E-Business
Achieving Digital Ecosystems in Rural Africa Remains a Challenge

Creating a digital ecosystem in rural areas requires collaboration with local suppliers if long-term success is to be achieved.

Jeremy Potgieter, regional director – Africa, Eseye
This is according to Jeremy Potgieter, regional director – Africa, Eseye, a global IoT cellular connectivity and hardware company.
He said that for Internet of Things (IoT) to deliver the services required, an understanding of the end consumer within a rural area is vital: “By speaking to local suppliers to create a tailored cost-effective IoT solution will help us to deliver the most appropriate service possible. In gaining a better understanding of how they will benefit from IoT technology, vendors such as Eseye can create solutions that meet these needs and make a real difference.”
According to Potgieter, people living in the rural areas of developing countries face a range of challenges that threaten to isolate them from the benefits that are enjoyed by the rest of their populations.
Two major examples include accessing essential utilities such as water and power, as well as the challenges associated with accessing financial services and payment credit: “In an urban area, utilities are delivered from a central source. In rural areas however, it’s not quite as simple. To achieve sustainable, long-term solutions, these utilities must be delivered locally.”
However, he said that the economics of delivering electricity to small villages of only 50 people for example, make them far more difficult to implement. It is here that with technological developments in areas such as water purification or solar energy, this can be overcome: “People can then not only enjoy a better quality of life, but these communities are able to source these utilities locally, whether it’s per property or per village.”
IoT has the potential to drastically improve the quality of life for people living in rural areas of developing countries.
Most notably by empowering local entrepreneurs to provide the structures that will allow for vital utilities to be reliably provided to their communities over a longer duration of time.
By supplying them with the equipment to generate and store utilities through the process of daily micro-payments for example, a local entrepreneur is given the means and incentive to create opportunities throughout the entire community, thus providing a major boost to local businesses.
“We have seen some great examples of how IoT has transformed the capabilities of these rural areas. With locally generated electricity for example, paving the way for the emergence of phone-charging shops and even stories of people charging entry to their homes to allow visitors to watch major sporting events. The supplier of the equipment is allowed to manage and maintain their assets because of the integration of IoT technology, which provides them with constant performance updates,” said Potgieter.
Central to the success of any IoT project in a developing country is its ability to be globally connected and highly available.
Furthermore, Potgieter said it must be straightforward for non-IoT experts to construct on a ground level. At the point of deployment, Eseye can securely and quickly enter a device into the cloud.
This helps locals who are setting up the IoT equipment to easily achieve quick configuration.
“As a result of this approach, Eseye is experiencing some success in developing countries, with life-changing projects through partnerships with suppliers such as SolarNow and eWater.”
Despite these successes, Potgieter said that there are still a few challenges to overcome before IoT can be brought on a mass scale.
Firstly, connectivity and coverage lay at the fundamental core of effective IoT solutions.
Without it, the entire success of these projects is jeopardised.
Next, it is crucial to ensure that untrained people in these rural areas feel confident setting up equipment.
The best way to do this is through ‘zero-touch’ solutions, which allow non-experts to easily deploy devices onto the cloud with automatic configuration.
Lastly, there are the logistical challenges associated with operating in rural areas, which can often be difficult to access from city locations: “We’ve heard stories of our African customers being subjected to 14-hour location visits to certain secluded rural locations. This demonstrates just how important it is for these devices to be truly autonomous. Customers have to be confident enough in the service that they can justify sending somebody to these locations to make any necessary repairs,” said Potgieter.
E-Business
Galaxy Backbone Celebrates the Federal Government’s Paperless Civil Service Milestone

Galaxy Backbone (GBB) aligns with and celebrates the successful announcement by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on the achievement of a Paperless Civil Service, a significant milestone in Nigeria’s public sector reform and digital transformation agenda.

The milestone was formally highlighted at a press briefing led by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, who commended Galaxy Backbone for its sustained support and contribution throughout the implementation of the programme.
GBB has played a critical role in enabling this transition by providing secure, scalable, and shared digital infrastructure that supports the digitisation of government processes across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Through the 1Government Cloud, MDAs have been empowered to migrate from paper-based workflows to digital platforms, improving efficiency, collaboration, data security, and service delivery across the Federal Civil Service.
In addition, GovMail, GBB’s secure government email platform, has strengthened official communication, enhanced records management, and reinforced cybersecurity standards—key pillars in sustaining a paperless operating environment.
Galaxy Backbone acknowledges the collective efforts of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Permanent Secretaries, Directors of ICT, consultants, partners, and dedicated public servants whose commitment and collaboration ensured the smooth delivery of this initiative.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, was represented at the press briefing by Akintayo Bamisaye, Acting Group Head, Research, Digital Innovation and Skills Department (RDIS).
GBB describes the achievement as a strong close to 2025 and reaffirms its commitment to supporting the Federal Government in building a modern, efficient, and digitally enabled public service.
E-Business
Jumia CEO says Black Friday Signals Nigeria’s E-Commerce Maturity

At the close of 2025, Temidayo Ojo, the CEO of Jumia Nigeria, reflected on a year-end shopping season that points to the growing maturity of the country’s e-commerce market. “Black Friday is no longer a single, short-lived spike in activity,” he said.

“It has become a familiar, anticipated moment in the retail calendar, where consumers shop deliberately and with confidence.”
Preliminary KPIs for the two months ended November 30, 2025, show strong year-on-year growth in both orders and Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), with GMV growth outpacing order growth. This indicates that customers are placing fuller, more considered baskets rather than shopping in fragmented transactions. Nigeria ranked among Jumia Group’s better-performing markets, with engagement remaining steady throughout the Black Friday period rather than spiking briefly and tapering off.
A key factor behind this performance is the growing familiarity of consumers with online shopping. Customers are increasingly leveraging platform features such as saved carts, brand stores, and price comparison tools to plan purchases in advance. This trend suggests that digital commerce is becoming embedded in everyday habits rather than being viewed as a one-off event.
Ojo also highlighted the role of Jumia’s JForce network in connecting digital commerce to local communities. “Our agents are critical to ensuring that customers across Nigeria, including secondary cities and smaller communities, have access to variety, consistent pricing, and reliable delivery,” he said. “During peak periods like Black Friday, JForce agents can respond faster, serve more customers efficiently, and build stronger local relationships. This isn’t just a distribution channel—it’s a pathway to sustainable income and inclusion.”
Reflecting on the overall performance, the CEO concluded: “What we’re seeing this year-end is steady engagement across categories, stronger consumer confidence, and partners like our JForce agents benefiting from increased activity.
“It confirms that Nigeria’s e-commerce ecosystem is maturing, growing in a more structured and resilient way. As the December Holiday Sale continues, we expect these patterns of familiarity, trust, and participation to sustain momentum and drive both commerce and community impact across the country.”
E-Business
Galaxy Backbone Tops FG’s Website Performance Ranking

Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) has been ranked first overall in the 2025 Federal Government Website Performance Scorecard.

This is a landmark achievement for Nigeria’s digital economy.
The ranking, conducted by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), is the definitive benchmark for digital excellence and transparency across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
Professor Ibrahim Adepoju Adeyanju, managing director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone, received the award during a ceremony in Abuja.
He described the feat as a validation of the agency’s“Nigeria First”data sovereignty strategy and its relentless pursuit of service excellence.
This recognition comes as the Federal Government intensifies its push to achieve a fully paperless civil service by December 31, 2025.
GBB has been the primary architect of this transition through its 1Gov Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform, which now hosts the operations of almost all federal MDAs.
The award adds to a growing list of accolades for Galaxy Backbone in 2025, following its recent win of the “International Standard Excellence Award for Best IT Service Provider.”
As the central hub for government shared services, GBB’s performance serves as a blueprint for other agencies currently undergoing digital transformation.
With its expanded fiber-optic backbone now covering over 13 states and its secure cloud solutions, Galaxy Backbone remains the cornerstone of Nigeria’s vision to become a leading digital nation by the end of the decade.
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