I am very excited here – Dubai has accepted Vetifly, our “Uber for helicopter”, into Dubai Smart City Accelerator. Vetifly is one of the 9 companies, out of 1,300 startups that applied. I thank the city of Dubai for the multiple partnerships as we launch early next year our helicopter services in Dubai and across selected African cities. Remember to put your email in our waitlist.
Vetifly >> move different
Vetifly Opens Waitlist for On-Demand Helicopter Service in Nigeria [Sign Up Free]
Last week, at the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) 16th AGM/2019 End of year Lecture and Award Night, Wragby launched an Insurance Brokerage Business Management Solution called iBroka. This solution has been specifically built to optimize the services being provided by the over 600 Insurance brokerage firms in Nigeria.
Over the past 6 months, Wragby team has worked tirelessly with the NCRIB team to fully understand their processes and build an automated solution that is tailored to their needs while also being affordable (they can subscribe for as low as N3,000/month for a 3-user bundle).
The Subscription based application has been developed as an easy to setup and manage solution, so insurance Brokers require little or no IT support in setting up and using the application to manage their businesses.
The solution is subscription-based and hosted in the Cloud, hence customers do not have to worry about IT Hardware acquisition. While billing is monthly, customers can pay monthly or annually (annual subscription attracts a 2 months discount).
According to the Executive Director of Wragby Business Solutions & Technologies, Dr. Yomi Alarape, “iBroka is a fully integrated cloud based solution which allows Insurance Brokers to manage their typical business operations, Brokerage Services, Accounting, Talent Management and very importantly, meet Business & Regulatory reporting. With as Low as N3,000 naira a month, Insurance brokerage firms can subscribe to this application online and have access to business solutions from anywhere in the world via any digital device, at this URL: www.ibrokang.com”
Besides iBroka, Wragby has the following solutions for the market:
Wragby is a team of acclaimed world-class professionals relentlessly obsessed with the consistent delivery of trail-blazing solutions that guarantee their customers optimum productivity.
Wragby has a pedigree of firsts, and remains at the forefront of technological innovations, enabling their customers to efficiently adapt to rapid changes while going the last-mile to support their delivery of superior business processes and outcomes. Wragby is your anxiety-free IT partner. 
For more information please contact Wragby at www.wragbysolutions.com or send an email to info@wragbysolutions.com
Cars45 provides an end-to-end digitised customer journey for buying, selling and swapping cars in Africa. Its technology-enabled platform makes it easier to trade cars in Africa and it also provides access to finance, insurance and other value-added services.
Cars45 is building the infrastructure that allows sellers and buyers of cars across the continent to exchange value quickly, cheaply and with unhindered access to independent, relevant information required for decision making. It also has retail outlets at strategic locations to make it easier for customers to trade securely and with peace of mind. Its parent company recently raised a lot of money.
Now, the Nigeria’s leading automotive trading platform has launched into Ghana (www.cars45.com.gh) and Kenya (www.cars45.co.ke). Cars45 is aiming to become the primary platform for all car transactions in the $45 billion African used car market and expansion into these strategic markets marks an important step on that journey.
In an African market where 9 million used cars are traded annually, trust is often a rare commodity as buyers and sellers navigate opaque pricing and quality assurance structures. Using its technology-enabled platform, consumers in Ghana and Kenya can now sell their cars directly through Cars45 and get paid in 45 minutes. Sellers have access to standardised pricing and a transparent marketplace, with 100 percent visibility into price offers, and buyers get access to the largest selection of verified cars. Cars45 will also provide vehicle financing, background checks, vehicle history, insurance, after-sales support, servicing and other ancillary services that consumers will need in their automotive lifecycle.
With retail locations already opened in Nairobi and Accra, Cars45 plans to increase its footprint in Ghana and Kenya even further by opening more centres in Mombasa, Tema, Kumasi and other cities. Cars45 also aims to expand into additional African markets in 2020.
In addition to its launch into these markets, Cars45 is also launching a consumer-to-consumer marketplace that directly matches sellers and buyers across all markets it operates in. In an African automotive market where trust is not traditionally high, consumers will be able to connect in a seamless and secure way, using Cars45 as a marker of professionalism and excellence.
All cars listed in the Cars45 marketplace have been through a thorough vetting process (200 point inspection, due diligence and background check) and will carry the trusted Cars45 inspection report. Cars45 will also conduct multi-level screening to ensure that only serious buyers are brought forward. Buyers will have full confidence in the purchase they are making and sellers will be protected by an escrow model.
According to Etop Ikpe, CEO and co-founder of Cars45, “We want to connect buyers and sellers across the continent in the most seamless way, taking the stress out of the trading experience. After successfully establishing ourselves in Nigeria, expanding into Ghana and Kenya made perfect sense as the ideal next step as we build a transparent and fair structure for trading cars on the continent.
Ikpe added that “the process of buying and selling cars today can be complicated, time-consuming and needlessly expensive. We want to put an end to that by providing an easy and convenient way for consumers across Africa to make what is often the most significant financial transaction of their lives.”
I called them the high priests of Nigeria’s economy. The petroleum explorationists in Nigeria are at the zenith of making sure Nigeria runs. They discover oil and if they do not, other energy professionals will freeze. So, in the grand scheme of alpha, they are the high priests who seek the face of the deity of foreign reserves in our nation. So, it was evidently emotional to be honoured by these special people with the GMD of NNPC, Mele Kolo Kyari, and industry legends from Shell, Chevron, Mobile, etc in attendance.
My mother gave me a secret in primary school: “if people say your eyes are big, tell them it helps you to see mathematics better”. With that answer, mocking or bullying stopped because magically my eyes became the right size as they could “see” mathematics very well. To the high priests in the oil industry, we are waiting to see abundance in all homes in Nigeria. Thank you all for the honour.
(Pardon the photo quality).
Jumia continues the redesign. The Africa’s ecommerce giant raised tons of money from private investors with the message of scale and geographical footprint across Africa, in core verticals like travel, ecommerce, etc. In the age of blitzscaling, investors bought and became believers. Yes, blitzscaling is the new normal – it does help American entrepreneurs in raising huge money very fast.
But as I have written here – Africa is a heterogeneous market where economies of scale do not always improve marginal cost, because even within a nation, what works in Lagos state may not work in Zamfara state (both are states in Nigeria) because their economies are evidently different. By the time you take it continental, a playbook for Ghana may fail in Ethiopia. This deviates from the United States which is like a continent of 50 countries all entwined on a homogeneous market format and structure. With that, if you get it right in Baltimore, Boston would be ready to welcome you with the same playbook.
So, as a public company, Jumia will have to pursue a message of profitability and sustainability before public investors who do not really focus on scale blindly without asking if this company is making enough money to stay here for long. For Jumia to answer that question, it needs to make profit! It is trading below $6 now, months after hitting close to $40. To change that trajectory, Jumia must grow, profitably.
The company has started the redesign by closing units in Cameroon and Tanzania. Now, it will close Jumia Food in Rwanda just as Jumia Travel departs to Travelstart. This is how TC Daily explains it.
And like in previous weeks, it’s about another purge. The company confirmed to TechCabal that it has passed off Jumia Travel, its six-year old hotel and flight booking business to Travelstart, an online booking platform. They are terming it a “partnership” instead of an acquisition, as Jumia’s hopes to “remain hyper focused on our growth and path to profitability.”. We have a pretty detailed account of how this change played out yesterday, so here’s your plug on the latest travail at Jumia. Extra: Jumia Food will shutter in Rwanda by January 2020.
My only suggestion to Jumia is this: whether you sell or exit via partnership, make sure your clause has that the recipient company works with Jumia Pay for at least two years, post-agreement. The future of Jumia includes Jumia Pay and it is strategic you consider the feeder-system as you make decisions. Without the food delivery, travels, etc, even the promising Jumia fintech unit will struggle. So, do not exit without making decisions that would help Jumia fintech unit which includes your lending, paytech, etc. Jumia Pay is coming a little late and there are tough competitors already. But with your other verticals, the paytech can command a solid presence in the region. Do not think you can sell everything and still thrive in fintech. That would not happen – the reason Jumia Pay has seen great growth is because it is starting with millions of customers other Jumia businesses are providing to it.
The New Jumia Evolving As The Ecommerce Firm Exits Cameroon And Tanzania