NewAfricaPride

Nigerian based financial institution, Sterling Bank, made history unveiling the world's first blockchain based commodity trading and financing platform. The platform will decentralize agriculatural commodity traiding in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. The development may come as a shock to some and certainly a pleasant surprise to many as Sterling Bank took the lead in an innovative step in the banking sector of Nigeria. There are more developments to be followed before a conclusion can be drawn on the success of the platform. It's unveiling, is , however, an indication of the increasing willingness of Sterling Bank to facilitate funding solutions for the agricultural sector.

Blockchain. A buzzword overshadowed by the cryptocurrency craze but no less relevant than the very technology it empowered. There is no doubt that the world is changing at an unimaginable rate on account of the flood of technological developments in recent times. One great difficulty for lawyers, doctors, bankers, and other members of societies around the world in this emerging era of blockchain will lie in the multitude of use cases of blockchain to choose from. This difficulty, however, may indeed be a strength for African economies, often deemed by media as the subject of various plights requiring rectification. The potential of blockchain to revolutionize African economies cannot be understated. Billions of lives will be touched by blockchain. Africa's growing economies could leapfrog to become top 20 economies in the world on account of the benefits of blockchain that Africa gains . This is the vision of a hopeful few.  The essence of blockchain is to facilit...

Blockchain presents a case for heightened transparency and accountability in voting processes around the world but it does not necessarily guarantee that the subjectivity of voters and administrators of voting processes will not compromise the efficacy of votes administered via blockchain. A world where electoral fraud is eradicated by the use of blockchain technology is indeed a fruitful notion but also a fallacy at best. Yes, blockchain infrastructure may make each vote immutable. Yes, blockchain infrastructure may create greater confidence in proxy voters in the boardroom . . Yes,  blockchain may make elections less prone to hacking scandals but as a good car does not guarantee a good driver, neither does an incredible technology such as blockchain guarantee that the human aspects of blockchain will not cause equally and if not worse events to voting processes than those carried out by rogue politicians in the past. It is important to consider the effects which machi...

The infamous mobile money service, M-Pesa made another mark in the history books with its partnership with Western Union. The partnership will allow M-Pesa to scale its operations to a global stage. With just over a decade in the game, M-Pesa's recent move should come as no surprise. M-Pesa has been able to acquire subscribers in 10 nations in Africa. In Kenya alone, M-Pesa has over 100,000 agents, this is remarkably higher than the number of ATMs in the country. As M-Pesa expands, it will of course, have to consider regulatory challenges that come with such daring expansions in different geographical regions. On a global level, its competition is likely to vary, with technologies like blockchain looking to carry out similar exercises for scalability. Indeed, the future appears bright for M-Pesa. Their previous attempts at expansion were met with challenges but also learning opportunities which could be considered as preparation for a time such as this.