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MTN Group is phasing out Ayoba, the messaging and lifestyle app once positioned as Africa’s answer to WeChat, as it pivots towards a unified digital platform. The decision, announced in March 2026, reflects a broader rethink of how the telecom giant delivers digital services under its Ambition 2030 strategy. The company said the move is driven by the need to simplify its digital ecosystem. Over time, MTN developed multiple standalone apps spanning messaging, content, and financial services. Ayoba sat at the centre of that strategy, combining chat, music, games, news, and mobile money into a single “super app.” Rather than continuing to scale that model further, MTN is now consolidating these services into a single integrated platform. “We are building a unified digital platform designed to bring connectivity, content, services, and everyday digital experiences together in one place,” MTN said in a statement shared with TechCabal on Tuesday, March 24. The company said the shift is to reduce fragmentation and deliver a more seamless user experience as customer expectations evolve. The shutdown is already underway. Ayoba was removed from major app stores on March 20, 2026, while existing users in markets including Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa have been given a 30-day window before the service is discontinued. Users have been notified through in-app messages and updated terms and conditions, in line with regulatory requirements. Ayoba’s closure marks the end of an ambitious attempt to build a homegrown super app for Africa’s digital ecosystem. Launched in 2019, the platform scaled rapidly, at one point surpassing 35 million monthly active users. Much of that growth was driven by zero-rated data access for MTN subscribers, alongside features like SMS bridging, which enabled communication with non-smartphone users. Over time, the app expanded beyond messaging, integrating music streaming, mini-apps, and mobile money in a bid to evolve into a full-service digital platform. Yet, that early momentum proved difficult to sustain. A significant share of users was drawn by free data incentives rather than long-term utility, resulting in weak retention, particularly in the face of entrenched global platforms such as WhatsApp. Persistent technical issues, including verification challenges in its final year, further eroded the user experience and reduced engagement. Although Ayoba was central to MTN’s Digital Services segment, its financial performance was never disclosed separately. Its contribution was reported alongside other offerings such as SMS-based value-added services, gaming, and music. While the segment recorded 15% growth in 2025, it lagged behind MTN’s fintech business, which grew 24.9% and processed $500 billion in transaction value, highlighting where the company is now placing its strategic focus.
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24 mars 2026 Hello , Welcome back to Francophone Weekly by TechCabal, your weekly deep dive into the tech ecosystem across French-speaking Africa. Previous editions have been published on the website, but email versions of the newsletter will land directly in your inbox every Tuesday at noon. By default, this newsletter is in French. If you’re reading this in your email inbox, click the “Read in English” button below to switch to the English version. If you’re reading on our website, you can either click the button below or toggle the language selector at the top right-hand side of the page to view the English edition. Read in English Starlink, le réseau Internet par satellite d’Elon Musk, est en train de redessiner le paysage numérique à travers l’Afrique francophone. Pourtant, le rythme et la forme de cette transformation dépendent autant de la politique et de la réglementation que de la technologie. L’expansion dans la région se déroule comme un processus négocié, dans lequel les gouvernements, les opérateurs de télécommunications et les réalités du marché local définissent activement comment, où et pour qui cette connectivité sera mise en place. Les écarts de connectivité restent importants dans les zones rurales et mal desservies, ce qui met en évidence à la fois le potentiel de l’Internet par satellite et les défis liés à sa généralisation. Pour comprendre ce qui change réellement et ce qui ne change pas, il faut commencer par les fondamentaux : qui n’y a toujours pas accès, pourquoi la connectivité reste inégale, et pourquoi l’Internet par satellite arrive à un moment où les infrastructures traditionnelles n’ont pas encore comblé le fossé. Plongeons-nous dans le vif du sujet. 1. Un continent qui lutte encore pour la connectivité Starlink et Airtel Africa annoncent un partenariat. Source de l’image : TechCabal Malgré des progrès notables en matière de pénétration de la téléphonie mobile sur les marchés africains francophones au cours de la dernière décennie, la connectivité reste un défi persistant, tant en termes de coût que de disponibilité. Pour des millions de personnes réparties sur de vastes territoires ruraux, un accès Internet haut débit fiable reste hors de portée. C’est dans ce contexte que Starlink, le service Internet par satellite en orbite basse (LEO) de SpaceX, s’est imposé comme un acteur susceptible de changer la donne. La promesse est claire : une constellation de satellites capables de diffuser un accès Internet haut débit à faible latence vers pratiquement n’importe quel point de la planète, sans avoir recours à des infrastructures terrestres coûteuses. Mais le chemin vers la concrétisation de cette promesse en Afrique francophone a été tout sauf simple. De la menace au partenariat : un pivot stratégique Lorsque Starlink s’est intéressé pour la première fois au continent africain, les opérateurs de télécommunications en place l’ont considéré avec une profonde méfiance, y voyant un perturbateur étranger bien financé, prêt à éroder leurs parts de marché. Cette perception est en train de devenir rapidement obsolète. L’évolution la plus significative dans la région est l’adoption par Starlink de partenariats stratégiques avec les principaux opérateurs de télécommunications africains, notamment Airtel Africa et le groupe Vodacom. Plutôt que de les concurrencer de front, Starlink s’intègre aux réseaux existants en tant que couche d’infrastructure complémentaire. Le partenariat avec Airtel : Direct-to-cell La plus transformatrice de ces collaborations est l’intégration par Airtel Africa de la technologie « direct-to-cell » de Starlink, un système qui permet aux smartphones ordinaires de se connecter directement aux satellites sans aucun matériel spécialisé. Cela élimine le besoin d’antennes paraboliques qui, historiquement, rendaient l’Internet par satellite prohibitif pour la plupart des consommateurs. Le déploiement d’Airtel est prévu sur 14 marchés africains en 2026, sous réserve de l’approbation des autorités réglementaires, avec des pays francophones clés tels que la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) parmi les cibles prioritaires. Le service est spécialement conçu pour étendre la couverture mobile dans des zones où la construction d’une antenne-relais traditionnelle n’est tout simplement pas rentable. Le partenariat avec Vodacom : backhaul et revente Vodacom poursuit un modèle différent mais complémentaire. Plutôt que de s’adresser directement aux consommateurs (DTC), l’opérateur agit en tant que revendeur agréé des équipements Starlink tout en déployant le réseau satellite comme « backhaul », utilisant Starlink pour connecter ses stations de base mobiles isolées au réseau plus large. Les principales cibles sont les entreprises, les PME, les écoles et les établissements de santé dans les zones mal desservies. Ensemble, ces partenariats traduisent une reconnaissance stratégique claire : pour surmonter les défis réglementaires et de distribution en Afrique, il vaut mieux travailler aux côtés des acteurs locaux établis, et non contre eux. Où en est Starlink ? Un aperçu pays par pays La situation en Afrique francophone est loin d’être homogène. Les pays en sont à des stades très différents : certains ont adopté cette technologie avec enthousiasme, d’autres l’ont totalement bloquée, et plusieurs restent dans l’expectative. Pays Statut Informations clés Sénégal Opérationnel Lancement prévu en février 2026. La licence comprend une clause sociale visant à fournir un accès Internet gratuit à 1 million de personnes. Les forfaits mensuels commencent entre 22 000 et 30 000 FCFA (~36–49 $). République démocratique du Congo Sous licence et opérationnel Après une interdiction de 14 mois liée à des préoccupations de sécurité liées à la rébellion du M23, une licence a été accordée en mai 2025. L’accent est mis sur les zones rurales où le taux de pénétration de l’Internet fixe n’est que de 0,024 %. République centrafricaine Opérationnel Lancement officiel le 16 mars 2026, marquant l’une des arrivées les plus récentes sur le continent. Côte d’Ivoire Prévu Pas encore officiellement lancé. Des discussions de haut niveau sont en cours entre le gouvernement et des partenaires américains. Les régulateurs et les opérateurs historiques comme Orange (Sonatel) suivent de près les précédents établis au Sénégal. Cameroun Interdit/sans licence L’importation, la vente et l’utilisation des kits Starlink sont officiellement interdites depuis 2024, pour des raisons de sécurité nationale et de réglementation. Les autorités douanières saisissent activement les équipements aux frontières.
Read MoreBefore the venture capitalists write the big cheques and the headlines follow, someone has to take the first bet on a startup. Angel investors, often with less capital and certainty but more risk, make these bets. Across Africa, this early risk has increasingly been organised and amplified by the African Business Angel Network (ABAN), a pan-African non-profit that has helped build the backbone of the continent’s early-stage investment infrastructure. Founded in 2015 by six pioneer angel networks, like the Lagos Angel Network and Ghana Angel Investor Network, ABAN has grown into a community of over 5,000 investors organised across over 60 angel networks in 37 African countries. Together, they have deployed $35 million into more than 1,200 startups spanning fintech, agritech, health, clean energy, and the creative economy. Its flagship vehicle, Catalytic Africa, a matching fund run with AfriLabs, mobilised $2.5 million from 200 angels in just 12 months. Even as global VC funding in Africa slows down, ABAN’s local networks keep deals moving. At the centre of all this is Fadilah Tchoumba, ABAN’s CEO and the fund manager for Catalytic Africa. Her conviction is simple. Africa must fund Africa. The angels who backed Flutterwave and Paystack before anyone else were Africans operating on the continent, she likes to point out. Without that foundational capital, Tchoumba argued, global investors have nothing to follow. Tchoumba and I met in Kigali during the Innovative Fintech Forum (IFF), and in our short conversation on the sidelines, we talked about the problems with angel investing in Africa, what ABAN does to help early-stage investing in Africa, the importance of local investors, and Kigali’s compelling case as a fund domiciliation platform for angel networks in this edition of Ask an Investor. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. How many startups have benefited from ABAN’s network? From late 2021 to 2025, angel investors across the continent that are part of the ABAN network have invested in more than 5,000 companies. The ticket size varies between $5,000 and can go all the way to $250,000. A small portion are growing quite well, some of which have attracted additional funding from VCs. Why do you think local venture capital is still very thin compared to the capital that flows in from outside? There are many reasons. If we look at capital flow within the whole capital value chain, it always starts with angel investors, and then from angel investors, you hit the line of commercial capital, which mostly starts with VCs and eventually PE, and so forth. Right now, we have structural challenges. A group of angel investors will come together, and the moment they are ready to deploy capital, they hit setbacks which are related to the legal framework that would be most appropriate to protect the interests of the startup, especially since they’re investing for the future. The second is the speed at which capital is deployed. Since 2015, angel networks have deployed more than $32.5 million across the continent. But when you look at the figures for 2025, it’s about $4.5 million that was deployed by angel investors. People ask me: ” Do you think we can do more? The answer is yes. But why didn’t we do more? It takes an angel group two or three months to deploy capital in a startup on the continent, versus a European group taking 20 minutes. The question is, why is it taking us so long to deploy $50,000 or $200,000? We have to go back to structural issues. Do we have adequate policies that can consider cross-border transactions or the diversity of our currencies? Do we have the infrastructure that can take into account the cost sensitivity of deploying early-stage capital? Do we have the legal framework to support the diversity of angels coming from various African countries? One thing we’ve been focusing on since last year is how we actually make angel capital deployment as seamless as possible. If we solve that issue, I can almost guarantee you that on this continent, we would be able to deploy between $50 million and $80 million a year through angel investing, which is very much needed to build the foundation that startups need to attract commercial capital, starting with VC. How do you think these problems can be solved? What has ABAN done? At ABAN, to truly identify the problem, we had to test it manually first. Today, apart from Mauritius, where we operate, we have an SPV based in Rwanda. The role of the SPV is to pool capital from various African countries and then deploy and invest it in a selected company. One of our recent examples: Legendary Foods, based out of Ghana, received investment participation from multiple investors coming from multiple African countries. Pooling that capital requires KYC, getting money into the account in Kigali, and then deploying that money into the company’s bank account. And to do that, the KYC itself can take you two months. The first question is: can we make KYC as light as possible without compromising international standards? If it’s a yes, you have to speak to policymakers, to key stakeholders in Kigali—which we have done. We’re still in discussion on how to safeguard and protect everyone involved without compromising the regulators, the startup, or the investors. Banks are also one of our key stakeholders. We’re speaking with banks to understand what infrastructure we can leverage to pool and push capital seamlessly. That’s also going well. We hope that before the end of this year, we’ll have a practical infrastructure that will make angel investing very easy. You’ve noted that limited participation of local corporates in the investment cycle diminishes exit prospects. But there’s also a liquidity problem in African startups. If there’s a liquidity problem, why should a high-net-worth individual put money in a startup instead of real estate or treasury bills? We all recognise that there are competing asset classes. We know that. But we also have to acknowledge that to grow our
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