Telcos in Nigeria are under pressure

[00:00:00] Speaker A: 500 gimmick. You don't have one before now. [00:00:13] Speaker B: Inflation. Just a word. But like yeast, it makes everything rise, rise so high even our savings can't hide. From food to transportation to clothing to even rent, the recent basic income barely feels like it came. Our hard earned money failing to dance to the rhythm of inflation. We barely get through today, only to worry about tomorrow. Yet tomorrow carries so much hope on its shoulders. Hope amidst the fear of how it will turn out. But despite the gloom, there is good news. We found the best way to save. With Jolof plus interest so high, 21% net, even inflation stands no chance. So today we breathe and choose to secure tomorrow. Today we save to beat inflation tomorrow with Gelloft plus. Download the Jolof plus app on the Google Play Store or Apple Store and earn up to 21% net on your savings. [00:01:24] Speaker A: It's a beautiful day here in Lagos, Nigeria. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Tech Point Africa podcast. I'm Uluwani Faemikola Oli, and with me in the studio is Bolu Abiodo. Yep, your regular host, Chimkozurim, is not in the studio today. And before he comes next week to accuse me of not referencing that or acknowledging that I just acknowledged, please tell him yes. Today we have a number of conversations to go through, not just in Nigeria, but also in one east african country, Kenya. But we want to start with a very important conversation, which is a move that telcos in Nigeria are considering based on or because of the economic situation. Apparently, the economy is affecting a lot of things, including how telcos are able to survive, because they are thinking of reducing the number of services they are offering, which, in other words, is called load shedding. And interestingly, the. This is the first time, like load shedding will come up in a conversation that has to do with telcos. Unlike it is for power, electricity you get. And it's. I'm addressing this so badly because telcos, telecommunication, and the services they offer form a very strong backbone to everything that tech is built on. The Internet providers, they are the ones that help you, like, connect with people within and outside the borders. But now they are saying that due to taxes, the money that banks are owing them, overhead cost their profits, all these things are not encouraging them to keep performing optimally as they would always do. Now, bolu, can we talk about what load shedding mean for telcos telecommunication companies? Yeah. [00:03:46] Speaker C: All right. Yeah. So it's not that different from what you. It's not a difference when people who provide electricity say they want to do load shedding. So let's start with the electricity side of things. So if NEPA, for example, says they want to do load shedding, which we. [00:04:06] Speaker A: Already do, we don't do load shedding in Nigeria. It is portioned. [00:04:10] Speaker C: Yes. So it's basically we do not generate enough so that it will now go round. Right. Some people will get at some times and some people will not get at some times, right. It's just basically you have a couple of children, maybe there are plenty. And then you say, okay, you, you will not eat breakfast. That breakfast they are supposed to eat, I'll give to this one to eat lunch and then this one will not eat dinner. And then you that, you know, have something like that. So that is pretty much what it means. So in the context of telecommunications companies, what you want to do is some areas, right. They will limit the kind of, the amount of services rendered in some areas. Is that really a good way to put it? A more accurate way to put it would be that some areas would have limited access to their services at certain times. [00:05:16] Speaker A: Oh, yes. Maybe they start throttling it. [00:05:19] Speaker C: Exactly. [00:05:20] Speaker A: Maybe in the evenings. Or if they feel that this area, there's a more traffic towards the evening. [00:05:26] Speaker C: Exactly. [00:05:26] Speaker A: You might give them Internet, not trustworthy Internet in the evening and they trust you during the day. [00:05:33] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:05:34] Speaker A: It's as if they are portioning it. Like, let's move around. [00:05:37] Speaker C: Exactly. [00:05:37] Speaker A: It's sad. [00:05:38] Speaker C: So it's sad. But you also have to consider the next question should be why exactly are they trying to do this? And it is, the simple answer is doing their business in Nigeria has gotten a lot tougher, has gotten a lot harder. Right. Recently, MTN, which is one of the largest telecommunications companies in Africa and in Nigeria, recorded about a 700 billion naira loss. That's a huge loss. [00:06:12] Speaker A: And as to how much challenges in repatriating funds because of the towers. [00:06:17] Speaker C: Exactly. And these towers, thank God you brought them up. They need constant electricity. They need constant power. And the cost of running these towers are becoming too much, which is now where the load shedding comes in. So what these towers do is that every area, right. You have towers that kind of make sure that a particular telecommunications company, their services work in your area. So those tires are spread across all those areas. Right. So to power these towers, you need electricity. As we know very well, in our beloved country, electricity is a luxury. Yeah, it's a luxury, right. And then what these telcos have to do is they have to buy diesel. And we know what diesel price is currently. And a lot of these companies, like I said, they are recording losses, especially fx losses, and they are looking for ways to cut down costs. And they are looking at this place because someone mentioned that in 2001, when we had all these tekers coming in, the government promised them 18 hours electricity to function so that the cost, their cost of corporations will come down to a particular level. [00:07:45] Speaker A: But now it's a myth that these telcos are targeted for high taxes. [00:07:50] Speaker C: Yes. They pay a lot of taxes and levies. [00:07:53] Speaker A: Yes. Now, the thing is, you know, if you want to survive, there are two things to consider. You either lower expenses or increase your revenue. Like, now, a way to increase revenue is to increase tariffs. [00:08:08] Speaker C: Tariff, which they actually tried to do, but I think the NCC kicked against it. Right. Because per regulations, they can't just do that. But they appeal to the NCC that they need to do it because things are getting really difficult for them. And I think this is another avenue they are looking at, like, okay, we can increase tariffs, we have to start doing load shedding. [00:08:35] Speaker A: And probably first the end of the regulator. [00:08:37] Speaker C: Well, the regulator has responded. [00:08:39] Speaker A: It's been a while since the SEC, like, reviewed the cap and floor for tariff for telcos. I think the last time they did. Okay, maybe not the last time, but the last time I did a report on it was like, as far back as 2021 when they reviewed the cup and the floor. Like, they do not. They've not reviewed it. And given the current economic situation, I think prices like this should be reviewed. Yes, it will tell on users, but businesses have to survive. And they just have to find a way to make sure that the increments will not be too much inconvenience for users. But for the sake of this company that is powering a very huge part sector of the economy, it's something that should be reviewed. And what is the NCC saying about this? [00:09:34] Speaker C: Okay, so not exactly the NCC, but it was the president of natcoms and he said, if they go ahead with this, what will happen is people with increasing tariffs. [00:09:44] Speaker A: Yes. [00:09:44] Speaker C: No, no, no. With the load shedding. [00:09:46] Speaker A: Okay. [00:09:46] Speaker C: Right. What will happen is people will blame NCC for bad network and things like that, which I really don't think would happen. I don't think there was ever a time I tried making, putting a call through or trying to browse the website and it won't work. And I'll say, NCC, why are you doing this? No, I would say MTN, what is going on? Right. Yes. And I'm sure they've. I mean, this. This just goes to show you how much these companies have thought, because it also affects them. [00:10:18] Speaker A: Yes. They reduce subscribers that probably use them for data. We go for ISP's, foreign ISP styling. [00:10:27] Speaker C: And then thinking about this means it has gotten to that point. [00:10:32] Speaker A: Yes. Extreme measures. [00:10:33] Speaker C: It has gotten to that point. And, you know, he's saying, he's the president of Natcoms and what he's saying is that they will blame NCC and people start wondering what's going on and then it will affect other sectors like banking, health, things like that. Which is correct. But these companies cannot continue to run at a loss. Right. And I won't even blame NCC. Right. The problem is a bigger one. Right. The entire economy is in a mess. Right. And something needs to be done because rightly, as the Natcom's president said, if it starts to affect, or that, because it means, it means that industries are. [00:11:23] Speaker A: Based on this particular sector, you cannot afford that. Something goes wrong with it, it's going to crumble many other parts. [00:11:31] Speaker C: Yeah. So something has to be done. [00:11:33] Speaker A: Something has to be done. Something has to be done either. No, I'm not going to suggest a subsidy. Not a subsidy. No. But the regulators have to just be reasonable and do like meetings with the stakeholders on how to work around this. We can't afford load shedding when it comes to the Internet. We can't afford it. We've, we've been bearing enough for electricity, for power, but for Internet, it's going to be messy. It's going to be messy when you reduce your services for calls for. It's going to affect emergency services, it's going to affect banking, it's going to affect e commerce, commerce, everything trade and commerce, rather, is going to affect it. So we, I hope the regulators reviews this and find a way to address it. We can't allow the telecommunication sector to go ahead and suffer for this. [00:12:27] Speaker C: Today's insight of the week in Nigeria, the telecoms industry's contribution to the GDP has hit the 15% mark twice in five years. The link to these insights is in the description. And to see other interesting insights like this, simply go to Intelpoint co. [00:12:46] Speaker A: Yes, that said, in a sober mood, Lagos State is up to something again. Yes. Yes, I know. Two weeks back we talked about Lagos State. Last week we talked about Lagos State. Here we are again, Lagos State and doings. Anyways, the newest update is that Lagos State is looking to tokenize real estate in the country. Well, I don't care about it, but bully is here. Bully is our imagine tech reporter and it seems. I don't know whether it's excited about it, but I felt a sense of it in the article you wrote. I think we should talk about it. Like tokenizing real estate. Yeah, like. Okay. Opinions to myself. Volu, please. Okay, what's my business with this? [00:13:38] Speaker C: So let's start. Let's start with what does tokenizing real estate actually mean? It's basically breaking it down into smaller pieces and making it possible for people who necessarily do not have the lump sum to invest in real estate to take part in real estate investments. Right. So there's a building in Lekki that you would like to invest in because, you know, it might appreciate in a couple of years, but the building is worth 500 million naira and you don't have 500 million error. You probably don't even have 50 million errors. So tokenization, what it will do is it will now break this real estate into fractions, right? Then it will make it possible for you to be able to buy a particular fraction of that real estate. And then if the price eventually appreciates, you earn. And this also means that properties will become more, well, on paper, they'll become more liquid because you are not just looking for one person, which obviously will be very rare to have people who just have 500 millionaire lying somewhere to invest in your real estate, to make real estate more liquid, because there now a lot of people. Yeah. So you can just, you know, open your laptop one day, you see, and I'm just. This is just surface level stuff, right? You just open your laptop one day. There are different websites where you can invest in real estate. You see one YouTube, like put in your card, click, buy. Sort of like just buying food on, you know, an e commerce website or buying something on Amazon prime. Basically that is what tokenization will look like. [00:15:39] Speaker A: What is the motive behind it? [00:15:41] Speaker C: Yeah, the motive behind it is, you know, similar to. So for the state government. Right. Which is a very valid question. The motive behind it is revenue generation. [00:15:55] Speaker A: Oh God. Oh God. Why? [00:15:58] Speaker C: Which is not a bad thing. [00:15:59] Speaker A: I'm not saying. [00:16:02] Speaker C: Which is not a bad thing. Right. Because, I mean, generating revenue, if you've looked at, you know, there's this document they've created where they've highlighted things they want to do to generate revenue. And they have a lot of things in that document. The goods one, the good ones, the bad ones, the ones people have complained about, you know. Yeah. What they want to do with it is revenue generation. Creating that platform means that they can generate revenue from such a platform where you can go and invest in real estate where you can go, the government takes a share register. Yeah. So that is basically what they are planning to do. But the thing with real estate tokenization is that it's not as simple as it sounds. Right. And especially in the, this part of the world. Right. One problem you encounter is data. Right. How many houses or real estate is registered, duly registered. Do you already have a database of those registrations or are they just manual registrations? If you already do have a database, it's now easier to tokenize them. And then you also have to think of how exactly do I want to tokenize them? If you are tokenizing them on the blockchain, then you have to create a blockchain infrastructure, right. I am pretty sure. I mean, based on what the nigerian government has done with blockchain over the years, I can say for certain that they will not want to use existing blockchain infrastructures, which are usually public blockchains. Right. They want to build out their own infrastructure that they will have access, more access to have more control of. Right. So that's another thing you need to think about. And then you have to think about regulations. [00:17:58] Speaker A: They are the regulators. [00:17:59] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah. But then it's not that simple because you have to create you, to an extent, you need to create new laws. Right? A lot of new things need to be created to regulate these things properly. [00:18:14] Speaker A: Right? [00:18:15] Speaker C: What, how do you gauge an asset, what an asset is? What, how do you even break down these assets, right. [00:18:25] Speaker A: You know what this reminds me of? I don't know whether it was this year or last year. By the way, pitch Friday is this Friday, so if you want to attend, you can come to zone Tech park by 03:00 p.m. this Friday. It reminds me of the pitch of one of the founders at a pitch Friday that pitched exactly this idea. And the skepticism that filled the room that day was the fact that how do you want to place value? Like, so it came through the NFT side like, okay, so you have a copy of like the, the documentation of that real estate. Right. To, once you buy a token, I don't know how you people put it, once you buy a token on that particular, maybe a building, you have like an NFT giving you a proof that you own a part. [00:19:21] Speaker C: Yes. [00:19:22] Speaker A: Of this thing. So it's as if they are giving you the documentation to a house that you don't fully own but, you know, a part of. But that day people loved the idea, but the skepticism bothered around regulation and how you want to convince people that this is the value of this house, since real estate appreciate. And also coupled with the challenge of documentation, which you mentioned, because some of these houses. How do you want to prove to me that I'm buying the right real estate or whether I'm putting my money in something that even exists? It's legos. Yes. [00:20:08] Speaker C: And those are some of the issues. [00:20:11] Speaker A: Those were the issues we expressed that time. But I'm looking at it now with the government championing this. [00:20:18] Speaker C: So let me just break it to you, right, and anybody who has been in the blockchain space for a while, right, because the government is planning to tokenize it on the blockchain. And anybody who has been in that space will tell you for free that this announcement, you will not hear anything about it again. You will hear. See, it is not today that the government is telling us things about the blockchain. They told us they were using blockchain for something in customs. They told us about the e naira. We don't know where it is today because one of the reasons is it's not, it's simple on paper, right? I mean, implementation, doing all the necessary work that needs to go into it to make sure it works is difficult. And most times it's just, to me, I think sometimes it's just government trying to project that, okay, we are technology forward. But I don't, I don't want to say bet it with me. I might be wrong, but from everything I've seen, from the kind of reception I've gotten, you know, after that story, a lot of people in the blockchain space are just like, we've had this plenty times. Nothing. [00:21:33] Speaker A: And it seems that they're not carrying along players in the industry. [00:21:38] Speaker C: So, yeah, they said they will be ad. Yeah, what they said was they were partners they'll be doing it with, but they didn't mention any partners. And interestingly, we have companies in Nigeria that actually trying to do something like this, the likes of AuSa, Africa, a couple of others can't remember their name. So we have a couple of companies that are trying to do it. So maybe they might end up working with them. Who knows? But what I just want to point out, it actually sounds very interesting on paper. So an interesting thing, you brought up the nft side of things. So it's just basically this house, this property has papers. Right? Let us document those papers on the blockchain. Right. And then whoever has. So it's just a digital copy of those papers. And not just any digital copy. Not just, oh, I have the documents on my laptop. It is a digital copy that is very secure. That transferring it is a cryptographically secured thing. Right. So what NFT did was that, okay, this image, right. This is the certificate of ownership. Right. So it's not really the image you are owning. Anybody can have that image. But these certificates of ownership means you are the original owner of this image. Right. If you want to transfer this ownership. Right. These things are so interesting, created in such a way that there's something called smart contracts on the blockchain. So once you want to transfer ownership of that image. Right. And someone buys it. [00:23:12] Speaker A: Right. [00:23:12] Speaker C: Someone clicks buy on a particular website where that image has been listed. Right. And they successfully purchase it, that ownership is transferred to them on the blockchain. Very securely, almost unaccable. Right. And then smart contracts mean you can add perimeters to that transfer of ownership. That's okay. [00:23:34] Speaker A: You mean parameters. [00:23:35] Speaker C: Yes. So, okay, when this transfer of ownership has been completed, right. Make sure that whatever amount that person has paid to get their certificate of ownership, give 10% to chrisalagnes. Because. Because Garaznes probably, or maybe she's the owner of the website or maybe she was not that facilitated the payment. So it's so automated and so needs very limited impute. That error is almost non existent. Right. So it just. It's a very beautiful thing. But like I said, there are still challenges. Yeah. [00:24:18] Speaker A: It's beautiful. So what we are. What we are questioning now is if they want to go the long way to implement. [00:24:27] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:24:28] Speaker A: Because of everything that is. [00:24:29] Speaker C: And only time will tell. [00:24:31] Speaker A: Right. Only time will tell. But I think since it has to do with revenue generation, I don't know. Lagos State is trying a lot of things. Maybe this is one of those things that we stay. Yeah. Just doing everything at the wall. Let's hope this stays. Yeah, that's it. About Lagos State again this week. I don't know if I can say that I wish or I hope Lagos state doesn't come up in the broadcast next week, because now every time I hear Lagos State, oh, it's another revenue generating plan, and they have plenty. Yeah. They are still unveiling it. Okay. I think they will be in the news next week, too. Yes. Now let's. Let's move from Nigeria to Kenya. And this has been going on for a while, this thing we want to talk about. And that is the thing with the e ln platforms and the disagreements they keep having with their drivers. The update now is that Kenya riding drivers have decided that we're going to take laws into our. If you remember, some few weeks back, I and Chim was doing well on this podcast to talk about them focusing on the wrong things. Right. Making demands that are only possible for full time staff. Right. [00:25:53] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:25:54] Speaker A: And it seems that they decided to focus on what they can control. [00:25:57] Speaker C: Okay. [00:25:58] Speaker A: Which is defining what they want, um, the first to be. So it's like they're taking, they want to take the power out of. It's like going offline, basically. You get, you know, the way drivers do when they pick your order and they say, can we do offline? What's the price that is showing there? You know, there's traffic on the road. Let's agree on this price. And if you want, you go. So that's the, that is like what they are doing. They want to set their own rate and fair. So they are trying to say, okay, now, if you don't want to treat us like you, we want to be treated. We're going to take loss into our hands and define what we want people to pay whilst you using your platform to get those people right. And it has become a dispute between those riders and the Ealing platforms. Why does this always happen? [00:26:56] Speaker C: So I just, if you ask me why it is always happening, I would say they want to earn more. Right. But the thing about it is you can't earn more at the expense of the person that is giving you the job, the platform or the platform. [00:27:17] Speaker A: They don't have the job, the platform to earn. They are just technology companies. [00:27:22] Speaker C: I mean, if I am providing a platform for you to make money and you're making money is now affecting my own making money. That is not. It's supposed to be a symbiotic relationship. Right. Where someone gains and the other person also gains. Right. Mutually beneficial relationship. [00:27:45] Speaker A: Yeah, but it's not looking mutually beneficial. [00:27:48] Speaker C: For the drivers or the drivers. [00:27:50] Speaker A: Yeah. And that has been the complaint they've been making. [00:27:53] Speaker C: So this is another thing to consider. Right. And which is something I always bring up, I think. For me, I think it is in the best interest of those platforms that the driver, because they are trying to make two people happy, the drivers and the riders. If riders are seeing exorbitant prices on the platform, they will not write and drivers will not earn, which is bad for everybody. And then they also have to balance it with, okay, not too acceptance, but driver earns is happy, riders are happy, and we are also happy. [00:28:42] Speaker A: But if the raise, the raising of the fed they want to do is not even up to 100% increase, but close. Okay, really close. It's close. To 100%. [00:28:56] Speaker C: It's close to 100%. That's. [00:28:58] Speaker A: That's considering. [00:28:59] Speaker C: I think I get the economies that we are in. Yeah, it is a lot. It is a lot. We are being. It's a lot. Right. And I also still get the driver's agitation. Right. I still get the agitation. The agitation at the same time. So what I will propose is. And I think that is what they are trying to work on. What I will propose is a conversation between. Because I feel like drivers and those platforms are not conversations communicating well. [00:29:40] Speaker A: Well, from what we've been tracking all this while, I don't know, the drivers have been trying to communicate, but the platforms. Platforms have not been, like, receptive with, for instance, now this. This move that they made. Uber is telling them that those that do not abide by this platform will face disciplinary actions. It's either they are kicked off the platform or they are not allowed to get right again, because they are still your host. Like I'm your host. Like, I still call the shots. I can try to make the shots to favor you, but I'm still the one that called the shots. And this is still a platform that you can. That I'm making possible for you to use as a service. And this is kind of time that the point of, oh, let's make our own local platforms. [00:30:36] Speaker C: So what's even making your own local platforms? That is it. Our own local platforms, where they look at Lagrite, they are always having issues. [00:30:45] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:30:46] Speaker C: So it is regulation that is needed the same way we have regulation for NCC. And then all this MTN and everybody, they have particular prices that they can fix. I think this is what is needed, because what is happening is that these platforms want to stay competitive, and pricing is very key to staying competitive. But if a regulator comes in. Right. And tries to help with that side of things, right. That pricing side of things, it will make. It will mean that everybody can stay competitive in terms of price because. Yeah, because we have someone regulating the price. You now have to figure out other ways to stay competitive. Okay. How fast do you get rides? What perks can we give you? [00:31:38] Speaker A: Like, what's the cup per kilometer you get? [00:31:43] Speaker C: I think that might be the only. [00:31:44] Speaker A: So I think this. We are coming back to the conversation of these people are barking at the wrong tree. Stakeholders should speak with the government to find a way to protect them. Regulations will now come for these people in form of protection. I'm not saying everything will favor them. I'm trying to say that once the regulators get involved, they can feel like, okay, now, these are the things that these people cannot violate. If they violate it, then we can come after them legally and fight for our right. But all these things you are doing is like, I'm sorry, throwing tantrums which those platforms can even use against you. He gets so. But there's this thing I'm even seeing in the increment of prices, they seem outrageous. For instance, now pick up and drop off from airports, which is. I don't understand why it's always high. [00:32:48] Speaker C: Even because you have limited options from the airport. Yeah. [00:32:54] Speaker A: You don't have a car, except you have. [00:32:55] Speaker C: If you have a driver that wants to come and pick you, you have very limited options. [00:32:59] Speaker A: And airports are situated far away from city center, so you can't carry your box and be check. [00:33:05] Speaker C: I lie. [00:33:07] Speaker A: What came to mind was that that's what I can do. [00:33:12] Speaker C: And most times it might not also be safe. [00:33:15] Speaker A: Yes, I guess. But yes, that's. By the way, I was going to say that the drivers set the pickup and drop off prices at the airport and train stations between 1000 Kenya shillings and 5000 Kenya shillings, which is about half of the price of a flight to the coast and more expensive than a train ticket from Nairobi to Mombasa. Now the price increases. Well, I've always. I'm always of the opinion that price ride, any prices first from airports or to the airport, have been very outrageous. But this is really outrageous. Something else you get. So at this point now, they are now playing into the same thing they are. They are complaining. These platforms are doing to them right now. Who is next to protest now? Exactly. Form of protesting, boycotting them and just saying, we're not going to use you again. So I just feel like this, this battle will just keep going on if regulators don't get involved. And I don't know why it's taking this long, because Uber in Nigeria, for instance, is in his 10th year. [00:34:32] Speaker C: Interesting. [00:34:33] Speaker A: They've been there for that long, I think. I don't know whether Nigeria and South Africa is the first country they launched in Africa. We'll check this, check that now. But they've been here that long. They've been on the continent that long. And I feel that there should be, like, even more precise regulations around how they offer their services and people use their platforms. [00:34:58] Speaker C: Yeah. Uber came to Lagos in 2014. [00:35:02] Speaker A: 2014. Right. So they need. There has to be structure around this and if there is going to be an agreement between these two parties. Because the thing is, the more exposed the industry gets, the more entranced it gets, the more these people see reasons to request for exactly what they want because these things has been existing since they came into the market. And it probably went on like that for years before these drivers started complaining about these things. The term unfair practices. So regulators have to get involved if anything is going to happen because as it were now this one that are setting price like that, they will suffer for it. So the platforms are angry with you, the users are angry with you, who want to use your service? [00:35:57] Speaker C: Who's going to use your service? [00:35:59] Speaker A: Who's going to use it? So we are back to it. I'm actually working on an article like explore the kind of tweaks that the nigerian, the african government can make to their laws, labor laws that will kind of cushion this effect on these gig economy workers. Because if this, if those tweak happen, the companies, these tech companies would not have any other choice but to fall in and cooperate. So that is it. So what that means is that God will help them to solve the matter. So yes, that is that part of the conversation. So from Kenya, we are going to our house. So that's what we'll be discussing today on the podcast. A lot of things happen during the course of the week. And one of the interesting highlights is the report that came up about how much Nigerians are Lagosians, rather are earning monthly and whether it is helping them to meet their needs. Do they get to see, okay, I couldn't hold that in. But yeah, it's a sorry state. It shows the reality. An interesting thing is that some people are denying the reality. We just don't want to accept that fact. But yes, that reports, you can check out, you can check out the reports or an insight on the reports on our website, Techpoint Africa. Website, Techpoint Africa. And you can also check the website for many other things that happen in the african tech space during this week. During the course of this week. Don't forget to, if you are, if you're listening to this on Spotify, you know, you can drop a comment for us. Yeah, you can also drop your rating. We also love that. We love that. We can also send us your feedback at podcast at Techpoint Africa. We'll be happy to receive your, your response and your recommendation. You can also comment on any of our snippets you find on our social media platform, on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or X. Thank you once again for joining us. This Friday is Speech Friday. You'd want to be there because we have a guest that's coming to talk about a very important discussion when it comes to owning your own business as an entrepreneur. [00:38:42] Speaker C: Yep. It's, it's about raising money for a startup, basically. So if you want to learn the mathematics, the science, and the psychology of fundraising, you want to be at this week's pitch Friday. And the small chops will also be immaculate. [00:39:00] Speaker A: The venue is zoned. We love to host you, and you get to meet some of us. I'm not promising we'll be smiling, but yes, you get to. [00:39:12] Speaker C: I'm always smiling by default. [00:39:16] Speaker A: Chimgozum or the people behind the camera. If you see me there, don't forget to say hi. I smile a lot. Don't forget to also subscribe to our newsletters. [00:39:31] Speaker C: I can't imagine. No, it's no longer called imagine technique. How cool Tech. No, no. I wanted to reintroduce it for people who already know the previous newsletter. So it's called how cool tech works, where we talk about really interesting technological innovations, their history, and exactly how they work. We also have one by Nifemi. [00:39:55] Speaker A: It's called modern Workplace newsletter. [00:39:58] Speaker C: Yep. And then we have equity merchants that tells you everything you need to know about raising funds. Running a startup. [00:40:05] Speaker A: Yeah. And then we have the Tech Points Digest run by your fav, Victoria. We see what people do online. So yes, you can introduce that so other people. [00:40:16] Speaker C: People, don't show me love like Victoria. [00:40:18] Speaker A: Don't worry that Victoria's love, we need to analyze it, you know, so that probably bring out to this what guys, come and tell us how, how she has you people's art. [00:40:31] Speaker C: It's all right. [00:40:32] Speaker A: We can only hope. But yes, we also have our podcast running. Don't, don't forget to listen to modernization. No modern workplace conversations. Aqua tech work, equity merchants, and also tech Point Africa podcast. It's always lovely having you with us, listening to us on this podcast. Next week is another time to join you and for you to join us. Catch you in the next one. Bye.