E-Business
#SMWMara: How Mobile Apps, Social Media Are Integrating Africa
As experts and enthusiasts gather at Social Media Week Lagos 2015 to discuss and analyse trends and projections in the social media space, Mara Online joined in, advancing the discourse with a masterclass focused on how social media and user applications can play a major role in integrating African markets.
Leading the discussions at the SMWMara masterclass tagged: “Integrating Africa with Social Media and User Applications”, Mara Online demonstrated how its user applications – Mara Mentor (a social application that connects young entrepreneurs to industry experts) and Mara Messenger (a uniquely African instant messaging app) – have been able to leverage social media to drive collaboration and information sharing amongst its over one million users across Africa.
Speaking at the sidelines of the 2015 Social Media Week Lagos, Olamide Amosu, Mara Online’s head marketing and communications said that Mara has been able to drive integration in African markets through its first-of-its-kind entrepreneurship community Mara Mentor, which leverages on the ubiquity and proliferation of mobile devices in Africa.
According to her, “Mara has empowered thousands of Africans across the continent by taking advantage of social media to spread discussions on the platform. This has inspired collaborations between Africans in different locations and mentorship between young entrepreneurs and industry leaders while birthing new businesses and driving user acquisition to Mara Mentor.”
Mara Online, which uses technology to drive innovation and integration on the continent, also challenged participants to create solutions that the world can borrow from, rather than reinvent what has been done in developed countries.
According to Amosu, the impact of its content strategy has seen traffic increase from social media to the Mara Mentor platform, which is a non-profit entrepreneurship focused community that links aspiring entrepreneurs to captains of industries, drawn from different sectors of the economy, who mentor young Africans.
Also speaking at the event were some of the business leaders on its entrepreneurship-focused social application Mara Mentor, including, Pade Durotoye (CEO, Oando Energy Resources), Niyi Yusuf (Country Managing Director, Accenture Nigeria), Mrs Onyeche Tifase (MD/CEO Siemens Limited – Nigeria), Anita Erskine (Founder, Brand Woman Africa), and Oreoluwa Somolu Lesi (Executive Director Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre), who reaffirmed the impact and potential of the mentorship and networking app by emphasising the need for young entrepreneurs to get mentored.
According to the mentors, this unique mobile-friendly strategy is bridging the gap between experts and rookies, thus the impact is reengineering young African entrepreneurs with skills and capacity to create solutions to societal challenges in the 21st century.
Currently, Mara has over one million users on the mobile platforms in Africa and is in partnership with public and private institutions across the continent as it strives to enable, empower and inspire a generation of African entrepreneurs.
E-Business
Galaxy Backbone Celebrates the Federal Government’s Paperless Civil Service Milestone

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

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.”
E-Business
Galaxy Backbone Tops FG’s Website Performance Ranking

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

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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