E-Business
Infobip Launches Conversations – Contact Centre Solution for Connected Customer Experiences

Conversations, a new contact centre solution enabling businesses to integrate the world’s most popular communication channels, has been launched by Infobip.

Olatayo Ladipo-Ajai, country head at Infobip Nigeria
Infobip is a global cloud communications company that enables businesses to build connected customer experiences across all stages of the customer journey at scale.
Conversations is the scalable digital cloud contact centre solution that enables businesses to deliver omnichannel support for customers through a single interface for agents.
Messaging services such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Live Chat, SMS and in-house chatbots can all be managed through Conversations.
Provisioned through the cloud, Infobip offers a marked differentiator – omnichannel connectivity (CPaaS) with contact centre software stacked on top.
Conversations is designed to enable companies to easily:
Empower agents with automation: Slow response rates or having to repeat yourself as you’re passed from agent to agent leads to frustrated customers, low levels of loyalty and high drop off rates. By being able to set up rules and automate workflows, customers are routed to the right or same agent if it is a return visit, faster – leading to more productive agents and happier customers.
Give agents the context they need: Agents will be able to access customer data from CRM systems, web shop, ticketing, and loyalty programs systems – with the added context of customer sentiment – all in one place. This enables them to deliver personalised and contextualised support.
Manage cross-channel conversations: Seamlessly transition customer conversations between channels, whilst retaining a full conversation history, so agents can respond to questions with ease – whether it’s a text or a WhatsApp message – straight from a single workspace.
Improving remote agent performance through analytics: Analytics enables managers to track customer activity, monitor agent performance with real-time dashboards and reporting to identify obstacles impacting agent productivity. Using this data, managers can identify any challenges and make the necessary adjustments to optimise working practices or workloads for improved overall performance and CX.
Olatayo Ladipo-Ajai, country head at Infobip Nigeria, said, “The contact centre sector is mature and complex, increasingly shifting away from an outsourcing to a Customer Experience (CX) focus. This, as customers in xx look to engage with businesses on multiple channels. Conversations enables the customer to speak to an agent on various channels and the agent to manage interactions contextually from one dashboard thereby decreasing contact centre call volumes, increasing agent efficiency and improving the customer’s experience.
Conversations can also be used in conjunction with Answers, Infobip’s chatbot building platform that enables companies to build, test, and deploy artificial intelligence and keyword-based chatbots.
These chatbots can then be managed via Conversations, leaving agents with more time to focus on resolving complex queries.
Contact centre managers will be able to monitor all interactions exchanged between bots and customers in real-time, ensuring that any difficult conversations are transferred to human agents.
The Conversations platform has been refined and optimised during an early access period, where Infobip worked with select businesses across the world to ensure Conversations will help them improve the contact centre.
Adrian Benic, VP Product at Infobip, said: “Today’s customers expect to be able to contact a business at any time, from anywhere, and on the channel of their choice. Conversations helps brands provide this while ensuring they improve the customer experience through contextual conversations.
“Many businesses are striving to deliver an unmatched customer experience but struggle to transition between the variety of channels and technologies on the market. Conversations brings these elements into one accessible platform allowing companies to deliver the very best customer experience while reducing costly inefficiencies. The launch of Conversations forms part of our goal at Infobip – to help businesses simplify the complexity of global messaging and enable them to interact with customers in a personalised way without friction.”
E-Business
BPP Partners NDPC to Strengthen Data Protection

Dr Adebowale Adedokun, director-general, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), has reaffirmed the bureau’s commitment to data protection in Nigeria.
He disclosed this in a statement at the weekend by Zira Nagga, head of Public Relations, BPP, following a courtesy visit by a delegation from the National Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
Adedokun stressed that data protection is vital to Nigeria’s economy and development, particularly in areas such as demography, health, education, and other key sectors.
He emphasised that no country should leave its data unprotected, as it plays a crucial role in future planning and national development.
“Data governs the world. It is essential to technological progress and must be protected for a country or business to be taken seriously,” he said.
Adedokun described the visit, aimed at fostering partnership on data policy implementation and protection, as timely and aligned with national goals.
He said the BPP would collaborate closely with the NDPC to boost data development, capacity building, and enhance the procurement system.
“The BPP will support compliance as part of the ‘Nigeria First’ Policy, although it is not a core procurement eligibility requirement,” he explained.
He suggested a hybrid training model to help build strong capacity in data protection, privacy awareness, and policy understanding.
According to him, a dynamic training approach will reduce logistics costs and improve public confidence in data safety and privacy.
Dr Vincent Olatunji, CEO, and national commissioner, NDPC, praised Adedokun and the BPP for supporting data protection initiatives.
He said the partnership supports President Bola Tinubu’s vision and will strengthen data privacy across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
“The collaboration will create awareness and train BPP staff to ensure a firm grasp of data protection principles and policies,” he stated.
Olatunji said the NDPC would establish a working group to finalise a Memorandum of Understanding beneficial to both institutions.
He added that President Tinubu signed the NDPC into law on 12 June 2023 to uphold citizens’ rights and protect national and business data.
Olatunji also noted that strict legal measures were in place to enforce data protection and ensure full compliance nationwide.
Both agencies agreed to form a team to sign the MoU and focus on capacity building and data management in procurement and beyond.
E-Business
FG Mulls Fibre Optic Layout to Bridge Internet Gaps

President Bola Tinubu said that his administration has initiated a project to install fibre optic cables across the country, aimed at enhancing the socio-economic development of Nigeria.
His plans were contained in a speech he delivered at a joint session of the National Assembly in commemoration of Democracy Day on Thursday, June 12.
He said the fibre optic layout is part of other projects being embarked on.
“In addition, we have embarked on an ambitious project to lay fibre optic cables across the nation, a transformative step toward bridging the digital divide and fostering greater connectivity.
“This initiative promises not only to enhance the speed and reliability of internet access but also to revolutionise how businesses operate, how students learn, and how communities stay connected,” Tinubu stated.
He maintained that by extending this critical infrastructure, his government is empowering entrepreneurs, enabling digital education, and providing the tools for our youth to compete in a globalised world.
In a most recent report on Internet connectivity, The ICIR pointed out how Nigeria has faced setbacks in its deployment of fibre optic cables and needs a transformation.
The challenges revolve around vandalism, inadequate coordination between road construction and telecom infrastructure, and varying right-of-way (RoW) charges across states.
Among industry experts, these issues impact network outages, increase repair costs, and hinder broadband expansion efforts.
It has also further threatened the digital economy, leading to slower Internet speeds, dropped calls, and unreliable connectivity among others.
E-Business
African Startups Raised $345m in Funding in May

African startups raised more than $345 million across 65 deals in May, more than double the amount raised in the same period of last year, according to a report by Briter, a research and business intelligence firm.
The report disclosed that both the number of deals and participating companies declined, confirming a growing trend of fewer companies raising funds in larger sizes.
It said fintech attracted the highest share of funding in May, accounting for 34 percent of the total, while cleantech followed closely, driven by a debt deal from Sun King. The company raised $80 million (in local currency) to expand clean energy access in Nigeria.
“Equity remains the primary instrument in terms of total value. There’s no doubt about it; in fact, equity deals with disclosed amounts captured more than half of the total funding volume in May.
“However, debt financing is increasingly proving its weight. Although it accounted for only 8 percent of all deals, it represented 32 percent of the total funding, highlighting the typically larger size of debt transactions. With the rise of specialised vehicles targeting early-stage businesses, debt is becoming an increasingly important part of Africa’s innovation funding landscape,” it said.
Briter’s report added that grants continued to play a vital role in early-stage support, especially in the education technology (EdTech) sector. The Mastercard Foundation led the pack in grant activity, funding a new cohort of EdTech innovators in Nigeria and Kenya. Each selected startup is set to receive $100,000 in grant funding, in addition to mentorship and business development support.
Multilaterals also made a strong showing in May, it said. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a World Bank Group member, issued a $179.6 million guarantee to CleanTech firm KOKO Networks. The support will help scale its clean energy solutions across Kenya.
“This deal not only demonstrates growing international confidence in African climate ventures but also signals a promising pathway for other asset-intensive startups in clean cooking, agriculture, and renewable energy,” the report said.
From a geographic perspective, Egypt emerged as the continent’s fundraising powerhouse for the month, contributing 51 percent of all funding raised. The country recorded 12 deals across equity, debt, and bond instruments. Notably, FinTech platform MNT-Halan raised $50 million through a bond issuance, further illustrating the diversification of capital-raising mechanisms in the region.
Outside Egypt, funding was distributed across Africa’s three other key markets, which are Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya, with limited activity recorded in countries such as Ghana, Tunisia, Morocco, and Uganda, each registering between one and three deals.
In terms of exits, the African tech landscape continues to mature. Three companies—Baobab+, Qardy, and Shopa—were acquired in May, bringing the total number of exits this year to 22. This already surpasses last year’s count for the same period. Qardy was acquired by Catalyst Partners Middle East (CPME) in a disclosed deal valued at $23 million, the report added.
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