Anambra builds AI model to track local government spending, identify ghost workers
Anambra State, Nigeria’s sixth richest state by GDP, is pushing to tackle systemic issues such as inflated budgets, payroll fraud, and inefficient service delivery using artificial intelligence. Behind the drive is the Anambra State ICT Agency, created in 2019 and responsible for driving digital innovation across the state. One of its flagship initiatives is SmartGov Suite, an AI-powered platform developed in-house by a team of local tech experts. According to Nonso Okoye, the Governor’s Special Assistant on Cybersecurity, who led the team of experts, the AI tool will be deployed across all the ministry departments in the state, beginning with the local governments. “We started with the local governments,” Nonso Okoye told TechCabal from his freshly painted office at the new Anambra State Government House. It was Thursday, June 27, 2025—the first day the state’s ICT agency officially resumed operations in the new building. Across Anambra, as in many parts of Nigeria, government processes remain largely manual and paper-based. In May, Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), revealed to TechCabal that less than 10% of government operations nationwide have been digitised. Anambra, however, is prioritising its 21 local governments due to their frontline role in delivering public services and directly impacting citizens’ day-to-day lives. “For example, in budgeting, the AI flagged a ₦2.1 billion unspent allocation in the education sector simply because it couldn’t find disbursement records,” Okoye said. “That’s the kind of clarity we’re building into the system.” The SmartGov Suite acts as a full-fledged assistant across public services. Users, including Anambra citizens, public officials, and civil servants, can ask the AI about payments, permits, or regulations, and it pulls relevant information from state systems. More importantly, it can cross-reference data across ministries to detect duplication, track project spending, and monitor vendor compliance. AI against corruption and waste The most immediate benefit of the AI tool is in payroll verification. By analysing National Identity Numbers (NINs), Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), and other unique identifiers, the AI model can detect when multiple employees are linked to a single account number—a common indicator of ghost workers. “We found instances where one account was used by seven different people,” Okoye said. “That’s the kind of insight manual processes simply can’t catch.” Beyond payroll, the system also tracks vendors and procurement. “We saw one vendor who was awarded five contracts in three weeks. The system flagged it for review,” he added. These kinds of red flags will make it increasingly difficult for procurement fraud to go unnoticed. Why AI investment by states matters Anambra’s investment in AI reflects a shift in how state governments think about technology governance in Nigeria. This proactive approach matters. Without early state-level experimentation and adoption, Nigeria risks falling behind in creating robust AI systems that reflect local contexts. “If we don’t lead ourselves, we’ll be led by imported systems,” Okoye said. “And we might not always like the outcomes.” The potential for AI adoption in government is enormous. States that begin investing in AI capacity today are better positioned to develop institutional expertise, train local talent, and enable broader digital transformation. For instance, the SmartGov platform is being built to eventually unify health, education, and civic data into a single, integrated ecosystem. “Right now, everyone is working in silos,” said Okoye. “We’re breaking that down by creating one platform that connects everything.” Navigating legal uncertainty One of the biggest challenges for AI adoption in government is the lack of clear regulation. As Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani is addressing this gap by leading the development of the country’s first National Artificial Intelligence Strategy. The strategy focuses on building local talent, funding AI research, and supporting indigenous startups, most notably by developing Africa’s first multilingual and multimodal large language model. The strategy also places strong emphasis on governance, ethical standards, and public accountability in the deployment of AI. Still, regulatory inconsistencies remain a concern. “Different states may soon create conflicting laws around AI,” Okoye cautioned. “One state might completely ban government agencies from using it, while another may fully embrace it.” He’s calling for the federal government to step in—not to stifle innovation but to work with states and experts to craft a uniform framework that addresses the risks that people face using AI. “We need a national task force that looks at risks, training methods, and ethical considerations before AI adoption gets too fragmented,” he said. Some of these risks are already evident. Poorly trained models can produce inaccurate results, especially if they rely on outdated or biased data. In high-stakes areas like healthcare or justice, these inaccuracies could have severe consequences. That’s why Anambra is also working on a new law to govern how AI is trained and deployed within its jurisdiction. Governor Soludo has set up a team to craft the regulatory framework for AI usage, which will be submitted to the state assembly to consider as a bill. The law, if enacted, will ensure the responsible treatment of the data fed to the SmartGov AI tool. Okoye says this is only the beginning. The AI behind SmartGov is being trained to enable conversational interfaces that allow citizens to speak directly with government virtual agents or even an AI-assisted governor model that could respond to queries via text, voice, or video. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
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The Silicon Valley playbook doesn’t work in Africa—Madica is proving why
Madica, which stands for Made-in-Africa, was launched in 2022 as an affiliate of global VC firm, Flourish Ventures, to invest in early-stage African founders, especially women, locally educated CEOs, and teams outside the “Big Four” hubs. In 2022, when I spoke to Emmanuel Adegboye, head of Madica, he explained that by deliberately seeking out startups from other countries, he hoped that Madica could show investors that investment in other African countries was secure. That journey has led the fund to invest $800,000 in four startups earlier this year and eight in total. Madica invests up to $200,000 for 5–10 % ownership of the startup it backs, but it is its intense founder support program, which mirrors an accelerator, that it’s mostly known for. Founders have to commit to mentor office hours, biweekly peer sessions, and four fully funded immersion trips over 12-18 months as part of their investment requirements. The program’s cheque, combined with its curriculum model, bridges a common gap between accelerators (small cheques, standardised content) and classic VC (cheques but little capacity-building). For this week’s Ask an Investor, I spoke to Akinyi Wavinya, who has led this intense founder support program thus far, to understand how their approach has fared since Madica began. This interview is edited for length and clarity. When Madica launched, it wanted to take an alternative approach to investing. The firm wasn’t focused on the “Big Four” markets and aimed to back under-represented founders. Has your definition of under-represented founders changed since then? I don’t believe our definition has changed. At Madica, under-represented means three or four things. First, it refers to market location, preferably outside the “Big Four” (Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa). It doesn’t mean we won’t invest in those markets, but we prefer to go beyond them because they’re already highly funded. Startups outside those regions often face greater challenges in raising capital. Second, it includes gender. At least one person at a leadership level must be female. That’s part of our definition. Third, we look at the sector. Even within Africa, a very small percentage of VC capital flows in, and most of it goes to fintech. So we see sectors outside fintech as under-represented too—they tend to have a harder time raising money. So, market, gender, and sector are our three key lenses, and that hasn’t changed since we launched. Akinyi Wavinya, Head of Portfolio Success, Madica Do you ever worry that, in trying to back under-represented founders, you might create your own kind of selection bias? With all things, we consider under-representation, that’s how we lead—but it doesn’t mean we exclude everything else. One of the things we’re trying to solve for is the fact that, in Africa, it takes more than capital for businesses to succeed. So even though we lead with certain criteria, we wouldn’t say no to a great business. A good business is a good business. What we don’t compromise on is that the founder must be African, building on the continent. Beyond that, everything is considered on a case-by-case basis. Take our current portfolio—we have companies from Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt. All “Big Four” markets. We invested in them not because they checked every under-representation box but because they met one or two key criteria: gender, sector, or both. We lead with our values, but we apply them flexibly, depending on the company. How do you think about supporting founders post-investment? One of the reasons we’re so hands-on with curriculum and community is that we know capital isn’t enough. This insight isn’t just from our experience at Madica—we’re still young—but also from Flourish Ventures, which incubated us. Based on that, we knew we had to design a program that offers deeper interventions and support to African founders. It’s great to give capital, but then what? How do I get introduced to the right investors? When should I start raising again? Are my milestones structured to make a strong case at the next raise? These are critical, especially at the pre-seed stage. That’s why our post-investment program lasts 18 months, which is quite long compared to most funds or venture studios. It takes time, and the level of intervention is crucial. What happens in those first few months post-investment can make or break your ability to raise more capital. We’ve built a robust support program focused on four strategic pillars: fundraising, growth, governance and founder well-being. All our interventions fall within these. That’s the structure guiding how we support founders after investment. How do you select mentors, and how successful has the mentorship program been? Honestly, I think mentorship is one of the strongest parts of our support program. The founders we started with—our first cohort—will finish the program by the end of this year. And we consistently hear from both these founders and newer ones that mentorship is the most valuable part of what we offer. What makes our approach unique is that our mentors are very high-touch. Each founder is assigned a lead mentor; this person is their strategic partner throughout the program. Founders in the early cohorts have had the same lead mentor from the beginning. For the newer cohort, we’ll switch lead mentors halfway through the program. That’s intentional; we want to offer a fresh perspective and broader insight. Beyond those structured one-on-ones, mentors are delivering, on average, 20 hours per month to founders. That’s quite intensive. Founders don’t have to go through Madica to access their mentors. There’s no bureaucratic “ask permission first” approach. They can flag, “Hey, I need an investor intro,” or “Can we work on my fundraising FAQs together?” We’ve built an environment of trust. That allows founders to reach out informally, without worrying about asking the wrong question or whether it’s the right time. And although we’re involved, we’ve intentionally made the mentorship experience organic and founder-driven. As for how we find mentors, it’s a mix. Some come through founder referrals. Others come from our networks at Madica and Flourish. We look for
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How a thyroid cancer diagnosis birthed Egypt’s leading e-pharmacy platform
When, in 2017, Doaa Aref was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, she soon found that her survival depended on regular access to medication—and that this access was far more complicated than it should be. “I was sitting in the oncology clinic waiting room when I [realised] that other patients were having the same problem,” Aref, 38, recalls. “We were all struggling to find our prescribed medications, often traveling from one pharmacy to another without success.” Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation with roughly 114 million people, has witnessed years of varying levels of medicine shortages as a result of sharp currency devaluations which began in 2016 and impacted both imports and local productions that rely heavily on imported raw materials. At its peak, nearly 1,000 types of medicines were in short supply in Egypt, but recent efforts have reduced this number to about 500. Nevertheless, supply problems persist, especially for some imported medicines and specialised drugs, leaving many patients of chronic illnesses struggling to find medicines. This frustration became the impetus for Chefaa, now Egypt’s leading e-pharmacy platform. What began as Aref’s personal effort to streamline her access to essential medicine is now a regional healthtech player digitising pharmacy operations and delivery systems across Egypt and beyond. Together with her co-founder, pediatric hematology-oncology specialist Dr. Rasha Rady, Aref launched Chefaa in 2018. The platform allows users to upload prescriptions or input drug names, then connects them to nearby pharmacies that have the medication in stock. Deliveries are dispatched based on the patient’s location, with Chefaa taking a commission starting at 5% on each transaction. The app also allows patients to schedule recurring medication deliveries, crucial for those with chronic illnesses who depend on timely doses. Get the best African tech newsletters in your inbox Country Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canton and Enderbury Islands Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos [Keeling] Islands Colombia Comoros Congo – Brazzaville Congo – Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Dronning Maud Land East Germany Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories French Southern and Antarctic Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Johnston Island Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau SAR China Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Metropolitan France Mexico Micronesia Midway Islands Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar [Burma] Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles Neutral Zone New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island North Korea North Vietnam Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pacific Islands Trust Territory Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Panama Canal Zone Papua New Guinea Paraguay People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria São Tomé and Príncipe Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu U.S. Minor Outlying Islands U.S. Miscellaneous Pacific Islands U.S. Virgin Islands Uganda Ukraine Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Unknown or Invalid Region Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Wake Island Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Åland Islands ?> Gender Male Female Others TC Daily Events TC Scoop <!– Next Wave –> <!– Entering Tech –> Subscribe Chefaa’s unique proposition Egypt has no shortage of pharmacies—90,000 are licensed nationwide. But as Rady, 42, explains, access to medicine isn’t guaranteed. “The issue isn’t the number of pharmacies—it’s the disparity in their stock levels,” she says. “Medication distribution is inconsistent, and local supply rarely aligns with demand in specific areas.” Chefaa tackles this by aggregating supply across thousands of pharmacies. “You shouldn’t have to search the streets when you have this many pharmacies,” Rady adds. “You need something that gives you the widest access, quickly, safely, and efficiently.” Aref invested her life savings – EGP 900,000 ($50,526 at the official exchange rate) – from a previous venture in drop-shipping to fund the app’s development and partnered with a software firm to build the platform. Shortly after, she joined the startup accelerator Flat6Labs, where Chefaa secured its first investor in exchange for 10% equity. At the time, Egypt’s market was saturated: “In 2018, there were 19 other medicine delivery apps,” Aref says. “Many closed down—either due to lack of funds or inadequate medical understanding. Now only three or four real competitors remain.” But she believes Egypt’s rapidly growing population can support multiple players. Building loyalty Aref and Rady saw early on that user retention would be key. So, they built out several free features to encourage repeat engagement. One of these is medication reminders, which help users develop a habit around the app. Another is “Ask Chefaa’s Pharmacist,” a 24/7 in-app chat with certified pharmacists for real-time questions—especially helpful in emergencies, where misinformation can be dangerous. Chefaa also runs a health blog with over 4.5 million monthly visitors. It
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Interswitch’s new TVC: Powering moments that matter
A Cinematic Tribute to Everyday African Life L–R: Paul Otu, Divisional Head, Design & User Experience, Interswitch; Yemisi Owonubi, Head, Masterbrand, Communications and CSR, Interswitch; Cherry Eromosele, Executive Vice President, Group Marketing and Communications, Interswitch; and Tomi Ogunlesi, Divisional Head, Brands, Communications & CSR, Interswitch, at the premiere of the new Interswitch Masterbrand TVC, held recently at the Interswitch Innovation Hub, Victoria Island, Lagos. Not all impact is loud and boisterous. Some of it happens quietly, steadily, almost invisibly but undeniably. That’s the story Interswitch chooses to tell in its new Masterbrand TVC, a cinematic tribute to everyday African life, and the role the brand plays in powering it. Premiered at an exclusive screening at the Interswitch Innovation Lab in Lagos, the new film is more than a commercial. It’s a reflection of culture and connection, a deeply human, emotionally rich expression of the brand’s connection to the people and communities it serves. A campaign that reframes Interswitch not just as a payments platform, but as an ever-present enabler of progress in markets, homes, hospitals, fuel stations, and schoolyards across the continent. A story rooted in reality, told with intention The film opens with a reflection on what money really means — not in its raw form, but in what it makes possible. As the voiceover shares: “We see money move swiftly, securely and intelligently, but by itself, money has no meaning. Until ingenuity turns it into solutions, compassion turns it into a gift, and curiosity turns it into innovation.” It’s this spirit of technology enabling human progress that drives the narrative forward. Rather than showcase features or functions, the TVC leans into the emotions of everyday life: the joy of a young lady who secured her first ever apartment; a shopping cart paid for seamlessly; a budding company hitting a major milestone, an electricity top-up just in time. It captures the rhythm of real African life, not romanticised, but respected. Told by Africans, for Africans In an era of AI-generated visuals and digital shortcuts, Interswitch made a deliberate creative decision: no artificial intelligence, no synthetic voices, no automation. The entire production was led by African creatives including directors, storytellers, and technicians who live the culture they portray. From concept to final cut, every frame was shaped by African hands and hearts, bringing real stories to life with depth, emotion, and authenticity. Because African stories deserve to be told by African voices, truly lived and felt. L–R: Paul Otu, Divisional Head Design & User Experience, Interswitch; Tomi Ogunlesi, Divisional Head, Brands, Communications and CSR; Yemisi Owonubi, Head, Masterbrand, Communications & CSR, Interswitch; Cherry Eromosele, Executive Vice President, Group Marketing and Communications, Interswitch; Cyril Nwaoha, Group Director, Growth and Development, DDB Nigeria (Casers Group); and Mike Dube, Managing Director, Acon Media, during the premiere of the new Interswitch Masterbrand TVC, held recently at the Interswitch Innovation Hub, Victoria Island, Lagos. More than transactions. It’s about traction. For over two decades, Interswitch has been more than a platform for processing payments, it has quietly enabled progress across Africa’s largest markets. The campaign captures this essence, that the real value of money isn’t in movement alone, but in momentum. In lighting homes, fuelling ambition, and unlocking opportunity. That’s the pulse of the campaign. Interswitch does not just move money, it keeps people moving. A campaign that lives beyond the screen This campaign marks a defining shift in how Interswitch shows up, not just as a fintech platform, but as a steady, unwavering partner in life’s most important moments. It’s about presence, not prominence. Consistency, not spectacle. Emotion, not excess. Dependability, not disruption. It’s a story about consistency and showing up when it counts. More than a brand message This campaign marks a defining moment in Interswitch’s brand evolution. It signals a shift, from being known as a fintech backbone to being felt as a key part of the human experience. It’s a story about dependability, dignity, and digital access, told with a perfect balance of humility and pride. While the technology remains seamless, the message is crystal clear: Interswitch isn’t just in the business of payments, it’s in the business of progress. Showing up quietly, every day, across Africa, and powering moments that matter.
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Left on read: What happens to your complaints on Bolt, inDrive, and Uber?
Oluwatobi Afolabi took an inDrive trip around Lagos in March 2025. The ride was tense. Her driver ignored directions, grumbled throughout, and dropped her off late. She gave him a two-star rating and moved on. The threats began a few hours later. The driver had seen her review, tracked her number, and shared it with other drivers, accusing her of working with government task forces. Soon, a deluge of calls and messages poured in, many of them abusive and threatening. Afolabi contacted inDrive. Their response? “Block the numbers,” and a vague confirmation that the driver’s account had been restricted. She was not informed if the company opened an investigation nor given any assurances he’d been removed from the app. There was no follow-up either, not even after she reached out to the company’s country manager on LinkedIn. For Afolabi, and a lot of users, this episode raised a concerning question: what do ride-hailing companies do with our complaints? Across Nigerian cities, ride-hailing services have become embedded in daily life, so much so that the local market is anticipated to generate revenue of $303.1 million in 2025, with an annual growth rate of 11.9%. As the industry expands, so do questions about the systems in place when rides go wrong. Users of these ride-hailing platforms like Uber, Bolt, and inDrive, go in with an assumption that if anything goes wrong, there is a system in place to provide support. The apps promise safety measures through support channels and in-app safety features, like ride tracking and emergency buttons. Yet, when something does go wrong, users often describe the resolution process as patchy, opaque, or non-existent. Ifeanyi Anah’s most recent inDrive ride in Lagos ended in chaos. The driver, upset over a fare dispute, raised his hand at her friend during an argument. When she filed a complaint through the app, she described their response as “the usual robotic: we’ll look into it.” The chat ended soon after. “If you leave the app for a few seconds they close the conversation because you have not answered on time,” she recalled. Get the best African tech newsletters in your inbox Country Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canton and Enderbury Islands Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos [Keeling] Islands Colombia Comoros Congo – Brazzaville Congo – Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Dronning Maud Land East Germany Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories French Southern and Antarctic Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Johnston Island Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau SAR China Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Metropolitan France Mexico Micronesia Midway Islands Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar [Burma] Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles Neutral Zone New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island North Korea North Vietnam Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pacific Islands Trust Territory Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Panama Canal Zone Papua New Guinea Paraguay People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria São Tomé and Príncipe Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu U.S. Minor Outlying Islands U.S. Miscellaneous Pacific Islands U.S. Virgin Islands Uganda Ukraine Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Unknown or Invalid Region Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Wake Island Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Åland Islands ?> Gender Male Female Others TC Daily Events TC Scoop <!– Next Wave –> <!– Entering Tech –> Subscribe In early 2025, in Ibadan, Esther* was verbally assaulted by an inDrive driver over the fare and ordered out of the car. She submitted a complaint within 24 hours, expecting to hear back. She never did. After completing over 700 rides in a year with Uber, Lagos-based driver Chijioke Ephraim says he was repeatedly blocked from taking trips without an explanation. He sent several complaints which were not responded to. “Even if I call [them], nothing will happen.” He had to leave the app altogether. Behind a ride-hailing complaint button Conversations with Bolt and inDrive reveal that each platform has its internal process designed to review and escalate such reports, but the process begins in the same way. Both companies state that their complaint system is built to respond quickly and thoroughly, depending on the severity of the issue. They claim the process is more intensive for high-risk complaints, which are flagged to specialised safety agents. In many cases, the reported party, usually the driver, is temporarily suspended from accepting trips. At the same time, the team investigates, including reaching out to both parties for statements, reviewing trip data, location history, and assessing prior reports. “We try to engage both parties and then resolve the issue,” Efetobore
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Wave raises $137 million in debt to expand mobile money services across Africa
Wave, one of Africa’s most valuable startups, has raised a $137 million debt round to bolster its working capital and drive expansion across existing and new markets. The funding will help scale its mobile money operations and broaden financial access for underserved communities across the continent, the company said in a statement. Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) led the funding round alongside a consortium of global development finance institutions, including British International Investment (BII), Finnfund, and Norfund. The funding comes amid continued investor confidence in Wave’s low-cost financial services model. “I’m thrilled about this funding, it means we can help even more people by delivering the best possible product at the lowest possible price,” said Drew Durbin, CEO of Wave. The startup, which operates in eight markets across West Africa, has grown rapidly since its 2018 launch. Today, it serves over 20 million monthly active users through a network of more than 150,000 agents and a team of 3,000 employees across the continent. In June, Wave received authorisation to operate in Cameroon through a partnership with Commercial Bank Cameroon (CBC). Its mobile-first approach, centred on low fees, has helped bring millions of previously unbanked individuals into the formal financial system. Wave entered a market heavily dominated by telecom companies like Orange, Free, and Expresso Telecom, which charged between 5% and 10% per transaction. Wave’s affordable business model was its key differentiator: it offers free deposits and withdrawals via its mobile application and applies a fixed transaction fee of just 1% for money transfers between individuals. Unlike competitors, it passes additional fees for bill payments from users on to businesses. Wave became Francophone Africa’s first unicorn in September 2021, reaching a valuation of $1.7 billion after closing a $200 million Series A funding round. This was the largest Series A round ever recorded for an African startup. It has since raised over $300 million in total funding. For two consecutive years, 2023 and 2024, Wave has been the only African company listed on Y Combinator’s top 50 earning startups list, a testament to the success of its business model. Wave is Africa’s only startup on Y-Combinator’s list of top earners Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
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Next Wave: Lemfi’s bet on immigrant credit shows where remittance fintechs are headed
Cet article est aussi disponible en français <!– In partnership with –> <!–TopBanner Join us for TechCabal Battlefield, Moonshot’s startup competition where you can showcase your startup idea to a global audience and an esteemed panel of judges and stand a chance to win up to 2.5 million naira in funding for your business! Click to register for TC Battlefield First published 29 June, 2025 Lemfi’s bet on immigrant credit shows where remittance fintechs are headed In this week’s Next Wave, I use Lemfi as a case study to demonstrate that offering credit is the next growth lever for remittance companies seeking to expand beyond the low margins of transaction processing. If you are an African startup, processing FX transactions is a no-brainer. It’s a straightforward way to earn in dollars, hedge against currency volatility, and offer a service with constant demand. Back in February, I wrote about how many African startups have turned to the FX market for the revenue stability that FX transactions offer. If you had to grow revenue by 66% in an inflationary market to match 2023’s dollar revenue, then processing dollar transactions is impossible to ignore. But even as it made business sense for startups to chase dollars, I argued back then that FX is not a moat. As more startups enter the remittance space, chasing the same corridors and competing on speed, reliability, and pricing, already-thin margins will shrink. Over the past six years, the margins on FX transactions have shrunk by 30%. Without depth and complementary financial services, FX revenue is little more than a stopgap, especially if you lack scale. Now, Lemfi, one of the largest African remittance companies, is taking a deep dive into FX by being the first company to offer credit to immigrants in the UK. While Lemfi is the first African fintech to offer credit to immigrants, it will not be the last. Moniepoint, Africa’s latest unicorn, is taking the same direction. Tosin Eniolorunda, Moniepoint’s CEO, said on the Upside podcast that while the company is currently focused on remittances through MonieWorld, developing a credit product for immigrants is part of its long-term product roadmap. Why are some of the largest FX players going deep by building around credit for immigrants? By only offering FX transactions to customers, you are constantly locked in a battle with other well-funded remittance companies, such as Moniepoint, Wise, and Nala. The problem is global: to build credit, you need someone to trust you with credit. But without data, no one will. It’s a classic chicken-and-egg situation, especially for migrants. Most immigrants are stuck in that loop for at least 12 months after arriving in places like the UK. Next Wave continues after this ad. It’s Upskill with Cardtonic season again. Applications for Upskill 3.0 are open Now is your chance to win one of the 20 units of 2024 M4 MacBook Pro Laptops we are giving away. If you’re a techie in software engineering, design, data science, product management, and content creation, this is for you! Find out more here! The opportunity with credit is enormous. In the UK, 5 million people are credit-invisible (many of them immigrants), meaning they have little to no credit history, which hampers their ability to access mainstream financial services. Lemfi’s recent acquisition of Pillar, a UK-based credit card company, will enable the African fintech to offer credit to immigrants abroad immediately upon their arrival in the UK, thereby helping them build a credit score. Pillar brings a license, card-issuing, and immigrant-focused risk scoring model to Lemfi. Here’s how it works: Lemfi already has data, such as transaction history. It feeds that data into Pillar’s underwriting engine to assess creditworthiness in the absence of formal credit histories. Lemfi then offers immigrants a secured credit card. Immigrants load an amount into their Lemfi wallet. That deposit is instantly converted into a credit limit on the credit card. They can now begin using credit (not debit) and build a credit history in the UK’s major credit bureaus. The acquisition marks the beginning of Lemfi’s journey to becoming the preferred neobank for the millions of immigrants it serves across its 20+ markets. Solving this problem enables Lemfi to establish a sense of loyalty among its customers. HSBC, one of the UK’s biggest banks, is also partnering with Nova Credit, a fintech company specialising in cross-border credit data, to use Nova’s data to assess the creditworthiness of immigrants. “Credit is just one of several offerings. Think of it like your GTBank app in Nigeria—you can access GTBank Quick Credit but also send money, pay bills, and manage utilities. It’s a suite of services. We’re building in that direction. Our vision is to give immigrants access to a full financial stack: not just credit, but all the tools they need to manage their financial lives globally.” – Ashutosh Bhatt, Pillar’s former CEO and Lemfi’s new head of credit, told me on a call. Next Wave continues after this ad. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) is proud to announce the 11th edition of the ICTEL Expo, set for July 29–30, 2025, at the Lagos Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island. Under the theme “Leveraging Technology for Innovation and Development in Africa,” the event aims to further position ICTEL as a premier platform for digital transformation, regional collaboration, and economic progress Register now! Credit opens up new revenue streams Before the acquisition, Lemfi generated revenue through FX spreads and transaction fees, a high-volume, low-margin model that relies on scale. While effective with multiple send-and-receive markets and millions of users, it becomes challenging to sustain profitability without reaching that scale. Post-acquisition, Lemfi will make money from interest on credit cards, which are among the highest-margin financial products, and interchange fees on every card transaction. The fintech can also generate revenue from service fees and subscriptions as it continues to expand its user base. These new revenue streams allow Lemfi to stand out from its competitors in the remittance market. Even Revolut cannot offer
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Voice tech startup Intron launches new AI models amid broader sector expansion
Intron, a Nigerian AI company that provides speech-to-text transcription tools for healthcare workers, is introducing new speech recognition and text-to-speech AI models as it expands its services beyond the health sector. The launch comes as African startups develop multiple high-demand tools across various sectors to create additional revenue streams amid tighter funding and rising investor expectations. Similar to how PaidHR expanded its product offerings last year to diversify its revenue streams, this strategy continues to gain traction across Africa’s tech sector. Intron’s move reflects a similar approach. Intron is introducing three core models: Sahara-Optimus, a speech recognition model optimised for African accents; Sahara-TTS, a text-to-speech system featuring over 80 voices across more than 40 accents; and Sahara Voice-Lock, an intelligent voice authentication tool trained to combat fraud and deepfakes. “Intron was born in the busiest hospital wards, where background noise and scarce resources made accurate speech recognition a daily battle,” said Tobi Olatunji, Intron CEO. “We built for the hardest environment first, and now our technology scales effortlessly to courts, call centres, and content creators.” The startup, formerly Intron Health, piloted its clinical speech platforms in 2022 for hospitals and other key players in Africa’s healthcare sector, including health ministries. Since then, it has expanded its capabilities to offer voice-AI products to the Ogun State Judiciary in Nigeria to alleviate the burdens of manual note-taking and provide human-like conversational voice agents for call centres in the digital finance space. Intron aims to position itself as the key voice-infrastructure layer for startups, enterprises, and government institutions by offering voice technologies tailored to local needs in Africa, where platform giants like OpenAI may not meet these unique needs. “Rather than rail against Big Tech model bias, why not build better models?” Olatunji stated. The startup raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed round in July 2024. Intron is now training a new-generation Sahara-Titan model, which the company hopes will be able to understand, transcribe, and translate twenty major African languages like Swahili, Hausa, and Zulu. Alongside it is the Sahara-Primus model, which Intron hopes will generate fluent and natural-sounding speech in these twenty languages. The question is whether more African startups will continue to adopt an industry-agnostic approach and build for broader audiences to keep revenue flowing and stay financially sustainable in an increasingly challenging funding landscape. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
Read MoreStarlink subscriptions drops 11% in Kenya as Safaricom 5G routers win over users
Starlink’s customer numbers in Kenya have dropped for the first time since its launch in June 2023, highlighting the impact of a seven-month freeze on new sign-ups and growing pressure from local rivals, such as Safaricom’s 5G routers. New data from the Communications Authority (CA) shows that Starlink’s fixed internet subscriptions fell from over 19,000 in Q4 2024 to 17,066 by the end of March 2025, a decline of more than 2,000 users, or about 11% in one quarter. The drop from seventh to the eighth largest ISP in Kenya follows a service pause that began in late 2024, when Starlink stopped accepting new users in Nairobi and nearby counties, including Kiambu, Machakos, Kajiado, and Murang’a. The company cited overcapacity, caused by too many users trying to connect in the same areas. A new ground station in Nairobi, activated in January, was meant to ease the load. Many customers had already bought the hardware but remained on waitlists for months. While availability has reopened, the pause has stalled user growth. Some customers may have also chosen to stop paying the monthly KES 6,500 ($50) fee for its 180 Mbps plan, due to connection delays, unresolved technical issues, or switching to cheaper services. Safaricom’s fixed 5G packages, for instance, now start at KES 3,000 ($23) a month, with routers retailing at a fraction of the price of a Starlink kit (KES 3000 = $23). The latest Starlink kit goes for KES 45,000 ($348). Safaricom has not disclosed the number of customers using its 5G routers, although it has promoted adoption through aggressive marketing campaigns on its social media channels and sales teams in peri-urban areas. The subscription drop comes even as Starlink remains one of the few viable options for users in peri-urban and remote areas, where fibre and mobile coverage is weak. For many of these users, Starlink offers faster speeds than legacy ISPs, but at a higher cost and without the benefit of local customer support. Retail momentum has also slowed. Supermarket chains like Carrefour have scaled back on Starlink kits, while others like Quickmart now promote Safaricom 5G routers instead. Although Starlink’s name recognition remains strong, thanks to social media buzz and endorsements from Elon Musk, regulatory hurdles could add pressure. The Kenyan government plans to raise satellite licence fees nearly tenfold and add a 0.4% turnover levy. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
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M-PESA’s market share drops for sixth straight quarter as Airtel Money gains ground
Safaricom’s M-PESA has now lost market share for six consecutive quarters, slipping from 97% in Q4 2023 to 90.8% in Q1 2025, according to new data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). The continued slide points to growing competition in Kenya’s mobile money sector, where interoperability, pricing, and agent access influence customer behaviour. Airtel Money’s share rose to 9.1% in Q1 2025, up from 8.9% the previous quarter and just 2.9% two years ago. Its growth has been supported by fee refunds, lower transaction costs, and partnerships with supermarket chains like Naivas to expand agent access. Mobile money subscriptions grew 7.3% to 45.4 million during the quarter, pushing penetration to 86.6%. That rise mirrors a broader rebound in SIM subscriptions, which grew 6.7% to 76.2 million, helped by telcos’ win-back campaigns. The total number of registered mobile money agents also increased by 5.5% to 417,000, indicating a broader distribution reach for all players, particularly challengers like Airtel. While M-PESA still dominates in agent footprint with over 299,000 outlets, Airtel Money’s focused growth is beginning to pay off. Lower costs remain a key advantage for Airtel. Sending KES 1,000 ($7.7) to other networks costs KES 11 ($0.085) on Airtel, compared to M-PESA’s KES 13 ($0.1). Withdrawing the same amount is cheaper on Airtel by KES 2 ($0.015). M-PESA’s decline began after Kenya introduced mobile money interoperability in 2022, which enabled users to transact across different networks. That shift weakened the lock-in that Safaricom had long enjoyed. Airtel has used the opportunity to attract new users with targeted incentives, including airtime cashback for bank-to-Airtel Money transfers. The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has yet to implement agent-level interoperability, which would allow users to access services at any agent, regardless of provider. If rolled out, it could further reduce the barriers for customers to switch. M-PESA still moves over 30 billion transactions annually, worth more than KES 38.29 trillion ($296 billion), and serves over 34 million users. But Airtel’s gains suggest that momentum is no longer one-sided. CBK’s new payments infrastructure, the Fast Payment System (FPS), could further level the field by enabling instant money transfers across banks and payment platforms. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
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