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Nigeria’s Okere @ Economist Conference, Wants Proper Channeling on Africa’s Energy

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Mr. Austin Okere, founder and CEO of the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), and entrepreneur in residence (EIR) has cautioned that Africa’s youthful population could either bring a democratic dividend or become a source of social unrest depending on how much policy and execution is exerted towards channeling the energies of the populace into productive entrepreneurship.

Speaking at Columbia Business School, New York, stressed that though digitalisation had already transformed our lives, a new wave of innovation is coming that will reshape the way we live, work and consume, redefining social systems, industrial competitiveness and pushing the boundaries of what we thought possible.

In a thought provoking paper at the event for thought leaders in Stockholm, organised by the Economist Group, tagged “Digital Horizons” recently against the backdrop of the world’s largest social networking company, Facebook, commissioning a 28,000 sq. m Data Centre in the Northern part of Sweden.

Over 150 leading innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, futurists and policy makers gathered to discuss the digital future, a one-day summit where conventional thinking was challenged, critical visions, tools and insights were shared and fresh ideas generated around people, prosperity and power, he dispelled the erstwhile prejudices held against Sub-Saharan Africa such as being unprofitable, too complex and risky and difficult to tap into; citing examples of successful companies and how they have shattered these preconceived misconceptions, dealt with obstacles and created inventive business models, and taken advantage of technology to leapfrog what could in the past have been considered significant barriers.

Okere’s paper focused on the consequences of the digital revolution from an African perspective, drawing attention to the shifting opportunities from the erstwhile prosperous Northern hemisphere countries such as Greece, Spain, Italy, U.K. and North America to Southern Hemisphere regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, China, India, Brazil and Australia.

He drew attention to the fact that returns on foreign direct investments (FDI) into Sub–Saharan Africa are among the highest in the world due to the opportunities for growth and investment, and also as a result of the large and youthful population, projected to expand consumer expenditure to $1tr by 2020, coupled with the ample natural resources in the region.

He pointed at companies such as African telecoms giant MTN, the Dangote Manufacturing conglomerate and his own Computer Warehouse Group, rapidly growing to become foremost Pan African Powerhouses.

The conference was preceded on the eve by a grand reception hosted by Margareta Bjork, President of the Stockholm City Council at the magnificent Golden Hall, the historic venue where Nobel laureates gather every December to receive their prices.

The main conference which was held at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), one of Scandinavia’s oldest and largest institutions of higher education founded in 1827, was chaired by Jan Piotrowski, Online Science and Technology editor at the Economist. 
The event was attended by Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden, who provided insights on governments’ perspectives on wide a range of issues from cyber security to job creation.

Other speakers included NicklasLundblad, Director of Policy at Google, Ulf Ewaldsson, Chief Technology Officer at Ericsson, Scott Kirtkpatrick, head of the School of Computer Science and Engineering at The Hebrew university of Jerusalem and PekkaMattila, Managing Director of Aalto University Executive Education.

It will be recalled that Okere was a also speaker at the Nigeria Summit 2013 on enabling and implementing transformation, organised by the Economist Group onMarch 19- 20 in Lagos.


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FG Unveils AI Public Services Platform

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Federal government has launched GovGuideNigeria, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital platform designed to streamline access to public service information through WhatsApp and the web.

The platform consolidates information from more than 35 federal ministries and over 60 government agencies, marking a significant step in Nigeria’s drive to expand AI-enabled public infrastructure and digital government services.

According to Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, the initiative aims to simplify interactions with government services, particularly for underserved communities that often face challenges navigating complex public-sector systems.

Developed in collaboration with the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Meta, and Publica AI, GovGuideNigeria uses conversational AI to provide real-time responses via WhatsApp and a web interface in English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.

Sade Dada, head of public policy at Meta, said the multilingual rollout highlights the growing use of natural language processing within African public institutions to improve digital inclusion and broaden access to services.

Ignatius Willie, chief executive of Publica AI, said the platform demonstrates how Africa’s next generation of digital public infrastructure can be developed locally using African languages.

GovGuideNigeria is intended to address longstanding challenges in Nigeria’s public information system, where citizens often struggle to access reliable guidance because of fragmented government websites, poor communication channels and the expense of travelling to physical offices.

Through AI-driven automation, users can obtain information on immigration procedures, documentation requirements, public programmes and agency-specific services through chat-based interactions.

The launch also reflects Nigeria’s broader ambition to integrate AI into digital governance, while strengthening partnerships between government agencies, global technology companies and local AI startups to modernise public service delivery.


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Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

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Elon Musk is poised to become the world’s first trillionaire after  SpaceX, his company, confirmed plans to go public.

Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

Elon Musk

Because Musk owns the majority of the shares, it could push his net worth over the trillion dollar mark.

The entrepreneur is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI.

Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of May 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $788 billion.

SpaceX has filed for a blockbuster public listing in the United States, paving the way for what could become the largest stock market debut in Wall Street history.

The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, announced plans to begin trading under the ticker symbol “SPCX” as early as next month.

The listing values SpaceX at about $1.25 trillion, with Musk’s majority ownership potentially worth more than $600 billion alone.

Combined with his existing holdings in companies including Tesla, the IPO could push Musk’s personal wealth above the $1 trillion mark.

The long-awaited filing also offered investors a rare look into SpaceX’s finances.

The company reported $18.6 billion in revenue last year but recorded a net loss of $4.9 billion. In the first quarter of this year, SpaceX generated $4.7 billion in sales while posting a $4.3 billion net loss.

Financial disclosures showed the company holds $102 billion in assets, including rockets, launch infrastructure and satellite systems, while carrying debts totalling $60.5 billion.

Despite the losses, analysts suggested investors were unlikely to be deterred given SpaceX’s dominance in commercial space launches and satellite internet services.

Ruth Foxe-Blader, managing partner at Citrine Venture Partners, described the planned flotation as “extremely exciting.”

“SpaceX is just an absolutely sprawling, enormous project with so many different selling points, and so many points that really point to the future,” she said.

SpaceX operates the Starlink satellite internet network and also owns Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI.

The IPO filing revealed that xAI recently reached a major commercial agreement with rival AI company Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot.

Under the arrangement, Anthropic will reportedly pay $15 billion annually to access data centre infrastructure linked to xAI operations in the American South.

The filing also disclosed that SpaceX expects to incur more than half a billion dollars in legal costs from multiple ongoing lawsuits and regulatory disputes.

Among the cases listed were claims alleging that xAI’s chatbot Grok had been used to create sexualised deepfakes of women and girls, alongside patent infringement disputes, music copyright claims, data breach allegations and investigations into compliance with European Union content moderation rules.

Musk has previously said he plans to dissolve xAI as a standalone company and pursue his AI ambitions directly under SpaceX.

The filing came shortly after Musk lost a high-profile legal battle against OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman.

Musk had accused OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit mission after shifting towards a commercial model, but a jury dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that he had waited too long to bring the claims.


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Moniepoint Boosts UK Payments Security

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African financial services platform Moniepoint has partnered with open banking software-as-a-service provider tell.money to deploy a transaction security system in the UK market.

The companies said the partnership will allow Moniepoint to implement Confirmation of Payee, an account name-checking service designed to verify recipient details before payments are processed.

The integration will be rolled out through Monieworld, Moniepoint’s UK remittance subsidiary, as part of the company’s broader European expansion strategy.

Tell.money will provide the underlying verification technology, which the companies said is intended to reduce misdirected payments and help protect users against cross-border fraud.

Ravi Jakhodia, CEO of Monieworld, said: “Our goal with Monieworld is to build financial services for Africans in the diaspora.”

He added that tell.money was selected because it manages compliance and accreditation requirements, allowing the fintech company to focus on customer service.

Moniepoint is entering a competitive UK-to-Africa remittance market that includes established providers such as Wise, WorldRemit and Remitly, as well as African fintech firms including Flutterwave’s Send App.

According to data from the World Bank’s KNOMAD programme, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are estimated at about $620 billion annually, with digital -first platforms capturing increasing market share through open banking integrations and automated compliance systems.

The rollout reflects a broader trend of African fintech firms expanding into developed markets by adopting local regulatory and open banking standards.

Industry analysts expect diaspora-focused platforms to evolve beyond money transfers into services such as multi-currency banking, credit and investment products.


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