Pesapal Gets License To Operate In Rwanda
Microsoft Moves Cloud Security Product To Nairobi’s ADC
Pesapal, a start-up focusing on online payments in Africa, has now been officially licensed by the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) as a Payment Service Provider (PSP). Pesapal Rwanda can now roll out affordable, convenient, and secure digital financial services, making it easier for Rwandan businesses and customers to make and accept payments. “We have imagined and are passionate about building Africa’s digital future. Our on-the-ground team looks forward to working with the Rwandan authorities and customers to roll out digital tools for ticketing, reservations, and reporting that suit their needs,” Agosta Liko, Pesapal Group CEO and Co-Founder said. Businesses struggling to accept digital payments in Rwanda have found that it is making it difficult for them to grow and compete effectively. Pesapal Rwanda will provide digital payment solutions, including mobile money Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), online and Point-of-Sale (POS) systems, enabling cash deposits and withdrawals, execution of certain transactions, issuance/acquisition of (insert type) instruments, and money remittances. Speaking after receiving the license, the Pesapal Rwanda Country Manager, Leonard Towwet, said that the fintech will provide Rwandan businesses with stand-alone POS terminals that can accept payments in-store. “Our online payment gateway allows easier integration on business websites supporting mobile money and card transactions.” The policy goals of the Rwanda Fintech Strategy 2022-2027 – promote customercentric financial inclusion and financial sector development and position Rwanda as a regional financial center.
Microsoft has increased its investment in the Africa Development Centre (ADC) by transferring ownership and continued product development of Azure Active Directory Domain Services to ADC in Nairobi. The Azure Directory Domain Services is a Microsoft security product with yearly revenue of $40 million and 300,000 enterprise global customers. This milestone forms part of Microsoft’s continued commitment to leveraging and contributing to the advancement of technology skills and talent in Africa via its premier engineering arm on the continent. Catherine Muraga, Managing Director, Microsoft ADC, stated that the increased investment in the centre demonstrates the company’s faith in the existing talent at ADC. “Not only do we want to grow product ownership within ADC, but we also want to develop more experts in the field. This is an opportunity to highlight the ADC’s growth and impact,” she said, as the Engineering Director, who will lead the teams that will be working on this product. Azure Active Directory Domain Services is a group of features that enable Microsoft customers to create
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and manage their organizations identities on Azure cloud services. These identities enable customers to transfer or operate software applications that are run from their physical servers to Azure cloud services. An Azure AD DS-managed domain lets organizations run applications that cannot use modern authentication methods in the cloud. Organizations can lift and shift these legacy applications from their on-premises environment into a managed domain, without needing to deploy, manage or patch domain controllers. The announcement came shortly after a visit by Igor Sakhnov, Microsoft Executive Vice President, Engineering, which included a review of the ADC’s operations and a review of its partnerships aimed at building capacity for tech talent. The centre recently announced the completion of a joint curriculum review process with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and is currently providing skills training to university lecturers as part of efforts to improve the tech talent pipeline.
