Shaped the Tech Space, 2022 At a Glance: Tech Events That Rocked

Nosa Alekhuogie

With the year 2023 just starting, the frenzy in technology-related headlines in 2022 spelt out the truth of the tech space as one vital part of human existence that requires shared interest by inventors, researchers, organisations, and consumers. A number of these headlines stretched the possibilities of the human mind in search of advancement, justice, and global interconnection. With a few of these trends keeping the next revolution on their toes, others helped nurture the reality of a world of better possibilities and advancement for investors and consumers. Among these trends are the 5G penetration into the Nigerian telecommunication space, the global tech layoffs, the surge in extended reality and the metaverse adoption, Elon Musk’s surprises and Twitter takeover, funding for Nigerian startups, Nigerian Unicorn’s sexual misconduct, the collapse of cryptocurrency and the arrest of a cryptocurrency founder, the Equiano cable launch in Nigeria, and the Nigeria Startup Bill.
Last year was indeed a strange yet interesting year in the technology sector.

On 5G in Nigeria
After much debate about Nigeria’s readiness to adopt the 5G mobile network, MTN Nigeria became the first telecommunication provider to roll out the 5G network to about 190 locations across the country. These locations sit within Lagos, Kano, Owerri, Ibadan, Maiduguri, Port-Harcourt, and Abuja. Other companies that joined MTN include Airtel Nigeria Communications, Globacom, and Mafab communications. This innovation aims to enable faster speeds and lower latency, allowing innovators and economic drivers to access better internet environments for outstanding creations and solutions.

Layoffs and Pay Cuts
The staggering feet of the economy in 2022 led tech giants like Amazon, Google, Meta, and other tech companies to lay off or cut down on staff salaries. Several reasons for laying off or cutting down over 200,000 employees stem from the shrunk economic realities. Many of these gradually resurfaced after the dead-end of the pandemic, a period where most tech companies experienced a bullish pull in income and investments. The necessity for layoffs and cuts remains one of the low points of the IT industry in terms of employment slash. In Africa, many startups shrunk the size of their workforce to stay afloat in the economic headwinds. This change in workforce reality and the decline in investments ushered the tech industry into a year of uncertainty.
Nigerian crypto exchange startup like Quidax was quick to join the wagon in laying off 25 per cent of its staff due to the worsening economy. Kuda and 54gene also laid off their staff, while Eden Life and GetEquity saw salary cuts as a better option. As layoffs went into thousands, the numbers were in flames for tech big daddies on the international scene. For example, Lyft laid off 683 staff; Salesforce laid off about 1000 staff; Microsoft laid off 1000; Shopify laid off 1000; Stripe laid off 1,120; Twitter laid off 3,700; and Meta laid off 11,000. This layoff included the African tech space though records of these were minimally announced to the public. The global economic squeeze has not massively affected African startups’ funding potential despite all these. Instead, investors are preparing themselves for the potential markets that Africa has to offer. Nigerian startups in 2022 accounted for about 75 per cent of the total funding in Africa.

Elon Musk’s Interest and Twitter
Through his Twitter handle, Elon Musk announced that his Starlink Internet service had been granted an operational licence in Nigeria. He mentioned that there were five other licenses to be approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), three of which had already been approved. They are Internet Service Provider operational Licence, Full Gateway Operational Licence, and International Data Access (IDA) operational licence. Other licences include the Sales and Installation Major (S&I- Major) Licence, Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) Network Frequency Licence, and Gateway Earth Station (GES) Network Frequency Licence.
The vantage point for Elon’s interest is to provide Nigerians with faster and more affordable internet access compared to what is provided by Mtn, Airtel, Glo and others. In addition, rural communities are set to experience better internet penetration at a cheaper costs for the communities and the government as the extra cost of fibre optics broadbands will be replaced with satellites.
The Tesla CEO also bought Twitter for $44 billion. The purchase of one of the biggest social platforms empowered Musk to churn out sack letters to the top-level staff of the company who he argued were denying people from making the best use of the platform. Another side to this was the popular plea to step down from the position of CEO influenced by a Twitter poll he conducted, where many users believed he could not manage such a position. He also introduced the payment of $8 monthly for verified accounts.
He added that he would step down as CEO as soon as he found someone “foolish enough to take the job.”

Wild Funding Frenzy
The cumulative funding received across Africa was about $5 billion in 2022. Over a thousand startups received an average of $100,000 each. A large chunk of these funds was secured by Nigerian startups who accounted for $1.2 billion in fundraising, making Nigeria the highest-funded startup space on the continent. The dominant tech space for these fundings is the fintech industry, accounting for 35 per cent of the total funds raised. Apart from these, there was an increase in interest for investors in Africa, particularly in the Nigerian tech space, which showed in the daily upshoot of the funding volumes and expansions. An outstanding plus to the funding experience for the Nigerian startup space was the large participation of local investors. This accumulatively accounted for over 57 per cent of investment between the first three quarters of 2022. Flutterwave raised the largest share of about $250 million in a single funding round. Other major fundraisers were: Moove ($181.8 million), Thriveagric ($56.4 million), Bamboo ($15 million), Credpal ($15 million), and more. With these, the potential of more local investors joining the marketspace in 2023 is green. But experts still argue that the outcome of the 2023 elections will be a determining factor in the realities of tech funding in Nigeria.

 Sexual Assault Allegations
There were several alleged accusations of top executives. The allegations sparked widespread conversations about the realities of sexual harassment and assault in the Nigerian tech space.
Available data also warned that the Nigerian tech community might be one industry where gatekeepers have excluded and exploited women.
There was a case in Risevest where they asked its co-founder and CEO, Eke Urum, to step down indefinitely due to allegations of sexual and non-sexual misconduct pending a 6-week investigation by an independent investigation panel set up by Risevest’s investors to investigate the allegations.
We also heard about top-level executives at Africa’s most valued company, Flutterwave, allegedly dragged for being involved in sexual misconduct with a junior worker of the company. The viral news spread across the internet after a series of tweets from one of the former staff of the company.
The CEO, Olugbenga Agboola, was also accused of sexual harassment by ex-employees. Agboola denied the allegations, saying, “Sexual harassment allegations have been proved false and have already been reported, investigated and addressed by the management.”
More backend stories from other victims who had worked in the same company further strung Ifeoluwa Orioke, the brother-in-law of the former CEO, for abusing his position as the CFO. Orioke was said to have made unwanted sexual advances to a staff member and had consensual relationships with two others.

Augmented Reality and the Metaverse
Aside from copious trends in the global tech industry, the upshoot of immersive or extended technologies has come to stay with us. From virtual reality (VR) to augmented reality (AR) and straight down to mixed reality (MR), the interconnectedness of human imaginations and their mobility within space has been redefined. The African (including the Nigerian) tech industry still needs to be fully immersed in these developments. The bits and pieces of adoptions in key areas like education, health, fashion, game, creative storytelling, media projection, and brand visibility are expanding the usage frontiers. One major effort driven into adapting this novel reality is that of Meta, who launched Meta Quest 2 after releasing Meta Quest Pro to make it a consumer product in years to come. Meta also hosted the “Future Africa: Telling Stories, Building Worlds” exhibition in partnership with Africa No Filter, Electric South, and Imisi3D. This exhibition and the nativity of the contents helped connect people with the limitless potentials of AR and the metaverse.
MTN, one of Africa’s major telecommunications companies, led the drive towards the metaverse when it announced that it would host the first African virtual concert knowing fully well that the company was the first to have purchased a virtual land called the Ubuntuland earlier in the year. The goal for Ubuntuland was to create an experiential space for immersive experiences.

Cryptocurrency Crash, FTX Founder Arrested
The cryptocurrency market globally suffered a major collapse due to the mismanagement of funds in the crypto space. Approximately $8 million in assets were lost, destabilising the surging space. Investors quickly tagged the crypto market as volatile even though hope is not totally lost. One of the viral headlines in December was that of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, who was arrested, faces up to 115 years in prison if convicted due to his mismanagement of funds. The sudden crash, therefore, equipped expert predictions on the gloomy future that awaits the cryptocurrency space if the trading is not manned by certain regulatory frameworks going forward.

The Equiano Cable Launch in Nigeria
West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC), in partnership with Google, officially announced the launch of the Equiano cable in Lagos. This is a subsea cable structure with Space Division Multiplexing (SDM) technology. The fibre is twelve with a design capacity of 144Tbpps. This significantly improved what was last built to serve the area covered. The strong benefit of this cable is that it will boost the digital outlook of Nigeria and fit her best for the global advantages that come with a durable digital environment.

Nigeria Startup Bill
The Nigeria Startup Bill was signed into law on the 19th of October 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari and has improved the harnessing capacity of the Nigerian tech industry. This gradually placed Nigeria in the league of frontiers in the African digital economy. The bill also provides for a full launch of the Nigerian tech industry regarding the growth and development of technology-savvy talents and startups. According to the minister of communications and digital economy, Isa Ali Pantami, the bill also provides for the creation of the council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which is to oversee the monitoring and evaluation of the regulatory structures as well as formulate binding policies that will help the actualisation of the bill’s objectives.