Brandon Doyle CEO and Founding Partner of Convergence Partners Johannesburg, South Africa – Convergence Partners, the leading private equity investor dedicated to the technology sector across sub-Saharan Africa, is proud to announce the successful closing of its Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF) at $296 million, surpassing its initial target by over 18%. This achievement is despite subdued private capital fundraising on the Continent in 2022. The recent close of CPDIF marks a significant milestone for the company, as it represents Convergence Partners’ largest fund to date, bringing total funds under management to more than $600m. The close was backed by a combination of existing and new investors comprising leading global and regional development finance institutions (DFIs), pension funds and financial institutions based in Europe and Africa. CPDIF was launched in June 2020 and had a first close of $120m in July 2021. The Fund is focused on investing in digital infrastructure opportunities across sub-Saharan Africa. This includes investments in fibre networks, data centres, wireless, towers, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and other critical digital infrastructure that is vital for the growth of the digital economy in the region. In addition to investing in physical assets, […]

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Every $1 dollar of Information Communication Technology (ICT) investment drives $13 dollars in GDP output. That’s why investing in digital infrastructure is so important everywhere, including the Asia-Pacific — much of which struggles with hard-to-traverse geography. Digitalisation and digital infrastructure present significant opportunities for enfranchising communities and acting on climate change. Infrastructure is at the heart of the global digital transformation. Developing digital infrastructure is critical for growth and improving the lives of people everywhere. Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure has now evolved beyond simply connection and computing, forming an ecosystem driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI), data and green technology — the Digital First Economy (DFE). DFE performance has a clear multiplier effect on GDP growth. A one-point increase in the DFE score correlates with a 3% growth in GDP . Every $1 dollar of ICT investment drives $13 dollars in GDP output. Have you read? The Asia-Pacific is ripe with opportunities for digital transformation. By 2030, Southeast Asia’s internet economy is forecasted to reach $1 trillion, driven by a fast-growing base of digital consumers and applications. South Asian countries are embracing digitisation widely and strategically. The Digital First Economy hinges upon data, AI and the green transition. Image: […]

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Davies, a specialist professional services and technology business, serving insurance and highly regulated markets, has acquired MVP Advisory Group, LLC, the consulting business specialising in advisory & transformation projects for the property & casualty and life & health insurance markets. Following the acquisition, MVP will join Davies’ global Consulting division led by Consulting & Technology CEO, Mark Grocott. Sherman & Company advised MVP on the transaction. At the same time, Managing Partners of MVP, Russ Bostick & Donn Vucovich will continue to lead the business. All MVP employees will also continue to serve in their roles within Davies whilst continuing to work closely with MVP’s existing contractor network of subject matter experts. With headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, MVP’s insurance & technology specialists manage projects in all areas of insurance, including underwriting, policy administration, claims management, client experience, finance, compliance, data warehousing, data, analytics, human resources, and information technology. By creating partnerships which complement and leverage each client’s existing capabilities, MVP provides deep expertise, including transformational roadmaps, programme management, quality assurance, data management, and analytic and digital transformation and engagement. Over the last few years, Davies has diversified and deepened its consulting & technology capability to provide customer experience, resourcing […]

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iStockgorodenkoff Kingston Economic Development has announced that the funding portal for the $2,500 Digital Main Street Digital Transformation Grant has reopened until September 30th, 2023, or until all funds are exhausted. The Digital Transformation Grant aims to provide brick-and-mortar small businesses with funding and expertise needed to digitally enhance their business. The grant has helped many Kingston area businesses establish or expand their digital presence with new or updated websites, stronger social media presence, e-commerce stores, and point-of-sale systems. In addition, businesses get the chance to tap into the knowledge and expertise offered by their Digital Service Squad. "The Digital Main Street Ontario Grants Program is a vitally important and immensely valuable resource for small businesses," said Kay Matthews, Executive Director of OBIAA. "It is very clear that businesses who took advantage of the DMS program over the past four years are now positioned for a brighter, more optimistic and sustainable future. We look forward to equipping even more small businesses with the knowledge, resources, and training to revitalize their operations with an expanded digital presence." "We are happy to be able to continue our partnership with OBIAA to support Kingston’s main street businesses," says Rob Tamblyn, Business Development […]

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The founder of Silicon Valley VC firm Draper Associates feels global economic recovery will likely be L-shaped, with a long upward movement, like after the dotcom crash Tim Draper, founder of VC firm Draper Associates and a Silicon Valley investor, believes India has the potential to dominate the fintech, cryptocurrency, blockchain and smart contract markets if it fosters supportive policies, invests in world-class infrastructure and promotes entrepreneurship. During a recent visit to India for his show, ‘Meet The Drapers’, the third-generation venture capitalist who has invested in companies like Tesla, Baidu, Skype, Robinhood, SpaceX and Coinbase discussed with ET’s Vinod Mahanta on topics including the evolution of the Indian startup ecosystem, misgovernance in startups and why Indian regulators should change their views on crypto. Edited excerpts: The Indian government is all for banning cryptocurrency and is taxing it heavily. Should it change the mind on crypto? I believe that China, under President Xi, has decided to shut itself off from the world economy, and this presents a huge opportunity for India to position itself as a free and open country. However, if India were to eliminate or regulate cryptocurrencies with a heavy hand, I fear that they would lose […]

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(SBG San Antonio) SAN ANTONIO – Brick at Blue Star’s weekly Sunday market became the Dream Market Sunday, as part of Dreamweek. The Dream Market expands the weekly market to include more diverse merchants and new sellers in the community. Organizers say the event provides a launch pad for new businesses to take their first steps into entrepreneurship. "I think small business markets are important in general to help people you know sort of learn the tools of the trade how they can incrementally improve their businesses. And you know whether it’s just a passive form of income or something they’d like to be a primary source of income, just give them an economic way to approach their business where they can put as much creativity as they want as possible with less pressure from kinda outside more intimidating forces,” says Ann Enzminger, Event Producer at Brick.

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Rajesh Awasthi, VP, Cloud, Hosting and managed services, Tata Communications Tata Communications’ enterprise cloud platform services plans to build use cases for showcasing distributed cloud and build business intelligence capabilities, said Rajesh Awasthi, VP, Cloud, Hosting and managed services. The platform is seeing enterprises post the pandemic-driven cloud adoption recalibrate cloud costs and adopt to distributed cloud. Awasthi told businessline , “Tata Communications helps provide the right balance of private and public cloud. We are helping clients rebalance their workloads with a combination of cloud services suitable for the company. We are also repatriating workloads back into customer’s data centres as this is the approach enterprises are moving towards now.” It also plans to build capabilities that would help companies derive business analytics from the data stored on the platform, said Awasthi. The platform also aims to build a secure developer cloud that can help application vendors build applications faster. “We are looking at how to help application vendors to develop their applications faster when they are modernizing the application. We aim to provide a platform available with all tools and functions,” Awasthi said. With these services, Tata Communications aims to grow at a higher CAGR – 24 per […]

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DNY59 As I pass another birthday and get closer to my own retirement, I am constantly on the lookout for opportunities to increase my future income stream in retirement. In my article published earlier this month, I describe my income compounder approach to building a retirement income stream in more detail. With that background in mind, I would like to share with my readers and followers a unique opportunity to add some shares of an income fund from KKR and Co, Inc. ( KKR ). Not surprisingly, the name of the fund is the KKR Income Opportunities Fund (NYSE: KIO ). Instead of using a lot of words, here is a snapshot of fund facts from the fund website: KIO fund website The fund has been around for a while (almost 10 years) and trades at a discount to NAV (although both NAV and the discount are now higher), and pays a regular monthly dividend, which was $0.105 for quite a while until it was recently raised by 15% to $0.1215 per share starting in March. This fund, which now trades at a discount of -11.3% as of 1/26/23, pays a monthly distribution that amounts to a forward annual […]

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Comment View from India: Digital shift creates economic opportunity Investments in intelligent process automation, touchless experience and public safety are likely to increase. Innovative business models are expected to emerge from this, along with new trends in the tech world. Skill for better incomes Large scale digital transformation spurred by the pandemic continues across industries, prompting companies to migrate to cloud-based models from the traditional server-based ones. Hence there’s a felt need for professionals to handle cloud-based skills, be it data analytics, AI or DevOps (a portmanteau of development and operations). Those companies that deploy AI-ML (artificial intelligence and machine learning) prosper, while those that don’t probably perish. Development tool and product design are enablers for topline and bottomline growth of companies. Seen futuristically, there could be bountiful opportunities in virtual reality and voice recognition. A digitally trained agile and creative workforce is required as organisations increase their digital investments. Had it not been for the pandemic, the digital transformation would have spanned out through this decade. A pandemic outcome is that the already digitally updated companies have gone that extra mile to enhance security systems and improve connectivity. Probably we could look forward to investments in security systems […]

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Rachel Yarcony is the CEO and Founder of myAir Smart Wellness, a stress management platform of personalised smart-food and insights. getty As an entrepreneur, I know firsthand how overwhelming it can be to juggle the demands of running a business while trying to maintain balance in other areas of life. That’s why I believe that prioritizing our own well-being is more important now than ever. In the midst of a tumultuous economy, ongoing global conflicts and widespread uncertainty, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed. Chronic stress can have serious negative effects on our physical and mental health. For me, the unmet need I’m working to address in my business has provided a sense of purpose and motivation. I never would have become an entrepreneur if I hadn’t been driven to find a solution to stress. Thus, I believe the ability to effectively cope with and adapt to stress is essential for maintaining both physical and mental health. It can enable you to bounce back from difficult situations and challenges and to continue functioning at your best even in the face of adversity. Keeping Track Of Stress One way to build stress resilience is through the concept of hormesis […]

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