SimbaPay Launches Free UK to Nigeria Money Transfers

SimbaPay, a digital money transfer provider has announced the launch of its money transfer service to Nigeria which would allow Nigerians living in the UK to send money to any bank account or mobile phone in Nigeria instantly.

The money transfer service offers zero fees for money transfers to Nigeria from the UK and would gradually roll out to Nigerians living in other EU countries.

Nyasinga Onyancha, CEO of SimbaPay says the company is excited to be “eliminating high money transfer fees for Nigerians in the UK who are sending money to their loved ones.”

The SimbaPay app, which is available for iOS and Android devices, also allows users to send money from the UK to Kenya.

DEMO Africa unveils 30 tech start-ups to pitch in Lagos

DEMO Africa today released a list of 30 technology start-ups from across Africa that will pitch their products at its 2015 edition to be held in Lagos, Nigeria in late September.

The list features eight Nigerian startups, including Mavis Computel, Oga Venue, TalkingBookz, CarpartsNigeria, Zuvaa, SmartEdu, PoshRite, iKon Tracker as well as eight Kenyan startups including InsureAfrika, Abacus, SimbaPay, ENT-Mobile, Bitsoko, BambaPOS, Shield Finance and LipaPlus.

Also, South Africa’s Edge Books, Bozza and Eco-mc2 as well as Ghana’s Zeepay and Flippy Campus, together with Egypt’s LockName and Raye7, Cameroon’s Koomza and Feem Wi-Fi, Zimbabwe’s IPC eProductivity and RoadRules, Uganda’s Roundbob, Tanzania’s Tango TV and Ivory Coast’s Airshop would also pitch at the event.

Interestingly, eight of the startups are finance-related while other popular sectors include Education, Transport and Logistics, Retail, Communication and Media and Entertainment.

The event will be co-hosted by DEMO Africa, Nigeria’s Ministry of Communications Technology and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in collaboration with LIONS@FRICA partnership and VC4Africa.

Xbox exclusive games coming to Windows 10

Microsoft is finally wetting gamers appetite with Windows. In an announcement made at the E3 conference today by Head of Xbox Phil Spencer, Microsoft will be bringing support for Xbox only games to Windows 10.

This means we should expect games like “Killer Instinct”, “Gears of War: Ultimate Edition” to be playable on Windows 10 – “We’re going to allow people to play on PC, to play on console, to play back and forth”, Phil says regarding the game “Killer Instinct”.

Additionally, Head of Game Studio Roy Fergusson noted that Gears of War: Ultimate Edition will be available for PC soon, with support for DirectX 12 and 4K resolution. :)

Multichoice Introduces Its New Decoder, DStv Explora In Nigeria

MultiChoice has officially introduced its new decoder called DStv Explora into the Nigerian market, after it launched in South Africa in early August.

The Explora comes with a 2 Terabyte (TB) hard drive, which is four times the size of those in DStv’s 2 Tuner which has a 500 GB storage capacity. It would also allow up to 220 hours of HD recording in addition to 20 movies in Box Office and 60 hours series of Catch Up content, although subscribers would have to wait until Q1 2014 to have access to the Box Office.

A company representative told TechLoy that more features will be added to the Explora in the next couple of months that would provide a great TV viewing experience to its subscribers.

The DStv Explora is currently being sold at Multichoice offices in Lagos for a retail price of N65,000 (without installation) and N71,300 (with installation).

Airtel Nigeria rolls out Wi-Fi service in Lagos

Airtel Nigeria has launched a Wi-Fi service to enable residents and visitors to Lagos to access the internet in public places through their smartphones, tablets, laptops and other smart devices, reports ITNewsAfrica.

The service, which is available to all mobile phone users, irrespective of their network, will also offer 15 minutes per month free to every user.

Already, Wi-Fi hotspots have been deployed at Ozone Cinema, Yaba, Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island and Alausa Shopping Mall, Ikeja, while plans are underway to make the Airtel Wi-Fi Hotspots available at shopping malls, airports, universities and other areas of public interest in other major cities.

W.TEC Is Now Accepting Applications To Its 2015 Girls Technology Camp

Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), a non-governmental organisation working to empower girls and women socially and economically, using ICTs in Nigeria has began accepting applications for its 2015 Girls Technology Camp.

This year’s tech camp, themed: ”Geeky Divas – Grooming ICTpreneurs”, which takes place from August 2 – 15, 2015 would help Nigerian girls develop an early interest in computers and other information technologies.

The 2-week long camp is open to 30 girls and will feature workshops on SCRATCH Programming with Raspberry Pi, Mobile Application Development, Digital Video Production, Graphics Designing, 3D Designing using Sketch-Up, Robotics Programming as well as excursions to technology companies and leadership activities.

The programme costs N 50,000 per student, including tuition, feeding, boarding, educational resources and excursions.

French telecoms giant, Orange in talks to acquire Airtel subsidiaries in Africa

French telecom giant, Orange has entered exclusive talks with Indian telecom giant, Bharti Airtel to explore the possible acquisition of its operations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone, according to a statement made available to TechLoy.

Although both operators say “there is no certainty of any binding agreement as a result of these discussions”, Orange CEO Stéphane Richard appears confident and optimistic. In a tweet posted on Monday, he expressed his enthusiasm for the acquisition talks.


Airtel, which entered the African region through a $10.7 billion acquisition of most of Zain’s African operations back in 2010, has reportedly been facing an uphill struggle in Africa.

If the Orange-Airtel deal falls through, it could see the French telecoms giant emerge as a strong competition for Africa’s leading telecoms operator, MTN.