Kenya, Ghana and Ethiopia hit with lowest tariffs under Trump’s trade war
Kenya, Ghana, and Ethiopia are among the African economies that face the lowest tariffs under President Donald Trump’s new trade policy. Goods from the three countries will be subject to a 10% levy, significantly lower than rates imposed on Lesotho (50%), Madagascar (47%), Botswana (37%), Angola (32%), and South Africa (30%). On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced tailored tariffs for countries globally in a move he said would bring manufacturing back to the US, increase tax revenues, and respond to unfair trade policies. The plan, which set a baseline tariff of 10%, could upset global trade and slow growth in developing countries like Kenya. The 10% universal tariff will take effect on April 5, while reciprocal tariffs, such as those imposed on imports from Nigeria, will begin on April 9. Nigeria’s goods to the US will face a 14% levy, nearly half of the duties the West African nation imposes on imports from the US. “April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again,” Trump said in an address on Wednesday. Trump’s tariff announcement presents a significant political and economic risk for African countries like Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, which already grapple with economic downturns. Goods from around 30 African countries–most of which impose 10% tariffs–will face the lowest rates globally. Trump’s new trade policy further heightens uncertainty over the renewal of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is set to expire in September 2025. South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya are the biggest beneficiaries of AGOA, which grants duty-free access to the US market for 32 sub-Saharan African countries. In 2024, AGOA-covered imports averaged $11.6 billion. South Africa exports vehicle parts under AGOA, while Nigeria, Ghana, and Angola primarily export petroleum products. Meanwhile, Kenya, Lesotho, and Tanzania, focus on textile and apparel exports.
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Breaking: Shuttlers introduces CNG fleet to cut costs and emissions
Shuttlers, a startup digitising shared commutes, introduced 20 compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered vehicles to its fleet in Q1 2025. This addition has already led to a 29% reduction in rider costs and cut 23.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, according to a LinkedIn post by the company’s CEO, Damilola Olokesusi. The move comes as fuel prices in Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, continue to climb, squeezing transportation budgets for consumers and businesses alike. CNG—a cheaper and cleaner alternative to petrol—has seen more push and adoption in the past year. Shuttler’s new CNG-powered fleet reflects a broader trend among mobility startups seeking to balance profitability with the economic impact of the rising cost of transportation and general cost of living. Shuttlers has completed 1,484 trips, serving 19,292 passengers, 4% of its total Q2 user trips, using these buses, according to Olokesusi. Nonetheless, safety concerns are a common hurdle for CNG adoption, as the cylinders, usually propped in the undercarriage or rear, have caused worry about explosions. Olokesusi says riders’ feedback has been positive. Per her post, Shuttlers equipped its vehicles with fireproof canisters and automatic extinguishers, backed by regular inspections, achieving “100% safe trips” in Q1 2025. The startup, which last disclosed funding was a $4 million raise in 2023, plans to expand its non-petrol fleet in Q2.
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TechCabal Daily – Middle East fever
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy pre-TGIF! If you’re looking for facts to flex your big brain on your friends this week, try this one for size: African startups raised $50 million in March 2025, down from $165 million a year ago. Thanks to a strong January, Q1 2025 still hit $460 million, just shy of Q1 2024’s $486 million. Anyway, how’s that Q1 review going at work? You should review TechCabal’s Q1 here; I need it for work. Let’s get into it. Absa Group wants to set up shop in Dubai in 2026 JP Morgan plans a merchant bank expansion in Nigeria Nigerian transport union workers want to boycott inDrive Kenya’s Chpter spins off Pluto, a WhatsApp API suite, as subsidiary World Wide Web 3 Events Banking Absa Group wants to set up shop in Dubai in 2026 Image Source: Crunchbase When your competitors are all establishing offices in the Middle East, it becomes less a matter of following a trend and more of a mandatory business journey. Absa Group Ltd., South Africa’s third largest bank plans to open an office in Dubai by early 2026—pending regulatory nods. The bank follows the footsteps of its competitors like Investec, Standard Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, and Nedbank already riding the wave of booming Gulf-Africa investment flows. What’s the buzz? Dubai, often associated with luxury and tourism, is in fact a hub for trade and investment. Gulf nations have demonstrated a vested interest in African markets, investing billions of dollars into the continent for the past decade. The trade relationship is thriving, with UAE-Africa trade seeing an impressive growth of over 30%. For businesses like Absa, establishing a presence in Dubai is about capitalising on cross-regional investment prospects, with a strong focus on infrastructure development and other business opportunities that align with the bank’s ambitious goals. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. The Dubai office is a powerful move to stay relevant in a fast-changing game as part of Absa’s expanding global footprint, including London, New York, and a fresh unit in China. Can Absa use this Dubai hub to outperform competitors and capture the Middle East-Africa investment mood? Come 2026, we are watching the space. Freelancers & remote workers, we want to hear from you! Fincra is exploring the challenges Nigerian freelancers and remote workers face with international payments. Share your experience and help contribute to building better payment solutions. Take the survey now! Banking JP Morgan plans a merchant bank expansion in Nigeria Image Source: Times Now JP Morgan, the global investment bank, is set to expand its business in Nigeria by turning its Lagos office into a full-fledged branch. The American bank, which has been operating in Nigeria since the 1980s, plans to apply for a merchant banking licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) soon. This is part of the bank’s broader plan to grow its business across Africa. In the past, JP Morgan has provided advisory services and asset management in Nigeria, but now it wants to offer more, including dollar loans to big companies. The bank’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, visited Nigeria in October 2024, meeting with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Olayemi Cardoso to discuss the bank’s African plans. JP Morgan has already opened new offices in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and Nairobi, Kenya, to push its regional growth. The bank has been active in supporting countries in Africa with Eurobond issues, including Nigeria’s 2024 $2.2 billion fundraising, where it was a key player. This shows how JP Morgan is involved in helping African countries raise capital on the international markets, further strengthening its presence on the continent. This signals JP Morgan’s bigger commitment to Nigeria and Africa. The expansion could lead to more opportunities for businesses in Nigeria to access financing and services, helping the local economy grow. It also reflects the growing importance of Africa in the global banking sector. Paystack introduces its first consumer app, Zap! Zap by Paystack is an app for secure and fast payments via bank transfers in Nigeria. Download Zap on iOS and Android → Ride-hailing Nigerian transport union workers want to boycott inDrive Image Source: inDrive You’ve likely read articles about how the ride-hailing sector is fraught with problems: drivers are unhappy with high commissions and low fares, and they protest. Eventually, ride-hailing apps make a small tweak here and there, and the drivers are happy again to have a source of income. It’s the same cycle every time. Those are operational problems—it’s a classic excuse that exists in most multi-party businesses. It’s everywhere: food delivery, asset-light e-commerce, and other marketplace-type businesses. For gig driving, drivers want more ownership and say because they know they are central to ride-hailing companies’ operations. This fickleness—coupled with the opportunity to build an ecosystem around their app—is what drove the likes of Uber and Bolt to launch food and grocery delivery services, respectively. However, when it comes to driver or passenger safety, excuses are thrown out the window. This is why Nigeria’s transport union, the Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transporters of Nigeria (AUATON), has threatened to boycott inDrive, the US-based ride-hailing app operating in Nigeria. The union said the platform lacked adequate security features to properly verify passengers or allow drivers to indicate when they felt endangered. These attacks are not isolated to inDrive. The gig economy is a trust-based business model that somehow imploded. Between 2023 and 2024, there were reports of attacks on drivers and passengers. In June 2024, Bolt blocked over 6,000 drivers in South Africa for misconduct after two reported cases of drivers attacking passengers. Despite its many flaws, the gig-driving business still seems viable with the huge ride numbers they handle daily. Yet, security is important. In 2023, Uber launched an in-app emergency button with audio recording features. For inDrive, verifying passengers, like drivers, could be a useful way to make them accountable. Otherwise, if this trend becomes a bigger threat, it could trigger
Read MoreTogolese developer, Martino Yovo, wants to pull down language barriers for francophone techies
It’s 8:31 a.m. in Martino Yovo’s hometown in Lomé, Togo’s capital city. But in the United States, where he now lives, it is just past midnight and bedtime is still far off. A self-proclaimed night owl, Yovo joins our Google Meet call with a smile. As far back as 2018, Yovo was a French-speaking teen wading through language barriers to learn programming. Now a product engineer at Esri, the world’s leading developer of geographic information system software, Yovo is giving back through a platform democratising tech education for Francophone Africa. Yovo’s journey began with his elder brother’s offhand remark urging him to learn how to create a website. “My brother and I had been tech-curious, doing electronic experiments with batteries, but I don’t think he knew [what it took] to create a website when he said it,” Yovo recalls. It was norm for his siblings to take on odd jobs to learn skills during the holidays, and his brother had suggested he learn to design websites instead. At the time, he was trying to build his first website, a clone of the University of Lomé’s website, where he was studying physical sciences. His brother did not offer a road map, just a nudge. Yovo says he borrowed his sister’s Android phone, did some research, downloaded a free notepad app from the Play Store, and set out to clone the university’s website front. The result was rudimentary, “very ridiculous.” Yet, when he saw the skeletal outline of the front end of the webpage come to life, a strange excitement stirred inside him. In the weeks that followed, Yovo spent every spare moment reading books on programming languages: Java, Pascal, whatever he could scrounge from friends in computer science who were mostly amused by his new obsession. It was tough, Yovo recalls, as the resources, books, articles, videos, and even the programming languages were mostly in English. How Ruth Ikegah went from Microbiology to leading open source advocacy in Africa Crossing a language divide Yovo explains that in Togo, although students learn English in school, only three in a class of about 60 turn out very fluent. Learning programming already taxes the brain—logic, problem-solving, syntax—but adding language translation doubles the effort. He describes “having headaches because I was not fully understanding the documentation.” The language barrier also affected how well people like him could interact with budding online developer communities at the time. Lomé in 2018 was no tech utopia. While the city buzzed with trade, the tech ecosystem was hardly visible. Many Togolese who had done amazing things in tech were quietly migrating abroad, not sharing their work or creating communities as is typical now, Yovo said. But he could understand spoken English, so YouTube tutorials helped his self-education, and later, he turned to Le site du Zéro, a French precursor to OpenClassrooms that offered tutorials in French. In spite of the language challenges, Yovo continued to push through, and by 2018 scraped together 25,000 CFA francs (about $41) from a school stipend to buy a computer. “It was one of the worst computers ever, low performance, low memory, everything was slow on that computer,” he said laughing. Still, it functioned enough to enable him to sharpen his skills, building websites and web applications and excitedly sharing his work and learnings on social media, Facebook groups for developers, Twitter, Discord, and other platforms. By 2019, he had become pretty active in Lomé’s nascent startup scene and was invited to build the website for one of its most popular incubators at the time. Yovo declined to name the incubator, but he says he stayed on to also help some of the participating founders build out their ideas. “A lot of them were entrepreneurs who don’t really know tech,” he said. He was not paid for his services, but the work pushed him to improve his skills; in that same year, he discovered mobile development, but when he tried to start learning by looking up other existing native apps, he came away from his research frustrated. “I was searching for the best Togo apps online, and I couldn’t find one that was really great,” he recalls. He started learning Java, a cross-platform coding language, a pivot that he says changed the trajectory of his career. His first paid gig was building mobile apps, but with no internet at home, he clocked late nights at cybercafés, where managers occasionally left the Wi-Fi running after hours. One job rolled into the next, then another, a steady stream of work building momentum in the local tech community. The many inventions of Motunrayo Sanyaolu, UNILAG’s first Engineering Spirit Finding community and opportunity during a pandemic Then came the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. But while the world retreated indoors, virtual doors swung open for Yovo. Hackathons, working with the United Nations development arm in Togo to build a COVID awareness platform, kept his coding skills sharp and helped him gain more online visibility in Africa’s tech ecosystem. As he built a reputation and confidence, Yovo decided to build something he wished he had when he started learning programming, a community for his fellow Francophone developers. By November 2020, he launched Togo Developers (TDEV) and began hosting online workshops and events with pandemic restrictions still in place. Today, the group has grown to 3,000 members across 14 countries, including non-Francophone ones. Leaving his comfort zone As the pandemic restrictions relaxed in 2021, Yovo started applying for international roles. He was stung by tens of rejections—including an application where the interview was cut short by a power outage. He came back to the call, after restoring the power, to find that the recruiter was gone. Yovo says he always shrugged the rejections off. “Whenever I had a rejection, I didn’t feel rejected, but I felt like there was another chance for me to improve myself,” he says. Among his self-development quests that year was mastering English, which he believed would improve his job prospects. Up to this point, his
Read MoreKenya’s Chpter spins off Pluto, a WhatsApp AI suite, as subsidiary
Chpter, a Kenyan social commerce start-up, has spun off Pluto, a WhatsApp API suite designed to help businesses automate customer interactions and process transactions. Launched in 2024, Pluto now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Chpter, with Andrew Bosson, formerly Chpter’s chief growth officer, as co-founder and CEO. Pluto’s launch comes as Kenyan businesses struggle to harness the growing trend of social commerce. While millions of Kenyans shop directly through social media platforms, businesses often lose customers when shoppers are redirected to external payment systems. Pluto wants to bridge this gap by enabling users to make payments within WhatsApp, eliminating the need to switch platforms. “Following our partnership with Meta, we were flooded with requests from multiple startups and companies requesting to build custom chat-based experiences for their customers on WhatsApp,” said Tesh Mbaabu, Chpter co-founder and CEO. “In less than a quarter, we’ve onboarded major clients across different sectors.” Despite the surge in social commerce, many Kenyan businesses have yet to fully capitalise on its potential. Cart abandonment rates remain high when customers are forced to exit their social media feeds to complete purchases. Pluto aims to position WhatsApp as a full-service channel for browsing, purchasing, and engagement. “By the end of 2024, it was clear we needed to make this possible, and the idea of Pluto was born,” said Mbaabu. Pluto’s customers include lender NCBA Bank, insurer Britam, local Safarilink, and the Kenyan Government. The company operates under a hybrid revenue model, charging businesses a monthly software-as-a-service (SaaS) fee ranging from $50 for small enterprises to $550 for larger ones. In addition, Pluto generates revenue from per-interaction fees related to sales and support, and outbound WhatsApp messages for marketing and operational purposes, as a Meta business partner.
Read MoreAbsa joins Middle East-Africa investment push with Dubai expansion
Absa Group Ltd., South Africa’s third-largest bank, plans to open an office in Dubai by early 2026, subject to regulatory approval. The move shows the growing competition among South African banks to benefit from increasing trade and investment between the Gulf region and Africa. Absa said it is opening a Dubai office to support clients looking for business opportunities between Africa and the Middle East. However, the move is also a response to competitors like Investec, Standard Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, and Nedbank, which already have offices there. Yasmin Masithela, CEO of Absa’s corporate and investment banking division, said the new office will bring the bank closer to clients. “You want to be closest to the clients that are driving the businesses that are aligned to your strategy, and infrastructure development has always been one of our strategic objectives,” she said. Gulf countries have invested over $100 billion in Africa since 2014. Trade between the UAE and Sub-Saharan Africa has grown by more than 30%, while trade between Saudi Arabia and Africa has increased 12 times. Recent developments, like the UAE’s trade agreement with Kenya and Jameel Motors entering the South African market, highlight the rapid growth of this investment trend. Absa’s Dubai office will expand its international presence, including locations in the UK, US, and a new unit in China.. Absa’s corporate and investment banking division expects moderate earnings growth this year, with some parts possibly achieving over 10% growth. However, the success of the Dubai office will be key to shaping the bank’s long-term growth in a fast-changing and competitive market. Absa’s ability to stand out from competitors and manage the challenges of this important trade corridor will be vital for its role in Middle East-Africa investments.
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DAZN secures exclusive rights to stream Nigeria’s Dambe sport
African Warriors Fighting Championship (AWFC) has secured an exclusive partnership with DAZN, the London-based sports streaming service, to bring Dambe, Nigeria’s centuries-old form of boxing, to a global audience. Through this collaboration, DAZN becomes the official global streaming partner for the Dambe World Series, a five-event tournament where Nigeria’s top fighters take on international contenders. It marks a major step in the globalisation of Dambe, a combat sport with roots in West African warrior traditions. While Dambe has already gained traction online—attracting over 15 million YouTube views via AWFC’s broadcasts—DAZN’s global reach could elevate its profile much like UFC did for mixed martial arts. In 2023, AWFC teamed up with Stake, the online casino known for sponsoring global sports like football and Formula One, marking Dambe’s first international partnership. “Dambe is a sport with deep cultural roots and immense athletic appeal,” said Maxwell Kalu, founder of AWFC. “Partnering with DAZN allows us to introduce it to a global fanbase. We are confident that 2025 will be the year Dambe captures the attention of fans worldwide.” Two fighters competing in a Dambe match/Image Source: AWFC Founded in 2018, AWFC promotes and organises professional Dambe events to develop the sport’s global presence. Its 2024 “King of Dambe” tournament featured the sport’s first European competitor. The upcoming Dambe World Series, which kicks off in June 2025, will build on this momentum. This partnership could also be a turning point for Dambe’s commercial viability. Beyond streaming, AWFC aims to attract sponsorship deals, merchandising opportunities, and a broader international fanbase. If successful, Dambe could follow in the footsteps of other combat sports, evolving from a regional tradition into a globally recognised competition with mainstream appeal. “Audience attention for global combat sports has seen a huge rise,” said Kalu. “It speaks to consumer trends where people prefer to watch bite-sized content. In terms of challenges for Dambe, it’s just raising awareness. Dambe is a sport that had a vibrant ecosystem before anybody discovered it, but it was very much a quiet sport. We are raising the production standards where necessary.” AWFC stages fights across Nigeria through a network of partner arenas, drawing paying spectators from various parts of the country. The matches are also streamed online, attracting viewers from the US and Brazil—two regions with dedicated Dambe followings, according to Kalu. DAZN, often referred to as the “Netflix of Sport,” boasts 20 million subscribers across 200+ countries and holds streaming rights to major sports, including boxing, football, and the NFL. It flows well, but it could be slightly smoother. In 2023, the company reported $2.8 billion in revenue, with backing from investors, including billionaire Sir Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries. By securing exclusive broadcasting rights to Dambe’s biggest events, DAZN is betting on the sport’s crossover appeal. For AWFC, the deal provides a crucial platform to showcase the best of Nigerian combat sports on the world stage.
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TechCabal Daily – Investors flock to Lagos coast
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية It’s mid-week! Which means the weekend is almost here. But first, we’re running a survey at TechCabal. We’d love to really hear your honest thoughts about how you feel about our work—the news reports, coverage, features, everything. Tell us what you think. Why data centre investors are racing to Lagos’ coastline Nigeria’s cNGN stablecoin is looking for more love, will crypto exchanges swipe right? What does BYD vehicle launch in Nigeria mean for EVs? AI can make WhatsApp donations easier World Wide Web 3 Opportunities Internet of Things Why data centre investors are racing to Lagos’ coastline Image Source: Wunmi Eunice for TechCabal If Lagos’ coastline were a nightclub, data centre investors would be standing in line, waving cash, and bribing the bouncer to get in. By 2027, the city’s data centre capacity is set to hit 80 megawatts (MW), making it the second-largest hub in Africa—right behind Johannesburg, which is still hogging the VIP section at 200MW. So, what’s making investors flock to Lagos? Fast internet, for starters. The city is home to eight submarine internet cables, including Google’s Equiano and 2Africa. The closer a data centre is to these underwater lifelines, the quicker your Netflix streams, Zoom calls, and trades. “It’s all about infrastructure and proximity to landing stations,” says Ayotunde Coker, CEO of Open Access Data Centre (OADC). Translation? Lagos Island is prime real estate, with 10 of Nigeria’s 16 data centers squeezed into Victoria Island, Lekki, and Eko Atlantic City. And more are coming: Equinix’s 20MW facility, Nxtra by Airtel’s 38MW center, and OADC’s 24MW hub are all in the works, set to push Nigeria’s total capacity to 200MW. But there is more. Investors are also drawn to, wait for it, Lagos’ steady power supply—Victoria Island and Lekki get up to 20 hours of electricity daily—and access to coastal waters for cooling the beasts that keep the internet running. For now, Lagos’ coastline is the hottest spot for digital infrastructure. The only question? Can investors keep up with the tide? There’s more. Freelancers & remote workers, we want to hear from you! Fincra is exploring the challenges Nigerian freelancers and remote workers face with international payments. Share your experience and help contribute to building better payment solutions. Take the survey now! Cryptocurrency Nigeria’s cNGN stablecoin is looking for more love, will crypto exchanges swipe right? Image Source: Bitcoinist/TechCabal Since launching in early February, cNGN—Nigeria’s naira-backed stablecoin—has quietly made moves. It’s already listed on Busha and Quidax, two provisionally licensed platforms. Now, it wants more listings. And the talks are already happening. The cNGN team have been in early conversations with platforms like Yellow Card and Roqqu, but nothing’s official yet. What we’re learning from leaders of both companies—COO Jason and CEO Eseoghene, respectively—is that vibes are currently more we’re still texting chatting than we’ve signed stuff. Why does this matter? Broader listings make cNGN easier to access for saving, investing, or sending money. Like many tokens, the catch is that cNGN is facing a classic network effects problem. It needs more users to become useful, but it also needs to be useful to get more users. The more people hold and transact with cNGN, the more enthusiasm exchanges will have to list it. Being on larger exchanges, in particular, will allow more users to discover the stablecoin and spread the word. Right now, that flywheel has spun on 161 holders, according to its website. WAGMI or NGMI? The next few months will be critical for the coin to tip the momentum—consider this an extra push. Paystack introduces its first consumer app, Zap! Zap by Paystack is an app for secure and fast payments via bank transfers in Nigeria. Download Zap on iOS and Android → Mobility What does BYD vehicle launch in Nigeria mean for EVs? BYD Atto 3, AKA ‘China’s Tesla’/Image source: Google BYD, a Chinese automaker, has entered the Nigerian market, introducing its Atto 3 and Dolphin electric vehicle (EV) models. This launch is in partnership with LOXEA Nigeria, a subsidiary of CFAO Mobility, a vehicle distribution company. Per Vanguard, LOXEA will lead BYD’s EV distribution and installation of charging stations, maintenance, and repair workshops across the country. BYD’s arrival could be a turning point for Nigeria’s EV adoption. While EVs remain a niche market due to concerns over charging infrastructure, affordability, and awareness, BYD’s global reputation for producing relatively affordable and reliable electric cars might help change the narrative. The Atto 3 and Dolphin are positioned as practical EV options, offering modern features and decent driving range. One of the biggest challenges for EV adoption in Nigeria is the charging infrastructure. Without a widespread charging network, potential buyers may hesitate. However, partnerships like this could encourage investment in charging stations, making EVs more viable in the long run. Affordability is another key factor. The pricing of BYD’s models in Nigeria hasn’t been disclosed yet, but the company is known for setting its prices in line with market conditions in the countries where it operates. This approach is largely due to its global competition with other EV makers, like Tesla, in those markets. However, in Nigeria, no major EV manufacturers are competing for market share in a carved-out auto market that is still in its early stages of development—so that ship might not sail. Nigeria’s high fuel costs and growing interest in alternative energy sources could make EVs more appealing if prices are reasonable. But widespread adoption will depend on pricing, infrastructure, and government policies. If BYD can navigate these challenges, it could pave the way for a larger EV market in Nigeria. Its entry comes at a time when other foreign auto-makers like Russia’s AvtoVAZ are making inroads into the country. Beyond Gifts, We Engineer Brand Connections Turn your brand essence into bespoke souvenirs that strengthen loyalty & recognition among employees, clients & partners. Let’s create meaningful keepsakes. Features AI can make WhatsApp donations easier Image Source: Android Talk Across Africa, friends,
Read MoreBootstrapped OneKitty tackles crowdfunding transparency with WhatsApp chatbots
Manny Anyango, a Kenyan digital communications and social media strategist, runs a chama through a WhatsApp group. Chamas are informal micro-savings and lending groups popular in Kenya and East Africa. Like Nigeria’s ajó or South Africa’s stokvel, members pool money together to invest, save or lend to individual members at little to no interest. Beyond micro-savings, these groups also form small closely-knit communities where members often fundraise for social causes or to support members in times of loss. Most of these groups operate on social messaging apps like WhatsApp and track member contributions there. According to Anyango, manually updating names and contributions, as opposed to utilising crowdfunding apps like M-Changa and GoFundMe, poses a headache. “People join, leave, or change numbers, and keeping track of who has paid is a constant struggle,” says Anyango. “You need to remember how much you had (in your mobile money wallet) or eventually trace to the first amount you received and from whom and add the total manually countless times,” says Eddie Saroni, a social media marketer who runs an Arsenal FC fan WhatsApp group of 258 members and often manages contributions for funerals, birthdays, and hospital bills. “Updates stream in, people call asking why you are yet to add their names and balances, etc. It’s messy.” Still, WhatsApp offers more transparency and accountability to the crowdfunding process in a low-trust market like Kenya. In 2023, 23-year-old university student Danche Nganga came upon the idea to create a crowdfunding alternative that worked on Telegram and WhatsApp where people were already trying to keep track of communal fundraising. Nganga, who was studying Applied Physics and Computer Science at Multimedia University of Kenya at the time, first saw this as an opportunity while discussing with his then partner, who was trying to support a fundraiser for a late cousin. “I suggested to her that we create a payment kitty (an informal term for a pool of money raised communally) where you can send money and automatically [receive] the funds in your wallets,” Nganga says. “We argued a little, but I recalled that contributors also like to track the contributions being raised via WhatsApp. That was the starting point,” he says. A real-time chatbot OneKitty, the product which resulted from that conversation, is a crowdfunding app integrated with social messaging chatbots that provide real-time updates of contributions to every member in the group. This not only eliminates the hassle, confusion, and delays in managing contributions manually, it also lends transparency to the process, giving every member of a fundraising community equal insight into the communal pot. Crowdfunding platforms like M-Changa and GoFundMe are popular in Kenya, but monitoring the progress of crowdfunding campaigns in ways that contributors can track did not happen in real-time on either service, Nganga claims. M-Changa, Kenya’s Mobile Money Crowdfunding Platform, is Raising Capital for Growth As the startup’s technical lead, Nganga sought operational proficiency in 28-year-old Shem Maina, who joined the business as chief finance and operations officer. “My background is not in IT and Computer Science like many techies,” says Maina, who holds an MBA in Strategic Management from the same university. Once they had a product, the two partnered to conduct AB tests with friends and classmates at their university and church, attracting responders both organically and through referrals. Some of their initial challenges were building a platform that was simple and worked end-to-end, the co-founders said. They also struggled with market entry and earning user and partner trust. “Taking someone through how the product works was not enough, as most Kenyans are sceptical when sending money online,” Nganga says. The app, through partnerships with banks and telcos, allows payments from mobile money wallets M-Pesa and Airtel Money, but it is the integration with peer-to-peer services like SasaPay, that has led to the company’s success so far, according to Maina. To mitigate fraud, OneKitty’s co-founders say that an inbuilt AI monitoring system, as well as dedicated financial fraud personnel, are among several safety measures it employs. Its chatbot also allows a group to set as many or few signatories as possible to authorise withdrawals to avoid embezzlement. Since its launch, OneKitty—whose team of seven hybrid employees work out of a head office in Nairobi—says it has facilitated over 10,000 fundraising campaigns for over 200,000 Kenyans on its platform. Differentiating from competitors OneKitty’s co-founders say they’re differentiating from their competitors with its WhatsApp chatbot integration. They are yet to roll out a chatbot for Telegram. “Our competitors, most of them; actually, all of them are not on WhatsApp,” Maina says. According to Statista, the number of Kenyans who use WhatsApp, which has steadily grown over the years, is estimated to reach 15.31 million of the country’s 22.7 million internet users in the next four years. With the chatbot integration, not only can a fundraising community see contributions as they come through in real-time on a messaging app they use frequently, they can see when withdrawals are made and by whom. OneKitty is also the most affordable option in the market at the moment, according to Maina. While GoFundMe charges a fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per donation, deducted from the total amount raised, and M-Changa charges a standard platform fee of 4.25% of the total funds raised, OneKitty charges 2.5% of the total contributions upon withdrawals. For chama contributions, the company charges 2% of all withdrawals, and 5% for events—the WhatsApp bot can be integrated into a group and used to sell event tickets, the co-founders say. In addition to M-Changa and GoFundMe, OneKitty is also competing with platforms like Thundafund, Kickstarter and even Safaricom’s M-Pesa whose Paybill and Short-Term Paybill products offer long term and short term crowdfunding solutions for institutional and individual projects respectively. Most of these platforms employ an all-or-nothing fundraising model which means campaign managers can only receive their funds if they meet their target fundraising goals. OneKitty does not use this model, offering flexibility and allowing projects to receive any funds raised, which is beneficial for
Read MoreWhy data centre investors are flocking to Lagos’ coastline
To get a slice of Lagos’ booming data centre market—projected to reach 70 megawatts (MW) by 2027—global investors are pouring capital into Victoria Island and the Lekki Peninsula, two of the city’s most affluent urban neighborhoods. Thanks to its proximity to eight submarine internet cables, Lagos Island is positioned to become Africa’s second-largest data centre hub, trailing behind Johannesburg’s 200MW capacity. But the scramble for Lagos’ coastline reveals the promise and pitfalls of betting on Africa’s fragmented data economy. The closer a data centre is to a submarine cable landing station (CLS), the faster data can travel, reducing delays. Coastal data centers are built near these landing stations to improve speed and efficiency. They also serve as backup hubs, keeping networks running even if inland connections go down, said Ayotunde Coker, CEO of Open Access Data Centre (OADC). “It is the availability of infrastructure and proximity to landing stations and typical site selection parameters that make investors elect to build data centres in Victoria Island,” Coker told TechCabal. Google’s Equiano submarine cable, with a massive capacity of up to 144 terabits per second (Tbps), lands directly at OADC’s Tier III-certified, carrier-neutral facility in Lekki. Similarly, the MainOne submarine cable with a 10 Tbps is directly connected to the MDXi data centre, MainOne’s Tier III-certified facility in Lekki, Lagos. Nigeria’s eight submarine cables—including Google’s Equiano and 2Africa—make landfall along the Lagos Island coastline, connecting to terrestrial fiber-optic networks for broader distribution. Ten of Nigeria’s 16 data centres are already concentrated in Victoria Island, Lekki, and Eko Atlantic City, and operators are racing to add more capacity. Projects under construction include Equinix’s 5MW facility, Kasi’s 5MW centre, Nxtra by Airtel’s 38MW data center, and Open Access Data Centre’s 24MW facility—all slated for completion by 2027. These new data centres, alongside ongoing developments across the country, will expand Nigeria’s total capacity from 64MW to approximately 200MW. By bringing data processing closer to users, these facilities will reduce delays, enhancing the performance of cloud services, streaming, and online gaming. The increased capacity will also improve network reliability, minimizing downtime and ensuring more stable connectivity. Power, water, and urbanisation Investors are drawn not just by connectivity but by Lagos’ improving power infrastructure. As key urban hubs, Victoria Island and Lekki are designated “Band A” service areas, ensuring 20 to 24 hours of electricity daily—critical for data centre operations. “Power infrastructure in the Lekki Corridor today and in the future is more robust than other parts of Lagos,” said Wole Abu of Equinix West Africa. Another reason for choosing coastal areas is access to water for cooling systems, which prevents overheating and maintains efficiency. In 2023, data centers globally consumed an estimated 309 million gallons of water per day—enough to supply 3.3 million people—and this demand is expected to rise to 468 million gallons daily by 2030 as more AI-driven data centers emerge. The increasing investment in Lagos’s data centres reflects a global urbanization wave. A recent Bank of America Institute study identifies urbanization, aging populations, and evolving consumer behavior as key drivers of digital infrastructure expansion. The United Nations projects that by 2050, about 66% of the global population will live in cities, rising to 87% in developed nations, with Asia and Africa contributing 90% of this urban growth. One of the ultra-urban areas, Eko Atlantic, is envisioned as a cutting-edge smart city with world-class infrastructure, high-rise buildings, luxury real estate, and advanced flood protection systems. Though still under development, it has attracted major data centre investments, hosting two hyperscale facilities—Africa Data Centres’ Tier III data centre and Nxtra by Airtel. For now, Lagos’ coastline remains the hottest ticket in town if investors can navigate its tide. Here’s an opportunity to tell us how you feel about TechCabal. Join other readers to take this 10-minute survey now. Fill it via this link.
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