October 25, 2021

Flutterwave Enables New Europe-Africa Payment Corridors via Stellar

Stellar ecosystem expands with more efficient cross-border payment and remittance flows from Europe to Africa

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced that Flutterwave, a global payments technology company, has launched two new remittance corridors between Europe and Africa on the Stellar network. Working with TEMPO, Flutterwave is leveraging the Stellar network and Stellar USDC to simplify remittances in Africa.

Opening these new corridors will greatly benefit businesses focused on building more efficient, cost-effective remittance services, contributing to a stronger, more inclusive Pan-African digital payments infrastructure. Flutterwave plans to extend Stellar-based capabilities to additional African countries as it continues to grow the number of currencies it supports.

“It is more expensive to send money to sub-Saharan Africa than to any other region in the world,” said Olugbenga Agboola, CEO at Flutterwave. “Our new payment corridors on Stellar will allow us to continue expanding the Flutterwave network to bring all-important, cost-effective money transfer services to African business owners.”

Connecting Stellar-based businesses like Flutterwave and TEMPO — which also has a significant, complementary user base in Africa — creates an efficient and affordable Pan-African payments infrastructure, supporting the Stellar Development Foundation’s mission to create equitable access to the global financial system. With these payment rails in place, Stellar continues to establish itself as a mature, viable digital alternative to traditionally lengthy and expensive methods for sending remittances.

According to TEMPO CEO, Suren Ayriyan, “We’re excited to partner with Flutterwave to extend our service ecosystem into Africa using Stellar rails. Customers across Europe will be able to send funds faster and at a lower cost to support their families and conduct business in Africa, landing funds right into their local bank account. We hope to continue working with Stellar anchors to exponentially increase our currency corridors and offerings, providing cheap, secure and fast global money transfers to all TEMPO customers, both existing and new.”

“This partnership marks a further step in our efforts to harness the power of technology to make financial services more inclusive and affordable for underbanked individuals worldwide,” said Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation. “Flutterwave is doing important work in a region that has been historically underserved, and SDF is committed to helping them create a tangible impact on financial access and inclusion across the African continent and beyond.”

About Flutterwave
Flutterwave is a global payments technology company that helps businesses all over the world expand their operations in Africa and other emerging markets through a platform that enables cross-border transactions via one API. Flutterwave has processed over 140M transactions worth over USD $9B to date and serves more than 290,000 businesses including customers like Uber, Flywire, Booking.com, and Facebook. The Company’s key advantage is international payment processing in 150 currencies and multiple payment modes, including local and international cards, mobile wallets, bank transfers, and Barter by Flutterwave. Flutterwave has an infrastructure reach in over 33 African countries, including Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa. For more information on Flutterwave’s journey, please visit www.flutterwave.com.

About Stellar
Stellar is a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network for financial products and services. It is both a cross-currency transaction system and a platform for digital asset issuance, designed to connect the world’s financial infrastructure. Financial institutions worldwide issue assets and settle payments on the Stellar network, which has grown to over 5 million accounts.

About the Stellar Development Foundation
The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world’s financial infrastructure. Founded in 2014, the Foundation helps maintain Stellar’s codebase, supports the technical and business communities building on the network, and serves as a voice to regulators and institutions. The Foundation seeks to create equitable access to the global financial system, using the Stellar network to unlock the world’s economic potential through blockchain technology.

About TEMPO Payments
TEMPO Payments is a payment institution and the principal EU anchor for Stellar blockchain payments. As a cross-border transactions and settlements operator, TEMPO provides payment services for businesses worldwide and stands for the complete transparency of all operations, the immutability of records, high transaction speeds and highly competitive commission rates. The company’s mission is to build a unique payment ecosystem, allowing entrepreneurs to take their business to the next level of growth, by adopting disruptive fintech solutions and helping individuals to fully benefit from the next-gen financial services. For more information, visit https://payments.tempo.eu.com/whitelabel.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1668284/Flutterwave_X_Stellar.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1096150/Stellar_Development_Foundation.jpg

October 25, 2021

Unique Network Raises $11.3 Million For Next-Generation NFT Infrastructure

The first NFT chain for Polkadot and Kusama offers greater flexibility for anyone who wants to build their own gallery or video game

LONDON, Oct. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Unique Network, a next generation NFT chain for Polkadot and Kusama, announced today that it has raised $11.3 million in the second round of its pre-sale, bringing its total raised to $16M. The investment round was led by Web3 investment pioneers Outlier Ventures, who were joined by some of the most well-known NFT investors, including The LAO, Flamingo, Nalu Capital and over 200 other investors, including a number of follow-on investments from the previous round his funding round, especially with the quality and quantity of investors involved, has positioned Unique Network well for the upcoming launch of Quartz, its NFT chain for Kusama.

“Unique Network are trailblazing a new path for NFTs within Polkadot and Kusama’s ecosystem and we are incredibly excited to back them in their pursuit to increase the design space of NFTs.” – Chris Cable, FlamingoDAO

“Despite all the current buzz around NFTs, there is still a massive barrier to entry,” said Unique Network co-founder and CEO Alexander Mitrovich. “Gas fees, the need to purchase cryptocurrencies, storage, and even the fact that NFTs have limited features for artists to express their vision, all hold the industry back. Unique Network and our Kusama chain, Quartz, are built to solve the economic and storage problems with Ethereum-based NFTs and create new levels of interaction and malleability that will take NFTs to the next level.”

Unique Network will participate in the upcoming parachain auctions for Kusama, during which they aim to secure a parachain slot for Quartz, their new canary network for Kusama. Beginning on Wednesday October 27th, interested parties can participate in the crowdloan to help Quartz win the auction.

Quartz will be the first NFT infrastructure on Kusama, and is designed to enable the most powerful and advanced NFT functionality on the Kusama network. Quartz parachain on Kusama will allow anyone to build NFT marketplaces and experiences with interoperability between different blockchains, like Ethereum and EVM Based Chains and other notable NFT blockchains.

In the five months since its first investment round, Unique Network has announced various partnerships including with the UN-led DigitalArt4Climate Campaign with GloCha, RMRK, Art Curators Grid, Forever Has Fallen, and more. With the impending launch of Quartz, Unique Network will be able to help even more projects and artists develop their NFT marketplaces and experiences.

For more information, please visit Unique Network, and join us on Twitter and Telegram.

About Unique Network

Unique Network is a framework for the next generation of NFTs. The first NFT chain for Kusama and Polkadot, it offers developers independence from network-wide transaction fees and upgrades. The Unique Network team built Substrapunks, the first NFTs on Polkadot, won Hackusama in 2020, and created Substrate’s pallet for NFTs. Unique Network launched in July 2021.

For media inquiry, please contact: jo@serotonin.co

October 25, 2021

The people of Africa give the thumbs up to PowerChina

What did the Chinese engineering and construction firm do to earn such praise?

BEIJING, Oct. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — A news report from CRI Online:

The ceremony for the completion of Masindi barracks hospital, constructed and donated to Uganda by PowerChina, was held on April 16, 2021. In addition, two other projects, DiiCunyii Hospital and Amaji Elementary School, are under construction and expected to be completed and delivered this year.

This is just a snapshot of PowerChina fulfilling its corporate social responsibilities in Africa.

In March 2020, with the onset of the rainy season, many rivers in western Kenya overflowed. PowerChina’s Nzoia Flood Control and Irrigation Project Department moved quickly to evacuate people, raise and reinforce the dam, and troubleshoot dangerous situations by using droneswhich protected the lives and property of the local people.

In August of the same year, a Japanese freighter ran aground in Mauritius and then began to leak oil, severely contaminating the surrounding area and pushing the African island country into an environmental emergency. A team of volunteers from Sinohydro’s local subsidiary urgently set off to the heavily polluted area and undertook a 3-day clean-up. Local residents gave a thumbs-up and said “Chinese people are very good.”

On July 23, 2021, the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station in Zambia, constructed by PowerChina, was connected to the grid and put into use. During the four years of implementation, the project had created more than 10,000 local jobs. By building power stations, the people of China and Zambia have made progress together and improved cultural exchanges, pulling the employees from both countries closer and establishing a deep friendship with each other.

PowerChina’s East and South Africa regional department covers Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Angola, as well as several other countries. With its endeavors in Africa, PowerChina has joined hands with local people to practice the value of common development.

October 25, 2021

Government-Backed Cooperation | GAC MOTOR as Public Transport Vehicles in Nigeria

GUANGZHOU, China, Oct. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — After a successful recent meeting between Guangdong Governor and Lagos state Governer Mr. Babajid Sanwo-Olu, multiple forms of cooperation have been agreed. On October 11, 750 GAC MOTOR GS3s and 250 GA4s were shipped from Qingdao, China to Lagos, Nigeria, to be used by the Lagos State Government as vehicles for the public travel project “LAGOS RIDE”.

The signing ceremony between the Lagos state government and GAC MOTOR

Nigeria-Guangdong | A Strong Partnership
In recent years, the Nigerian government has increased its support for the automobile industry and is full of confidence in the development of Chinese brands in Nigeria. GAC MOTOR seized this opportunity and joined forces with CIG Motors, a local auto dealer, to introduce bestselling models including the GS3, GS4, GS8, GN8 and GA4 into Nigeria, attracting extensive attention in the local market. The implementation of this project is another major achievement for GAC MOTOR as the company works with overseas dealers to promote the steady development of the African market.

In order to improve local traffic and raise the living standards of residents, the Lagos state government officially launched “LAGOS RIDE”. The public transport project will provide ride-hailing services for locals. GAC MOTOR’s GS3 SUV and GA4 sedan, won the appreciation of the government with their excellent quality, comfort, appearance and performance. These two models were selected as the final models to be used in the project.

Babajid Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State, and his party paid a special visit to Guangdong in November 2019, proposing to strengthen economic and trade cooperation between Nigerian and Guangdong enterprises. Before this project, GAC MOTOR had successfully promoted several major projects locally in Nigeria, including the construction of a GAC MOTOR car assembly plant, and the selection of GAC MOTOR vehicles as the official cars of Chinese diplomats in the region. With the strength of its brand and products, GAC MOTOR has won the recognition and trust of the government, and has become a form of “business card” for intelligent Chinese manufacturing in Nigeria. The brand embodies the spirit of Chinese craftsmanship; Nigeria is just one place this concept is shown to the world.

As the world moves into a new era of global automobile manufacturing, GAC MOTOR Nigeria looks forward to deeply cultivating this valuable region and working together to provide prosperity to the local economy and a better mobile life to Nigerian people.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1668360/GAC_MOTOR_LAGOS_RIDE.jpg

October 25, 2021

129-Year Journey Nears End as France Returns Benin Treasures

In a decision with potential ramifications across European museums, France is displaying 26 looted colonial-era artifacts for one last time before returning them home to Benin.

The wooden anthropomorphic statues, royal thrones and sacred altars were pilfered by the French army in the 19th century from Western Africa.

President Emmanuel Macron suggested that France now needed to right the wrongs of the past, making a landmark speech in 2017 in which he said he can no longer accept “that a large part of many African countries’ cultural heritage lies in France.” It laid down a roadmap for the controversial return of the royal treasures taken during the era of empire and colony. The French will have a final glimpse of the objects in the Musée du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac from 26-31 October.

French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot tried to assuage jitters among European museums, emphasizing that this initiative “will not create a legal precedent.”

A French law was passed last year to allow the restitution of the statues to the Republic of Benin, as well as a storied sword to the Army Museum in Senegal.

But she said that the French government’s law was intentionally specific in applying solely to the 27 artifacts. “[It] does not establish any general right to restitution” and “in no way calls into question” the right of French museums to hold on to their heritage.

Yet critics of such moves — including London’s British Museum that is in a decades-long tug-of-war with the Greek government over a restitution of the Elgin Marbles — argue that it will open the floodgates to emptying Western museums of their collections. Many are made up of objects acquired, or stolen, during colonial times. French museums alone hold at least 90,000 artifacts from sub-Saharan Africa.

The story of the “Abomey Treasures” is as dramatic as their sculpted forms. In November 1892, Colonel Alfred Dodds led a pilfering French expeditionary force into the Kingdom of Danhomè located in the south of present-day Benin. The colonizing troops broke into the Abomey Palace, home of King Behanzin, seizing as they did many royal objects including the 26 artifacts that Dodds donated to the Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro in Paris in the 1890s. Since 2003, the objects have been housed at the Musée du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac.

One hundred and twenty-nine years later, their far-flung journey abroad will finally end.

Benin’s Culture Minister Jean-Michel Abimbola called the return of the works, a “historic milestone,” and the beginning of further cooperation between the two countries, during a news conference last week. The country is founding a museum in Abomey to house the treasures that will be partly funded by the French government. The French Development Agency will give some 35 million euros toward the “Museum of the Saga of the Amazonians and the Danhome Kings” under a pledge signed this year.

The official transfer of the 26 pieces is expected to be signed in Paris on Nov. 9 in the presence of Macron and the art is expected to be in Benin a few days later, Abimbola said.

While locals say the decision is overdue, what’s important is that the art will be returned.

“It was a vacuum created among Benin’s historical treasures, which is gradually being reconstituted,” said Fortune Sossa, President of the African Cultural Journalists Network.

Source: Voice of America

October 25, 2021

International Community Condemns Apparent Military Coup in Sudan

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the “immediate” release of Sudan’s detained leaders following an apparent military coup.

“There must be full respect for the constitutional charter to protect the hard-won political transition,” Guterres wrote on Twitter, referencing the landmark power-sharing agreement that Sudan’s military and civilian leaders signed in 2019 after months of deadly protests.

His remarks came as military forces Monday arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other officials. Lt. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan also declared a state of emergency and announced the dissolution of a joint civilian-military council, known as the Sovereign Council, that has run the country for the past two years.

In a lengthier statement issued through a spokesperson, U.N chief Guterres said, “Sudanese stakeholders must immediately return to dialogue, and engage in good faith to restore the constitutional order and Sudan’s transitional process.”

White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, speaking on Air Force One, said the United States is deeply alarmed at the reports of the military takeover.

“We reject the actions by the military and call for the immediate release of the prime minister and others who have been placed under house arrest. The actions today are in stark opposition to the will of the Sudanese people and their aspirations for peace, liberty and justice,” she said.

“The United States continues to strongly support the Sudanese people’s demand for a democratic transition in Sudan and will continue to evaluate how best to help the Sudanese people achieve this goal,” Jean-Pierre added.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, a group consisting of trade unions, called on the public Monday to occupy the streets to protect the transitional government. The association was instrumental in organizing protests that led to the 2019 deal.

Separately, the Arab League and Egypt echoed remarks calling for political agreements to be upheld, as did the African Union.

“The Chairperson calls for the immediate resumption of consultations between civilians and military … The Chairperson reaffirms that dialogue and consensus is the only relevant path to save the country and its democratic transition,” African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said in a statement.

Detained Prime Minister Hamdok, an economist and diplomat who has worked for the U.N., was named the transitional prime minister in August 2019. The interim government took power following the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, who was arrested during widespread street protests. The country is preparing for elections late next year and, under the constitution, Hamdok is forbidden from running.

Source: Voice of America