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As a first-year Computer Science student at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Timilehin Zubair wanted to become financially independent. His parents gave him ₦15,000 ($11.12) a month, which was supposed to cover his expenses as he adjusted to living away from home. But Zubair could spend the money within two weeks. He began looking for ways to earn his own income. His first attempt was an Instagram blog, where he reposted pictures from other accounts and tried to build an audience. When that failed to gain traction, he moved into vector art, teaching himself Photoshop and spending hours drawing people. He attracted some attention, but the commissions he expected never came. Graphic design was one of his first experiments that actually made money. Zubair began designing for brands and used some of his earnings to advertise his services. In his second year, a roommate asked him to design a flyer for a crypto business he was starting. The design job became Zubair’s introduction to crypto. “That was not the first time I was hearing about crypto,” he told TechCabal in an interview. “This time around, I was very interested in knowing more about it. So, I told him to put me on and give me more information about the business.” By the time he finished the design, Zubair had started trading crypto himself. He bought cryptocurrency from people at one price and sold it at a higher price, keeping the difference. His graphic-design earnings helped him advertise the business, while customers began contacting him on WhatsApp to buy and sell crypto. As the business grew, Zubair realised that he could not handle every transaction manually. If he wanted to serve more customers, he needed to automate the process and build a product. It took a failed attempt to hire an outside developer, and the discovery that one of his own coursemates could build software, the WhatsApp hustle to become Bitoshi, the crypto startup Zubair founded in 2020. The company allows users to send cryptocurrency to a wallet address and receive its naira equivalent in their bank accounts. The name Bitoshi combines “Bit”, from Bitcoin, and “oshi”, from Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator or creators of Bitcoin. Bitoshi entered a Nigerian crypto market that was growing rapidly but operating under a difficult banking environment. In February 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed banks and other financial institutions to close accounts belonging to crypto businesses. It warned regulated institutions against dealing in crypto-related transactions. By 2026, Nigerians had transacted an estimated $96 billion worth of crypto, making the country one of Africa’s largest crypto markets. For Bitoshi, the opportunity was also the challenge: how do you build a crypto business when the banking infrastructure needed to move customers’ money is effectively off-limits? Day 1: Turning the WhatsApp hustle into a product Ask Zubair when Bitoshi started, and he will not point to the WhatsApp side hustle. In his telling, that was simply a way to make money he badly needed. Day 1, as he counts it, was the moment he decided to turn the hustle into a company. On WhatsApp, Zubair manually matched crypto buyers and sellers and tracked payments himself. Customers would tell him they wanted to sell Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. He would give them a rate; they would send the crypto to his wallet, and he would transfer the naira equivalent to their bank account. It worked when the business was small. But Zubair knew he could not keep doing every transaction himself as the customer base grew. “I could not scale to 100 customers a day because it was not humanly possible,” he said. Scaling meant getting off WhatsApp and building an actual product. The answer came in the form of Leon, a fellow FUTA student Zubair had known since his first year but did not realise was a developer. The first version of Bitoshi was a simple website that generated a wallet address for each user, allowed them to send cryptocurrency to it and paid the naira equivalent into their bank account. In effect, it was a website version of what Zubair had been doing manually on WhatsApp. For the first few months, it was just the two of them. They were students, working remotely and learning as they went. “We had no marketing team in the early stage. We did zero marketing,” Zubair said. “I was just telling the audience I already had about this product, and they all seemed to like it and started telling their friends about it.” Because Bitoshi launched during the crypto ban, Zubair built Bitoshi assuming it would never get a bank partnership, “We built the product with the mindset that we were going to handle these transactions ourselves,” he said. To make that possible, Bitoshi built a vendor-dispatch system. Withdrawal requests were routed by an algorithm to a queue of vendors. A transaction would go to the first vendor and move to the next if it was not picked up within a set time, until an available vendor accepted it. That vendor would send the money from their own bank account to the customer’s account and earn a commission for processing the transaction. According to Zubair, the system gave the company an advantage over crypto platforms that relied on conventional peer-to-peer (P2P)transactions, where users had to find and transact with individual buyers or sellers. The workaround came with its own problems. Zubair said hackers found ways to exploit the platform, while other users created multiple accounts with fake identities to farm referral bonuses. “We learned on the job. We made a lot of mistakes. We had a lot of losses, because we didn’t fully understand what it meant to build in a financial market,” Zubair says. “It was very messy. But everything that happened, every obstacle we came across, we were able to break through and proceed.” Day 500: From holding crypto to spending it Bitoshi had figured out how to make it easier for
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Table of contents What Gemini features can Nigerians use for free? Free Gemini vs paid Gemini: What is the difference? What do Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra give you in Nigeria? Which Gemini plan should you use? Not every Gemini feature is available in Nigeria Bottom line Google Gemini is available in Nigeria, and you do not need to pay for a Google AI subscription to start using many of its most useful features. The free version can do far more than answer questions or help you write an email. You can use it to research complex topics, analyse documents, hold voice conversations, generate and edit images, create study materials and even work on projects inside a dedicated workspace. That does not mean the free and paid versions are identical. Google AI subscriptions, including Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra, generally give users higher usage limits, greater access to advanced models and some additional capabilities. But if you are wondering what you can actually do with Gemini in Nigeria without paying, there is already plenty to explore. This article breaks down the best free Google Gemini features available in Nigeria right now, what they do, and when it might make sense to consider a paid plan. What Gemini features can Nigerians use for free? Gemini is available through its web and mobile apps in Nigeria. Many of its core features can be used with a standard Google account, although some have daily or monthly usage limits. Google Gemini free features in Nigeria at a glance Here are some of the most useful ones. 1. Ask Gemini questions and get help with everyday tasks The most basic way to use Gemini is still one of the most useful. You can ask questions, request explanations, brainstorm ideas, write and edit text, plan tasks, and get help working through problems. For example, you could ask Gemini to: Explain a difficult concept in simple terms Help you write an email or cover letter Brainstorm story ideas Create a travel or study plan Summarise a topic Help you think through a problem Gemini can also handle follow-up questions, so you do not always have to start a new conversation when you want to go deeper into a topic. For everyday use, this is where most people will probably spend most of their time. The difference with paid plans is largely about how much access you get to Google’s more advanced models and how often you can use them before reaching a limit. 2. Research complex topics with Deep Research Deep Research is one of Gemini’s most useful features, particularly if you are working on a topic that requires more than a quick answer. Instead of simply responding to a prompt, Gemini can research a subject, work through multiple sources and produce a more detailed report. It can also show you a research plan before beginning and allow you to ask follow-up questions after the report is complete. This could be useful for: Researching a company or industry Understanding a complicated policy issue Comparing products or services Preparing for an interview Exploring an unfamiliar topic Building background knowledge for a project The important thing here is that Deep Research is not entirely locked behind a paid subscription. Free users can access it, although usage limits apply. Paid Google AI plans offer higher limits and additional access to Google’s more capable models for research. For anyone who regularly needs to dig into unfamiliar subjects, the free version is worth trying before deciding whether a subscription is necessary. 3. Upload and analyse files You can also upload supported files to Gemini and ask questions about them. That means you can give Gemini a document, spreadsheet, image or other supported file and ask it to help you understand what is inside. For example, you could upload: A long PDF and ask for a summary A spreadsheet and ask Gemini to identify patterns A report and ask for the key findings A document and ask specific questions about it An image and ask Gemini to describe or analyse what it shows This can save a significant amount of time when you are dealing with long or complicated material. The free version comes with usage limits, particularly when working with larger files or analysing video and audio. Paid plans increase those limits. Still, for occasional document analysis, the free tier may be enough. 4. Talk to Gemini with Gemini Live If you do not feel like typing, Gemini Live allows you to have a spoken conversation with the AI. Instead of giving one prompt, waiting for a response and typing another, you can speak more naturally and continue the conversation as you would with another person. You can interrupt Gemini, change your mind or ask it to explain something differently. On supported devices, Gemini Live can also use your camera or screen during a conversation. For example, you could point your camera at something and ask Gemini about what you are seeing, or share what is on your screen while discussing a problem. This could be useful when: You want to practise an interview You are trying to understand something you can see You need help working through a problem You prefer speaking to typing You want a more natural back-and-forth conversation Availability can depend on your device, account, and software requirements, so not every Gemini Live capability will necessarily work on every phone. But for supported users, it is one of the more interesting ways to interact with Gemini for free. 5. Generate and edit images Gemini is not limited to text. You can use it to generate images from a written description and, in supported cases, edit existing images by telling Gemini what you want to change. For example, you could ask it to: Create an illustration for a presentation Generate a concept image Change parts of an existing image Create social media visuals Experiment with different creative ideas Google’s current Gemini image tools give free users
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Cell C, South Africa’s third-largest mobile operator, sees its next wave of growth coming not just from its own subscribers, but from the businesses selling mobile services through its network. Cell C’s latest financial results, released on Friday, show that its wholesale and Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) business is becoming a key growth engine. Wholesale revenue grew 20% year on year, while 5.7 million subscribers were using services provided by other brands on Cell C’s network by the end of May 2026. The company expects double-digit growth to continue in FY27. The growth marks a change in Cell C’s business beyond selling mobile services directly to consumers. The company uses its network to support other brands that want to offer mobile services without building their own infrastructure, making wholesale and MVNOs an important part of its growth strategy. An MVNO allows a company to offer mobile services without operating its own radio network. Cell C provides the underlying connectivity and infrastructure, while partner businesses can market mobile services to their own customers. Its wholesale business effectively provides the network capacity and services these partners need, allowing Cell C to earn revenue from companies that use its infrastructure to serve their own customers. Cell C said its wholesale business generated R1.8 billion ($111.8 million) in revenue in FY26 and accounted for 80% to 85% of South Africa’s MVNO market. The telco ended the year with 8.9 million direct subscribers, up 17.1% year on year, alongside the 5.7 million MVNO subscribers using its platform. Cell C reported total revenue of R12.64 billion ($785.2 million), up 13.5%, while adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) increased 16.9% to R2.4 billion ($147.8 million). Cell C says its asset-light, partnership-led model is supporting growth, with its wholesale and MVNO businesses becoming an important part of the strategy. Group chief executive officer (CEO) Jorge Mendes said the company had moved from recovery towards growth after completing its restructuring and listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in November 2025. “Wholesale remained a standout performer and continues to validate our platform strategy, with sustained momentum in our MVNO business demonstrating the strength and scalability of Cell C’s partner-led model,” Mendes said in the results statement. The results show that providing network services to MVNOs and other partners is becoming an important part of Cell C’s growth strategy. Cell C said the number of subscribers using MVNO services on its network rose 27.3% to 5.7 million from 4.5 million a year earlier. The company’s consumer businesses also recorded growth. Prepaid revenue increased 9.7% to about R5.8 billion ($360.2 million), supported by a recovery in the customer base, with prepaid subscribers increasing by 1.3 million during the year. Postpaid service revenue gained 1.2% to R2.3 billion ($142.9 million), while average revenue per user rose to R242 ($15.03) from R225 ($13.98) after the company cleaned up its subscriber base. Data traffic shot up 47% year on year, while voice traffic fell 4%. Mendes noted that wholesale is central to the company’s growth plans. “Wholesale remains a key growth driver, and we expect double-digit revenue growth to continue supported by the continued strong performance of our MVNO business,” he stated. Cell C enters FY27 with a stronger balance sheet after net debt fell to R2.02 billion ($125.5 million) from R5.7 billion ($353.4 million) a year earlier. The telco expects overall revenue growth in the upper-single-digit range in FY27. It warned, however, that data rollover regulations due to take effect in January 2027 and lower mobile termination rates will put pressure on some revenue streams. Cell C also expects its postpaid business to improve following the integration of Comm Equipment Company (CEC), a telecommunications equipment and services business it acquired in August 2025. 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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