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Nigeria, South Africa Entries Win Ericsson’s App Awards, 2014

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Ericsson has announced the winners of the 2014 Ericsson Application Awards at a ceremony held at the Ericsson Studio in Kista, Sweden.

The Student category was won by Team WorkMode from South Africa for their collaboration app, with the Company category being won by Team SOP from Nigeria with their app that monitors electricity supply.

Taking home the honors in the student category, Team WorkMode from South Africa created an app that helps workers collaborate by allowing them to see the real-time work context and tasks of colleagues.

The jury motivated their choice by saying: “We felt that Team WorkMode showed a strong business potential, and their focus on design and usability helped them when it came to innovation and addressing the theme of Apps for working life.”

Jacques Marais of Team WorkMode said: ”This award will help us to build our business and allow us to develop not only this app but also some ideas we have around education in South Africa. It will also enable us to purchase hardware so we can expand to different platforms. It’s a real boost.”

The company category was won by Team SOP from Nigeria, who created an app that analyses the availability of electricity in a given area.

The jury outlined their reasons for choosing SOP, saying in a joint statement: “Team SOP presented a strong case of using technology in a way that anyone could understand, value and would invest in. They cleverly combined consumer, society and business benefits around lifting transparency of power delivery in a well designed package.”

Toks Ogun of Team SOP also said: “This award means we can continue to expand and develop our app, which monitors electricity supplies. We can see a market in parts of North America, in South America and in India and we will continue to develop our idea.”

The RSSA Technology for Good Award also went to Africa, with Sowertech’s Afta Robot app receiving the award for their smart solution for public transportation.

The jury motivated their choice by saying: “Every day 15 million people in Africa face long walks and sometimes longer waits as they make their daily journeys by taxi. Sowertech has helped connect taxis and their customers by providing information on location and much more through their Afta Robot mobile app.”

The winners were chosen from over 300 registered teams representing 63 countries from all over the globe.

The company category attracted 158 entries, with 142 teams entering the student competition.

Bina Chaurasia, senior vice president and chief Human Resources Officer, Ericsson, said: “We would like to offer our congratulations to both teams, who faced hard competition from all over the world. At Ericsson we often talk about the Networked Society and how mobile and digital technologies are increasingly expanding into more areas of society, business and our private lives. The winning apps strongly reflect this trend, as well as this year’s theme of ‘Apps for Working Life.’ We wish our winners every success in the future.”

The Ericsson Application Awards is an annual competition for application developers, and this year’s theme for the competition was “Apps for Working Life.”

The purpose was to promote innovations that will change how businesses are organized, as well as how we organize work, collaborate and share.

The semi-finalist apps were reviewed by a panel of global representatives and they decided on the two winning teams, who will each receive €25,000 in prize money.

 


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E-Business

Galaxy Backbone Celebrates the Federal Government’s Paperless Civil Service Milestone

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Galaxy Backbone (GBB) aligns with and celebrates the successful announcement by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on the achievement of a Paperless Civil Service, a significant milestone in Nigeria’s public sector reform and digital transformation agenda.

The milestone was formally highlighted at a press briefing led by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, who commended Galaxy Backbone for its sustained support and contribution throughout the implementation of the programme.

GBB has played a critical role in enabling this transition by providing secure, scalable, and shared digital infrastructure that supports the digitisation of government processes across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Through the 1Government Cloud, MDAs have been empowered to migrate from paper-based workflows to digital platforms, improving efficiency, collaboration, data security, and service delivery across the Federal Civil Service.

In addition, GovMail, GBB’s secure government email platform, has strengthened official communication, enhanced records management, and reinforced cybersecurity standards—key pillars in sustaining a paperless operating environment.

Galaxy Backbone acknowledges the collective efforts of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Permanent Secretaries, Directors of ICT, consultants, partners, and dedicated public servants whose commitment and collaboration ensured the smooth delivery of this initiative.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, was represented at the press briefing by Akintayo Bamisaye, Acting Group Head, Research, Digital Innovation and Skills Department (RDIS).

GBB describes the achievement as a strong close to 2025 and reaffirms its commitment to supporting the Federal Government in building a modern, efficient, and digitally enabled public service.


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Jumia CEO says Black Friday Signals Nigeria’s E-Commerce Maturity

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At the close of 2025, Temidayo Ojo, the CEO of Jumia Nigeria, reflected on a year-end shopping season that points to the growing maturity of the country’s e-commerce market. “Black Friday is no longer a single, short-lived spike in activity,” he said.

“It has become a familiar, anticipated moment in the retail calendar, where consumers shop deliberately and with confidence.”

Preliminary KPIs for the two months ended November 30, 2025, show strong year-on-year growth in both orders and Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), with GMV growth outpacing order growth. This indicates that customers are placing fuller, more considered baskets rather than shopping in fragmented transactions. Nigeria ranked among Jumia Group’s better-performing markets, with engagement remaining steady throughout the Black Friday period rather than spiking briefly and tapering off.

A key factor behind this performance is the growing familiarity of consumers with online shopping. Customers are increasingly leveraging platform features such as saved carts, brand stores, and price comparison tools to plan purchases in advance. This trend suggests that digital commerce is becoming embedded in everyday habits rather than being viewed as a one-off event.

Ojo also highlighted the role of Jumia’s JForce network in connecting digital commerce to local communities. “Our agents are critical to ensuring that customers across Nigeria, including secondary cities and smaller communities, have access to variety, consistent pricing, and reliable delivery,” he said. “During peak periods like Black Friday, JForce agents can respond faster, serve more customers efficiently, and build stronger local relationships. This isn’t just a distribution channel—it’s a pathway to sustainable income and inclusion.”

Reflecting on the overall performance, the CEO concluded: “What we’re seeing this year-end is steady engagement across categories, stronger consumer confidence, and partners like our JForce agents benefiting from increased activity.

“It confirms that Nigeria’s e-commerce ecosystem is maturing, growing in a more structured and resilient way. As the December Holiday Sale continues, we expect these patterns of familiarity, trust, and participation to sustain momentum and drive both commerce and community impact across the country.”


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Galaxy Backbone Tops FG’s Website Performance Ranking

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Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) has been ranked first overall in the 2025 Federal Government Website Performance Scorecard.

Galaxy Backbone Tops FG's Website Performance Ranking

This is a landmark achievement for Nigeria’s digital economy.

The ranking, conducted by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), is the definitive benchmark for digital excellence and transparency across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

Professor Ibrahim Adepoju Adeyanju, managing director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone, received the award during a ceremony in Abuja.

He described the feat as a validation of the agency’s“Nigeria First”data sovereignty strategy and its relentless pursuit of service excellence.

This recognition comes as the Federal Government intensifies its push to achieve a fully paperless civil service by December 31, 2025.

GBB has been the primary architect of this transition through its 1Gov Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform, which now hosts the operations of almost all federal MDAs.

The award adds to a growing list of accolades for Galaxy Backbone in 2025, following its recent win of the “International Standard Excellence Award for Best IT Service Provider.”

As the central hub for government shared services, GBB’s performance serves as a blueprint for other agencies currently undergoing digital transformation.

With its expanded fiber-optic backbone now covering over 13 states and its secure cloud solutions, Galaxy Backbone remains the cornerstone of Nigeria’s vision to become a leading digital nation by the end of the decade.

 


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