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Africa now has one of the fastest developing mobile payment market . For banks and other financial organisations, competition from start-ups and mobile apps is disrupting the status quo payments landscape.  Existing players face more challenges and many financial institutions, retailers and processors are uncertain about how to best prepare for and prosper from this disruption.  The Africa payments industry is at an important inflection point where businesses need the best strategy and execution to meet the challenges ahead. Organisations must turn disruptive trends and technologies into a business advantage. They must embrace new technologies to create opportunities.  When it comes to how consumers will transact, pay and interact with retailers and banks in the future, the key to success is how technologies add value while offering greater simplicity . Mobile payment is making inroads as shopping apps are gaining popularity. Most of the big traditional retailers are unveiling e-comme

The first half of 2017 is not even over and police in East African region have recently discovered millions of marijuana rolls as well as over 100 kilos of cocaine, heroin and crystal methamphetamine.  Although the governments in the region have increased their efforts to reduce the amount of drugs, specifically marijuana, heroin and cocaine, coming in from Asia and South America, decreasing supply and demand is proving to be incredibly difficult .Several numbers have been given to the public regarding the amount of drug addicts in the region however, an exact number is unknown. The most recent number was put at 3 million out of a total population of 150 million East Africans although it is likely to be much higher than this. The dramatic rise of methamphetamine and marijuana use in the region can be partly blamed on the lack of education regarding these harmful drugs. Some East Africans consider these drugs to be fine, even acceptable, because they are believed to be un-addictive. Th

An investigative report  reveals that more people are buying recreational drugs such as marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine online, partly because it is much cheaper than buying them on the street, where the price of drugs in Africa is higher . On drug habits, study shows a rapid increase over the past tow years in the number of people who buy their drugs online using sites which for ethical reasons I won’t share here.Methamphetamine is plentiful and affordable in  Africa due to the proximity to source countries like Nigeria and South Africa. Most methamphetamine sold online comes in crystal form .There are meth pills of course, sold as pills.Online that pill goes for $1, on the street $4 on average which I thought is a ludicrous price having in mind more than three quarters of African population are jobless and can barely afford a meal of $0.50.The availability of drugs online had both led to an increase in the number of Africans using recreational drugs and also shifted a portion of user

In Kampala, Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam, big ideas are thriving. Venture capitalists are investing heavily to support and nurture innovation in an industry where market forces apply in a cut throat competition.  Entrepreneurs and venture capital firms view East African region as territory offering huge potential and opportunities .There are several reasons why. Firstly, East Africa is a huge market. It is the African’s most integrated regional economy and is a populous region with over 140 million people. Also, young East Africans are extremely tech savvy. Despite a low Internet penetration rate, East African region is one of the largest region in terms of number of Twitter and Facebook users respectively in Africa.East Africans are inspired by what has happened in the western world and the region seems be more acceptable to risk taking. This is just your blogger’s opinion. East African region is attractive because of its low cost and huge market potential. This potential is highlighted

Sergio Garcia has won The Masters 2017 after a pulsating fourth day at Augusta Golf Club in Georgia, a course famous for its spectacular scenery just as golfers deliver wondrous golfing every year . It was the first playoff at The Masters history that involved two europeans. Garcia was often named as the best golfer never to win a major but those ghosts of failure are no more thanks to his win. The day started with Spain’s Sergio Garcia joint at the top of the leaderboard with England’s Justin Rose. Close was Rickie Fowler as well as Jordan Spieth, the 2015 champion who capitulated last year at the most critical moment. Australia’s Adam Scott wasn’t far behind the pacesetters and the Queenslander was among those who stood a chance.Legendary Phil Mickelson and my fellow millennial Rory McIlroy were far off to be considered potential champions as the day began. When the play began, the writing was on the wall that 2017 Masters will be won the hard way.It was a star-studded leaderboard th

New data  has revealed a clear sense of urgency among African businesses in embracing the digital transformation journey  with more than three quarters of business leaders believing that they need to transform their organisations into digital businesses to enable future growth. The data which covers 25 African countries, and whose findings your blogger has, 18% of those surveyed indicated that they have a full digital strategy in place, while 35 per cent are in progress with specific digital transformation initiatives for selected parts of their business. Another 23 per cent of respondents have very limited or no strategy in place.The study surveyed 3,120 business leaders from Sub Saharan Africa between January and November 2016.  All respondents were pre-qualified as being involved in shaping their organisations’ digital strategy . Sifting through the data, 2016 was a huge year for technology as Africa saw announcements.2017 looks to be an even bigger year as African countries contin