News
Etisalat Sends Top ETEP Students to Dubai for Training
Etisalat Nigeria in continuation of its innovative Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives targeted at improving education in the country is sponsoring the top three students from the first year of the Etisalat Telecommunications Engineering Program (ETEP) at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria for intensive training at the Etisalat Academy, Dubai.
Oyetola Oduyemi, manager, Corporate Social Responsibility at Etisalat, disclosed that further training at the Etisalat Academy would reinforce the students’ practical knowledge of Telecommunications Engineering and also provide them with a competitive edge.
“At Etisalat, we believe that the right education has the potential to impact every aspect of life, so education remains central to our CSR interventions; this is why weare sending the three best studentsfrom the Etisalat Telecommunications Engineering Program class of 2014, to the Etisalat Academy in Dubai, to expand their horizons and give them further exposure to the cutting-edge technology driving the telecommunications industry”, Oduyemi said.
“As the program continues, we plan to train 15 to 20 students yearly to give Nigerians an opportunity to learn from the best in the field. We will also develop local expertise to sustain the program by sponsoring lecturers from ABU to study for a PhD in Telecommunications Engineering at the Plymouth University, UK” she added.
The Etisalat Telecommunications Engineering Program, organized in conjunction with the University of Plymouth, UK and Huawei Technologies Limited, is the first program offering an MSc in Telecommunications Engineering in West Africa.
Smartphones Account for 75% of Phones Shipped in the GCC – IDC
Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker shows that smartphones now make up 75% of the phones shipped in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with buyers increasingly moving toward 4G handsets as the market matures, according to the latest figures from International Data Corporation (IDC).
The market intelligence firm’s that GCC shipments of 4G LTE handsets have increased more than four times over the last year and are now close to accounting for one half of all smartphones sold in the region.
“The GCC is less than a year behind the market development already seen in Western Europe,” says Simon Baker, program manager for IDC’s handset research in Central Europe, Middle East, and Africa. “However, the market is further behind the U.S., where 4G already makes up three quarters of the smartphone market.”
Elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa, the overall smartphone market is rapidly expanding, with growth rates picking up over the last two quarters. IDC research shows that in Africa as a whole and in the wider Middle East beyond the GCC and Turkey, the number of smartphones sold in Q3 2014 was up 300% year on year. “We are in the midst of a boom,” said Isaac Ngatia, a research analyst at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey.
“The technology levels are more basic than those seen in the GCC and 4G phones remain relatively uncommon, but many consumers are now getting their hands on a smartphone for the first time.”
“It is a very different kind of market from the Gulf,” adds Baker. “Cheaper phones are the ones selling in high volumes, and prices are tumbling; the average price paid is not much more than half that in the GCC. The brand situation is different too; beyond Samsung and Chinese brands like Lenovo, Huawei, and ZTE that are making a push in the region, many of the bigger players just focus on single countries or sub-region and aren’t well known beyond them.”
There are also a number of brands in this market that typically focus only on distribution and marketing, and mainly source their phones from the production catalogues of independent manufacturers in China.
“It is a different sort of brand from the international names the handset industry is usually associated with, and as a model it is working very well at the moment,” said Popal.
“These regional brands are able to offer Android phones sourced from China that have the larger screen sizes and functions of models from the big international names but at much lower prices.”
Key examples include Tecno in Nigeria and Kenya, whose smartphone shipments were up 269% year on year in Q3 2014, and Q-mobile in Pakistan, which has more than half the national market and posted growth of healthy 42%.
“Brands such as these will continue to perform well over the coming quarters,” concluded Popal. “Smartphone shipments in these poorer countries will expand a lot further in the next couple of years, as they still account for less than half the total handset market.”
IDC’s Europe, Middle East and Africa Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker® provides a unique insight into the forces shaping the handset and smartphone markets in Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa.
The smartphone market is growing rapidly across the region, but while it already takes the lion’s share of mobile phone sales in more developed markets, in poorer countries and where mobile operators do not subsidize phone purchases on usage contracts, feature phones are still the majority of sales in units sold.
This tracker service will quantify for clients the trends impacting the mobile phone market, and provides, on a quarterly basis, vendor shares, technology trends, and a host of technical breakouts that help vendors and industry players define strategies for tracking the future wireless device market.
Entrepreneurs backed by the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) have generated more than $4.2 billion in cumulative revenue since the organisation began its grant programme in 2015, according to Somachi Chris-Asoluka, chief executive officer of the foundation.
Chris-Asoluka, revealed this during a virtual media briefing, where she also stated that over $100 million has been distributed to nearly 24,000 young entrepreneurs across Africa.
She noted that the beneficiaries of the programme have gone on to create about 1.5 million jobs, both directly and indirectly, across various sectors of the continent’s economy.
The performance, she said, has strengthened the resolve of the foundation and its partners to scale up financial support for emerging businesses.
Chris-Asoluka emphasised that the foundation’s interventions are anchored on the conviction that entrepreneurship is central to reducing poverty and reshaping Africa’s economic future.
She explained that selected participants receive a $5,000 seed capital grant, in addition to structured business training and mentorship designed to help them either expand existing enterprises or establish new ones.
Highlighting operational challenges faced by entrepreneurs, she identified inadequate electricity supply as a major constraint.
According to her, many small businesses spend as much as 60 per cent of their earnings on alternative power solutions, including generators and inverters.
To mitigate this challenge, she disclosed that Tony Elumelu, TEF founder, alongside the foundation’s leadership, has been engaging governments across Africa on the urgent need to improve power infrastructure.
She further stated that investments by programme beneficiaries cut across critical sectors such as agriculture, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, and technology innovation.
Chris-Asoluka also announced that the foundation’s 2026 cohort of entrepreneurs will be formally unveiled by Elumelu in Abuja.
A new financial operations platform, Morney, has officially launched in Nigeria to help businesses face growing pressure to digitise their finance processes as the country’s shift towards electronic invoicing.
Developed by Morzoe Technologies Inc. and introduced locally through its partner, BuySimply Services Limited, the platform is designed to help organisations streamline and automate financial workflows.
Speaking at the launch, Head of Growth at BuySimply, ‘Mide Olubi, said many Nigerian organisations still depend on fragmented systems such as emails and spreadsheets to manage expenses, supplier invoices and payments.
According to him, this approach often results in inefficiencies, delayed processes, weak oversight and a higher risk of errors.
He noted that Nigeria’s increasing adoption of electronic invoicing and tax digitisation frameworks is accelerating the need for structured and transparent financial systems. Businesses, he said, must move away from manual processes and adopt platforms that provide clear visibility into financial operations.
Morney integrates payments, procurement, expenses and invoicing into a single system, enabling finance teams to automate approvals, monitor transactions in real time and maintain accurate records.
The platform also supports supplier onboarding and invoice processing, helping organisations better manage operational spending.
The company revealed that businesses across sectors such as FMCG, manufacturing, energy, banking and telecommunications are already adopting the solution to improve efficiency and strengthen financial control.
It added that the partnership with BuySimply reflects a broader trend of digital transformation, as organisations respond to evolving regulatory requirements and the demand for more efficient financial management systems.
Dr Krishnan Ranganath (Krish) to Lead UniCloud Africa in Continental Digital Infrastructure Push
UniCloud Africa Limited, the premier pan-African cloud platform dedicated to advancing the continent’s digital sovereignty, has announced the appointment of Dr. Krishnan Ranganath as its Chief Executive Officer.
Dr. Krish, a seasoned industry leader known for building and scaling digital infrastructure while maintaining rigorous operational excellence, steps into the role as UniCloud Africa accelerates its mission to redefine the continent’s digital landscape.
The appointment coincides with the groundbreaking launch and immediate availability of UniCloud Africa’s enterprise-grade Sovereign Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure across six key markets: Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Zambia, Senegal, and Mozambique, even as it plans to launch in Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Uganda, Ethiopia and Côte d’Ivoire as part of further continental expansion.
Operating under the mission of “One Cloud, One Africa,” UniCloud Africa provides governments and enterprises with a world-class, fully compliant sovereign cloud alternative to high-latency offshore providers,ensuring a robust, scalable foundation tailored to Africa’s unique environmental and economic needs.
“UniCloud sits at the epicentre of Africa’s cloud evolution. We are committed to deploying 100% sovereign infrastructure across the continent. My focus is on driving high-growth partnerships and scaling the next generation of resilient, sustainable cloud infrastructure to accelerate the evolution of the African digital ecosystem,” said Dr. Krish, CEO of UniCloud Africa Limited.
He disclosed that his focus at UniCloud Africa is on driving high-growth partnerships and scaling the next generation of resilient, sustainable cloud infrastructure, and will deploy GPUs in certain economies based on market potential and need.
While admitting that the challenges from AI integration to the green energy transition are immense, Dr Krish believes that the opportunities are greater. “I am eager to collaborate with our partners and customers to redefine the digital frontier and accelerate the evolution of the African digital ecosystem,” he added.
Ladi Okuneye, Co-founder and outgoing CEO (who remains as a director on the board) remarked: “As we enter this new chapter of growth, I am confident that Dr Krish’s extensive experience in the African digital landscape will add immense value. His technical depth and regional insight make him the ideal leader to drive UniCloud Africa forward.”
Before he was appointed CEO of UniCloud Africa, Dr. Krish was, until last month, the Regional Executive – West Africa at the Africa Data Centres (ADC).
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