Mastercard Start Path Welcomes Seven Fintechs to Help Build the Future of Commerce

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Mastercard Start Path Welcomes Seven Fintechs to Help Build the Future of Commerce

Investment in fintech has reached new heights with more than $39 billion invested globally last year. New opportunities abound to bring innovative technology to market through strategic partnerships – what may arise from a customer need, pain point or desire can become a reality through co-creation with corporations that can benefit from new ways of thinking and in turn offer funding and scaling opportunities.

In Miami, seven elite startups from around the globe that are mitigating the financial impact of cyber risk for businesses, providing e-commerce platforms for women’s health and personal care, offering pay-on-demand solutions for casual dining restaurants, and much more will join the Mastercard Start Path network of companies that have gone on to work with the world’s largest banks and renowned organizations.

Mastercard Accelerate gives fintechs access to everything they need to grow quickly and offers a simple, single entry point to Mastercard’s wide portfolio of specialized programs, including its award-winning startup engagement platform Start Path. Start Path invites later-stage startups to participate in a six-month virtual program, providing opportunities to scale and secure strategic investments.

Each year, Start Path evaluates thousands of startups around the world and carefully selects about 40 companies that offer the most promising technologies and show a readiness for scale. More than 200 startups have participated in Start Path since its founding in 2014, and those companies have collectively gone on to raise $1.5B in the capital.

After searching 210 countries and beyond, Mastercard has selected the following companies to receive tailored programs, operational support and commercial engagements within the Mastercard ecosystem:

  • BharatPe is a digital bank that enables small- and medium-sized merchants in India to accept payments.
  • Cyberwrite’s Cyber Risk SaaS platform discovers, quantifies and helps mitigate the financial impact of cyber risk on businesses worldwide.
  • Eureka AI is enabling mobile operator-to-enterprise partnerships by applying AI.
  • Hydrogen quickly builds cutting-edge digital financial applications anywhere globally using one platform.”.
  • Kasha is an e-Commerce platform for women’s health and personal care in Africa.
  • mmuze is a voice-shopping platform for retail businesses.
  • Ziosk is a pay-on-demand solution for casual dining restaurants, enabling guests to order and pay and go when ready.

Innovation is at the heart of Mastercard’s 50-year history, and the cutting-edge technologies being pioneered by the latest group of Start Path companies align to the innovative, value-driven approach Mastercard takes to the solutions it creates and services it offers. The newest Start Path companies will be connected to a global ecosystem of banks, merchants, technology partners and digital players that are partnering to deliver transformative solutions to drive growth.

Ready to build the future of commerce together? Apply to join Start Path here.

DFA Awards 2019 Honours Design Giants

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DFA Awards 2019 Honours Design Giants

Shining a light on designs that impact work, live and play

 

DFA Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 winner — Rei
Kawakubo

DFA Design Leadership Award 2019 winner — teamLab

DFA World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer 2019 winner —
Wang Shu

 

HONG KONG, CHINA – Media OutReach – 4 December 2019
– DFA Awards 2019 stands true to
its commitment of recognising design with an Asian perspective by both
established and emerging designers. This year, DFA Awards celebrates design
leadership and exemplary design by giving the highest honour and recognition
through its major annual award programmes. Design giants include DFA Lifetime Achievement Award 2019
winner — Rei Kawakubo, Founder of
Comme des Garçons; DFA Design Leadership Award 2019 winner
— teamLab, the International Art
Collective; and DFA World’s Outstanding
Chinese Designer 2019 winner — Wang
Shu, Co-Founder of Amateur Architecture Studio.

“This year, our honourable judging panel has highlighted individuals that
have created true impact to our daily lives, and teams that have shown
dedication to creativity in design project after project. Design is something
that enhances life, it’s not just cosmetic. It is important to show value for
the visionaries’ creations of unique experiences within this built world across
professional, personal and playful environments. The Awards programme allows us
to continue foster innovative thinking and creative confidence.” said Professor
Eric Yim, Chairman of the HKDC.

Underpinning the role of designers in society while celebrating design
leadership, exemplary designs and projects with impactful commercial success in
Asia, DFA Awards alumni are an incredible list of creators and innovators that
have shaped the conversation around today’s design thinking and design
excellence. DFA Lifetime Achievement Award, DFA Design Leadership Award and DFA
World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer are the highest honour ones can receive in
Asia. Every year, judges ensure to pick winners that make a difference to the
industry and our society.

DFA Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 (DFA LAA)


Rei Kawakubo
Founder of Comme des Garçons
Photo Credit: ©Paolo Roversi

The Award recognises an individual who has made
life-long contributions to the design profession, with visionary shaping
designs across a variety of fields, and who uses design to educate and promote
wider use of design in society.

Rei Kawakubo is one of the most iconic designers in
the late 20th century. Studying art and literature at Keio University, she
later entered the fashion industry as a freelance stylist at a textile factory
in 1967. As a self-taught fashion designer, she began making her own clothes
under the label Comme des Garçons in late 1960s and opened her first boutique
in Tokyo in 1975. By the late 1980’s Comme des Garçons was operating more than
300 stores worldwide and Kawakubo’s challenging designs had become accepted
within the fashion world. In 2004, she developed the brand into a market-based
department store concept ‘Dover Street Market’, stocking its main collections,
its other brands, such as Shirt, Play, and a wide range of international
designers. Numerous designers, including Martin Margiela and Helmut Lang, have
referenced Kawakubo as an inspiration for their own designs. Kawakubo is often considered
to be both a fashion designer and artist. This speaks to the ways in which her
designs are able to bridge the boundaries between fashion and art.

DFA Design Leadership Award 2019 (DFA DLA)

 

teamLab
International Art Collective

The Award is presented to a corporate or leader who
consistently demonstrates outstanding business performance, supports the design
development in his organisation and the international community.

teamLab (founded in 2001) is an international art
collective, an interdisciplinary group of various specialists such as artists,
programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects whose
collaborative practice seeks to navigate the confluence of art, science,
technology, design and the natural world. Digital technology has allowed art to
liberate itself from the physical and transcend boundaries. The philosophy is
that everything exists in a long, fragile yet miraculous continuity of life.
teamLab aims to transcend the boundaries of our understanding of this continuity.
teamLab has been the subject of numerous exhibitions at venues worldwide,
including venues in New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Silicon Valley,
Beijing, Taipei, and Melbourne among others. It also opened the permanent
museums MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: teamLab Borderless in Tokyo in 2018
and teamLab Borderless Shanghai in Shanghai in 2019. The permanent museum
teamLab SuperNature will open in Macao in February, 2020.

DFA World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer 2019 (DFA
WOCD)

Wang Shu
Co-Founder of Amateur
Architecture Studio

It awards a Chinese
designer who has an exceptional track record for quality and success, is
involved in academic exploration or practical application, and displays a
strong social conscience.

Wang Shu co-founded Amateur Architecture Studio with
Lu Wenyu in 1997 and in 2003, they founded the architecture department at China
Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where Wang was the department chair. In 2007, the
School of Architecture was established, where he served as the first dean of
the school. His academic interests and research is focused on the
re-establishment of a contemporary language for Chinese architecture, which is
reflected in his built works such as Ningbo Historic Museum, Xiangshan Campus
of China Academy of Art, Renovation of Wencun Village, and Fuyang Cultural
Complex.

Wang is often found guest lecturing at top
universities such as Harvard, MIT and Tongji University. He’s swept numerous
awards and doctoral degrees, naming him one of the 100 Most Influential People
in the World by Time in 2013. He is now a juror of the Pritzker Architecture
Prize 2019.

High-resolution images can be downloaded at:

http://www.hkdc.hk/download/awards/DFA2019_hi-res_image.zip


Full DFA
Awards winner list can be downloaded at:

http://www.hkdc.hk/download/awards/DFA2019_WinnerList.zip


About DFA Awards

In 2003, the Hong Kong Design Centre has launched the DFA
Awards to underpin the role of designers in society, to celebrate design
leadership and exemplary designs and projects with commercial success or impact
in Asia, as well as to recognise the rising force of emerging designers in Hong
Kong since 2005. The DFA Awards, through its five major award programmes, has
grown in its international influence in Asia.

DFA Lifetime Achievement Award (DFA LAA)

Signify
the design community’s respect for individuals who have made lifelong
contributions to the design profession, education, and the society, especially
in Asia.

DFA Design Leadership Award (DFA DLA)

Recognise
the business leaders or companies who create exceptional and sustainable
business success through strategic and innovative use of Design.

DFA World’s Outstanding Chinese
Designer (DFA WOCD)

Acknowledge
the designers of Chinese origin who have significant design achievement and
international recognition.

DFA Design for Asia Awards (DFA DFAA)

Commend
a wide range of design that embodies Asian aesthetics and culture, with
influence to the design trends in Asia and for Asia.

DFA Hong Kong Young Design Talent
Award (DFA HKYDTA)

Nurture
the development of emerging designers by providing a maximum financial sponsorship
of HK$500,000 for overseas work attachment or education.

Learn more about us at www.dfaawards.com

About Hong Kong Design Centre


Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) is a
non-governmental organisation, and was founded in 2001 as a strategic partner
of the HKSAR Government in establishing Hong Kong as an international centre of
design excellence in Asia. Our public mission is to promote wider and strategic
use of design and design thinking to create business value and improve societal
well-being, with the aim of advancing Hong Kong as an international design
centre in Asia.

HKDC’s flagship programmes include
Business of Design Week (BODW; since 2002) — Asia’s leading annual event on
design, innovation and brands; DFA Awards (since 2003) — a well-recognised
annual awards that celebrate outstanding designs with Asian perspectives; and
Knowledge of Design Week (KODW; since 2006) — an annual thematic programme that
gathers the global design community to explore how design can solve complex
challenges of our society.

We also manage a Design Incubation
Programme and Fashion Incubation Programme (since 2012 and 2016) — 2-year
programmes to nurture future design and fashion entrepreneurs; and launched
FASHION ASIA HONG KONG (since 2016) — an initiative combining conversations,
interactions and cultural exchanges to position the city as an Asian hub for
fashion trade and business development.

Learn more about us at www.hkdesigncentre.org

Here are the Top 20 Most Popular Netflix Original Series in the World

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Here are the Top 20 Most Popular Netflix Original Series in the World

Netflix’s library is so large that anyone could binge-watch for months and still have tons of movies and series to watch.

Here are the top 20 of the most popular Netflix original series in the world:

[table id=19 /]

  • In Q2 of 2019, about 64 million member households were watching the third season of Stranger Things in its first 4 weeks on the platform.
  • In the second quarter of 2019, Netflix’s subscriber count has gone way down the sink again since 2011 but thanks to the retro sci-fi horror hit Stranger Things, Netflix had gained over 520,000 new paid subscribers in the U.S. in Q3 of 2019 while paid memberships increased by 6.26 million.
  • Among the original Netflix TV series around the world, 66 countries prefer crime/thriller genres, followed by continuation genres, which is preferred by 64 countries.

  • Among the most popular original Netflix TV series, 62 countries favoured series with drama genre.
  • Not all of the popular Netflix original TV series are in English because 73 countries favoured original Netflix TV series that aren’t using English as a primary language.
  • 85 countries around the world favoured original Netflix TV series that are listed as Netflix originals but are shown or stream in different countries through distribution rights.
  • Only 2 countries favoured the original Netflix TV series that are scripted using foreign language while 4 countries favoured the original Netflix TV series that were co-productions.

To gather a list of all the original programs distributed by Netflix, we used Wikipedia. From there we used Google Trends to find out which TV show was most frequently searched in each country. Specifically, we gathered data starting from February 1, 2013, the date when Netflix streamed “House of Cards”– their first original content.

Which country are you from?

Is our list of the most popular TV shows per country accurate?

Did it surprise you?

Let us know in the comments section below!

TAJBank Launches Nigeria’s 2nd Non-Interest Financial Institution (Photos)

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TAJBank Launches Nigeria’s 2nd Non-Interest Financial Institution (Photos)

Abuja Nigeria   December 2nd 2019, TAJBank, Nigeria’s second Non–Interest financial institution, has announced the launch of its services at its state of the art facility in Abuja on December 2nd, 2019.

TAJBank Launches Nigeria’s 2nd Non-Interest Financial Institution (Photos)
L-R: Co-Founder/Chief Marketing Officer, Mr Sherif Idi, TAJBank Ltd, Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu Abubakar, Founder/ Chief Operating Officer, Mr Hamid Joda TAJBank Ltd. www.brandspurng.com

The grand launch which held at the bank’s head office in Abuja had in attendance the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Alhaji Tanko Isiaku Gwamna, prominent guests, members of the Board of Directors, staff and the media.

TAJBank Launches Nigeria’s 2nd Non-Interest Financial Institution (Photos)
TAJBank Launches Nigeria’s 2nd Non-Interest Financial Institution (Photos)

Speaking at the ceremony, Chairman of the Bank, Alhaji Tanko Isiaku Gwamna, said “At TAJBank, we are excited at the possibilities before us; the opportunity to significantly boost financial inclusion in Nigeria, the opportunity to empower millions of Nigerians and also, just as importantly, the opportunity to engender a much-needed mind shift with regards to Non-Interest Banking, not just with our customers but the country at large. We have an inspired and extremely industrious team who have worked tirelessly to bring this dream to fruition and I am eager to see the impact that TAJBank will make in the financial sector and in the lives of Nigerians”.

TAJBank Launches Nigeria’s 2nd Non-Interest Financial Institution (Photos)

In his remarks, the Founder and Chief Operations Officer, Mr Hamid Joda said “We’ve built this brand based on excellent service. A brand that our customers can be extremely proud of. This is a defining moment for all of us, one that we have worked tirelessly to achieve. We have an incredible team behind us and the future – in our humble opinions- not just of the bank, but the financial industry is indeed bright.

“TAJBank also offers a number of innovative products and services that will delight our customers. As said before, excellent service to our customers is our benchmark and we aim to deliver,” he concluded.

The Bank offers an array of products and service offerings which are widely available to all Nigerians. Some of the products include Partnership (Mudarabah) Term Deposit, Lease (Ijarah) Finance, Partnership (Mudarabah) Savings/Current Accounts and much more.

TAJBank is Nigeria’s 2nd Non-Interest Financial Institution.  It received its license from the Central Bank of Nigeria on July 12th 2019. The Bank offers an exciting array of products and services that span Private Banking, Retail Banking, Business Banking, Development Finance and the Public Sector.  

TAJBank has its head office in Abuja and a branch in Kano with major plans for expansion across the country.

Here are the world’s most popular city destinations in 2019

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Here are the world’s most popular city destinations in 2019
Euromonitor International recently released the “Top 100 City Destinations 2019” ranking report, covering the world’s leading cities ranked by international tourist arrivals in 2018. In Africa, only Cairo, Egypt, Johannesburg, South Africa and Marrakech, Morocco appear in top 100, making the continent the worst performing in a tourist attraction.
©loganban via 123RF

According to the report by global market research company Euromonitor International, global inbound arrivals are expected to grow by 4.2% to 1.47 billion trips in 2020, with the top 100 cities covering nearly 47% of global arrivals.

This year’s report, covering the world’s leading cities ranked by international tourist arrivals shows that 5 out of the top 10 most visited cities in 2018 are in the Asia Pacific, with Hong Kong listed as the most visited city in the world, followed by Bangkok.

According to the report, leading visitor destinations in the Middle East and Africa remain concentrated within the Gulf region, with 7 of the 12 cities in the ranking from the Gulf: Dubai continues to lead the region in terms of numbers of arrivals, despite a flat growth rate during 2018, and is the only city from the MEA region in the global top 10.

In Africa, the Single African Transport Market Initiative, signed by 23 African Union member states, aims to improve aviation and transport within the region and uplift the tourism industry through shared benefits.

In North Africa, Egypt remains the leading destination following an active tourism reform strategy. Sharm-el-Sheikh, Hurgada, Cairo, Alexandria and Luxor have all seen strong growth, with the return of visitors from the U.K. and Russia. Additionally, many Sub-Saharan African countries are capitalizing on local experiences and offering customized travel experiences targeting both luxury and family travellers.

Johannesburg retains its place among the top 50 cities on account of continued business travel to South Africa. Key tourism destinations such as Seychelles remain popular among regional travellers. Seychelles saw an increase in visitors on account of arrivals from countries with visa-free travel and gained wider popularity as a go-to wedding destination.

Mauritius has always been popular among leisure visitors for its beaches. However, as the government improves investment on other economic fronts to improve employment and enhance infrastructure, business travel to Mauritius is forecast to grow.

Rabia Yasmeen, senior analyst at Euromonitor International comments: “Amid the current situation in Hong Kong, leading to a sharp decline in the number of visitor arrivals this year at -8.7%, the city is expected to maintain its leading position in 2019.”

In the Middle East and Africa, Euromonitor records a steady growth when compared to the rest of the world, with Cairo and Hurghada showing a sharp recovery in the ranking, owing to an active tourism reform strategy.

“As tourism becomes a cornerstone for economic growth and receives more committed attention from governments, cities are expected to be the centre of innovation and investment with technology and sustainability as key focus areas in the years to come,” concludes Yasmeen.

Credit To Private Sector: Agriculture Sector Credit Still Lagging

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Credit To Private Sector: Agriculture Sector Credit Still Lagging

Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published its selected Banking Sector data for Q3-1 9. According to the report, total banking sector credit to the private sector grew by 4.2% y/y and 7.4% q/q to N1 6.3t n in Q3-1 9. This was as the CBN increased the minimum Loan to Deposit ratio of banks to 6 0.0% and later to 6 5.0%.

Further analysis revealed that the bulk of the credit goes t o the Oil & Gas (2 8.0%) and Manufacturing (1 5.8%) sector. Shockingly, credit to the Agriculture sector, which accounts for 2 0%-2 5% of Nigeria’s GDP, remained underwhelming at 4.1% of the total loan despite increased government focus on the sector. Hence, the question is, why are banks
reluctant to lend to the Agriculture sector regardless of the opportunities in the sector.

In our view, despite the apparent potentials (large market size, favourable government policies, and fertile land) in the sector, we believe banks are spooked by the risk associated with the sector. Some of the risks are the vulnerability of crops/livestock to diseases, insecurity, and the poor state of key infrastructures (electricity, good road network, and adequate storage facility), which continued to hampered growth. Accordingly, we believe for banks to give attention to the sector, the government, rather than creating different intervention schemes, should work harder on de-risking the sector by ending insecurity, investing In storage and logistics infrastructure as well as fund research and development to boost crop/stock yield in the sector.

United Capital Research

Nestlé Supports Families With New Parental Leave Policy

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Nestlé Supports Families With New Parental Leave Policy

Nestlé today announced the launch of a more inclusive and enhanced global parental support policy.

The new gender-neutral policy will apply to all employees worldwide. Under the new policy, parental leave for primary caregivers will be extended to 18 weeks of fully paid leave from 14 weeks previously. The policy establishes a minimum of four weeks for secondary caregivers, for whom there was no global minimum before.

Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said: “Every family is unique, so we have designed a parental support policy that is flexible enough to work for us all. Supporting the healthy development of infants has been a core value of our company since our founding. Our new parental support policy is an important part of our efforts to provide children with the best start in life, by allowing parents to spend more time with their new child.”

The new policy sets new minimum standards but does not set limits. This means that in some places, Nestlé may choose to offer more leave than the 18 weeks for primary caregivers and the four weeks for secondary caregivers. The company will always provide longer parental leave if local laws require it.

In addition to the new arrangements, the parental support policy reinforces employment protection, non-discrimination, health protection, the availability of flexible working options, as well as breastfeeding support.

Nestlé Head of Group Human Resources Béatrice Guillaume-Grabisch said: “We want to make Nestlé an even more inclusive and inspiring place to work. This is a policy that will benefit every one of our people when they welcome a new child to their family, wherever they are in the world,” she said.

Nestlé will begin implementing the policy in 2020, with the global rollout set to be completed by the end of 2022.

Financial Inclusion: Fintech Firms Got $400 Million Investment In 2019 – CBN

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Financial Inclusion: Fintech Firms Got $400 Million Investment In 2019 – CBN

Fintech firms have seen capital inflow to the tune of $400 million this year, in efforts to build a more financially inclusive country.

According to Punch, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through its governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele disclosed that this investment in fintech firms was part of the plan to improve the reach of financial services and deepening financial inclusion in the banking sector.

According to Mr Emefiele, the Central Bank had issued 15 super-agent licenses and 3 payment service bank licenses to telecommunications and fintech companies in efforts to build a financially inclusive Nigeria and support improved payment services.

“In an effort to build a more inclusive financial system and to improve the efficacy of monetary policy tools, we provided 15 super-agent licenses, as well as three Payment Service Bank, licences to telecommunications and fintech companies.

“These measures are aiding in the development of robust payment infrastructure and an expansion of agent locations across the country. As a result of our policy measures, in 2019, over $400 million have been invested in fintech companies, focused on supporting improved payment services in Nigeria.”

The entrance of new players into the payment services market and the strengthening of the financial 16 networks, according to the CBN, gave a growing number of under-served Nigerians access to cost-effective banking services. The apex bank had planned to sustain these efforts in 2020, in order to reduce financial exclusion rate to under 20% over the next year.

Meanwhile, the CBN stated that, in its push to improve access to finance and credit, it would protect borrowers from unfair banking and lending practices by maintaining oversight on the banks and other financial institutions. In line with the bank’s objectives for 2020, the bank was also determined to maintain a stable exchange policy stance in the near to medium term, given the relatively high level of reserves.

However, the apex bank also disclosed that it was working with the fiscal authorities, to support the recovery of the economy, while reiterating that Nigeria was open for business. It urged investors to take advantage of the investment opportunities in Nigeria and assured that investments in the country would be duly protected by the authorities.

Credit startup Migo expands to Brazil on $20M raise and Africa growth

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Credit startup Migo expands to Brazil on $20M raise and Africa growth

After growing its lending business in West Africa, emerging markets credit startup Migo is expanding to Brazil on a $20 million Series B funding round led by Valor Capital Group. 

The San Francisco-based company — previously branded Mines.io — provides AI-driven products to large firms so those companies can extend credit to underbanked consumers in viable ways.

That generally means making lending services to low-income populations in emerging markets profitable for big corporates, where they previously were not.

Founded in 2013, Migo launched in Nigeria, where the startup now counts fintech unicorn Interswitch and Africa’s largest telecom, MTN, among its clients.

Offering its branded products through partner channels, Migo has originated more than 3 million loans to over 1 million customers in Nigeria since 2017, according to company stats.

“The global social inequality challenge is driven by a lack of access to credit. If you look at the middle class in developed countries, it is largely built on access to credit,” Migo founder and CEO Ekechi Nwokah told TechCrunch.

“What we are trying to do is to make prosperity available to all by reinventing the way people access and use credit,” he explained.

Migo does this through its cloud-based, data-driven platform to help banks, companies and telcos make credit decisions around populations they previously may have bypassed.

These entities integrate Migo’s API into their apps to offer these overlooked market segments digital accounts and lines of credit, Nwokah explained.

“Many people are trying to do this with small micro-loans. That’s the first place you understand risk, but we’re developing into point of sale solutions,” he said.

Migo’s client consumers can access their credit lines and make payments by entering a merchant phone number on their phone (via USSD) and then clicking on “Pay with Migo.” Migo can also be set up for use with QR codes, according to Nwokah.

He believes structural factors in frontier and emerging markets make it difficult for large institutions to serve people without traditional credit profiles.

“What makes it hard for the banks is its just too expensive,” he said of establishing the infrastructure, technology and staff to serve these market segments.

Nwokah sees similarities in unbanked and underbanked populations across the world, including Brazil and African countries such as Nigeria.

“Statistically, the number of people without credit in Nigeria is about 90 million people and its about 100 million adults that don’t have access to credit in Brazil. The countries are roughly the same size and the problem is roughly the same,” he said.

On clients in Brazil, Migo has a number of deals in the pipeline — according to Nwokah — and has signed a deal with a big-name partner in the South American country of 210 million, but could not yet disclose which one.

Migo generates revenue through interest and fees on its products. With lead investor Valor Capital Group, Velocity Capital and The Rise Fund joined the startup’s $20 million Series B.

Increasingly, Africa — with its large share of the world’s unbanked — and Nigeria — home to the continent’s largest economy and population — have become proving grounds for startups looking to create scalable emerging market finance solutions.

Migo could become a pioneer of sorts by shaping a fintech credit product in Africa with application in the frontier, emerging and developed markets.

“We could actually take this to the U.S. We’ve had discussions with several partners about bringing the technology to the U.S. and Europe,” said founder Ekechi Nwokah. In the near-term, though, Migo is more likely to expand to Asia, he said.

All you need to know about no-log VPN

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All you need to know about no-log VPN

Most of the official websites of VPN providers often mention something about VPN logs. On the other hand, other providers may not directly mention it but will always let their customers know whether they have the VPN logs services or not. Nevertheless, the excellent VPN providers will ever let their clients know that they offer no-logging policy. This not only ensures the clients’ safety of data but also ensures that their existence remains anonymous.

The truth is, most of the VPN service providers keep logs of their users. Although they rarely mention it in the homepage to avoid scaring off most of their clients, they often do it. This means that they can log into your activity even when you are using a private connection. Nevertheless, we have some providers who inform their clients on such activities, thus warning them when using their private connection.

What does ‘no-logs’ mean? 

‘No logs’ in simple terms means that your VPN provider does not keep any logs. However, this is not easily acquired, especially if the provider has to ensure that they enforce the device restrictions, bandwidth, and time. For any VPN provider who claims to follow a ‘no log’ policy, they have to ensure that any information stored after a connection has ended should not exceed three to five minutes. 

Here are a few things you need to know about VPN logs. 

  • Connection logs vs. usage logs

The two primary types of VPN logs are the connection and the usage logs. The connection logs mostly deal with connection details such as tracing your real IP address while one is using a private connection. In addition to this, it tracks the amount of data spent when one is transmitting in an individual connection. 

The usage data, on the other hand, deals with the browsing activity. For example, it keeps track of all the websites visited, and the files that were downloaded at a particular time while using a private proxy service. 

  • Free VPN providers log your activity

Most governments in the world are notorious for tracing their citizens’ online activities. The same case also applies to the VPN providers as they often log your activity. Just like the government, VPN providers also monitor all the browsing activities of their clients, and can therefore not be termed as private. Unfortunately, you will find a multitude of free VPN services that will log your activity. People should be aware that even reputable VPN companies offer these free services that eventually compromise your data. 

  • Most VPN companies keep their customers’ logs to comply with government regulations

Most VPN providers keep their customers’ logs, not because they want to invade their privacy, but because the government regulations require them to. If your VPN provider comes from a country that requires all the companies to comply with the data rules and regulations, they are rarely left with any option but to comply. This means that although these companies will keep their clients’ data private, they are required to meet once the government asks for the data. 

  • Always choose a VPN with no-logging policy

As seen above, VPN logs are not any better as compared to government monitoring. One has to choose the lesser evil of a virtual private network service that provides its customers with a strict no-logging policy. It is easy to choose the latter as the feature is well displayed on all the official websites of private network providers. Once an individual decides the service with no logging policy, they are always ensured of anonymous and secure private activity.

  • VPN logs reduce your private browsing to public browsing

The primary reason why most people use VPN service is to ensure that all their online activities are kept private. Unfortunately, this is not the case since most of the virtual private network services log all their activities. Although they have an upper hand of escaping from the monitoring of the government, they cannot hide from their private providers. This, therefore, beats the whole idea of having a private connection for that matter. 

This peace has provided all the necessary information about VPN logs. However, it is upon the user to remember that not all VPN providers have a strict no-log policy. Customers should, therefore, bear the obligation of distinguishing the real providers that offer real online protection from the rest.

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