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Africa: Eight Companies Adopt IBM’s Cloud to Fuel Innovation

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IBM announced during its signature event in Lagos, ‘IBM Business Nigeria 2016’ that eight companies across Africa, spanning some of the fastest growing industries in the region, from telecommunications to retail, have chosen IBM to provide IT solutions delivered as a service via IBM Cloud. This will help the firms drive productivity, innovation, differentiation and competitiveness in their respective industries.

Located in various urban centers across the west, north, central and southern African regional economic zones, all businesses seek to use IBM public and hybrid cloud solutions to accelerate business development and innovation and create global growth strategies.

Companies including Navigation and Geocoding Technologies Ltd. (Naveo), Whogohost, Korrect Software, Serve Consulting, and IntTeck Global Systems, are all looking to the hybrid cloud for greater flexibility, scalability and central management. This will enable them to move workloads to where they make the most sense for their business.

These companies are not alone and their move to the hybrid cloud is indicative of a global trend. According to IDC, hybrid cloud is the new norm for businesses, and it predicts that more than 80 percent of enterprise IT organizations will commit to hybrid cloud architectures by 2017.

A 2016 global study of hybrid cloud, Growing up Hybrid: Accelerating Digital Transformation from the IBM Center for Applied Insights, found that 500 hybrid cloud implementers from 13 countries and 23 industries are using hybrid cloud to jumpstart “next-generation” initiatives.

“The IBM Cloud allows a company to improve business agility and capacity to quickly meet shifting customer demands,” said Tejas Mehta, general manager, IBM Central and West Africa.” He added,

“The Africa region is propelling innovation by adopting IBM Cloud. The IBM Cloud will give them the technical muscle to consistently align their operational objectives and assets with prevailing market conditions, laying a foundation for commercial sustenance and future growth.”

African companies adopting IBM hybrid cloud solutions:
Naveo: Located in Moka, on the island nation of Mauritius, Naveo specializes in fleet management solutions, providing tracking tools designed to help customers dispatch vehicles more effectively, improve worker performance and reduce operating costs.

Looking for the right skills to manage the IT environment needed to host its fleet-tracking and asset-tracking GPS solutions, improve operational performance and eliminate system downtime, the company migrated from its existing hosting platform to IBM’s hybrid cloud solution based on an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) model.

As a result of the migration to the highly-scalable IBM Cloud, the company was able to develop and launch Naveo One, an all-in-one fleet management solution offering telematics, telemetry and geographic information system (GIS) capabilities. Naveo can now focus on marketing its GPS tracking application with assurance that the infrastructure will support its growth across the nations of the Indian Ocean Islands and Africa.

An Angolan distribution company markets and distributes food and non-food products in its domestic market via a network of hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores.

The company managed its human resources (HR) operations manually, which was slow, time-consuming, labor-intensive and expensive.

The company wanted to automate all HR processes, including tracking attendance and absences, to gain better visibility into HR management.

By implementing IBM Business Process Manager Standard software, the company successfully automated its manual business procedures, improving efficiency and saving time. Time spent managing business processes have been reduced by 50 percent, freeing up more time for functional and strategic tasks for all operational and executive personnel.

Whogohost: A web services and hosting solutions provider in Nigeria, Whogohost has become one of the country’s leading hosting providers.

After suffering from hosting downtime that threatened the growing success of its business, Whogohost turned to IBM Cloud to deliver a robust, reliable and high performance cloud infrastructure that customers demand.

This has resulted in a high-quality service experience for its fast- expanding clientele. The company is now well known for consistently increasing up-time, as well as effectively and flexibly meeting customer demands.

An IT company in North Africa which specializes in domain registration, web development and web design and hosting services, has recorded consistent growth of its customer base, significantly improved business performance and service delivery levels since it adopted an IBM hybrid cloud infrastructure.

This allowed the company’s enterprise customers to migrate from traditional dedicated servers to the cloud.

The aim was to help these businesses maintain high performance for their cloud solutions while providing significant improvements in flexibility and redundancy and the ability to scale easily as they developed.

Korrect Software: Korrect is a Mauritius provider of royalty processing, metadata management and sales analysis for record labels and companies in the music and entertainment industry. When the company needed a robust cloud-based delivery platform that would support increasing volumes of data and allow users to generate reports on entitled music royalties, it turned to IBM Cloud.

With the implementation of a bare-metal server infrastructure, provisioned by IBM Cloud, to support its music royalty application, Korrect gained the ability to efficiently process tremendous amounts of data without bandwidth limitations. IBM’s cloud-based solution allows application users to get timely reports on their entitled royalties.

A Ghanaian media company improved operating efficiency, boosted its revenue streams and reduced customer churn and its total cost of ownership when it selected IBM Cloud.

The company implemented a new billing and subscriber management system called FDTV which is based on the scalable IBM WebSphere software and an IBM data server.

Available in five regional areas surrounding Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Cape Coast and Elmina, FDTV provides a variety of television and radio stations through a monthly subscription. The broadcaster now anticipates that it will easily accommodate the growth of its subscriber base for years to come.

Serve Consulting: Since migrating its infrastructure to the IBM Cloud, Nigeria-based IT solutions provider, Serve, is able to offer customers higher-quality service levels. In addition, the company has achieved an effective operating expenditure model that is much easier to use and manage.

The company is now looking forward to expanding beyond its existing markets as a result of IBM’s global footprint.

IntTeck Global Systems: a local developer and vendor for Global Insurance Business Solution, a core insurance application from Lagos, Nigeria, needed to consistently deliver innovative software products and enhance the efficiency of its service delivery value chain.

Since adopting IBM’s Cloud infrastructure, the company has experienced increased customer satisfaction levels, easier configuration and deployment of virtual machines, reduced operational costs and improved regulatory compliance within its industry.

In January 2016, IBM was ranked #1 in Hybrid and positioned as a leader in Hybrid Cloud Management Solutions (Synergy Group Research and Forrester, respectively).

 

 


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Wema Bank Launches Second FGN-ALAT Digital ‘Skillnovation’ Cohort

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Wema Bank has launched the second cohort for the FGN-ALAT Digital Skillnovation Programme in partnership with the Federal Government to train and equip two million young people and 1 million MSMEs across Nigeria with relevant digital skills.

Since the launch of the first cohort in 2023, over 300,000 youths and business owners have leveraged the platform as a launchpad for their business and career success.

This cohort featured 100% virtual learning sessions through which participants from the 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were provided with self-paced online learning experiences.

As cohort 2 begins in the second quarter of 2024, the FGN-ALAT digital programme is officially transitioning to physical training sessions and the curriculum will cover key digital skills including software engineering, product management, business analysis, cloud computing and product design, among others.

This phase of the programme will be executed via FGN-ALAT digital hubs, which will be set up in the different states across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria to ensure that every Nigerian can access the programme’s full benefits regardless of their location.

These hubs will be equipped with training and incubation facilities ideal for digital-driven learning, giving participants the opportunity to acquire marketable and transferrable digital skills and gain a competitive edge in the global digital ecosystem.

The FGN-ALAT digital hubs will be set up in phases and trainings will commence accordingly, starting with Borno  and Anambra State.

Wema Bank’s Executive Director of Retail and Digital Business, Tunde Mabawonku, emphasised the pivotal role of the programme in bridging the gaps in Nigeria’s macroeconomic landscape towards national development.

“We are unwavering in our commitment to supporting MSMEs and with the FGN-ALAT Digital Skillnovation Programme, it’s all about the bigger picture—which is why we have partnered with the Federal Government to augment the scale of this programme’s impact.

“By tailoring this programme to suit the needs of both entrepreneurial minded and professionally inclined Nigerians, we are not just arming SMEs for more efficient business management and growth, we are also equipping Nigeria’s workforce for increased productivity and the ripple effect will not only create more viable employment opportunities for Nigerians towards reduced unemployment and underemployment rates, but further drive economic growth and national development, boosting Nigeria’s position on the global playing field.

“The digital evolution is moving sporadically and by empowering our youth and MSMEs with in-demand digital skills, we are ensuring that Nigeria is not left behind as the world evolves.

“Beyond the intellectual resources and other non-monetary opportunities, we are going a step further to provide financial support for these participants in form of millions of naira in equity capital, soft loans and grants, to enable them put their learnings to practice and build sustainable streams of income that could help them become employers in their own right.

“I encourage you to take the big step forward in achieving your business and career goals by joining the programme. All you have to do is visit the website to register. This programme is completely free and there’s more than enough room for you. Your success is Nigeria’s success and as your unique journey unravels, our promise remains certain,” he said.

Referring to the programme as an eye-opener for all, Mariam Isah, a beneficiary of Cohort 1, said, “It’s almost unbelievable all I’ve learnt in one month virtual training.

“I started this training simply looking for a way forward for my business but I have unlocked secrets that are life changing not just in my business but in all aspects of life. I am so grateful for this rare opportunity, and I can’t wait to be a part of the cohort 2.”


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StarNews, Global Black Economic Forum Launch Business Competition In Partnership with MTN & USAID

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Africa’s leading video streaming platform, StarNews Mobile and the Global Black Economic Forum (GBEF), have announced a call for applications for the launch of their Business Competition in Lagos, Nigeria.

Held in partnership with MTN and United Nations Agency for International Development (USAID), the initiative will empower Nigeria’s most promising businesses that are classified as Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with invaluable investment and partnership opportunities from the USA.

Held over 10 weeks between April 8th to June 14th, hosted exclusively on the StarNews Biz Channel on the StarNews platform, this competition offers a platform for emerging entrepreneurs to showcase their ventures and gain national visibility.

With subscribers voting for their favourite candidates, the top 20 contestants will seize the spotlight and make their mark on the business landscape.

The StarNews Business Competition in partnership with GBEF delivers a unique opportunity for thriving Nigerian SMEs to access mentoring, funding, partnerships and socio-economic development tools through the Global Black Economic Forum.

With the prospect of securing cash prizes through StarNews worth up to NGN5,000,000, getting access to StarNews’s network of investors and the opportunity to gain national visibility by having their business on the StarNews web platform.

The top three winners will also receive coaching from GBEF’s Academy for Advancing Excellence and become part of GBEF’s ecosystem of global leaders committed to social and economic justice across the Black Diaspora.

Previous speakers at GBEF convenings from the entertainment sector include Wyclef Jean (Haitian Musician & Activist), Debra Lee (Former CEO of Black Entertainment Television – BET) and Ceci Kurzman (Founder of Nexus Management Group). Applications will close on April 5th 2024.

Speaking on the competition’s launch, Guy Kamgaing, Founder and CEO at StarNews Mobile, says “The StarNews Business Competition is a passion project close to our hearts at StarNews Mobile.

It’s about discovering the most promising business entrepreneurs and creators in Nigeria, opening up global opportunities for them and providing them with the resources and tools to achieve their goals.

By partnering with MTN, USAID and GBEF, we want to be a platform of empowerment for these SMEs by helping them give back to the communities that are supporting them.”

According to the US Embassy and Consulate for Nigeria, over 80% of Nigerian startups are incorporated in the United States and more than 60% of venture capital funding in Nigerian startups accounted for by the US.

In 2023 alone, Nigerian startups raised a total of $398mn however, this signalled a 66% funding decline compared to 2022 due to the global economic downturn, reinforcing the massive need for a fresh injection of capital and business support for Nigeria’s emerging SMEs.

Alphonso David, President and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum notes that, “Our partnership with StarNews Mobile is a critical resource as we continue to build the collective strength of entrepreneurship across the Diaspora.

“Building a sustainable ecosystem of Black entrepreneurs in the United States and across the African continent is essential to create a future that makes economic opportunity and economic freedom a reality for all.”

A sister company to ESSENCE, GBEF advances its work by convening global summits and conferences, bringing together world leaders, business leaders, entrepreneurs, celebrities and civic leaders to address the most challenging problems facing our communities.

GBEF’s Academy for Advancing Excellence facilitates workforce and leadership development strategy, addressing the talent pipeline & employee lifecycle, providing leadership development & coaching, and conducting institutional assessments & research.

GBEF also develops and implements economic and social justice policy recommendations with partners ranging from civil and human rights organisations to government entities and corporations that advocate for economic opportunity, social justice, and health equity through thought leadership, advocacy and litigation.

Launched in 2017, StarNews Mobile empowers African content creators with the unique opportunity to monetize their work through a subscription model, boasting over 4 million subscribers and a thriving community of more than 120 content creators.

With a strong presence across six countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, Côte D’Ivoire, Congo, Benin and Ghana, the platform has also established key partnerships with major telecom operators such as MTN and Orange.

To-date, StarNews Mobile has secured over $8mn in funding with its most recent raise – a $3mn pre-Series A funding round in October 2023 – led by Janngo Capital with participation from French football players Aurélien Tchouaméni, Jules Koundé and Mike Maignan.

 


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Companies Invest More than $100,000 Yearly to Upskill their Cybersecurity Teams – Study Reveals

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Over 70% of businesses pay more than USD $100,000 for additional training annually to keep skills of their cybersecurity employees up to date, a recent global Kaspersky study has revealed.

However, the surveyed companies also highlighted that there was a lack of relevant courses covering new challenging spheres in the educational market and stated that training does not always bring them the expected result.

In its recent study ‘The portrait of the modern Information Security professional’, Kaspersky examined the topic of the global cybersecurity staff shortage, analysing the exact reasons businesses lack cybersecurity experts, and identifying the ways they evaluate and upskill their cybersecurity workforce¹.

According to the research, companies are investing significant amounts in upskilling their cybersecurity teams: 43% of organisations globally say they usually spend between $100,000 and $200,000 per year on information security courses, while 31% even invest over $200,000 for training programs. The remaining 26% state they usually pay less than $100,000 for educational initiatives².

However, cybersecurity practitioners also note that the educational market is struggling to keep up with the rapidly changing industry and fail to deliver the necessary training programs on time.

Survey results for the Middle East, Turkiye, Africa (META) region shows that the scarcity of courses covering new challenging spheres (48%) was the main problem for those searching for cybersecurity training.

50% of respondents from the META region also stated that trainees tend to forget what they learned because they had no opportunity to apply newly acquired knowledge, therefore the courses were useless to them.

The need for special training pre-requisites such as coding and advanced mathematics, which were not specified at the pre-registration stage were also problematic for 37% of practitioners from the META region.

“With a constantly evolving threat landscape, businesses should continually improve the skills of their cybersecurity personnel in order to be well prepared for sophisticated cyberattacks.

“Developing high-profile specialists within the company and building internal expertise can be an effective strategy for organisations that aim to retain existing employees and allow them to grow professionally, instead of constantly hunting for new candidates and checking their professional backgrounds and practical skills.

“For organisations served by Managed Service Providers it is also important to maintain a pretty high level of expertise internally and use the same language when discussing the scope of services and Service Level Agreement with them,” comments Veniamin Levtsov, VP, Center of Corporate Business Expertise at Kaspersky.


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