SASSA releases August 2025 grant payment dates
The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has released its August 2025 grant payment schedule, confirming that no grants have been suspended yet. But the agency is tightening its grip through digital reviews and automated cross-checks. Speaking at a media briefing on July 14, SASSA CEO Themba Matlou said that while payments will proceed as planned, the agency will not hesitate to lapse grants for individuals who fail to respond to review requests or update their personal details. August 2025 grant payment dates: Older persons grant – Tuesday, August 5 Disability grant – Wednesday, August 6 Children’s grants – Thursday, August 7 Grant amounts Old age (60-74 years) and disability grants – R2 315 Old age (75+ years) grant – R2 335 War veterans grant – R2 315 Care dependency grant – R2 315 Child support grant – R560 Foster care grant – R1 250 SRD grant – R370 SASSA currently administers over 19 million monthly payments, but behind the scenes, the agency is rolling out system-driven reviews that cross-reference beneficiary data with other government databases. These monthly checks are now standard, and stricter means and asset tests are being enforced. In June, SASSA found that around 210,000 beneficiaries failed to report additional sources of income, an omission that violates the Social Assistance Act. Grant recipients are legally required to notify SASSA of any changes to their financial situation, including new earnings or income streams. Non-disclosure can trigger grant suspension or permanent lapsing, especially as SASSA ramps up automated cross-checks with other government databases to verify eligibility in real time. Beneficiaries have to ensure that they qualify to receive the grants following the thresholds released in April. SASSA eligibility thresholds (effective 1 April 2025) Assets threshold Older persons, disability, and war veterans grants Single applicant: R1,524,600 Married applicant: R3,049,200 Annual income threshold Older persons, disability, and war veterans grants Single: R107,880 per year Married: R215,760 per year Child support grant Single: R67,200 per year Married: R134,400 per year Care dependency grant Parent/primary caregiver (Single): Means test applies Parent/primary caregiver (Married): R277,200 per year COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant Income threshold: R624 per month Matlou noted that SASSA is legally required to give beneficiaries three months’ notice before suspending grants. However, continued non-compliance with review requests could result in permanent lapsing. The agency is also under pressure to deliver quarterly review reports to the National Treasury, adding to its operational load. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
Read More
👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Mawingu is winging a sale
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية TGIF. Lovable, the poster startup for “vibe coding” has become a unicorn after eight months in business. Yesterday, the company raised $200 million Series A at a $1.8 billion valuation. It previously raised $7.5 million pre-seed funding in October 2024 when it came out of stealth, and $15 million pre-Series A later this February. With $75 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), investors valued Lovable at 24X multiple. In the history of hockey-stick growths, this is as hockey-stick as it can get. We wonder which startup’s next? Cursor? Bolt.new? It seems AI vibe coding startups have found insane product-market fit. Check if your developer is a vibe coder today. Let’s dive in. Pembani Remgro wants a controlling stake in Mawingu Networks Wabeh, Kenyan BNPL startup, pauses operations UBA wants $103 million from shareholders Funding Tracker World Wide Web 3 Opportunities Internet South African fund moves to take 35% of rural internet pioneer, Mawingu Networks Image Source: Mawingu Kenya’s Mawingu Networks wasn’t always fibre and fixed wireless. It started as an underdog, using cheap, creative tech like old TV frequencies to beam internet to these communities. The company has spent the last decade doing what the big telecom operators wouldn’t: bringing internet access to rural communities. Soon, global backers like Microsoft and the US Development Finance Corporation, which loaned Mawingu over $4 million, saw potential and helped the company get started. Today, Mawingu is a much bigger player, and it’s trading some of its independence for scale. Here’s the tea: South Africa’s Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund II (PRIF II), a private equity vehicle, wants a 35% controlling stake in the internet company. The deal is still pending approval from the Comesa Competition Commission (CCC). ICYMI: In 2024, Mawingu raised $15 million in debt funding to expand its fibre and wireless footprint in Kenya and acquire Habari, a Tanzanian internet service provider (ISP). This deal with PRIF II could mark a turning point for Mawingu. Why does this matter? Because Mawingu is trying to amp up internet access. If it succeeds, the approach to internet expansion and rural access could change across Africa. This is more than a deal. It is a test of whether a small, purpose-driven company can win a game built for giants. Mawingu’s rural-first approach could prove defensible or vulnerable. And with new owners and bigger expectations, there is more concern as to whether Mawingu can grow without losing sight of its mission. Paying 2% or more on every transaction adds up fast. For businesses in e-commerce, logistics, travel, fintech, and more, every naira counts. Fincra helps you save more with 1% NGN fees capped at ₦300. Ideal for high-value or high-volume transactions. Get started for free with just your email address! Startups Wabeh, a Kenyan BNPL startup, pauses operations as it battles high loan defaults Image Source: Wabeh Wabeh was supposed to make smartphone ownership painless, just a 30% deposit, a few installments, and a brand new phone is yours. The startup positioned itself as a friend to the everyday Kenyan consumers and small retailers, creating access to buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) for devices. But now, this bridge is cracking. Here’s what happened: In July, Wabeh, a Kenyan buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) startup, quietly paused operations with its vendor network, citing a need to “simplify” its operational model. Behind that PR lingo are growing customer defaults, cash flow strain, and no digital credit licence from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). The startup’s retail partners say repayment rates are collapsing. Like it is with BNPL businesses, the loan defaults are crippling the business; less than half of the devices financed on Wabeh get paid back. In a business where you pay for devices upfront with the hope that users return the favour, that can be a damning sentence. Here’s what to know: Wabeh isn’t a lender, at least not on paper. But it operates as one—fronting cash to vendors, managing repayments, and locking phones when people fall behind. This sidesteps CBK’s regulations. Wabeh took on credit risk without the tools, capital, or protections lenders have. This worked while repayment was high and the market was wide open. Now, both are slipping. And with new rules—like the Business Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024—that could place BNPL models under CBK’s purview, the company’s middle-ground model is running out of room. Yet, loan default is not peculiar to Kenyan BNPL businesses like Wabeh. Across banking and micro-lending, the defaults are hitting new highs, and credit providers are in a race to plug the multiple leaks. Wabeh wants to pause, think, and try again. Paga Engine powers the boldest ideas in Africa “Across various use cases and industries, Paga Engine provides reliable rails for your business needs to run smoothly and grow sustainably.” – Tayo Oviosu. Read the full article. Banking UBA wants $103 million from shareholders Image Source: UBA 2025 is the year when Nigerian banks are hungry for more. UBA, a tier-1 Nigerian lender, plans to raise ₦157 billion ($103 million) in fresh capital through a rights issue of 3.15 billion new shares to shareholders. In essence, for every 13 shares an existing shareholder already owns, they have the right to buy one new share at ₦50 ($0.03) per share, compared to the market price of ₦50.50 ($0.03). This amounts to a discount of 50 kobo at the close of business on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. UBA’s shares closed at ₦46 ($0.03) per share on Thursday. Why does this matter? UBA had previously raised ₦239 billion ($157 million) during a rights issue in November 2024. Nigeria’s Central Bank says commercial banks with international licences must raise their capital base to at least ₦500 billion ($328 million) before the March 2026 deadline. The apex bank periodically mandates recapitalisation efforts to ensure banks are capable of supporting the growth and development of the local economy. UBA, which operates in 24 African countries, is conducting a rights issue to raise new capital and meet the CBN’s
Read More
The men undressing women with X’s Grok
Every Thursday, Delve Into AI will provide nuanced insights on how the continent’s AI trajectory is shaping up. In this column, we examine how AI influences culture, policy, businesses, and vice versa. Read to get smarter about the people, projects, and questions shaping Africa’s AI future. On June 27, 2025, Nigerian content creator Asherkine posted a seemingly innocent video asking a young lady out on a date after she revealed she was single. Shortly after the post went viral, an anonymous Snapchat user known as ‘Kenny’ began spreading a fabricated narrative: that the lady in the video, later identified as Ifeme Rebecca Yahoma, a University of Nigeria Nsukka student, was his girlfriend. He created deepfakes, manipulating pictures she’d shared online to support the lie. In her photo, Yahoma’s head is slightly tilted, her lips pouted. In the black-and-white image ‘Kenny’ generates, he has doctored himself to appear as if pecking Yahoma. An emoji covers his face. Kennedy gained tens of thousands of followers off the lie, even advertising Snapchat ads as his virality surged. This incident isn’t an outlier; it’s the tip of a growing digital iceberg. Across Nigeria and other African countries, online users are employing AI tools like X’s Grok to manipulate, sexualise, or humiliate women. What used to be crude Photoshop jobs are now photorealistic deepfakes created from sexually explicit prompts fed into AI systems that produce disturbingly life-like results. If they won’t send nudes, create them Earlier this year, an X user had prompted Grok to undress Nigerian actress Kehinde Bankole. The post, which circulated widely before being deleted, sent shockwaves through her fanbase and other concerned X users. If a public figure like Bankole isn’t exempt, everyday women have even less protection. Gbenga, a self-identified mental health consultant who made such prompts, later posted an apology thread on X saying: “I feel a profound sense of remorse for not handling the situation with the care it warranted.” Remorseful or not, a growing number of users, often male, have found, in their harassment of women online, a willing participant in X’s AI tool which has recently been accused of generating antisemitic commentary among other gaffes. These incidents are leaving their victims with not only emotional damage and reputational smears but very little legal recourse. Users on X are prompting the platform’s chatbot, Grok, to undress women. Source: X Are there legal protections that apply? When asked if new laws are necessary to address how a rapidly evolving technology like AI is enabling abuse in manners previously unseen, legal policy analyst Sam Eleanya says it must be approached with more nuance. “The premise that we need laws to regulate every new advancement in technology is not always sound,” he said. “The better question is: how does this new tool fit into the existing legal order?” According to Eleanya, using tools like Grok to portray a woman in sexual or compromising ways without her consent could amount to criminal defamation of character under sections 373–375 of the Criminal Code Act. If money is demanded or intimidation is involved, blackmail, extortion, or conspiracy to do so, charges could follow under Section 408 of the Criminal Code Act. The Cybercrimes Act of 2015 also covers acts like cyberstalking, identity theft, and image-based abuse, all of which could apply to these new scenarios. But holding perpetrators to account remains challenging in various ways, according to Queen-Esther Ifunanya Emma-Egbumokei, a corporate lawyer specialising in international commercial law and the creative economy. Prosecution is often complicated by jurisdictional ambiguities—where exactly the perpetrator is meant to be tried remains unclear. Users often operate anonymously or hide behind pseudonymous accounts, making it difficult for identities to be verified and legal processes to be initiated. Additionally, Emma-Egbumokei notes that Nigeria, like many African countries, lacks AI-specific regulations that could clearly define and criminalise the misuse of generative tools for harassment or defamation. In the absence of such targeted legal frameworks, enforcement is further weakened, and victims are left vulnerable within a grey area of the law. Hidden cost More and more Nigerian women are now rethinking their presence on social platforms worried that users can modify their photos inappropriately. “Not posting my pictures on here before they use AI [to] remove my hijab,” wrote X user @wluvnana. While some users on the platform found humour in the post, she was expressing serious concern over a trend that she had begun to notice. “The only thing that seems viable is to take myself out of such situations, which is absurd. I should be able to post pictures on X if I want to, but now, I don’t have the power to do that anymore,” she later told TechCabal. Beyond doctored photos and videos, harassment using generative AI can also appear in text-based formats, explains Chioma Agwuegbo, executive director at TechHerNG, an organisation focused on supporting women through digital literacy and inclusion. “There are platforms online where you can go and simulate WhatsApp conversations, simulate Snapchat, Tiktok,” Agwuegbo says. “The word ‘generative’ implies that it is the creation of content, of media.” Compounded by a culture of shame around sex and sexuality, and an increasing inability to assess the accuracy of media shared online, it does not take much to cause lasting damage. “That’s why the easiest thing to say about a girl to bring her down is ‘I had sex with her’, or ‘I dated her and dumped her’,” Agwuebo says, and AI tools are making it increasingly possible to doctor those narratives believably. 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 –
Read More
How to save your Windows 10 laptop battery
I used to treat my Windows 10 laptop like it was invincible. I would charge it when it was low, unplug it when it was full, and repeat. Battery care? That sounded like something only phone users worried about. Fast forward four years, and my laptop is now a glorified desktop, only powering on when plugged in, and dies the second I unplug it. Somewhere between the Google Chrome tabs and Word documents, I killed my battery, slowly and silently. Many people don’t realise how much control they have over their laptop’s battery health. Some settings and features quietly drain power in the background. If you’re using a Windows 10 laptop, and you would like your battery to last longer than mine did, this is your wake-up call. Features draining your battery Windows 10 laptops come with features designed for convenience, but they come at a cost. These small processes chip away at your battery life without asking for permission. Here are some features and how to fix them. 1. Background apps: Some apps never sleep. They continue to scan for information, receive notifications, and update, even when you’re not actively using them. Apps like Skype, Mail, Microsoft Store, and your Camera are all running quietly in the background. How to fix it: Go to settings > Privacy > Background Apps. Toggle off ‘Let apps run in the background.’ You’ll see a list of apps, previously running in the background, turned off. You can always turn them back on later. 2. Sync settings: Windows devices love to stay in sync—your emails, passwords, themes, and even language preferences. It is helpful, but it quietly eats into your battery. How to fix: Go to settings > Accounts > Windows backup. Then toggle off your preferences. 3. Startup apps Some apps elbow their way into your startup routine and slow your boot time while draining your battery. How to fix: Open Task Manager by clicking Ctrl + Shift + Esc > Startup tab. Click on each app and disable it. 4. Windows animations The smooth transitions and subtle fades on your Windows 10 laptop look nice and give a more user-friendly feel, but they cost battery. How to fix: Go to settings > System > About > Advanced system settings > Performance settings. Then select ‘Adjust for best performance.’ Other things that help: Sometimes, the things draining your Windows 10 battery are the obvious stuff we ignore: Lower your screen brightness Unplug any unused USB devices as they draw power even when idle Use battery saver mode Adjust power and sleep settings because the sooner your laptop sleeps, the less the battery is wasted. Go to settings > System > Power & Sleep to adjust it. Turn off WiFi and Bluetooth when not in use I thought my battery would always be there. The slow decline was preventable; I just didn’t know better. If you’re reading this on a Windows 10 laptop that still holds a charge, tweak a few settings today, and you’ll keep your laptop mobile and healthy for a long time. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
Read More
“I’ll be lucky to get back what I put in”: MTN’s Zakhele Futhi leaves investors disappointed with low returns
MTN’s Zakhele Futhi (MTNZF), a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) investment scheme, will begin paying out shareholders from July 28, 2025, nearly nine years after it launched. But for many of its investors, the long-awaited payout offers little consolation, as they say the modest returns fall far short of the value they were promised when they were first locked in. “I will be lucky to get back what I put in,” says Nomvula Buthelezi, a Human Resources Practitioner. “They extended the investment term to 2027, but they now state that there is no benefit in proceeding due to market volatility. In my view, they made their profits, and the scheme did not benefit me as an investor.” The cracks in the scheme’s foundation were visible long before its closure. In 2019, the B-BBEE Commission flagged MTNZF for being inconsistent with the objectives of the B-BBEE Act, meaning it was not genuinely empowering black shareholders as intended. The Commission noted several restrictions and limitations placed on Black shareholders; instead of giving them real ownership and decision-making power, the scheme placed limits that went against what the Codes of Good Practice require. While MTNZF expressed its willingness to cooperate with the Commission, investors showed their frustration and disappointment as the money they are getting now is far less than they expected from one of South Africa’s biggest telecom companies. “I invested R20,000 (R20 a share) in 2016, for many of us, it was the first time we had done something like buying shares as black women earning middle-income salaries,” said another investor, who asked to remain anonymous. “Hard-earned savings, but now, almost nine years of lock-in, with little to show.” Luvo Grey, the secretary general of Progressive Blacks in ICT (PBICT), an advocacy group, told TechCabal that MTNZF may have delivered modest capital returns, but for many investors, the financial outcome fell short of expectations. “The scheme’s empowerment goals were commendable, but the low liquidity, high volatility, and underperformance relative to the market raise important questions about how we structure future B-BBEE investment vehicles. Ownership must come with real, competitive value creation,” he said. MTNZF is not an isolated case. Similar BEE schemes by Vodacom, Telkom, and Cell C have struggled to deliver on the expectations. This situation undermines the purpose of B-BBEE, which is to drive inclusive economic transformation. Instead of transferring ownership and control, it creates the illusion of compliance while maintaining the status quo. Grey noted that to restore trust in equity-based empowerment schemes, there needs to be greater transparency, exit optionality, and stronger alignment between the financial upside and the risks investors bear. “Broad-based ownership is vital, but it must also be genuinely rewarding if we are to drive long-term participation in the equity economy,” he said. What should shareholders who want to cash out do? For the shareholders who want to cash out, MTNZF told TechCabal the returns will be paid to shareholder bank accounts for certificated shareholders. For those shareholders who hold shares electronically (also called dematerialized), the payout will go to the Central Securities Depository Participant or a broker who manages their accounts. The first payment of R20.00 per share will be made on 28 July 2025, with a second distribution of approximately R2.00-R3.00 per share expected thereafter. To ensure that this happens on time, shareholders are encouraged to update their bank account and contact information. This can be done through the Shareholder Services centre, which can be accessed via phone at 010 476 2012 or 083 900 6863, WhatsApp at 011 321 5400, or email at MTNZF@singular.co.za. Can shareholders sell their MTNZF shares? MTNZF is now just a cash payout operation; it is no longer working as an investment scheme. The only assets left are a few ordinary MTN shares and some cash that will be paid out after costs and taxes. “While MTNZF shares may still technically be traded, they reflect only the remaining residual MTN ordinary shares to be sold and cash to be distributed after paying or providing for costs and taxes,” MTNZF said. “As such, shareholders are advised to exercise caution when considering any sale, as the value is now tied to the sale of the residual MTN ordinary shares and final cash distributions. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
Read More
AI is learning to speak African languages, thanks to these startups
It’s a rainy Saturday morning in Lagos, and the noise inside the public hospital walls on the city’s coastal edge drowns out the pelting rain. In one of its echoey wards, voices overlap, and weary nurses try to manage paper trails that pile up faster than they can process them. For decades, this scene has been typical: overworked staff hunched over files, struggling to juggle patient care with burdensome documentation. But something is changing. In one consulting room, a young doctor in a lab coat finishes diagnosing a patient and instead of scribbling into a paper chart, he speaks. “Fifty-year-old male, presenting with fever, cough, and fatigue. Suspected tuberculosis. Start treatment protocol.” Within seconds, his notes appear, transcribed verbatim on his screen, complete with punctuation. This shift is powered by Intron, a startup using voice-based artificial intelligence (AI) to help healthcare professionals enter medical records using speech. The startup, which launched in 2020, was founded by Tobi Olatunji, a medical doctor with a decade of experience. In many African countries, doctors like Olatunji attend to hundreds of patients daily and deal with a lot of paperwork. Intron Health cuts the time doctors spend writing a patient’s diagnosis. Doctors can enter patients’ medical records, and generate patient reports by voice commands. Crucially, Intron’s AI understands Nigerian accents. Intron is part of a wave of African startups building artificial intelligence tools that speak to the continent’s realities. Beyond local accents, its voice-to-text system understands medical terminology, allowing overworked doctors in Nigeria and Kenya to dictate patient records hands-free, in real-time. Across sectors, homegrown AI solutions like this are bridging long-standing gaps: helping healthcare workers clear documentation backlogs, enabling customer support in indigenous languages, transcribing local court proceedings, and making radio broadcasts more inclusive. As global models struggle with the underrepresentation of African data, homegrown ventures like Intron are building tools trained on local voices to close service gaps in medicine, education, agriculture, and media. While AI applications on the continent have been affected by inadequate data, Intron’s speech-to-text AI transcription tool accounts for many African accents. Olatunji says the datasets are trained on over 3.5 million audio clips across African languages, making accommodations for 288 accents. The company currently cares for more than 56,000 patients across over 30 public and private hospitals in Nigeria and Kenya, including the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano, Babcock Teaching Hospital, Ogun, and Meridian Health Group, Nairobi. Intron, which has expanded its AI models to power courtrooms and call centres across Africa, claims it has helped reduce the turnaround time for radiology reporting at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, by 99.3% from 48 hours to 20 minutes. Intron’s text-to-speech AI tool has cut radiology reporting timelines at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, by 99.3% from 48 hours to 20 minutes.Source: Intron Health Intron isn’t alone. Enter Spitch AI Beyond Intron, a growing crop of startups across Africa is building foundational voice AI, tuned to the continent’s linguistic realities. One of them is Spitch AI, a developer-first audio AI platform. When Temi Babs realised that OpenAI’s Whisper “wasn’t well-tuned to African voices,” the former engineering student abandoned his note-taking app and set out to build the missing layer himself. “African languages were not being catered to by these large models, so we pivoted to voice AI for Africa,” he says, recalling the October 2024 launch of SpitchAI. The startup had a clear mission: make AI speak the languages of Africans, in both directions: speech-to-text and text-to-speech. Rather than build end-user apps, the Lagos startup sits at the bottom of the stack, offering simple APIs and SDKs that let any team plug local-language voice capabilities into call centres, media tools, or learning platforms, without the need for Machine Learning expertise. Starting with Yoruba, the team has since added Hausa, Igbo, Nigerian-accented English and, after demand from East Africa, Amharic. Those rails now power everything from multilingual customer-support hotlines to Nollywood studios that generate synthetic dialogue instead of hiring voice actors. “Producers choose the voices they want, now they can produce their movies in a shorter time and spend less money,” said Babs. Developers buy pay-as-you-go credits to use the speech-to-text and text-to-speech APIs, while large corporations pay bespoke fees for tailored models. “We price on a case-by-case basis: developers go to our portal to buy credits and make API calls, enterprises want a custom solution,” Babs explains.  The Nigerian government is in the race too While private companies like Intron and Spitch AI are building artificial intelligence tools that speak to the continent’s realities, the Nigerian government has quietly entered the race to build a foundational AI model. Last year, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy commissioned Awarri, a Lagos-based startup, to develop what will be the country’s first government-backed large language model (LLM). The model, now nearing completion, is a direct attempt to help increase the representation of Nigerian languages in the artificial intelligence systems being built around the world, according to Nigeria’s tech minister, Bosun Tijani. Co-founded by entrepreneurs Silas Adekunle and Eniola Edun in 2019, Awarri is building the country’s first LLM model trained on five low-resource Nigerian languages and accented English, in partnership with Data.org. In November 2023, the Lagos-headquartered startup launched a data annotation lab poised to be an AI talent development hub. The lab employs over 100 workers, who are responsible for gathering and annotating data, creating language models, and developing AI apps. Awarri also launched LangEasy in April 2024, a platform that enables anyone with a smartphone to contribute to training the model through voice and text inputs. LangEasy gives users sentences to read out loud, and asks them to save the audio on the app. The app will help crowdsource data for Awarri’s LLM, according to the startup founder. Building Nigerian AI is anything but easy Building Nigerian AI is anything but easy. Training data remains scarce, especially for indigenous Nigerian languages with low digital footprints. Infrastructure barriers continue to slow progress,
Read More
Kenyan BNPL startup Wabeh halts operations as defaults rise, cash flow tightens
Wabeh, a Kenyan buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) provider, paused operations with its vendor network in July, citing the need to “simplify its operational model.” The move follows growing claims of customer defaults, cash flow strain, and the lack of regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). Founded to simplify smartphone ownership through flexible instalment plans, Wabeh’s model allows customers to purchase devices by paying a deposit and repaying the balance daily, weekly, or monthly. But defaults are growing. A Nairobi-based retailer told TechCabal that fewer than half of the 50 devices sold through Wabeh are being repaid. “Wabeh paid us upfront for those phones. But now they’re stuck waiting for money that may not come back,” the retailer said. Wabeh has agreements with both retailers and device manufacturers. The stock sits with retailers, and when a customer requests credit for a phone, Wabeh steps in to finance the purchase. Customers typically pay 30% upfront, then repay the balance in instalments. Wabeh also has a separate arrangement with manufacturers like Transsion Holdings (maker of iTel, Infinix, and TECNO), sending them a small fee for every locked phone sold on credit. Revenue comes from margins embedded in device pricing, not interest, which exempts the company from formal lending thresholds. But with rising non-performing loans and no deposit funding or structured credit facility, its cash position has deteriorated. Devices sold via this arrangement are fitted with a firmware-level remote lock app to manage risk. If customers miss a payment, the phone becomes inoperable. Yet even this deterrent has proven insufficient, as some customers abandon payment after damaging the device or misjudging the cost burden. Wabeh lacks a digital lending licence, making it harder to follow up on defaults. “People go in thinking it’s manageable,” said another vendor. “But KES 200 ($1.56) a day adds up fast, especially for informal workers.” Wabeh did not respond to a request for comments. Regulatory grey zone Wabeh, like many BNPL operators in Kenya, operates in a regulatory grey zone. They offer instalment-based financing, but without interest-bearing loans that trigger licencing thresholds. While traditional digital lenders are now under the Central Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) oversight, BNPL providers have slipped through the cracks until now. The Business Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, seeks to explicitly place BNPL under CBK’s purview, replacing terms like “digital credit” with broader language to capture asset financing and instalment-based models. If passed, the bill will require BNPL firms to obtain digital credit licences, a hurdle Wabeh has yet to cross. CBK has already begun tightening enforcement since late 2021, publishing a registry of approved digital lenders and targeting unlicensed platforms. In the absence of a licence, Wabeh cannot legally scale lending or recover capital efficiently. Meanwhile, customer complaints are growing, ranging from unclear pricing to aggressive lockouts for minor late payments. “Even being late by a day can lock your phone,” said one borrower. Despite Wabeh’s struggles, Kenya’s BNPL market remains growing. The industry was valued at $1.03 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow 13.6% to $1.18 billion in 2025, according to industry estimates. Yet, Wabeh’s pause highlights the operational and regulatory challenges facing BNPL startups without credit licences or diversified capital sources. The startup has not confirmed when or if it will resume full operations. In the meantime, retailers and borrowers are left in limbo, and the future of asset-based BNPL in Kenya may depend on how the new regulatory framework takes shape. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
Read More
South African PE fund to acquire 35% stake in Kenya’s Mawingu Networks
Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund II (PRIF II), a South African private equity vehicle, is set to acquire a 35% stake in Mawingu Networks, a Kenyan internet service provider, in a deal that will hand the fund controlling interest in the company. The proposed transaction, currently under review by the Comesa Competition Commission (CCC), comes eight months after Mawingu raised $15 million in debt financing to fund expansion in Kenya and a strategic acquisition in Tanzania. The Nairobi-based internet provider used the funds—led by an $11 million loan from the Africa Go Green Fund—to scale its fixed wireless and fibre internet offering in rural areas, and to acquire Habari, a Tanzanian ISP based in Arusha. The latest equity sale signals a shift in Mawingu’s capital structure amid increased investor attention on Africa’s digital infrastructure. On Wednesday, CCC said it will assess the impact of the deal on competition across the regional economic bloc. However, it noted that no overlaps exist between the acquiring and target entities. 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 “The commission will determine, among other things, whether the proposed transaction is likely to substantially prevent or lessen competition in the Common Market,” CCC said in a notice. PRIF II is managed by Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Managers and backed by several development finance institutions, including the African Development Bank, European Investment Bank, British International Investment, and the Coalition for Human Rights in Development. Since its launch, PRIF II has backed 11 companies across Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has exited four of those investments. Founded in 2013 by Joakim Vincze and Farouk Ramji, Mawingu began operations by leveraging unused television frequencies to deliver internet services to rural areas. The company has since pivoted to fibre and fixed wireless connections, extending its reach to rural and peri-urban areas in western and northern Kenya, regions overlooked by larger ISPs. Mawingu holds a 3.2% share of Kenya’s fixed internet market, ranking sixth among service providers. It has grown from just over 16,000 subscribers in 2022 to nearly 59,000 by March 2025, driven partly by early support from development financiers such as Microsoft and the US International Development Finance Corporation. The startup has raised $29 million across six funding rounds, backed by DFIs and VCs including E3 Capital, FMO, Aster, Africa Go Green Fund, and Kepple Africa Ventures. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
Read More
Moniepoint, PiggyVest, M-KOPA, Interswitch named among world’s top 300 fintechs by CNBC
Ten African fintechs, including Interswitch, Moniepoint, M-KOPA, OPay, and PiggyVest, have been named among the world’s top 300 fintech companies in 2025 by CNBC and Statista. The list highlights firms driving innovation across seven segments, including payments, wealth tech, and alternative financing amid a global funding slump and increased investor caution. The inclusion of African startups signals the continent’s rising relevance in global digital finance, particularly in payments. Nigeria led the region’s showing with five companies featured. Interswitch, Opay, Palmpay, and Moniepoint were named in the payment category, along with Paymob and Yoco from Egypt and South Africa, respectively. Piggyvest is the only Nigerian and African fintech in the wealth technology category. M-KOPA and Tola were listed in the alternative financing category. Statista analysed over 2,000 companies globally to compile the list, using key metrics like revenue, growth, and employee headcount. The selection was based on company-submitted data and market research, though CNBC noted the list is unranked. Here are the African fintechs named in the list. OPay Launched in 2018, OPay is among the leading fintechs in Nigeria and has earned acclaim for its super-app that processes seamless mobile payments, transfers, loans, and merchant services. It currently serves over 60 million users, including previously unbanked areas. In 2024, the company’s valuation rose by over 30%, bringing it closer to a $3 billion mark. It was recognised in the payments category with global giants like PayPal for facilitating transactions between people and businesses, both online and in-store. PalmPay Launched in 2019, PalmPay has become a household name in Nigeria’s consumer payments space, serving over 35 million users. The company plans to expand into South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, and Tanzania, after processing over 15 million daily transactions in Q1 2025. PalmPay was one of the six Nigerian startups listed on the Financial Times’ 2024 ranking of Africa’s Fastest-Growing Companies. Moniepoint Formerly known as TeamApt, Moniepoint recently gained a $1 billion valuation after raising $110 million from Google, VISA, and other global investors. The Nigerian fintech boasts a full-stack financial platform tailored for people and businesses, combining POS, banking, credit, and cross-border payments. Moniepoint processes more than 1 billion transactions monthly, with a total payment volume of over $22 billion. It was also listed on the Financial Times’ 2024 ranking of Africa’s Fastest-Growing Companies. PiggyVest Appearing on CNBC’s list for the second consecutive year, Piggyvest is the only African company recognised in the wealth technology category alongside global giants like the USA’s Lending Tree and Dubai’s GTN. Since its launch in 2016, it has served over 7 million Nigerians and paid out over ₦2 trillion to its users. “We are excited to share this honour with some of the most innovative businesses in the world,” Somto Ifezue, CEO and Co-founder of Piggyvest, said. “Being included on this list, for a second consecutive year and specifically in the wealth technology category, is a validation of the moves we have made to serve our users better and anticipate their long-term needs.” Interswitch Interswitch has been a key player in digital payment since its launch in 2002. It has continued innovating Verve, Africa’s first EMV-verified domestic payments scheme and cross-border financial solutions. With over 85 million cards issued and operations across some African countries, it has contributed to how people move their money across borders. In 2022, it raised $110 million through a joint investment from LeapFrog Investments and Tiana Africa Capital to help it scale digital payment services across the continent. Paymob Paymob, an Egyptian fintech company, has empowered over 350 thousand merchants across five countries in the Middle East and North Africa to accept online and offline payments through cards, digital wallets, and QR payments. In 2020, it raised $3.5 million with additional funding from its 2021 Series A, which closed at $18.5 million, to improve its capacity and acquire more merchants to use its payment services. In 2024, it raised $22 million in its series B extension to build fintech infrastructure beyond Egypt. Myfawry MyFawry is a consumer arm of Fawry. It is Egypt’s leading e-payments app that integrates with diverse services from utility bill payments to BNPL offerings. The company recorded a strong performance in 2024, with revenue rising to $121.6 million year-on-year, and net profit jumping to $35.5 million. This growth was driven by the company’s expanded portfolio beyond payments, with banking services contributing nearly 47% of revenue growth. Its retail network also grew to 372,400 POS terminals. Yoco Yoco, a South African fintech, delivers affordable POS devices and is trusted by 200,000 South African businesses, enabling card acceptance and sales tracking. It has secured a total of $107 million across four funding rounds: 1 seed round, 2 early-stage rounds, and 1 late-stage round. Its most significant raise came in July 2021, when it closed a $83 million Series C round, which included some investors, including The Raba Partnership. M-Kopa M-Kopa is a leading Kenyan startup that provides access to assets like smartphones and e-bikes through its pay-as-you-go model. It also offers digital loans and bundled services. In 2024, the company announced that it had expanded to five African countries, including Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, and Ghana. With over 7 million customers, it built Kenya’s first smartphone assembly plant and expanded into financial products like microloans and insurance, pioneering financial inclusion at scale. Tala Tala is a Kenyan fintech company that uses smartphone metadata like call logs, financial transactions, and app usage to build credit profiles and disburse microloans. In 2021, it raised $145 million in Series E funding with participation from new and existing investors, bringing the total funding raised to $360 million. The company serves over eight million customers, who collectively access over $3 million daily, amounting to nearly $100 million in loans originated each month. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
Read More
👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Mediamax, max layoffs
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning. A major change in e-commerce we’re tracking this week: Jumia Nigeria now has a new captain, Temidayo Ojo. The former Jumia Ghana CEO has taken over from Sunil Natraj, returning home to steer Jumia’s Nigerian ship through the wild waters of e-commerce. Let’s get into today’s dispatc Kenya’s Mediamax has cut jobs six times in four years Safaricom fixes router loophole that let users access free internet for years GTCO surpasses ₦100 price per share on NGX Nigeria’s Inflation eases for the third consecutive month World Wide Web 3 Opportunities Layoffs Kenya’s Mediamax has cut jobs six times in four years Image Source: Mediamax Capitalism strikes again. Or more accurately, economic headwinds are flogging media businesses in Africa, and employees are getting the boot. Following a series of alarming layoffs in the Kenyan media industry, Mediamax, a company famous for political breaking news stories, has joined the fold. The media company has laid off employees for the sixth time in four years—that’s about one layoff every 8 months. Harsh economic conditions and restrictive policies, according to Mediamax, are factors driving businesses to the ground. Why’s the axe swinging without mercy? Blame the usual suspects. The media house says Kenyans are consuming news differently and sales are falling. It’s not just about TikTok eating into the audiences or advertisers moving online. The old models aren’t working anymore. Mediamax wants to adapt or risk packing up. Between the lines: 500 journalists and media workers have been laid off. Nation Media Group (NMG), in August 2023, saw 15 employees cut from their jobs—the company’s fifth round of job cuts. In July of that same year, over 300 employees of Standard Group received one-month notices to be laid off. Even though layoffs have become a default response to pressure, companies are also trying to reinvent themselves by pivoting to digital mediums and experimenting with new formats. But what happens to the workers left behind? Many may transition into adjacent fields like communications, content strategy, or digital marketing. Roles that tap into their skills but exist outside traditional newsrooms. As legacy media adapts, so must its people. Even though they are often without a clear roadmap, and enter into sectors that are equally changing fast. Paying 2% or more on every transaction adds up fast. For businesses in e-commerce, logistics, travel, fintech, and more, every naira counts. Fincra helps you save more with 1% NGN fees capped at ₦300. Ideal for high-value or high-volume transactions. Get started for free with just your email address! Telecoms Safaricom fixes router loophole that let users access free internet for years Peter Ndegwa/Image Source: Safaricom Some Safaricom users had free internet for years, and the streets kept quiet (side-eye). For years, thousands of Safaricom’s fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network users accessed internet services without paying the full price or any price at all. This was due to a technical loophole that had existed since 2018. Users exploited weak router authentication protocols to stay online illegally. Now, it has been fixed. The error: Safaricom’s routers required a unique username, but accepted one generic password for all accounts. That meant anyone with an account number—expired, recycled, or borrowed—could log in and get internet access without paying. In some cases, Safaricom’s outsourced agents helped customers do this for as little as $7.72. The result? Safaricom lost millions of Kenyan shillings in unpaid subscriptions. Beyond the revenue hits, this loophole revealed a major weakness in the telecom operator’s internal control and backend infrastructure. The resolution. Fixing this issue proved difficult for Safaricom. Parts of the system relied on the infrastructure from the operator’s early fibre deployment days. This means fixing the problem would have required deep changes in their backend. Plus, Safaricom’s internal team knew about this problem for years, but could not act because of this legacy infrastructure. In 2024, the company enforced unique passwords that heightened restrictions on browsing sessions to shut out freeloaders. It leaves questions hanging about how a vulnerability of this scale went unchecked and quiet for so long. Paga Engine powers the boldest ideas in Africa “Across various use cases and industries, Paga Engine provides reliable rails for your business needs to run smoothly and grow sustainably.” – Tayo Oviosu. Read the full article. Companies GTCO surpasses ₦100 price per share on NGX Image Source: GTCO 2025 is shaping up to be a good year for retail investors. First, MTN Nigeria doubled its share price since the start of the year; then, GTBank became the first bank to cross ₦100 price per share after closing Wednesday at ₦101 ($0.07). Only Stanbic Bank comes close to that feat at ₦99.20 ($0.065). Are you holding company shares on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX)? Because it seems investors are having a blast this year. Between the lines: GTBank, Nigeria’s most capital-efficient bank, is playing 3D chess. One week ago, it listed its shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), becoming the first Nigerian bank to dual-list across two bourses. State of play: The bank plans to appeal to local and foreign investors, raising capital abroad, and expanding its revenue basket overseas. The market seems to be responding well to GT’s selective expansion strategy. Its FUGAZ classmates have been making interesting moves lately. Zenith Bank is trying to go to Kenya, while Access Bank is deepening its play in East Africa and setting up a foreign capital base in the UK. UBA announced its ‘strategic expansion’ to key markets across Africa, and First Bank expects to meet their recapitalisation target before the end of this month. Zoom out: Overall, Nigerian commercial banking stocks—all twelve of them—have surged by 36.65% since the start of the year. This is more than the 12.57% they did in 2024—and it’s only mid-year. The banks’ momentum could just be as a result of the NGX’s strong performance so far. Investors seem to be rewarding the performance with more bag grabs. For example, retail investors bought 48
Read More