👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – AXIAN takes a bite of Jumia
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning! Quick question: What’s the fastest food delivery service in your country? Our colleague Ngozi set out to answer that for Lagos—and her findings might surprise you. (It’s the fourth story in today’s lineup.) Let’s get into today’s dispatch. AXIAN Telecom acquires Jumia shares MTN launches delivery service to speed up sim access in SA Kenya to relocate health data USAID cuts What is Lagos’ fastest food delivery app? World Wide Web 3 Events Ecommerce AXIAN Telecom acquires Jumia shares Access bank Jumia got dumped, and AXIAN showed up with flowers. Rebound much? It hasn’t been a week since Jumia’s largest investor, Baillie Gifford, dumped the last of its shares , since the startup’s fortune turned for good. AXIAN Telecom has acquired an 8% minority stake in the company. According to AXIAN, the deal is about Jumia’s alignment with the telco’s core values. AXIAN sees value in JumiaPay, Jumia’s fintech arm, its logistics network, and its achievement in Africa’s digital retail space, which places it in a unique position to promote financial and economic inclusion for the communities it serves. Is AXIAN jumping on a sinking ship? Despite its pioneering status in African e-commerce, lately, Jumia has been busy clearing out its cart of back-to-back challenges. In addition to the recent pull-out of its largest investor and a 26% year-on-year decline in revenue in the first quarter of 2025, the company now competes with well-funded global players like Temu and Shein, which recently entered the African market. The company has since been cutting costs and tweaking its strategy. This recent acquisition by the pan-African telecoms provider will give Jumia a shot of confidence. Blind faith, bold conviction, or something more? When someone has a destination, they take calculated risks. AXIAN isn’t seeing a shipwreck; it’s seeing an underpriced, sturdy vessel—betting on what Jumia could be, not what it currently is. It leaves one wondering: Is AXIAN just investing? Or is this the start of something bigger, like a telco becoming a serious e-commerce player? The telco’s intent is bold, and if Jumia does make it to the other side, AXIAN will already be on board. Join Fincra for an Exclusive Side Event at Money20/20 Europe Fincra is co-hosting “Stablecoins & The Future of Payments” at Money20/20 Europe with Utila, Rail, Wirex & more. Join fintech leaders for insightful panels & networking. Limited spots – RSVP here. Telecom MTN launches delivery service to speed up sim access in SA Image Source: Zikoko Memes Apparently, MTN has more than (signal) bars. It has bikes. MTN South Africa plans to roll out grocery-style delivery bikes to deliver 5G fixed-wireless SIM cards to its users. The service promises delivery within two hours in selected areas of Johannesburg. Uber of connectivity: MTN does not want its customers standing in queues or waiting 24 to 48 hours for third-party delivery to get their SIM cards. The new delivery service, which CEO, Charles Molapisi, calls “Uber of connectivity” aims to bring 5G internet to your doorstep as quickly and conveniently as ordering lunch ICYMI: In May 2025, MTN South Africa launched MoMo Pay , a digital payment platform for informal merchants. The teleco also owns MTN Momo, an encrypted e-wallet linked to a user’s MTN mobile number, which allows users to send and receive payments, make purchases, and perform other financial operations. What is MTN up to? Today, it’s SIM cards. Tomorrow? Maybe groceries or parcels, or an entirely new e-commerce layer powered by MTN. The strategy is in pieces now, but most ecosystems start quietly, piece by piece. And these pieces are stacking: connectivity, money, and now, mobility. MTN is building something. What are you up to, MTN? Tired of declined payments? Avoid the side-eyes at the cash till with Paga’s physical prepaid card. Designed to give you control, security, and ease. Fund and spend with confidence. Get yours today!. Policy Kenya to relocate health data amidst USAID cuts Image source: UNDP USAID stepped back. Now, Kenya is stepping up to bring its critical health data home. When Donald Trump cut the funding to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), it was predicted to cause a $403.8 million deficit in Kenya’s health budget. It also exposed millions of citizens to gaps in essential health services. Following these cuts, health officials have reported losing access to crucial health data of its citizens. While Kenya relied on the support of USAID, the digital health systems, which are central to how the country tracks diseases, produces vaccines, manages patient treatment, and keeps rural clinics running, were (and still are) hosted in the United States. These platforms were developed and maintained on US-based infrastructure. Now, Kenya is moving its critical health data from these servers to local Kenyan servers. Kenya’s ambition to build stronger digital health systems and to reduce reliance on foreign servers or funding, makes sense on paper. However, the country faces budget constraints, making the path to success seem foggy and full of potholes. Zoom Out: Kenya’s dilemma is more than just a tech switch. It is a wake-up call about data sovereignty and what happens when donors pack up. Where the data lives is secondary to who owns it and who gets locked out when the rules change. How Paystack protects your business from cyber fraud Discover how Paystack uses Static Application Security Testing to identify and prevent security threats before they become issues. Learn more → Food delivery What is Lagos’ fastest food delivery app? Image source: UNDP Food delivery apps sell a simple dream: tap a few buttons, and food magically appears in minutes. But the app is just one layer. Underneath, it’s a complex, human system. Nigerian startups in this exploding sector are handling massive volumes while trying to get food from A to B in the absolute fastest time possible. In cities like Lagos, where the traffic is high, the roads are bad, and law enforcement can be
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DigiTax chases Africa’s rising demand for tax tech
Founded in 2022 by Caine Wanjau and Thuku wa Thuku, Kenyan startup, DigitTax, provides electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) software designed to meet rising tax authority demands across Africa. More governments, including Kenya, are rolling out e-invoicing mandates to tighten tax collection, and businesses need reliable tools to comply or risk penalties. DigiTax’s work is hinged on this development. The company positions itself as the plug-in for this compliance shift, working with large enterprises and smaller firms alike. Its core offer is a software that connects business invoicing systems directly to tax authorities’ platforms. DigiTax is licensed in Kenya and Zambia. Thuku told TechCabal that Nigeria is next on its roadmap, and four more African markets are lined up for 2025. Its services and features can be accessed through an Android app, a web dashboard, and a flexible API, all designed to work without hardware installations. Businesses can manage their e-invoicing from any internet-enabled device. 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The Kenyan e-invoicing landscape is evolving quickly, especially under the Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS). DigiTax integrates directly with KRA’s and Zambia Revenue Authority’s APIs, thanks to formal local engagements and regulatory authorisations. The firm has had to open regional offices and meet technical, legal, and administrative checks to operate legally in these markets. The proprietary technology stack at the heart of DigiTax allows it to run a centralised system for core services like user management, security, and data encryption, while layering country-specific tax compliance engines on top, a design that helps the company localise operations. “Our technology stack is able to leverage both the efficiency and functionality of the core platform, whilst also having country-specific tax compliance engines,” Thuku explained. DigiTax targets large enterprises, defined in Kenya as businesses with an annual turnover of over $1.2 million, as its top clients, by volume and revenue. But it also caters to micro and small enterprises, and this broad targeting is shaped by policy, where tax compliance rules often require businesses to claim deductible expenses only using formally recognised, tax-compliant invoices, pushing even small firms to adopt e-invoicing. How does DigiTax make money? The firm monetises through a mix of annual subscriptions, one-off integration fees, and transaction-based pricing. This flexibility is meant to suit different client sizes and preferences. The API hub, a key part of its offer, is used mainly by in-house developers or third-party partners working within client organisations. DigiTax white-labels its APIs and supports integration across 20 programming languages, a practical choice given the diversity of software systems businesses use across Africa. The firm declined to disclose additional details on how this monetisation is tiered for different companies. Expansion beyond Kenya is on the horizon, but DigiTax says it follows a disciplined playbook. Thuku said that the firm asks three main questions when considering a new market: Is the e-invoicing environment ready? How large is the taxpayer base? Are existing customers with pan-African operations pulling them into the market, or can DigiTax benefit from a “last mover” advantage? The company is backed by angel investors and two institutional firms, Equitable Ventures and Higa VC. In addition to capital, the investors have helped DigiTax with strategic introductions, sales guidance, and pricing strategies. Internally, DigiTax’s 25-person team covers
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Despite past opposition, Kenya revives push to give KRA access to private financial data
Kenya is considering removing a legal provision that protects personal and customer financial data from tax authorities. In the 2025 Finance Bill, the Treasury has proposed deleting Section 59A(1B) of the Tax Procedures Act, a clause introduced in December 2024 that bars the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) from compelling businesses to share trade secrets or personal data collected from their customers. “Section 59A of the Tax Procedures Act is amended by deleting subsection (1B),” the proposed deletion reads. The targeted clause states, “The Commissioner shall not require a person to integrate or share data relating to trade secrets; and private or personal data held on behalf of customers or collected in the course of business.” Its removal would allow the KRA to demand access to sensitive financial information, such as mobile money and bank transactions, thereby bypassing protections designed to prevent overreach. The plan signals a renewed effort by the state to use data access as a compliance tool, while reigniting a debate over the limits of state power and privacy rights. A similar proposal appeared in the Finance Bill 2024, where the Treasury sought to amend the Data Protection Act, 2019, to give KRA unfettered access to information held by data controllers and processors, including banks, telecom firms, utilities, schools, land registries and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), without a court warrant. The amendment was aimed at improving tax enforcement and raising an additional KES 302 billion ($2.3 billion). However, the National Assembly Finance Committee rejected the proposal. The committee referred to Section 51 of the Data Protection Act, which outlines specific conditions for exemptions, noting that Section 60 of the Tax Procedures Act already grants KRA the power to access data with a warrant. Civil society groups, including the Law Society of Kenya and Amnesty International Kenya, called the proposal unconstitutional. It was ultimately dropped after nationwide protests, part of a wave of youth-led demonstrations that escalated into violence. The Kenyan government, under Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, is attempting to regain access to sensitive information. This time, instead of amending the Data Protection Act, it seeks to quietly remove the privacy clause from the Tax Procedures Act. This would enable the same outcome through a narrower legislative route. The government says the 2025 Finance Bill is focused on closing tax loopholes and expanding the tax base through administrative reforms. However, removing Section 59A(1B) would alter how KRA can access financial systems. 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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Moniepoint gets approval to acquire 78% stake in Kenya’s Sumac after KopoKopo setback
The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has cleared Nigerian fintech Moniepoint to acquire a 78% stake in Sumac Microfinance Bank, paving the way for its entry into the country’s tightly regulated banking sector. The deal comes barely five months after Moniepoint’s earlier attempt to buy payments firm KopoKopo fell through. The deal, which is still subject to approval by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), would give Moniepoint a foothold in Kenya’s lucrative mobile payments market, estimated to be $67.3 billion (KES 8.7 trillion). It also points to a trend where more fintechs are buying their way in by acquiring licensed local players, a shortcut around the long and uncertain process of securing regulatory approval. “As per the parties’ submissions, this transaction will not result in negative public interest issues. Specifically, there will be no employment loss, and all the current employees will be retained under current terms,” CAK said in a statement on Monday. “Premised on the above, the authority approved the proposed acquisition of 78% shareholding of Sumac Microfinance Bank Limited by Moniepoint Inc. unconditionally.” Founded in 2002 as a small investment group, Sumac has evolved into a licensed microfinance bank offering services ranging from SME loans and deposits to money transfers and forex trading. With $8.1 million (KES 1.05 billion) in assets and 43,800 active loan accounts, Sumac is classified by the CBK as a medium-sized microfinance bank, holding an estimated 2.8% share of the microfinance market. It opened to the public in 2004 under the name Sumac Credit, targeting business owners shut out by traditional banks. A decade later, it secured a microfinance banking licence from the Central Bank of Kenya. Moniepoint, founded by Tosin Eniolorunda and Felix Ike in 2015, is registered in the U.S. and primarily based in Nigeria. It also has a presence in the U.K. and has no base in Kenya. In August 2024, the Competition Authority of Kenya approved Moniepoint’s planned acquisition of KopoKopo, a local fintech that provides credit to small businesses. However, the deal collapsed shortly after, with neither party disclosing the reasons. 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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What is Lagos’ fastest food delivery app? I tested Chowdeck, Glovo, and FoodCourt to find out
Lagos’s food delivery market is increasingly competitive, but Glovo, a Delivery Hero-owned delivery platform, Y Combinator-backed Chowdeck, HeyFood, and FoodCourt are leading the race. When deciding which apps to buy food from, users often consider restaurant variety, fees (delivery, service, and surge), and, critically, delivery speed. But if you are like me, and you order only when you are on the verge of dying from hunger, the choice of which food delivery app becomes a matter of speed. I tested all three top platforms, Glovo, Chowdeck, and FoodCourt, ordering the same meals from the same restaurants at the same time to determine which delivers fastest. Here’s what I found. Morning Test: Chowdeck vs. Glovo It had just stopped raining. I knew the weather could slow down delivery, especially for riders on bicycles, which have become increasingly popular, so I waited until the skies cleared. At 10:43 a.m., I placed the first round of test orders on both Chowdeck and Glovo. The restaurant was Amoke Oge, the restaurant that recently crossed a billion naira in sales on Chowdeck. I ordered a classic: amala, ewedu, gbegiri, and beef. I ordered the same thing on both Chowdeck and Glovo at the same time. Glovo beat Chowdeck. The Glovo rider showed up at 11:03 a.m. on a bicycle, making the total delivery time approximately 20 minutes. I spent two minutes paying the driver, as it was cash on delivery. I was already digging into that glorious plate of amala when my Chowdeck order arrived a full eight minutes later, at 11:11 a.m. Chowdeck’s total delivery time was 28 minutes. The kicker: he was on a motorcycle, yet somehow got smoked by the Glovo rider who arrived pedalling. So much for horsepower. There are a few plausible reasons for Chowdeck’s delay. Assuming nothing went wrong during transit, the lag might have stemmed from the handoff process—that critical window determining how long it takes to get food from the kitchen into a rider’s hands. Here’s what’s likely happening behind the scenes when I tapped “order.” According to the app, Chowdeck’s rider arrived at the restaurant at 11:01 a.m. However, having staked out that restaurant many times to observe rider operations, it’s more probable that the rider was already there, essentially on standby. Food delivery apps, likely in a bid to cut Maps API costs, have often removed live rider tracking, so customers no longer get a real-time view of their rider’s location. If you could still see it, you’d probably notice something interesting: the rider is often already outside the restaurant the moment they’re assigned your order. Swing by popular spots like Amoke Oge or Chicken Republic, and you’ll frequently see clusters of these riders, eyes glued to their phones, constantly refreshing, all vying to snag the next incoming order. So, that “rider at the vendor” status update? It’s often a buffer, buying the kitchen precious minutes to catch up. Image source: Ngozi Chukwu And at a place like Amoke Oge, there’s a lot of catching up to do. The restaurant juggles such a high volume of orders that it had to spin up a dedicated dark kitchen next door, purely for online deliveries. Inside this operation, both Chowdeck and Glovo have their own personnel collecting order slips, packing meals, and then handing them off. It’s a human relay: one person grabs the slip, another assembles the meal, a third verifies it, and finally, it’s passed to the waiting rider. But even the most efficient human assembly line has its limits; at peak times, serving and packing can become a significant bottleneck. I placed my order mid-morning, a time that is typically off-peak for the restaurant; the delays may compound during peak periods. Another factor that can elongate delivery times is order batching. During these handoffs, orders often get bundled, meaning a single rider might be tasked with delivering multiple meals (frequently two) destined for the same general area. My Chowdeck rider, upon his eventual arrival, confirmed exactly this: he had another Amoke Oge order to drop off nearby after mine. On the other hand, the Glovo rider came in with just one order. This may be because, at the time, there was no surge in demand from that restaurant on the app. However, the company’s website indicates that sometimes, drivers may bundle orders. Verdict: Glovo is faster during the off-peak period. For Chowdeck, speed might improve if ordering from a less popular restaurant. Evening Test: Chowdeck vs. Glovo vs. FoodCourt At 6:48 p.m., I tested again. This time, it was close to peak period, when people are heading home from work, thinking about what to eat. I added FoodCourt to the mix. FoodCourt is a popular food delivery service that sometimes operates its own dark kitchens. It has its own delivery app and in-house delivery riders. It is also listed on other food delivery apps like Glovo and Chowdeck. I ordered Owambe Jollof across all three platforms within a minute. Glovo came first, again. The vendor received the order at 6:48 p.m. According to the payment slip, the rider picked it up by 7:21 p.m. (33 minutes after the order was placed). Again on a bicycle, the food arrived at 7:28 p.m., making the transit time from pickup just 7 minutes. (Total delivery time: 40 minutes). FoodCourt came second, arriving at 7:38 p.m. (Total delivery time: 50 minutes). According to their app, the order was picked up by 6:54 p.m., just six minutes after I placed it, and notably 27 minutes before Glovo’s rider picked up their order. So, it probably should have arrived earlier. The dark kitchen is a 9-minute motorcycle ride from my home. The FoodCourt driver, who tapped ‘start ride’ and ‘end ride’ on his app right in front of me, admitted that he’d been handed the order much earlier but delayed starting the trip to me because it was his last one for the day. So, if you are wondering why your order is taking too long, sometimes the driver
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Kenya plans to relocate health data from the US after Trump’s USAID cuts
Kenya is preparing to move critical health data currently hosted in the United States following President Donald Trump’s cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funding. The Ministry of Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale announced the planned shift during remarks at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 25. The shift would see a range of digital health systems, currently hosted on US-based infrastructure, moved to local servers. These platforms include Kenya Health Information System (KHIS2), Kenya Master Health Facility List (KMFL), Afya KE, KenyaEMR, Chanjo KE, Damu KE, and Kemsa I-LMIS, all developed and maintained with USAID support. They are central to how Kenya tracks diseases, manages patient treatment, produces vaccines, and keeps rural health clinics running. Kenya’s primary healthcare system would struggle to function without these platforms. Years of underfunding and systemic corruption have left the country heavily reliant on donor support, particularly from USAID. Cuts to aid under President Trump have exposed millions of Kenyans to gaps in essential health services, from HIV treatment to routine vaccinations. “The recent challenges have underscored the vulnerabilities in our health data infrastructure,” Duale said. “It’s imperative that we invest in secure, locally managed data systems to ensure continuity and resilience in our healthcare delivery.” Since March, Kenya’s health officials have reported losing access to data following USAID funding cuts and a subsequent shutdown ordered by the Trump administration. USAID had committed $2.5 billion to Kenya in its 2020–2025 strategic plan, averaging $471 million in funding each year. An estimated 80% of this budget was earmarked for healthcare initiatives, covering areas such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, maternal and child health, and vaccination programs. In May, the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) also reported that Kenya could not access data from the Kenya Health Information System, a crucial tool for disease surveillance and health planning. Kenyan health officials have also warned that USAID cuts have exposed gaps in maintenance and technology, raising concerns about the country’s capacity to monitor public health and respond to outbreaks effectively. “With donor funds curtailed, these platforms now suffer from maintenance gaps and technology shortages, severely hindering Kenya’s ability to monitor public health trends and respond promptly to emerging crises,” the Ministry said in April. With Kenya facing budget constraints, it remains unclear how quickly local systems will be rolled out to handle the transition. In February, the Ministry said USAID funding cuts would cause $ 403.8 million (KES 52 billion) in the country’s health budget. 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 – Access Bank completes NBK acquisition
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy new month! We know yesterday felt like we had entered the second half of the year, but we hate to break it to you, but June 1 isn’t the halfway mark of the year—July 1 is. So no, this isn’t your cue to hit snooze on your goals or push everything to “Q3 You.” The clock’s still ticking. Access completes NBK acquisition Kenya’s Equity Group fires 1,200 staff Nigeria to export 1 million talents with export scheme relaunch World Wide Web 3 Events Banking Access completes NBK acquisition Access bank Access Bank has sealed its acquisition of the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) from KCB Group. The acquisition—first announced in March 2024—marks a significant step in the Nigerian lender’s aggressive East Africa expansion. With all regulatory green lights now secured, NBK becomes a fully owned subsidiary of Access Bank Plc. The transaction gives Access Bank a substantial footprint in Kenya. Access Bank will gain access to NBK’s 77 bank branches across its 28 counties, elevating Access Bank Kenya to a tier-two bank status. The acquisition also increases Access Bank’s market share from 0.2% to 1.9%. Access entered Kenya in 2020 by acquiring Transnational Bank (now Access Bank Kenya), but until now, its presence remained modest. The NBK deal changes that. While the purchase price wasn’t publicly disclosed, NBK was valued at 1.25x its book value—roughly pegging the deal around $102 million. Why it matters: The acquisition isn’t just about scale for Access Bank. NBK has deep ties with Kenya’s public sector and strong brand equity. That means Access gets not only infrastructure and licenses but also instant credibility. As the East African region becomes more interconnected, Access Bank sees Kenya as a launchpad into regional trade and finance flows. CEO Roosevelt Ogbonna called the move a “springboard” into East Africa, aligning with the bank’s wider pan-African ambitions. Beyond Kenya, Access has recently expanded into Angola and Guinea, with sights set on Morocco, Namibia, and Ethiopia. Join Fincra for an Exclusive Side Event at Money20/20 Europe Fincra is co-hosting “Stablecoins & The Future of Payments” at Money20/20 Europe with Utila, Rail, Wirex & more. Join fintech leaders for insightful panels & networking. Limited spots – RSVP here. Banking Kenya’s Equity Group fires 1,200 staff Image Source: Zikoko Memes Equity Group’s CEO, James Mwangi, isn’t playing nice anymore. Sip on this real quick : Kenya’s second-biggest bank by assets has fired over 1,200 employees in a brutal crackdown on fraud. What began on May 20 with 200 sackings has snowballed into a full-on purge. What triggered this purge? Turns out $15.4 million has quietly disappeared over the past two years—some of it sneaking into offshore accounts, including a high-profile case in Abu Dhabi last year. After months-long soul searching, the bank found internal rot across multiple departments. Since then, the bank has placed heavy scrutiny on employee transactions, including personal M-PESA activities and bank accounts. Even blinking in the direction of known suspected fraudsters will get them fired. This is a big deal: It is very rare for financial institutions to take such a public and far-reaching approach to addressing internal fraud. Plus, this layoff marks one of the largest anti-fraud moves by a Kenyan bank in recent years. In July, 2024, First Bank of Nigeria fired at least 120 employees over a ₦40 billion fraud scandal. The future holds more possible layoffs: Out of Equity Group’s 14,000 staff—as CEO, Mwangi, has confirmed that investigations would spread to the banks’ other markets in Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda and DR Congo. Zoom out: Equity’s move echoes a loud message to staff, customers, regulators, and other banks: this is a zero-tolerance zone. If the CEO’s tone is anything to go by, grab your popcorn, the show is not over. Paga is on the Financial Times List Three Times in a Row! Milestone achieved: 3x in a row! Celebrating 16 years of growth with our third consecutive appearance on the Financial Times’ Africa’s Fastest-Growing Companies list. Read more. Policy Nigeria to export 1 million talents with export scheme relaunch Image source: UNDP In addition to its exports in mineral fields, cocoa beans, and Afrobeats, Nigeria wants to start exporting something new: people. (Well, technically, their talent, but how else would I have baited you?) Brain drain or brain gain? : The National Talent Export Programme (NATEP) has been relaunched by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment, and it is taking one of the country’s most valuable resources, human capital, global. This initiative, launched 18 months ago at a UN event, intends to tap into the $854 billion global outsourcing industry by positioning Nigeria as a leading exporter of skills in technology, creative industries, healthcare, business process outsourcing (BPO), professional services, and remote work. The initiative is backed by private sector partners like Itana, Alaro City, and Sterling Bank. Why? Apparently, the world is hiring, and Nigeria is fluent in the language of opportunity with about 55% of the population being youths, a strategic time zone (similar to Europe), and growing digital skills in the country. What’s in it for Nigeria? We can say it’s definitely good news for citizens who want to japa. In addition, this project will make Nigeria a key part of the modern global economy, where skills are just as important as physical products. It is an ambitious plan that aims to attract over $1 billion in foreign investments, 1 million export-linked jobs, and make services contribute to the GDP. Zoomout: It sounds like a win until the questions start rolling in: Nigerians have heard big, shiny plans before. Will this one actually deliver? The country is already losing talent to other countries: can they really afford to export the talent they’re still struggling to keep? And maybe the biggest question of all: who gets to control the narrative, the talent walking out, or the country learning how to cash in before they do? How Paystack protects
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Next Wave: The real cost of chasing higher returns in private debt
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 01 June, 2025 The real cost of chasing higher returns in private debt Image | Alter Finance Across Africa’s startup landscape, attention usually goes to big-ticket equity raises, flashy valuations and headline-making VC or private equity (VCPE) backing. But underneath, a quiet and telling shift is underway. Startups and growth-stage companies are increasingly relying on debt financing, sometimes in conjunction with equity, and sometimes as the primary strategy. In 2024, African startups collectively raised $3.2 billion in equity and debt, according to Partech data. Equity funding held steady at $2.2 billion, but debt financing dipped 17% to $1 billion. Debt introduces a fundamentally different set of dynamics compared to equity. With equity, investors are buying into the company’s long-term upside, taking ownership, and often influencing governance. With debt, the focus is on cash flows, repayment ability, and downside protection. For startups, debt offers a way to grow without dilution. For investors, it offers a chance to earn predictable returns, often with structured protections, in a market where public fixed income can be thin or unattractive. The private debt market has garnered some attention as institutional investors seek yield in an environment where traditional fixed income no longer meets their needs. At the centre of this market are two distinct deal types: private-debt funds investing in companies backed by VCPE firms, or investing in companies without any VCPE involvement. Next Wave continues after this ad. 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An investment banker at Citibank told me this week that the core issue revolves around risk, where companies without VCPE backing leave private-debt funds to handle everything themselves and intervene if things go wrong. When a VCPE firm invests in a company, it effectively acts as an extra layer of filtering to push stronger deals into the market and steps in when performance wobbles. So, without that sponsor, the private-debt fund carries the full weight of risk management, which naturally drives them to demand higher returns. This explains why non-VCPE-backed deals often post stronger headline returns, but that doesn’t mean they’re the better or safer choice. Next Wave continues after this ad. Nigeria’s digital payment space is evolving fast. Are you keeping up? Our latest report highlights key shifts, challenges, and opportunities across the country’s payments ecosystem. Donwload the report now. It’s also worth thinking about the potential conflicts of interest that exist when VCPE firms are involved. While they can improve deal quality, they also have their agendas. Sometimes, VCPE sponsors are incentivised to push for more debt financing in larger or riskier transactions to increase their potential upside, leaving private-debt funds exposed to risks they might not have taken on independently. This raises fundamental questions about whether VCPE backing consistently improves the risk-return profile for debt investors or whether it sometimes distorts incentives. Deal structure reveals another critical divide. African companies without VCPE sponsors often carry higher leverage because they rely entirely on debt funding. While VCPE-backed companies like to blend equity and debt injections. That difference in the capital structure matters because higher debt ratios amplify both the risk of default and the returns debt investors require as compensation. Private-debt funds understand this trade-off well, which is why non-sponsored deals often come with stricter covenants, steeper interest rates, and tighter controls to manage the extra risk. If we look closely at how returns are generated, the contrasts deepen. Private-debt investors, especially those lending to established Kenyan or Nigerian companies not backed by venture capital, strongly prefer immediate cash interest payments. They dislike “payment-in-kind” (PIK) interest, which defers interest payments, because it ties their returns directly to the company’s future success and market fluctuations. For example, a Nairobi textile firm or a Lagos snack company seeking a loan would find investors favouring consistent cash interest over promises of larger, delayed payouts. By contrast, VCPE-backed deals are more likely to include PIK because investors feel more confident that the sponsor’s involvement reduces downside risks. Per a former investment advisor at Enza Capital, who spoke to me while researching this piece, this difference in structuring reflects how investors think about risk across these two deal types. Without that sponsor stepping in to guide and monitor performance, private-debt funds often secure additional rights, such as equity stakes, warrants, or even board seats, to protect their interests and gain more control. These mechanisms don’t just sit on the sidelines; they are central to aligning the interests of lenders and borrowers, and give debt funds a share in any upside. In VCPE-backed deals, the sponsor typically takes the lead, reducing the need for lenders to incorporate equity-like protections. One of the most debated points is whether the higher returns seen in non-VCPE-backed deals hold up once you factor in the cost of risk management. After all, all those extra controls, governance tools, and due diligence steps come at a price. If you adjust for those, do these deals still deliver superior risk-adjusted returns, or do
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