On the evening of March 24, many prominent Nigerian tech figures gathered at Paystack’s maiden Apple-style launch event to witness the debut of Zap—its first consumer-focused app. 

Users can send money to any Nigerian bank account with the app by depositing money in their Zap account or linking their Nigerian bank account using Paystack’s direct debit infrastructure. Deposits are powered by Paystack’s partnership with Titan Trust Bank. 

Users can also link their cards to Zap, and in an interesting demonstration, Shola Akinlade, Paystack’s CEO, sent money from his Bank of America card directly to a Nigerian bank account within 10 seconds; opening up new possibilities for Nigerians abroad. 

After nine years of processing payments for businesses, Paystack is now splitting its focus to include customers. Widening its focus makes a lot of sense for Paystack: keeping transactions within its ecosystem allows the startup to control the money that moves through its network. 

By combining its APIs—which process payments in 0.2 seconds (faster than you can blink)—and a bank transfer system that confirms transactions within 10 seconds, Paystack can also enable its new users to pay online in about the same time it takes Ferdinand Omanyala, Africa’s fastest man to run 100 metres.

But there are still snags to be fixed before we can all enter Valhalla. Zap is more expensive for a user than OPay, PalmPay and Moniepoint. Depositing and withdrawing ₦10,000 ($6.57) costs ₦50 ($0.033), costlier than other consumer-focused fintechs, which typically offer free transfers. 

Paystack believes that by delivering a superior transfer experience and revisiting its pricing, Zap can become a daily-use app for Nigerians who value well-designed products. However, Nigeria’s recent macroeconomic pressures have deepened user inertia. 

Consumers, long used to freebies, may hesitate to switch—especially with Zap’s relatively high fees. Still, given Paystack’s track record, few would bet against its ability to win users over.

TechCabal’s reporter, Muktar Oladunmade sat with Shola at Paystack’s launch event in Lagos to talk about their ecosystem play. Look out for this article today.

You may not recognise the similarities at first, but the early years of the seven-year California Gold Rush which ended in 1855, are analogous to the scramble for Kenya’s new fast payment system (FPS) contract with striking parallels.

Back then, hopeful miners flooded California, dreaming of striking it rich overnight. Now, it’s fintechs, banks, and tech firms rushing to stake their claim in Kenya’s digital payments sector. Just like the gold rush, the FPS frenzy has its fair share of prospectors, speculators, and big-money players looking to control the financial veins of Kenya’s economy.

Staking its claim for Kenya’s un-interoperable digital payments sector is the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme (NIBSS), which became Nigeria’s payment switch in 2006. Ceva, a Kenyan payments software provider, has named NIBSS its “strategic partner” in its bid for the contract. With NIBSS’ reputation as a payments switch that supports multiple digital payment forms in Nigeria, there’s reason to believe it’s also eyeing the role of technology provider for Kenya.

Does NIBSS have the bandwidth to be a payment infrastructure provider for another country? While we cannot answer that, let’s consider the pros and the cons.

The central switch launched the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) technology in 2011, a key driver of the speed Nigeria’s banking industry now boasts. Despite this, downtimes still plague fintechs, businesses, and Nigerians relying on NIBSS for stability. Its worst outage in the last five years came in 2023, totaling 218.6 hours, per data aggregated from payment processors Flutterwave and Paystack.

NIBSS improved in 2024, shifting to a hybrid data backup system to counter frequent cable cuts that disrupted service availability. With ongoing upgrades, it could pitch stability as a key selling point to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

Yet, NIBSS and Ceva will still have to battle Safaricom and the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), which have strongly opposed building a new FPS. But in the end, bidders can only cast their die; the decision stays firmly in the CBK’s hand—to either take Ceva and NIBSS up on their offer or decide it is better off counting the syllables in the word “interoperability” instead.

Cassava Technologies, a South African telecom infrastructure provider, is making a big play to keep Africa’s AI computing power on home soil.

The company is teaming up with NVIDIA to build Africa’s first AI factory, a high-tech data centre designed to keep the continent’s AI computing power local. The first facility launches in June 2025, with expansions planned for Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria.

Much of Africa’s AI computing happens overseas, forcing businesses and researchers to high costs, slow speeds, and geopolitical red tape. Cassava’s move eliminates that dependency, creating a local alternative that could accelerate AI-driven innovation across the continent.

Beyond the tech, this is a major shift in Africa’s cloud and data centre market. Global players like Microsoft and UAE-based G42 are already investing heavily in Africa, with projects like a $1 billion geothermal-powered data centre in Kenya. Cassava’s AI factory raises the stakes, offering a homegrown alternative that strengthens local operators.

Energy consumption remains a critical factor in the AI race. AI guzzles energy, and Africa’s unreliable grids present a real challenge. Cassava plans to integrate its facilities with Africa’s fibre-optic network and sustainable power sources. Again, the move is also timely because Amazon, another AI buff, made known its plans to power its AI data infrastructure across Africa with renewable energy, committing an additional $1.7 billion investment in August 2024 to be deployed by 2029.

With so much focus on taking AI to the next level in South Africa, it’ll be hard to catch up with the country that’s fast developing ahead of its peers in the sector. On the bright side, as Cassava democratises its technology, it will create opportunities for major AI breakthroughs to emerge from labs in cities like Nairobi and Lagos, shifting the global AI development narrative.

A Nairobi court has thrown out a case filed by Davidson Ivusa, who claimed Safaricom stole his idea for the Reverse Call feature.

Ivusa said he pitched a concept called Jichomoe back in 2010. The idea? Let customers make calls even when out of airtime, a feature that felt familiar when Safaricom rolled out Reverse Call years later. Ivusa argued that Safaricom ran with his idea without credit or payment.

Safaricom pushed back, saying Reverse Call was developed in-house and that “reverse” services existed in telecom long before.

In Feb 2025, Justice F. Mugambi ruled the telco. “The concept was sent unsolicited. There was no evidence the defendant undertook to hold it in trust or act in a fiduciary capacity,” he ruled.

Ivusa’s copyright claim didn’t land either. The court stressed that copyright protects how an idea is executed, not the idea itself. Without showing technical details like code or a prototype, Ivusa couldn’t prove Safaricom copied anything concrete.

His final shot, a passing-off claim, also fell flat. The court found no evidence that Jichomoe had market recognition or that Safaricom’s feature confused customers.

“There was no proof that consumers or industry stakeholders associated Safaricom Reverse Call Feature with Jichomoe,” the judge wrote.

The case is a reminder for Kenyan creators that ideas alone won’t win you a court battle. Without contracts, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), or proof of execution, big companies have little legal obligation to credit or hire you.

Ivusa’s suit was dismissed, and now owes Safaricom legal costs.

Have a great day, and see you tomorrow, same time, same station inbox.