How Bari Keenam made job rejections a competitive sport to secure global tech roles
Bari Keenam has been a photographer, videographer, magazine publisher, cybersecurity intern, network engineer, graphic designer, and motion designer. At 25, he’s now a product designer at Lyft in Canada. He wishes he’d specialised earlier. But he also knows that if he had, he wouldn’t be here at all. This is the paradox of the serial learner, and how a group of audacious University of Lagos (UNILAG) friends turned job rejections into a competitive sport. Bari Keenam keeps his entire life in two boxes. “I live very light,” he tells me from Canada, where he’s been since joining Lyft earlier this year. “I know I move a lot. I just have one box of clothes and shoes. Everything fits. If I need to move tomorrow for a new job, I know what to carry.” It’s a fitting metaphor for someone who’s spent his early 20s refusing to stay in one place, geographically or professionally. At 25, Keenam has worked across three continents, four industries, and more job titles than most people try in a lifetime. His LinkedIn could give someone whiplash. But there’s a method to the movement. The magazine that started everything Keenam graduated secondary school at 15 in 2015. Too young for university, he spent three years in limbo, taking an internship at a marketing firm and teaching himself everything he could find on Coursera, Domestika, and Udemy. “I called it serial learning,” he says. “I was just taking anything I could learn, digital marketing, front-end design, WordPress development, graphic design. Whatever I could find.” During that time, he and a friend started an online magazine called Gumbars. “Very weird name,” Keenam admits, laughing. But it was serious work. They had a team of around 20 people; writers, photographers, designers, all between 16 and 17 years old. “We were interviewing cool people. We met Odunsi, we met Korty, we met Slawn. A lot of them are way bigger now than they were then. ” When the magazine stopped, Keenam took the skills he’d learned and started freelancing, first WordPress development, then design, charging whatever he thought he could get away with. “I would say a price today and then five times the price tomorrow, and they kept saying yes,” he remembers. “I had nothing to lose. I didn’t have to worry about getting fired by just calling random quotes.” Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events TC Scoop Subscribe The UNILAG audacity Everything changed when Keenam got into UNILAG to study Systems Engineering. “UNILAG could be referred to as Nigeria’s Silicon Valley,” he says without hesitation. “And it’s because of audacity. Students at UNILAG were very audacious in what they wanted to try.” He describes friends casually applying to Google and Facebook, companies he thought were ‘out of reach.’ “Then you see them get it and you’re like, ‘Oh, I can get that thing too.’ That led me to a lot of other audacious attempts in my career.” This thinking became a guiding career-building tool. . Keenam and his friends began what he calls ‘glorifying rejections.’ “We didn’t take no as ‘oh my gosh, sad.’ We took ‘no’ as – ‘How many nos can you get before you get a yes?’” he explains. The strategy was simple but brutal; apply to 10 jobs a day. Every single day. As students, Keenam and his friends “applied to about 200 jobs a month,” about ten per day with the goal to “keep applying until you get a yes.” Most applications led nowhere. But that was the point, learning how international companies interview, what they want, how to present yourself. “I was really young. It was good to know that earlier on.” The Toptal breakthrough Those scores of applications eventually paid off. Keenam got into Toptal, a network of top freelance talent that only accepts about 3% of applicants. “When I got in, I was in a very small group of Nigerians that got in,” he says. “I think that was like one of my big break moments. Everyone started noticing, ‘Oh, this guy got into Toptal.’” That visibility led him to a role at Grey Finance (now Grey), a Nigerian fintech where Keenam worked on their rebrand. “For a brand designer, that is like the biggest thing, being involved in a rebrand.” But while working at Grey, something unexpected happened: Snapchat got back to him. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events TC Scoop Subscribe The year-long pause Keenam had applied to Snapchat a year earlier through LinkedIn networking. “I was very heavy on LinkedIn networking. I messaged a lot of people in companies I wanted to work at. This one person at Snapchat replied.” He’d made it through the interview process and got a yes. Then Snapchat paused all hiring. “They were like, ‘We can’t hire anyone unfortunately. But we’ll get back to you when we can hire again.’” A year later, while at Grey, they did. “The second invite was to apply from scratch. They’re like,
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Why 66,000 Starlink users in Nigeria must complete biometric update before 2026
Over 66,000 Starlink subscribers in Nigeria risk having their internet access restricted after December 31, 2025, if they fail to complete a mandatory biometric update. The requirement, first issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in August 2025, extends the regulator’s subscriber-verification framework beyond mobile networks to satellite internet providers to strengthen identity verification and security across the telecoms ecosystem. According to an NCC spokesperson, the commission issued the directive via a letter dated August 19, 2025 and set the deadline for “3 months from date of directive (i.e. November 19, 2025).” An extension was granted on November 17, 2025, pushing the final deadline to December 31, 2025. Starlink confirmed the requirement in an email sent to customers on Monday, December 29, 2025, noting that the verification process takes “less than two minutes.” The company warned that subscribers who fail to submit their details by the December 31 deadline will have their service suspended. Reactivation, it added, will depend on network capacity in the subscriber’s location, meaning some users may not be able to restore service if their area is already at capacity. Starlink’s email to subscribers notifying them to complete their KYC registration by December 31, 2025. A Starlink employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to comment publicly, said the process is straightforward. Subscribers are required to upload a headshot photograph, provide their National Identification Number (NIN), and give consent for the information to be linked to their Starlink account. Capacity constraints could complicate reactivation for affected users. In Lagos, neighbourhoods such as Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lagos Island, Ikeja, Surulere, Lekki, and surrounding estates frequently appear as “sold out” or “at capacity” on Starlink’s availability checker, prompting prospective users to join a waitlist that requires a deposit. A similar situation exists in Abuja, where several districts have reached capacity and now accept only waitlist deposits rather than new residential activations. Starlink did not respond to a request for comments. The policy closely mirrors the NCC’s December 15, 2023, directive to mobile network operators under the NIN–SIM linkage programme, which required subscribers’ NINs to be matched with existing SIM registration records, including facial images and fingerprints, in collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). The move aimed to improve national security, curb identity-related fraud, and create a more reliable national subscriber database. The mobile sector rollout followed a phased timeline, with September 14, 2024, set as the final compliance deadline. Operators were instructed to fully bar any unverified lines after that date. By the end of the exercise, the NCC reported a 96% compliance rate, with over 153 million SIMs successfully linked to verified NINs. In August 2025, the Commission announced that all improperly registered SIMs had been removed from Nigeria’s networks, setting a regulatory precedent now being applied to satellite internet services like Starlink. One Starlink subscriber in Lagos, Tochukwu Nwankwu, said he completed the biometric update after receiving an in-app notification from the company in October 2025. “Just a panel on the app. Just like a poor signal notification, when you’re far from the router, or when there’s a software update,” he said.
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iPhone 17 Series breakdown: Full specs, price and best value picks
The iPhone 17 Series is Apple’s latest flagship device in 2025, succeeding the iPhone 16 launched last year. With the series, Apple discontinued the Plus model and introduced the iPhone 17 Air, marketed as the thinnest iPhone. Users get a 6.3-inch display on the base iPhone 17 and Pro, a 6.5-inch display on the Air, a 6.9-inch display on the Pro Max, and a 120Hz refresh rate across all devices. Each device in the series features a 48 MP rear camera that captures clear, well-detailed images. The iPhone lineup was announced on September 9, 2025, and made available for purchase on September 19, 2025, ten days later. iPhone 17 price in Nigeria Buying iPhones in Nigeria is tricky because Apple doesn’t ship directly to Nigeria, so there’s no uniformprice in the country. There’s also a massive markup on the iPhone 17 in Nigeria, often due to outrageous customs duties and import levies. The base iPhone 17, 256 GB, sells between ₦1,650,000.00 ($ 1,137.23) and ₦1,869,660.00 ($ 1,288.51). The 512 GB version price falls between ₦2,100,000.00 ($1447.26) and ₦2,337,660.00 ($1611.05). A price difference of over ₦500,000 ($344.59) reflects the additional cost of storage space. The iPhone 17 Air model introduces a 1TB option. Current market rates are: 256 GB: ₦2,200,000.00 ($1516.17) – ₦2,337,600 ($1611) 512 GB: ₦2,500,000.00 ($1722.93) – ₦2,805,000.00 ($1933.12) 1TB: ₦2,900,000.00 ($1998.59) – ₦3,273,660.00 ($2256.11). The iPhone 17 Pro shares the same storage tiers as the Air model. Users looking to buy the model would spend between: 256GB: ₦2,350,000.00 ($1619.55) – ₦2,700,000.00 ($1860.76) 512 GB: ₦2,800,000.00 ($1929.68) – ₦3,350,000.00 ($2308.72) 1TB: ₦3,300,000.00 ($2274.26) – ₦3,750,000.00 ($2584.39). To get the 1TB option, users would be paying an additional fee of over ₦700,000.00 ($482.42). Unlike other devices in the series, the iPhone 17 Pro Max added a 2 TB option. The iPhone 17 Pro Max in Nigeria costs between ₦2,600,000.00 ($1791.84) – ₦4,500,000.00 ($3101.27) and ₦3,150,000.00 ($2170.89) – ₦4,950,000.00 ($3411.39). The prices stated above are not standard or static; changes in the Nigerian Naira/US Dollar exchange rate also affect prices. Be sure to confirm prices with your local vendor before making a purchase. iPhone 17 full specifications The iPhone 17 series is a high-end smartphone designed to rival other smartphones in camera performance, battery life, and everyday performance. This is how the iPhone 17 models compare. Design and build The base iPhone 17 measures 149.6 mm in height and 8 mm in thickness. It weighs 177 grams, making it comfortable to hold. The screen uses Ceramic Shield 2 for protection, and the body mixes an aluminium frame with a glass back. It has an IP68 rating, meaning it is dustproof and waterproof, with a 6-meter water immersion rating. You can pick it up in Black, White, Mist Blue, Sage, or Lavender. For the iPhone 17 Air, the focus is on achieving exceptional thinness and lightness. It is just 5.6 mm thick and weighs only 165 grams. It features a premium Grade 5 titanium frame and a glass back. Like the base model, it is IP68 water-resistant. This model is available in colours such as Space Black, Cloud White, Light Gold, and Sky Blue. The iPhone 17 Pro is heavier and sturdier, weighing 206 grams and measuring 8.8 mm in thickness. It features an aluminium-alloy frame and offers an aluminium or glass back. It keeps the same Ceramic Shield 2 front and IP68 rating. Colour options for this model include Silver, Cosmic Orange, and Deep Blue. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is the largest of the series, measuring 163.4 mm in height and weighing 233 grams. It shares the solid aluminium alloy build, Ceramic Shield 2 protection, and IP68 rating found on the Pro. It is available in Silver, Cosmic Orange, and Deep Blue. Display On the iPhone 17, you get a 6.3-inch LTPO OLED screen with a resolution of 1206 x 2622. The 120 Hz refresh rate makes animations look very smooth. Brightness reaches 1000 nits for everyday use, peaking at 3000 nits. The iPhone 17 Air features a 6.5-inch display with a 1260 x 2736 resolution. The screen-to-body ratio is about 89.9%, with the same high brightness capabilities as the standard model. The iPhone 17 Pro matches the base model’s 6.3-inch display and 1206 x 2622 resolution. However, it maintains the Pro standard with LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED technology. It supports Dolby Vision and HDR10, ensuring movies and photos look vibrant and sharp. The iPhone 17 Pro Max features a 6.9-inch screen, the biggest in the lineup. It has a resolution of 1320 x 2868, a pixel density of 460 ppi, and features a LTPO Super Retina OLED similar to the Pro. Performance and software The iPhone 17 is powered by the Apple A19 chipset, built on a 3 nm process. It features a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU that handle games and daily tasks smoothly. It ships with iOS 26 and supports new features and updates. The iPhone 17 Air features the Apple A19 Pro chipset. While it also uses a 5-core GPU, the Pro chip is designed for speed. It runs iOS 26. The same Apple A19 Pro chipset powers the iPhone 17 Pro, but it gets a boost in graphics with a 6-core GPU. This extra power makes it better for heavy gaming or editing videos. It is designed to handle demanding tasks quickly while running the latest iOS 26 software. The iPhone 17 Pro Max also uses the A19 Pro chip with the powerful 6-core GPU. This setup gives you the maximum performance available in the series. Memory and storage For the iPhone 17, you get 8 GB of RAM. Storage options are 256 GB or 512 GB. It uses fast NVMe storage, so apps load quickly. The iPhone 17 Air increases its RAM to 12 GB. You can choose from 256 GB, 512 GB, or 1 TB of storage. This extra RAM helps keep more apps open in the background, making the phone feel snappier. The iPhone 17 Pro also comes with
Read MoreIn 2025, cyber breaches in Africa became harder to hide
Cybersecurity breaches remained a persistent thorn in the side of African companies in 2025, but the major highlights from the year weren’t the headline attacks. Institutions lost the luxury of keeping breaches quiet as cyberattacks became harder to hide. Several African countries tightened the breach-reporting guidelines for operators. Chief among them is Algeria, which mandated a 5-day window for companies to report breaches or pay heavy fines. Kenya and South Africa also made significant strides in forcing organisations to treat breaches as public events rather than private IT problems. In Kenya, operators that discover a potential breach are now expected to alert data controllers within 48 hours, and controllers are pushed to file a preliminary report to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) within 72 hours—even if the full facts are not yet in. Late notifications must be justified, and new guidance from the regulator ties weak security and poor reporting directly to fines, sanctions, and even the risk of losing the right to process data. For Kenyan firms, that means the old instinct to “wait until we know more” now carries regulatory risk of its own. South Africa also overhauled its breach‑reporting process. While the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) had long required organisations to notify both the regulator and affected people after a “security compromise,” in 2025, the Information Regulator tightened how that duty works in practice. In April, it mandated companies to log breaches through an online reporting portal using a form, forcing operators to spell out what happened, what data was involved, what they are doing to contain it, and what individuals should do to protect themselves. According to South Africa’s Information Regulator, there were 2,374 reported breaches in the 2024/25 financial year, with 82% of them occurring after April 2025. The number pointed to an acceleration, but also hinted that disclosure was becoming unavoidable. Elsewhere, Zambia chose to treat cybersecurity as a critical‑infrastructure issue rather than a back‑office concern. In April 2025, the country split its cyber law into two: a Cyber Security Act governing security service providers and critical information infrastructure, and a Cyber Crimes Act dealing with offences and penalties. Operators in sectors such as energy, banking and finance, health, transport, pensions and insurance, ICT, education, mining, and other designated public‑sector services can now be classified as controllers of “critical information” or “critical information infrastructure,” bringing them under a tighter supervisory net. That designation comes with hard obligations: controllers must register with the new Zambia Cyber Security Agency, keep designated critical information hosted in Zambia unless expressly authorised to store it elsewhere, and promptly notify the agency of any perceived or actual cybersecurity incident affecting those systems or connected networks. They are also required to undergo annual audits, file cybersecurity situational-awareness reports, and participate in national cyber-exercises, with non-compliance punishable by fines of up to ZMW 1.2 million ($48,000) and, in serious cases, prison terms that can extend up to 10 years. These regulatory shifts forced the disclosure of some of the most consequential breaches in 2025. At a new scale, they made visible how intrusions disrupt everyday customer services in very public ways. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events TC Scoop Subscribe Exposure as a strategy If 2024 gave us the unfortunate breach at South Africa’s National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), the biggest healthcare incident in 2025 was Kenya’s M-TIBA breach in October. Like a trophy showcase, hackers published the siphoned data on public Telegram channels, a pattern used to force organisations to comply with ransom demands. Organisations that hold sensitive customer data remained heavily targeted businesses in 2025. Telecom firms, once assumed to be resilient by virtue of scale, became some of the most lucrative targets. Telecom Namibia, a state-owned provider, was quietly crippled by a ransomware attack in December 2024, with a public fallout that continued in January 2025. When the company refused to pay, attackers leaked sensitive billing data belonging to senior government officials in an attempt to force compliance. On January 8, hackers hit mobile operator Cell C with a cybersecurity breach, with reports stating that perpetrators, RansomHouse, had “unlawfully disclosed the incident” and published stolen customer data on the dark web, exposing them to fraud and extortion. In April, MTN Group disclosed a data breach affecting its South African subscribers. In Ghana, at least 5,700 MTN customers were directly affected in a breach reported on April 28. In South Africa, the breach escalated into a criminal investigation. The message to the industry was unmistakable: Telecoms had become identity vaults, and those vaults were being tested. Hackers maintained their exhibitionist posture, and several other sensitive data organisations were hit. In January 2025, a cyberattack on the South African Weather Service (SAWS) knocked key systems offline, disrupting the delivery of aviation and marine forecasts and limiting access to critical weather information at home and across the region. In July, the municipal systems of Otjiwarongo, a quiet town in central Namibia, were knocked offline. Residents were blocked from accessing basic services as officials struggled to explain what had happened. The year’s most consequential infrastructure breach involved South Africa’s Eskom, the state-owned power company, and it became a crowning moment of the exposure era—one that attached a clear financial cost to a cyber incident. In December 2024, the power utility detailed how its Online Vending System (OVS)—the platform used to generate prepaid electricity tokens—had been breached the previous year, after a forensic investigation linked large “non-technical” losses to fraud on
Read MoreFollow the Money (Wrapped): Tax laws, ATMs’ return, and where money went in 2025
In 2025, TechCabal published about 21 editions of Follow the Money, tracking how Nigerians earned, spent, saved, and lost money in a year shaped by policy shifts, fintech power plays, and tightening government oversight. We followed what banks spent on, how tax laws evolved, how Jumia adjusted its revenue strategy, and how individuals and companies adapted to a rapidly changing financial system. At its core, the column asked a simple question: What does spending reveal about individual and institutional priorities? In a capitalist world, money is the single most important indicator of what a company’s or a person’s interests are. Follow its movement, and you can predict the health of a company, the direction of a policy, or the future of the economy. In 2025, we tracked how Nigerians interacted with their money amid new rules, faster payments, and shifting incentives. Each story in the column has pointed to where and how money will flow in 2026, and these are some of them to keep in mind as we enter the new year: Remote workers will now pay taxes Nigeria signed sweeping tax reforms in 2025, and from January 2026, remote workers and freelancers will officially fall within the tax net. Under the new law, personal income tax will apply to Nigerians earning income locally or abroad, regardless of where the money is paid. Salaries will be taxed at a maximum rate of 25%, lower than in South Africa (45%), Kenya (35%), Egypt (27.5%), and Algeria (35%). The law, signed in June 2025, aims to raise Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio to 18% by 2027 from under 10%. It also clarifies that income earned abroad by Nigerian residents is taxable in Nigeria, even if the income is not remitted. Also, a Nigerian’s salary is taxable when they work abroad in a country that exempts their salary from tax under an agreement or diplomatic arrangement to which Nigeria is a party. Freelancers must now register with tax authorities. Failure to do so attracts a ₦50,000 ($34.64) fine in the first month and ₦25,000 ($17.32) for every additional month. Failure to file returns attracts a ₦100,000 ($69.28) fine in the first month and ₦50,000 ($34.64) for each month after. False declarations could result in fines of up to ₦1 million ($692.82) or three years in prison, or both. Come 2026, Nigerians working for foreign companies will no longer fly under the radar. Crypto earnings are no longer tax-free Crypto profits will also face taxation from 2026. “The new law that will take effect in January 2026 will tax you if you make gains on crypto and totally ignore you when you make losses,” Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, told TechCabal in October. “It is not a crime to invest in crypto. If your net gain is small, below the threshold (₦800,000), your tax is 0%.” Between July 2024 and June 2025, Nigerians transacted $92.1 billion (₦132.94 trillion) in crypto, making the country one of the world’s most active crypto markets. The new rules aim to bring structure to an economy the government has long struggled to regulate. Although a 10% tax on digital asset profits was introduced under the 2022 Finance Act, it was never enforced. This time, enforcement is coming as crypto traders must self-report their profits. To boost compliance, crypto exchanges will now be required to monitor and report transactions. Non-compliant platforms face ₦10 million ($6,928.18) in fines in the first month and ₦1 million ($692.82) for every subsequent month, alongside possible licence suspension or revocation by the SEC. ATMs are making a comeback After years of decline, ATMs are returning to the centre of Nigeria’s cash economy. In Q1 2025 alone, Nigerians withdrew ₦15.98 trillion ($11.07 billion), a 192.7% increase year-on-year. The rebound follows new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) guidelines tightening oversight of PoS agents and mandating wider ATM deployment. Under a draft regulation, banks must deploy one ATM for every 5,000 active cards issued—30% compliance by 2026, 60% by 2027, and full compliance by 2028. The shift signals a return to ATM-first access after years of PoS dominance. By 2026, Nigerians should expect more ATMs and tighter controls on PoS operations. Transfers will cost more from 2026 From January 2026, sending ₦50,000 ($34.64) will cost ₦100, not because banks changed their pricing, but because the government changed who pays. Five years after replacing stamp duty with the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), Nigeria is bringing stamp duty back under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025. Previously, EMTL charged a flat ₦50 on transfers of ₦10,000 ($6.93) and above, paid by the receiver. From 2026, the sender pays, and the charge stacks on top of existing transfer fees. Currently, bank customers pay: ₦10 for transfers below ₦5,000; ₦25 for transfers between ₦5,001 and ₦50,000; ₦50 for transfers above ₦50,000. With stamp duty added, transfers above ₦10,000 ($6.93) will now cost between ₦75 and ₦100 per transaction. For businesses and PoS agents, this removes the burden of deducting ₦50 from incoming payments. For individuals, it makes every transfer slightly more expensive. The biggest winners of 2025: OPay and PalmPay OPay and PalmPay tightened their grip on Nigeria’s microtransaction economy in 2025. In Q1 alone, mobile money transactions hit ₦20.71 trillion ($14.35 billion), up 1,518.64% from ₦1.28 trillion ($886.81 million) in Q1 2021. Much of that volume flowed through the two platforms. Their rise was driven by timing, reliability, and trust, especially during periods when banks faltered, from the 2022 naira redesign to recurring outages in 2024. By 2025, OPay had crossed 20 million daily active users, while PalmPay processed over 15 million daily transactions. Both are now betting on cards to reach semi-digital and offline users in 2026. Generally, in 2025, we learnt that apps are now becoming the most preferred means of moving cash in the country, and banks are paying attention. Mobile app payments jumped 33.65% year-on-year to ₦104.07 trillion ($72.10 billion) in Q1 2025, driven by smartphone adoption and renewed bank
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Africa’s 2025 tech dictionary
Africa’s tech ecosystem spent much of the past two years clawing its way out of a ‘funding winter.’ In 2025, it finally stood upright again. Startups on the continent raised over $3 billion, according to funding tracker, Africa: The Big Deal, the highest annual total since the zero-interest-rate era ended in 2022. Investors returned selectively to startups with revenue, infrastructure value, and clearer paths to profitability. Rather than one defining headline, the year was shaped by a set of recurring words. Each reflected a shift in how African tech was built, financed, regulated, and scaled, in 2025. AI Doctors: AI Doctor refers to AI-powered health tools that assist with diagnosis or triage. In 2025, as AI advanced, we saw African healthtech startups, including Awa Doc, Clafiya, Penda Health, and Koyo Healthtech, launch more AI triage tools that allowed patients to diagnose symptoms online and escalate critical cases quickly. These tools aim to reduce long clinic wait times, cut transport costs, and extend critical access to healthcare professionals in underserved areas. AI regulation/AI governance: AI regulation refers to rules governing how AI systems are built and deployed. As AI adoption accelerates, governments have begun drafting governance frameworks focused on data protection, transparency, and accountability. Examples include Kenya’s 2025–2030 National AI Strategy, drafted in March, and Nigeria’s draft AI oversight bill, which both tie AI use to existing data‑protection rules and explicit transparency and audit obligations. In 2025, the emphasis was less on blanket restrictions and more on preventing misuse while allowing innovation, with Kenya’s, South Africa’s, and the African Union’s strategy documents all framing “responsible AI” as potentially enabling economic growth under clear safeguards. Battery swapping: Battery swapping allows EV users to exchange depleted batteries for charged ones instead of waiting to recharge. In 2025, battery swapping gained traction in motorcycle and delivery segments, particularly where downtime directly affected income. It solved a practical problem that charging infrastructure alone could not, making EVs more viable for daily commercial use. Blended finance: Blended finance combines equity with debt or other instruments to lower risk and extend runway. Startups such as Nigeria’s Rivy (formerly Payhippo) raised mixed rounds in 2025, reflecting a broader shift toward capital efficiency and alternative financing as founders avoided excessive dilution at lower valuations. In May 2025, Egypt’s Nawy also raised $52 million in Series A funding, which included $23 million in debt financing. Blockchain infrastructure: Blockchain infrastructure includes payment rails, custody systems, identity layers, and settlement tools that make digital assets usable at scale. In 2025, foreign infrastructure companies expanded across Africa, supporting stablecoins, on-chain payments, and enterprise use cases. Locally, Hyperbridge, a Polygon-powered infrastructure, raised significant funding; Zone’s regulated blockchain crossed ₦1 trillion ($690,000) in payments, showing usage and scale; and Asset Chain, a Nigerian eponymous blockchain firm, went live. Carbon credits: Carbon credits are verified reductions or removals of greenhouse gas emissions that can be sold to companies looking to offset their carbon footprint. Africa matters here because it holds some of the world’s largest natural carbon sinks—including the Congo Basin Rainforests, Peatlands, and the Mangroves and Coastal Ecosystems—but has historically captured very little value from them. In 2025, carbon markets moved toward execution as Kenya (introducing the “eco levy” to tackle waste), Nigeria (5% fossil fuel surcharge), and others advanced national frameworks. Startups, such as Nigeria’s Vectar Energy, built digital measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) and trading platforms for credits from forests, farms, and clean energy. Kenya’s Octavia Carbon, which raised $5 million in seed funding in 2024, commissioned a geothermal direct air capture (DAC) tool for generating carbon credits from thin air. Development finance institutions (DFIs), investors, and global financiers began treating carbon as a financial asset. The discussions progressed from carbon credits as theory to assets that can be integrated into institutional and retail climate‑finance portfolios, pushing the sector into Africa’s tech mainstream. Cleantech/climate finance: Cleantech refers to technologies that reduce environmental impact, while climate finance is the capital used to scale them. In 2025, climate-focused startups attracted more structured capital, including debt, securitisation, and blended finance. This year, four of Africa’s ten largest startup rounds were in climate and energy, raising over $600 million through structured and asset‑linked deals. In Q3 2025, clean‑energy startups secured $519.5 million—about 53% of all funding that quarter—with Kenya leading on big energy projects. Investors also backed the wave through new vehicles like Equator’s $55 million fund and Acumen’s $90 million Kawisafi II, supporting clean‑energy and off‑grid operators with predictable cash flows. Corporate VC (CVC): Corporate VC is investment made by large companies into startups for strategic, not just financial, reasons. In H1 2025, corporate-backed funding to African startups reached a three-year high with 26 deals. New players from India, Japan, and the Middle East entered the market, while African corporates like Flour Mills of Nigeria and Hollard Group backed startups—OmniRetail (a Nigerian B2B e-commerce startup) and Naked Insurance (a South African insurtech), respectively—aligned with their supply chain distribution. Customer support automation: Customer support automation uses AI agents to handle user queries. The most visible experiment came from Chowdeck, the Nigerian YC-backed food delivery startup, which cut 68% of its contract workforce around operations, including customer support, in favour of AI agents, in March. Customer complaints followed, and the startup later rehired human agents. The episode showed both the promise and limits of automation in consumer-facing African startups. A November tweet from Femi Aluko, Chowdeck CEO, hiring customer support employees/Image Source: X (formerly Twitter) Cybersecurity breaches: Cybersecurity breaches occur when systems are accessed or compromised without authorisation. Cybersecurity breaches remained a headache for African organisations in 2025, with several high-profile cases affecting government agencies, healthtech, telecoms, and notably, South Africa’s power utility Eskom, which continued clean-up from a 2024 hit. Several incidents led to the exposure of customer data publicly and disrupted services. Digital asset frameworks: Digital asset frameworks are legal rules governing how cryptocurrencies and blockchain businesses operate. For years, uncertainty slowed growth. There was more clarity in 2025: Kenya passed its virtual asset bill in October, and Ghana followed
Read MoreDigital Nomads (Wrapped): Visas, skills, and the price of mobility in 2025
In 2025, we published 37 editions of the Digital Nomads column. We spoke to diasporan African professionals across tech, finance, law, privacy, venture capital, and a growing class of location-independent workers who move frequently. The internet often describes the world as a ‘global village.’ In practice, borders are less fluid, limiting movement for many in the Global South. Job applications still filter by geography. At embassies, in job interviews, Africans still need to make a painstaking case for why they deserve access and opportunities to build a life away from home. If 2025 taught us anything, it’s not that the system has become fairer, but that Africa’s workforce have become more deliberate. Mobility requires planning, capital, loads of paperwork, and trade-offs. The location-independent lifestyle rarely happens by chance, especially for average earners. If you’re thinking about global mobility in 2026, here are a few rules and lessons to keep in mind as you plan: Rule 1: Nobody just travels Movement begins long before the airport. It starts with sorting visa hassles, flight routing, and housing math. It involves choosing where to be based not on aesthetics, but on access. Many African founders we spoke to moved abroad with a clear purpose. In our reporting on first-time African founders going global, two founders relocated to cities where investors, accelerators, and partners were concentrated, while keeping teams and markets rooted on the continent. In that instance, travel became directional, not exploratory. Amaka Amaku’s experience shows how intentional this can be. By securing a Benin passport, the Nigerian travel content creator unlocked visa-free movement across several French-speaking countries in West Africa and parts of Europe. That single document changed how easily she could move, who she could meet, and which opportunities were worth pursuing. Mobility was no longer constrained by Nigerian passport limitations. It became a tool she could deploy. Other nomads structured their lives around hubs. One digital nomad we reported on used Dubai as a base to explore other regions in Southeast Asia. The city’s residency options, flight connectivity, and tax structure made it a practical launchpad for frequent work and pleasure trips, he told us in September. In 2025, travel still requires budgeting and planning, but having a stable base reduces friction. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events TC Scoop Subscribe Rule 2: Visas are career infrastructure The most ambitious professionals we encountered plan visas the way others plan promotions. Skilled worker permits. Digital nomad visas. Investor pathways. Each option comes with constraints that quietly shape careers. Skilled worker visas across several countries open a clear path to residency abroad, but some of them can also be distressing. Our reporting captured this through the experience of a tech worker who relocated to the UK from Rwanda after securing a role at a global tech company. When he was laid off in early 2025, his job loss immediately became an immigration emergency. His visa was tied to his employer. Without a new sponsor, he had 60 days to leave the UK. After weeks of interview runs and crippling uncertainty, he eventually secured a job and another sponsor. Several other visa types also opened access to career upgrades. The most common one we saw was the student visa. Several African nomads, including Mark Irozuru (a UK-based DevOps engineer), Motunrayo Adebayo (a US-based tech privacy analyst), Oghenerukevwe Odjugo (an Australia-based equity analyst), and Jephte Ioudom Foubi (a tech consulting business owner in Portugal), all of whom we spoke to, relied on these visa types to access global markets. These visas became launchpads for their global careers. Digital nomad visas also became more sought-after, especially in countries like South Africa. In countries rolling out these visas and adjacent entrepreneurship programmes, location-independent workers could live legally without employer sponsorship, provided they meet income thresholds. It unlocked Western influx into countries like South Africa and opened access to East African countries, such as Kenya and Rwanda, attracting tech workers from other countries on the continent. Investor mobility routes served yet another purpose. Founders and investors tapped business-grade visas to access global markets like the US. Rule 3: Remote work did not erase inequality Global hiring specialists told us plainly that location still plays a major role in how Africa-based remote workers are paid and levelled. Remote roles may be global, but compensation bands often remain regional. Africans working remotely from the continent frequently earn less than peers doing identical work elsewhere, though a few still break through the ceiling. Migration does not automatically fix this. Several recruiters noted that it is common for African professionals relocating abroad to accept lower titles or pay cuts to re-enter competitive markets. For example, a senior developer taking mid-level roles, or a DevOps specialist stepping back, because their experience does not yet include large-scale AI infrastructure or hyperscale cloud systems common in Western firms. African tech professionals who break through these ceilings, either working remotely from Africa or migrating abroad, do so by stacking scarce skills, building visible track records, or positioning themselves in roles where credibility outweighs location. Others combine migration with targeted upskilling, accepting short-term regressions to unlock longer-term mobility. The ceiling exists, but it is not absolute. Rule 4: Less-crowded paths unlock new careers Everyone doesn’t compete in the same lane. As global tech roles became saturated, some professionals deliberately moved sideways into emerging or underserved fields. Tech privacy is one such path. Evolving regulatory complexity, compliance demands, and jurisdictional nuance created a space for specialists who could operate
Read MoreNigeria’s digital free zone experiment: Can Itana succeed where others failed?
When Nigeria’s currency began stabilising this year after months of volatility, many observers were cautious about calling it a turning point. But for Itana, a privately-run digital special economic zone designed to attract tech startups, services companies, and foreign investors, the shift became a timely catalyst for investor commitment. “Once someone decides to come into the country to find out for themselves, that’s one of the greatest signals,” says Nkechi Oguchi, Itana’s chief community officer. Over the past year, she says, interest has shifted from casual inquiries to founders and investors physically visiting Lagos to evaluate the ecosystem. Improvements in visa processing have helped; so has a more predictable FX regime. Touted as Nigeria’s first fully operational digital free trade zone, Itana’s growing pull offers a contrast to many other zones across the country that remain underdeveloped or inactive. It emerges as a reference point for what policy certainty and execution can unlock in Nigeria’s broader free zone experiment. Itana, which says it now hosts about 50 companies since it began operations in September 2023, is positioning itself as the 21st-century successor to Nigeria’s traditional free zones—structures that have historically catered to oil, gas, logistics, and heavy manufacturing. Itana seeks to serve digital businesses that prioritise seamless onboarding, virtual company formation, flexible capital movement, and a policy environment aligned with tech-driven scaling. Itana’s users echo this sentiment. “Overall, it has been a very positive experience for us,” says Varun Giridhar, CEO and founder of Circular Energy, a sustainable energy solutions company that focuses on Battery-as-a-Service, which moved to Itana in 2025. “The Itana team has been beneficial and responsive. It makes a big difference when you feel like there are real people on the other side trying to help you get things done rather than slow you down.” A zone designed for new economy companies Nigeria has between 42 and 52 licenced free economic zones, but only around 22 are active. Many, such as the Abuja Technology Village Free Zone (2007), Olokola Free Trade Zone (Ondo & Ogun States, 2004), and Centenary Economic City (FCT, 2014), were launched during periods of strong economic growth but now face challenges such as stalled infrastructure, low activity, or weak governance. Between 2000 and 2014, Nigeria’s economy grew at an average real GDP rate of 6–7% annually, with some years even reaching double-digit expansion, creating the optimistic environment in which these projects were initially conceived. This history raises a common question: Is Itana another flash in the pan? Oguchi acknowledges the concerns but says comparing Itana to older zones misses the point. “Most of the regular special economic zones were designed for traditional businesses like oil and gas, manufacturing, and heavy industry,” she explains. “Itana is designed for a different set of businesses: startups and service-based companies that need intentionality in building an environment that is suitable for them.” Itana’s model is particularly advantageous for companies like Circular Energy, Giridhar notes. Though his company is registered in the zone, it is not required to operate physically from it. “We run most of our day-to-day work from Lagos Island,” he says. “In a city like Lagos, that makes life a lot easier and saves huge amounts of time on commuting.” Nkechi Oguchi explains that while Itana is privately owned, it operates under a 35-year-old Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) framework, which has endured through multiple administrations and cannot be easily overturned by any government. What’s driving the surge in interest Itana’s growing appeal is being driven by a surge of interest from three key groups: African diaspora founders, foreign founders and investors, and local Nigerian startups seeking more predictable operating conditions. According to Oguchi, nearly half of the companies in the zone are owned by members of the diaspora, while roughly a quarter are led by foreign founders or investors. “People leave, but people are also coming back,” Oguchi says. “They are seeing signs of stability and projections for what Africa could be.” Foreign companies like Circular Energy say the structure addresses friction that typically deters investment. “From a business point of view, the forex access and repatriation framework is a big plus for us,” Giridhar says. “We are deploying dollar capital into Nigeria. It gives our investors more comfort and removes a lot of the uncertainty around moving money in and out.” Itana has amplified this momentum through its “Doing Business in Africa” tours, which bring investors into Lagos for curated deep-dive sessions. The first tour welcomed a single visitor, while the most recent in October—organised as part of Moonshot by TechCabal—hosted 15 participants, with another group scheduled for December. The tours are already yielding real outcomes, according to Oguchi. She disclosed that one foreign investor who attended hired Nigerians to make up 80% of his global team after seeing the quality and cost efficiency of talent firsthand. Inside Itana’s incentive stack One of the key incentives Itana offers is its FX flexibility. Companies operating in the zone can legally hold multicurrency accounts, collect revenue in dollars or any currency they prefer, retain capital for as long as they choose, and repatriate 100% of their investment when exiting. In an ecosystem where startups are often constrained by FX shortages, these provisions are highly significant. “You can collect your revenue in USD, keep it in USD, and repatriate your capital when you need to,” Oguchi explains. “It makes companies more attractive to investors.” Businesses operating within the zone benefit from a suite of corporate tax reliefs and exemptions from selected federal and state levies, lowering operating costs and improving long-term viability. These incentives typically include waivers on: the standard 30% Companies Income Tax (CIT), the 7.5% Value Added Tax (VAT) on goods and services—including imports into the customs territory, withholding tax (WHT) of about 2.5–10% on payments such as services, rent, interest, and dividends, the 10% Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on asset disposals, federal stamp duties, and the 3% tertiary education tax on assessable profits. They can also import equipment and tools duty-free,
Read MoreThe power problem at the heart of Spiro
It starts with a small, unsettling thought that refuses to go away: What if the bike you ride every day isn’t really yours? That question is what lit the fuse around Spiro, the electric motorbike company that has expanded quickly across 27 regions in Kenya. For many riders, Spiro bikes promised a way out of high fuel costs and punishing daily expenses. But critics now say Spiro bikes have come to symbolise something else entirely, a new kind of control dressed up as innovation. This argument spilled onto social media a fortnight ago after Rapcha, a well-known media personality, complained that his Spiro bike had been switched off after sitting unused for a while. The details were not very clear, but the reaction was. Riders and commentators jumped to the conclusion that if a company can turn your bike off, then your work is only yours as long as someone else allows it. “Apparently if you are sick for a few days, or involved in an accident and can’t use your bike, the battery is reported as “Stolen” and your data immediately switched off from their swapping stations,” Rapcha, whose real name is Francis Njeri, posted on X. “You have to physically tow the bike to their station in mlolongo at your own cost for the battery to be re-registered again or forever forget using your bike.” Why has the anger refused to go away To understand the backlash, you have to know how Spiro works. Founded in 2019, Spiro launched in Togo and Benin in 2022, followed by Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Nigeria in 2025. The EV maker is a subsidiary of Equitane Group, headquartered in Dubai. It assembles EV two-wheelers, with one of its biggest plants in Nairobi. Riders buy the bikes, usually through a payment plan. But the battery—the heart of the machine—does not belong to them. Instead, they swap batteries at Spiro stations and pay per swap. On paper, it makes sense. EV batteries are expensive. Swapping is faster than charging—usually less than five minutes. But in real life, riders like Vincent Odero feel it creates dependence. A petrol rider can stop anywhere and refill. A Spiro rider can’t move without Spiro’s network of swapping stations. “Spiro has addressed some of the issues, but still we cannot charge at home and only relies on their charging stations,” Odero says. So when Kenyans on social media heard that bikes could be switched off, the fear spread fast. Riders imagined falling sick, travelling upcountry, or simply taking a break, and coming back to a dead bike and a broken income. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events TC Scoop Subscribe Spiro’s deputy head for Kenya, Raymond Kitunga, told TechCabal in an interview that fear is based on rumours, not reality. “It’s a fallacy to say we can switch off a moving bike,” he said. “If that were the case, we would have caused a trillion accidents by now.” According to him, bikes are not shut down suddenly or casually. They are not disabled after a few days of inactivity. And they are certainly not switched off while someone is riding. “There are set parameters—discussed, agreed, and contractually signed off—between all stakeholders,” he said. “We don’t just wake up and decide to switch off someone’s bike.” He explained that deactivation only comes after a long period—about 45 days—of no battery swaps or engagement. Even then, he said, the company first tries to reach the rider. “We call. We check in. We ask what’s happening,” Kitunga said. “If someone is sick, if there’s a genuine issue, those things are considered.” For many riders, the issue isn’t whether Spiro abuses this power. It’s that the power exists at all. Power, not just payments Kenya’s boda boda economy runs on thin margins, with Car and General—a Kenya car and machinery maker—estimating that riders earn an average of KES1,000 ($7.75) daily. Most riders live day to day. Missing work for a week because of illness or family issues can push someone into debt. That’s why Spiro’s critics say the company benefits from desperation. The bikes are cheaper to run than petrol ones. According to Spiro, their EVs are cheaper by between KES180 ($1.4) to KES300 ($2.33). Riders like Rapcha reckon that while the bike may be physically theirs, the battery, the software, and the rules that govern access sit elsewhere. Activity is tracked, and inactivity has consequences. Spiro rejects that framing. The company says it is offering access, not exploitation. Many riders who could never qualify for a bank loan can now own a bike. Daily repayments are as low as KES180 ($1.4). Fuel savings are real. For some riders, electric bicycles have improved their lives by helping them cut operational costs. “I spend KES200 ($1.5) less than what I used to when I had a petrol bike,” says Stephen Mutisya, a rider in Nairobi. “ At the end of the day, I have some extra money that I can save for other personal uses.” Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin
Read MoreIn 2025, Nigerians used AI for therapy, breakups, and everything in between
In 2025, Nigerians used AI for far more than drafting emails or summarising PDFs. Chatbots became makeshift therapists, romantic intermediaries, and personal consultants. As we wrap up the year, one thing is clear: while much of the world was worried about AI taking over jobs, Nigerians were teaching chatbots to navigate the treacherous waters of the “talking stage” and the fallout of heartbreak. I spoke with seven Nigerians about the most ridiculous things they used AI for this year. Here’s what they told me. The automated heartbreak recovery and emotional auditing AI chatbots became a mirror for Lagos-based UI designer Obaloluwa Olaniyi’s fractured relationship, serving as a forensic tool to dissect past traumas. “I used it to go through a heartbreak,” Olaniyi says, adding that AI helped run scenarios to identify “behaviours I was blind to see and [provided] advice on how to heal [without] repeating the same mistakes.” This trend of emotional auditing wasn’t just for the post-mortem phase of a breakup. Mark*, a content editor, used AI as a moral compass during conflicts with his partner, relying on the technology for “soundboarding my relationship messages for empathy check.” To avoid being labelled a manipulator, Mark used AI as a check, ensuring his messages didn’t come off as offensive to his partner. Victor Ilo, a public relations consultant, admitted to using AI for “therapy to heal from a relationship,” proving that, for many Nigerians, a prompt was more accessible, less intimidating (and maybe less expensive) than a traditional therapist’s couch. The pivot toward digital intimacy is not localised but reflects a massive global shift in mental health care. The “AI-as-therapist” phenomenon ballooned into a multi-billion-dollar industry in 2025, with millions of users globally opting for the non-judgmental ear of a machine over human practitioners. In high-income countries, including the UK, the trend was driven by the prohibitive cost of private sessions, while in emerging markets, it was the sheer anonymity that appealed most. Digital companion apps and specialised therapy bots became the first line of defence for a generation grappling with loneliness, offering 24/7 availability that no human clinic could match. The most vulnerable conversations of a significant portion of the global population are now happening in a chat bubble. A 2025 study by Kantar, an AI-native marketing data and analytics business, which surveyed over 10,000 consumers across ten global markets, including South Africa, India, and the UK, revealed that 54% of global consumers have now used AI for at least one emotional or mental well-being purpose. Navigating the delicate art of the breakup For many people, AI has become a strategic consultant for the most awkward social transition known to man: the death of the talking stage. Ending a “talking stage” has always been a social minefield, particularly when the other person is genuinely kind. Product marketer Iyanu Hunye found herself in this exact predicament with a partner she described as a “nice guy and a softie.” Rather than ghosting or sending a blunt text, she outsourced the emotional labour to AI. “I wanted to break things up in a way that doesn’t invalidate his feelings,” she says. Using AI as a buffer for social awkwardness highlights a shift in how people communicate. People now use machines to ensure they remain humanely empathetic, even when we are checking out of a situation. For Chioma Nwandiko, a product designer, AI serves as a lie detector, asking it to “analyse a text” specifically to check for “any underlying manipulation,” effectively turning her smartphone into a digital shield against “red flags” in her interaction with people. The suburban shaman for retail and aesthetics Away from the drama of the heart, AI found a home in the mundane but essential tasks of personal grooming and consumerism. Nwandiko’s usage patterns suggest that AI has become the ultimate “bestie” for shopping and styling. She used the technology to “colour-code my hair if I want to mix extensions,” turning a complex visual task into a data-driven decision. AI was a highly specialised personal assistant for Nwandiko in 2025. She says she also took photos of two competing products to ask AI which was superior, and asked a bot to track down “random episodes of series I like when I want to binge watch.” Academic shortcuts and the simulation of corporate excellence Of course, the professional and academic spaces were not left out. David Idam, an IT support specialist, took a group work to its logical automated conclusion by “writing a full term paper for my whole group using Claude,” a move that likely saved dozens of hours of collaborative friction. Idam’s AI use mirrors a nationwide explosion in AI adoption. In Nigeria, Google Search data from late 2025 revealed that searches for “AI + studying” surged by over 200% compared to the previous year, with interest in “AI + Chemistry” and “AI + Maths” leading the charge. Nigerian students are using AI for academic tasks, ranging from simplifying complex jargon to generating complete project drafts. This has raised concerns in the academic community, evidenced by a 290% increase in searches for “AI detection” by worried lecturers. As a result, Nigerian universities like UNILAG made moves earlier in the year to draft formal “Ethical AI” policies as faculty reported a sharp rise in plagiarism. In the professional world, the desire to project high-level competence led Tope*, a corporate communications officer, to transform a chatbot into an elite advisor. He used AI to “act as a MBB management consultant, used to describe the three top-tier strategy consulting firms: McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, and Boston Consulting Group. Tope used AI to deliver a “detailed project management plan for a website revamp project.” AI use in the workforce and corporate space has had quite the impact: A World Economic Forum report shows that while AI has automated 30% of routine corporate tasks, it has also created 1.6 million unfilled AI positions globally. Cultural pivot Nigerians were busy operationalising AI in 2025 to solve the immediate and
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