Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Connect with us

Broadcasting

Digital Spam: Retailers must Strike a Balance between Staying Visible and Avoiding Marketing Communication Overload

Published

on

Kindly share this post

By Isaac Akanni, Customer Growth Manager – Africa at Infobip

In the rapidly evolving landscape of retail, where businesses strive to capture the attention of consumers in a fast-paced and interconnected digital world, marketing communication overload is becoming an all-too-common phenomenon that could actually have the opposite effect – turning customers off their brand. Consumers are overwhelmed on a daily basis by the sheer volume of messages they receive in their inboxes, social media feeds and mobile devices, and this aggressive approach could see businesses lose substantially more than they gain.

To make matters worse, consumers are burdened not only by the sheer magnitude and frequency of adverts across multiple channels, but also by the unfortunate reality that much of this marketing communication fails to resonate with their interests or needs. In some extreme instances, such messages can even come across as inappropriate or offensive, disregarding their unique preferences and personal boundaries.

Consequently, instead of attracting prospective buyers, an overabundance of marketing communication could essentially leave consumers frustrated. This frustration, in turn, can foster negative perceptions surrounding the brand and significantly impact long-term customer loyalty. When inundated with excessive marketing messages, individuals may perceive that the business lacks respect for its customers’ boundaries and prioritises profit-seeking over genuine customer relationships.

Such perceptions are not good for business as they are likely to negatively affect the company’s reputation, erode customer trust and impact sales, which in turn will hit the bottom line. Marketing communication overload is thus a sure way to make consumers feel disrespected and damage customer engagement.

Show what is relevant

It is very important that retailers strive to strike a balance between staying visible and avoiding communication overload. It is actually quite simple – show people what is relevant to them. The easiest way to achieve this is to segment your customer base and refine your messages based on individual preferences and behaviours.

Organisations must adopt a customer-centric approach, leverage data analytics and understand individual preferences. Only then can retailers tailor their marketing efforts to provide meaningful and engaging experiences. This shift towards strategic, targeted communication not only helps mitigate overload, but also builds stronger, long-lasting customer relationships.

At the same time, retailers must also recognise the importance of personalisation to remain relevant and strike the right chords with their customers. In sales, there is a concept known as “Show Me You Know Me”, which alludes to leveraging personalisation to let your customers know that you’ve done your groundwork and you care about their personal interests and needs.

Personalisation says to your customer: “I know you and I want to share this with you because I think it would benefit you”. But personalisation cannot happen without data and people generate mountains of data on a daily basis, which forms the bedrock of decision making.

Harnessing Artificial Intelligence

Once data about a consumer has been gathered, harnessing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to perform data analytics and gain customer insights is key to tailoring marketing messages that are relevant to individuals, and this will avoid overload. With so much data available, businesses that are not targeting their messages to individual consumers can be perceived as lazy and are sending out the message that they are just not prepared to put in the work.

In an effort to regain customer trust and loyalty, retailers must be prepared to be transparent about their communication practices, while sending out content that resonates with their audience. In addition, by listening to customer feedback and by offering exclusive benefits or rewards to their customers, businesses can build a community around their products.

Ultimately, finding the right balance between staying visible and avoiding communication overload can be tricky, but retailers need to adopt strategic, targeted communication that will mitigate overload and also builds stronger, long-lasting customer relationships.


Kindly share this post

Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

Broadcasting

DStv Loses 1.4m South African Subscribers in Two Years

Published

on

Kindly share this post

DStv, owned by MultiChoice, has lost far more subscribers in South Africa in the last two years than it appears from its reporting, according to Moneyweb.

DStv Loses 1.4m South African Subscribers in Two Years

According to the group, its “active” subscriber base declined from eight million on 31 March 2023 to seven million on 31 March 2025.

The drop in subscribers accelerated from 400 000 in the prior year to 600 000 last year.

However, this is only the specific number of active customers on that date.

DStv is very aggressive in ensuring that customers are active at the end of March each year (and at the end of September) given its financial reporting.

It introduced a new metric in FY21 which measures customers who had an active subscription at any point within the 90 days before the reporting date.

On this measure, its base dropped from 9.3 million in March 2023 to 7.9 million in March 2025, equal to 1.4 million.

The declines are across the board in its premium, mid-market and mass market segment, but the first two are leading with drops of 22% to 23% each.

The premium segment includes the Premium and Compact Plus packages, while mid-market comprises its Compact and Commercial packages.

The mass market segment has seen an 11% decrease in subscribers over the last two years.

In its rest of Africa business, the decline on the 90-day active metric is even worse. Here, the number of subscribers has dropped from 14.2 million in March 2023 to 10.7 million in March 2025.

This is a 25% decline, or 3.5 million subscribers. In this business, the premium segment is flat over two years, mid-market is down 14% and mass market by 29%.

Its business in Nigeria continues to battle currency devaluation, with its share of subscription revenue across the African operations dropping from 44% in FY23 to just 26% in FY25.

In rand terms, subscription revenue in Nigeria is down from R9.1 billion two years ago to R3.5 billion now.

The group took a R2.8 billion foreign exchange hit in Nigeria, with the naira depreciating 44%.

This, coupled with other forex impacts, saw its R1.3 billion reported trading profit in Africa swing to a R800 million loss.

Somehow it tries to illustrate a R2.3 billion “organic” profit, before the currency impacts.

Price increases (averages of 5.6% in 2023 and 5.7% in 2024) were not enough to offset the subscriber declines.

Subscription revenue in South Africa has declined from R27.3 billion in FY23 to R25.7 billion in the year to end March 2025.

Not only is the macro-economic environment weighing on consumers, it also highlights the impact of “piracy, streaming options and social media”.


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

Broadcasting

How to Turbo-charge Your Productivity as a Backend Engineer!

Published

on

Kindly share this post

By Seye Folajimi

I start each day with one goal: to be as efficient and focused as possible. A developer’s life is full of interruptions, and without good time management, it’s easy to fall behind. As a Backend Engineer at Moniepoint, I’ve assembled the toolkit that helps me and I believe by extension any technical professional to deliver results consistently.

In this feature article, I’ll share the tools and habits that have practically multiplied my productivity and sharpened my focus on the job.

My Daily Toolbox

I rely on a handful of core tools every day. IntelliJ IDEA and Visual Studio Code are my primary editors: IntelliJ for heavy backend work (it’s packed with features) and VS Code for quick edits or scripting. When testing APIs or debugging endpoints, Postman is indispensable for sending requests and saving environments. For spotting code or configuration differences, I often paste text into Diffchecker.com and let it highlight the changes. And for database work, MySQL Workbench provides a visual SQL editor and schema designer that saves me a ton of time. Dear professional, using the right tool for each task means fewer context switches and a smoother workflow.

Productivity Strategies That Power My Workflow
Beyond raw tools, I use structured habits to stay on track. I break the day into focused blocks and assign each chunk to an activity (coding, reviews, meetings, etc.). This time-blocking approach improves focus by letting me give my full attention to one task at a time. I also apply the Eisenhower Matrix to categorize tasks by urgency and importance; this ensures I tackle critical work first. Rather than flitting between emails, calls, and code, I batch similar tasks into dedicated slots. Some of my core techniques include:

  • Time Blocking: I assign specific blocks of time for coding, meetings, code reviews, and so on. This means I can dive deep into one task without switching contexts. (For example, I often use 25-minute sprints followed by a 5-minute break – the classic Pomodoro cycle – to keep my mind sharp.)

  • Prioritization (Eisenhower Matrix): Each morning I list my tasks and sort them by urgency vs importance. The Matrix helps me “do first” what truly matters and “delegate or drop” low-value items. This clarity prevents me from getting bogged down by busywork.

  • Automation: Whenever I catch myself doing something repetitive, I stop and ask, “Can I script this?” Whether it’s a shell script for routine commands or a CI/CD pipeline for deployment, automation frees up hours. Reducing manual repetition lets me focus on more critical work. Even simple automations (backups, report generation, test harnesses) add up to big time savings.

  • Notification Discipline: I turn off unnecessary notifications and check email/Slack only at scheduled times. By minimizing interruptions, I stay “in the zone” longer and preserve my cognitive energy.

Building My Custom Focus Extension: The Hot Gate

I even took matters into my own hands by coding a productivity tool from scratch, i called it “THE HOT GATE” .

 The “Hot Gate” refers to the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE, a famous event in Greek history. It’s where King Leonidas of Sparta and a small force of Greeks (famously 300 Spartans) held off the vast Persian army of Xerxes I for several days.

The extension:

  • Blocks distracting websites during deep work sessions.

  • Organizes tabs to reduce clutter.

  • Unlocks distractions only during breaks.

I built it using JavaScript and browser APIs. One limitation: I can still turn it off manually. I’m considering adding a restriction to prevent that—but it’s still a local extension. Maybe someday I’ll publish it.

Breaks and Rewards
I’ve learned that smart breaks actually boost productivity. I take 2–4 minute strolls every hour, prompted by reminders from our infrastructure team. It’s refreshing and clears my head.

After big wins (like deploying a major feature or solving a tough bug), I reward myself—whether it’s a nice meal, a movie night, or just a chat with friends. These rewards keep me motivated and prevent burnout.

Wrapping Up

In my experience, combining the right tools with disciplined habits is what unlocks consistent high performance.

I’m constantly refining my setup—automating repetitive tasks, organizing my schedule better, and building systems that help me stay in the zone.

At Moniepoint and beyond, delivering quickly and reliably takes more than just code. It takes systems thinking, self-awareness, and the discipline to evolve your workflow over time.

By adopting these practices, I’ve become both more productive and more fulfilled. And I’m hoping the story is same or at least similar for you after reading this.

Seye Folajimi is a backend engineer with Africa’s fastest growing financial institution, Moniepoint Inc.  


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

Broadcasting

African Craftsmanship Takes Center Stage at TALES 2025 in London

Published

on

Kindly share this post

This summer, London’s West End will transform into a vibrant showcase of African excellence as TALES (The African Lifestyle Experience) returns with its most ambitious edition yet: Reimagine 2025.

A Luxury Cultural Experience

Hosted at Luxury Promise, 28 Cavendish Square, just off Oxford Street, the event will run from July 25 to August 3, 2025, offering ten days of curated experiences, fashion-forward storytelling, and cultural immersion.

With over 70 curated brands spanning fashion, beauty, art, music, and home décor, TALES 2025 will spotlight Africa’s brightest creative talents and celebrate craftsmanship across the diaspora.

Key Highlights

  • Exclusive African Fashion & Craftsmanship Discover one-of-a-kind pieces, from bold fashion in traditional textiles like Aso Oke, Adinkra, and Bantu, to luxury handmade beauty products and bespoke interiors.
  • Fireside Chats with Industry Icons Intimate conversations with trailblazers and tastemakers exploring the future of African entrepreneurship, culture, and design.
  • Kidpreneur x The Veteran A standout feature returns, bridging generations of innovation by spotlighting rising Gen Z entrepreneurs alongside industry legends like Gloria Ije Anyaehie-Coker, founder of GIA1 Fashion.
  • Exclusive Travel Offer with Air Peace TALES is partnering with Air Peace to offer a 15% flight base fare discount for brands and attendees flying to London, strengthening connections within the diaspora.

A Global Movement Powered by Bellafricana

Backed by Bellafricana, a platform empowering African creative entrepreneurs across 18+ countries, TALES champions authentic African stories, craftsmanship, and visibility on the world stage.

Supported by the City of Westminster

The City of Westminster proudly supports TALES 2025, reinforcing London’s commitment to diversity, innovation, and inclusive cultural celebration. The event will be featured across Oxford Street’s Instagram and website, ensuring maximum visibility.

Why It Matters

Following the runaway success of TALES 2024, which featured 40 brands and attracted a global audience, Reimagine 2025 raises the bar. As London’s fashion and cultural scene increasingly embraces diversity and authenticity, TALES 2025 is a timely and necessary celebration of African brilliance.

Whether you’re a fashion enthusiast, culture lover, or global tastemaker, TALES 2025 is where Africa’s future-forward creativity meets London’s cultural heartbeat.

Event Details

Venue: Luxury Promise, The Corner Showroom, 28 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0DB 📅 Dates: July 25 – August 3, 2025 🎟 Admission: FREE — Registration required at

 


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

Trending