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In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy midweek. Standard Chartered Kenya is about to become a tenant in its own headquarters. Business Daily reported that the lender is working through bids to sell the Westlands property while leasing back the space it still needs, another sign that many banks are deciding they don’t need to own as much real estate as they once did. Let’s look at the key events across African tech yesterday. Become smarter about tech and commerce in Francophone Africa, and the policies shaping them. Read our newsletter here first or subscribe below. Subscribe Layoffs at Luno Airtel Money Kenya appoints acting MD Sport powers DStv comeback Kenya drafts labour policy around AI World Wide Web 3 Opportunities Layoffs UK-headquartered crypto firm Luno cuts global workforce by 20% Image Source: Tenor There was a time when crypto exchanges were obsessed with getting everyone to buy Bitcoin. Luno is still very much in the retail trading business, but it is trying to build additional revenue streams beyond individual crypto traders; its staff is the price to pay for that restructuring. What happened? Luno, the UK-headquartered crypto firm operating a regional base in South Africa, is cutting 20% of its global workforce as it reorganises the company. According to local publication TechCentral, part of Luno’s South African team was affected. Why now? The company said it is restructuring after investing heavily in automation, and wants to build products and infrastructure for banks and other large businesses. Explain like I’m five: Luno makes money every time people buy or sell crypto on its platform. When Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are rising, excitement pulls more people into the market and trading volumes climb, but when prices fall, most people fold their hands. So, no trading. Luno pointed to that as its reason for the cuts. Bitcoin slipped below $59,000 in June, its lowest level since September 2024, while Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Dogecoin all posted steeper weekly declines. Those price drops tend to reduce trading activity, making it harder for exchanges that depend on transactions. Not the first time: In 2023, after Bitcoin crashed from nearly $69,000 to below $17,000, the company cut 35% of its workforce during the crypto winter. This time might be different, though. The 2023 layoffs were about surviving a market crash, while the 2026 layoffs are about changing the business itself. Getting paid in cedis just got easier for African businesses operating in Ghana. Fincra now issues dedicated GHS virtual accounts to enable businesses to collect payments. See how Fincra GHS virtual accounts work. Fintech Airtel Money Kenya replaces former managing director Bonke Michael, Airtel Money Kenya’s acting managing director. Image Source: LinkedIn. Airtel Money Kenya, the mobile money challenger to Safaricom’s M-PESA, is undergoing an important leadership transition as the broader Airtel Money business, which operates in 14 African markets, prepares for its anticipated London public listing this year. The mobile money operator, owned by the telco Airtel, has appointed Bonke Michael as its acting managing director, three days after former boss Anne Kinuthia-Otieno resigned from the role. What happened? Airtel Money Kenya has promoted Michael to acting managing director after nearly a decade at the company. The appointment comes at the moment Airtel Money is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) later this year. Between the lines: Under Anne Kinuthia-Otieno, the company’s total income rose to KES 1.68 billion ($12 million) in 2025 from KES 1.09 billion ($8.4 million) a year earlier, while profit after tax nearly doubled to KES 143 million ($1.1 million). Michael will now have to prove those gains weren’t a one-off and keep Airtel Money growing as it heads towards a London IPO. The bigger picture: This appointment says as much about Airtel’s IPO strategy. When Kinuthia-Otieno took over in 2021, Airtel Money controlled just 3.1% of Kenya’s mobile money market. By March 2026, that figure grew to 10.9%, while market leader M-PESA’s share fell from 96.8% to 89.1%. Kenya now has 53.4 million active mobile money subscriptions. Zoom out: Airtel Money Kenya likely also chose a veteran in the role because, with its upcoming IPO plans, it needs someone with institutional memory who can help steer the process in the near term. The mobile money operator is seeking a $10 billion valuation, hoping to convince global investors that it is building an investable business. Winning investor confidence will be Michael’s biggest test in the role. Download PalmPay. Bank smarter. Transaction Guard lets you set single, daily, or monthly transaction limits. Whenever a transaction exceeds your chosen limit, facial verification is required before it can be completed, helping to prevent unauthorised transfers. With PalmPay, you stay in control. Learn more. Streaming Canal+ is fixing MultiChoice with DStv Stream and sport Image Source: Tenor If you paid for a DStv subscription in the last ten months, congratulations, you’re a part of the company’s growth numbers. Ten months after taking over MultiChoice, Canal+, the French media giant, has posted numbers that suggest its turnaround is working. Subscriber acquisition across MultiChoice markets rose 40% year-on-year, while adjusted operating profit surged 160% to €143 million ($162 million). In South Africa, June just recorded the strongest month for new subscriber acquisitions in a decade. What’s happening? But this isn’t just a story of cheaper decoders. Canal+ has been pushing DStv Stream, a version of the service that needs no satellite dish, just an internet connection and a subscription. The company also slashed decoder prices for new subscribers by up to 40%, removing a big barrier to entry in African pay-TV. It also expanded its physical sales network by more than 15% since March, betting that in many markets, people still sign up for TV at a shop, not on a website. What else? On content, the French owner is doubling down on live sport: MultiChoice’s one category that still commands reliable paying audiences. It has locked in long-term rights to South Africa’s Premier Soccer League and
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On Thursday, July 23, the International Conference Centre in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, was filled with the familiar language of telecommunications—spectrum, standards, cybersecurity, satellite networks—but underneath the technical vocabulary was something much larger unfolding. For perhaps the first time in decades, African ministers were not gathered to discuss how the continent could adopt the next wave of technology. They were debating how to influence it before someone else did. Over two days at the African Telecommunications Union’s Conference of Plenipotentiaries, officials from across the continent argued that Africa has spent too long importing not just digital infrastructure but the rules that govern it. Now, they said, the continent wants to help write those rules itself. “Our continent must not remain a passive consumer of technologies, standards and platforms developed without sufficient consideration for African priorities,” Sid Ali Zerrouki, Algeria’s minister of post and telecommunications, told delegates. “Africa must become a recognised architect of their design, governance and responsible use.” The statement captured a broader shift taking place across Africa. For years, conversations about the continent’s digital future centred on expanding internet access, building mobile networks and attracting investment from global technology companies. Those goals remain important. But as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, satellites and cybersecurity become instruments of economic power and geopolitical influence, African governments argue that the continent can no longer afford to simply implement rules written elsewhere. That sense of urgency drew ministers, regulators and technology leaders from across Africa to Abuja ahead of next year’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference in Doha, where countries will negotiate the standards and policies that increasingly determine how the world’s digital economy operates. Africa’s push reflects a broader shift in how governments around the world now view technology. Countries are no longer treating digital infrastructure as simply an engine for economic growth but as a strategic asset that underpins national competitiveness, security and global influence. India has invested heavily in developing its own digital public infrastructure, known as the India Stack. The European Union has become one of the world’s most influential digital regulators through legislation such as major laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), and the Digital Services Act. The United States and China increasingly view semiconductors, AI and cloud computing as strategic assets as important as oil or military capability. African governments argue they cannot afford to remain spectators. “For too long, global technology policies have been developed without adequate representation of African priorities and perspectives,” Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima said in remarks delivered on his behalf by Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President. “That must change.” The argument is becoming easier to make because Africa’s economic weight is growing. According to the GSMA, mobile technologies generated about $220 billion in economic value across Africa in 2024—roughly 8% of the continent’s GDP. Within five years, that figure is expected to climb to $270 billion. The continent is also becoming the world’s youngest digital market. More than six out of every ten Africans are under 25, creating what industry executives increasingly describe as the largest generation of digital consumers entering the global economy. Collectively, that should give Africa influence. Individually, however, most African countries remain small players in international negotiations. That is why unity became the recurring theme in Abuja. “We must continue to invest in technical preparation, strengthen regional cooperation and speak with one voice where our interests align,” Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, said. Achieving that unity, however, will not be easy. African countries approach technology governance from very different starting points. Some prioritise privacy and data protection, while others focus on attracting investment, encouraging innovation or expanding digital inclusion. Legal systems differ, economic interests diverge, and even data protection frameworks vary significantly between countries such as Nigeria and South Africa. Economic priorities also divide the continent. Countries grappling with debt crises, including Zambia, Ghana and Ethiopia, pushed for more aggressive global debt restructuring, pressing both Western bondholders and bilateral lenders such as China for broader relief. By contrast, countries with stronger credit profiles, including Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Benin, adopted a more cautious stance. Keen to preserve access to international capital markets and avoid credit-rating downgrades, they resisted sweeping debt-relief demands that could unsettle investors. The contrast underscored how differing economic realities often make it difficult for African countries to present a unified position, even when they face common structural challenges. Yet speakers at the conference insisted the alternative—continuing to negotiate separately—would leave Africa reacting to rules written elsewhere. The conference ended with delegates adopting the Abuja Declaration on Meaningful Connectivity, a roadmap that commits member states to expanding affordable internet access, strengthening cybersecurity, improving digital inclusion and coordinating more closely on technology policy before the ITU conference in Doha. Nigeria also left the conference with a more prominent diplomatic role. The country formally assumed the chairmanship of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries for the next four years, while Zambia’s Kezias Kazuba Mwale was elected the next Secretary-General of the African Telecommunications Union. More than routine leadership changes, the appointments reflected Africa’s growing determination to speak with greater influence in shaping the global digital agenda. “Africa will not simply participate in the digital future,” Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the ITU, told delegates. “Africa will help shape it—not only as a consumer of technology, but as a creator, an innovator, a standard setter and a trusted global partner.” Whether that ambition becomes reality remains uncertain. True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
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Fincart, an Egyptian startup building an AI-powered operating system for e-commerce merchants, has raised a $2.8 million seed round to expand across Africa and the Middle East after pivoting beyond logistics software into merchant finance and business automation. Launch Africa, a pan-African venture capital fund, and Antler MENAP, the early-stage fund focused on the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan regions, co-led the funding round, with participation from Yango Ventures, Five35 Ventures, Bluestream Capital, Hi2 Global, Kalahari Venture Labs, and other unnamed investors. The raise comes 18 months after Fincart’s undisclosed pre-seed round and coincides with the startup’s pivot from a logistics management platform into an AI-powered operating system for e-commerce merchants. Egypt’s e-commerce market is projected to grow to $20.15 billion by 2031, creating opportunities for startups building software and financial infrastructure for merchants. Fincart said it will use the funding to scale its commercial and tech teams, invest in product development, and forge new commercial partnerships to strengthen its position in its home market. “With our strategy focused on strengthening the e-commerce ecosystem, this investment will enable us to deepen our partnerships, enhance our AI-powered platform, expand our infrastructure, and accelerate our growth across Africa and the Middle East,” said Mostafa Masry, Fincart’s co-founder and chief executive officer. Founded in 2023 by Masry and Nihal Ali, Fincart began by helping online merchants manage last-mile deliveries and reconcile cash-on-delivery payments. Over time, the company has expanded into a merchant operating system that combines logistics management, embedded financing and AI-powered customer engagement. It noted that merchants on the platform can connect to more than 40 shipping providers and access short-term cash advances. According to Masry, the pivot was driven by merchants’ reliance on a myriad of software to manage shipping, customer support, marketing, and payments. That fragmentation, he noted, left valuable business data siloed across systems, which made it harder for merchants to automate operations. Fincart’s response was to consolidate those functions into a single AI-powered platform. “Everything we build starts with sitting down with merchants and understanding where they’re losing time, money, or customers,” said Ali. “We built Fincart to replace all of that with a single control panel where merchants can sell more, deliver faster, and manage their customers, without the friction of stitching tools together.” Fincart operates in a market where regional players such as MaxAB-Wasoko and global commerce platforms like Shopify provide merchant services to e-commerce platforms. The company said it has onboarded more than 450 merchants and enterprise customers and has processed nearly EGP 1 billion (nearly $20 million) in merchandise value through automated shipping and cash reconciliation workflows. Fincart generates revenue from shipping fees and tiered software subscriptions that range from EGP 1,584 ($31.2) to EGP 7,199 ($141.96) monthly, depending on the features merchants use. Fincart said part of the funding will finance its expansion beyond Egypt from 2027. For Launch Africa, the investment is a bet on the region’s commerce infrastructure rather than a single startup. “Egypt’s e-commerce market is one of Africa’s most compelling infrastructure opportunities: high volume, CoD-dominant, and deeply underserved at the SME level,” said Lina Kacyem, investment manager at Launch Africa. “The organic, referral-driven growth tells you everything about product-market fit, and we’re excited to support Fincart’s expansion across Egypt and into new African markets as co-lead investors in this round.” True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
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