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Driving through the Egyptian desert along the Red Sea, hotspotting a MacBook while typing reports in the back seat because being offline for a three-hour flight is a luxury that a risk analyst cannot afford. Other times, it’s realising that Kizomba, a dance you once learned in the vibrant streets of Dakar, Senegal, somehow exists in different forms across the continent and is a gateway to connecting with people in communities as you travel. This is the life of Maya Hautefeuille. In one decade, she’s a photojournalist in the Middle East, documenting the Syrian revolution and the aftermath of the Arab Spring. In the next, she is a senior analyst, uncovering the intersection of politics and economics within African countries for 14 NORTH, a company providing insights and business intelligence for Africa’s frontier and emerging markets. Staying close to communities in what Hautefeuille labels as being ‘on the ground’ has helped her realise that places that are very misunderstood from the outside. “I like to make sense of places [and] help people make better decisions ultimately,” she said. “Maybe that came across in how I was raised, and I grew up a bit mixed and all over the world.” Building bridges from Japanese classrooms to French social movements Born to an American-Japanese mother and a French father, Hautefeuille spent most of the first decade of her life in Japan, shaped by education from a school built to overcome the trauma of the Second World War, and under a curriculum imbued with peacemaking philosophies. According to Hautefeuille, the learning emphasis leaned towards students being good global citizens, as opposed to a strong micro-focus on being nationalistic to their respective countries. “There’s nowhere else on earth where they taught [me] those things and made it as though it should be your life mission to be a good citizen of wherever you are and build your bridges,” she said. Hautefeuille would later live out what it meant to be a global citizen, moving to the United States when she was 10, then a year later to France, and eventually Australia and across Asia. She spent her late teens in her home country, France, where she observed the country punctuated by social movements and protests. “I was very into politics and questions of power…and inspired by movements that claimed to be about liberation,” she said. Being ‘on the ground’ in France also fuelled Hautefeuille’s interest in Africa and the Middle East, specifically due to France’s historical relationship with North Africa, and post-colonial movements that had taken place in Africa. “If I hadn’t gone to France,” she admitted, “I wouldn’t have been able to see these things at a closer level.” And so, in 2007, Hautefeuille pursued a Bachelor’s in African studies at Columbia University in New York. She was only there for a year, but it was a turning point for how she viewed the world. Relearning power with Mahmood Mamdani Studying under professors like Mahmood Mamdani, an Indo-Ugandan anthropologist, academic, and political commentator, with whom she resonated because of his multicultural background, Hautefeuille was introduced to new ways of thinking about power and history. “I had one teacher who really impressed upon me,” she recalled. “The way he taught his theories is very different, and because he always brought an identity element [to his teachings], being an Indian-African and part of liberation movements.” However, in search of a school that she felt encompassed African studies more holistically, she transferred to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London the next year. At SOAS, she learned Swahili and Arabic, regarding language as the crucial infrastructure for understanding the Indian Ocean trade, which linked East African city-states to Middle Eastern countries such as Arabia and Persia. Before her master’s program, between 2008 and 2009, Hautefeuille had hitchhiked without public transportation or a personal vehicle from France to Touba, the spiritual capital of Senegal, travelling through Spain, Morocco and Mauritania. That early, gritty immersion to study the Mouridiya Sufi brotherhood, an Islamic order, served as her first experience with the country, and it was not an easy journey. “[I stayed] with Senegal families whose life revolved around that holy city, the mosque, the rituals, the sharing of food, the cooking of the food, the greeting of the marabus. It was like a very regulated lifestyle around the mosque.” After completing her studies in 2011, she began her master’s at the same school in the same year till 2012, but this time in Middle Eastern studies. While her degree was within the Middle Eastern studies department, her focus remained firmly on West Africa. Hautefeuille was drawn to the program for a very specific reason: the study of Senegalese religious movements. Her field ‘’Anthropology/Sociology of Religions’’ was hosted in that department, and she intended to study Senegalese Sufi movements through that lens. After she completed her master’s, Hautefeuille moved to East Jerusalem for a post-graduate research internship in a British/Palestinian studies centre. It was a period in the Middle East that marked the beginning of her photojournalism. Hautefeuille in East Jerusalem. Image Source: Maya Hautefeuille From late 2013 to 2018, Hautefeuille was based on the Turkish-Syrian border, sometimes in Palestine, in Lebanon, where she strengthened her command of Arabic, all the while documenting migration and hospital bombings as a freelance photojournalist and advocate. Hautefeuille photographed for Al Jazeera and Danwatch. Her interest in photojournalism stemmed from the urge to document and understand the relationship between power, people, and identity. “In conflict, you’re seeing really impactful things, and I had had an urge to document that,” she said. “So I started with journalism.” But as December 2018 closed in, while Hautefeuille continued advocacy work on Syria, she began feeling professional fatigue as the conflict stalled. And soon, she was yearning for the life she had once experienced in Senegal once more. Trading rituals of the Touba for the rhythm of Dakar By April 2019, Hautefeuille returned to Senegal. But this time, to Dakar. Where she
Read MoreAfrican insurers have recorded the continent’s fastest digital maturity progress over the past year, narrowing the gap with fintech as the financial sector shifts focus from rapid expansion to operational efficiency and profitability, according to the African Financial Industry Report released by Deloitte, a leading global consulting and professional services firm, and the Africa Financial Summit (AFIS). The report, based on interviews with senior executives from more than 70 financial institutions across Africa, shows that more than half of institutions now consider themselves digitally mature, with 54% reporting advanced digital capabilities, up from 48% in 2024. The growing focus on digital maturity signals that African financial institutions are moving beyond digital experimentation, treating technology as essential infrastructure for profitability, risk control, and regulatory compliance, as rising costs, cybersecurity threats, and tighter funding conditions push the sector toward more disciplined and efficient operations. This shift mirrors broader changes across Africa’s financial technology ecosystem, where the era of growth-at-all-costs has given way to sustainability and risk management. Fintech funding fell sharply from $863 million in the first half of 2023 to about $185 million in the same period in 2024, as global financial conditions tightened and investors pushed companies to prioritise profitability and operational discipline over rapid expansion. At the same time, rising fraud losses have underscored the risks tied to digital scale, with Nigeria’s Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) reporting ₦52.26 billion ($38.3 million) lost to fraud in 2024, much of it through digital channels. Across the banking sector, growing cyber threats and the high cost of integrating AI and cloud infrastructure are also pushing institutions to treat digital systems less as competitive differentiation and more as core infrastructure required to manage risk, comply with regulation, and sustain margins in a more constrained operating environment. Ambroise Depouilly, managing partner at Deloitte Francophone Africa, said the sector’s transition reflects consolidation rather than slowdown. “The African financial sector has entered a phase of maturity,” he said. “Confidence is high, fundamentals are strengthening, and continental integration is becoming a reality.” Whilst fintechs remain the most digitally mature institutions, with 67% classified as digital leaders, insurers recorded the biggest year-on-year progress. Some 59% of insurance companies now occupy advanced digital positions, including 12% in the leaders category, marking a 19-point increase from 2024 and reflecting a strategic focus on building digital foundations to reach underserved markets. Banks, however, show a two-speed transformation, with 45% considering themselves advanced in digital technology, whilst 35% rank themselves as followers, compared to 15% in 2024, revealing disparities based on investment capacity. Illustrating this disparity, six major Nigerian banks, including Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Zenith, and UBA, spent ₦268.7 billion ($171.5 million) in technology infrastructure in 2024, a 74.5% increase from 2023. As institutions strengthen their digital foundations, they are deploying technology across key operational areas. Some 81% of respondents cited digital transformation as a key lever for improving financial performance and customer experience, though the focus is shifting from launching new digital products to strengthening existing processes and controls. Central to this transformation is artificial intelligence, which is emerging as a core tool across the sector. Executives expect AI to have a strong or transformative impact across key functions, with 77% citing fraud detection as a major use case, whilst 70% pointed to operational process optimisation. Credit risk analysis and personalisation of financial products were also identified among the leading AI applications, with 72% citing personalisation and 68% pointing to chatbots as having a significant impact. However, most AI deployments are currently focused on strengthening existing risk management and operational processes rather than launching entirely new business models. Institutions are prioritising use cases with immediate returns on investment, particularly in fraud detection and credit scoring, as cybersecurity concerns intensify. On the cybersecurity front, threats are becoming more pressing. Cybersecurity was ranked as the main concern by 51% of respondents, up from 39% in 2024, with 58% reporting high or very high exposure to cyber risks. Strategic risk exposure also increased significantly to 40%, whilst regulatory risk exposure rose to 35%. Rising costs linked to talent, technology investments, and regulatory compliance are putting pressure on operational efficiency, pushing institutions to rely more heavily on automation and data-driven systems. These mounting security challenges are driving regulatory changes across the continent. Across key markets, regulators are tightening oversight around cybersecurity, digital identity, and financial crime prevention as digital financial services scale. Nigeria’s central bank has strengthened risk management and cybersecurity requirements for financial institutions, while Kenya and Ghana have expanded digital identity and e-KYC frameworks to improve traceability in financial transactions. Regulators across multiple markets have also introduced updated fintech licensing and anti–money laundering guidelines, reflecting growing pressure to align with global compliance standards and reduce systemic vulnerabilities as cross-border digital payments increase. Despite these challenges, confidence in the sector has reached its highest level, with executives rating their organisations’ three-year economic prospects at 8 out of 10 in 2025, and 74% expressing optimism, supported by easing inflation and improved operational visibility. Fintechs, however, have adjusted their expectations downward, rating their outlook at 8.33 out of 10, compared to 9.25 in 2024, as they enter a phase of demonstrating economic viability.
Read MoreBrastorne Enterprises, a Botswana-based startup that transforms feature phones into Internet-enabled devices for rural Africans, plans to begin operations in Côte d’Ivoire by the end of the first quarter of 2026 as it rolls out a lightweight web platform designed for farmers using entry-level smartphones, the company told TechCabal. The expansion will be done through a partnership with mobile network operator Orange, a long-time partner of the company, as it continues to scale services aimed at users without reliable internet access or high-end devices. Brastorne’s expansion comes as agritech platforms across Africa increasingly adopt hybrid models that combine USSD services with web and smartphone platforms in response to uneven connectivity across the continent. Smartphone adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa remains below 55%, with gaps most pronounced in rural areas where the majority of smallholder farmers live. Platforms such as Kenya’s DigiFarm, M-Kulima, and Farm.io have built services around USSD and SMS to reach farmers using basic phones while gradually introducing online platforms as internet access improves, reflecting a broader shift in African agritech toward moving users online while maintaining access for farmers who still depend on low-bandwidth channels for information, market access, and advisory services. Founded in 2013 by Martin Stimela and Naledi Magowe, Brastorne operates in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Guinea, and Zambia, with nearly six million users. The company targets Africans without smartphones or reliable internet access, a population it estimates at about 760 million, and has partnered with organisations including Heifer International in Zambia as well as mobile operators Orange, Mascom, and MTN across its markets. The platform currently runs three core services: mAgri, which provides farmers with market information, trading opportunities, and agricultural advice; Mpotsa, an interactive voice and SMS service delivering localised content on health, education, and employment; and Vuka, a social communication service designed for feature-phone users. Brastorne co-founder Naledi Magowe said the company will keep its USSD services for feature-phone users even as it introduces a lightweight web platform for smartphone users as connectivity improves. “We chose a web app instead of an app because when we look at the farmers that we’re reaching, they do have smartphones, but entry-level smartphones where space becomes an issue,” Magowe said. “If you’re coming with an application, it’s going to be uninstalled very quickly because they want to save space.” The new web platform will allow farmers to ask questions in local languages through text, voice, or images, with responses generated by an AI system trained on agricultural data, weather information, and market intelligence. If the system cannot resolve a query, it escalates the request to a human agronomist. “We want the farmer to be able to, for example, if they’re noticing some kind of pest or disease on their plants, just take a picture, upload it on the web app, and the AI gives diagnostic information and links them to an expert,” Magowe said. According to the company, the platform integrates live weather data, pest and disease surveillance, and market pricing information to provide context-specific recommendations. It will also include training modules, certification programmes through university partnerships, farmer-to-farmer video content, and a digital marketplace where users can list and view products. Magowe said artificial intelligence (AI) will increasingly be used to personalise user experiences and improve efficiency, although the company is still building technical capacity. “We’re still looking for talent that can help us solidify our AI operation,” she said, noting that specialised AI expertise remains limited across the continent. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events TC Scoop Subscribe Brastorne also plans to introduce financial services such as credit and insurance for smallholder farmers through partnerships with mobile money platforms, including Orange Money and MTN MoMo. Magowe said localisation will be central to the Côte d’Ivoire launch, a factor she described as key to Brastorne’s success across multiple African markets. “Every country is very unique. What’s being farmed is different, the climate is different, even livestock priorities are different,” she said. “We work with local content partners to ensure the right translations, the right content, and that our products are tailored to the needs of farmers in each market.” While partnerships with mobile network operators have enabled scale, they have also slowed expansion timelines, a challenge the company is trying to mitigate. “Just to get things situated in Botswana, it took us about three years. And then the next market we went into was DRC. That took almost two years. Then the next market took about a year,” Magowe said. “So it does reduce over time. However, it’s not as fast as we need it to be because we’re also a business and we need to grow and we have a team and we still have to operate.” Despite the challenge, the company is proceeding with its Côte d’Ivoire launch as it accelerates its shift from USSD to AI-driven platforms across new markets. As Brastorne prepares to enter Côte d’Ivoire, it is also exploring expansion into Burkina Faso, Benin, Sierra Leone, and Ghana, with the long-term goal of operating in at least 19 African countries and reaching over 45 million users, helping to narrow the continent’s connectivity gap.
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