E-Business
StarNews, Global Black Economic Forum Launch Business Competition In Partnership with MTN & USAID

Africa’s leading video streaming platform, StarNews Mobile and the Global Black Economic Forum (GBEF), have announced a call for applications for the launch of their Business Competition in Lagos, Nigeria.
Held in partnership with MTN and United Nations Agency for International Development (USAID), the initiative will empower Nigeria’s most promising businesses that are classified as Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with invaluable investment and partnership opportunities from the USA.
Held over 10 weeks between April 8th to June 14th, hosted exclusively on the StarNews Biz Channel on the StarNews platform, this competition offers a platform for emerging entrepreneurs to showcase their ventures and gain national visibility.
With subscribers voting for their favourite candidates, the top 20 contestants will seize the spotlight and make their mark on the business landscape.
The StarNews Business Competition in partnership with GBEF delivers a unique opportunity for thriving Nigerian SMEs to access mentoring, funding, partnerships and socio-economic development tools through the Global Black Economic Forum.
With the prospect of securing cash prizes through StarNews worth up to NGN5,000,000, getting access to StarNews’s network of investors and the opportunity to gain national visibility by having their business on the StarNews web platform.
The top three winners will also receive coaching from GBEF’s Academy for Advancing Excellence and become part of GBEF’s ecosystem of global leaders committed to social and economic justice across the Black Diaspora.
Previous speakers at GBEF convenings from the entertainment sector include Wyclef Jean (Haitian Musician & Activist), Debra Lee (Former CEO of Black Entertainment Television – BET) and Ceci Kurzman (Founder of Nexus Management Group). Applications will close on April 5th 2024.
Speaking on the competition’s launch, Guy Kamgaing, Founder and CEO at StarNews Mobile, says “The StarNews Business Competition is a passion project close to our hearts at StarNews Mobile.
It’s about discovering the most promising business entrepreneurs and creators in Nigeria, opening up global opportunities for them and providing them with the resources and tools to achieve their goals.
By partnering with MTN, USAID and GBEF, we want to be a platform of empowerment for these SMEs by helping them give back to the communities that are supporting them.”
According to the US Embassy and Consulate for Nigeria, over 80% of Nigerian startups are incorporated in the United States and more than 60% of venture capital funding in Nigerian startups accounted for by the US.
In 2023 alone, Nigerian startups raised a total of $398mn however, this signalled a 66% funding decline compared to 2022 due to the global economic downturn, reinforcing the massive need for a fresh injection of capital and business support for Nigeria’s emerging SMEs.
Alphonso David, President and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum notes that, “Our partnership with StarNews Mobile is a critical resource as we continue to build the collective strength of entrepreneurship across the Diaspora.
“Building a sustainable ecosystem of Black entrepreneurs in the United States and across the African continent is essential to create a future that makes economic opportunity and economic freedom a reality for all.”
A sister company to ESSENCE, GBEF advances its work by convening global summits and conferences, bringing together world leaders, business leaders, entrepreneurs, celebrities and civic leaders to address the most challenging problems facing our communities.
GBEF’s Academy for Advancing Excellence facilitates workforce and leadership development strategy, addressing the talent pipeline & employee lifecycle, providing leadership development & coaching, and conducting institutional assessments & research.
GBEF also develops and implements economic and social justice policy recommendations with partners ranging from civil and human rights organisations to government entities and corporations that advocate for economic opportunity, social justice, and health equity through thought leadership, advocacy and litigation.
Launched in 2017, StarNews Mobile empowers African content creators with the unique opportunity to monetize their work through a subscription model, boasting over 4 million subscribers and a thriving community of more than 120 content creators.
With a strong presence across six countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, Côte D’Ivoire, Congo, Benin and Ghana, the platform has also established key partnerships with major telecom operators such as MTN and Orange.
To-date, StarNews Mobile has secured over $8mn in funding with its most recent raise – a $3mn pre-Series A funding round in October 2023 – led by Janngo Capital with participation from French football players Aurélien Tchouaméni, Jules Koundé and Mike Maignan.
E-Business
Kike, Nigerian Tech Firm Launches ‘Kike AI’ for Kitchen Innovation

Kike Technologies, a Nigerian technology firm, has launched ‘Kike AI’, a revolutionary artificial intelligence-driven kitchen application designed to transform Nigeria’s food and cooking gas industries.
The app aims to enhance convenience for consumers while optimising gas supply through predictive technology.
Speaking at the launch event, Femi Oye, CEO of Kike Technologies, highlighted the app’s ability to address a common household issue, unexpected depletion of cooking gas.
“Using advanced algorithms and data analytics, this app can forecast when a user’s gas cylinder is running low, enabling them to order refills ahead of time,” Oye explained.
Beyond individual household benefits, Kike AI is expected to have a broader economic impact by creating jobs within the logistics, gas retail, and food industries.
“We anticipate significant job growth as the app gains traction, particularly in delivery and gas station services,” Oye noted.
The app is also designed to bridge the digital gap, specifically targeting women and marginalised groups by providing them with opportunities to showcase their culinary skills and earn a sustainable income.
According to Oye, this initiative will not only empower women economically but also help preserve Nigeria’s rich culinary heritage.
By leveraging AI technology, Kike AI aims to revolutionise everyday cooking experiences, support economic development, and create essential employment opportunities in Nigeria’s growing tech and food sectors.
The application is expected to drive a shift towards more efficient cooking gas management, ensuring affordability and ease of access for millions of users.
E-Business
Africa’s Data Workers are Being Exploited by Foreign Tech Firms – Report

Data workers in Africa often have a hard time, according to a report published in theconversation.com, a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good.
The article by Mohammad Amir Anwar, senior lecturer in African Studies and International Development, University of Edinburgh, found that data workers in Africa face job insecurities – including temporary contracts, low pay, arbitrary dismissal and worker surveillance – and alarming physical and psychological health risks.
The consequences of their work can include exhaustion, burnout, mental health strain, chronic stress, vertigo and weakening of eyesight.
Data work includes text prediction, image and video annotation, speech to text validation and content moderation.
The world of data work is built on labour arbitrage – exploiting the fact that workers earn less and have less protection in some countries than in others.
Large technology firms often outsource this work to the global south, including African countries like Kenya, Uganda and Madagascar, and also India and Venezuela.
The result is complex production networks that are generally opaque and shrouded in secrecy.
Workers and researchers have issued many warnings about data workers’ health.
Despite numerous court cases in multiple jurisdictions, nothing much has been done to address these issues either by tech companies or by regulators.
Still, the news of the death of a Nigerian content moderator, Ladi Anzaki Olubunmi, who was found dead in her apartment in Nairobi, Kenya on 7 March 2025, came as a shock.
While the circumstances of her death are still unclear, it has renewed calls for wider systemic change.
Her death has sparked condemnation from the Kenyan Union of Gig Workers, which demanded an investigation.
Since 2015, we have been studying the central role of African data workers in building and maintaining artificial intelligence (AI) systems, acting as “data janitors”.
Our research found that companies rarely acknowledge the use of human workers in AI value chains, thus they remain “hidden” from the public eye. In other words, the world of AI is built on the toil of human workers most people are unaware of.
In this article, we outline key steps needed to protect these data workers in Africa.
They include business process outsourcing regulations, ensuring quality rather than quantity of jobs, and providing social protection. There is also a need to name and shame companies that maltreat data workers.
Data work needs tighter regulation.
Regulation
Business process outsourcing is the practice of procuring various processes or operations from external suppliers or vendors.
Firms that do this are sometimes trying to evade local regulations (like minimum wages) and responsibility towards workers’ welfare (via sub-contracting and the use of temporary employment agencies).
This is happening in Africa as some data training firms and digital labour platforms circumvent local labour laws.
But there is more to the story.
Data work is also seen by lawmakers and practitioners as a solution to the rampant unemployment and informality across Africa.
African governments have actively created regulatory environments that enable these practices to thrive, despite adverse outcomes for workers.
Nonetheless, new regulations have been proposed lately, like the Kenyan government’s Business Law (Amendment) Bill, 2024 targeting the wider business process outsourcing and IT-enabled services sector.
Particularly, it makes business process outsourcing firms responsible for any claim raised by employees. It ensures some accountability for firms bringing data work to Africa.
Other governments should follow with similar measures ensuring worker rights are enforceable. Some data workers are hired on contracts as short as five days and get paid less than the local minimum wage.
Firms found violating labour standards should be penalised.
In fact, there is an urgent need to create regional or continent-wide regulatory frameworks covering the business process outsourcing sector, limiting the space for firms to exploit workers.
It’s possible, however, that jobs might be lost as firms relocate to places with favourable laws, an everyday reality in the outsourcing networks.
Quality, not quantity
African governments should prioritise the quality of jobs and not quantity. Policymakers should think about wider national economic development plans, particularly structural diversification and upgrading of their economies.
Historically, these strategies have resulted in success in some states, addressing social and economic issues such as unemployment, poverty and inequality.
Another option for African governments is to enhance social protection among data workers.
Financing this is a serious issue, so proper taxation and compliance among workers and employers is urgently needed.
Finally, there is a role for naming and shaming firms that treat their data workers poorly. There is evidence that such efforts improve compliance and firms’ behaviour.
Worker movements
African data workers have taken risks in openly speaking about their experiences.
But these kinds of approaches work well when combined with collective bargaining.
Workers have historically won their labour and civil rights after long and hard-fought struggles.
There is a long history of African worker movements and trade unions resisting the apartheid and colonial regimes across the continent.
While the freedom of association is enshrined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and most governments have legislation committed to collective bargaining, it is rarely implemented in the new outsourcing sectors, particularly data work.
It is also difficult to organise workers in the industry, because of the high churn rate. For instance, data training firms like Sama offer short-term contracts to employees, often as short as five days.
Some firms are hostile to workers’ organising activities.
But numerous data worker-led associations have emerged in Africa recently, some led by the co-authors of this article.
Techworker Community Africa, African Tech Workers Rising, African Content Moderators Unions and Data Labelers Association are among them.
These initiatives are crucial to ensure workers have decent remuneration, work-life balance, adequate working hours, protection against arbitrary dismissal, safe working environments, and contributions towards their health and welfare.
Several high-profile court cases are currently being pursued by African data workers against Meta and Sama.
There is precedent. In 2021. Meta was ordered by a Californian court to pay US$85 million to 10,000 content moderators.
AI-dependent tools such as ChatGPT or driverless cars would not exist without African data workers. They are tired of being “hidden”. They deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
Mophat Okinyi, Kauna Malgwi, Sonia Kgomo and Richard Mathenge co-authored this article.
E-Business
NIMC Says NIN Mandatory to Government Loans

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) said the National Identification Number (NIN) is a mandatory requirement for securing government loans.
NIMC said on its social media platform that the identity number has become compulsory for Bank of Industry (BOI) loans.
NIMC said, “Enroll for your NIN today to access business aid and other opportunities from the Bank of Industry.
“To access the services of the Bank of Industry (BOI), enroll for the NIN.”
Recall that the federal government, through the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment (FMITI), established three funds totaling N200bn to support businesses across Nigeria.
The fund will be accessed at nine per cent interest, to be disbursed by the Bank of Industry (BOI).
The funds established by the government were the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme (PCGS), the FGN MSME Intervention Fund, and the FGN Manufacturing Sector Fund.
The government appointed BOI as the executing agency for the funds and is empowered with the responsibility for their day-to-day administration.
“The Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme (PCGS) is a N50bn grant scheme to support eligible Nano Business owners. The grant will be disbursed to a minimum of 1,000 beneficiaries, especially women and youths, per Local Government Area (LGA) in the 774 LGAs across the nation and the six Council Areas in the FCT.
“The target Nano businesses include traders, food vendors, ICT businesses, transporters, artisans, and creatives, among others,” said Dr. Olasupo Olusi, managing director/chief executive officer, BOI.
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