$3 million cloud credit for female founders
As part of initiatives commemorating this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) in 2023, the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub and Google are teaming up to empower female founders. Through the partnership, $3 million in Google Cloud credits will be for female founders in Nigeria.
These cloud credits are often expensive for startups and can be used to access cloud computing resources and help female founders build and scale their businesses. The partnership illustrates how technology companies and organizations can work together to support diversity and inclusion in the technology industry. By providing access to resources and support, female founders in Nigeria can be empowered to build successful tech startups and contribute to the growth of the region’s tech ecosystem.
It’s also notable that the initiative ties into Google’s broader efforts to support diversity and inclusion in technology, including programs like Google for Startups, which provides mentorship, resources, and support to underrepresented founders. Earlier this month, Google announced 15 startups for the inaugural Google for startups Accelerator Africa.
FG exempts telecom from 5% excise duty
After intense consultations with telecommunications industry stakeholders last week, the federal government exempted the telecom sector from the five percent excise tax approved in 2020, to be paid by all sectors of the economy.
Some justifications for the move are that the telecom industry is overloaded with 41 different taxes; it continues to be a major contributor to the Nigerian economy in terms of gross domestic product, and despite the rise in the cost of all factors of production in the other sectors leading to an increase in the cost of products and services, the telecom sector is the only sector where the cost of services has remained stable and, in many cases, has continued to fall in recent years.
Since they are major contributors to the economy, the tax exemption would reduce their tax burden in the telecom sector and could help boost growth and investment.
The Lagos government is aiming for 1 GW of solar energy by 2030
Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari approved 16 constitutional amendment bills. The signed bills include delegating more power to Nigerian states, strengthening and granting autonomy in key areas such as electricity, railways and the judiciary.
Nigeria is a major power deficit country, but it is endowed with large oil, gas, hydro and solar energy resources and has the potential to generate 12,522 MW of electrical energy from existing plants. Despite this potential, the industry continues to languish in the pool of underperformance.
Now that states have been given autonomy over energy generation, there is good hope that the energy sector, which has long struggled with problems related to inadequate infrastructure, unreliable electricity supply and a lack of investment, will be revitalized.
A state like Lagos, the commercial nerve center of Nigeria, said it is committed to reaching 1 GW of solar power by 2030 with an agreement with the World Bank for suitable financing. In a few years, power generation in Nigeria, if maximized, should have improved commendably, leading to robust economic growth.
ICYMI: Market overview
The NGX All Share Index depreciated by 0.04% to end the week at 54,892.53 points. The biggest winners were Sunu Assurances Nigeria PLC (+9.09%), Lasaco Assurance PLC (+7.14%), NPF Microfinance Bank (+6.94%), Geregu Power PLC (+6.25%), Transcorp Hotels PLC (+6.15%). The biggest fallers were NCR Nigeria PLC (-18.69%), Ikeja Hotel PLC (-18.25%), International Breweries Plc (-6.45%), Cadbury Nigeria PLC (-5.83%), Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc (-5.80%) .
The naira rallied higher to close out the week at ₦459.00/$1 on Friday compared to the ₦461.75/1$ recorded the previous week.
Brent crude closed the week at $74.61, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude closed at $69.26.
The global cryptocurrency market cap was $1.16 trillionfrom Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 7:24 p.m. Bitcoin was at $27,882.13, down 0.56% in 7 days, Ethereum was at $1,769.04, down 2.71% in 7 days, and Binance coin was at $328.01, a 3.26% drop in 7 days.
Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV) has raised $43 million for its Pan-African venture fund, which invests in scalable, technology-based, post-revenue startups tackling tough challenges on the continent.
Crediblea fintech company that offers its clients a tech stack, scoring capabilities, and banking partners has raised a seed round of $2.5 million.
Moroccan vendor spend management startup Konta raised $1.15 million from the Azur Innovation Fund.
