Kenya’s BuuPass secures undisclosed fresh investment from Yango Ventures
BuuPass, a Kenyan-based startup that digitises intercity travel bookings, has secured a fresh investment from Yango Ventures, a corporate venture fund of Yango Group. While the deal size remains undisclosed, the capital will support BuuPass’s efforts to scale its infrastructure and deepen its footprint across African markets. The deal comes one year after BuuPass acquired Quickbus, its Nigeria and South Africa-based competitor, in 2024. That acquisition gave BuuPass access to key markets and partnerships across critical travel routes, further accelerating its pan-African reach. BuuPass will use this fresh funding to strengthen its infrastructure backbone and accelerate platform growth across Africa’s travel corridors. “We’re building the infrastructure that makes modern travel work across Africa. Every new route, every operator, every integration strengthens the network,” said Sonia Kabra, co-CEO at BuuPass. “Yango Ventures got that from day one. They’re the kind of partner who leans in with insight, not just capital, and that makes all the difference when you’re building something this ambitious.” The startup has raised $2.94 million over four rounds in total funding. Its last fundraising in 2023 was a $1.3 million pre-seed round with participation from investors like Founders Factory Africa, FrontEnd Ventures, Adaverse, and several angel investors. Launched in 2016, BuuPass allows people to book intercity travel tickets for buses, trains, and flights through its proprietary software and APIs. The platform offers seamless inventory management, bookings, payments, and reporting across both online and offline environments. BuuPass currently operates in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa with over 150 transport operators across bus, train, and flight verticals. In 2024 alone, BuuPass sold over 20 million tickets and processed over $70 million in transactions, an indication that the company is building something sticky. Yango Ventures’ interest signals confidence in BuuPass’ vision to become the API layer for and strengthen the network of intercity travel across the continent. Buupass competes with UgaBus, and Bus54 on the continent, but says its edge lies in its multi-vertical coverage and deep infrastructure. BuuPass aims to be the go-to infrastructure for intercity travel in Africa. 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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Visa’s billion-dollar bet positions Francophone Africa as Africa’s next fintech frontier
In the hierarchy of Africa’s fintech narrative, Francophone countries are often second placed. The Anglophone giants—Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa—have long dominated headlines and venture capital flows. But to Loïc Aplogan, Business Development Leader for VISA, that storyline is getting old. “Contrary to some assumptions, the region is not lagging,” Aplogan told TechCabal on the sidelines of the recent Cyber Africa Forum in Benin. “It’s just a matter of scale.” Nigeria may boast sheer numbers, but cities like Dakar, Cotonou, and Abidjan are quietly cultivating a new fintech DNA, one that’s mobile-native, youth-driven, and increasingly global in ambition. As Visa moves to deploy $1 billion across Africa, Aplogan is leading the charge in 17 Francophone countries from West to Central Africa. His mandate: embed Visa deeper into the informal economy, build trust with mobile-first users, and co-create the next generation of payment products with local fintechs. Francophone Africa, particularly Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Benin, has witnessed a surge in mobile wallet adoption, digital payment experimentation, and startup formation over the last five years. But unlike in Anglophone markets where high-profile funding rounds dominate the news cycle, Francophone innovation is happening with less noise. “Mobile penetration is high. The youth are digital-first. USSD is giving way to app-based ecosystems,” Aplogan says. “We’re building for that transition.” The region’s fintech landscape is shifting from infrastructure buildout to product refinement. Aplogan claims the new goal involves designing tools for people who live paycheck to paycheck, who operate in informal markets, and who need more than just a digital wallet. Visa is placing early bets. One example is its recently announced partnership with JUMU in Côte d’Ivoire, a startup focused on financial inclusion. “We’re not just writing checks,” Aplogan says. “We’re co-developing, iterating, and scaling what works.” Following the user Ask Aplogan how Visa makes investment decisions in the region, and the answer is refreshingly straightforward: follow the user. “Consumers here are mobile, informal, and value-conscious,” he says. For many, digital payments are not a luxury, they’re the only viable option. In markets where card infrastructure remains limited, mobile phones have leapfrogged traditional banking rails. As more consumers switch from USSD codes to smartphones, Visa is pivoting to support app-based ecosystems that offer not just payments but access to insurance, credit, and savings tools. “We want to meet users where they are going,” Aplogan says, “not where they were five years ago.” It’s a strategy rooted in long-term demographic shifts. Nearly 60% of West Africa’s population is under 25. This is a generation that expects seamless user experiences and is increasingly building them, too. For Aplogan, the most exciting trend isn’t local, it’s transnational. Francophone Africa, long perceived as inward-looking, is now hosting a melting pot of global fintech experimentation. “Kenyan, Nigerian, and even U.S.-based fintechs like Wave are launching here. But we’re also seeing homegrown players tackling deeply local problems,” he notes. The friction that once existed between Anglophone and Francophone business models is fading. What’s emerging is a more open innovation corridor, one where ideas move freely across linguistic borders, from Abidjan to Lagos to Nairobi. And Visa is positioning itself as the bridge. “We want to be the platform that enables this cross-pollination,” Aplogan says. What Visa wants from startups While capital is part of the equation, Aplogan emphasises that Visa offers much more to startups than money. “We bring regulatory engagement, global infrastructure, and decades of experience in compliance and scale,” he says. What Visa wants in return are partners with real traction, a clear value proposition, and sensitivity to regional nuances. That includes a deep understanding of informal commerce, mobile-first design principles, and cross-border frictions. “Innovation should solve real problems,” he adds. “Not just copy what worked elsewhere.” Personal mission, regional vision For Aplogan, who’s spent years at the center of Africa’s digital transformation, the mission is deeply personal. “What motivates me is enabling movement, of money, of services, of opportunity,” he says. He frames payments not as a convenience, but as a precondition for economic development. “If people can’t get paid or transact, everything else stalls,” he adds. “Payments are the foundation.” This conviction is especially relevant in Francophone Africa, where the pace of change is often misunderstood. “People still underestimate how quickly Francophone Africa is evolving,” he says. “They think we’re behind. I disagree. We’re not following anyone, we’re building our own path.” For him, that path could redefine the next decade of African fintech. Not as a derivative of Anglophone models, but as a distinct, deeply relevant, and globally competitive ecosystem. 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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SASSA recipients with undisclosed sources of income: What you need to know
In June, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) found that about 210,000 beneficiaries failed to disclose other sources of income. By law, all grant recipients must inform SASSA if their financial situation changes or if they start earning extra money. Violating this rule breaks the Social Assistance Act and could lead to their grants being stopped or even taken away permanently. “Beneficiaries are obligated to inform SASSA of any changes to their financial circumstances after their application has been approved,” SASSA spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said. “Failure to comply with these requirements constitutes a violation of the act and may result in corrective action.” What must affected SASSA beneficiaries do immediately? Beneficiaries have 30 days from the date of notification to visit the local SASSA office for a mandatory grant review. They need to bring all relevant documents, including ID, proof of residence, bank statements, and any evidence of their current financial situation. Disclose any new sources of income, undeclared bank accounts, or changes in financial status. If beneficiaries still use the green bar-coded ID book, they need to switch to a smart ID card to reduce the risk of fraud. If beneficiaries do not report within the 30-day window, their grant may be suspended. Continued non-compliance can lead to grants being permanently cancelled. If a beneficiary grant is suspended, one can request a review or reconsideration by submitting the required documents to SASSA within 90 days of receiving the suspension notice. If reconsideration fails, a beneficiary can formally appeal to the Independent Tribunal for Social Assistance Appeals (ITSAA). Beneficiaries need to submit appeals online at the SASSA appeals portal (srd.sassa.gov.za/appeals) or at the local SASSA office. Attach all supporting documents (ID, proof of income, bank statements, and any relevant evidence). Beneficiaries need to track their appeal status online or by calling SASSA. The tribunal will review all cases and issue a final decision within 60 to 90 days. “SASSA reiterates its zero-tolerance stance on fraud, and should there be evidence of any officials colluding with beneficiaries to defraud the system, immediate disciplinary and legal action will be taken to safeguard the integrity of the Agency and prevent financial losses,” said Letsatsi. Staying safe from scams Scams targeting vulnerable beneficiaries are on the rise, especially those who haven’t received their income or are struggling with digital access. Fraudsters often pose as helpers, offering to resolve digital issues but instead trying to steal personal information. To stay safe, beneficiaries must avoid sharing their SASSA cards or PINs, ignore suspicious SMSes or links, and always use official SASSA channels. Older individuals are encouraged to visit SASSA offices directly for assistance. 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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South Africans don’t expect free banking; just honest banking fees
Bank fees in South Africa are a sore spot for millions of customers. While users do not expect banking to be free, most simply want clear, understandable charges that are tied to specific actions—not a maze of confusing, unexplained fees. Hilda Ndebele, a digital nomad, sounded frustrated on the phone, as she looked through her bank statement. “On a monthly basis, I spend over R300 for bank charges, even with a lot of digital banking I find the charges still very high,” she says. Every month, like Ndebele, millions of South Africans receive statements that contain banking charges that appear random, repetitive, and poorly explained. Bank fees have been a contentious issue in South Africa for a long time. Customers have complained that charges for everyday services—like buying electricity, debit orders, and ATM withdrawals—are harder to understand. “My bank statements are confusing. I get the electronic banking fee, and I assume the service fee is for account maintenance. But then there is a ‘transaction service fee’ that comes after the service fee, and I do not understand what that covers. There is also something called ‘other charges,’ which are usually the highest—around R200 or more each month. Why can’t these fees be explained clearly?” Ndebele asks. Miriam Ngwenya, a general worker who banks with Standard Bank, sharing the same sentiments as Ndebele noted that; “I wish these fees are explained well, so that I can reduce them as much as possible. In this economy, every cent counts.” To find out more about what customers say about their bank fees in South Africa, I ran a snap survey of 50 users across the country’s nine major banks. Most respondents mostly use personal accounts, primarily those offering cheque or current account services. Most respondents (48%) said they sometimes review their monthly charges but do not really understand them. Another 30% said they regularly review their statements and understand most of the fees, while 21% admitted they do not review their statements at all. Across major South African banks, fees are technically disclosed. But they are often buried deep within websites, hidden in downloadable PDFs, or obscured by vague language in monthly statements. Customers must actively hunt for fee schedules—and many do not even know where to begin. “If remittance apps can show me exactly what I will be charged to send money abroad in real time,” says Katlego Modise, a freelance communications specialist, “why can’t my bank do the same for local transactions?” Users feel that charges are not contextual, not real-time, and not always tied to a specific action. And even when they are explained, they are described in banking jargon that is difficult for non-experts to parse. “I deal with people and businesses who do cross-border transactions via banks,” says Mordi Goldstein, the founder of Zaro, a cross border payments platform, “it is rare to find anyone who knows how much the bank is charging. Banks do not make it clear and customers do not understand how these transactions work.” Among survey participants, confusion clustered around the same areas of fees like deposit charges, ATM withdrawals, or debit order failures that often hide behind vague descriptions like service fee, admin charge, or “Magtape unpaid” (unpaid debit order), leaving users guessing at what exactly they are paying for. Other issues include several small charges that add up to significant amounts without customers noticing. Several respondents described these charges as a “necessary evil” or a “grudge purchase.” They know they are being charged, but assume there is no alternative and little use in questioning it. Timothy Treagus, the founder of a cost-analysis startup, Yazi, referencing a similar issue of bank fees, noted that “It’s easy to get fixated on the monthly account fee, but that figure rarely tells the full story of what retail banking in South Africa actually costs. The real monthly cost is shaped by a maze of transaction fees which can be surprisingly difficult to track down and understand.” 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
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Kenya’s cybersecurity ‘talent gap’ is a hiring problem
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 O6 July, 2025 Kenya’s cybersecurity ‘talent gap’ is a hiring problem Image: Pixbay This week, my colleague Adonijah published a piece about how Kenya’s digital economy is expanding rapidly and how that growth has come with its own set of problems. Banks, telecom companies, and insurers are expanding their mobile-first services. Government services are also going online, and with that comes a sharper need for cybersecurity. The risks are growing, and so is the demand for talent that isn’t just there, or so we have been made to believe. Kenya’s cybersecurity workforce gap is often framed as a supply problem, and the result, we’re told, is understaffed banks, overworked tech teams, slow response to incidents, and dangerous exposure to digital threats. But, this version of the story sidesteps a harder question: what if the problem isn’t that the talent doesn’t exist, but that hiring systems are too rigid and narrow, and too flawed to recognise it? The dominant logic across these sectors (especially in banking, for this context) is that hiring cybersecurity professionals should be technical, standardised, and rigorous. Roles are posted with lengthy checklists that include multiple certifications, years of experience, and specialised areas of expertise. Interviews, if they happen at all, are modelled after global formats, usually by solving a puzzle on a whiteboard, proving you know complex algorithms, or passing a coding test under pressure. But few local candidates make it through these filters, not because they aren’t skilled, but because the format itself works to exclude them. 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! Technical interviews often reward the ability to perform under artificial, time-pressured conditions, not real-world competence. I spoke with former college and high school classmates who work in banking, telecommunications, and big tech (Google and Microsoft). Before they were hired for these international roles, they admitted to being asked to solve sorting problems, tree traversals, and optimisation challenges they hardly face on the job. They were expected to write perfect code on a whiteboard or shared doc, from memory, without syntax help, debugging tools, or a collaborative setup. There’s an unspoken belief that this is how you separate “real” engineers from the rest. But what it actually filters for is who studied computer science in the right way or who enjoys brain teasers under surveillance. It is something that just doesn’t work. This problem is shaping how local employers screen tech talent. In Nairobi, technical interviews are increasingly mimicking this pattern, especially in firms that want to compete with or supply to international partners. And in the process, they’re weeding out strong candidates who think differently, communicate differently, or just haven’t had the luxury to rehearse interview puzzles for weeks. I have been told by the same group that certifications are treated as mandatory in most Kenyan cybersecurity job listings (I now understand why they are such a big deal on LinkedIn). Yet a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification costs more than most entry-level IT workers make in several months. Next Wave continues after this ad. All Talentz has launched Nigeria’s first nationwide tech hackathon, with TechCabal as media partner. Interested teams should register by July 4, 2025. The event runs from July 14 to August 23 in Lagos, and winners get ₦10M, a TechCrunch Disrupt trip, and opportuninty fr jobs. All applicants will join a global tech talent pool. Register here! And even those who invest in it still find themselves screened out if they lack the ‘right’ work history or can’t demonstrate fluency in jargon during interviews. Meanwhile, there are thousands of capable IT professionals, including network engineers and support staff who’ve spent years in adjacent roles, responding to incidents, managing infrastructure, or securing systems informally. They’re already doing half the job, but because hiring filters are rigid, they never even get interviewed. Candidates who struggle with high-pressure environments tend to flounder in traditional interview formats. A close friend who worked in a software development firm in Uganda described how a colleague with a shy streak consistently failed interviews, despite being easily the most talented developer they had ever worked with. His mind worked differently, but the process never made space for that. In other cases, some say that interviews are adversarial, especially for Kenyan banks. You’re asked to perform a trick the interviewer already knows the answer to, under judgment, with little real collaboration or feedback. And if you ask for clarification or go off-script, you risk triggering visible frustration. Some interviewers even nitpick syntax during whiteboard sessions, defeating the point of the tool as a sketchpad for thinking. Next Wave continues after this ad. Africa’s tech ecosystem is alive with ambition, and Moonshot 2025 is catalysing it into unstoppable momentum. Our theme, “Building Momentum,” honours past builders and calls for doubling down on systems, capital, policies, and partnerships. Expect new formats, deeper conversations, and broader voices. This is where vision becomes action. If you’re building, funding, or enabling Africa’s innovation economy, join us October 15–16 in Lagos. Early Bird tickets are 20% off! Let’s build the future, faster, smarter, together. Reserver your spot! What’s most concerning is that this interview culture—while claiming to be objective—is riddled with bias. Candidates who don’t live in Nairobi or didn’t go to JKUAT or Strathmore are less likely to be taken seriously. And
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Takealot wants a lot
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning. It’s safe to say Multichoice Nigeria’s legal team isn’t having a good morning as they grapple with a hefty ₦766 million (500,000) fine from the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) for violating the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDP Act). On a different note, how’s your second half of the year going? If you’re Gen Z, odds are you’re venting on TikTok about low pay, zero flexibility, and office drama. Owl Labs’ 2024 report says 43% of workers are more stressed than last year and 89% see no improvement in their work-related stress. The grind isn’t getting easier. How’s work treating you? PS: If you’re curious about the tech ecosystem in Francophone Africa, sign up for our latest newsletter, TNW: Francophone Africa. We’ll bring the biggest insider insights and analysis of the region’s technology landscape bi-monthly. Sign up here and be the first to know. Let’s get into today’s dispatch! Nigerians can now swipe their naira card globally again Takealot wants to hire 18,000 new workers Egypt lands two new subsea cables NCC gives tower companies deadline to improve internet quality World Wide Web 3 Opportunities Banking Nigerians can now swipe their naira card globally again Image Source: Zikoko Memes After three years, Nigerian banks have finally opened the gates for naira debit cards to roam globally again. That means you can now pay for your Apple Music, Amazon orders, or even that random item on AliExpress with the same card you use for Jumia. United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Wema Bank are leading the comeback, confirming that their Premium Naira Cards and Naira Mastercards are once again enabled for international transactions—online transactions, POS machines, and ATMs abroad. Why was there even a restriction? The year was 2022 and the survival of key sectors in the Nigerian economy were under threat. Foreign exchange was scarce, oil revenues were shaky, and Nigeria’s Central Bank’s managed exchange rate wasn’t helping. Eventually, financial institutions pulled the plug on global naira transactions. To keep their playlists going, people turned to virtual dollar cards from fintechs like Chipper Cash, Eversend, Cardtonic, and Payday. What changed? It appears the confidence in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market is slowly creeping back to Nigeria’s Central Bank. The naira has shown signs of appreciation and diaspora remittances are now over $20 billion. This is a curveball for virtual card providers. When banks locked international payments, startups like Chipper Cash, Eversend, Cardtonic, and Payday, stepped in with dollar cards. But now? These companies will have to step it up: offer better rates, more flexibility, or risk becoming irrelevant. This is because not everyone will keep paying extra for what their naira card can now do natively. And in Nigeria’s fast-moving payment space, only the most adaptable will survive the next chapter. Save more on every NGN transaction with Fincra Stop overpaying for NGN payments. Fincra’s fees are more affordable than other payment platforms for collections & payouts. The bigger the transaction, the more you save. Create a free account in 3 minutes and start saving today. 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 E-commerce Takealot wants to hire 18,000 new workers from the ruins of the Post Office Image Source: Zikoko Memes/TechCabal 18,000 workers who lost their jobs at South Africa’s Post Office, one of the country’s largest public employer,
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CBN’s open banking is the biggest shift since instant transfers — If we do it right
Every day in Nigeria, over 33 million instant transfers race across our banking rails—from buying fuel and airtime to paying rent. Whether it’s a corporate exec in Victoria Island or an okada rider in Kano, the money moves. But not the context. Each transaction tells a story: your rent pattern, salary cycle, and debt reliability. But that story is locked in silos. Banks hold it. Wallets replicate it. Fintechs rebuild it from scratch. None of it flows freely until now. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Open Banking framework introduces a radical idea: your financial data belongs to you. And if you permit it, any licensed provider should be able to use that data to serve you better. Everyone wins when financial data is no longer siloed The biggest winners are the people who’ve had the least control until now: everyday customers. They’re no longer stuck with one provider holding their financial history. They can move freely, compare services, and choose what works best. This shift also opens the door for builders. Many who spent years working around data restrictions can now plug into verified, standardised APIs. Less time spent reverse-engineering statements. More time solving real problems. Banks stand to gain too, if they act fast. The ones that adapt can move beyond traditional products and become platforms. By exposing APIs, they stay relevant even outside their apps. At a broader level, the economy wins. Done right, Open Banking doesn’t just modernise the system; it makes it more inclusive, resilient, and responsive. From hacky, siloed workarounds to real scalable solutions Guess what happens when financial data moves safely, with customer permission. That data powers better products, faster decisions, and broader access. These are some examples: Credit that actually works Lending in Nigeria is mostly guesswork. That leads to high interest rates, collateral demands, and even public shaming when things go wrong. With open banking, a small business owner can grant access to a year’s worth of bank transactions. A lender reviews verified income data, decides in minutes, and sets up repayment via direct debit. No land documents. No guarantors. No friction. This is how we make credit cheaper and smarter. A national fraud radar Every fintech in Nigeria has war stories. Fraudsters exploit weak points, spread funds through mule accounts, and disappear. The damage is local, and the pattern is the same everywhere. Open banking makes it possible to share live fraud signals. If a bad actor gets flagged at one provider, others can detect and block them in real-time. Shared infrastructure, device hashes, IP patterns, account links, etc., make fraud detection collaborative. Each fintech player stops playing defense alone. Direct debits that travel with you Cards are great until they aren’t. Direct debit mandates don’t follow you when you switch banks or change devices. That’s why recurring billing with a bank is clunky and adoption is low. With open banking, you set up a reusable direct debit mandate tied to your identity. One dashboard shows every recurring instruction from Netflix to PHCN bills. You can cap, pause, or revoke them anytime. Need more control? Enable two-factor approval. Spot a suspicious charge? You can block it before it hits. Getting regulation right is key Compared to other countries, Nigeria is off to a solid start. The UK’s rollout faced governance issues and weak enforcement. Some banks dragged their feet, and adoption slowed because customers didn’t see enough value or protection. In Brazil, security concerns and uneven API quality made early adoption tricky. Many people still don’t know how Open Finance works or why they should care. Nigeria now has a chance to avoid those mistakes. Its rules, laid out in Section 11, outline how consent, security, and reliability should work in every real-world API call, are clear. Its structure is strong. But the real test is in how well providers follow through—and how quickly regulators respond when they don’t. The real risk: We waste the opportunity Open banking gives us a rare chance to redesign Nigeria’s financial rails with trust and interoperability at the core. But the system is only as strong as what we build on top of it. We’ve seen what can go wrong. The eNaira launched with big goals but didn’t take off, partly because people didn’t understand its value. If APIs are unreliable, if customers don’t understand what they’re consenting to, or if data hoarding continues under new labels, this momentum will stall. But if we build carefully and fast, we can enable a generation of financial products that are smarter, safer, and truly inclusive. The APIs are coming. The opportunity is open. The next move is ours. ___________ Lukman Bello is a payments infrastructure expert and Technical Solutions Lead at Paystack, where he has spent more than six years guiding businesses through the intricate world of African fintech. He has overseen integrations for hundreds of notable local and global brands, turning regulatory complexity into clear product strategies and robust code. 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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Digital Nomads: The founder tackling the impossible intra-African payments problem
Cross-border payment is the most bankable buzzword in finance right now and pretty much the side of tech that deals with heft money. Globally, monies that crossed borders in 2024 reached $194.8 trillion. It’s becoming important in how we work. Freelancers need to get paid from global employers. Digital nomads need their money to cross borders with them. Businesses of all sizes make payments to bring shipments into their home countries. Students studying abroad want to withdraw the money sent to them from home, and diasporan Africans want to send the same back home. This demand is driving fintechs to build rails that allow money flow smoothly across borders. There is a joke that if you shake a tree, any tree, a remittance fintech will fall. But these startups are overlooking one critical aspect of cross-border payments: intra-African payments. The problem with intra-African payments Nnenna Nkata, a Nigerian who went to college in Ghana, and completed her master’s in the UK, has seen both worlds and witnessed the difficulty firsthand. Monirates was her solution to what she describes as “the harder problem.” “The idea [for Monirates] came when we realised that we could see different fintech startups out there and the various means of sending money from the diaspora to Africa,” said Nkata. “But as a student in Ghana, it was almost difficult to send money from Ghana to Nigeria.” Both countries are about a one-hour flight apart. It wasn’t just difficult. At one point, she had to move across borders with ₦150,000 ($750)* in her handbag—tuition fees in cash—because digital options were limited, unreliable, or inaccessible. The lack of alternatives wasn’t a bug in the system; it was the system. “As an undergraduate, I didn’t really realise the effect of this,” she said. “I took it as a norm.” That changed when she moved to the UK for graduate school. There, sending money back home meant opening five apps, comparing rates, and completing transactions in minutes. The arguments for why the problem with intra-African payments persists are familiar: there are 42 different currencies in Africa, and regulations, like payments, are fragmented. Where Europe has the Euro and North America spans only three main currencies, Africa is a patchwork quilt. 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 Finding workarounds Back in 2013, when Nkata schooled at Accra Institute of Technology in Ghana, she and her peers relied on Ecobank automated teller machines (ATMs) to withdraw cash. If you had a Nigerian-issued Ecobank card, you could withdraw cash in cedis from ATMs in Ghana and other countries where Ecobank operated. For a time, it worked. Then came Central Bank regulations in Nigeria that placed limits on international ATM withdrawals. First $300 per day. Then $100 per month. Eventually, transactions stopped altogether. “At some point—I think in my final year—I had to move with cash,” Nkata recalled. “There was no way to move the money. You couldn’t even open a bank account as a Nigerian student in Ghana.” Mobile money, while widely adopted in Ghana, had limits too. It couldn’t handle the large, one-time payments needed for tuition or rent. The fallback was to carry cash across borders, change it at the border unofficially, and hope nothing went wrong. “It felt like you were smuggling gold when traveling with cash,” she said, laughing. “It came with a lot of risk and stress.” Her
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“When we enter a bank’s boardroom, they know our name. Not our partner’s. Ours”: Day 1-1000 of Union Systems
In 2024, some of Nigeria’s biggest banks decided unanimously to change core software that powered their banking activities. In the TechCabal newsroom, we embarked on a project in response, to demystify these core banking software to our audience and to explain the implications of the change. It was after the project I encountered Albert Iloh, who had spent the five years prior selling Union Systems, Nigeria’s first indigenous core banking software, to fintechs and banks alike. I was intrigued by the idea of a local alternative to international software like Finacle and Finastra because local alternatives rarely came up in my earlier conversations with banking experts. Union Systems’ CEO, Chuks Onyebuchi, is my guest on the Day 1-1000 column. He shares with me how the company, which was first established in 1994 as a local partner to international core banking software providers, morphed into Nigeria’s first finance trade system. This is the story of Union Systems as told to TechCabal. Day 1: Emerging from the shadows For more than two decades, Union Systems lived in the shadows. We were the local face of a global software giant, installing and implementing core banking systems for Nigerian banks. We had no product of our own. Every pitch, every integration, every bank knew us by our partner’s name, not ours. If they ever dropped us, we’d be erased. But in 2017, we finally got a shot by solving a problem nobody else could solve. That piece of uncertainty gave us the chance to become a company with a name, a product, and a future. The journey would nearly break us. But it also saved us. Earlier in 2016 we had helped our foreign partner close a $30 million core banking deal with one of Nigeria’s biggest banks, Zenith Bank. The scope was massive: every layer from trade finance (financial services and products—like letters of credit and guarantees—that help companies buy and sell goods internationally) to treasury, risk, and corporate channels (digital and physical platforms that allow business clients to access banking services and manage their accounts). As Union Systems, we were tasked with implementing the International Trade Finance (specialised banking services and tools that support cross-border trade) and Corporate Channels modules. But when we reached user acceptance testing, the bank said something we didn’t expect: the Trade Finance module failed. Not just in a few places but across more than half of their requirements. The problem was structural. The bank had previously cobbled together six siloed applications to handle the unique requirements of Nigerian trade finance: form M compliance, bidding processes for FX access, local regulatory reporting. These nuances don’t exist in Europe or Asia. The software we were deploying, built for international trade finance, didn’t speak the language of Nigerian regulation. So the bank came to us: could we unify those six legacy systems into one Nigerian Trade Finance solution and then integrate it with the foreign software? We said yes. We didn’t even know how we were going to achieve it. We had no product or roadmap. But we said yes anyway. 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 Day 730: From Zero to TradeX We called it TradeX, short for Trade Extra. It wasn’t yet a product, just a bridge. Our team began meeting with the silo owners, many of whom saw us as a threat to their jobs. They fed us
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NCC gives tower companies August deadline to improve internet quality or face fines
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed tower companies to make urgent improvements in service quality or face regulatory penalties. The regulator set an August end deadline for these companies to address issues affecting internet quality, such as poor power supply, equipment failures, and a lack of sufficient technical support. Aminu Maida, NCC Executive Vice Chairman, gave the directive on Thursday during a high-level meeting in Abuja, attended by major tower infrastructure providers, including IHS Towers, American Tower Corporation (ATC), Pan-African Towers, and other key stakeholders like the internet network providers. The session focused on identifying bottlenecks in infrastructure delivery and improving the performance of shared telecom assets, according to two industry stakeholders who attended the meeting and asked not to be named to speak freely. NCC did not immediately respond to a request for comments. Tower companies, commonly known as TowerCos, form the structural backbone of Nigeria’s telecommunications industry. They provide the physical infrastructure—cell towers, rooftop sites, and associated facilities—on which mobile network operators (MNOs) like MTN, Airtel, and Glo deploy their radio and data transmission equipment. TowerCos are also responsible for ensuring a 24/7 electricity supply to these sites and securing them against theft and vandalism. Any failure at the tower level directly impacts the quality of voice and data services delivered by MNOs. “When there’s no power, the radios shut down. If the power fluctuates, the radios restart, and that leads to dropped calls, frozen data sessions, and frustrated customers,” explained one industry insider. “So, while the Commission rightly holds MNOs accountable for service quality, tower providers must also be held to the same level of operational reliability.” IHS Towers is the dominant tower infrastructure provider in Nigeria, managing between 16,000 and 19,000 sites, which accounts for roughly 62% of all co-located telecom infrastructure nationwide. American Tower Corporation (ATC) is the second-largest player, with about 8,270 towers, while Pan-African Towers—a smaller, indigenous firm—operates between 760 and 1,000 sites, although not all are currently active. Given their market size and role in connectivity, the NCC’s directive places the burden squarely on these companies to resolve issues of downtime, delayed maintenance, and poor power management that have plagued the network in recent months. Until 2024, the NCC’s Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations focused mainly on mobile network operators. However, in August 2024, the Commission revised the framework to include the entire connectivity value chain, including TowerCos. The updated regulations, which have since been gazetted, introduced new key performance indicators (KPIs) that infrastructure providers are now obligated to meet. “It’s been eleven months since those new regulations came into effect,” Maida said during the meeting. “That’s more than enough time for all parties to align with the performance standards expected of them.” The NCC is implementing a transparency-focused enforcement strategy, a source familiar with the matter said. As part of this approach, the Commission recently launched the Major Incident Reporting Portal, mandating all service providers to publicly disclose significant network disruptions. The regulator is also developing a set of performance dashboards to be hosted on its website, allowing consumers to track how well tower and mobile network operators are adhering to their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). While some tower companies have attributed their failure to meet Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to delayed payments from mobile network operators, claiming that cash flow constraints limit their ability to maintain sites or invest in backup power systems, the NCC is no longer accepting these explanations. During the Abuja meeting, Maida made it clear that financial disputes are not a valid excuse for poor service delivery. “Operators must fulfill both their technical and financial responsibilities,” he said, stressing that performance expectations remain non-negotiable regardless of internal challenges. 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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