If not the first, TECNO Phones are among the earliest Chinese phone brands to enter the Ghanaian market. It is a brand of TRANSSION Holdings, which started in Ghana as a budget phone manufacturer and has, over the years, established its name and released new devices that are off their budget phone range.
TECNO phones are designed in such a way that they offer quality at reasonable prices to other brands. So if you have been looking for an affordable smartphone with good features and performance, then you need not look further than TECNO.
However, TECNO has entered the league of flagship devices to compete with premium phone manufacturers.
The type of TECNO phones you will find in the phone market are:
Premium flagship model phones. E.g. Phantom Series and Camon Series
Mid-range model phones. E.g. Spark Series
Budget or features phones (the devices TECNO entered Ghana and Africa with). E.g. POVA Series and POP series.
For everyone to still afford their premium devices, the company makes sure to manufacture 3 to 4 variants of its premium devices to meet the budget of their customers with varying lifestyles and budgets.
The company does not only leverage the phone market with its price to maintain its dominance, but the availability of accessories and spare parts has strengthened its marketing efforts. It is straightforward to get a TECNO phone accessory or parts in Ghana,
The durability of the phone is one of its most vital points. The fact that it has a good build quality and can withstand many falls is an advantage to you as a buyer of TECNO. The phone also comes with a lot of protective cases that you can buy for your Tecno mobile phones. For people who love to use additional accessories like screen guards, covers, chargers, etc., this brand has a wide range of options available at their online store which are reasonably priced.
Now let’s look at the latest TECNO phones and their prices in Ghana and where you can buy them.
The latest TECNO phones list in Ghana.
These are the latest Tecno phones in Ghana in no particular order.
TECNO Camon 19 Series
Photo credit TECNO Ghana
TECNO Camon 19 series is a premium model which comes in four(4) variants:
For the detailed specs on each, kindly click on the phone name above.
TECNO POP 5 Pro
TECNO Mobile released the “TECNO POP 5 Pro, a 6.52-inch Android Go Edition smartphone, in January 2022. The TECNO POP 5 Pro is an Android Go smartphone with a 6.52-inch HD + (1600 x 720) display, a MediaTek Helio A22 MT6761 2.0GHz quad-core CPU, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage capacity, and a dual primary camera with 8 + 0.3 megapixels. The phone retails for GHS 754.00.
TECNO POVA 3 was released in May 2022 by TECNO Mobile. It is a 6.9-inch smartphone that comes with a 7000mAh battery. The TECNO POVA 3 is a mid-range Android phone with a MediaTek Helio G88 2.0GHz octa-core CPU, 4GB/6GB RAM, 64GB/128GB storage capacity, an 8-megapixel front camera, and a 50 megapixel + 2 megapixel + AI Lens primary camera. The phone retails from GHS 845.00 to GHS 1,037.00.
TECNO POVA 3Key Specifications
Display: 6.9-inch
Resolution: 2460 x 1080
Processor: MediaTek Helio G88 2.0GHz Octa-core
Front Camera: 8 MP
Rear Camera: 50MP/2MP/AI Rear
RAM: 4GB/6GB
Storage: 64GB/128GB (microSD compatible up to 256GB)
Battery Capacity: 7000mAh
OS: Android 11 (HiOS).
TECNO POP 6
TECNO Mobile released the 6.1-inch Android Go Edition smartphone “TECNO POP 6” globally in May 2022. The TECNO POP 6 is an Android Go smartphone featuring a 6.1-inch HD+ (1560 x 720) display, 1.3GHz quad-core CPU, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage capacity, 5-megapixel front selfie camera, and a dual camera with 5 megapixels. This phone retails for GHS 638.00.
TECNO POP 6Key Specifications
Display: 6.1-inch
Resolution: 1560 × 720
Processor: 1.3GHz quad-core
Front Camera: 5MP
Rear Camera: 5MP/0.8MP
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 32GB (microSD compatible)
Battery Capacity: 5000mAh
OS: Android 11 (Go edition)
TECNO POP 6 Go
TECNO Mobile released the “TECNO POP 6 Go,” a 6.0-inch Android Go Edition smartphone, in May 2022. The TECNO POP 6 Go is a mini version of the TECNO POP 6. It is an Android Go smartphone featuring a 6.0-inch IPS (480 x 960) display, Spreadtrum UNISOC SC7731E Quad-core CPU, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage capacity, a 5-megapixel selfie camera, and a 5-megapixel dual camera. The phone retails for GHS 580.00.
TECNO POP 6 GoKey Specifications
Display: 6.0-inch
Resolution: 480 x 960 pixels
Processor: Spreadtrum UNISOC SC7731E Quad-core
Front Camera: 5MP
Rear Camera: 5MP/0.8MP
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 32GB (microSD compatible)
Battery Capacity: 4000mAh
OS: Android 11 (Go edition)
Where can you buy a Tecno smartphone in Ghana?
The price of a TECNO phone may vary depending on where you are buying it from. It is very recommended that for the TECNO phone price or deal, please, buy from the following sources:
All accredited Tecno phone shops/partners in the country
I hope you found this list useful in your search for the latest Tecno phones. This list will be updated regularly to include new devices as they’re released, so be sure to bookmark our page and check back regularly for updates.
Whether you are travelling alone or you are travelling with family, a packing cube is what you need.
A packing cube is a lightweight bag in which you can keep all your items. You may be wondering; I already have a suitcase, so why would I need a packing cube? Why should I get a travel bag luggage cube? That is like having a bag in a bag.
Well, that is true but keep reading to see all the amazing benefits of packing cubes and why you need one when you are travelling.
Reasons why you need a packing cube
1. It’s efficient
Let’s face it; nobody likes packing. It is time-consuming, and for some people like me, we have to make a list of the things we need if not, we might end up not packing our toothbrush or, worse, our charger. But packing cubes make packing feel like a breeze.
The cubes come in different pieces so that you can have different cubes for different things.
There are 6pcs packing cubes or even more, depending on what you want. That way, you know your shirts go in one, your shoes go in another, and your toiletries in the other. This makes it easy to pack every item you will need for your trip.
2. It’s easily accessible
Since you pack different things into different cubes, it is easier to find what you want. The packing cubes come in different sizes, different colours and different shapes and also the best part is it has a mesh top. All these make it easy to identify which item is in which bag making them easily accessible. No more having to dig through the whole suitcase trying to find one pair of socks.
3. Keeps your items neatly organized
Since packing cubes come in different sizes, you can pack similar items into different bags. If you are travelling alone, you can have your laptop in one bag, your clothes in another bag, and your cosmetics in another.
If you are travelling with family, you can have different people’s stuff in different bags. That way, if a kid wants his shirt, he knows which cube to go into. This helps to keep everything organized.
Some packing cubes also have different compartments to keep different items neat and organized. This way, your clothes are less wrinkled, making them the perfect travel companion for the businessman.
4. It is a space saver
Most people tend to overpack when they are travelling because they want to be prepared for everything. What if I take only one pair of jeans and I rip them, or I fall and make them dirty? Let me add two more, just in case. What if I want to go jogging in the morning? Let me just add my sneakers and my leggings. (knowing very well you won’t use it because you don’t even exercise at home, so why would you do it on a 3-day trip?
But that is the story of the over-packer. They tend to pack a lot more than they will actually need or use.
If you just pack all your items in your suitcase, not everything will likely fit in it. Especially if you are an over-packer. Packing cubes compresses your clothes, allowing you to add all the items you need. It is an over-packer’s best friend.
5. It is lightweight
Packing cubes are lightweight, and their block shape makes it easy to stack them. So it is easy to fit them in your suitcase or backpack. Even if you don’t need them for travelling, they can be perfect for organizing your dresser and will fit perfectly into it.
Now that you know these amazing benefits of packing cubes, you can get some to purchase at E packing cubes.
After a long, hectic week, there’s nothing better than kicking back and enjoying some of your favourite TV shows or movies with the whole family. All you have to do is pick up your HUAWEI MatePad T 10s, pick your show and enjoy! With its stunning display and immersive audio capabilities, the HUAWEI MatePad T 10s is the perfect solution for some comfortable home entertainment.
The HUAWEI MatePad T 10s fit the bill just right. Featuring a 10.1-inch 16:10 Full HD display and a robust set of Harman Kardon-certified speakers, the tablet ensures a great experience whether it’s used for consuming multimedia content or gaming.
Image credit: Huawei
The resolution and pixel density are superb, at 1920×1200 and 224ppi, respectively, enabling it to showcase all the beautiful detail of Full HD content. The colours are also incredibly vibrant, supporting 70% of the NTSC colour gamut (typical value). Additionally, HUAWEI ClariVu Display Enhancement technology gives the visuals a comprehensive uplift by dynamically optimising the display, allowing for even better colour and detail reproduction.
Since it takes more than visual to deliver a good multimedia experience, the HUAWEI MatePad T10s includes a set of dual-huge amplitude speakers. The speakers’ internals has been redesigned to allow for a longer stroke path than traditional audio systems in tablets, enabling the tablet to achieve a higher audio volume with low distortion. HUAWEI Histen 6.1 takes the audio capabilities further, allowing the tablet to support 9.1-channel 3D surround sound. You can even configure your experience to your liking with the comprehensive options menu and enhance the audio with Bass Booster. Even if your children are rowdy while you’re watching something together, you won’t have a problem hearing from the tablet.
Don’t be surprised if your kids want in on the action and want to take the tablet to watch their shows or even sit for some online classes. Especially with the “back to school” season, they will have a lot of homework! Safety is essential while keeping your child occupied on a tablet. You need one that is safe for minors to use without your close supervision and offers a good, immersive experience. Keeping this in mind, the HUAWEI MatePad T 10s comes with Kids Corner, a virtual playground you have absolute control over, thanks to various parental control features. Thanks to this, you can let them have free rein over the tablet while enjoying your peace of mind. Kids’ Corner is a controlled space where you choose what your child gets to see or play with. Photos, videos and apps can be shared with your kids at your discretion. Once it’s set up, the children can be left to their own devices while you spend quality time alone. Topping this off, the display is TUV Rheinland certified, which means harmful blue light is filtered out, so you don’t have to worry about spending too long on the tablets.
Be it for entertainment, education or just casual browsing, the HUAWEI MatePad T 10s is perfect for all family members. So the next time you want to kick back and relax, you know exactly what to do.
Huawei Digital Power this week launched its full range of FusionSolar Smart PV and Energy Storage System (ESS) solutions to the Sub-Saharan African market at the Solar Show Africa 2022.
Renewables will be crucial if the region is to meet its development goals and ensure that all of its people have access to electricity. Africa has the biggest potential of solar energy around the world, with long-term output of 4.51 kWh/kWp per day. However, at present, Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 77% of the global population without electricity access, and that proportion has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know that Sub-Saharan Africa is ideally poised to take advantage of renewable energy and solar in particular,” says Victor Koyier, Vice Director of Huawei Smart PV Sub-Saharan Africa. “But we also know that digital technologies are key to unlocking its potential. We believe that our full suite of Huawei FusionSolar Smart PV and ESS solutions will help stakeholders at the utility, C&I, and residential scenarios by ensuring that solar systems are more affordable, more effective, and easier to maintain.”
The solutions Huawei launched in Africa include FusionSolar Smart PV Solution 6.0+, which enables a PV system to be adapted to various grid scenarios, especially in a weak grid environment; Residential Smart PV Solution and Commercial & Industrial Smart PV Solution offers an all-around clean energy experience to homes and businesses respectively with optimised electricity costs, active safety, smart operation and maintenance (O&M) and intelligent assistance for an enhanced experience.
“These solutions are ideally poised to help advance the adoption of renewables at all scales across the region. Take active safety feature for example, the industry-leading AFCI technology enables precise fault detection and emergency disconnection, which drastically improving the system’s safety; We can also increase power generation by over 2% under the same conditions and increase installation volume by up to 30% while using the power optimizers in C&I and residential scenarios, which can be directly translated to further electricity cost reduction. ” Kovier said.
“By bringing the knowledge that we’ve accumulated in the ICT space to the power sector, we can help make the supply and management of energy smart.” Kovier concludes.
Businesses use various software testing methods to ensure their products’ quality. This article will discuss some different approaches and their benefits.
Codeless Automated Testing
One such method of software testing is codeless automated testing, which does not require the manual entry of test codes. This type of testing is often used for regression testing, where changes made to the software are automatically tested for compatibility with the rest of the program.
This method of testing is welcomed by companies that do not have the in-house expertise when it comes to sorting out coding. It is a development from being able to automate the process of software testing in the first place.
Automated Testing
Using automated software testing that is not codeless is another popular method and is used to test large sections or even all of a program at once. This is where there is the coding experience to handle what the software produces.
We always need to be able to make sense of the software checker’s results. It is good to have something that finds us the errors without having to look for them manually. This can take away significant chunks of company time, otherwise, which all have to be paid for, and still not detect all of the errors necessarily. Errors in coding can be difficult to detect without a trained eye for coding and detail.
Manual Testing
Manual software testing is still widely used, especially for smaller businesses or those just starting. It involves testers physically going through every nook and cranny of a program, looking for errors and potential problems.
Many businesses now, though, are looking to automate to save the time that costs them money. Also, accuracy can be improved when a human error does not come into play which is inevitable for such a time-consuming and repetitive task.
Smaller businesses may think that automation is just for the larger companies, but in the long run, it can work out to be the cost-effective approach when we consider the time factor. It is good to start with manual testing, however, to have some kind of testing going on, but with a mind to progressing to the automated kind.
Not testing at all would be unthinkable when considering what just one error could mean for our business. It could lose us our main customer if they experienced the problem and did not take kindly to it. If software errors mean we cannot fulfil a deadline, how forgiving might any of our customers be? It could soon get around that our software is not up to scratch, so we are a business to avoid dealing with.
QA Testing
QA software testing is a newer approach combining automated and manual testing elements. It can be used for various purposes, such as usability, functionality, and performance.
This type of testing is often used in agile development environments, where changes are made frequently and need to be tested quickly and efficiently.
There are many benefits to using codeless automated testing over manual testing. It is important to choose the right testing method for your business to save time and money. We can probably conclude that full automation with testing is the likely best approach where possible and that codeless makes it accessible to more businesses without expertise. Anything that reduces time spent has to be seen as a good thing for businesses looking to become more efficient and not have staff spend significant amounts of time on something that can be dealt with easily by AI technology. To not embrace such innovation at the earliest possible stage may well be the quickest way to end up several steps behind our competitors.
MultiChoice Ghana has had a successful court ruling in a case in Kumasi about a person caught selling illegally MultiChoice Nigeria decoders in Ghana. The convicted person, Emmanuel Addae, was raided and arrested in Kumasi in 2019 following a tip-off. He was convicted on Friday, 19th August 2022, and sentenced to pay Ghc 12,000 or, in default, to serve one year in prison. He could not bear the fine immediately and thus has been processed to serve his term of imprisonment.
Convicted person, Emmanuel Addae
According to Alex Okyere, Managing Director, MultiChoice Ghana, “the activities of such persons on the market contravenes the Electronic Communications Act and a number of importation and tax laws in Ghana”. He explains MultiChoice Ghana is the only company in Ghana with the special license to import and distribute DStv decoders across the country.
He added, “MultiChoice Ghana has been working with the Ghana Police Service and other security agencies to track and raid persons involved in selling MultiChoice Nigeria decoders on the Ghanaian market, highlighting there are several such cases under investigation and awaiting trial.” He concluded that more raids of such nature would be carried out in the near future.
By law, all monthly DStv subscriptions paid in Ghana should attract the following taxes 2.5% NHIL, 1% Covid-19 Levy, 2.5% GetFund and 5% CST. Value Added Tax (12.5% VAT) is a tax applied on the value added to goods and services at each stage in the production and distribution chain. It forms part of the consumer’s final price for goods or services. The National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) is a levy on goods and services supplied in or imported into Ghana.
All goods and services are subject to the levy unless they are exempt. The Communications Service Tax (CST) is a tax levied on charges for the communications service operators’ use of communications services. CST is imposed under Section 1 of the Communications Service Tax Act 2008, (Act 754).
These DStv decoders from Nigeria are smuggled into the country, denying the country requisite import duties, then are sold to the unsuspecting public by these unscrupulous persons. The purchase and use of such decoders make one an accessory to tax evasion as your monthly subscriptions are paid in Nigeria, thus avoiding the payment of tax in Ghana.
According to Section 86 and 149 of the Ghana Revenue Act, a person who enters a contract with a non-resident person for the supply or use of goods or property of any kind, or the supply of any services, which contract gives rise to income accruing in or derived from Ghana, shall pay taxes on that service or good. Failure to Pay Tax is liable to summary conviction, of imprisonment for a term of not less than three months and not more than one year, or both.
During the raid, ledgers with accounts and personal details of persons they were illegally collecting subscriptions from and several boxes of decoders were seized. MultiChoice Ghana urges anyone who may have acquired such decoders to contact the nearest MultiChoice Ghana Office to have their decoder regularized.
In an era where heroes are easily forgotten and left to face whatever fate life throws at them, MTN Ghana continues to be an institution that leads the way in humanitarian activity.
Last week, the telecom giant – in an act of kindness – appreciated Madam Rita Tetteh with a furnished two-bedroom house. For those who may not remember, she is the lead actress in the iconic “me nsa aka oo” television ad that introduced the MobileMoney (MoMo) service to Ghanaians.
As MoMo gained ground over the years and that TV ad was replaced with updated versions, Madam Rita slowly faded from the memories of most Ghanaians – after all, life goes on. And considering the fast pace at which we live now, it’s only right to focus on what’s current and relevant to our daily living.
Thankfully, unlike most of us, MTN Ghana remembers and honours the people making (or who have made) significant contributions towards bettering our society – one of whom is Madam Rita Tetteh.
Madam Rita Tetteh, the lead character of the first MoMo TV commercial with a furnished two-bedroom house.
She is not the only person who has benefited from the telco’s humanitarian activities. The company, through its Bright Scholarship and Heroes of Change initiatives – among other such interventions – continues to impact the lives of ordinary Ghanaians positively.
I refer to MTN Ghana’s interventions as humanitarian acts rather than the regular Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for one thing: whereas CSR is a duty to which companies oblige mostly for the PR, humanitarian acts go the extra mile to establish a sustained positive impact in the lives of beneficiaries – a relationship. The latter is what MTN Ghana does.
Many ordinary Ghanaians dream of positively impacting the lives of others, but are restrained from doing so due to one thing or another. And that’s why I, for one, am proud to subscribe to a service provider that does humanitarian work on my behalf.
MTN Ghana must be commended for its many activities beyond its core telecommunications mandate. For a business entity to weave itself into the fabric of the Ghanaian experience, it takes deliberate effort to identify where one fits and the capacity in which one would play a role.
MTN did not simply become Ghana’s biggest telecom service provider because of catchy slogans. It was a combined effort of innovative services and impactful social interventions that endeared this network to Ghanaians – easily positioning it above competitors.
This is not to say there are no flaws in MTN Ghana’s services, of course. There is much that can be improved upon for a better experience. The good thing is that MTN listens and takes action.
For a company to be as human-centred as MTN Ghana is, you can only attribute it to the people in charge of affairs. I guess it’s true when they assure customers that “we dey 4 u.” More of such, MTN… more of such realness.
Showmax has announced that House of the Dragon is now available on the streaming service in Ghana. When the series premiered in the US on Sunday, it broke HBO’s viewing records, with almost 10 million fans watching the first episode of the epic fantasy.
The Guardian wrote: “House of the Dragon is designed to reward diehard fantasy fans in full measure without alienating the masses that will propel it to the top of the ratings,” while IGN declared “It’s good to be back in backstabbing Westeros.”
House of the Dragon is the prequel series to HBO’s Game of Thrones. It is based on author George RR Martin’s book Fire & Blood and chronicles the history of House Targaryen.
Game of Thrones remains one of the most binge-watched series of all time on Showmax, and House of the Dragon takes place 200 years before the cataclysmic events, a time when the Targaryen family reigned supreme with fearsome dragons as their enforcers.
Paddy Considine (Peaky Blinders, The Outsider) plays King Viserys I, while Sian Brooke (Sherlock) plays Queen Aemma. Matt Smith (The Crown) is Prince Daemon Targaryen, the younger brother to the king, a fierce warrior and dragonrider, while relative newcomer Emma D’Arcy (Truth Seekers) plays Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, who is in awe of Prince Daemon and all that he does.
Fans can also expect to meet members of the House of Velaryon, who dominate the seas. Lord Corlys Velaryon (also known as the Sea Snake) is played by the enigmatic Steve Toussaint (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time). Rounding up the royal dynasties is House Hightower, with Olivia Cooke and Rhys Ifans starring.
Stay Competitive in the Workplace of the Future With Relevant Digital Skills.
The start-up economy in Africa is booming, but that noise needs to be channelled and amplified in the right direction. In order to thrive, new businesses require employees with relevant skills for the current digital age, but these critical skills can also help budding entrepreneurs launch their own businesses and compete in this vibrant market.
In an increasingly remote working economy, having relevant digital skills can open up new employment avenues on a global scale, in which evidence-based capability is a stronger currency than academic qualification. Simply having a skill is nothing if you don’t put the work in and show the world what you can do and how easily it can be done.
Getting a Digital Ad Degree
The first step to getting noticed in the digital landscape is knowing how to make yourself heard above the noise. Aleph, a global leader in digital advertising, is the driving force behind the geographic expansion of the world’s biggest tech companies in emerging markets. They are also committed to educating more than 50,000 people across over 90 countries within these markets, thus forming the core of the next generation of digital professionals.
This training is provided through Digital Ad Expert, featuring the flagship programme of Digital Ad Degree, and all you need is access to the internet and Zoom. The course runs over 12 weeks with a mix of live and on-demand sessions, covering the basics of strategy and analytics, as well as platform specific advertising methodologies for all the major social media platforms like Twitter, Snapchat, Spotify, and others.
The Aleph degree awards badges upon completion allowing you to showcase your acquired skills across all social profiles. The programme also provides an overview of the current job market in Nigeria and Ghana, where these skills can immediately be put into practice.
Making Engaging Graphics
Canva is by far the best tool that has happened to the digital economy, it streamlines the graphic design process enough so that new businesses can get to market quickly. The Canva Design School is a resource that will walk you through the various stages of expertise within the Canva ecosystem. These courses are specially designed to enhance design skills, for multiple levels of proficiency, featuring activities and downloadable cheat sheets to get you going as quickly as possible.
There are other companies with similar courses in the graphic design software space, including Adobe Express, if you want an alternative.
Creating Impactful Images
Photography is now more accessible than ever, however a great photo is one that can communicate a mood or tell a story, and the secret to this is in the edit. Gimp has been the go-to free alternative to pricey professional editing software for decades now and the company keeps a running log of tutorials as new features are added.
You’ll find everything from basic image manipulation to automating your edit workflow with Python coding. Gimp allows your knowledge base to grow alongside your software, so you’ll always find the tutorial you need, when you need it.
Learning a new Language
Take a look at senior digital job listings and you’ll find terms like SQL, HTML5, and CSS. These are in fact the building blocks of web pages and you can learn the fundamentals for free through Khan Academy. The platform covers more than just coding, with resources for entire school syllabuses available, from Primary through Senior Secondary. Khan Academy remained unmatched as a pure learning experience, building an understanding of digital system creation through coding.
It’s unfortunate that Python has been removed from Khan Academy’s vast list of courses, but the videos are still available on the YouTube channel.
Getting Real With Social Media
True digital natives already know that almost anything can be learnt from watching a few YouTube videos, but what you might not know is that the development of digital skills is no exception. The real magic of the internet is in the flood of information available for free.
While social media can seem overwhelming (and distracting), it can also be a valuable learning tool, allowing you to interact directly with your role models, and locate mentors. The Twitter Spaces tab, for instance, is your door to topical discussions that are relevant to your interests.
Similarly, apply the same strategy to podcasts and you’ll quickly build an audio library that will enrich your personal skills and feed your future career ambitions.
Sign-up to Digital Ad Expert for Free
Applications are open for the next group of the 12-week Digital Ad Expert programme. The first training kicked off on 17 August, 2022. Candidates can still apply to complete a free three-month comprehensive digital ad degree here for the next training. The program will be conducted in English, twice weekly, over Zoom
MobileMoney Limited (MML) has launched a promo to reward Customers for their loyalty and to promote digital payments via MoMo. For the next 3 months beginning August 15th to 30th October, the company will reward 250 customers each week with prizes worth up to GHC5000 (Five Thousand Ghana cedis) E-Cash.
The point-based promo requires customers to meet and exceed a target set for them each week through the value of transactions they make. Customers who undertake Person to Merchant (P2M) and Person to Person (P2P) transactions will earn 2 points for every GHS 1 they transfer. Also, Customers who purchase airtime via MoMo will earn a point for every GHS 1 airtime and data top-up they buy from their wallet. Again, Customers who exceed their targets will get the total value of their transactions in points. Further to these, Customers who use the MoMo App to do transactions will earn 2 extra points for each transaction.
MoMo Agents and Merchants will be expected to register more Customers, increase their volume and value of transactions and reduce fraud incidents in their operations to win very attractive rewards.
Speaking at the recent launch of the MoMo month celebrations, Mr. Eli Hini -CEO of MobileMoney Limited said, “The invaluable role our customers play in our success story is what drives us to be constantly innovative in rewarding them. For this period, we want customers to appreciate the convenience MoMo provides when it comes to making payments.” ‘We should not let E-Levy deter us from enjoying the numerous benefits we get from using MoMo”, he added.
The 2022 MoMo Month Promo will reward Customers for using the MoMo Service for all their payment transactions during the period. Subscribers can view their accumulated points through MTN MoMo short code *170# or MoMo App.
Winners of weekly prizes will be presented with their rewards at the end of each month after they have been notified by MML via 0244 300 000. In the event where selected winners are not available to claim the prize, the prize will be awarded to the next customer in order of ranking. High-performing Agents and Merchants will be rewarded at the end of the year.
With the launch of the promotion, MML has intensified its campaign against fraud. MoMo customers are urged to be careful of the activities of Fraudsters. MML does NOT charge ANY money or its equivalent before prizes are redeemed; hence any request for money, recharge cards or airtime before a prize is redeemed is fraudulent. Official calls originating from MML on the promotion will be made through the official line 0244300000.
MoMo Month was instituted in 2012 and has for the past years been instrumental in driving awareness, influencing policy, and deepening the use of MoMo services. Customers should visit mtn.com.gh/MoMo for more details on the promotion.
When I founded MFS Africa more than a decade ago, I set a simple measure of success for the business. To facilitate access for my mom’s honey business in Porto-Novo, Benin, to collect payments from her customers from across the continent – and to make the process as easy as a phone call.
When it comes to Africa and financial empowerment, we must acknowledge that consumers have the same wants and needs as consumers everywhere else in the world. Africans on the continent want to order the latest clothes, and electronics and have them delivered timeously. We can agree that mobile money has done a lot to expand financial inclusion, but more is needed if they’re to seamlessly make purchases outside their countries and the continent. We must enable interoperability between mobile money and cards.
That is, ensuring that merchants are able to accept payments from any consumer, whether they’re using mobile money or a card and whether they’re online or offline. To understand the scale of the opportunity that interoperability represents, it’s worth taking a look at the African retail sector. In a sector worth hundreds of billions of dollars, online retail accounts for just one percent of sales, against a global average of 15%. Interoperability between cards and mobile money has the potential to not just bring that ratio more in line with global standards but to grow the sector as a whole. The appetite, after all, is clearly there.
The COVID 19 pandemic saw African eCommerce sales grow 42% between 2019 and 2020. Imagine what the growth will be like as people are able to buy and sell seamlessly, no matter where they are and what channel they use.
Beyond the mobile money narrative
This focus on interoperability represents a slight shift from the mobile money narrative that’s dominated discourse to date (some might argue that even this narrative has been overly focused on the success of MPesa in Kenya, with people elsewhere on the continent simply seen as unbanked).
In many ways, it’s understandable that so much focus has been put on the mobile money narrative in Africa. Its growth has been nothing short of explosive. According to GSMA’s 2022 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, African mobile money transactions grew 39% in 2021 to reach US$701.4 billion, accounting for 70% of the global total. As a result, many of the world’s largest digital merchants – including the likes of Spotify in partnership with dLocal – have started accepting mobile money payments.
By 2025, it’s estimated that some one million young people across Sub-Saharan Africa will have some kind of informal employment in the mobile sector, with many of them working as mobile money agents. Much of mobile money’s growth has been down to the fact that many Africans – around 57% of people on the continent, approximately 95 million people, do not have a traditional bank account. But for all the acceptance of mobile money, there are still instances where cards are the preferred payment method for consumers and merchants alike.
It’s imperative, therefore, that we change the narrative from one where Africans will never have to adopt cards because of mobile money. Instead, we need to look towards facilitating interoperability between mobile money and cards and promoting adoption at scale.
Making payments truly borderless
For the African fintech revolution to reach its true potential, interoperability cannot be confined to the continent. It needs to be completely borderless.
That means that African consumers and businesses alike should be able to make payments to any destination, whether it’s online or offline. For us at MFS Africa, that means connecting mobile money to the rest of the world. Card networks very much appear to be the best way of doing so. It’s something that we’ve been working on for some time too. In 2019, for example, we concluded an agreement with Visa to connect our MFS Africa HUB to the Visa Network to enable card issuing at scale. It was a slow burn, but with the recent acquisition of US company GTP we’re in a prime position to accelerate interoperability.
We’re not the only ones thinking this way either. The recent launch of the Mpesa Global card with Visa underscores how quickly international players are waking up to the need for interoperability. We are now at the point where the dream of every mobile money user having a card attached to their mobile money accounts is a feasible reality. In order for our continent to achieve the potential of the fintech revolution, mobile money needs to keep evolving and interoperability is key to that.
Nominations have officially opened for the 6th edition of the annual Sustainability and Social Investment Awards (SSI).
With nominations now opened, corporate organisations, civil society organisations, and individuals are encouraged to submit their entries before or on Thursday, September 29, 2022. The ceremony comes off on Friday, November 18, 2022, at Kempinski Hotel, Accra.
The awards scheme, which seeks to honour and celebrate individuals and corporate bodies for their consistent investments in socially responsible programmes that impacted and continue to impact society, has over the years honoured business leaders, corporate institution and not-for-profit as well.
Through the 5th edition, the SSI Awards has received more than 600 registered applications from more than 200 organizations representing various industry sectors across several categories.
Hosted and organized by Ianmatsun Global Services, the 2022 edition of the Sustainability & Social Investment Awards is endorsed by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), National Road Safety Authority (NRSC) and supported by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources.
Uniqueness of 2022 awards scheme
For this year’s awards, the organisers and partners have developed a set of categories that reflect the latest trends and practices in sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
From the most ambitious net-zero carbon programmes through to cutting-edge climate leadership innovations; from impactful climate partnerships and social sustainability initiatives to the heroes on the ground who are driving positive change.
“The awards scheme offers a unique opportunity to have your sustainability achievements recognised and admired by thousands of businesses and CSR experts. Winning an SSI Award empowers teams, inspires stakeholders and accelerates sustainable business growth,” Isaac Adu-Gyamfi, Managing Director of Ianmatsun Global Services, said.
To be held under the theme ‘Leading the Sustainability Transition through Private-Public Partnerships and Collaborations, the awards are open to all businesses and organisations across the public and private sectors and of all sizes from the largest multinationals to the smallest micro-organisations.
“As long as the initiative, project, product or strategy shows commitment, credibility and concrete results, we want to hear about it. The winning projects must leverage the latest technologies but protect the environment, deploy best practices in the area of sustainability and can be replicated and scaled up across the country to achieve nationally improved quality-of-life, sustainability and climate goals.
This awards scheme honours the most innovative sustainable initiatives in a various categories. Nominees and applicants are encouraged to apply for the award category that best represents the primary goal or overall benefit of the initiative. To nominate kindly visit www.ssigh.com/nominate,” Mr. Adu-Gyamfi added.
Contacts
Address: HSE No. 101 Free Estate, Off Kokrobite – Bortianor Road, New Weija
The chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. has appointed himself the industry’s savior—and crypto investors are closely watching his moves after months of market carnage. This year, he bailed out a troubled digital-currency lender and tried to stabilize another. He acquired crypto exchanges in Canada and Japan. He appeared in magazine ads opposite supermodel Gisele Bündchen in a bid to keep mainstream investors enthusiastic about crypto despite the downturn.
That kind of speed is routine for Mr. Bankman-Fried, a 30-year-old billionaire with a mop of curly hair who sleeps a few hours a night and toys with a fidget spinner during interviews. Last year, when regulatory scrutiny of crypto led Mr. Bankman-Fried to move FTX’s headquarters from Hong Kong to the Bahamas, dozens of employees relocated to the island nation within about a month.
Mr. Bankman-Fried says his ultimate goal is to bring crypto to the masses. He wants to make FTX a household name and use the technology behind bitcoin to reinvent traditional finance, including the stock market and ordinary consumer payments.
He has a lot of work to do. More than a decade after bitcoin’s birth, proponents still struggle to explain the value of digital currencies to a broad audience. Bitcoin has fallen nearly 70% from its November peak and the crash has erased $2 trillion of value from the crypto market, hurting millions of investors.
Not all of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s moves have paid off. An investment in Japan has proved rocky for FTX. And the trading firm he owns alongside FTX, Alameda Research, took losses when it tried to prop up troubled crypto lender Voyager Digital Ltd. Alameda lent Voyager $75 million and increased its stake in the company to 9.5%—only for Voyager to file for bankruptcy less than two weeks later.
“We want to do what we can to stem contagion, and sometimes that’s going to mean that we try to help out in cases where it’s not enough,” Mr. Bankman-Fried said. “If that never happened, I’d feel that we were being way too conservative.”
Like other crypto exchanges, FTX’s core business is to facilitate the buying and selling of digital currencies, and it takes a small cut of transactions. The firm has grown into a juggernaut since it was founded three years ago. With only about 300 employees, FTX is the world’s third-biggest crypto exchange by volume, doing $9.4 billion worth of trades on an average day, according to data provider CoinGecko.
The firm made net income of $388 million on $1.02 billion of revenue last year, according to a person familiar with the matter. It has stayed profitable in 2022 even as crypto prices slumped, Mr. Bankman-Fried said. FTX was valued at $32 billion during its last funding round in January.
Now, with bitcoin hovering around $21,000—roughly in line with its level in late 2020, before last year’s big bull market—Mr. Bankman-Fried says the worst is over.
“Anything could happen, obviously, but as far as I know, we’ve seen most of the contagion already flushed out of the system,” he said.
Expanding an empire
The plea for help from the CEO of BlockFi Inc., a digital-currency lender, came on a Saturday evening in June. Mr. Bankman-Fried saw the message around 11 p.m. after playing padel, a tennis-like sport, with colleagues. He jumped into his Toyota Corolla with fellow FTX executive Ramnik Arora, turned on the air conditioning and returned the call.
BlockFi was essentially a crypto bank, taking deposits and lending them to borrowers that use the funds for trading purposes. In return, depositors earned interest on their digital money—usually at much higher rates than traditional banks offered on dollar deposits. BlockFi and other crypto lenders did brisk business until May, when the swift collapse of two cryptocurrencies called TerraUSD and Luna sent shock waves through the market and blew up hedge fund Three Arrows Capital Ltd., one of the biggest borrowers in crypto.
Fears of a 2008-style financial contagion spread. On June 12, a popular crypto lender called Celsius Network LLC suspended withdrawals. Other lenders, including BlockFi and Voyager, were threatened with the crypto equivalent of a run on the bank.
The crash set off rounds of calls into FTX’s headquarters in the Bahamas. Around 15 crypto firms sought money from FTX during a two-week stretch in June, including “miners” who run computer algorithms to generate bitcoin, as well as Celsius itself, Mr. Arora recalled.
Mr. Bankman-Fried at the FTX office in the Bahamas last month.
Celsius, which has since filed for bankruptcy, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
FTX concluded that Celsius was beyond saving, FTX executives said, but that BlockFi was healthier. Following a Sunday morning Zoom meeting with BlockFi’s leadership on June 19, the day after the initial call from his car, Mr. Bankman-Fried decided to push for a deal.
By throwing BlockFi a lifeline, Mr. Bankman-Fried also seized the opportunity to expand his empire.
In the final deal unveiled on July 1, FTX agreed to loan BlockFi $400 million with an option to buy the firm for up to $240 million. That price is a steal compared with the $4.75 billion valuation that BlockFi reached in July 2021, according to PitchBook data.
“It’s certainly not the outcome that we were expecting last summer,” BlockFi CEO
Zac Prince said, but he called the FTX deal a win for the company and its clients. Unlike other offers BlockFi received, which could have forced BlockFi’s retail customers to lose part of their deposits, the FTX transaction was designed to keep depositors whole.
BlockFi says it has more than 650,000 funded accounts. If FTX ends up buying BlockFi, it will expand into the lending market, adding the crypto version of a big bank to Mr. Bankman-Fried’s portfolio.
Mr. Bankman-Fried says he wants to turn FTX into a sort of financial supermarket, offering everything from lending to stock trading to payments.
“The idea generating this is, ‘What do you actually want to do with your money, as the typical consumer? What are the things that are actually valuable for your day-to-day life?’ ” he said.
Sam Bankman-Fried owns FTX, a major crypto exchange, and Alameda Research, a trading firm.
During the recent downturn, he attempted to bail out two crypto lenders, BlockFi and Voyager, by loaning them money from FTX and Alameda, respectively.
FTX also acquired two crypto exchanges—Liquid and Bitvo—expanding into Japan and Canada, respectively.
FTX has invested in non-crypto companies too, such as U.S. stock exchange operator IEX, as it expands into other markets.
Mr. Bankman-Fried has also invested personally in Robinhood Markets and a media startup, Semafor.
Mr. Bankman-Fried is a longtime vegan. He majored in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked for quantitative-trading giant Jane Street Capital for three years before diving into crypto. He is the son of two professors at Stanford Law School.
Bloomberg recently estimated his net worth at $11.9 billion, down from nearly $26 billion last year before the crypto crash. He is an adherent of effective altruism, a philosophical movement that says individuals should maximize their positive impact on society by making substantial money and giving it away. His favored causes include pandemic prevention and preventing artificial intelligence from harming humanity.
People close to him express surprise at how naturally Mr. Bankman-Fried became a public figure. He has become a regular in Washington, testifying before Congress, promoting FTX’s agenda and lobbying for the crypto industry.
“He has had to transition from talking to a purely crypto audience to dealing with lawmakers, journalists and the public,” said Chris McCann, a partner at Race Capital, an early investor in FTX. “In 2019 he didn’t have a lot of those skill sets. He was much more of a shy, quirky, geeky person.”
The Albany resort in the Bahamas, where Mr. Bankman-Fried lives with housemates.
Mr. Bankman-Fried’s first headquarters was a rented house in Berkeley, Calif., where he started Alameda Research in 2017—outfitted with desks and computers bought on Amazon. He later moved Alameda to Hong Kong, where crypto regulation was lighter than in the U.S.
Alameda sought to capture profits from the bitcoin market, where a mishmash of exchanges enabled arbitrage opportunities—the ability to buy a coin in one location and sell it elsewhere for more. One early strategy involved buying bitcoin in the U.S. and then selling it in Japan, where it commanded a premium.
He launched FTX in 2019, betting that his team could build a better exchange than the incumbents. Last year, amid mounting scrutiny of crypto by global regulators, Mr. Bankman-Fried decided to move FTX’s headquarters to the Bahamas, where the government had established a crypto-friendly regulatory regime.
Today FTX is based in an office park ringed by palm trees and dominated by a sun-baked parking lot. Mr. Bankman-Fried lives in a nearby luxury apartment complex. Although he has a reputation for living frugally—he has long lived with housemates and often sleeps on a beanbag at work—real-estate records show a unit of FTX paid $30 million for a five-bedroom penthouse there.
Mr. Bankman-Fried said he’s one of 10 FTX colleagues who share the apartment. “Obviously, it would be a ridiculous place for me to be living alone,” he said.
‘Salvage our business’
FTX expanded earlier this year by acquiring Japanese crypto exchange Liquid, which was hit by a $97 million hack in August 2021.
Shortly after the hack, Seth Melamed, then a Liquid executive, was getting on a plane to Tokyo. Liquid faced insolvency, customers were angry, and Mr. Melamed worried that Japanese police might arrest him at the airport. He wrote to Mr. Bankman-Fried on the Telegram messaging app.
His note read: “Fully understand this unusual, but if FTX would consider investing or acquiring Liquid it would salvage our business and benefit the crypto community more broadly.”
The plane had no Wi-Fi. When it landed, he was relieved to find no police waiting for him and a response from Mr. Bankman-Fried: “happy to take a look!”
A few days later, FTX agreed to loan Liquid $120 million, keeping it afloat and setting the stage for the takeover.
It wasn’t an entirely smooth acquisition. FTX ended up losing thousands of Japanese customers who were already using FTX and refused to move over to the local unit regulated by Japan’s Financial Services Agency, a person familiar with the matter said.
Mr. Melamed, now chief operating officer of FTX Japan, said, “We are confident we can return to previous levels of activity by Japanese users at FTX before the end of this year and surpass this by 2023.”
In June, FTX agreed to buy Canadian crypto exchange Bitvo Inc. FTX has also amassed licenses to provide financial services in Australia, Dubai and the European Union as part of an international push.
FTX broke ground on a new headquarters, expected to cost more than $50 million and to include a boutique hotel, in April.
FTX’s ambitions extend to traditional markets. After buying a registered U.S. brokerage firm last year, it recently allowed American customers to trade stocks on its app alongside bitcoin. In May, Mr. Bankman-Fried spent $648 million of his personal fortune to buy a 7.6% stake in
Robinhood Markets Inc.,
maker of the popular trading app. He revealed his purchase after Robinhood stock plunged nearly 80% from its initial public offering; the shares have edged slightly higher since then.
Mr. Bankman-Fried is the majority owner of both FTX and Alameda, an arrangement that has drawn criticism from crypto skeptics as well as some digital-currency traders. In traditional markets such as stocks and futures, exchanges are required to be neutral platforms that don’t benefit one trader over another. Regulators discourage them from being intertwined with trading firms, considering it a conflict of interest. No such restrictions exist in crypto.
Mr. Bankman-Fried said Alameda doesn’t get special privileges on FTX. While it was initially a major participant on FTX, helping to juice trading activity, it has since dropped to a small share of trading volumes, he said.
Last year Mr. Bankman-Fried resigned from his role as CEO of Alameda, saying he was spending most of his time on FTX. The firm continues to generate significant profits for him. One cryptocurrency wallet controlled by Alameda—where the firm holds some of its funds—has generated more than $550 million in trading profits since 2020, according to Nansen, a blockchain analytics firm.
FTX amassed a war chest of some $2 billion in a series of funding rounds in 2021 and early 2022, while crypto prices were still high. Investors in FTX included established asset managers such as Singapore state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. The funding allowed FTX to make acquisitions after crypto crashed.
Mr. Bankman-Fried said that FTX has a few billion in cash that it could use for other deals—money it keeps in dollars, not crypto.
Rt. Rev. Mrs. Patricia Sappor, Immediate Past President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIB), has launched her second book titled ‘Creating Wealth and Enjoying It’.
The book, which is inspired by very personal encounters with individuals and organizations, seeks to provide in-depth knowledge to readers including persons without finance background regarding the application of critical wealth creation principles to improve their financial lives.
Speaking at the launch, which took place on Saturday, August 13, at the auditorium of Action Chapel International in Accra, Rt. Rev. Mrs. Patricia Sappor, who is the Past Regional Head of Corporate Communications at Ecobank Anglophone West Africa (AWA), observed that many individuals often ended up in financial crises because of inadequate knowledge on how to effectively create and manage wealth.
She said the book will not only serve as a guide for every individual but also draw attention to the importance of wealth creation as it highlights personal experiences and underscores the fact that clean wealth can be created using biblical principles.
“This book ‘Creating Wealth and Enjoying It’ was birthed out of my continuous interest and desire to share the wealth of knowledge I have gained about wealth creation. It is also based on some financial lessons I have learnt over the years and observations made in the lives of other people. In my life’s journey, both personal and corporate, I have learnt some interesting lessons and have also observed the various lifestyle changes of different categories of people due to some choices and decisions they made about their finances,” she said.
Mrs. Sappor , using a scripture , stated that just being a Christian does not guarantee financial success, but following the right biblical principles is an empirical tool on which anyone can rely in their wealth creation efforts.
“2nd Kings 4: 1-2 reads, A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, ‘Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves’. From the above scripture, it is very clear that ‘fearing God’ alone will not make you rich nor keep you away from debt but acting and applying the principles of financial planning as prescribed by God Himself will make a difference in your financial life,” she said.
Founder and General Overseer of United Denomination of Action Churches (UDAC) and NDW Ministries, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, who launched the book said it is critical to always share personal experiences and knowledge in order to enrich and deepen readers’ experiences.
“A new generation will rise up to enter the field of politics, diplomacy, and other business, and it could take them many years to learn the skills required to build their capacity to become better in these fields, and when the time comes to pass the baton to the next generations, they will die and go to the grave with all the knowledge they have accumulated. There is a lot of knowledge in the grave which never had the opportunity to be institutionalized as we are witnessing today.”
He believes the time has come for Africa to change the narrative by telling the story in its own unique way. This, he claims, is possible if people seize the opportunity to share their experiences and knowledge with the rest of the world.
“One thing about Africa is that we have refused to tell our stories and have left it for others to tell those stories. I believe that one thing we as Africans need to do is to define ourselves and tell our stories the way we want to, it is high time we changed the narrative,” he urged. “Speaking as the event’s chairperson, Mrs. Elsie Addo Awadzi, Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), praised the author for completing and launching her second book, emphasizing that the new book is not only filled with sound financial principles but also real-life experiences that will serve as a guide to achieving financial freedom and improving financial security for all.
“Writing a book is not an easy ride. Many dream of doing so but it takes a lot of guts, commitment, and discipline to get it all out of the production line, and I must congratulate you for making this book project a reality. The principles for creating wealth can fill a whole book, as can the principles for maintaining and enjoying wealth, but she manages to combine them all in one book, and the result is a real powerhouse of wisdom”. She stated that the set of values that underpin the book are a clarion call to all to reconsider the values that would help the nation grow in the right direction.
“What struck me is that it is not only a book about money but one also about values that underpin wealth creation some of which are no longer respected today. This book serves as a wake-up call for us to return to these values in order to create sustainable wealth as individuals, families, and organizations, so that together we can build a strong nation,” she said.
Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Rev. Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh reiterated that the book arrived on time to meet the needs of all individuals in terms of financial freedom.
“If you want to be successful, you must put in place certain mechanisms. I believe that achieving financial independence and how to do so has a lot to do with the knowledge or information that will guide you, which is why this book appeals to me”. Creating more financial awareness and improving financial literacy is one of the goals we have as an institution, and I believe this book is just on time to complement what we do,” he said.
President of Accra Business School, Bishop Titi-Ofei also stated that the youth should acquire the book to guide their progress in life. He congratulated Mrs. Sappor on her excellent book and hoped that more experts in other fields would publish more books to aid Ghana’s development.
Photos from the book launch:
Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, second left, launching the book. Looking on from left is Elsie Addo Awadzi, Rosa Whitaker, Bishop Patricia Sappor, Bishop Samuel Mensah, Frederick Sappor and Patience Akyianu
