who previously paid for those materials were not given theirs.

Some of these lawyers during an event in between the convention went berserk and decided to start scattering and destroying things and causing a serious commotion in protest of them not being given the conference materials. It was so intense that even the  NBA officials were not able to talk them out of it or broker peace, it took the intervention of some security forces to douse the tension and riot.

It was an awful sight. I say this with a heavy heart that I have never seen anything like this, I have never been this embarrassed as a lawyer. Lawyers address themselves as learned men or noble men but the conduct of some of them during the conference proves that some of them are far from being noble or learned and some need a mental and psychological evaluation.

https://youtu.be/4cln4pzzt_s

One of the core tenets and fundamentals of being a lawyer and you are well taught about it before you are admitted into the Bar is “comportion”. Comporting oneself especially when you are in a public place so as not to bring disrepute to the noble legal profession. 

If lawyers that pride themselves as one of the elitist groups in society are to behave like this, how do you expect politicians, market women, taxi drivers, and even doctors to behave? 

This is not the first time some lawyers are throwing caution to the wind and proposed in their mischievous hearts to ridicule themselves and the noble legal profession publicly. Just a few months back, the news carried that some lawyers decided to put a hold on the verbal argument inside the courtroom and exchange blows that one of the lawyers got his head broken and his blood flowed like the fountain of justice. 

This is the desecration of the highest order, desecrating the profession that most of us cherish, adore, and admire so much; abusing the profession that enjoys societal respect and regard of the highest order.

I am hopeful that the NBA will make sure that incidents like these will never occur again, never again. It should never be heard that some lawyers are arrested and prosecuted for disruption of public peace and destruction of public properties but if it comes to that all the culprits that are involved must be made to face the music. 

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