Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 06 | Page 8

NEWS NEWS The Y’ello Box is bringing 24/7 electricity to Nigeria via your mobile phone In a world first, Nigeria is pioneering a new solar electricity service and it is already transforming lives. The Y’ello Box is a solar electricity system that officially launched earlier this year and allows families and business owners to harness the power of the sun cheaply and efficiently. In homes, clinics, schools and businesses across Nigeria, people are running fans, charging phones, watching TVs and lighting rooms, all using affordable, reliable, clean electricity. The Y’ello Box is already powering the lives and businesses of more than one hundred thousand Nigerians. Designed and operated by Lumos Mobile Electricity Service, the Y’ello Box provides electricity to customers 24 hours a day, which people pay for using their MTN mobile phone. Yuri Tsitrinbaum, CEO of the Lumos Mobile Electricity Service said: “People don’t have access to the power they need. Fuel is very expensive and other services are unreliable. The Y’ello Box saves customers money all while providing better and more reliable electricity. As Nigeria modernises, our demand for power increases. It’s time we did more to harness the power of the sun. That is why the Y’ello Box is changing so many lives. It is affordable, it is reliable and paying by mobile phone makes it easy. “Lumos is growing rapidly across Nigeria, as we invest more money, create business opportunities for Nigerians and employ more and more people. Equally important is the fact that the service is improving the everyday operations of community centres like schools, health clinics and religious institutions,” added Tsitrinbaum. ¡ Kifiya and Mastercard partner to bring digital payment solution to Ethiopia Mastercard and digital service provider, Kifiya, have partnered to introduce a simple, secure and convenient digital solution that will ultimately allow citizens to pay for all bills in one location in Ethiopia. The partnership will impact millions of Ethiopian citizens living abroad, as well as those living in the East African country. This service offers a convenient, affordable, secure, simple and digitally driven solution that enables families and friends abroad to pay for bills using their debit cards, credit cards, mobile wallets, or directly from their bank account from anywhere in the world. “We are excited about launching a modern and global remit to-pay platform. We believe that such a service is the first of its kind and hopefully will create a new class of remittance solutions,” said Munir Duri, CEO of Kifiya Financial Technology. 8 INTELLIGENTCIO Making payments digital is a critical step in driving the inclusive growth in Ethiopia, because of its ability to financially empower even those who were previously excluded through easy-to-access and use solutions. “Through vital partnerships such as the one with Kifiya, Mastercard is dedicated to introducing these kinds of digital solutions that make a real difference in people’s lives,” concludes Bwakira. ¡ www.intelligentcio.com REDAVIA opens new office in Ghana to bring rental solar power to businesses REDAVIA, a global market leader of cost-effective rental solar power for businesses and communities, has opened its first office and legal entity in Accra, the capital of Ghana, to accommodate its growth plans and leverage West Africa’s manifold business opportunities. The office opening marks the second milestone following the seven-year contract with the Regional Maritime University in Ghana (RMU) that was announced on 23 May, 2017. REDAVIA’s decision to establish an office and hire a local team in Ghana is based on its vision and three- pronged strategy for a long-term involvement in the country. Firstly, REDAVIA ensures pre-financing of entire solar farms to make it both affordable and predictable for customers through monthly lease payments. Secondly, it delivers German-engineered technology at the heart of its containerised, easy to deploy solar farms. And last but not least, REDAVIA, through its Academy, ensures an ongoing knowledge transfer around renewable solar power to Ghanaian students and professionals with the aim to equip current and future generations with all relevant know-how. Erwin Spolders, CEO at REDAVIA said, “Ghana is at the forefront of a promising progression in Africa, backed by the government’s ‘One District One Factory’ vision to accelerate growth and sustainable development.” The office in Accra’s Airport Residential Area will supplement REDAVIA’s headquarter in Munich and branch offices in Tanzania and Kenya. ¡ Attivo Networks and Spectrami deliver next-gen deception technology to EMEA Attivo Networks®, the leader in deception for cybersecurity threat detection has announced a strategic distribution partnership with Spectrami, the leading value-added distributor in the region, to provide its next- generation deception solutions across Europe, Middle East and Africa. With the dramatic increase in breaches, the need for detecting inside-the- network threats that have bypassed perimeter security has grown swiftly. In response, Attivo’s innovative approach to cyberthreat detection provides a comprehensive deception platform that provides accurate, early threat detection and accelerated cyber incident response to attacks such as inside-the-network BOTs and advanced persistent threats (APTs) that have side- stepped all other prevention systems. www.intelligentcio.com Traditional threat detection solutions monitor network traffic and look for suspicious attack behaviour based on known signature patterns. Taking a different approach, Attivo provides a non-disruptive, scalable solution that efficiently detects the presence of attackers, identifies their intent and provides intelligence to stop the attack. The deception platform includes a wide variety of deception techniques, decoys and engagement servers, and is designed for user networks, large data centres, VMware and Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud and speciality environments such as industrial control system ICS-SCADA, point of sale (POS), Internet of things (IOT) and medical device networks. “Targeted cyberattacks are increasing at an alarming rate making it clear Ray Kafity, Vice President, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, at Attivo Networks that a new approach to cybersecurity is required”, said Ray Kafity, Vice President, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, at Attivo Networks. ¡ INTELLIGENTCIO 9