E-Business
Heirs Technologies Unveils Disruptive, Ambitious Growth Plans

Heirs Technologies has unveiled disruptive and ambitious growth plans aimed at empowering Africa’s digital transformation through innovative and locally tailored solutions.
Obong Idiong, managing director, Heirs Technologies while unveiling the company’s plans in four IT Services areas that includes, Managed Services, IT Consulting, Business Process Outsourcing and ICT Training, said their core value is to help organizations solve problems.
“We are starting in Nigeria and wants to scale across Africa as we have similar demography and good thing about technology is that it does not have geographic limit. One thing about building technological service is that you have to ensure that it is something that can be use across boundaries that’s what creates values.
“Our main focus is how to help organizations meet their business objectives. Our purpose is to empower Africa’s digital transformation through innovative and locally tailored solutions. It is expensive to run businesses now due to high exchange rate and we want to see how we can create local substitutes, be it on manpower, technological licensing and solutions, he said”.
Managed IT Services
Idiong said: “Managed IT services is a big part of what we want to do. We want to be able to take the headache of managing technological solutions off organizations. Today, technological evolution is growing very fast and very difficult to keep in pace of the growth, and a lot of businesses want to focus on been competitive and doing that there are a lot of inefficiencies that come such as cybersecurity threat, data privacy and policy, artificial intelligent among others. These requires specialized kind of skills and investments.
“We are saying give us that headache to do, in terms of those skills gap, we have them. In terms of know-how to take care of your IT infrastructure, disaster recovery we have them. Because, we have the technologies, we have the partnerships, we have the solutions and we have the skills to be able to manage these and enable the organization focus on its core business.
Dr. Fumbi Chima, chairman, Heirs Technologies, in her opening remark said that the future world is in technology. “We intend to work with organizations so that we can become Africa’s technology hub just like what China and India are doing in technology. Future is about us. Future is all about technology. We are looking at creating technology opportunity that will help us to create wealth outside of Nigeria. I am looking forward to be as an organization, one of the disruptive and ambitious growth company over the next three to five years,” she noted.
IT Consulting
Its IT Consulting Services aims to help businesses improve their operations by advising them on how to use Information Technology (IT) effectively. By partnering with leading hardware & software technology manufacturers, Heirs Technologies provides clients with access to world class solutions that are specifically tailored to your requirements and budget, ultimately providing competitive advantage and exponential business growth.
Business Process Outsourcing
Heirs Technologies provides IT Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services involving a range of technology-based solutions to clients, enabling them to focus on their core business functions while leveraging specialized expertise and resources.
IT Training
i-Academy, is Heirs Technologies’ training institute, dedicated to enhancing technical proficiency across the Group companies and external recruits, thereby building a talent pipeline of resources committed to rendering exceptional service delivery for our 3 business lines – OEM Support, Business Process Outsourcing, and Managed Services, that enable us achieve our revenue targets.
E-Business
NFIU Credits AML/CFT Reforms behind Nigeria’s Nears Exit from FATF Greylist

Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has credited a series of strategic reforms under the national Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Financing of Terrorism, and Counter-Proliferation Financing (AML/CFT/CPF) framework, behind Nigeria’s significant strides toward exiting the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) greylist, marking a critical milestone in the country’s fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, and financial crimes.
In a statement, Chief Executive Officer of NFIU, Hafsat Bakari, praised the collective efforts of government agencies and stakeholders. “Congratulations and a job well done as Nigeria comes closer to exiting the FATF grey list. The results achieved as part of the strategic reforms must be applauded,” she said.
She said the NFIU, serving as the Secretariat of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on AML/CFT/CPF, spearheaded the development of a comprehensive roadmap to address deficiencies highlighted in Nigeria’s 2021 mutual evaluation report. She explained that the roadmap was recently reviewed and endorsed at the FATF Plenary in Strasbourg, France, where it was acknowledged that Nigeria has completed the implementation of its Action Plan within the agreed deadline—a rare achievement among listed jurisdictions.
Bakari emphasised the pivotal role of political leadership in this success: “The clear focus and leadership of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, provided an enabling environment for the reform processes. His dynamic leadership, alongside the support of the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly, has been a critical success factor.”
She also highlighted the crucial contributions of the Judiciary, which has demonstrated the effectiveness of Nigeria’s legal framework in combating financial crimes. The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, and the Minister of Interior, who led the Inter-Ministerial Committee, were credited for providing strategic direction.
“The commitment of these key officials, along with support from the National Security Adviser and various ministers, has been instrumental in driving the reforms forward,” Bakari noted.
A broad coalition of agencies formed the backbone of the national effort, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Police Force, and many others. Their coordinated efforts have strengthened Nigeria’s defenses against illicit financial activities.
Despite the progress, Bakari cautioned that key steps remain before Nigeria can officially exit the greylist. “A critical upcoming milestone is the onsite assessment by the FATF in the next few weeks. This assessment is an opportunity to demonstrate Nigeria’s highest political commitment to sustaining the reform programme and to showcase the impressive results achieved by both public and private sectors in preventing, detecting, and disrupting serious crimes.”
She reaffirmed the NFIU’s dedication to the ongoing fight: “The NFIU remains committed to supporting and working with all stakeholders in strengthening our collective defenses against money laundering, terrorist financing, and other serious crimes.”
E-Business
AfCFTA Positions Africa to Tap into $712bn Digital Trade Market by 2035

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is strategically positioning Africa to tap into a $712 billion digital trade market by 2035, leveraging key partnerships and trade-enabling infrastructure to deepen continental integration and economic sovereignty.
Wamkele Mene, Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, made this known on Wednesday at the 2025 Afreximbank Annual Meetings (AAM2025) in Abuja.
According to him, the Protocol on Digital Trade is central to AfCFTA’s strategy for unlocking the potential of Africa’s growing digital economy.
“We intend to harness this significant market, which is estimated to be over $712 billion by the year 2035, presenting opportunities for young entrepreneurs, investment in data centres, the commercialisation and movement of data, and the development of digital public infrastructure,” Mene said.
He emphasised the critical role of Afreximbank in providing the financial architecture required to support the AfCFTA’s implementation, especially in reducing and eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers.
“Without the support of Afreximbank, the AfCFTA will not succeed. It requires trade finance tools, support for industrial development, green trade, and green industrialisation,” he added.
Among the tools introduced in collaboration with Afreximbank is the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which enables intra-African payments in local currencies, reducing dependence on the US dollar and lowering transaction costs. Mene stressed that trading in foreign currencies like US dollar between African countries is no longer sustainable.
“We must use our own currencies. We must ensure the economic sovereignty of our continent and guard ourselves against ever-shifting global geopolitical tensions that affect payment systems,” he said.
He also disclosed that $10 billion has been mobilised under the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund to support countries implementing the agreement, with an initial ZIP package of $1 billion. Furthermore, a $1 billion AfCFTA Automotive Fund has been established to support component manufacturers and vehicle assembly on the continent. The sector, if well-supported, could generate $46 billion by 2035.
Additional initiatives include the AfCFTA E-Tariff platform, the Rules of Origin Manual, and the soon-to-be-launched Transit Guarantee System, which are all geared towards simplifying trade procedures and boosting intra-African trade.
“We have moved beyond political aspirations to establishing a functional and legally binding multilateral African trading system. This includes protocols on investment, competition policy, and digital trade,” Mene said.
Despite these milestones, he warned that numerous challenges persist. These include inefficient customs systems, high trade costs that limit SME market entry, political instability, and persistent food insecurity which blocks smallholder farmers from accessing markets. He called for continued collaboration between political leaders and development finance institutions to address these obstacles.
“We should be proud of what we have achieved, but also mindful of the difficult journey ahead. Conflict and instability, particularly in rural regions, continue to prevent millions of farmers from accessing markets. We must tackle these issues with urgency if the full potential of AfCFTA is to be realised,” Mene said.
During a question and answer after the launch of African trade and economic outlook report, Yemi Kale, Group chief economist and managing director of Research and Trade Intelligence at the African Export Import Bank, said between May 2024 and 2025 transaction volume through Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) increased by over 1,000 percent, reflecting increased adoption of the payment system.
E-Business
Kaspersky Discovers SparkKitty a New Trojan Spy on App Store and Google Play

Kaspersky researchers have discovered a new Trojan spy called SparkKitty which targets smartphones on iOS and Android. It sends images from an infected phone and information about the device to the attackers.
This malware was embedded in apps related to crypto and gambling, as well as in a trojanised TikTok app, and was distributed on App Store and Google Play, as well as on scam websites.
Experts suggest that the goal of the attackers is to steal cryptocurrency assets from residents of Southeast Asia and China. Users in Nigeria are also potentially at risk of facing a similar cyber threat.
Kaspersky has notified Google and Apple about the malicious apps. Certain technical details suggest that the new malware campaign is linked to the previously discovered SparkCat Trojan — malware (the first of its kind on iOS) with a built-in optical character recognition (OCR) module that allows it to scan image galleries and steal screenshots containing cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases or passwords. The SparkKitty case is the second time in a year that Kaspersky researchers have found a Trojan stealer on App Store, following SparkCat.
iOS
On App Store, the Trojan pretended to be an app related to cryptocurrencies — 币coin. On phishing pages mimicking the official iPhone App Store, the malware was distributed under the guise of TikTok and gambling applications.
“One of the vectors for the Trojan’s distribution turned out to be fake websites where the attackers tried to infect the victims’ iPhones. iOS has several legitimate ways to install programs not from the App Store. In this malicious campaign, the attackers used one of them — special developer tools for distributing corporate business applications.
In the infected version of TikTok, during authorisation, the malware, in addition to stealing photos from the smartphone gallery, embedded links to a suspicious store in the person’s profile window. This store only accepts cryptocurrencies, which increases our concerns about it,” explains Sergey Puzan, a malware expert at Kaspersky.
Android
The attackers targeted users both on third-party websites and on Google Play, passing off the malware as various crypto services. For example, one of the infected applications — a messenger called SOEX with a cryptocurrency exchange function — was downloaded from the official store over 10,000 times.
Experts also found APK files of infected apps (these can be installed directly on Android smartphones bypassing official stores) on third-party websites that are likely related to the detected malicious campaign. They are positioned as investment crypto projects. The websites on which these applications were posted were advertised on social networks, including YouTube.
“After the apps were installed, they functioned as promised in their description. But at the same time, photos from the smartphone gallery were sent to the attackers. The attackers may later try to find various confidential data in the images, for instance, crypto wallet recovery phrases to access the victims’ assets.
There are indirect signs that the attackers are interested in people’s digital assets: many of the infected apps were related to crypto, and the trojanised TikTok app also had a built-in store that accepted payment for goods only in crypto,” comments Dmitry Kalinin, a malware expert at Kaspersky.
- Telecom3 days ago
Lebara, New Operator Enters Nigerian Telecom Arena, Sells Minutes, Not Airtime
- General News2 days ago
OpenAI Unveils New AI Agent for Software Developers
- E-Business3 days ago
Over 7m Streaming Accounts’ Credentials were Leaked in 2024 – Report
- E-Financial3 days ago
Fidelity Bank Uplifts Old People’s Home with Essential Items Donation
- E-Financial3 days ago
S&P Global Ratings Downgrades Ecobank Nigeria’s Credit Rating to CCC-, Outlook Negative
- Telecom3 days ago
PIN Pushes for Equitable Digital Governance at World Internet Forum
- Telecom2 days ago
15 African Startups Using AI Selected for Google Accelerator Cohort 9
- E-Financial3 days ago
EFCC Drags Cititrust to Court over Unreported ₦200mTransfers