Nearly one million Nigerian retail shops are invisible to big brands; Lengo wants to fix that
In crowded Lagos neighbourhoods, small shops stocked with soft drinks, instant noodles, and toiletries are where most Nigerians shop. But for consumer giants like Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Dangote, these informal shops remain hard to map, creating blind spots that waste marketing budgets, weaken supply chains, and deter investment. Informal retailers account for between 40% and 90% of total food sales in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet companies seeking to access the continent’s growing consumer market often lack visibility into how many outlets exist, what they stock, or how fast goods move. Lengo, a Lagos-based startup founded in 2022, wants to change that with artificial intelligence. The company is part of the Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First programme in Africa and is backed by investors including Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures, Launch Africa, and Acasia Ventures. Its ambition is to provide global fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies with the visibility and precision needed to make informed decisions in markets like Nigeria, where Lengo believes data can be scarce and unreliable. “There’s little visibility on what’s being sold, in which quantities, and to whom,” says Max Smith, CEO and co-founder of Lengo. Reaching the informal market Although now based in Lagos, Lengo started in Senegal after a global FMCG client had reached out to Smith to assist with updating its retailer database. “We found twice as many as they had,” he recalls. “That’s when we knew there was a big gap.” Early on, Lengo relied on field agents to walk the streets, interviewing shopkeepers and counting outlets. The method was costly and, by the time results came in, already outdated. To scale faster, the company adopted tools like Google Street View and in-house AI models to digitally identify shops, detecting storefronts, mapping locations, and classifying shop types. This year, Lengo expanded into Nigeria, where it estimates that close to a million informal shops drive the bulk of consumer goods sales. “We can recognise stores across food and beverages, pharmacies, telcos, hair salons, from Nigeria to India, wherever Street View coverage exists,” says Smith. After identifying areas with retailers, Lengo connects with shop owners through Instagram and Facebook ads, onboarding them via WhatsApp. Then they are verified using pictures of storefronts, which are then geotagged and verified by the Lengo team. Since Google Street View doesn’t cover every area, Lengo relies on referrals from shopkeepers to keep expanding its footprint. Using incentives such as airtime bundles, special discounts, and product promotions, shopkeepers are helping the team promote their popularity amongst retailers. “30% of our growth now comes from retailers referring their peers,” Smith notes. Moving beyond what Street View already captures could benefit Google, which is eager to map under-documented markets and feed data into its services, as well as consumer goods companies intent on understanding how best to reach shoppers. Lengo also strengthens its database by using existing intelligence from its FMCG partners, who already maintain their own fragmented lists of outlets. The start-up combines these datasets with its own mapping to create a more comprehensive view of the retail landscape. 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 Building trust with retailers and bigger brands Larger companies still only reach a fraction of the approximately 40 million informal businesses in Nigeria. “You might think your brand is everywhere,” says Smith, “but when the data comes in, you realise you’re covering maybe just 20% of stores
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Out for Delivery: Inside the lives of Lagos’ food delivery riders
Lagos has become the centre of Nigeria’s rapidly growing gig economy, driven by food delivery apps like Chowdeck. Riders chase bonuses, battling rain and manic traffic to keep up with demand. Radio Workshop, with support from Luminate, produced an episode that explores the actual cost of convenience in Nigeria’s fast-growing delivery industry. 33-year-old Goodnews shares what it’s like to survive on two wheels – even though he’d rather be following his true passion: writing. Listen to the podcast here. “Out for Delivery: Inside the lives of Lagos’ food delivery riders” is published in partnership with TechCabal. It’s 3:00 p.m. on Monday, and Goodnews is weaving through Lagos traffic on his scooter. He’s on his way to pick up a mango smoothie. It’s his sixth order of the day from the food delivery app, Chowdeck. He is hoping to reach his target of ten orders before the app closes for the day. If he succeeds, he’ll get paid an extra ₦3,000 (around $2). For Goodnews, every order is a gamble against the weather, the roads, and the unexpected challenges that come with the job. In this episode, Radio Workshop Reporter Mo Isu follows Goodnews, a food delivery rider in Lagos. We discover what it really takes to keep Nigeria’s biggest food delivery app running—and what gig work means for the riders who power it. This episode was produced by Radio Workshop, a non-profit that works with youth reporters across Africa to broadcast on local radio and create podcasts. Radio Workshop provides the tools and teaches the skills, while youth reporters bring their creativity, experience, and passion for tackling the issues that matter to them and their communities. Radio Workshop’s documentary-style podcast has won numerous awards, including Best Standalone Documentary from the International Documentary Association in 2023. Lesedi Mogoatlhe, Radio Workshop’s Editorial Director, reflected, “As we follow Goodnews along the streets of Lagos, we see how young Africans use gig work to find employment and gain independence. But we also see how vulnerable they are to being exploited in jobs with little or no regulation. So the story is really a wake-up call for African governments to step up and make sure that global companies are accountable to the people who drive their business – it’s an echo of the cry to put people before profit.” Goodnews is the son of farmers from Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. He has an engineering degree, but has always dreamed of becoming a published writer. When he moved to Lagos in search of better opportunities, he found himself trapped in low-paid security jobs. That is, until he discovered Chowdeck. Now he spends his days delivering meals mainly around the University of Lagos, weaving through busy streets and hoping every order brings him closer to stability. Reporter Mo Isu spent a day with Goodnews and a group of 12 Chowdeck riders in Yaba, a neighbourhood in Lagos. Mo interviewed them between orders. Through their stories, we hear not just the hustle behind every delivery, but also the questions about fairness, safety, and what it means to have a job where your boss is essentially an app. Across Lagos, Chowdeck has become a fixture of daily life. Ngozi Chukwu, a reporter from Tech Cabal, says it’s a productivity tool for young professionals. The company’s growth mirrors the rise of Nigeria’s gig economy, where flexibility and fast payouts make delivery work one of the few viable options for thousands of young people shut out of formal jobs. But behind the convenience, researchers warn that riders face low pay, little protection, and a system where the algorithm makes all the rules. By nightfall, the rain is still coming down as Goodnews pushes through his final orders, trying to reach his target for the day. How long can riders like Goodnews keep carrying the weight of convenience on their shoulders? Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Meet and learn from Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Get your tickets now: moonshot.techcabal.com
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This new app lets tourists pay Kenyan traders without local SIM cards
Kenya earned about KES 452 billion ($3.5 billion) from inbound tourism in 2024. A large chunk of that cash changes hands in markets where people buy souvenirs, lodges for sleep or entertainment, and on tours because many of those transactions rely on cash. Tourists who do not buy a local SIM face high ATM costs and poor card acceptance. So, on Monday, I passed by Craft Silicon, a Kenyan fintech startup (its main product is Little Cab, an e-taxi company that thrives in corporate rides), to understand how the company managed to bring together the tourism ministry, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), and Mastercard at an event that looked more like a plan to appeal to visitors who want to test M-PESA, but want to transact from their debit or credit cards. The presence of those institutions makes the project more than a product launch since it touches, to some extent, on a private interest in how tourists pay. Why is this important? Tourists travelling from abroad (outside Kenya, in this case) often plan to use debit or credit cards. They expect small purchases to work like at home. In Kenya, many small traders still prefer cash, or in most cases, mobile money payments. That forces visitors into one of three options: buy a local SIM and use mobile money, withdraw cash from an ATM, or haggle over exchange rates at a bureau. Each choice has a cost. During his presentation at the Monday launch, Craft Silicon CEO Kamal Budhabhatti clarified that its latest app, Tourist App, wants to cut that friction. It targets low-value transactions: think of a KES 500 ($4) souvenir or a $43 entry fee to Nairobi National Park—moments when tourists look for quick payments. If those payments can happen digitally, traders keep more sales, and tourists spend less time hunting for cash. How the app works The Tourist app is available on both iOS and Android, and uses a single interface for tourists and merchants. This means merchants do not have to install a separate app or learn a new system. A merchant with an NFC‑enabled phone can prompt a tourist to tap and pay, while the tourist uses a contactless card or phone wallet. Payments can also be routed to mobile money wallets, till numbers, or bank accounts, reducing the need for cash entirely. NFC is at the centre of the experience, since both the merchant and the tourist need devices to support it. In effect, the app turns the merchant’s smartphone into a point‑of‑sale terminal. Tourists do not need a Kenyan SIM card to complete a payment, which removes a common barrier to adoption. Craft Silicon says the service connects to M‑PESA and Airtel Money as local settlement rails. A payment from a foreign card can land in a merchant’s wallet balance in near real time. Budhabhatti told TechCabal that the company is working with Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest telco, to add recipient‑name confirmation before money is sent, a feature that mirrors the standard M‑PESA experience and is key to building trust for one‑off transactions. Who is backing the product? Craft Silicon is the software house behind Little Cab, a Kenyan ride-hailing and delivery service (I have spoken to over 20 Little Cab drivers, who say they prefer corporate rides). I spent over three hours at the launch event, and that mix mattered, per my assessment, for two reasons. First, it shows regulators and private firms are watching how tourist spending is tracked. Second, KCB will be a key payments partner, and the bank runs in-house processing capacity in the region, meaning the card flows and the acquiring logic can be routed and settled locally. Craft Silicon positions the Tourist app as a local solution. The company will charge a 5% fee on each transaction, which is a trade-off. Tourists avoid ATM and exchange costs, and merchants avoid buying new hardware, so it makes sense why Craft Silicon takes a cut. Business model and numbers Craft Silicon will charge 5% on each transaction. That rate sits against two common alternatives. ATM withdrawals come with per‑withdrawal charges and exchange spreads. Card acceptance through merchants often involves monthly fees or hardware costs. For small traders, the choice to accept a new payment method depends on cost and simplicity. A model that sends incoming card funds straight into a local mobile wallet reduces the need for complex merchant acquiring setups. It also moves payment records into systems that are easier to audit. That is likely part of the reason KRA was present at the launch. Adoption hurdles There are three immediate obstacles. First, both merchant and tourist phones need near field communication (NFC) tech. Many basic smartphones do not have it. Second, tourists must download and register on a new app. A short trip reduces the incentive to do that. Third, trust matters. Tourists want to see the recipient’s name before they send money. I felt like Budhabatti didn’t have the right answer. Yet he said the app is working with Safaricom to bring name pull into the flow. That is a practical request. M-PESA already displays a recipient name in standard person-to-person transfers. Extending the same confirmation into an app flow for card-to-mobile money transfers will matter for trust and adoption. Regulatory and tax implications The launch drew a tax authority presence for a reason (Hon Ndiritu Muriithi was there, image attached). Moving tourist spending from cash into traceable digital records changes how revenue is tracked. For KRA, that shift can improve visibility of informal sales and help close compliance gaps. A system that converts card payments into mobile wallet balances touches on card scheme rules and on anti‑money laundering checks. Any solution that moves funds across rails must meet KYC and AML requirements for both the card scheme and the mobile wallet operator. That is likely why the presence of local partners matters. A bank that processes transactions locally can ease some cross‑border friction. Competition and context Card schemes and banks
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Tax banana
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning. Okay, somebody needs to stop NVIDIA. After pouring $5 billion into Intel shares last week in a move resembling consolidation to compete with TSMC and AMD, the chipmaker is at it again. On Monday, the three-trillion-dollar company announced plans for a massive data centre buildout with Sam Altman’s OpenAI, investing $100 billion into the startup. The deal will allow OpenAI to build and deploy at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems for its artificial intelligence data centres to train and run its next generation of models. Global tech companies are firmly in pursuit of superintelligence, and every player wants a finger in the pie. Let’s get into today’s dispatch. Safaricom completes M-PESA upgrade Kenyans pay more taxes than Nigerians Malawi has a new tech to fight corruption New CEO for Canal+ ahead of MultiChoice takeover Cool Suff World Wide Web 3 Events companies Safaricom completes M-PESA’s biggest upgrade yet Image source: M-PESA Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telco, has completed the biggest M-PESA upgrade since launching the mobile money platform over a decade ago. In the early hours of Monday, the telco restored services after a three-hour cutover that shifted its mobile money service to a new cloud-native system named Fintech 2.0 Out with the old. Fintech 2.0 was built to handle Africa’s busiest payments rail. The old setup was built to process a maximum of 5,000 transactions per second, and was already near its ceiling at 4,500. It was running out of room to grow. This new architecture starts at 6,000 transactions per second, with room to double as demand rises. More importantly, it allows Safaricom engineers to upgrade or fix components of the platform without shutting the whole thing down. Safaricom is betting that the new system might bring more partnerships and plugins. Whether that gamble pays is left for us to find out, but Fintech 2.0 gives it a good shot. Why should M-PESA users care? For a platform that processes more than 21 billion transactions a year, a sturdier and more flexible core means faster transactions, fewer outages, faster rollouts of new features, and smoother connections for banks, fintechs, and developers. For competitors already eating into M-PESA’s market share, Fintech 2.0 is a reset button that could reassert its dominance in Africa’s digital payments race. eCommerce Without Borders: Get Paid Faster Worldwide Whether you sell in Lagos or Nairobi, customers want local ways to pay. Let shoppers check out in their local currency, using cards, bank transfers, or mobile money. Set up seamless payments for your global online store with Fincra today. tax Kenya collects more taxes than Nigeria despite being four times smaller Image Source: Meme Kenya collects around $20 billion in taxes annually, while Nigeria plans to collect only $12 billion next year, despite Nigeria’s economy being $56 billion larger and having four times the population. The difference? Kenya gets 15% of its GDP from taxes while Nigeria barely manages 7%. State of play: Kenya’s revenue authority has gone full detective mode. The taxman now scans social media to see if people’s flashy lifestyles match their tax returns. In 2024, they flagged 460 wealthy individuals. Its systems are also plugged directly into M-PESA and banks to track money flows. And on the ground, 1,400 paramilitary-trained agents are deployed to enforce compliance and crack down on evasion. Why does this matter? Nigeria has relied on oil money for decades, but prices are becoming unstable. Now, the government needs regular people and businesses to start paying taxes. The problem is that only 10% of Nigerians pay tax, and just 9% of companies comply properly. Nigeria’s tax authority now wants to double down on tracking all electronic transactions so it can secure its fair share. Zoom out: Nigeria just launched new tax reforms, raised corporate tax to 30%, and aims for 18% tax-to-GDP in two years. But will these new reforms just end up creating more creative tax dodgers? Shop anywhere with Paga’s physical prepaid card Own every checkout with Paga’s Physical Prepaid Card. Suitable for all your security and speed needs. Just fund, shop, and pay anywhere with confidence. Get yours today. policy Malawi now has an app to report corruption Image source: Pixbay Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has launched the ACB Connect App, a mobile and web tool that lets citizens report corruption safely and anonymously. The aim: to make whistleblowing easier and less risky. Malawi is rife with corruption. Transparency International’s corruption perception index, the most widely used measure of corruption across the world, scored Malawi 34 out of 100. This index measures corruption on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 indicates the worst or highly corrupt and 100 means corruption-free. Malawi has been implementing many anti-corruption initiatives and policies since 1994, with the Corruption Practices Act. Its vice president and the Judiciary have faced probes for alleged corrupt practices. Now, an app allows citizens to make reports on suspected corruption. Power to the people. It’s not the first time Africa has gone digital in the fight against corruption. In 2021, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) launched a whistleblower app named The Eagle Eye. In 2024, the Integrity Watch Liberia (IWL) launched the Talkay App that enables citizens to report corruption in real time. These initiatives seemed like big wins when released, but months after Nigeria’s “Eagle Eye” launched, adoption stalled, and users alleged data theft. Malawi will need to learn from that. Here’s the catch. Internet penetration in Malawi is at 18%. Although mobile penetration is much higher at 60.3%, the low connectivity could limit how many people actually use ACB Connect. That’s why the bureau is pairing the launch with digital outreach to build awareness and trust. Turn your hustle into an online store with Paystack! Anyone can sell online. With Paystack Storefront, you can create a sleek online store, share your link, and accept payments. No code
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Why Kenyan remittance startup Bonto is shutting down after two years
Bonto Kenya, a Nairobi-based remittance fintech, is shutting down two years after launching, and less than eight months after securing a licence from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). Bonto founder and CEO Yoann Copreaux announced on Monday that the company, which specialised in remittances and foreign exchange services, stopped processing transactions on August 15 and later asked the CBK to revoke its licence. The regulator confirmed the revocation last week. “It is notified for the information of the general public that pursuant to Regulation 44 (2) of the money remittance regulations 2013, the Central Bank of Kenya has revoked the license of Bonto Kenya Money Transfer Limited,” CBK governor Kamau Thugge wrote in a notice. Bonto’s exit reveals the uneasy reality facing fintechs in Kenya, where regulatory approval no longer guarantees a path to survival. In a market where foreign exchange spreads have narrowed, remittance fees are being driven to zero, and compliance costs keep climbing, only established players with deep client relationships can withstand the squeeze. For Bonto, the timing proved wrong. In a candid note on LinkedIn, Copreaux said the shutdown was due to collapsing FX margins, thin remittance fees, and rising compliance costs that made it impossible to scale profitably. Unlike older money remittance providers (MRPs) that can lean on legacy clients, Bonto was “trying to build in the desert.” “FX margins collapsed, breakeven scale became unrealistic,” Copreaux said. Bonto considered selling its licence, reaching out to more than 50 fintechs and securing five offers. But none proved viable once CBK approval timelines and ongoing monthly losses were factored in. “It was emotionally tough, but closing was the only rational decision by a wide margin,” Yoann wrote. The team behind Bonto will now wind down operations fully, with Copreaux hinting at a reset before pursuing new ventures. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Meet and learn from Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Get your tickets now: moonshot.techcabal.com
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Why Fincra is teaming up with Reap to speed up Africa–Asia transactions
Fincra, a payments infrastructure provider for businesses in and beyond Africa, has partnered with Reap, a global stablecoin-enabled infrastructure provider, to expand card services and cross-border transactions for businesses across Africa and Asia. The partnership will see both firms develop Card-as-a-Service offerings, programmable spend controls, and new financial tools for African fintechs and SMEs. Marking Reap’s first strategic alliance in Africa, this deal combines Fincra’s local payment infrastructure with Reap’s stablecoin-enabled rails to speed up the payments corridor between Africa and Asia. “Stablecoin rails are something we are trying to leverage on because they provide more speed, reliability, and capabilities where the traditional banking rails don’t,” said Kevin Kang, Reap’s co-founder. Sub-Saharan Africa has become a global leader in stablecoin adoption, accounting for 43% of all transactions in 2024. At the same time, moving money in and out of Africa is expensive. In the second quarter of 2024, the World Bank put Sub-Saharan Africa’s average cost of remittances at 8.37%, the highest in the world. Stablecoins are starting to change that dynamic, giving businesses alternatives that move faster and cheaper. “This collaboration will give African businesses across the continent the flexibility to spend and scale with ease,” Wole Ayodele, CEO, Fincra, added The partnership comes four months after Fincra obtained a Third Party Payments Provider (TPPP) licence in South Africa, which will allow the company to process key local payment methods, including debit and credit card transactions, electronic funds transfers (EFTs), and rapid payments. As Reap grows its stablecoin-enabled services, Fincra will support with the infrastructure needed to connect local businesses to global markets. Reap plans to expand across Africa, starting with the market with the most demand. “Fincra is in over 15 countries in Africa. If this works, we will expand across all jurisdictions there,” said Emmanuel Babalola, the company’s Chief Commercial and Growth Officer. 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 MoreDigital Nomads: What keeps Africa’s talent at home?
There is no digital nomad economy without talent. And in Africa, that talent is not in short supply. Yet infrastructure gaps, visa restrictions, and patchy pay systems, means that for many Africans, being part of that nomad economy requires making the impossible decision between a rock and a hard place. On the surface, it is easy to imagine that Africa’s digital workers remain because of choice. In truth, choice is part of the story, but rarely the whole. In addition to infrastructure shortages that complicate even the most basic aspects of living, securing visas that guarantee global mobility with an African passport is not only extremely challenging but expensive. Leke Ariyo, who works at a global firm, said it took him three years of steady work before he could finally afford to relocate to the UK. According to data published by Nigerian fintech Piggyvest, “japa,” the colloquial word for leaving the country, is consistently one of the reasons people save money. 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 foreign link, Trump, and remote work If infrastructure and visa bureaucracies closed doors, foreign companies have opened new ones. With the rise of distributed work teams, from entry-level developers to senior product managers, Africans are now hired remotely by firms across Europe, North America, and Asia. Some of these firms go on to sponsor talent on skilled worker visas. Digital Nomads: The 60-day race to find another UK work visa, or be deported But that merry cycle could get punctured after the US President Donald Trump, who has been vocal about limiting work visas to prevent companies from hiring abroad and undercutting American talent, issued an executive order to hike application fees for skilled worker visas. On September 19, Trump signed the order to increase the fee for applying to the H1-B non-immigrant visa by $100,000 to curb overuse. Foreigners will also pay $1 million to secure a “gold card” for US residency and companies will pay $2 million for a “corporate gold card” to sponsor one or more foreign employees. The H1-B is a skilled worker visa widely used in Silicon Valley to attract foreign talents. Created in 1990, Americans have argued over the years that these visas undercut local employees. Digital Nomads: A superbike accident was the breaking point for Oluwaleke Fakorede The signed order means it will now become more expensive for US companies to sponsor foreign talent; with this constraint, employers will only want to spend to relocate the absolute best. “We’re going to be able to keep people in our country that are going to be very productive people,” said Trump. “And in many cases these companies are going to pay a lot of money for that and they’re very happy about it.” This Trump move could inadvertently stem the brain drain for talent in other countries. For example, India is known widely as one of the talent factories for Silicon Valley employers. With sponsorship becoming expensive, it could curb relocation of foreign talent, even across African countries. What Indian governments couldn’t do for so long, Trump accomplished with a one stroke of the pen. Stopped Indian brain drain by raising the H1B visa price to $100,000. pic.twitter.com/n5kSRuoOmC — Darab Farooqui (@darab_farooqui) September 20, 2025 On the other hand, the new regulation could force more US employers to turn their attention back to remote hiring to the
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“The point of building for Africa is to make sure Africans can afford it” – Day 1-1000 of Axia Africa
Some startups are born out of a grand desire to change the world, some are born out of a desire to change people. Axia Africa is both. An edtech company whose mission is to equip Africans with skills that make them employable, Axia Africa was born out of a desire to solve the talent problem that continues to plague the African tech ecosystem. Olawale Samuel started out teaching people on his social media following how to design, then expanded into an edtech platform with thousands of students. But this journey wasn’t without its challenges. On this episode of Day 1-1000, Samuel tells me the journey of taking Axia Africa from only 45 students in its early days, to organising Africa’s largest training bootcamp. This is the story of Axia Africa as told to TechCabal. Day 1: From music tutor to tech talent I’ve always had a passion for impacting people, not just in tech. At one point, I taught music and how to play instruments. So when I started off Axia Africa, I just wanted to teach a few people. I started off teaching product design for free. After about five or six months, somebody decided to pay me to teach, and I realised it all made sense now. I realised that many people wanted to pursue not just product design, but also other tech fields like development and data analytics. My co-founder (a developer) and I found each other on X (formerly Twitter). We hosted a free boot camp and also asked people if they wanted to volunteer to teach. When the bootcamp was over and we decided to make it more structured, we went back to the same set of people to be our first set of paid mentors. Day 300: From 45 students to 4,000-student cohort Before Axia Africa became known, we faced a period of immense struggle. Despite feeling like we were doing everything right, there were times when we barely had students, maybe 45 enrolling at a time. It was depressing. I remember having to use the money for my rent to pay salaries for my team. We weren’t funded, and it was a really trying time. The first sign that the dog days were over was when we had our first 300-student cohort. After that, everyone just kept talking about our program on X. It became a huge tool for us. If people ask for testimonials, I just tell them to search for Axia Africa on X, and they’ll see someone talking about us. We went from 300 to 1,000, then to 2,000, and now to over 4,000 students in a single cohort. We hold two serious records: the largest boot camp in Africa with 20,000 participants from 82 countries, and the largest number of students in a single cohort, with 4,000. Going from having too few students to having the largest bootcamp makes the early days look like a bad dream. 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You need to see and feel their problems, and one of the biggest is money. We have to consider the economy and make our services affordable for them. The whole point of
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M-PESA is upgrading its platform on Sept. 22; here’s what customers can expect after
Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest telco, will execute its most significant M-PESA overhaul since bringing the service to the country in 2015, migrating the platform to a new core known as Fintech 2.0. The upgrade, scheduled on September 22, will affect over 50 million M-PESA customers across Africa and is designed to process more transactions, reduce outages, and shorten the time needed to roll out new features. More than 210 engineers in Kenya, supported by over 100 specialists from abroad, are managing the migration to limit service disruption during the cutover. Safaricom says the three-hour upgrade window is enough time to move customer data to the new system, run live tests, and bring services back online before peak morning activity. M-PESA services, including payments and airtime purchases, will be offline during that time. The move to Fintech 2.0 replaces a core that has been running near its design limits. The current system processes about 4,500 transactions per second, but was built for a maximum of 5,000. The new platform is cloud-native, uses microservices, and can process 6,000 transactions per second at launch, with the ability to scale to 12,000 as demand grows, Felix Rop, head of financial services technology, said on Friday, Sept. 19. This should help M-PESA handle peak loads without downtime. 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 Safaricom has built the new M-PESA cloud locally, Rop told TechCabal, addressing a long-standing demand to keep customer data in the country. The telco migrated M-PESA from data centres in Germany to Kenya in 2015 under the “bring M-PESA home” project. Today, M-PESA’s core runs on Huawei Cloud, processing 21 billion transactions yearly. Fintech 2.0 adds a second layer, hosted on a local cloud agnostic setup with active-active architecture across multiple sites to guarantee higher service availability. The upgrade is also part of a wider partnership with Microsoft and Vodafone. Microsoft is hosting M-PESA workloads on Azure to support the launch of new applications. It provides AI tools to improve fraud detection and predict network issues before they impact users. Vodafone is investing $1.5 billion over the next decade in AI solutions that will be used across M-PESA markets. The shift to microservices means Safaricom can now update single components without taking the whole system offline, Esther Waititu, chief financial services officer, said. For users, this should mean fewer interruptions during upgrades and better response times when things go wrong. Safaricom says the upgrade keeps M-PESA relevant for the next decade as more services move to digital. Today, M-PESA powers payments, credit, savings, remittances, insurance, and e-commerce across several African markets. The migration is a high-stakes exercise. Even a short disruption affects millions of people and businesses that rely on M-PESA daily. Safaricom hopes to keep the impact small while laying the foundation for its next growth phase by scheduling the work overnight. “As much as we have tested several times, we still do a full migration test before we go live to ensure the system can handle the actual traffic,” he said. “This gives us confidence that once we switch on, customers will not see a difference except faster response times.” Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Meet and learn from Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Get your tickets now: moonshot.techcabal.com
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Crypto project used Kenya’s ex-prime minister to promote token in deepfake scandal
On September 18, the verified X account of former Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga briefly posted a promotion for a new cryptocurrency called the Kenya Token ($KENYA). The post, which was quickly deleted, claimed the token would soon launch and position Kenya at the centre of Africa’s crypto revolution. It was accompanied by a video that appeared to show Odinga endorsing the project. “We are pleased to announce that [Kenya] token will soon launch. Kenya is stepping up to lead Africa into the crypto revolution, embracing digital finance and shaping a more crypto-friendly future,” wrote Odinga in the now-deleted post. Odinga has not issued a direct statement, but accounts suggest that the post did not originate from him and that the video was a fabrication. Critics remain divided about the post’s true origins. The episode exposes the growing nexus of deepfake media, compromised accounts, and opportunistic crypto projects seeking quick legitimacy. It also highlights how high-profile figures can be weaponised to lend credibility to fragile or fraudulent schemes. 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 A similar case played out in February 2025 in Tanzania when billionaire Mohammed Dewji’s X account was hacked and used to promote a fake token called $Tanzania. In that instance, a deepfake video showed Dewji apparently endorsing the token; by the time the account was reclaimed and warnings issued, the scammers had already raised nearly $1.48 million. Trails followed by TechCabal show that the creators of the Kenya Token launched a first version of their website on Thursday, branding the token as the “official digital token” of Kenya. The site promised staking opportunities, where investors could buy and hold the token to earn interest. The project’s Telegram channel currently has about 1,620 members, but since it has not launched yet, there is no contract address, and adoption cannot be tracked. Kenya Token’s Telegram channel retrieved on September 19, 2025 Several critics have labelled it a scam, noting that the project had no history before September 17, suggesting it was cobbled together at the last minute with no elaborate planning. Yet it remains unclear whether the actors behind the token still have access to Odinga’s X account and could further exploit public perception. The episode mirrors global trends. In 2024, high-yield investment promises were one of the most common tactics to lure victims in crypto scams, according to a report from analysis firm Chainalysis. Nearly half of the scams came from projects offering unrealistic rewards without real utility. Other major fraud types included pig-butchering scams and rug pulls. Kenya has already seen controversy around another project with a strikingly similar name. On July 11, a group of anonymous developers launched the Kenya Digital Token (KDT), or $KDT, marketing it as a tool for civic participation and a way for citizens to “buy into Kenyan heritage.” The launch immediately drew scepticism as it went live without a white paper or pre-sale, tools that investors typically rely on to test the project’s fundamentals. “In July, when it first came out, there were obvious red flags such as the lack of a white paper and the presence of bots,” said one source who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely. “Members of the crypto community pointed these issues out, and since then, the creators have been present in forums, slowly making adjustments to appear more legitimate.” The KDT team later
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