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Ava Anthony arrived in Thailand expecting little more than a holiday. What she found instead unsettled the way she thought about music. One evening, inside a jazz bar, she watched performers whose ease on stage felt almost rehearsed into instinct. Beyond the live performances, she discovered an industry built on years of deliberate preparation, in which aspiring artists could spend seven to nine years training before a record label would consider them ready to debut. For Anthony, a Nigerian singer-songwriter who performs under the stage name ‘Denle,’ the experience raised an uncomfortable question. If Afrobeats has become one of the world’s fastest-growing music genres with far less formal preparation, what could it become if artists developed within similarly structured systems? “There’s a structure that Asia has been able to incorporate,” Anthony told TechCabal. “I’m also taking a look at the numbers and the statistics comparing that to Afrobeats, and the stat is alarming—how they’re doing like 30 to 100 billion streams in a year, and Afrobeats is just doing like 30 [billion streams].” It was an unlikely realisation for someone who had travelled to Thailand on a modest budget, intending to teach English while experiencing life in a different country. Yet that journey would leave her thinking as much about Nigeria’s creative economy as her own career. The irony is that Anthony’s relationship with music began in a far less structured setting. Growing up, mornings in her family home often began with the voices of Nigerian gospel singer Panam Percy Paul or American country musician Jim Reeves drifting through the house. Both of her parents sang in the church choir—her mother still does—and music was woven so naturally into family life that she scarcely noticed its influence. She certainly didn’t imagine it would become the opening chapter of a life that would take her from studying electrical and electronics engineering to working as a digital strategist for major Nigerian brands, teaching English in Thailand and pursuing a career as a singer-songwriter. Nor did she expect that travelling halfway across the world would fundamentally reshape how she thought about the future of African music. From church choirs to campus busking sessions Long before Chiang Mai, there was a 13-year-old girl discovering that her voice could move people. Anthony says she first realised she might actually be able to sing after performing a solo in her church’s children’s choir. Afterwards, a woman approached her mother and remarked in Yoruba, “What a voice your daughter has.” Anthony remembers that moment as a turning point. Encouraged by her mother, what began as a fascination with music gradually evolved into writing original songs while she was still in secondary school. She sang Disney songs alone in her room, joined the school choir and continued writing. Her mother supported her ambitions but insisted that education came first. “Once you get that certificate, then you can go into music,” they told her, according to Anthony. At Landmark University in Kwara State in southwestern Nigeria, she studied Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering; she met a guitarist who shared her enthusiasm for performing. Together, they began holding informal Saturday evening busking sessions behind one of the campus cafeterias. What began as two students playing music gradually attracted regular audiences of between 15 and 20 people. “It became an every-Saturday thing,” she said. “That was when I started thinking, ‘okay, I can actually do this in real life.’” After graduating in 2015, the guitarist—Damilola Aalabi ‘Isama’—became her manager, and she began attending recording camps that helped launch her music career. One of the clearest confirmations that she was on the right path came during a recording session for an unreleased song titled Magnificent, performed under her stage name, Denle. She sent the song to her sister in the United Kingdom, who called back in tears. Written for Black girls navigating questions of beauty, race and self-worth, the song resonated deeply with her sister’s experience of living as a Black minority in Britain. That conversation reinforced Anthony’s sense of purpose. “I feel like I was given this gift and this talent to be able not just for myself but for people.” After university, Anthony was posted for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Nigeria’s compulsory one-year national service programme, to Brotherhood Secondary School in Ibesikpo Asutan, Akwa Ibom State, in southern Nigeria. The public school bore little resemblance to the private schools she had attended. She says she arrived on her first day convinced the students would mock her accent. Despite having no formal training as an English teacher, she found herself teaching the subject anyway. Rather than retreat, she leaned into the challenge. One lesson at a time, she built a rapport with her students. She asked what they hoped to become, shared stories of people who had overcome difficult circumstances and, every so often, ended lessons by singing. “Before I leave the class, [the kids] would say, ‘Teacher, teacher, sing one more song,’” she said. “It felt like a beautiful merger: teaching and music.” Teaching may have become her profession, but music never stopped being her ambition. The strategist behind the songs After completing national service, Anthony built a career in digital strategy. Between 2016 and 2020, she said she worked in advertising and branding, developing campaigns for clients including Nigerian tier-one lenders Access Bank and Zenith Bank. She later served as a community manager on a Lagos State gubernatorial campaign that challenged incoming governor Jimi Agbaje in 2019, according to Anthony. Those years gave her something many emerging musicians never acquire: a practical understanding of digital communities, audience development and brand positioning. “I realised that it’s not just for corporate sectors,” she said. “You can actually put that into music and entertainment, into a person.” By 2020, Anthony was ready for another chapter. She had secured admission to the University of Ilorin Business School to pursue a master’s degree, but the COVID-19 pandemic derailed those plans before the programme could begin. “In 2020, I secured admission into the
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Nedbank, South Africa’s fourth-largest lender, has appointed former MTN Group Chief Information Officer Nikos Angelopoulos as its new chief information officer, as banks increasingly recruit telecom executives to lead their digital transformation efforts. Angelopoulos, who joins Nedbank on September 1, spent eight years overseeing technology strategy, cloud investments and digital infrastructure across MTN Group’s 16 markets. His appointment comes as banks invest heavily in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and cybersecurity, bringing the skills required to run large-scale telecommunications networks closer to those needed to operate modern financial institutions. “Nikos is an internationally experienced technology executive with more than 30 years’ experience across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas,” the bank said in a statement announcing the appointment on Friday. “He joins Nedbank from MTN Group, where he served as Group Chief Information Officer since 2018, with responsibility for information technology strategy, investments, delivery and governance across 16 markets serving more than 300 million customers.” The appointment also reflects the growing convergence between banking and telecommunications. While the two sectors have traditionally operated in different worlds, both now depend on always-on digital services, real-time transactions, cybersecurity and data to serve millions of customers. For banks, that means the skills needed to build tomorrow’s financial institutions increasingly resemble those required to run one of Africa’s largest telecom networks. Rather than relying solely on career bankers, lenders are recruiting executives with experience scaling complex digital ecosystems across telecoms, payments and other technology-driven businesses. The lender added that Angelopoulos has led “large-scale digital, cloud, data and artificial intelligence transformation initiatives” during a career spanning more than three decades. Before joining MTN, he held senior technology leadership roles at UAE telecom operator du, British telecoms group Vodafone, and global technology consulting firm Accenture. Those credentials suggest Nedbank is betting that experience managing technology platforms at continental scale will become more valuable as banking evolves. The CIO role has also changed. Once responsible for keeping IT systems running, today’s technology chiefs are expected to shape AI strategy, oversee cloud migration, strengthen cybersecurity and modernise core banking platforms. That evolution is pushing banks to widen their search for technology leaders. The appointment highlights a broader shift in banking recruitment. In April 2026, African banking group Absa appointed former M-PESA Africa chief executive officer (CEO) Sitoyo Lopokoiyit to lead its Personal and Private Banking business. In July, Stanbic Bank Kenya, a subsidiary of Standard Bank Group, named former Safaricom executive Michael Mutiga as CEO. Not all banks are looking outside their organisations. Capitec promoted Andrew Baker to CIO in February 2026, tasking him with leading the bank’s next phase of technology evolution for its more than 25 million clients. Nedbank’s appointment also completes a leadership transition that began in January when Ray Naicker resigned after more than two decades at the bank. Naicker, who became Group CIO in 2023 after serving as Group Chief Digital Officer, was credited with helping shape Nedbank’s technology strategy and digital transformation. For years, banks invested in branches and balance sheets to stay ahead. Today, they’re investing in the people who build and run digital platforms. Nedbank’s latest hire is another sign of that shift. 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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Before Joseph Simukoko introduced me to Mwiche Mukoma, we had already spent nearly half an hour talking at Nairobi Street Kitchen. The conversation wandered from Zambian politics to African immigration, from why the continent still struggles to trade with itself to the industries that could define its economic future. Simukoko speaks the way some people sprint—leaning forward, tugging at his dreadlocks as ideas arrive faster than sentences can contain them. His optimism is infectious. Not naïve optimism, but the conviction of someone who genuinely believes Africa’s future can be engineered. Where Simukoko is animated, Mukoma is measured. Soft-spoken and deliberate, the former banker weighs every word before letting it leave her mouth. While Simukoko fills the room with energy, she steadies it. Together, they feel like complementary halves of the same ambition. Their story started in high school, where they first met as teenagers before eventually becoming husband and wife. In 2022, after careers in banking and agricultural development, they founded Green Giraffe, a Zambian startup using AI and satellite technology to help smallholder farmers access premium markets. Ironically, the company only exists because an export deal collapsed after they failed to prove compliance with European food standards, a setback that forced them to build the technology themselves. We continued our conversation in the lobby of the Somerset Westview Hotel in Nairobi’s Kilimani neighbourhood. They spoke about colonial trade patterns, the absurdity of African countries finding it easier to trade with Europe than with one another, why entrepreneurship can outlast development aid, and the lessons they have learnt from farmers, investors, rejection, and each other. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. If Green Giraffe never existed, what do you honestly think you’d be doing today? Mukoma: My background is in finance, so I’d probably still be working in a bank, pushing paper and convincing myself I was helping people manage their money. But what we’ve built with Green Giraffe feels far more meaningful. In less than three years, we’ve changed how thousands of farmers interact with markets and food systems. I can look at myself in the mirror and say we built something that genuinely matters. I couldn’t say that after eight years in banking. Simukoko: I’d still be doing something around smallholder farmers. I’ve worked with them since 2010, and my obsession has always been making markets work for them. That’s why we teamed up. Mwiche wanted to create markets through agro-processing, and together we evolved into solving the compliance barriers that keep African farmers out of premium markets. Green Giraffe is just the latest expression of a mission I’ve had for years. How did you meet? Simukoko: We met at university about twenty years ago. She studied finance, and I studied agriculture. Mukoma: As you grow older, you realise many African countries suffer from the same problems. Sometimes trade fails because of something as simple as missing documentation. We came to Kenya and saw products like mabuyu (a popular snack in East Africa made from babob tree seeds) that we also have in Zambia, and I kept asking myself, “Why don’t we trade more with each other?” You start seeing that producers lose money, consumers lose choices, and everyone pays the price for systems that don’t make sense. Eventually, you stop asking why and start trying to fix it. Mwiche Mukoma, Green Giraffe co-founder, talking to a guest during the Zambian Gastronomy Awards 2025. Image source: Green Giraffe People assume entrepreneurs were always ambitious children. What were you like? Mukoma: A troublemaker. My parents always said I wasn’t difficult; I was frustrated by systems that made no sense. I questioned everything, broke rules, and always believed there had to be a better way. Simukoko: She likes calling herself a troublemaker, but in high school, she became the first student trusted to run the school tuck shop. Nothing went missing. As for me, I was usually several pages ahead of the teacher. I’d be staring out the window, the teacher would assume I wasn’t paying attention, ask me a question, and I’d answer it in detail. Sometimes I’d even be asked to teach the class. I was difficult to teach because I was constantly curious. Mukoma: One thing I appreciate about him is his humility. He always asks whether there’s a better solution. He’ll listen to everyone before making a decision. You’ve built a business helping African farmers reach global markets. Why does Africa still export raw produce while importing products made from its own crops? Mukoma: A lot of our thinking has been conditioned over generations. We’ve inherited systems that tell us what our role in the global economy should be. Simukoko: Colonialism didn’t really end. It simply changed form. Kenya is famous for tea, but who decided tea should define Kenya? European countries are famous for chocolate without growing cocoa. We’re still using transport systems designed to move raw materials out of Africa rather than connecting African markets. Even our language reflects it. We call countries “landlocked” instead of “land-linked.” Why is exporting automatically assumed to mean Europe? Africa is becoming the world’s largest market. Why aren’t we asking how to sell to Ghana, Mauritania, or Kenya before thinking about Europe? The African Continental Free Trade Area exists, yet Africans still struggle to travel across Africa. Sometimes it’s cheaper and easier to fly to Europe than to another African country. That mindset has to change. Mukoma: If we traded more with each other, we’d stop exporting raw materials and start exchanging finished products that create wealth on the continent. What belief did you hold at 25 that you now think was completely wrong? Simukoko: I believed development aid was the answer. Today, I think entrepreneurship creates a more sustainable impact. Aid eventually runs out; businesses keep solving problems because customers pay for solutions. When organisations like USAID pulled back, younger me would have panicked. Today I see an opportunity. Every challenge creates space for an entrepreneur to build something useful. Mukoma: Mine was
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