E-Business
Visa Launches Champions Women Entrepreneurs @ the World Economic Forum on Africa
Visa is launching She’s Next, Empowered by Visa, in Africa, to encourage female micro-and small-business owners as they fund, run and grow their businesses across the continent.
The global expansion of this program, announced at the 28th World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, is part of Visa’s on-going commitment to support female entrepreneurs. Two days ago, Visa and the International Trade Centre (ITC) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding launching a new partnership to increase the financial inclusion of small businesses and women-owned small businesses globally by helping empower them to participate in international digital trade economy.
The number of women entrepreneurs is growing around the world, with 163 million starting businesses since 2014 alone. Additionally, the highest percentage of these women are in Africa, where 26% of women start or manage a business. She’s Next in Africa will harness the power of Visa’s global brand and network to build awareness of these women entrepreneurs and invest in them to provide them with tools to build their businesses.
“Women entrepreneurs are the backbone of local economies, and the need for support is real. Closing the gender gap requires persistent hard work and support,” said Aida Diarra, senior vice president and group country manager, Visa Sub Saharan Africa. “That is why Visa is using its voice to shine a light on the contributions and economic potential of female-owned micro-and small-businesses around the world.”
Women typically reinvest up to 90% of their income in the education, health and nutrition of their families and communities – compared to up to 40% for men – which makes investing in women’s businesses one way that Visa can help transform societies.
She’s Next Goes Global
Launched in January 2019 in the United States, She’s Next, Empowered by Visa is expanding globally for the first time today in Cape Town. With the expansion, She’s Next extends its signature pop-up events to offer networking opportunities for female entrepreneurs in Africa, including:
- Access to Experts: In Cape Town, broadcasting live on CNBC Africa, a roundtable panel of experts from Visa, local and national subject matter experts, and partners will explore how today’s sweeping technology changes are shaking up business models and creating unprecedented opportunities and challenges for small businesses, especially for the rising legion of female entrepreneurs.
. Participants include: Arancha Gonzalez, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre and Co-Chair of the 28th WEF on Africa; Aida Diarra, Senior Vice President and Group Country Manager for Visa Sub-Saharan Africa; Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, Minister of Investment, Trade & Industry, Botswana and Mich Atagana, Head of Communications and Public Affairs, Google South Africa.
- Pop-up Marketplace: Visa has invited local entrepreneurs to showcase the work they do and to network with WEF delegates from across Africa. This exhibition will run for a day at the Cullinan Hotel where the She’s Next launch will take place.
- New Research: A new study, which was commissioned by Visa and conducted by research firm 4Sight Africa, investigates the role of technologies like electronic payments in enabling the business success of female entrepreneurs in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. Some key findings were as follows:
– African women acknowledge the role of electronic payments in business success; 83% of respondents said that accepting or receiving electronic payments improves their businesses’ bottom line.
– 74% said customers spend more when they have access to electronic payments vs cash
– However most have not moved beyond cash and mobile money except in South Africa, where Credit Cards are more ubiquitous compared to Kenya and Nigeria.
– The women surveyed are positive about the future and 70% indicated that they feel they are financially independent.
– Almost 90% of women indicated that they feel more empowered as a female business owner than they did five years ago.
– Overall, market competition, lack of funding, business networking and training for growth are the common challenges facing female owned small businesses in Africa.
Visa’s Support of Women Everywhere
She’s Next, Empowered by Visa in Africa continues the success of Visa-supported programs focusing on small businesses, as well as female entrepreneurship. Other recent examples include:
- Encouraging Solutions to Big Challenges. In March 2019, Visa launched the first global Visa Everywhere Initiative: Women’s Global Edition, inviting women entrepreneurs to tackle FinTech and Social Impact challenges. Two overall winners received $100,000 each, mentorship and access to Visa’s network of partners and clients.
- Closing the Gender Gap for Women Entreprenuers. In addition to Visa’s efforts, the Visa Foundation made its first financial commitment of up to $20 million to Women’s World Banking with the aim of enabling 1.5 million women entrepreneurs to grow their incomes and household assets. As part of the program in Nigeria, Women’s World Banking is working to increase income-generating opportunities for women in rural areas.
- Creating a Platform to Support Athletes. Visa’s expanded commitment to women’s football leverages the brand’s sponsorship platform to inspire women athletes on and off the field amidst the global gender equality and women’s empowerment movements.
- Celebrating Every Woman’s Success. Visa’s Money is Changing marketing campaign in the U.S. features a diverse spectrum of women and highlights the practical steps they have taken to challenge existing money taboos, helping to create a more inclusive and equal future.
- Spotlighting Local Merchants. In the United Kingdom, Visa’s Great British High Street Awards, run by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, recognize and celebrate achievements on the UK’s high streets and support local communities.
Visa’s Support of Small Businesses Everywhere
Visa provides a full suite of payment services designed for virtually every need, whether businesses are accepting payments from 3.4 billion Visa cardholders worldwide or making secure, seamless payments to their own providers using Visa Business credit, debit or prepaid cards. Visit us online to learn more about Visa’s small business solutions, as well as tools available for She’s Next, Empowered by Visa.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has commenced a forensic investigation into the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lotus Bank and Hackerbella Ltd over alleged violations of data protection laws involving students’ personal information.
The investigation follows public complaints alleging that students’ personal data were used to open bank accounts without a lawful basis.
Dr Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner and chief executive officer of the NDPC, directed the investigation team to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the circumstances surrounding the collection, processing, use and disclosure of the affected students’ personal data.
The investigation will also determine the respective roles and responsibilities of UNILAG, Lotus Bank and Hackerbella in the alleged processing of the data.
According to the Commission, the investigation will assess the data protection compliance obligations of the parties under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 (NDP Act), as well as potential risks posed to the rights and freedoms of the affected data subjects.
The NDPC said the probe would cover several areas, including Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), the lawfulness and transparency of credit scoring or profiling activities, and the use of automated decision-making systems.
It will also examine the adequacy of privacy notices, data-sharing arrangements, lawful bases for processing, data minimisation and purpose limitation.
Other areas include data retention policies and the adequacy of technical and organisational measures put in place to safeguard the rights and personal data of affected students.
The Commission reiterated that institutions entrusted with the personal data of students, staff and other members of their communities have a heightened responsibility to ensure that such information is processed lawfully, fairly, transparently and securely.
The NDPC therefore warned educational institutions that are yet to comply with its existing data protection compliance directives to take immediate steps to achieve compliance.
The Commission said it would continue to exercise its regulatory mandate to protect the privacy rights of Nigerians and ensure that organisations processing personal data comply with the provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.
Microsoft is planning to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall, potentially as soon as next month, The Information reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the plans.
The company introduced its Maia AI chip in November 2023 but has lagged rivals such as Alphabet and Amazon in scaling up its in-house chip efforts as it seeks to reduce its reliance on Nvidia’s costly processors.
Google began recognizing revenue from direct sales of its custom AI chips, called Tensor Processing Units, in the quarter ended June, while Amazon has also seen growing adoption of its processors, including its Trainium chips.
Microsoft has been in talks with chipmaker TSMC to secure manufacturing capacity for more than 300,000 units of the chip for delivery in 2027, according to the report. It is also looking to significantly ramp up production and persuade major cloud customers such as Anthropic to adopt the chip.
Microsoft ultimately aims to secure capacity for more than 1 million Maia 300 chips, though component supplies and ongoing capacity negotiations with TSMC could constrain its plans, according to the report.
It unveiled its second-generation Maia 200 in January, built by TSMC using 3-nanometer technology.
Microsoft packed the chip with a significant amount of SRAM, a type of memory that can provide speed advantages for AI systems handling large numbers of user requests.
X has announced plans to discontinue its Revenue Sharing programme and introduce a new Original Content Rewards programme to reward creators for producing original content on the platform.
The social media company announced the changes at the weekend in a post on its X Creators handle, saying the new programme would reward creators who contribute original content.
“Today, we’re introducing the Original Content Rewards Program, a new way to reward creators who bring original ideas, expertise, reporting, creativity, and commentary to X,” the company said.
X said it would stop accepting new enrolments into the Revenue Sharing programme from Friday, while existing participants would continue earning until September 7, 2026.
“Starting today, we’re no longer accepting new enrollments into Revenue Sharing,” it said.
According to the company, existing Revenue Sharing participants will receive three final payouts, with two scheduled for August 14 and August 28, while the final payment for earnings accrued through September 7 is expected around September 11.
X said existing Revenue Sharing participants would begin getting access to apply for the new programme from September 8, subject to meeting its eligibility requirements.
The first payout under the Original Content Rewards programme will be made on August 28, 2026, while existing Revenue Sharing creators who enrol in the new programme from September 8 will receive their first payment on September 25.
Under the new programme, eligible creators will earn from qualified impressions generated by their original content, with payments made every two weeks.
X defined qualified impressions as unique impressions from Premium users on the Home Timeline feed, where at least 50 per cent of a post is visible.
On the other hand, “The following are excluded from qualified impressions: impressions from the same account counted more than once per post; paid, promoted, or artificially generated impressions; and fraudulent impressions,” it said.
To qualify, creators must be at least 18 years old, live in a country where the programme is available, maintain an account in good standing and have either a personal or vusiness account.
They must also subscribe to X Premium, Premium+ or Premium Business, have at least 500 verified followers and record at least 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users within the previous 90 days.
X said creators must also regularly post original content to remain eligible.
“We want to recognize creators who break news, share expertise, tell stories, create entertainment, and contribute meaningful perspectives to the conversation,” the company said.
The platform said original content could include threads, videos, memes, graphics, illustrations, reporting, analysis, commentary and reactions that add meaningful value to existing conversations.
It said creators who use content produced by others would need to add meaningful commentary, context, analysis, humour or creative transformation for such posts to qualify.
“Building on existing conversations is a core part of X, but simply reposting someone else’s content is not enough,” it said.
X said minor edits such as cropping, filters, borders, watermarks, speed adjustments or simple text overlays would generally not qualify as meaningful transformation on their own.
It also warned that content copied or substantially reproduced from another creator, content downloaded and re-uploaded from X or another platform without being the original author’s, automated content, disinformation and misleading content would be ineligible.
The company said accounts that violate the programme’s requirements could be temporarily or permanently removed from it, depending on the severity of the violation.
It added that creators would be responsible for ensuring they had the necessary rights, permissions or licences to use content created by others.
“Original content is content you personally create that reflects your own voice, perspective, expertise, or creativity,” X said.
The company said the new programme was intended to reward creators who make the platform more valuable by bringing original ideas and perspectives to its conversations.
“The Original Content Rewards Program is designed to reward the creators who start them, shape them, and move them forward,” it said.
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