Telecom
Coderina, Unilag Ink MoU to Empower Undergraduates with Entrepreneurship Skills
University of Lagos has partnered with Coderina; one of Africa’s top EdTech not-for-profit organizations that leverage technology as an enabler for social, economic, and gender inclusion.
Coderina lowers the barriers to entry for Africa’s youth to acquire skills and prepare them adequately for the future of work and entrepreneurship.
This partnership model promises to be successful in many areas than robotics, AI, ML Programs such as COUCH (Coderina University Challenge) will help students hone their creativity and entrepreneurial skills.
At the same time, the Coderina Project Fair will also ensure that students and researchers approach their university dissertations and research work to provide solutions to social and economic problems.
Workforce readiness and skills mismatch are issues of great national and societal importance. These need to be tackled headlong. Through this partnership, Coderina plan to democratize access to practical, experiential skills while also helping students gain competencies and lifelong skills
In signing the MOU, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos, reaffirmed his confidence in this relationship as what can build enduring skills in our young adult in preparation for the future of work.
He also extolled the quality of work that Coderina is doing in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education, introducing coding and robotics to all 104 Federal Unity Colleges.
The VC stated that “Addressing Africa’s skills gap in the age of technology would require bold steps to be taken in the area of capacity building”
Ogundipe stressed further quoting the World Economic Forum, “The root of unemployment is not only a lack of jobs; a key underlying issue is also the inadequately educated workforce. And this challenge is likely to be amplified in the coming years due to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, characterized by fast-paced technological progress combined with other socio-economic and demographic changes, which will further transform labor markets.” Hence the time to start to address skills shortages is now.”
Speaking at the event, Dr. Chika Yinka-Banjo, lead/coordinator of the University of Lagos AI & Robotics Lab (AiRoL), enthused at the prospect and potential of the collaboration.
She stated that the benefits of the relationship are already far-reaching. Coderina has donated some robotics kits to the lab, provided training, and has already prepared young learners for the FIRST Lego League Championship, a World Robotics Challenge, and now put together a UNILAG team for FIRST Tech Challenge. This partner will not only benefit the University, but it will also help create an outreach program for youth in the neighboring underserved communities.”
On his part, Dr Sunday Adebisi, Director of the Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre (ESDC), welcomed the University of Lagos’s relationship with CODERINA through the AI-Robotic Lab and ESDC as a development that will enable the students build rare and competitive skills of the future for decent jobs.
He said given that this generation will have to change careers more than ten times in their lifetime, as a result of many jobs that will go into extinction and other ones that will be birth, there is no better time than now that this quality relationship that supports students to build AI skills should be consummated.
The director said: “I am optimistic that our students with the present training arrangement will become globally competitive in employability opportunities, job creation, and entrepreneurship development.”
According to the Founder of Coderina, Mr. Ajayi, “This partnership brings a unique dimension to academia-third sector collaboration where both organizations mutually benefit through research, knowledge-sharing and practical execution on research findings in the field of robotics, drones technology, AI, entrepreneurship, solve practical problems and unlock vast potential for impact at scale.”
As Africa and MENA’s startup ecosystems transition from post-correction resilience into a new phase of disciplined growth, the Africa Startup & VC Landscape Preview (ASVLP 2026) will convene leading founders, investors, policymakers, and ecosystem builders on January 29, 2026, for its second annual, agenda-setting virtual forum.
Following a challenging global venture cycle, 2025 marked a notable rebound across the African ecosystem, with startups raising an estimated $3.2–$3.3 billion over the full year.
The recovery was accompanied by significant structural shifts: Kenya emerged as the leading destination among Africa’s “Big Four” markets for the first time, while Nigeria recorded a year-on-year funding decline, reflecting changing investor preferences, macroeconomic pressures, and a broader recalibration toward capital efficiency and sustainability.
Sectorally, fintech remained the most funded vertical, while climate & energy, AI-enabled solutions, healthtech, and infrastructure-adjacent businesses gained increasing attention. Across Africa and MENA, development finance institutions (DFIs) and family offices played a more pronounced role in anchoring funds, deploying catalytic capital, and supporting blended-finance structures, reshaping how early-stage and growth capital is mobilized.
ASVLP 2026 is designed to translate these data points into forward-looking strategy.
The forum will bring together venture capitalists, angel investors, LPs, DFIs, family offices, founders, corporate leaders, and regulators from Africa, MENA, Europe, and North America to assess 2025 outcomes and chart priorities for 2026.
The program will feature keynotes, fireside chats, panels, and deep-dive roundtables, including discussions on:
· The 2026 Africa & MENA FinTech Landscape, focusing on security, profitability, regulation, and growth frontiers
· Emerging Fund Managers, capital formation, and LP alignment
· Talent, operator depth, and institutional capacity as constraints to scale
· Regulatory evolution and cross-border market integration
A major highlight of ASVLP 2026 will be the Final DealRoom Pitch Session, where a curated group of high-potential startups will present to an experienced panel of investors.
• Founders can apply to pitch via: bit.ly/ASVLP-DR-Founders
• Investors seeking DealRoom access can request entry via: bit.ly/ASVLP-DR-Investors
Confirmed speakers for ASVLP 2026 include Khaled Ismail (HIMangel), Idris Ayodeji Bello (LoftyInc Capital), Zachariah George (Launch Africa), Tosin Faniro-Dada (Breega), Selma Ribica (FirstCircle Capital), Maha Mandour (COREangels MEA), Joe Kinvi (Borderless), Remi Prunier (Orange Ventures MEA), Karima El Hakim (Plug and Play Tech Center), Souheil Guessoum (President, The Confederation of Citizen Employers – Algeria (CAPC)), Remi Prunier (Partner, Orange Ventures, MEA), Maha Mandour (COREAngels MEA), Ali Hussein (President, Kenyan FinTech Association), Patrick Okebu (CIO, Interswitch Group) among other leading voices shaping capital, policy, and innovation across the region.
“The conversation has shifted,” said Uche Aniche, Convener of ASVLP. “It’s no longer about whether capital will return to Africa and MENA, but what kind of capital, deployed with what discipline, and in service of which long-term outcomes. ASVLP exists to help the ecosystem make sense of that transition.”
Participation in ASVLP 2026 is free but strictly by invitation.
Interested participants are encouraged to repost the official announcement on LinkedIn and comment #ASVLP2026 to receive a private registration link. They could also email [email protected] and request invite.
Major social media giants Meta Platforms, TikTok and Alphabet’s YouTube will face a landmark jury trial this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court over allegations that their addictive designs have fuelled a youth mental health crisis, marking the first such case to reach this stage.
Social Media
The pivotal personal injury lawsuit centres on a 19-year-old Californian woman identified as K.G.M., who claims her childhood immersion in Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok—engineered with endless scrolls, autoplay videos, notifications and algorithms—sparked severe anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.
Dozens of similar suits have surged since 2022 from families, schools and states, accusing the firms of burying internal research on teen harms while prioritising ad revenue through youth-targeted engagement hooks, despite Section 230 protections for user content.
Plaintiffs seek damages and design overhauls, arguing platforms bypassed parents and preyed on vulnerable kids; defendants counter there’s no clinical “social media addiction” diagnosis, no proven causation—kids with issues often use less—and they’ve added safeguards like parental controls and time limits.
Echoing Australia’s under-16 bans, the trial will scrutinise thousands of internal documents, expert testimonies and K.G.M.’s story, potentially expanding tech liability amid debates where studies show complex links, not direct causation, between screen time and disorders like eating issues or self-harm.
A win could mandate warning labels, age gates or algorithm tweaks, reshaping global platforms as U.S. Surgeon General advisories and global scrutiny intensify pressure on Big Tech to prioritise child safety over profits.
Meta is gearing up to trial paid subscription services on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, aiming to diversify revenue streams beyond advertising while maintaining free core access for all users.
Meta
The subscriptions will offer enhanced tools tailored for everyday users, creators, and businesses, including advanced content creation, sharing, and workflow features distinct from the existing Meta Verified verification program. Unlike a uniform rollout, Meta plans varied testing formats per app to match diverse audiences, experimenting with feature bundles based on user feedback to refine the model.
A key element involves integrating Manus, the autonomous agent firm Meta acquired for $2 billion in December, into these apps alongside its enterprise sales. Manus enables complex task automation with minimal input, with early signs like Instagram shortcuts already spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi.
Video tools feature prominently: Meta’s Vibes short-form video generator in the Meta AI app shifts to freemium, where paid tiers unlock higher monthly creation limits beyond the free baseline. On Instagram, subscriptions could enable unlimited audience lists, non-follower tracking, and anonymous Story views, though specifics for Facebook and WhatsApp remain under wraps.
Drawing from Meta Verified’s 2023 launch—which provides badges, support, and protection mainly for creators—these broader plans target wider appeal amid industry shifts. Ad growth slows against TikTok competition, while Snapchat+ boasts 16 million subscribers at $3.99 monthly, proving demand for value-driven paid perks despite subscription fatigue risks from streaming and storage fees.
Meta will phase tests gradually, prioritizing feedback to shape long-term viability without alienating free users.
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