E-Business
Intel Lauds Aso Villa Demo Day Initiative as 3 Winners Emerge
Intel Corporation has described Federal Government’s Aso Villa Demo Day (AVDD2016) Initiative as a critical computer and internet enabled approach to promoting entrepreneurship, innovation, job creation and
Grand finale of the Initiative that leverages new and emerging technologies held at Aso Villa State House Admin Banquet Hall, Abuja, on Friday, produced three winners- Tracology, RecyclePoints and Shuttlers NG and 27 other finalists.
The event which celebrated the tech startups’ innovation and creativity also featured inspiring talks from thought leaders and experts from different economic sectors in Nigeria.
Delivery closing speech President Muhammadu Buhari, represented Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, re-echoed that, “computer plays big role in our everyday lives, and even our extraordinary moments. Computer has become so powerful that youths today cannot say they want to be part of the government; they are already part of it and playing key roles”.
The President’s speech reaffirms Intel’s “With a Computer, You are Powerful” campaign launched last month and geared towards unlocking ability of young people to get online any time, read, research and explore different concepts that spur creative ideas for their business and/or lifestyle; “just a snippet of the kind of power a computer offers you.”
The Vice President said, “Most of the people who organised Aso Demo Day are working for the government in one capacity or the other with helping hands from the private sector. So, #AVDD2016 is the first titration in series of events mapped by the present administration to address employment and other economic issues in our country”.
VP Osibanjo who spoke reverently of Mark Zuckerberg, Founder/CEO of Facebook who was present at the event, also urged the Nigerian Youths not to relent on their pursuit of excellence in different endeavours.
He said, “We are happy to have Mark Zuckerberg in our midst as he has become source of inspiration to many youths. We are also working on different areas we are going to partner. Aso Villa Demo Day 2016 is the first titration; we look forward to more expanded programme by next year to give more youths the opportunity to express themselves”.
Nodding in agreement, Ekundare Olubunmi, Country manager of Intel, stated that the Aso Villa Demo pitch ties in appropriately to Intel’s core objectives of empowering Nigerians with technology.
He said” Technology is the backbone of the future economy. The rate of change brought about by technology and especially computers is exponential, hence, the reason Intel will continue to invest in technology and to support start -ups who have empowered themselves and Nigerians in general through the use of computer technology”
Three Winners Emerge
Shuttlers NG
Damilola Olokesusi and Oluwabusola Majekodunmi are co-founders of Shuttlers NG, a mass transit application that enables professionals to access comfortable and efficient transportation to and from work using seat matching technology.
Speaking to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek Majekodunmi, said the application will redefine mass transit system in the country, particularly, traffic congested cities like in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Abuja, among other.
“Shuttle professionals can book and track whatever journey they embark on to and fro. We have are working on the app, however, currently, professionals book on our site. When we refer to professionals, we mean, anyone that commutes to work or activities daily; we know how stressful it has been for people to drive to traffic without prior notice. We are entrenching safe, quality transport system that is affordable. We want to help the government maintain standard transportation system too.
“Through the application people can locate the jetties, bus stops and train stations. Someone can get to the jetty and prefer to continue his/her ride in a bus. So, currently, we run a subscription based model, but we are working towards enabling people book for, probably, cab via the system”.
Tracology
Tracology deploys Barcodes/QRcodes to residences serviced by registered utility/waste management companies.
These Barcodes/QRcodes are scanned on waste pickup day thereby verifying customers that have paid using electronic payment. The customers, in turn, pay online and on the delivery day.
Also speaking to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, Emmanuel Okena, founder/CEO of Tracology said that the patented smart payment system will boost governments’ and utility companies’ revenue generation drive while engendering customer service satisfaction.
Okena said, “With Tracology we help government and utility companies whether it is waste, water or land use charge, we help them affix barcodes on the residence so that through the barcode it will be easier to identify their clients. It offers real time authentication of payment for services.
“We have seen with our technology is that it will enable us have cleaner cities, increased revenue generation, which leads to more civil serviced activities like building of roads, income generation, better return on investments for companies on our platform. It is a win-win situation for everybody that is involved.
“We like to thank Microsoft for giving us seed funding to position the company for early growth. Apart from the seed funding of N3.5million, they opened up the Microsoft Azure which we are using to post our software; supportive with mentorship and it has been a wonderful experience with Microsoft. “The next stage is for us to drive adoption across the country which will benefit all that will be part of it.
On his part, Alison Ukonu, CEO/founder, Recycle reiterated that RecyclePoints as a waste recycling and social benefit venture operates an incentive-based scheme which collects recyclable materials from post consumers and in turn rewards them with ‘points.’
These points, when accumulated, Ukonu said, could be used to redeem/shop for household items offered through its iRecycle store.
He told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that at RecyclePoints they encourage post-consumers to neatly separate and bag waste items for collection. Such items are: plastic waste; used beverage sachets; sachet water wastes; old newspapers; glass bottles, whether clear, amber or green and brown corrugated cartoons.
“So, registered subscribers are expected to call/sms us for recyclable wastes pickups. We operate a door-to-door collection or recyclable waste, through the services of RecyclablePoints registered wastebusters who are uniquely designed electric cargo tricycles to pickup and record quantities of waste collected from registered recyclers”.
He said that they have also mapped our designated drop-off centres called iRecycle Kiosks where post-consumers can on their own access to drop their recyclable waste materials.
E-Business
Kaspersky Discovers New Phishing Campaign Exploiting Google Tasks Notifications to Steal Corporate Credentials
Kaspersky has uncovered a new phishing scheme that abuses legitimate Google Tasks notifications to trick corporate users into revealing corporate login credentials.
By leveraging Google’s trusted @google.com email domain and notification system, attackers bypass traditional email security filters and exploit users’ trust in familiar services.
In this campaign, victims receive an authentic-looking notification from Google Tasks with the subject line “You have a new task.” The message creates the illusion that the recipient’s company has adopted Google’s task management tool, pressuring them to act quickly. The notification often includes elements of urgency, such as a high-priority flag and a tight deadline, to prompt the victim’s immediate response.
Upon clicking the embedded link, users are directed to a fraudulent form disguised as an “employee verification” page, where they are asked to enter their corporate credentials under the pretense of confirming their status. These stolen credentials can then be used for unauthorised access to company systems, data theft, or further attacks.
“Google’s vast ecosystem of services gets exploited by scammers. The scheme with Google Tasks is part of a broader trend observed before and continuing into 2026, where cybercriminals misuse legitimate platforms to distribute scams and phishing.
Notifications originating from legitimate domains naturally evade many spam and phishing filters, while the social engineering aspect – making it seem like an internal company process – lowers the victim’s guard,” comments Roman Dedenok, Anti-Spam Expert at Kaspersky.
E-Business
esentry 2025 Report Shows Healthcare, Financial Services and Telecoms as Staging Grounds for Increased Cyberattacks in Africa
Cyber adversaries targeting African organisations are increasingly shifting away from opportunistic attacks toward deliberate, sector-specific campaigns aimed at the continent’s most critical digital infrastructures, according to the esentry 2025 Annual Report released by esentry, Lagos-based Africa’s leading indigenous Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP).
The report identifies healthcare, financial services, and telecommunications as the primary staging grounds for high-velocity cyberattacks, reflecting a growing focus on sectors that underpin economic stability, public welfare, and digital connectivity across Africa.
The findings are drawn from one of the largest cybersecurity datasets analysed in the region. Over the course of 2025, esentry processed more than 31 billion security events, generating 3.5 million alerts and successfully blocking over 15,000 malicious attempts. This monitoring scale shows that, while traditional financial institutions remain a core target, the threat landscape has expanded to include digital lending platforms, healthcare systems that store sensitive personal data, and telecom operators responsible for national and regional connectivity.
Within the healthcare sector, the report highlights ransomware as the most acute risk, with attackers frequently exploiting exposed Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) services to compromise patient data and disrupt essential medical operations. In financial services, organisations are facing a surge in credential abuse, insider-related threats, and info-stealer malware designed to enable fraud and unauthorised access. Telecommunications providers are increasingly targeted by highly tailored phishing campaigns and attacks on exposed web services, which aim to harvest credentials and compromise customer data.
Commenting on the findings, Gbolabo Awelewa, Chief Business Officer at esentry, said the nature of cyber threats across Africa has evolved significantly. “The threats we are seeing today are deliberate, informed, and carefully tailored to local enterprises. Attackers are exploiting trusted access and moving quietly within networks, which makes early detection critical. Our coordinated cybersecurity model, spanning Defence, Intelligence, Offence, and Security Engineering, allows us to combine scale, speed, and deep contextual insight to detect and neutralise threats before they escalate,” Awelewa said.
A defining trend identified in the report is the shift from overt system exploitation to the abuse of legitimate access. By leveraging compromised credentials and ‘living-off-the-land’ techniques, attackers can blend into routine enterprise operations and significantly delay detection. This approach has compressed the attack lifecycle, enabling adversaries to move from initial access to full operational impact in fewer than 15 days.
To counter this acceleration, the report emphasises the importance of early detection and automated response. esentry says it currently contains low-complexity incidents in under 90 seconds, using a combination of structured threat hunting and centralised telemetry to anticipate and absorb attacker pressure rather than reacting after damage has occurred.
As African organisations continue to digitise, the esentry 2025 Annual Report positions itself as a critical reference point for understanding the continent’s evolving cyber threat environment. The report concludes that protecting Africa’s digital trust will require a shift away from fragmented security tools toward disciplined, coordinated defence frameworks, what esentry describes as a unified Phalanx formation.
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have launched an ambitious $10 billion project to support the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across the continent.
The 10 Billion Initiative intends to accelerate ethical AI adoption and inclusive digital economic growth in Africa.
The initiative follows the Nairobi AI Forum, which took place earlier this month in Kenya and brought together governments, private sector leaders, development partners, and tech innovators to define pathways for impactful AI adoption.
According to the organisations, the strategy is a co-designed collaboration between the Bank Group, UNDP, and commercial partners that aims to raise up to $10 billion by 2035.
The resources will be used to create up to 40 million new jobs across the continent by 2035, through targeted investments that provide the groundwork for AI and accelerate widespread adoption in everything from entrepreneurship and regional data infrastructure to policy frameworks and skill development.
Nicholas Williams, AfDB Group ICT operations division manager, commented: “As a leading multilateral development institution, the bank is leveraging its comparative advantage to ensure Africa is not left behind in the AI era.
“The AI 10 Billion Initiative paves the way for expanded partnerships and sustained investments that will accelerate AI entrepreneurship, strengthen data and infrastructure ecosystems, and support inclusive growth across the continent.”
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