DAWN May-June Edition

Page 88

Technology/Science

BEWARE!! - How Online Scammers Fooled one of Africa’s Biggest Fintech Startups By Quartz Africa Weekly Brief

JAMES UCHE REMEMBERS HOW he frantically fought against a deadline to submit an English proficiency certificate to secure a scholarship for an undergraduate biotech degree at McMaster University in Canada. His full ride to McMaster was being sponsored by the St. Michael Foundation. When it offered him its international scholarship in midJanuary, the foundation gave him two options to meet the English requirement. He could take the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS, a common standardized test for non-native English speakers, or an alternative recommended by St. Michael. Called the Online International English Proficiency Examination (OIEPE), it was touted in its website as the world’s premier English language test for international 88

May-June 2021

study, work, and immigration, accepted by more than 11,000 universities in over 150 countries. All Uche needed was to follow a link provided by the foundation to create a profile and pay the sum of 10,500 naira (about $25) via digital payments startup Paystack (https://paystack.com) to generate the test access pin. The first two times he tried, the pin expired shortly after he got it. Anxious of losing his scholarship, he used another email to create a new profile and his mother’s debit card to pay again, altogether spending $75. Each time, he got a receipt from Paystack. Uche succeeded on his third attempt. The test took him less than an hour and he scored 57%, far above the 40% required for his scholarship. He received his English proficiency certificate by email a few hours later, signed by both OIEPE’s DAWN

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Articles inside

Chef Deborah VanTrece is Showing us Soul Food’s Global Range

6min
pages 104-105

First-Ever Black Virtual Art Exhibit Opens 2021 Show With More Than 1,200 Pieces

1min
page 97

Overseas Spectators will be Banned from Tokyo Olympics due to COVID-19 Risks

2min
page 95

BEWARE!! - How Online Scammers Fooled one of Africa’s Biggest Fintech Startups

9min
pages 88-91

The BAL: Zamalek Wins Inaugural Basketball Africa League

1min
page 96

How an Extraordinary Women-Only Village is Inspiring Land Equality in Rural Kenya

5min
pages 92-93

Simone Biles Maintains Gold Standard

2min
page 94

Summers Could Last Half the Year by the End of this Century

4min
pages 86-87

Zoom Boosts its App Ecosystem with $100M Venture Fund

1min
page 85

Ghana to Sell Sustainable Bonds for Up to $1 Billion by July

1min
page 84

Ethiopia Finally Opens up Telecoms Market

2min
page 79

Airtel Africa’s Mobile Money Business Gains $100m Investment from Mastercard

6min
pages 72-75

Founder of $16 Billion Ariel Investments Created a School to Teach Kids Financial Literacy Through Stocks

4min
pages 82-83

'We are the Best-Funded AI Startup,’ says SambaNova Co-Founder Olukotun Following SoftBank, Intel Infusion

2min
pages 80-81

World’s First Wildlife Bond to Track Rhino Numbers in Africa

5min
pages 76-78

How to Attract Angel Investors in 2021

4min
pages 70-71

$2 Million Fund to Invest in Up-and-Coming Creators

2min
page 67

Kuda Raises $25M more led by Valar to Become the Neobank for ‘Every African on the Planet’

5min
pages 65-66

African Stock Exchange/Bourse

2min
pages 58-59

NBA Stars Like Kevin Durant and Kyle Lowry are Increasingly Pouring Money into Startups for the Thrill of Investing and a Chance to Break Down Barriers for People of Color

10min
pages 60-64

Africa is too Important for Americans to Ignore

4min
pages 56-57

Solidarity

1min
page 53

Feared and Revered: Patrice Talon, Benin's 'King of Cotton'

3min
pages 54-55

Ivory Coast’s President Ouattara Names Patrick Achi as Prime Minister

0
page 52

World Bank Financing for COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Reaches $2 Billion

3min
pages 50-51

From Better Feed to a Better Way of Farming

2min
pages 40-41

Stake, Gov't has

1min
page 49

Epic COVAX COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Continues

2min
page 48

Onward and Upward for Vertical Farming

1min
page 39

How Africa could use Solar Tech to Distribute Covid-19 Vaccines

6min
pages 42-44

Virus Variants Stoke Need for Vaccine Cash Rockefeller Says

2min
pages 46-47

Africa May Not Reach Herd Immunity Against Covid-19 Until 2023

2min
page 45

The Global Startup Awards Africa Seeks out the Best Technology Innovators from Around Africa

1min
page 38

Germany Will Pay Namibia $1.3bn as it Formally Recognizes Colonial-era Genocide

3min
pages 36-37

5 Nonprofi t Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

4min
pages 34-35

Mastercard and Island Pay Launch World’s First Central Bank Digital Currency-Linked Card

4min
pages 32-33

Konza Technopolis: Welcome to Silicon Savannah

4min
pages 28-29

‘We Cannot Drink Oil’: Campaigners Condemn East African Pipeline Project

5min
pages 30-31

Akon Hasn’t Even Built his First ‘Futuristic’ City yet, but Uganda is Giving Him Land for a Second

4min
pages 26-27

"Wakanda City of Return" Project Starts in August

2min
pages 24-25

Uganda, Tanzania, Oil Firms Sign Accords to Build $3.5-Billion Pipeline

2min
page 23

Following Twitter Choosing Ghana, Amazon opts for South Africa for its First African Offi ce

1min
page 22

Africa Tries Free Trade

5min
pages 11-13

AfCFTA Secretariat to Create Continent-wide Payment Platform

2min
page 10

18 Wealthiest Black Billionaires in the World

6min
pages 18-20

The World’s Biggest Music Companies are Scrambling to Sign African Artists

6min
pages 14-16

Retail Trends That Will Outlast the Pandemic

3min
pages 8-9

Adeniji to Helm Warner Music South Africa

1min
page 17

Private Consortium Takes Over SAA with 51

2min
page 21

AfCFTA and UNDP Announce New Partnership Towards Inclusive Growth in Africa

3min
pages 6-7
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