As 2023 slowly ends, we reflected on how transformative a year it was for Tizeti, despite the many, many headwinds that characterized our local markets in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cote d’ Ivoire.
We had our biggest rollout, and possibly the biggest rollout plan by any internet service provider rollout in West Africa this year. We took our first major debt facility, to expand our operations, and sent teams out into new states in Nigeria, and Cote d’Ivoire, to set up offices. We expanded our partnerships with global technology companies, Microsoft and Eutelsat OneWeb, won new partnerships with USAID, participated in international conferences, and expanded our leadership team, with an equal gender balance.
Yet, 2023 was a tough year, in our countries of operation which mirrored the tech world globally. Despite the tough times globally, the importance of digital connectivity, and its role as a platform for innovation, access, partnerships, and economic growth grew with more people connected via our products, and partnerships.
Adding new states to our coverage has provided 21 million underserved Nigerians access to reliable internet, to improve productivity and innovation in their businesses, connect to their loved ones, or improve their knowledge of their preferred industries.
With our pan-Nigeria rollout and positioning as one of the very few companies that cover the length and breadth of Nigeria, we have grown our subscribers base within the West African telecoms industry.
In 11 years, Tizeti has contributed to the increase in the internet users in Nigeria. With coverage across Nigeria, we are poised to play a more pivotal and strategic role in bridging the digital divide and look forward to scaling up in 2024, working with partners, regulators, and vendors.
The journey to 54 countries
We expanded more, at the same time, than we have expanded in 11 years. From launching new base stations almost every week, expanding our coverage within Ogun and Oyo, to setting up offices and teams in multiple states in Nigeria: Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Abia, Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Abuja, Kano, and Kaduna.
With our new coverage states, we are now one of the few Nigerian businesses that cover the North, South, East, and West of Nigeria, in addition to Ghana and Cote Cote DÍvoire.
Global partnerships
During this period, we announced an expanded collaboration of our partnership with Microsoft to address the issue of broadband underdevelopment in Cote d’Ívoire and bring internet access to almost five million people. This collaboration consolidates our success in Nigeria, where we have reached over 900,000 people, particularly in underserved communities, and helped them to get connected to the digital economy. This project aligns strongly with Microsoft’s Airband Initiative, which focuses on advancing digital equity, access to affordable Internet, affordable devices, and digital skills as a platform to empower and digitally transform the world. Please watch a video of our partnership with Microsoft in Nigeria.
We also received a grant from the Microsoft Incentive Fund and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to connect 25 anchor institutions and high-impact public spaces to the Internet, especially those with a focus on women and girls. We have connected these institutions in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Rivers, and Edo and this will drive increased internet adoption in Nigeria.
International Exposure
Our Chief Executive Officer, Kendall Ananyi also participated on a Wharton panel with Paola Santana (CEO, Glass), Forbes Huang (biotech entrepreneur and CEO, Dualitas Therapeutics), and Claudia Olsson (Member, World Economic Forum Advisory Board and CEO, Stellar Capacity) in the SF Bay Area. This session provided an opportunity to discuss starting up his entrepreneurial journey, Tizeti’s commitment to bridging the digital divide in Africa, and the company’s vision for Africa.
Kendall Ananyi, Tizeti’s founder and CEO, at Wharton Panel
Our community Wi-F project via Eutelsat OneWeb’s KA-band satellite was chosen as one of 53 top projects at the Paris Peace Forum, and one of five recognized projects within the ‘Outer Space’ theme of the PPF 2023 priority “Protecting the planet and the people”. Our Vice President, Sales, and Marketing, Temitope Osunrinde represented the company and spoke on a roundtable “Promoting fair access to outer space by the Global South to accelerate SDGs and growth” anchored by Guy Ryder, Under-Secretary-General for Policy, Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General and Aarti Holla-Maini, Director at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) with discussants from Astralintu Space Technologies, Chilean Space Association (ACHIDE) and Maldives Space Research Organisation (MSRO) among others
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYXBmRPuoRE
We also sponsored the Big Brother All Stars (the Superbowl of Africa) and hosted a task in the reality show that showcased the intellect of All Starts housemates, with questions on technology, internet adoption, and general trivia. The task also featured the housemates working together in smaller groups to overcome various hurdles before delivering unlimited internet balls to our cities of operation.
Congrats to the housemates of “Team Turbo” for beating “Team Unlimited” and “Team Uptime” to win. Our winners have complimentary internet for one year; watch NeoEnergy speak about Tizeti here
Local market development
We also participated in several West African events, such as the Stanbic Fuze festival, Ibadan Startup Fest, and the TXE Summit, in Enugu, and
To support the growth of Nigerian youths who are pursuing careers in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, we awarded scholarships to all final-year students of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the University of Benin with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.5 and above. This grant was motivated by our desire to build our front-line workforce by hiring brilliant graduates and transforming them into job-ready, fully qualified Information and Communications Technology professionals, for our ongoing expansion across Africa.
To position Tizeti for our West African expansion phase, we expanded our leadership team with the addition of Lydia Anyimson, as Country Manager, West Africa, and Iziengbe Ehimen, Vice President, Engineering.
Funding and Growth
We received long-term financing from Chapel Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund, to finance the rollout of our state-of-the-art broadband network (insert https://www.tizeti.com/nidf-supports-tizeti-in-nationwide-expansion-of-broadband-network/)
across 15 states in Nigeria. Our founder and Chief Executive Officer, Kendall Ananyi, says: “We will use this to build a last-mile digital infrastructure that will move internet capacity to other Nigerian states and catalyze sustained development, value creation, improved connectivity, and a deeper and wider digital inclusion net. This will also increase our coverage from five states and make us the largest internet service provider in Nigeria by coverage.” He was on CNBC Africa to discuss this
https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6340496097112/
Looking to 2024
Two challenges continue to hobble connectivity development for millions of Africans: access to infrastructure, and the high costs of connectivity. Many African communities do not have the necessary digital infrastructure, such as fiber optic cables and cell towers, to support internet connectivity, and even when they do, the services they provide are unaffordable for many people. With our affordable, solar-powered connectivity rollout across Nigeria, millions of Africans can now come online and participate in the digital economy.
Internet access is a fundamental human right and we are committed to bridging the digital divide in Africa.
We thank YOU, for your support during this year and look forward to a better 2024.
Happy New Year.
From all of us at Tizeti