The Backend: Why your refunds take forever and how Recital is fixing it
For most Nigerians, the moment a bank transfer goes awry—money deducted, but no value received—the ordeal begins: emails to customer service, hours on hold, and the gnawing uncertainty of when, or if, the funds will be returned. The real culprit isn’t always the bank’s unwillingness to help, but the labyrinth of fragmented financial data they must wade through to resolve the problem. Behind the scenes, a bank employee scrambles through spreadsheets and scans through logs and dashboards from payment processors like Paystack and Flutterwave to trace your money. Recital, a Lagos-based startup, aims to streamline and automate the reconciliation process, reducing the time, cost, and errors involved in resolving failed bank transfers for businesses and customers alike. “People think digital payments are instant, but for businesses, making sense of where the money actually is can be ten times more complicated,” says Bobola Ojo-Ami, co-founder of Recital. “Every payment a business receives is just the start of a long, messy reconciliation process.” Ojo-Ami’s frustration is personal. Recently, an attempt to top up data on his Airtel router went sideways: “₦30,000 gone, no data, and three emails later, I’m still waiting,” he says. “For Airtel, finding my payment means digging through different systems, matching receipts, and hoping nothing slipped through the cracks.” The problem, he explains, is universal. Most African businesses collect payments from a dizzying array of sources—bank transfers, cards, mobile money, payment processors like Paystack and Flutterwave, each with its data format and reporting quirks. The result is a daily grind of downloading statements, wrangling spreadsheets, and manually matching transactions. “Financial systems don’t speak the same language,” said Recital’s co-founder, Cleopatra Douglas. “Teams are forced to become detectives, piecing together what should be a simple story.” Douglas, an ex-Flutterwave engineer, and Ojo-Ami, a financial strategist, are building Recital to centralise financial data across banks, payment processors, and accounting systems. They want to automate the back office so that operational headaches like reconciliation, chargebacks, and cash management become invisible to the end user. “We’re not just solving a finance problem,” Douglas says. “It’s an operations problem that cuts across finance, customer delivery, and even engineering.” 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 How does Recital work? Recital’s answer is a cloud-based platform that ingests financial data from any source, normalises it, and creates a unified view of every transaction. “We built a flow where you can bring in your payment or financial data from anywhere—banks, PSPs, accounting software—and it all becomes one object in our system,” Douglas explains. At the heart of Recital is its automated reconciliation engine. For a typical business, reconciling payments means comparing internal records with statements from multiple banks and payment providers, often across several currencies. Recital’s system automates this three-way reconciliation, instantly flagging mismatches and missing funds. “We’re able to check reconciliation against up to three sources at once,” Douglas says. “What used to take hours or days now happens in minutes, with a 93% reduction in operational time.” The platform’s AI doesn’t just match transactions; it learns from the messy, real-world data unique to African markets, parsing cryptic references and inconsistent formats that global competitors often miss. Another pain point Recital tackles is chargebacks: the forced refunds that occur when customers dispute transactions with their bank. “Responding to a chargeback is like assembling a legal case,” Douglas says. “You need to pull together evidence from chats,
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South Africa’s Telkom mobile service revenue grew by 10% driven by strong subscriber base
Telkom, South Africa’s third-largest mobile operator, reported a 10.2% increase in mobile service revenue, a major driver of its 3.3% group revenue increase for the financial year ended on March 31 2025. The telecom says this growth was fueled by strong subscriber expansion, with 13.4%, nearly three million new mobile users joining its network, bringing its total customer base to 23.2 million. The surge was driven largely by prepaid customers, who grew by 15.4%. “The mobile business continues to be the star of the consumer business,” said Telkom Group CEO Serame Taukobong. “This was driven by strong subscriber growth coinciding with maintaining ARPU (average revenue per user) at R60 (over $3), said Taukobong. The financial results show that a push to enhance mobile data services also led to a 19.5% increase in mobile data subscribers, totalling 15.2 million, as demand for affordable, high-speed connectivity surged nationwide. Telkom optimised its pricing models, attracting more users in non-metro regions, where demand for affordable connectivity is growing. Telkom’s wholesale arm, Openserve is playing a pivotal role in cross-border infrastructure integration. Through partnerships with global players like Google, Openserve is expanding terrestrial and undersea cable routes that reach deeper into Southern Africa. A new international point of presence linking South Africa to Angola and Brazil is underway, part of a larger effort to diversify and secure African connectivity pathways against disruptions. Fibre-related data revenue grew by 10%, with fibre-based services which has been growing over the years and now constituting 82% of Openserve’s total revenue. Telkom’s fibre connectivity footprint grew by 13.3%, passing nearly 1.4 million homes—a model that could be replicated in emerging urban centres across the continent through strategic partnerships. Telcom says it is investing heavily in 4G/5G infrastructure and edge data capabilities to power next-generation “Everything-as-a-Service” (XaaS) models—customisable digital solutions for African enterprises and governments. 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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Inside Itana, Nigeria’s first digital free zone
Itana, Nigeria’s—and Africa’s—first fully digital free zone, located in Alaro City within Lagos State’s Lekki Free Zone corridor, is reimagining the concept of special economic zones by shifting the focus from manufacturing to services, technology, and innovation. At its core, Itana is a response to the urgent need to modernise how Nigeria and Africa enable business growth in a global digital economy. Traditional free zones across the continent have long revolved around industrial production and export-oriented manufacturing. But, as Adetayo Oduwole, Director of Business and Compliance at Itana, explains, that model left out an increasingly dominant part of the economy: services. “We’ve left the service sector underexplored for too long,” he said in an interview with TechCabal. “With the way the world is going, powered by technology, Africa must tap into trade in services or risk falling further behind.” That realisation drove Itana’s founding vision: to create a digital-first jurisdiction where companies can remotely incorporate, scale, and serve global markets without being bound by Nigeria’s historically rigid regulatory infrastructure. Inspired by models like Delaware in the U.S. and Dubai’s Internet City, Itana functions as a special administrative enclave tailored for digital businesses. It leverages Nigeria’s existing 30-year-old free zone regulations to avoid the bureaucratic delays of reinventing legislation. The zone allows startups to register with a $2,000 incorporation fee and a yearly $1,150 renewal, including access to an official address for mailing, document processing, and collaborative activities. “We’ve streamlined everything,” Oduwole says. “From incorporation to regulation, the process is digital and global from day one. You can set up from Nairobi, London, or Yaba.” But beyond paperwork, Itana is also anchored in place. Its first district, a 72,000-square-meter mixed-use area in Alaro City, is already under construction with backing from the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), which committed $100 million to phase one. The zone offers 24/7 power from gas-fired plants, piped gas, dual fiber-optic internet, clean water, and efficient city management. Oduwole calls it a “live-work-play” environment, with startup campuses, co-living spaces, outdoor work areas, and even biking trails to foster community and productivity. Crucially, Itana isn’t just infrastructure but also policy innovation. It’s also the first free zone in Nigeria to prioritise regulatory support for the digital economy. The project partners with Future Africa, an early-stage venture capital firm founded by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, co-founder of Flutterwave, to fund and accelerate early-stage startups. The resulting ecosystem brings founders, regulators, policy advocates, and potential customers under one roof. This multi-stakeholder approach is especially important for Nigeria’s growing tech sector, which often struggles with inconsistent regulation, complex taxation, and a lack of infrastructure. With more than 60% of Africa-bound venture capital flowing to Nigeria while only a fraction of startups scale beyond local boundaries, Itana is positioning itself as a bridge between local talent and global opportunity. From brain drain to talent export One of the most forward-looking aspects of Itana is its alignment with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). By enabling Nigerian-registered service providers to deliver products across Africa without relocating their operations, Itana taps into a huge opportunity: a unified market of over a billion people. “Scaling across Africa is hard,” Oduwole says. “Different countries, different rules. We’ve built a framework that lets you offer services across the continent while remaining rooted in Nigeria.” Talent is central to this plan. Through partnerships with Nigeria’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the National Talent Export Programme (NATEP), Itana is helping to match trained Nigerian professionals with global employers. The goal: create 100,000 jobs in the next five years and establish Nigeria as a leader in cross-border service delivery, including business process outsourcing (BPO), software development, and digital design. “This isn’t about brain drain,” Oduwole said. “It’s about talent export—keeping Nigerians here while connecting them to global markets.” The platform also addresses some of the structural issues plaguing Africa’s labour markets: job fraud, poor job matching, and inadequate training. By working with multiple education and training providers, Itana is not only placing talent, but it’s helping develop it. “We’re focused on making sure that when companies come into Itana, there’s a ready pipeline of skilled, credible talent,” says Oduwole. “And we want to do that with integrity.” While it is still early days, Itana is starting to see some results. Despite broader narratives of companies exiting Nigeria, Oduwole says Itana has seen strong interest from both local and foreign firms, including African startups looking to expand, foreign investors exploring new markets, and Nigerian companies seeking easier ways to scale. “You’d be surprised how many foreign companies are coming to us asking if they can find talent, if they can scale here,” he says. “It’s a total shift in mindset.” What sets Itana apart is not just its infrastructure or regulatory model, but its ecosystem-building philosophy. Rather than replicate itself across Nigeria, Itana’s goal is to build a working prototype—an African Delaware—that others can learn from. “We don’t need Delawares all over Nigeria,” Oduwole says. “We need one good model, tested and optimised, that others can build on in their own way.” With Africa’s youth population projected to double by 2050 and global demand for digital services skyrocketing, Itana’s timing is critical. As the world races to digitise, Nigeria now has an opportunity to lead, not by copying others, but by designing something that works for its unique context. “Itana is not just a zone. It’s a signal,” Oduwole said. “That Nigeria is open for digital business, and this time, we’re not playing catch-up. We’re setting the pace.” 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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iOS 26 Unveiled at WWDC 2025: Key highlights and announcements
Table of contents Major announcements iOS 26 macOS 26 “Tahoe” iPadOS 26 watchOS 26 tvOS 26 visionOS 26 Developer tools and frameworks Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2025 (WWDC25) ran from June 9 to 13 at Apple Park in Cupertino, with CEO Tim Cook kicking off the keynote. This year, the spotlight was on software. Apple introduced significant updates to its operating systems and new tools for developers, without announcing any new hardware. The biggest reveal was Liquid Glass, a fresh design style rolling out across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Vision Pro. Apple also shifted to year-based version names; you’ll now see iOS 26, macOS 26, and so on, making it easier to know you’re on the latest version. Another key theme? Apple Intelligence, a suite of AI-powered features built right into your devices, with a strong focus on privacy. Major announcements 1. Liquid glass: A new look across devices Apple is giving its entire family of devices a makeover with Liquid Glass. The new interface features glossy icons, soft rounded corners, and translucent backgrounds that reflect your surroundings. It’s the first time Apple has rolled out a single design style across all its platforms, and the most significant visual refresh since iOS 7. 2. Year-based version names Image source: Marques Brownlee on X (formerly Twitter) Goodbye to version numbers like iOS 17 or macOS Ventura. From now on, Apple will align all its operating systems by year. The current updates are called iOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26, and they’ll remain the main versions through 2026. This makes it easier for you to know if your devices are up to date. 3. Apple intelligence: Smarter features built in Apple introduced Apple Intelligence, its new name for the AI features now woven into your devices. These include: Live translation: Translate calls and messages in real time, with all processing done right on your device to keep your conversations private. Visual intelligence: Recognise what’s on your screen and interact with it. For example, you can tap on an image and ask questions using ChatGPT. Creative tools: Play with Genmoji (custom emoji you can generate with text prompts) and Image Playground to create images inside your favourite Apple apps. Apple emphasised that these AI features run directly on your device, with no cloud required, so your data remains yours. Developers can also use a new Foundation Models API to bring these AI capabilities into their apps. 4. Developer tools & SDKs Developers got a big boost this year with the release of Xcode 26. It now includes built-in coding help powered by AI (with ChatGPT support baked in). This can help developers write, test, and document their apps faster. Apple also introduced: The Foundation Models framework to let apps tap into Apple’s on-device AI. Metal 4, a new graphics engine that pushes gaming performance on Apple Silicon Macs to new heights. An Icon Composer tool that makes it easy to create app icons that match the new Liquid Glass style. 5. No new hardware, but more innovative use of existing devices Unlike some past WWDC keynotes, this year’s event didn’t include new hardware launches. Apple’s newest Macs with M4 chips were mentioned but had already been introduced at earlier events. Instead, the focus was on making better use of existing hardware. Metal 4 unlocks console-level gaming on Macs, while VisionOS (the operating system for Vision Pro) now supports third-party VR controllers, showing Apple’s growing interest in giving you more ways to use your devices, especially in gaming and spatial experiences. Below, we dive into each platform update and announcement in detail: iOS 26: What’s new on your iPhone Apple’s iOS 26 brings a fresh new look and more innovative features to your iPhone. It’s the most significant design update in years, along with powerful built-in AI tools that help you get more done, right from your phone. Here’s what you’ll notice: 1. A new look with liquid glass Image source: Apple on YouTube iOS 26 introduces Liquid Glass, a sleek and modern design. You’ll see translucent backgrounds, glossy icons, and more depth throughout the system. The Lock Screen and Home Screen are now more dynamic; your clock can move across wallpapers, and 3D wallpapers respond when you tilt your phone. App icons and widgets can appear in a new “clear” style or show soft colours. Even Safari’s tab bar will subtly fade to keep your screen focused on what matters most. 2. Apple intelligence: Smarter features built in iOS 26 adds powerful AI features that run directly on your device, keeping your data private. Live translation: Translate text or speech in real time during phone calls, FaceTime, and messages. Everything happens on your iPhone, so your conversations stay private. Visual intelligence: Your iPhone can now understand what’s on your screen. Long-press an image or webpage to search for more info, shop for products, or even ask ChatGPT questions about what you see. iOS can also recognise dates in messages and suggest adding them to your calendar. Genmoji & image playground: You can now create fun custom emojis (called Genmoji) or generate images from text prompts using the new Image Playground. It’s built into Apple’s apps and ready to use. Smarter shortcuts: The Shortcuts app now offers intelligent actions, letting you build advanced automations or creative tasks. Your iPhone will also suggest helpful shortcut actions as you go. 3. Upgrades to phone and messages apps Phone app improvements: The Phone app now combines Favourites, Recents, and Voicemail in one easy view. Call Screening answers unknown calls for you, asks the caller to identify themselves, and shows you a transcript, so you can decide whether to answer. Hold Assist will even monitor when you’re on hold and notify you when someone picks up. Image source: Apple on YouTube Messages updates: Messages now separates texts from unknown senders in a different folder. You can set custom backgrounds for your chats and create polls in
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Silverbacks partially exits from OmniRetail with a 5x return in ninth profitable exit
Silverbacks Holdings, an African-focused private investment firm, has sold a portion of its stake in OmniRetail, a Nigerian B2B e-commerce startup, securing a 5x return on its initial investment. This comes one month after securing a 29x return from its Lemfi exit. The exit follows OmniRetail’s recent $20 million Series A raise, which saw participation from 64-year-old manufacturing titan, Flour Mills of Nigeria, alongside other backers. This partial exit marks Silverbacks’ ninth profitable exit. Founded in 2019, OmniRetail links 150,000 retailers with 5,800 distributors and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturers through its e-commerce platform. Twice dubbed Africa’s fastest-growing business, it saw revenue surge 71,818% from $280,000 in 2020 to over $120 million in 2023, processed more than ₦1.3 trillion ($810 million) in deals in 2024, and hit profitability. Why Flour Mills, Nigeria’s 64-year-old food giant, joined OmniRetail’s $20 million round “Silverbacks has been a truly resourceful early investor and a consistent contributor to the growth of OmniRetail’s network,” Deepankar Rustagi, OmniRetail’s CEO, said in a statement. “I’m excited to see them continue the journey with us as I also have the pleasure to support their sports venture.” Rustagi recently invested in Silverbacks’ portfolio company, the Cape Town Tigers, a basketball team that reached the 2024 BAL/NBA Africa semi-finals. “This 9th exit is another validation of our long-term strategy and reaffirms the exceptional calibre of entrepreneurs we support,” said Ibrahim Sagna, Executive Chairman of Silverbacks Holdings. The move reflects a broader trend of investors finding liquidity through secondary sales in Africa’s maturing startup ecosystem. Since Silverbacks began investing in Africa, its Nigerian portfolio has returned an average 10.7x multiple on invested capital (MOIC)—a measure of how many times an investment has been returned— and an 81.5% internal rate of return (IRR), the annualised return an investment has earned factoring in the exact timing of every cash-in and cash-out, in two years and eight months. In Egypt, exits have been even more lucrative, averaging a 9.7x MOIC and a 339% IRR over 1 year and 7 months. Lemfi’s $53 million Series B delivers 29x return for Silverbacks Holdings Silverbacks’ investments in Africa have outperformed those elsewhere. Africa has returned nearly four times the capital Silverbacks has invested on the continent, led by strong fintech performance with a 13.7x MOIC and a 91.9% IRR over an average 3.7-year holding period. In comparison, the firm’s non-African exits posted a more modest 1.3x MOIC. “These consistent, strong exits with attractive IRRs demonstrate that investing in Africa is not only viable but also a smart move for generating superior returns,” the firm said. Silverback’s African portfolio cuts across African fintech, media, sports, and fashion with investments in Moove, Wave, Flutterwave, Shuttlers, African Warriors Fighting Championship (AWFC), and the Cape Town Tigers Basketball Club. 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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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – It’s enough!
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning. Put a finger down if Apple’s new liquid glass feature reminds you of Windows Vista. I am not sure I like it and I hope that secret stays between us. Anyways I’ll be downloading the new iOS26 and let you know how it goes. In other news, six African startup founders asked African VCs about sector bias, creative-economy investment, post-funding missteps, missed deals, and when blended capital might tackle non-tech African problems. Check out Muktar’s article to see how these investors answered. Let’s delve into today’s dispatch! – Faith Africa to launch indigenous credit rating agency in September Nigerian telecom operators plan to start deducting airtime balances for USSD fees Tigran Gambaryan has stepped down from Binance Netflix partners with CANAL+ in 24 francophone countries World Wide Web 3 Opportunities Economy Africa to launch indigenous credit rating agency in September Africa to launch its credit rating agency/Image Source: The Africa Daily Post In September 2025, Africa will launch a credit rating agency—the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA). It’s a big move, as AfCRA is positioning itself to become the go-to credit assessor for countries and corporations across the continent. But why does this even matter? Well, have you ever thought about how investors decide whether a corporation or a country is “credit-worthy” before giving them a loan? Imagine you’re sitting on a lot of free cash and you decide to loan some of it out for interest. Naturally, before handing over that money, you’d want to do your homework. You’d check the borrower’s background, review their credit, and weigh the risk. In the corporate and sovereign world, due diligence works the same way. When a country wants to issue a bond or secure a loan from an international bank or monetary body, it gets assessed based on its debt profile, growth rate, and default history. For decades, investors have relied on the ‘Big Three’ global credit rating agencies—S&P Global, Fitch, and Moody’s. This is why we celebrate when African countries get an upgrade. It signals lower credit risk and opens the door to more financing. But there’s been growing criticism of these global rating agencies for missing local context. Many argue they lack on-the-ground insight into African economies and the effects of politics. While the AfCRA will bring the needed local context to those sovereign assessments, it could also lead to a catch-22: if it issues ratings lower than the global agencies, African governments may be unhappy; if it issues higher ratings, investors may call it biased. The real struggle is keeping the AfCRA independent and unbiased, ensuring that governments cannot interfere in the assessment process. For now, we have to wait and see what the rollout and reception looks like in the coming months. The AfCRA will issue its first sovereign rating by early 2026. Fincra – The Easiest Way to Move Money in and out of Africa. Empower your business to effortlessly collect payments and make payouts across Africa with Fincra. Their payment solutions equip fintechs, marketplaces, global merchants, & more with unmatched speed and security. Create your account in 3 minutes. 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 Banking Nigerian telecom operators plan to start deducting airtime balances for USSD fees Image Source: Zikoko Memes Telecom operators in Nigeria are tired of waiting to collect their
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Six founders ask investors questions about venture capital and investing
For many founders in emerging markets, venture capital can feel like a black box. Investor expectations are often opaque, and founders rarely get the chance to question the gatekeepers of capital. More often than not, founders are in the hot seat answering questions about their business, while investors decide whether their company is worth backing. In this week’s Ask an Investor, I switched the roles and gave six founders the opportunity to ask investment professionals questions about venture capital and investing. The founders asked questions about their investment thesis, support for founders, exit strategy, and just about anything related to investing. In this edition, founders from fintechs like Sycamore and Allawee, social media startup Storipod, legal tech startup Regfyl, e-commerce startup Selar, and lending startup Reown asked investors from Endeavor, Consonance, Catalytic, Kuramo, Launch Africa, BRB, and Alitheia Capital questions. The questions spanned startups they missed out on that went on to do well, what the future of investing on the continent looks like, why venture capitalists keep backing the same sectors in Africa, and several others. It is important to note that these answers reflect the personal opinions of the analysts and not their firms. The interviews have been edited for length and clarity. Babatunde Akin-Moses (Sycamore’s founder): Do you foresee a time when a new investment (perhaps a blend of venture capital and private equity) would emerge to address pressing African problems that are not technology-based? Chukwuemeka Agba (private equity analyst at Kuramo Capital): I think that any business that really solves pressing African problems (for example, power) should be scalable. Scalability is a significant component of sustainability. With respect to investment sentiment around the non-typical tech-based solutions, I believe we are increasingly seeing blended financing activities on the continent with participation from development finance institutions, impact investors and returns-focused venture capital and private equity players. I believe we will continue to see growth in these types of investments across the continent. I do not expect this to be a common source of funding for startups, but I definitely hope we see more of these collaborations between impact and returns in the future. James Nelson (Storipod’s founder): When many investors describe themselves as ‘sector agnostic,’ the default still seems to be fintech, mobility, and logistics. But what platforms are truly exploring or backing the creative economy in Nigeria? Jeffrey Akemu (platforms and operations at Launch Africa): Yes, even among sector-agnostic funds, true engagement with the creative industry remains limited. The creative economy in Nigeria is vibrant, with music, film, design, animation, and digital content generating not only cultural capital but significant commercial value. Still, it struggles to attract venture capital at the same scale as fintech or mobility. This is partly due to investors’ lack of familiarity with the business models that drive creative ventures, which often rely on royalties, IP monetisation, long-tail distribution, and artistic influence, which are elements that don’t always fit traditional tech VC metrics. Ikenna Enenwali (Allawee’s founder): Have you ever passed on a startup you wish you hadn’t, and what did they get right in the end? Fisayo Durojaiye (investment director at WAEV Capital): I really do not have an example of a startup I passed on only to become a runaway success eventually. All of them were successful for a time and they have all crashed afterwards. Temidayo Oniosun (serial angel investor): I wish I had a story like that. But no, I don’t think there’s any startup I’ve passed on and later regretted. There’s never been a case like that. What I’ve seen happen a lot is: I pass on a startup, and then a few months down the line, things become more obvious—why I actually passed on them. The issues I raised as red flags usually end up coming to light. So for me, it’s more like being vindicated. I don’t think I’ve ever passed on a company and then later thought, “Oh, I made a mistake.” That hasn’t happened. There was this startup. They said they had a deal with Paystack to launch Paystack’s POS business and that Paystack wanted to use them as a partner to roll it out. The founder sat in my house pitching me hard, putting pressure on me to invest. But as I investigated, I realised he had exaggerated a lot of the claims, especially the supposed agreement with Paystack. He made it sound way bigger than it was, probably as a tactic to raise money. I flagged those and told him straight up, “I’m passing on your startup, and this is why.” The next month, I saw he had taken a job at another company. So I’ve had quite a few of those experiences, where startups are either on the wrong track or pushing a narrative that doesn’t hold up, and I walk away. And then months—or a year or two—later, it plays out just like I expected. Audu Ayodeji (Reown’s founder): What triggers a follow-up conversation or a pass after the first call with a founder? Favour Eniola Ubaka (portfolio manager at Catalytic Capital): A terrible pitch deck that does not contain very important details like the numbers, team, or fundraise amount will lead to a pass on. There would be a pass on if the founder is unable to answer investors’ questions with confidence. On the other hand, there would be a follow-up conversation if the founder’s pitch is in sync with the investment thesis and all necessary details are addressed during the call or on the pitch deck. The founder’s confidence can also lead to a follow-up. There are also instances where the investor’s instinct is drawn to the founder. In cases where investments cannot be made, the investor could provide business advisory, mentorship, or introductions to relevant stakeholders that can support. Douglas Kendyson (Selar’s founder): In this current climate, what would convince you to invest in a startup with no traction? Sumayyah Adefolu (investment and operations analyst at Consonance Capital): In today’s climate, three key factors would convince
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Rams, chickens, and the price of survival
This year in Nigeria, a ram for Eid costs upwards of or close to ₦400,000—more than the national minimum wage of 4-5 months. By Christmas, chickens may become equally emblematic of scarcity. These are not festive exaggerations; they are market signals—microeconomic symptoms of a deeper macroeconomic disease. The price of survival is rising, while the machinery of value creation remains dangerously idle. Across Africa, and Nigeria in particular, we are witnessing an economic paradox: rising financial inclusion amidst declining productivity; expanded access to money, yet diminished access to value. It is tempting to diagnose this as inflation. But inflation is a fever—there is an infection beneath it. And the name of that affliction is deindustrialisation by digitisation. The consumption trap In Nigeria, over 70% of household income is spent on food, transport, and other basic needs. This is not prosperity. It is survival. The marginal propensity to consume is high not because Nigerians are consuming more, but because they can afford less. Wages stagnate, prices surge, and every naira earned is immediately spent to ward off hunger, illness, or insecurity. In such an economy, savings are rare, capital formation is shallow, and the multiplier effects of commerce are weak. What little money is generated circulates rapidly—but does not accumulate. It moves, but it does not multiply. Fintechs were supposed to change this. They promised inclusion. What they delivered was velocity. The fintech paradox: Movement without multiplication Over the past decade, more than $5 billion has been invested in African fintech startups. We were promised transformation. What we received was transaction. Mobile money, digital wallets, and agency banking have made it easier than ever to move naira, cedis, and shillings across geographies. But these tools, elegant as they may be, have become lubricants for a fundamentally extractive economy. They facilitate consumption but do not enable production. A fintech app may help a yam farmer in Kaduna receive digital payments. But that same app will also enable him to purchase imported pesticides, pay for generator fuel, and order foreign rice he can’t afford to eat. This is not financial empowerment. It is a high-speed treadmill of poverty. Money, unlike a machine or a tool, is not inherently productive. It is a medium, and not a means. Without factories, farms, or forges, fintechs are simply better pipes for an empty well. The false gods of inclusion Most African fintechs are not banks. They do not lend at scale, build infrastructure, or fund innovation in manufacturing or agriculture. Instead, they are payment gateways, identity services, and switching engines—designed more to extract transaction fees than to enable transformation. Their incentives are shaped by capital—global capital. And global capital is risk-averse. It seeks fast returns, not long-term development. Thus, most fintechs pivot toward merchant payments, diaspora remittances, or KYC compliance. These are low-risk, high-frequency activities that enrich platforms but rarely build national capacity. We were told inclusion would democratise finance. But in truth, inclusion has often meant being included in consumption and not in wealth creation. Industrialisation ≠ Imitation The answer is not to mimic 20th-century models of industrialisation. Africa cannot replicate the import substitution strategies of post-war Latin America or the export-led growth of East Asia. The global context has changed: climate constraints, demographic pressures, fragmented supply chains, and capital flight have made yesterday’s blueprints obsolete. Nor will digital optimism suffice. Digitisation without production merely creates smoother pathways for dependency. If Africa is to industrialise, it must do so on its terms. This means productive innovation rooted in local realities: modular micro-factories, agro-processing hubs, distributed logistics, and mobile-enabled cooperatives. These are not romantic visions. They are pragmatic necessities. Leapfrogging must be redefined. It does not mean skipping industrialisation. It means reinventing it and anchoring not in steel mills alone, but in smart, distributed infrastructure that amplifies the informal economy rather than bypasses it. Fintech as infrastructure — not interface There is still a future for fintech—but only if it evolves. Imagine fintech as a backbone for distributed manufacturing: underwriting toolmakers, financing cold-chain cooperatives, offering working capital to carpenters, weavers, and blacksmiths. Picture a financial OS that ties digital identity to productive capacity; that tracks inventory, not just invoices; that enables ownership, not just access. This is fintech as productive infrastructure, a scaffolding for the real economy, not just a slick interface for digital consumption. The government that isn’t there The Nigerian state, meanwhile, has mastered a new form of governance: minimalism by default, not design. It neither delivers services nor provides safety nets. It taxes without transparency, borrows without discipline, and regulates without consistency. Infrastructure decays while policies oscillate. The state has outsourced governance to the governed. And yet, Nigerians persist. There is ingenuity in the chaos. But ingenuity needs scaffolding. What could emerge, if nurtured, is a new kind of bottom-up economic federalism where informal networks, cooperatives, and municipalities operate semi-autonomously but within a framework of shared infrastructure, data, and trust. The question is whether this latent architecture will be supported or smothered by both the state and the market. Making the weird work Nigeria’s economy is weird. Informality is the norm. Trust is hyperlocal. Growth is improvisational. But weird does not mean weak. It means something different. And perhaps it is in embracing this difference and not erasing it that we may find a path to real, lasting industrialisation. Let us stop worshipping apps. Let us start investing in capacity. Let us build systems that not only digitise transactions but also dignify production. Rams are expensive. Chickens will be too. And QR codes won’t change that. But solar-powered irrigation might. Cold storage in Sokoto might. Modular tractor forges in Funtua might. If we must live in a weird system, can we at least make it productively weird? Abubakar Sadiq Amao is a technical analyst and fintech founder with expertise in economics, blockchain, and product development. He enjoys building financial tools at the intersection of retail and commerce. He is currently leading Chappi while pursuing an MBA. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal
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Kenya’s student loan agency seeks power to freeze 316,000 defaulters’ bank accounts
Kenya’s Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has proposed changes to the law that would grant it the authority to freeze bank accounts held by over 316,000 former university students who have defaulted on state-issued loans. The board is stepping up efforts to recover a $270.3 million (KES 35 billion) debt burden. On Friday, HELB Chief Executive Geoffrey Monari asked the Parliamentary Committee on Public Investments for amendments to the Higher Education Loans Board Act that would empower the agency to track and freeze the bank accounts of former students who have defaulted on their loans. Monari warned that rising defaults threaten the fund’s sustainability, particularly as enrolment in Kenyan universities grows. The proposal signals a shift in the state’s approach to student debt enforcement. HELB is now seeking measures similar to those used by tax authorities. “My request is for legislation that allows us to freeze accounts of former students doing business but not repaying their loans, similar to how the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) freezes business accounts,” Monari said. “This would encourage defaulters with steady incomes to comply. We can provide a detailed proposal outlining the laws we need to recover these funds.” Monari said that while 464,000 beneficiaries have been repaying their loans for over 10 years, HELB currently collects $510,638 (KES 66 million) monthly, pushing it to rely on the National Treasury allocations. In contrast, 316,000 former students have yet to begin repayment. “If we can get even a portion of these defaulters to start servicing their loans, it would significantly boost cash flow and enhance our capacity to support current university students,” he said. Monari told parliament members that HELB operates an inspectorate department that ensures employers deduct and remit loan repayments on behalf of their staff. Under current regulations, employers who fail to comply face a monthly penalty of $23.17 (KES 3,000) per student for every month in default. Monari said the HELB is facing enforcement challenges for graduates living abroad. However, he said the agency is working with Kenyan embassies and the State Department of Immigration to strengthen cross-border tracking of defaulters. For self-employed graduates, HELB relies on credit blacklisting to encourage compliance. Defaulters are reported to the Credit Reference Bureau, restricting their access to loans and other financial services. However, Monari conceded that the agency has limited access to beneficiaries working in the gig economy, where income is irregular and often unreported. 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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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Twiga Foods hits pause
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy Eid Holiday! If you’re Nigerian, hope you’re enjoying the long weekend—soak it in. Because any moment now, a tech bro is going to log on and ask if we really need this many public holidays. But enjoy the peace while it lasts. We’ve got one more day off on Thursday, and you already know someone on the timeline is going to make it their entire personality. Twiga Foods pauses its Nairobi operations Sierra Leone to launch solar-powered 5G network Mr Price, South African fashion retailer, now sells smartphones World Wide Web 3 Job Openings E-commerce Twiga Foods has paused its Nairobi operations for two months Image Source: Google Twiga Foods, a Kenyan e-commerce company, once promised to fix the country’s broken food supply chain by owning all of it—from farm to market. That vision helped it raise over $180 million. But on June 5, it hit pause on operations in Nairobi. Why? Officially, Twiga says the two-month break is to relocate its distribution hub from Tatu City to somewhere closer to the capital. The company is considering possible new locations Baba Dogo, Mombasa Road, and Syokimau, for its new distribution hub. Yet, behind that move is a deeper reset. The company is walking away from the heavy infrastructure it once saw as its edge. It took Twiga too long to admit its capital-heavy model wasn’t working. It tried to be a farmer, a warehouse operator, and a delivery company all at once—and bled money doing it. Now it’s trying a different approach. It has cut hundreds of jobs, bought up three local distributors, and is shifting to a leaner model that uses tech and third-party partners to do the hard work. The Nairobi pause is the latest step in that shift. Twiga hopes that centralising its operations and moving to a lighter footprint will help it lower costs, speed up deliveries, and keep retailers stocked. But none of this guarantees a turnaround. Copia Global once had a similar story—and it shut down in 2024 after running out of cash. Twiga says it’s still committed to serving small retailers and believes it can make the numbers work. The next two months could tell us if that belief holds up. Fincra – The Easiest Way to Move Money in and out of Africa. Empower your business to effortlessly collect payments and make payouts across Africa with Fincra. Their payment solutions equip fintechs, marketplaces, global merchants, & more with unmatched speed and security. Create your account in 3 minutes. 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Zoodlabs, a local telco, has teamed up with CrossBoundary Energy, an energy service provider, to power the country’s first 5G towers. The initial towers, which will be powered by solar energy, are set to be launched in Freetown and will be funded by CrossBoundary Energy. With the new 5G network Sierra Leone is well on its way to improved internet connectivity—think faster network, no network lag. The country is also set to see advancements such as smart cities, remote healthcare, and the application of Internet of Things (IoT). Why is this a big deal? By combining technology with clean energy, Sierra Leone isn’t just catching
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