TechCabal Daily –Flutterwave finds its Circle
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية It’s almost Friday! Next time you cross the street, you might spot something surprising: a sleek, silent EV rolling by. Nigeria now claims to have over 15,000 electric vehicles zipping around. Sounds like progress, right? Well, considering the sea of gasoline-powered vehicles still dominating the roads, your odds of spotting one are about as slim as a traffic-free Monday morning in Lagos. In other news, we are starting a new column to spotlight new startups across Africa that we find interesting but have little coverage. Know a startup we should feature next? Please nominate here. Flutterwave joins Circle payment network IZI Electric launches electric bus to rival Roam Kenya to scrap risk-based loan pricing Crossfin Invests in South Africa’s DigiSquad World Wide Web 3 Events Fintech Flutterwave joins Circle payment network Image Source: Google Nigeria’s fintech unicorn, Flutterwave, has joined the Circle Payments Network (CPN) to facilitate cross-border payments across the globe leveraging stablecoins.. Flutterwave joins the network alongside crypto exchange Yellow Card and 25 other payment platforms across the globe. Circle Payments Network? Launched by Circle Internet Group, the issuers of the USDC stablecoin, CPN connects banks, neobanks, payment service providers, virtual asset firms, and digital wallets worldwide and allows for real-time settlement of cross-border payments using regulated stablecoins. Why does CPN matter? Despite years of reform, cross-border payments are still slow and costly. Sometimes transactions take over a day to settle, and fees average above 6%, according to the World Bank. This friction, which mostly comes from intermediaries, compliance checks, time zone mismatches, and legacy infrastructure, makes stablecoins a faster, cheaper alternative. CPN’s pitch is to make transaction near instant using stablecoins. The network leverages USDC, EURC, and other regulated digital currencies for real-time payments and supports third-party developers building apps and financial workflows on top of the network. The CPN is a great boost for Flutterwave’s cross-border product, Send. Through USDC and EURC, Flutterwave can reduce settlement timelines for its enterprise merchants who move bulk money at scale. The fintech will also be able to help small businesses across the continent pay international vendors and suppliers almost instantly. Seamless Global Payments With Fincra. Issue accounts in NGN, KES, EUR, USD & more with one integration. Send & receive funds seamlessly across borders; no more banking hassles or complex conversions. Create an account for free & go global today. Electric vehicles IZI Electric launches electric bus to rival Roam IZI Electric is bringing the fight to Roam in Rwanda. Rwanda-based e-mobility startup IZI Electric unveiled the Impala E30 , a 30-seater electric coach designed to challenge Roam Buses and redefine long-distance public transport in East Africa. The Impala E30’s headline feature is a 10-year/1-million-kilometer warranty on its battery system. The warranty, aimed at easing financial anxieties among fleet operators and lenders, is a major leap from the 4-year, 400,000-kilometer warranties standard among other players, including Roam. Roam, the Kenyan-Swedish EV player best known for its electric buses and motorcycles, has largely focused on urban transit. In Rwanda, Roam is actively working with local operators but its electric buses—though clean and efficient—offer shorter-range options and lack the ultra-long warranty coverage IZI is banking on as its differentiator. The Impala E30 is engineered for 400+ km daily routes and built tough with anti-corrosion materials, reinforced waterproofing, and suspension systems ready for unpaved roads. It’s priced 10–40% lower than European and Chinese imports and promises up to 87% fuel savings over 10 years—a compelling economic case for fleet operators. The company will begin leasing the Impala E30 in June, with 50+ preorders already in place across East Africa. Here’s what happened at Paystack in 2024! Link your bank account once, and send money in 5 easy steps on Zap. Download Zap on iOS and Android now Download Zap on iOS and Android now → Banking Kenya to scrap risk-based loan pricing Image Source: Wunmi Eunice/TechCabal In more news from East Africa, Kenya’s Central Bank is slogging it out with commercial banks over high lending rates. In the past decade, the regulator has made several interventions, including capping interest rates to enable cheaper credit to the private sector. The central bank has now proposed a new framework that will peg lending rates to the Central Bank Rate (CBR). Interest rates will be set by adding a premium—“K”—to CBR. The premium will include the bank’s operating costs tied to lending, the return expected by shareholders, and the borrower’s risk profile. The decision follows frustration within the CBK over the banking sector’s reluctance to lower interest rates despite multiple reductions in the benchmark lending rate since October 2024. The CBK recently cut the Central Bank Rate (CBR) to stimulate lending and economic activity, but banks have largely maintained high lending rates, citing internal risk assessments. The outgoing risk-based pricing model, which allowed banks to decide on loan rates depending on individual borrower profiles, has faced criticism for being opaque and prone to abuse. When it was introduced in 2019, the regulator intended to encourage lending to riskier customers; in practice, it has resulted in prohibitively high rates, especially for SMEs and households without credit histories. Under the model, banks combined the base rate as a reference rate with risk-adjusted factors, such as a borrower’s creditworthiness, collateral, and overall financial behaviour. Here’s what happened at Paystack in 2024! Send, receive, and convert fiat or stablecoins like USD, CAD, USDT, USDC, and more in Nigeria with Juicyway—seamlessly and at great rates! Get free multi-currency accounts, enjoy instant transfers, and trade securely in one app. Join now to get started! Fintech Crossfin Invests in South Africa’s DigiSquad Image Source: Equinix DigiSquad, a Johannesburg-based fintech company specializing in payment advisory and software solutions, has secured an undisclosed investment from Crossfin, the venture capital arm of a prominent South African fintech group, Crossfin Technology Holdings. The investment from Crossfin is expected to accelerate DigiSquad’s regional expansion and further development of its platform, positioning it to compete with larger
Read MoreAfrica’s most interesting startups you haven’t heard of—yet
Africa’s most exciting startups aren’t always the loudest. At TechCabal, we believe in spotlighting early movers, quiet builders, and original thinkers solving Africa’s hardest problems in bold, different ways. With Startups on Our Radar, we’re shining the light on new startups across Africa that we find interesting but have little coverage. We’ll be exploring their use cases, opportunities, and models. Most importantly, we’ll be looking for teams taking unconventional approaches, filling fundamental gaps, and creating value in a way that feels fresh, focused, and meaningful. These are not necessarily the most funded or most followed, but they’re doing the kind of work that deserves more attention. Know a startup we should feature next? Please nominate here. Startups on Our Radar is a bi-weekly column; expect our next dispatch on May 7th. Here’s our first dispatch: 1. Vaulfi (Fintech, Algeria) While cross-border remittance startups in Nigeria are falling head over heels to help users receive and make international payments, it’s a different story in Algeria. Users in the country often rely on international banks like HSBC to send and receive money globally. In 2023, Safa Korti (ex-BNP Paribas compliance) and Karim Khattaby (ex-Revolut engineer) teamed up to change that narrative. Together they founded Vaulfi to help Algerians send and receive money globally. The app provides a multicurrency e-wallet platform that allows users to make international money transfers and get physical and debit cards. Why we are watching: Vaulfi is poised to become the market leader in offering legally compliant multi-currency accounts in Algeria. Vaufi will enable Algerians to have access to near-instant international money transactions. Previously, users relied on international banks to make those transfers and often had to wait days to confirm receipt of funds. Vaulfi will also be offering users internationally accepted physical and virtual cards. As of 2022, only 20% of Algerians own debit cards. This makes the startup a pioneering player in a market largely untouched by neobanks. 2. Revwit (SaaS, Nigeria) Founded by former employees of Interswitch, Bolt, Microsoft, and the London Stock Exchange Group—Chinedu Ossai, Dayo Adekanmbi, and Damilola Aluede—Revwit is building revenue infrastructure and CRM tools for African sales teams. Through its app, African sales teams can automatically capture leads from forms, emails, and calendars and manage deals through customisable pipelines that reflect local sales realities. The app also integrates seamlessly with email, eliminating manual data entry, and offers ready-made templates so teams can start selling immediately. The platform supports one-to-one and bulk personalised email outreach, smart reminders, and collaborative deal management, all within a single, easy-to-use interface. Why we are watching: Revwit is what Salesforce might look like if it were born in Lagos. The product is thoughtfully built for African sales teams—simpler UX, local currency support, and workflows that reflect how business is done here. With over $800 million in deal volume processed just six months after the launch of its MVP, they’re showing strong early traction and clear demand. 3. Apexloads (Logistics, Kenya) Aside from working capital constraints, one of the biggest challenges for logistics startups across Africa is the lack of backhaul. After completing a delivery, transporters often return empty, with no goods to carry back. This inefficiency drives up the cost of moving goods, as transporters factor in the likelihood of an empty return trip when setting prices. Launched in 2019 by Charles Thuo, Apexloads solves this challenge by connecting shippers and truckers through its app. Its load board lets transporters view and claim available loads by location, maximising truck utilisation and reducing empty return trips. Beyond load matching, Apexloads offers a transport management system, CRM tools, and invoice factoring—giving logistics businesses real-time shipment visibility, streamlined operations, stronger client relationships, and faster payment access. Why we are watching: In a sector still driven by phone calls, WhatsApp, and manual coordination, Apexloads offers the infrastructure to reduce downtime, improve transparency, and unlock working capital. With operations in Nigeria and Kenya and backing from Techstars, it’s well-positioned to become the digital backbone of African logistics, while layering in fintech for long-term monetisation. 4. Zimi (EV, South Africa) Imagine turning your (electric) car into a power bank. That’s the promise of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology—turning your EV into a giant power bank for your home, business, or even the national grid. V2G enables electricity to flow both ways: your car charges when there is abundant energy, and sends power back when demand spikes or outages hit Launched in 2021 by Michael Maas, Zimi is pioneering V2G technology in South Africa. In a country where load shedding is a daily headache, Zimi’s solution is timely. The company recently got a $320,000 grant from EEP Africa to test out this technology and partner with fleet operators. Why we are watching: Zimi has a first-mover advantage by building the foundational infrastructure for EV adoption in South Africa, starting with fleet and logistics operators who face rising fuel costs. As one of the first movers in this space, Zimi combines hardware (AC/DC chargers) with smart software for energy management, payments, and fleet optimisation—creating multiple revenue streams and long-term defensibility. Its focus on vehicle-to-grid (V2G) tech positions it uniquely as both a mobility and energy resilience solution in a country plagued by power instability. 5. Caantin (AI, Zambia) From fintechs nudging users to complete signups or pay back loans to FMCG brands chasing daily orders from mom-and-pop shops, phone calls are a critical part of daily operations. However, these phone conversations are a key cost in the sales operations of these companies. Launched in 2021, Caantin, a Zambian communication startup, wants to reduce the cost of making phone calls for businesses by using AI voice agents to have these conversations at scale. My first trial with the incredibly human-sounding AI agent made me a believer. We acted as a mom-and-pop shop trying to place orders. Save for a few communication gaps, the conversation felt natural. The call included the intonations, pauses, and inadvertent interruptions of a real-life conversation. Why we are watching: With low smartphone penetration, patchy
Read MoreCrossfin invests in South Africa’s DigiSquad to expand digital payments in underserved markets
Crossfin, the venture capital arm of South African fintech Crossfin, has invested in DigiSquad, a Johannesburg-based payments advisory and platform provider focused on underserved African markets. Although the investment amount remains undisclosed, the capital injection will drive DigiSquad’s plans to expand financial inclusion across the African continent, targeting both public and private sector clients. Founded in 2015 by Bishmen Kumalo, DigiSquad provides advisory, consulting, product development, and data analytics services to clients across Africa and the United States. The company claims it is bridging the gaps in financial inclusion by designing products tailored for communities ignored by traditional financial institutions. Over 18 months, DigiSquad built its flagship platform, DigiEngine, which recently secured a contract as one of Eskom’s five national vending agents. According to Crossfin, the collective experience and expertise within the squad have enabled the company to compete on an even footing with larger, more established companies. “Africa’s payments sector is rife with innovation, but many products for underserved communities overlook existing local solutions,” Kumalo said in a statement. “We are enabling these solutions through our digital offerings and are committed to redefining digital innovation as a black woman-owned fintech.” Kumalo noted that Crossfin’s demonstrated commitment to supporting fintechs focused on high-impact, often underserved segments like DigiSquad, was a key factor in their decision to partner. “DigiSquad attracted us because of its cloud-based payments platform that holds great relevance across our portfolio and has already enjoyed the endorsement of Eskom,” said Anton Gaylard, co-founder and CXO at Crossfin. “We look forward to using their expertise across our portfolio and supporting them as they build out an exciting payments business.”
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Mapping my AI brain
“We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and then our tools shape us” – Father John Culkin. The first time I ever used ChatGPT was December 2022, less than a month after it first launched, making me somewhere between user number 1 million and 57 million. I asked for 20 story ideas about productivity targeted at people who live in Lagos. I hated every single one of these ideas, but so much has changed since first time. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been quietly shaping our lives long before we started talking to it. It decides what videos we see, helps us retrieve old photos, and predicts the weather in our pockets. Once, Google Translate helped me converse with a French speaker in Abidjan. But this piece isn’t about the behind-the-scenes systems, it’s about the kind of AI I speak to directly, and think with. This is about how I use Generative AI tools—and how, in turn, it’s reshaping how I think, learn, and navigate daily life. We’ve always built tools to extend our minds. We drew symbols to store memory. Spoken language spread ideas; written language preserved them. Papers. Books. Libraries. Printing presses duplicated the ideas faster. Then came computers. Then search engines. With Generative AI, we’ve crossed into something different: tools that remix, respond, and reason. I stumbled on The Extended Mind Thesis—the idea that if a tool functions like memory or reasoning, and we use it as seamlessly as we use our brains, it effectively becomes part of the mind. It’s not without its critics, but the core idea stuck with me. Since Large Language Models (LLMs) entered my life, I’ve tested dozens of tools and experimented with different models. Over time, I’ve realised that my relationship with them rests on a few essential pillars. Language is the bridge between me and the model The more time I spend with these models, the more I realise that language isn’t just how we talk to generative AI, it’s often a key to domain expertise. I hear oontz oontz from speakers, and a musichead hears a four-on-the-floor kick pattern in a 128 bpm house track layered with synth textures. You read this article and see an interface, and a developer sees component trees, state management, API calls, and frontend frameworks that hold together with clean architecture. Every context has its language, from Law to making dinner. It’s hard to ask the right questions if you can’t speak the language, and even harder to think clearly. Working with generative AI has made this painfully apparent to me. The moment I step out of my comfort zone—say, trying to describe a song, or understand a piece of urban design—I feel the limits of my vocabulary. One way I close the language gap is by reverse-engineering. After watching Celine Song’s Oscar-nominated Past Lives, I couldn’t stop thinking about the original soundtrack Quiet Eyes by Sharon Van Etten. I asked ChatGPT to describe the song. “A haunting, emotional ballad,” it said. I pushed further: “Okay, but in music critic speak?” ChatGPT obliged: “sonic atmosphere,” “meditative,” “an emotional crescendo that lands not in catharsis, but quiet reflection.” And so on. I took those words to another tool—MusicFX by Google Labs—and asked it to generate music. It didn’t replicate the track, because of copyright restrictions, but the description helped me understand how tone and arrangement come together a little better. That entire loop—from asking ChatGPT about the song, to generating something with MusicFX, to learning through creation—took less than 10 minutes. This same loop helps me think better in teams. I once needed to explain a particular feature to a product designer; something I didn’t have the right words for. So, I collected screenshots from different websites and asked ChatGPT to help me describe what I was trying to express to a product designer. Language in hand, I turned to another tool, Lovable, and quickly built a rough prototype. It was effective enough for the designer to interact with and push it further than I ever could. Reverse-engineering still works best when I’m low on domain language, whether trying to navigate legal jargon or product designer-speak. Reverse-engineering continues to work for me in contexts where I’m low on domain language and need just enough to keep it moving, whether it’s spatial architecture or legal jargon. It’s not mastery, but it’s functional fluency, and that’s often enough to make meaningful progress. Creativity is just connecting things. Generative AI is great at that It’s making meaning out of mismatch, taking things that won’t always go together, and whipping them up into something new. The creative mind shuffles between deep domain expertise and fresh perspective. I like to think of myself as creative, so what could be better than a system trained on vast amounts of knowledge and surface connections across disciplines and contexts? LLMs have become a part of my creative process, more as a sparring partner than something that generates finished ideas. I feed them, and they stretch it. I come with half-thoughts, and it helps me find coherence. Here’s a breakdown of some ways I use generative AI across different creative functions. Ultimately, it’s less about offloading and more about thinking wider and testing deeper through the messiness of making something new. I (try to) put my models on a leash I spend a healthy amount of time studying models—how they’re built, improved, and just as importantly, where they fall short. The more I understand their limits, the better I can trust the tool for what it’s good at, and avoid blindly trusting it where it’s weak. ChatGPT is my daily driver, but I’ve learned not to rely on it whenever I need to verify specific real-life events, whether it’s sports or financial markets. Even though its hallucinatory tendencies have improved over time, I feel safer not trusting it entirely. Perplexity, on the other hand, behaves more like a traditional search engine with an LLM layer. It cites sources and every link it
Read MoreKenya to scrap risk-based loan pricing in push for lower interest rates
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has proposed scrapping the risk-based credit pricing model in favor of pegging lending rates to its benchmark policy rate, a major shift aimed at lowering borrowing costs and improving access to credit for households and businesses. The decision follows frustration within the CBK over the banking sector’s reluctance to lower interest rates despite multiple reductions in the benchmark lending rate since October 2024. The CBK recently cut the Central Bank Rate (CBR to stimulate lending and economic activity, but banks have largely maintained high lending rates, citing internal risk assessments. “CBK proposes the use of the policy rate (Central Bank Rate) as the common reference rate for determining lending rates in the Kenyan banking sector,” CBK said on Wednesday. “The lending rates will be determined by adding a premium to the CBR. CBK will publish the components of each bank’s lending rate premium on its website, the Total Cost of Credit (TCC) website, and in two newspapers of nationwide circulation.” Interest rates will be set by adding a premium—“K”—to the Central Bank Rate (CBR). The premium will include the bank’s operating costs tied to lending, the return expected by shareholders, and the borrower’s risk profile. The outgoing risk-based pricing model, which allowed banks to decide on loan rates depending on individual borrower profiles, has faced criticism for being opaque and prone to abuse. When it was introduced in 2019, the regulator intended to encourage lending to riskier customers; in practice, it has resulted in prohibitively high rates, especially for SMEs and households without credit histories. “CBK’s expectation of the risk-based model was to promote responsible lending practices by aligning credit pricing with borrowers’ risk profiles while ensuring transparency and fairness,” the regulator said. Under the model, banks combined the base rate as a reference rate with risk-adjusted factors, such as a borrower’s creditworthiness, collateral, and overall financial behaviour. By pegging interest rates on CBR, the Central Bank of Kenya hopes to improve the transmission of monetary policy decisions to borrowers and push for transparency in a market that has been criticised for opacity. For borrowers, it could mean lower and predictable interest rates.
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TechCabal Daily – No Uber rides on May Day
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy midweek! Let’s delve in. Uber, Bolt, and Indrive drivers plan May day protest Kenya’s stock exchange is going on the blockchain Visa taps contactless payments for Africa push Chery to debut new hybrid car models in South Africa World Wide Web 3 Opportunities Ride-hailing Uber, Bolt, and Indrive drivers plan May day protest Image Source: Google If you’re in Lagos and planning to get around town on May 1st using a ride-hailing app, we hate to inform you that you might have to cancel those plans and refamiliarize yourself with the yellow danfo buses. Why? Ride-hailing drivers—Uber, Bolt, and inDrive—across Lagos are planning to shut things down on May 1st. The Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transporters of Nigeria (AUATON) says drivers are fed up. Poor earnings, weak safety protections, sudden account deactivations, and platform commissions have pushed them to the edge. This isn’t their first protest. Nigerian gig drivers have been here before—demanding lower commissions, higher base fares, and a real voice at the decision-making table. Now, they’re back with a familiar list. Top of the agenda is fairer pay. AUATON wants base fares increased and platform commissions cut from 25% to 5%. They’re also asking for price adjustments that reflect inflation and the surging costs of fuel and vehicle maintenance. But for Uber and Bolt, raising fares risks losing riders in a price-sensitive market like Lagos. Drivers also want job security. Specifically, clearer deactivation policies and a path to appeal bans. . This protest mirrors broader tensions in ride-hailing across Africa. In Kenya last year, driver frustration boiled over into chaos, with passengers pulled from cars and drivers boycotting trips over fare disputes. AUATON’s 5% commission demand may be far below global norms, but unless platforms find middle ground, the fallout could hit everyone—drivers, riders, and the business model holding it all together . Seamless Global Payments With Fincra. Issue accounts in NGN, KES, EUR, USD & more with one integration. Send & receive funds seamlessly across borders; no more banking hassles or complex conversions. Create an account for free & go global today. Web3 Kenya’s stock exchange is going on the blockchain The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) wants to bring blockchain into the heart of Kenya’s capital markets The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has launched the Kenya Digital Exchange (KDX) , a blockchain-powered platform developed in partnership with Canada’s DeFi Technologies, Valour Inc., and SovFi. The KDX will let companies tokenize and trade assets like stocks, bonds, and commodities. Think of it as the NSE… with Web3 infrastructure. The platform will be built on the Hedera blockchain and launched in three phases, starting with design and regulation and ending with full-scale trading by mid-2026. Here’s why it matters: The KDX is a major step toward modernizing Africa’s capital markets. KDX could make capital markets faster, cheaper, and more accessible. Companies could issue tokenized assets in primary markets, while investors get a new way to buy in. It also marks a shift in tone from Kenyan regulators—who, like their Nigerian and South African counterparts, are starting to treat blockchain as infrastructure, not a threat. Unlike Ethereum or Solana, where most tokenized assets live without oversight, KDX will be regulated, giving Kenyan companies a compliant way to create and trade digital assets. The move follows a similar initiative by Nigerian company Zone, which launched a regulated blockchain for financial services. Know more: Regulated blockchains—also known as permissioned blockchains—are digital ledgers with gatekeepers. Only approved players can join, and the system is usually run by a central authority or consortium. That structure makes them a safer bet for banks and regulators than free-for-all public chains. Zoom out: Kenya now joins other countries on the continent exploring similar moves. Mauritius being one of the earliest has been running a regulatory sandbox for tokenised finance since 2018. Nigeria’s Zone is also creating a blockchain infrastructure pegged to the naira, while South Africa’s Mesh.trade is already tokenizing assets under FSCA regulation. Here’s what happened at Paystack in 2024! Link your bank account once, and send money in 5 easy steps on Zap. Download Zap on iOS and Android now Download Zap on iOS and Android now → Fintech Visa taps contactless payments for Africa push Image Source: Wunmi Eunice/TechCabal Everyone’s been calling it: contactless is the future of payments. Visa is betting big on it in Africa. On the sidelines of GITEX Africa 2025, Godfrey Sullivan, Visa’s SVP for Products, Solutions, and Digital Partnerships (CEMEA), told TechCabal’s Ganiu Oloruntade that the payments giant sees tap-to-pay becoming the default way people transact in Africa, just like it has globally In Morocco, where Visa introduced contactless payment a few years ago, 41% of transactions are now contactless. Sullivan says it’s faster (Visa transactions clear in 200 milliseconds), more secure, and more scalable than fragmented real-time systems and QR-based solutions dominating markets like Nigeria and Kenya. But Visa’s push isn’t just about cards. It wants to embed itself deeper in Africa’s digital payments ecosystem. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, it’s rolling out Visa Pay, a real-time B2B platform. It’s also eyeing stablecoin integration and leaning hard on local partnerships, with over 1,000 issuers across the continent. It recently backed Nigerian fintech Moniepoint. That’s a big deal for Visa, especially as local fintechs grow wary of foreign fees and are turning to cheaper local alternatives like Verve and AfriGo. Still, Sullivan insists Visa’s growth in Africa is “only getting faster.” With a $1 billion investment earmarked for Africa by 2027, Visa is making it clear: it doesn’t just want to be your card; it wants to be the rails. Here’s what happened at Paystack in 2024! Send, receive, and convert fiat or stablecoins like USD, CAD, USDT, USDC, and more in Nigeria with Juicyway—seamlessly and at great rates! Get free multi-currency accounts, enjoy instant transfers, and trade securely in one app. Join now to get started! ELectric Vehicle Chery to debut new hybrid car models
Read MoreFacebook, TikTok videos drive Nigeria’s record internet traffic
Nigeria’s domestic internet traffic has hit a record high of 1 terabit per second — enough to stream over 200,000 high-definition videos at the same time— driven by a surge in video consumption across platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, according to the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN). The milestone, reached in March 2024, marks the highest traffic level since its inception in 2007. This growth highlights Nigeria’s emergence as Africa’s second-largest internet hub and reflects a broader trend toward local content delivery, which is helping to lower costs and improve speeds in one of the continent’s most connected nations. The traffic now routed through IXPN—a key digital infrastructure that allows internet service providers and content platforms to exchange data locally—signals a shift from reliance on international bandwidth to domestically hosted services. “1 terabit per second means that 1 million people can concurrently make phone calls and Zoom meetings,” IXPN CEO Muhammed Rudman said at an event on Tuesday, April 22. “It also means 200,000 people can watch local videos or Netflix at the same time. Without an internet exchange point, this traffic would have been going out of Nigeria.” Nigeria now ranks as the second-largest internet exchange hub in Africa, behind only South Africa, which handles over 4 terabits per second. Key to this growth is the rising demand for video content. As of early 2025, Nigeria has 38.7 million active Facebook users, 37.4 million TikTok users, and 27 million YouTube users, according to DataReportal. In October 2024 alone, YouTube reported a 55% year-on-year increase in watch time among Nigerian users aged 18 and above, reaching more than 30 million people. TikTok and Facebook record similar growth, with video content continuing to dominate usage patterns. Most of this increasing data load is being routed locally through IXPN. When IXPN was launched in 2006 with operational activities kicking off in 2007, traffic levels were minimal—between 5 and 10 megabits per second—because Nigerian providers depended heavily on international connections like SAT-3 or satellite services. Without a local internet exchange, most traffic had to be routed abroad, which slowed down services and increased costs. Things began to shift in 2009 when Google signaled its interest in peering with IXPN. The actual connection in 2011 proved transformative, increasing traffic from under 20 Mbps to over 120 Mbps by 2012. This upward trend continued rapidly, hitting 600 Mbps within a year. By 2019, IXPN traffic had reached 126 gigabits per second, climbing further to 900 Gbps by December 2024. The latest milestone of 1 Tbps in March 2024 highlights how far Nigeria’s internet ecosystem has come. This surge in internet traffic has been driven not only by growing user demand but also by critical infrastructure investments, particularly the expansion of local data centers and direct interconnection agreements with global content giants like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Starlink, TikTok, and Netflix, all of which now peer with the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN). “Some of these companies are already exchanging between 10% and 30% of their traffic locally, with a few reaching up to 70%,” said Rudman. “Imagine an ISP with 1,000 subscribers consuming 1 gigabit of data. If 700 megabits of that traffic is routed through IXPN and only 300 goes to the upstream provider, the cost savings are substantial.” By localising content and keeping more data within Nigeria’s borders, these partnerships are improving internet speeds, reducing latency, and making broadband more affordable for millions of users. It’s a win-win for service providers and consumers alike,— one that signals Nigeria’s accelerating shift toward a more self-reliant internet ecosystem.
Read MoreAsta Funding Hub is turning online sellers into fundable businesses
After weeks of back-and-forth, I finally pinned down a meeting with Nimrod Kibua at CcHub’s iHub, now housed in the Jahazi building in Nairobi’s Lavington area, a leafy suburb that’s quietly become a hive for tech meetups and low-key founder sessions. We caught up over light banter. Kibua, who was among the early crop of founders incubated at iHub in the 2010s, recalled the energy back then. Nairobi’s tech scene was still raw, crowded with builders chasing product-market fit and soaking up mentorship from the city’s few but active incubation hubs. iHub was one of the main ones. A decade on, and after cycling through multiple ideas, Kibua, a trained programmer, landed on Asta Marketplace, a business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce platform. It launched in 2019, went quiet in 2020 during the pandemic, then resurfaced in 2022, listing at least 3,000 vendors. Why bring back an e-commerce platform in a market already saturated with them? Platform uniqueness “Most of our vendors are already running their own ecommerce platforms,” he told me. It makes sense. In Kenya, it’s common for businesses to juggle multiple online storefronts—Instagram, Facebook, X, sometimes even a basic website. “So we wanted to see how we could help these vendors scale what they already have,” he said. Rather than replacing existing storefronts, Asta wants to plug into what’s already working and help sellers reach more customers. It’s a subtle but critical difference. But Asta isn’t just B2B. It has a B2C layer as well, where customers can shop like on any other platform, but also, crucially, become vendors themselves. To do that, they have to rent a digital shelf and go through a verification process before they’re allowed to resell. It’s not an open floodgate, but more curated. That model feels close to what Alibaba does with its verified sellers on Alibaba.com, where businesses must go through checks and often pay a subscription to list as “gold suppliers.” The twist here is that Asta Marketplace lowers the barrier by targeting everyday users who might not own a business but want to participate in online retail. It’s a layered approach to e-commerce, one that blends formality with informal hustle, something that mirrors how trade actually works in Kenya. It doesn’t stop at e-commerce. In 2022, Asta Marketplace introduced the Asta Funding Hub, a service designed to help vendors access funding from angel investors, venture capital firms, and other sources. The Hub was co-founded with Dennis Guantai, a former financial analyst at Wasoko, the Kenyan B2B platform that later merged with Egypt’s MaxAB. This Hub is one of Asta’s core revenue streams. 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The sessions are delivered virtually. Kibua told me that there’s a plan to add physical sessions in the future. Pricing is tiered. Individual vendors pay KES 10,000 ($80) for three 45-minute sessions. Group training, targeted at multiple vendors from the same company, costs KES 5,000 ($40) per person. It’s a structure that appears designed to encourage group participation while offering some cost relief. For vendors looking for more tailored support, Asta Marketplace offers advanced sessions that can cost up to KES 70,000 ($538) per engagement. These are typically for businesses that need hands-on
Read MoreArtificial Intelligence Chat: What is it, and how can it be used?
How we use technology is changing, and one of the most significant shifts is how computers can now talk with us almost like real people. This is where artificial intelligence chat comes in. You might have seen it when chatting with customer support or using apps that reply to your questions automatically. But AI chat has gone way beyond just giving basic replies. It can now hold proper conversations and help in many ways online. This article breaks down what AI chat is, how it’s being used increasingly, and what it means for tech in Africa. What is Artificial Intelligence chat, and how does it work? Artificial intelligence chat is a technology that allows computers to talk with people naturally. You’ve probably used it when chatting with customer service on a website or using a virtual assistant like Siri or Alexa. These systems are built to sound more like humans and less like machines, making online conversations smoother and more manageable. How Artificial Intelligence Chat works AI chat uses two main technologies: 1. Natural Language Processing (NLP) NLP helps computers understand human language. It allows AI chat systems to: Break down sentences into smaller parts Recognise the meaning of words, even when they’re used differently Understand grammar and sentence structure Pick up on emotions like frustration or happiness Tell the difference between similar words based on the context This is how the system understands what you’re saying, even if you don’t type it perfectly. 2. Machine Learning (ML) Machine learning helps the system get better over time. It learns from real conversations and uses that information to: Improve future responses Recognise patterns in how people ask questions Provide more helpful and natural answers There are different types of machine learning: Supervised learning: learns from example questions and answers Unsupervised learning: finds patterns in data without help Reinforcement learning: learns by making mistakes and trying again All of this combined allows AI chat to keep improving with every conversation. How AI Chat is different from old chatbots Old chatbots were limited. They only responded to a small set of pre-written questions and couldn’t handle anything outside them. They were more like a list of answers than a real conversation. Today’s artificial intelligence chatbots are much more intelligent. They can: Understand open-ended questions Adjust to different ways people talk Keep learning and improving Create original responses based on what you say With the help of generative AI, they don’t just fetch answers, they can come up with new responses, making conversations feel more real and helpful. How AI Chat is being used in 2025 AI chat is being used more and more across different industries. From customer service to education, businesses are finding simple ways to use chatbots to talk to people, solve problems, and make things run more smoothly. 1. Content creation AI is now playing a significant role in how people make content. From podcasts to videos and beyond, these tools are helping creators save time and do more with less effort in 2025. AI in Podcast Creation AI tools are making it easier to plan, record, and share podcasts. Here’s how: You can use tools like ChatGPT to develop episode ideas, create outlines, and even write scripts. Editing tools like Auphonic can clean up your audio by removing background noise and ensuring everything sounds clear. AI can write show notes and episode summaries that help your podcast rank better on Google. Some tools can turn your old blog posts into podcast episodes, saving you the stress of starting from scratch. Voice cloning technology allows you to record or keep the same voice across episodes in different languages. AI in video creation Making videos used to take a lot of time and money. But with AI, that’s changing. Tools like Synthesia and HeyGen let you turn text into videos using AI characters, with no need for a camera or actors. With apps like RunwayML and Sora, you can create stunning visuals using just words or photos. AI editing tools can cut videos, add transitions, and adjust audio and colors without much manual work. You can also use AI to break long videos into short clips for TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube Shorts, complete with captions and visuals. What this means for content creators AI allows more people to create quality content without needing a big team or budget. Whether you’re a small business, a solo creator, or a marketer, AI tools can help you make videos and podcasts faster, easier, and better. It’s a new way to share stories, reach more people, and grow your online presence. 2. Customer service One of the most common uses of AI chat is in customer support. Instead of waiting for a human agent, people can now get quick answers from chatbots at any time of the day. Popular tools include ChatGPT by OpenAI, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, which help companies provide fast, smart replies. AI chat helps by: Answering frequently asked questions right away Handling simple requests like checking order status or resetting passwords Being available 24/7, even on weekends and holidays Freeing up customer service teams to handle more difficult questions Some chatbots are even intelligent enough to understand how a customer feels and can respond helpfully and respectfully. Others can speak different languages, which is excellent for businesses that serve people in many countries. 3. Marketing and Sales AI chat also plays a significant role in helping businesses attract and keep customers. It can: Start chats with people visiting a website and collect their contact info (e.g., using Tidio, Drift, or Intercom) Suggest products based on what someone has looked at or bought before Help with upselling and cross-selling (like recommending a better option or an extra item) Answer questions and even complete sales outside regular business hours Chat with people directly on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or WhatsApp using tools like ManyChat or MobileMonkey 4. Healthcare Hospitals and health services are now using AI chat to make care more accessible.
Read MoreWhy Visa is banking on contactless payments for its next growth wave in Africa
Global payments giant Visa is doubling down on contactless payments across Africa as part of a broader strategy to expand its relevance in markets where traditional card usage is still limited. “We think contactless payment is going to grow [in Africa] just as we’ve seen it grow everywhere around the world,” Godfrey Sullivan, Visa’s SVP and Head of Products, Solutions, and Digital Partnerships for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA), told TechCabal on the sidelines of GITEX Africa 2025. “It is going to become how people pay face-to-face.” Visa’s bet signals a critical phase in its Africa playbook, where it is investing in newer, faster payment infrastructure to compete with homegrown systems. It sees an untapped opportunity in Africa, where cash remains dominant despite the rise of mobile money and real-time payment platforms like the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS). The company believes contactless payments—via cards, mobile phones, and biometrics—can offer a faster and more scalable solution. “In Morocco, we introduced contactless payments a couple of years ago. Now 41% of transactions conducted are contactless,” Sullivan said. “It’s a far more secure way for consumers and businesses to receive payments.” The payments giant prioritises this model across its key African markets—Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco—where adoption of digital payments has accelerated but remains fragmented across QR-based solutions, real-time payment systems, and local fintech platforms. These systems have struggled with reliability and fraud, according to Sullivan. “In Nigeria, people are going to supermarkets and waiting for transactions to clear for minutes,” he said. “Visa transactions clear in 200 milliseconds.” Sullivan also noted that many local real-time platforms lack effective dispute resolution mechanisms, a weakness Visa sees as a strategic advantage. “Many of them are reaching out to us, saying, “How can we have better security?”” The strategic pivot For Visa, the contactless shift is not just about enabling tap-to-pay at physical merchants. The firm is working to embed its infrastructure more deeply into Africa’s growing digital payment ecosystem. It is rolling out Visa Pay, a new real-time B2B payment platform in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sullivan said the platform is currently undergoing regulatory approvals. Visa is also exploring the integration of stablecoins into its broader payment ecosystem. Visa’s approach in Africa hinges heavily on partnerships with local fintechs and banks to navigate the fragmented regulatory and infrastructure landscape. The firm now works with over 1,000 issuers across the continent. “You need to have partners in each of these different countries… the fintech community, particularly, is central to our broader strategy,” Sullivan said. In December 2024, the payments giant invested in Moniepoint, the Nigerian fintech unicorn known for its dominant agent banking infrastructure in Nigeria. Moniepoint processed over 5.2 billion transactions in 2024 and serves over 1.6 million businesses. Its deep roots in the informal economy give Visa a channel to scale contactless offerings in everyday commerce. Visa is trying to strike a delicate balance: expand fast in Africa without alienating fintechs increasingly wary of high fees and dependence on foreign networks. Sullivan’s message was clear: Visa doesn’t just want to be a card company in Africa, it wants to be the rails, working with everyone from banks to fintechs to modernise how payments move. Business outlook With the rising cost of relying on international card networks like Visa and Mastercard after a naira devaluation, Nigerian fintechs are increasingly turning to local alternatives such as Verve and AfriGo. OPay and Moniepoint have collectively issued more than 17 million Verve cards. In March 2025, PalmPay and Moniepoint partnered with AfriGo to roll out contactless payment cards and tap-to-pay solutions across Nigeria. But Visa says growth in the region hasn’t slowed. “We still see Visa growing tremendously across the continent. The rate of growth is only getting faster,” Sullivan said. The company plans to invest $1 billion in Africa by 2027, and says it’s on track. With nine offices and over 500 employees, Sullivan said, “Africa is a super important region for us—and we’re just getting started.”
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