How we selected our inaugural Builders’ List
Building anything of value is hard anywhere in the world. In Africa, it is harder. The Builders’ List recognises people doing it anyway. Beyond shipping products, Africa’s technology ecosystem constantly navigates unreliable power, fragmented logistics, weak public infrastructure, and regulatory uncertainty—often all at once. Progress is rarely linear, and success is usually hard-won. Founders alone do not make the industry. It is sustained by people doing a variety of work, some of it invisible but critical to the industry’s success. To recognise them, TechCabal is launching The Builders’ List: an annual index of the most consequential people shaping Africa’s technology ecosystem in the calendar year. It is a record of who’s building, and what their work reveals about the system they are building within. For the inaugural edition, our selected Builders are grouped across five categories: Operators: Those who make systems work at scale. Innovators: Those creating new products, models, or technical possibilities. Enablers: The individuals and institutions lowering the cost of building for others. Organisers: Those connecting people, capital, and opportunity. Keepers: The stewards of trust, continuity, and institutional memory. Together, these roles offer a more complete map of how the ecosystem functions. The Builders’ List is an editorial project led by the TechCabal newsroom, informed by independent reporting and conversations with founders, operators, investors, policymakers, and long-time ecosystem observers across the continent and the diaspora. Our selections were based on our assessment of what materially changed within the calendar year, from infrastructure to policy or scale, rather than reputation or momentum alone. Where work is still emerging, progress was evaluated within the realities of the sector, market, and country in which it occurred. Candidates were assessed comparatively and contextually. Starting from over 600 deeply researched names spanning all 54 African countries, we weighed outcomes against each builder’s operating environment—geography, regulation, capital access, impact and institutional maturity. Context that applies in Lagos doesn’t automatically translate to Kigali or Dakar. Final decisions were made through editorial review. While external perspectives informed our reporting, the list reflects TechCabal’s independent editorial judgment. This process, as our first, has been a critical learning curve. It reminded us that Africa’s technology ecosystem is far broader than funding headlines suggest—spanning hardware engineers in Cairo, beekeepers in rural Kenya, ministers rewiring infrastructure, and documentarians building institutional memory. We learned that in 2025, the builders who matter most are no longer defined by capital raised or growth velocity, but by what they’ve made durable. This list revealed an ecosystem maturing past obsessions with scale and spectacle, toward the quieter work of building things that last—profitable businesses, regulatory frameworks, talent pipelines, and infrastructure others can build on. The Builders’ List will return in 2026, and the patterns will shift. But the commitment remains: to document not just who is building, but what their work reveals about the system taking shape.
Read MoreWhy a high-profile discrimination case against Kuda was dismissed
On October 21, a UK Employment Tribunal dismissed in full the claims brought by Rosemary Hewat, a former executive at Nigerian neobank Kuda, rejecting allegations of gender discrimination, wrongful termination, and retaliation after a detailed review of the evidence, ending a dispute first reported by TechCabal in February 2025. The decision delivers a rare, definitive outcome in an employment dispute involving a high-profile African startup operating in a global labour market. Discrimination and unfair dismissal claims in the UK are typically resolved before reaching a full hearing, often through settlement or early conciliation. “It’s a very positive ruling and one I fully expected because the accusations were not true,” said Babs Ogundeyi, Kuda’s CEO. When cases get to tribunals, they apply a high evidentiary threshold, requiring claimants to prove not just unfair treatment but a clear causal link between their claims and dismissal. In this case, the Tribunal found that the threshold was not met on any count, according to court documents seen by TechCabal. The burden of proof lay with the claimant to demonstrate that a pattern of discriminatory incidents contributed to the dismissal, and Hewat’s lawsuit was dismissed because it lacked evidence to support its claims. “I respect the Tribunal’s decision and the process by which it was reached,” Hewat, Kuda’s former chief people officer, told TechCabal. “Employment Tribunal proceedings are complex and adversarial by nature, and outcomes reflect the evidence and submissions before the court at the time.” “I do not intend to relitigate the matter through the media and remain mindful of the importance of respecting the Tribunal process and all individuals involved,” she added, bringing an end to a months-long legal battle with her former employers. Had Hewat won, she would have been entitled to compensation for lost benefits, emotional distress, and punitive damages for behaviour she described as egregious misconduct. The exact compensation Hewat demanded is not specified in court documents. “The ruling demonstrates Kuda’s resilience and our commitment to doing things the right way,” Ogundeyi told TechCabal. “The UK tribunal is known for its strict and trusted legal system, so a unanimous verdict speaks volumes.” Hewat said she had brought the claim in good faith and without legal representation. “I brought my claim based on my lived experience during my employment,” she said, adding that the process reinforced her opinion that litigation outcomes do not always capture the full context of workplace experiences. The now-dismissed allegations had stood in sharp contrast to Kuda’s public positioning as a champion of gender inclusivity. In March 2023, Hewat announced that the company had reached a one-female-to-one-male employee ratio. Ogundeyi told TechCabal that Hewat’s allegations have not changed the startup’s inclusivity benchmarks or beliefs. “Kuda is intentional about balance; we are roughly 50/50 male and female across over 700 staff globally,” Ogundeyi said. “Our Nigerian board has four men and three women.” In its findings, the Tribunal rejected claims that senior executives made derogatory remarks about Hewat, including alleged references to being “low class” or lacking “quality” or “luxury”. It concluded that the comments cited in the case were narrowly related to logistical issues surrounding accommodation for a corporate event and were not hostile or discriminatory. “Companies must be able to give honest, candid feedback — that’s how people grow and how businesses improve,” Ogundeyi said. “At Kuda, we have strong structures: periodic performance reviews, line-manager check-ins, and both formal and informal one-on-ones. Feedback isn’t an attack; it’s necessary.” The Tribunal also dismissed claims of targeted mistreatment in workplace relationships, finding that comments about improving colleague dynamics were part of a broader conflict-resolution approach applied to multiple employees and that the relationship in question later improved. On equity compensation, the Tribunal confirmed that Hewat was not promised a Series A stock option strike price and that the signed documentation correctly reflected a Series B price. It further ruled that the repricing of a male colleague’s options was based on his critical role in fundraising, not gender. The Tribunal also rejected claims that Kuda ignored a formal grievance or issued threats. It found that the email in question did not constitute a grievance and instead contained a conditional threat to pursue a discrimination claim if repricing demands were not met. It also concluded that the most likely source of leaked information about Hewat’s departure was Hewat herself. Finally, the Tribunal upheld Kuda’s decision to make Hewat redundant, finding that the chief people officer role was eliminated as part of a genuine organisational restructuring driven by cost considerations and was not replaced. “There’s always room for improvement, and hindsight is powerful,” Ogundeyi said. “The best thing you can do as a leader is to be sincere, thoughtful, and fair. Not everything will go your way, but if your intentions and actions are grounded in integrity, you can stand by them. The case didn’t change who we are or how we operate; we constantly review and improve anyway. What it did was reinforce why sincerity, fairness, and thoughtfulness matter.”
Read MoreIn Nigeria’s trust-starved domestic work market, Shaaré bets on instant matching
Finding reliable domestic help in Nigeria is often difficult. It is a trust-lacking, informal industry where users rely on word-of-mouth referrals to find competent home care agents. Shaaré, a Nigerian home service marketplace that connects households to vetted cleaners known on the platform as sparklers, was built in 2023 to fill that gap. Domestic work in Nigeria operates within the largely informal labour market. According to a 2025 report by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), 93% of the nation’s workforce was employed in the informal sector in 2024. Unlike formal sectors that offer clear dispute mechanisms or legal backing, Nigeria’s informal workforce sometimes lacks access to protection and labour rights enjoyed in regulated employment, especially for domestic workers whose jobs don’t follow a regular schedule and are outside the formal employment frameworks. Shaaré intended to use its platform to connect the domestic workers who fall among these 93% to households that require their services. But for a long time, even this tech-enabled solution came with a significant challenge of speed. Shaaré’s promise to refine the experience of service delivery came with a significant caveat of speed. While the platform offered a vetted alternative to the informal domestic cleaning market, its backend operations were manual and slow. Customers would sometimes wait up to 12 hours to get a booking confirmation. On December 17, the company launched an instant matching feature, a new algorithmic system designed to automatically pair a paid booking with the best fit sparkler immediately. “It’s the biggest leap we’ve ever made as a company,” Awazi Angbalaga, founder of Shaaré, said. “It’s designed to transform how bookings happen, how work moves, and how fast we can offer great service.” Instant matching and why Shaaré built it Shaaré’s origins were decidedly low-tech. The company began in 2023 as a simple WhatsApp group where Angbalaga manually connected a handful of cleaners with friends and family who needed help. “It was very scrappy,” she admitted, noting they were faced with issues, including payment collection. To solve the problem, the team set up a Paystack storefront, typically used for e-commerce, and created over 200 product variations to cover every possible combination of a bedroom, guest toilet, and weekly service, services that could be offered. Behind the scenes, the operation ran on Google Sheets and a web of no-code automations that Angbalaga cobbled together herself. The new instant matching replaces that workflow with an automated system that ranks sparklers based on several factors, including location, availability, skill fit, and past performance ratings. Once a customer completes payment, the system surfaces the best-fit sparkler and updates their calendar immediately. It also provides the ability for users to book a preferred sparkler if they want a specific cleaner they have come to trust. 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 trust deficit Technology may reduce delays and double bookings, but it doesn’t erase the deeper trust issues that plague the informal sector, including fears of theft, misconduct, or incompetence. For a platform like Shaaré that acts as an intermediary, the reputational risks are high. Angbalaga acknowledges that trust is the true product, describing the company as a care layer integrated into the tech ecosystem. To mitigate the risks inherent in sending strangers into private homes, the company enforces a vetting process that includes verifying home addresses, demanding guarantors, checking work history, and training during the onboarding process. Angbalaga admits that despite the new automation, the company still relies heavily on customer feedback to police quality. “We depend on our customers to know what truly is going on at the moments where we don’t have eyes,” she said, noting that human intervention and investigation remain a critical safety net. “The moment we hear back from customers on anything, we take that really seriously.” Shaaré is not alone in trying to organise this sector. Companies like Eden Life pioneered subscription-based concierge models, while others like SweepSouth, the South African marketplace that expanded into Nigeria in 2022, focus on managed cleaning teams or ad-hoc bookings. What sets Shaaré apart, according to Angbalaga, is its emphasis on on-demand access without subscriptions. The platform operates on an 80/20 revenue split, with 80% going to the sparkler. To ensure fair pricing in a city where no two apartments are alike, Shaaré uses a dynamic pricing calculator. The tool adjusts rates based on home size, factoring in that a four-bedroom home in Lagos likely includes extra living areas, and calculates transport stipends automatically based on the worker’s location. Shaaré has remained bootstrapped, a choice Angbalaga says allowed the company to validate the market demand without the pressure of artificial growth. Now, the challenge is synchronisation. While the platform’s technical capacity has effectively levelled up with this update, its ground operations are still playing catch-up. “Operationally, we’re not there, but we’re going to get there, and that means more cities for Shaaré, more jobs, and more customers served,” Angbalaga said. In a market where most households still rely on referrals and intuition, Shaaré bets that its structure can earn trust.
Read MoreAs US doors narrow, African tech talent faces a tougher path to America
On Tuesday, December 16, US President Donald Trump expanded travel and visa restrictions on nationals from more than 30 countries, many of them in Africa, reviving and widening a policy first introduced during his first term. The order imposes full or partial entry restrictions based on visa overstay data, terrorism risk assessments, and failures in identity management and information sharing. For Africa’s fast-growing tech ecosystem, the move creates an entry barrier to one of the most important corridors for founders and operators trying to access the US market. Trump’s decision followed a months-long bureaucratic process rooted in legal precedent, immigration data, and national security doctrine that has already survived Supreme Court review. What led to the blanket ban The current expansion traces back to June 2025, when Trump restored the travel restrictions from his first term shortly after returning to office. Rather than introducing a new framework, the administration reinstated Executive Order 14161 and Proclamation 10949, relying on an earlier Supreme Court ruling that upheld the president’s authority to restrict entry on national security grounds. This time, the administration leaned heavily on data from the Department of Homeland Security’s FY 2024 Entry and Exit Overstay Report. Countries whose citizens overstayed US visas at high rates were flagged for sanctions, ranging from partial suspensions of business and student visas to full bans on entry. According to that report, several countries’ citizens defaulted at notable rates. F, M, and J student and exchange visa holders were flagged as compliance risks due to overstays. Cote d’Ivoire recorded a 19.09% overstay rate among students and exchange visitors, while Tanzania and Senegal posted rates of 13.97% and 13.07%, respectively. Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest tech hubs, recorded a student and exchange visa overstay rate of 11.90%, even as business visa defaults on B-1 and B-2 visas remained just above 5%. The Gambia, Benin, and Sierra Leone stood out with the highest student visa overstay rates, each exceeding 35%, placing them among the most heavily penalised countries in the proclamation. High overstay rates in any major category are treated as evidence of systemic non-compliance, triggering broad restrictions that hit African talent. Several African countries now face full US entry bans, including Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan. Sierra Leone was upgraded from partial to full restrictions under the new order, reflecting a sharp tightening of enforcement. Other African countries were partially restricted. Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Benin, Burundi, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, and Gabon are subject to limits that primarily affect business, tourism, and student visas, while leaving some immigrant pathways technically open but more difficult to access. Partial restrictions suspend the issuance of B-1 and B-2 visas used for business and tourism, as well as F, M, and J visas for students and exchange visitors. Some immigrant visa categories remain open, but applicants should expect slower processing and tougher reviews at US embassies. “This is not a blanket ban on all immigrant visas,” said Oluyomi Ojo, founder of immigration consulting firm AgoraVisa. “It does not automatically shut down EB-1A and EB-2 visas. EB immigrant visas are affected at the consular level—embassies will not adjudicate or will effectively pause issuance—there will be no exceptions. EB migrations will continue as the ban does not affect approvals at the USCIS. The USCIS continues to adjudicate EB petitions inside the United States for all. The disruption happens at embassies, where visa issuance may be paused or delayed, even after approvals.” Yet for Nigeria and several Sahel countries, the proclamation adds another complication. Trump explicitly cited the presence of groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State, arguing that terrorist activity “creates screening and vetting difficulties.” This could trigger enhanced security checks and reviews that slow immigration processes. Those two factors combine to raise the burden of proof for Nigerian applicants across nearly all non-immigrant categories. What does this mean for African tech talent? The most immediate impact falls on global mobility. New B-1 and B-2 visas will largely stop flowing from affected countries, cutting off US access. Student and exchange routes, which were viable immigration routes into the US tech ecosystem, will also narrow sharply. As visiting routes close, African tech talent is likely to seek out immigration pathways that remain unaffected by the proclamation. Employment-based visas such as O-1, L-1, and H-1B remain legally open, but they are far harder to obtain. These categories require employer sponsorship, exceptional-ability thresholds, or intracompany transfers that many early-stage founders and independent operators cannot meet. “Tech workers already on O-1, L1, H-1B [visas] from [affected] countries are not impacted, and can still file for EB-1 and EB-2 in the US and get approval,” said Ojo. “Those with visas approved before January 1 face fewer issues.” The deeper shift lies in how applications will now be judged. High overstay rates push consular interviews toward suspicion rather than validation. Immigration interviews will focus more on reasons an applicant might stay than on the purpose of the trip. African tech workers could face pressure proving they have reasons to return home, such as property ownership back home or long-term local employment, with no incentives to overstay their welcome. This creates a structural mismatch; for those without clear proof, it could weaken their ability to demonstrate ties to home countries. Founders already inside the US system remain shielded from the executive order. But first-time entrants will face a wall built from data, security logic, and bureaucracy that hamper migration opportunities for African talent. This could encourage a shift toward alternative hubs in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, where visa access is predictable.
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How Swypt turns M-PESA payments into stablecoins without changing how Kenyans pay
In September, I met the Swypt team at ETHSafari in Kenya, a week-long Ethereum conference organised by Lisk, a blockchain platform that builds and supports decentralised applications, particularly in emerging markets. The event brings together developers, startups, and investors working on blockchain infrastructure across Africa. ETHSafari is usually loud with many product demos competing for attention from throngs of visitors. One of the booths by Swypt, a Kenyan fintech that connects merchants to stablecoin rails, was easy to miss because it did not have a lot of people around it. At the booth, co-founder and chief product officer, Stephen Gachanja, told me that Kenyan businesses were already using Swypt to sidestep shilling volatility by converting M-PESA payments into dollar-pegged stablecoins. A few days earlier, just before we left Nairobi for Kilifi, where ETHSafari was held, I had already seen what he meant. At Nairobi’s Westlands Mall, inside a small jewellery and fashion boutique, a customer made a payment that looked ordinary. The customer scanned an M-PESA paybill. On the phone, the transaction showed up in Kenyan shillings, but on the merchant’s end, though, the settlement arrived as USDT (Tether) in a self-custodial wallet. That gap between what the customer sees and what the merchant receives is Swypt’s entire product. Much of the blockchain industry tries to change user behaviour with new wallets and a promise of new rails. Swypt takes a different route because it leaves M-PESA untouched and moves the complexity underneath. Kenyans keep paying the way they already do, but stablecoins appear only after the payment clears. For now, the product spreads less through marketing and more through merchants, explaining it to each other across different towns. The mechanics of the Swypt Say a car rental business in Kenya, which handles local and international customers, wants to use digital assets to bypass local currency volatility. The business can convert mobile money or bank receipts into USDT, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, by routing payments through a specialised financial interface. The car rental payment system may choose to rely on an M-PESA paybill, a central feature of Kenya’s mobile money economy. In this context, a paybill is an M-PESA-linked business-to-business (B2B) or customer-to-business (C2B) cash collection service. Unlike a personal “send money” transaction, a paybill allows an entity to collect funds on a massive scale via a unique business number. Swypt merchant paybill Customers enter this business number and a specific “account number” to identify the transaction, such as a rental agreement ID or a car registration. This will then allow the business to automate reconciliation and track which customer paid for which service. Assuming the rental business operates across three national locations, managed through a central data module (Swypt issues a free virtual POS (point of sale) terminal that allows the merchant to manage these multiple branches from a single dashboard without the need for physical card readers), the financial flow moves through four steps. Customers pay via M-PESA using a provided paybill, QR code, or payment link. The Swypt software automatically converts the shilling-denominated payment into USDT. Funds are pushed to a self-custodial wallet owned by the business. This ensures the service provider does not hold the merchant’s capital to cut counterparty risk. Staff at each respective branch receive instant transaction alerts to confirm the rental. Once settled in digital dollars, the business can then use the liquidity for operational expenses. Swypt supports outbound payments back into the M-PESA ecosystem, including tills (retail payment numbers) and bank accounts, to settle payroll and supplier invoices. Customer journey from payment to reconciliation However, the lack of a traditional chargeback mechanism shifts risk. Only a merchant can initiate a reversal, which eliminates the “friendly fraud” that plagues online retail but demands higher consumer trust. The cheapest route for the business is “peer-to-peer” settlement with other merchants on the same network. Because the underlying assets are on-chain, the business can also settle international obligations with any supplier capable of receiving USDT, effectively removing the friction of traditional cross-border banking. Swypt is stripping the complexity from self-custody by offering a decentralised bridge between USDT and KES without the traditional friction of blockchain. The platform is strictly non-custodial, meaning it never holds user keys or funds. Instead, it only interacts with a user’s wallet when authorised to settle a specific transaction. To make the experience feel like a standard banking app, Swypt uses account abstraction that allows users to bypass the headache of seed phrases (the master key to your digital assets), accessing their wallets via email and 2FA across any device. Why is bypassing the shilling so important? For Kenyan merchants, the primary incentive is currency preservation. After two years of the shilling’s volatility against the US dollar, holding local currency has become a balance-sheet risk for anyone importing raw materials or finished goods. Once funds arrive as stablecoins, merchants can move money quickly across multiple channels. They can pay international invoices in USDT, transfer assets to external wallets like Trust Wallet, or convert back to KES for local use. Swypt claims to remove its own exposure to currency fluctuations by eliminating an “internal float” or the idle cash reserves traditional processors hold. Lean operations Swypt’s commercial model is aggressive since there are no upfront fees for accepting payments. Rather, costs are concentrated on the payout side. According to Gachanja, off-ramp fees typically sit below 1%, comfortably beating the spreads of black market FX exchanges or traditional wire fees. For high-volume enterprises, an over-the-counter desk handles liquidity via API. “Swypt only applies fees on payouts and has no direct upfront fees for pay-ins (M-PESA to paybill charges apply). In comparison to market standards, our fees are majorly below 1% for all transactions,” Gachanja said. In an era of renewed venture rounds, Swypt is an outlier. The 12-person team is entirely bootstrapped. Gachanja claims that the business has processed over $10 million in volume across 1,000 merchants. The model is not without its dependencies because Swypt relies on the stability of third-party stablecoins and
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What Senegal’s tech ecosystem can teach Francophone Africa about scale
16 decembre 2025 Hello! Welcome back to Francophone Weekly by TechCabal, your weekly deep dive into the tech ecosystem across French-speaking Africa. Previous editions have been published on the web, but email versions of the newsletter will land directly in your inbox every Tuesday at noon. By default, this newsletter is in French—but don’t worry, you can click the button below to switch to the English version. Read in English Avant de nous plonger dans la newsletter d’aujourd’hui, nous aimerions connaître votre avis. Préférez-vous recevoir les e-mails de Francophone Weekly en anglais ou en français ? Répondez à notre rapide sondage ici. Votre opinion compte. Aidez-nous à améliorer cette newsletter. Merci! Remarque : Francophone Weekly fermera ses portes la semaine prochaine, le 23 décembre, et reprendra ses activités le 6 janvier 2026. Au cours du mois dernier, nous avons abordé la question de la croissance des start-ups africaines francophones : comment le financement par emprunt peut-il favoriser la croissance au-delà du capital initial, et pourquoi les bourses locales méritent davantage d’attention en tant que sources de capitaux viables, alors que l’écosystème réduit progressivement sa dépendance vis-à-vis des capitaux étrangers. Aujourd’hui, nous nous concentrons sur le Sénégal, le pays qui a produit la première licorne francophone d’Afrique et qui écrit actuellement un deuxième chapitre plus important. L’histoire de Dakar s’est orientée vers la construction délibérée d’une échelle de financement, conçue pour soutenir les entreprises depuis l’idée jusqu’à leur expansion. Au cœur de cette approche se trouvent des institutions soutenues par l’État, telles que la Délégation générale pour l’entrepreneuriat rapide des femmes et des jeunes (DER) et le Fonds souverain pour les investissements stratégiques (FONSIS), qui jouent un rôle de plus en plus actif dans la réduction des risques liés à l’innovation. En absorbant les risques liés aux premières étapes, en fournissant des capitaux patients et en structurant des financements adaptés aux réalités locales, ces institutions créent un espace pour que les capitaux privés suivent. Des sociétés de capital-risque mondiales, dont Partech, participent à leurs côtés, non pas malgré la présence de l’État, mais grâce à elle. Dans la newsletter d’aujourd’hui, nous explorons cette courbe en S pour le Sénégal, en examinant comment les capitaux publics et privés sont superposés pour construire un écosystème technologique plus résilient, inclusif et évolutif, et ce que ce modèle pourrait signifier pour le reste de l’Afrique francophone. 1. La nouvelle phase de formation de capital au Sénégal Photo du Dakar épinglé sur une carte de l’Afrique/Source de l’image : The Fintech Times Le Sénégal occupe depuis quelques années une place croissante dans le paysage tech et PME d’Afrique francophone, portée par des success stories et l’arrivée d’acteurs d’investissement internationaux. Le cas le plus marquant reste Wave, qui a été annoncé « unicorn » après une levée majeure (Série A) annoncée en 2021 (≈ $200 million) et qui a continué à lever des dettes importantes ensuite (ex. rondes de dette reportées dans la presse en 2025). Parmi les autres opérations notables récentes figurent des tours de seed/early-stage comme Logidoo (≈ $1.55M, 2024) et plusieurs levées de scale-up et dettes pour des fintechs et plateformes logistiques sénégalaises et régionales. Ces opérations confirment une dynamique où l’écosystème commence à produire des acteurs prêts pour des séries plus importantes ou des opérations de dette structurée. Sur le plan des montants agrégés, les rapports sectoriels montrent que l’activité de financement en Afrique a repris de la vigueur en 2023–2024 avec plusieurs vagues d’investissement et une résilience progressive des marchés VC ; pour le seul Sénégal, des bases de données d’investissements rapportent des montants équivalents à plusieurs millions de dollars levés par des start-ups locales au cours de l’année 2024 (ex. Tracxn signale 14,5 million $ d’opérations équity enregistrées sur 2024). Ces chiffres maskent toutefois une grande hétérogénéité : quelques opérations de grande taille (fintechs, logistique) concentrent une large part du capital. Enfin, la présence d’investisseurs internationaux se renforce : Partech possède un siège africain avec activité Dakar (Partech Africa) et a clos un grand fonds Afrique (Partech Africa II) en 2024 ; d’autres acteurs et fonds locaux ou régionaux (Teranga Capital, Haskè Ventures, Brightmore Capital, Wuri Ventures, 216 Capital, Founders Factory Africa, etc.) sont actifs au Sénégal ou investissent régulièrement dans des sociétés basées au Sénégal. Cette intensification de l’offre de capital aide la maturation de la chaîne de financement locale. 2. Des institutions publiques et quasi-publiques qui structurent l’écosystème Délégation sénégalaise pour l’entrepreneuriat/Source de l’image : Winrock International Délégation Générale à l’Entrepreneuriat Rapide des Femmes et des Jeunes — DER / DER-FJ La DER est l’instrument public lancé par l’État pour stimuler l’entrepreneuriat des jeunes et des femmes. Créée par décret en 2017, elle combine financement direct, assistance technique et animation de l’écosystème : accompagnement d’incubation/accélération, financement de TPE/PME et programmes sectoriels (pêche, agriculture, numérique, etc.). La DER opère avec plusieurs « guichets » (autonomisation, soutien TPME, etc.) et développe des outils digitaux et plateformes pour la sélection et le suivi des bénéficiaires. Elena Dia dirige l’unité d’animation de l’écosystème au sein de la DER, où elle conçoit des programmes d’accompagnement (incubation, accélération, formation) et coordonne les partenaires locaux et internationaux. FONSIS (Fonds souverain d’investissements stratégiques) Le FONSIS est le fonds souverain du Sénégal, dédié à l’investissement dans des projets stratégiques. Il gère plusieurs véhicules et a lancé des fonds thématiques comme WE! Fund (focalisé sur l’autonomisation économique des femmes) et d’autres solutions capables d’apporter à la fois dette et equity. FONSIS peut jouer un rôle de « scaling » pour des projets ayant dépassé le stade d’amorçage, et la coordination DER-FONSIS est en cours d’approfondissement (DER alimente des pipelines que FONSIS peut prendre en charge pour des tickets plus élevés ou en equity). ADEPME (Agence de Développement et d’Encadrement des PME) L’ADEPME est l’agence étatique chargée de l’accompagnement technique et de la formalisation des PME : formation, e-rating, subventions partielles pour l’accès à des services de consultants, labellisation pour faciliter l’accès au financement bancaire. Elle agit comme bras opérationnel pour renforcer la compétitivité des PME sénégalaises. Autres acteurs
Read MoreAfter investing £1 billion in Africa in 2024, BII’s Africa head explains the sectors driving its biggest bets
Since 2020, the British International Investment (BII) has significantly expanded its Africa portfolio. In 2021, the development finance institution (DFI) invested about £2.2 billion ($2.9 billion) in African businesses, exceeding a pledge made at the 2020 UK-Africa Investment Summit. Going forward, BII set a strategy to commit £1.5–2 billion ($2–2.6 billion) annually from 2022 to 2026, with Africa as a core focus. That focus has allowed BII’s annual commitments to Africa to explode, despite global headwinds. In 2023, £725 million ($970 million) was invested in Africa (about 55% of BII’s total that year) before surging to £1.09 billion ($1.45 billion) in 2024, nearly a 40% increase year-on-year. This period coincides with Chris Chijiutomi, a British-Nigerian with two decades of experience in investing across Europe, Asia, and Africa, becoming the managing director and head of Africa for BII. Now, Africa comprises roughly 60% of BII’s new investments by value in recent years, showing the continent’s priority in BII’s portfolio. BII has also steadily expanded its exposure to early-stage ventures and technology startups in Africa, positioning venture capital as a core instrument of its development mandate. As a limited partner, it has anchored several Africa-focused funds, including TLcom Capital’s TIDE Africa Funds I and II, Sawari Ventures in North Africa, and Novastar Ventures in East and West Africa. Alongside fund investments, BII has selectively deployed capital directly into startups like mPharma, to strengthen pharmaceutical supply chains, and equity investments in TradeDepot, Moniepoint, and Egypt’s Paymob. It has also backed off-grid energy companies such as M-KOPA and Lumos. For this week’s Ask an Investor, I spoke with Chijiutomi to understand the firm’s increased focus on Africa, the sectors that he’s willing to invest in, BII’s sudden profitability jump, how the firm picks its startups and funds, and the sector that has provided the most returns. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Is there any sector where you think your views have changed the most since you became BII’s Head of Africa? When I started this role, I would say renewable energy—especially decentralised renewable energy—was fairly nascent. The solar panels were relatively quite expensive, including the battery, and the uptake was also quite limited. Therefore, the technical and commercial viability was still quite nascent. But if I look at where I am now, and I remember driving from the airport to our office here, I could see a lot of solar panels on people’s rooftops. I could see solar panels on the streetlights. So I think, for me, what we call decentralised renewable energy—DRE—has been one area that has seen an absolute increase in uptake. That’s obviously also a function of the gap that exists in a country like Nigeria in terms of electricity access. That’s one key area. And what have we been doing in this space? We invested this year in a $7.5 million facility for a company called Odyssey Energy Solutions, which is a company that’s specifically focused on energy access with renewables. We provided a facility last year—$30 million—to InfraCredit, and InfraCredit is supporting a lot of renewable energy developers in Nigeria. That’s one area that jumps out at me in terms of a key sector that has evolved. The other one—probably more broad—is the whole venture capital space, the VC space, where people are using technology to develop solutions for their day-to-day problems in markets like Nigeria and broader West Africa. So those two areas, I would probably say, were areas where I’ve seen the most change since I took on the Head of Africa role. 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 What do you think is spurring this change? On DRE, it’s just the fact that no country can develop without energy infrastructure. The challenge we have in Africa—and especially Sub-Saharan Africa—is the lack of energy access. A country like Nigeria, with over 200 million people—at least that’s the last count—has less than 6,000 megawatts of electricity on the grid. Then, when you think about the rural and the peri-urban areas, a lot of them lack access to electricity. Just that failure is what’s led people to think about alternative solutions, and I think that’s where the DRE solutions come into play. I think on the VC side, with the uptake of the internet and the uptake of telecoms, that has really driven a lot of smart young Africans to think about how to use technology to solve their day-to-day problems—be it things related to payment systems, things related to logistics, or even things related to farming and climate-related data. I think all of this is all about problems that are preventing the continent from developing and growing. Those are the reasons why I think the uptake really has kind of moved onto that next level. Since you became Head of BII for Africa, what has been your Africa tech strategy? Has it evolved from before you took on the role, or have you maintained the same strategy at BII? I would say it’s evolved. Prior to me taking on the Head of Africa role, we’ve been investing in the venture capital space and also the private equity space, and the two kinds of interlink. I think since I’ve taken on the role, a big focus of mine has been: How can we find local African entrepreneurs to back? How can we make sure we go deeper in this area and we look for the right type of managers to basically give them our capital and the responsibility
Read MoreIndia’s Fynd launches in South Africa with luxury retailer Surtee Group
Fynd, a Mumbai-headquartered AI-powered unified commerce platform backed by Reliance Retail Ventures, has launched in South Africa and onboarded Surtee Group, one of the country’s most prominent luxury fashion retailers with 94 boutiques, as its first strategic partner. The launch comes as South Africa’s online retail market targets a new era of growth and maturity. E-commerce sales are projected to reach nearly $7 billion in 2025, representing approximately 10% of national retail sales. The figure shows that the region presents a fertile ground for tech-enabled retail growth and makes it a strategic entry point into the continent. “South Africa is an exciting addition to our global footprint,” said Ronak Modi, Fynd’s Chief Business Officer. “The market is digitally ambitious, brand-forward, and ready for intelligent commerce infrastructure. Our goal is to help local retailers unify siloed systems, personalise engagement, and accelerate fulfilment without adding complexity.” Through its partnership with Surtee Group, Fynd will deploy its unified commerce stack, including digital storefronts, order management systems, tools for managing clientele, and warehouse management systems, to connect online and offline operations. This will enable real-time inventory keeping, ship-from-store fulfilment services, faster order processing, and more personalised in-store customer engagement, which can improve margins for luxury brands. The South African launch is the latest step in Fynd’s global expansion strategy. In September, the company launched its operations in Dubai and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, establishing a regional headquarters in the Middle East. In November, it established operations in the UK through partnerships with Bridgehead and Incrementum, companies that help startups scale. Fynd, which already supports 20,000 stores globally, provides an end-to-end commerce stack that unifies in-store, online, and logistics operations on a single platform, making the purchase journey easier for consumers. “Consumers expect seamless, personalised experiences across every channel, and retailers need agile, intelligent infrastructure to keep up,” Modi added. “Our platform is built to unify disconnected systems, speed up fulfilment, and elevate customer engagement; all without adding operational complexity.” 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
Read MoreAfrica wants to make its own games. Building them is still the hard part
If you wanted to understand the passion it truly takes to build a game in Africa, you only needed to witness the morning of MaliyoCon25, the inaugural gaming conference hosted by Maliyo Games, the game developer behind Safari City, Whot King, and Disney’s Iwájú: Rising Chef. The rain poured down heavily on Thursday morning, December 11, and the notorious Lagos traffic that might typically cripple an event. But that chaos only seemed to fuel the resolve of the attendees, as the room sat full. Nothing was going to hold back the people building Africa’s gaming future. The room was packed with game developers, founders, creators, and executives, including Hugo Obi, founder of Maliyo Games; Mathias Nørvig, CEO of SYBO Games, the studio behind Subway Surfers; Bukola Akinagbe, founder of Kucheza Games; and representatives from SuperCell, all drawn together by a shared belief that African-made games can stand confidently on the global stage. MaliyoCon25 was a checkpoint to evaluate how far the industry has come and to confront the hard truths of what must be done to develop the gaming ecosystem in Nigeria and across the continent. Navigating a “stop-start” ecosystem Amidst the applause, the conversation shifted to the reality of what it actually takes to run a studio in Africa. While the global gaming industry might face its own headwinds, the African context introduces a layer of friction that requires a unique kind of fortitude. Christopher Adomako, the Lead Product Manager at Maliyo, described the development lifecycle here as a start-stop process. “I don’t think I’ve ever worked on a project where we’ve started something, gone from brainstorming to game design, and everything just went straight to the hands of players. It has definitely been stop-start,” he said.” Whether it is battling poor internet connectivity or power outages, Adomako described the workflow as one that is rarely smooth. Creators must know exactly when to pause and when to resume, turning game development into a test of patience as much as skill. This environment demands a specific temperament from founders. Echoing a sentiment introduced by Deborah Mensah-Bonsu, global social impact lead at SuperCell, about the necessity of grit, Hugo Obi reinforced that to survive here: “You have got to be scrappy.” There is no room for waiting for perfect conditions or ample resources. Obi spoke openly about the structural issues that sit behind the work, the absence of industry data, weak monetisation systems on the continent, the pressure to train talent from scratch, and the constant battle to build while simultaneously keeping the lights on. “The challenge that we have is that all of the data that we have is third-party; it is somebody else’s data,” he said. “Nothing we do is easy. The funding is not easy, the production is not easy, the personnel management is not easy.” Talent remains the beating heart of this conversation. There are brilliant creatives across the continent, but developing them into production-ready professionals takes time. Data from the 2024 Africa Games Industry Report reveals that roughly 63% of local game developers have less than five years of experience in the industry. Reflecting on the early days of the industry, Obi shared his realisation about the attrition rate in the African gaming space. “Everyone I started with was gone,” he said. “ People had put years into this thing… at some point, I was the last man standing.” The ecosystem was trapped in a cycle where ambition wasn’t matching output because there was no pipeline to produce skilled developers. This realisation birthed Game Up Africa, a training programme for people interested in developing games. 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 There also lies the challenge of the audience. Obi noted that African creators are building for a market that is still forming its identity, with spending power that fluctuates and user behaviour that global benchmarks don’t capture. Layered on these challenges is the struggle for funding. While third-party data suggests the African gaming market is generating significant value, with revenue of about $7 billion in 2024 across the Middle East and Africa, capital flows to studios remain restricted. According to data from the 2025 African Game Developer Survey, only 3% of game studios have ever received government funding, underscoring how limited funding flows are for early-stage creators. Some exceptions highlight what is possible, as South African game developer Carry1st raised a $27 million round in 2023. This reality, where only a small fraction of developers secure meaningful investment, reinforces that fundraising is a persistent pain point in the game development industry. The future of game development in Africa MaliyoCon25 also made it clear that Africa’s game development is already taking shape, regardless of the difficulties. With programmes like Game Up Africa feeding talent into studios, partnerships forming across borders, including interest from institutions like Arizona State University, and creators gaining confidence in telling African stories. One of the recurring themes was that Africa’s strength will come from building with the continent’s own identity and structural realities in mind, rather than replicating what exists elsewhere. “I want us to be a net producer, as opposed to a net consumer of games. Nothing else matters. As long as Africa is not producing the games that Africans are playing… this needs to be done,” Obi declared, going so far as to call local game production “a matter of national security.”
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We asked 22 Nigerian tech workers what they want for Christmas. Here’s the list.
Let’s be honest: the life of a Nigerian tech worker is a grind. You’re building world-class products while juggling unreliable power, slow internet, and endless requests. When those tight deadlines hit and the lights go out, a standard gift basket just won’t cut it. After a year spent coding, scaling, and surviving, the reward needs to be more than a simple break. It should be a strategic investment in comfort, productivity, and, frankly, survival. The holidays are finally here, and instead of guessing, we went straight to the source. We spoke to 22 Nigerian tech workers, including product designers, software engineers, data professionals, and founders. We asked them what they really want this season. Here is the ultimate TechCabal-approved holiday gift guide. The sanctuary of sound: audio & noise cancellation For those whose work demands intense concentration, the gift of silence is arguably one of the greatest luxuries. The ability to create a personal auditory bubble is non-negotiable for anyone in deep work. This desire for peace is widely shared. Software engineer Frank Owobu and Robotic Process Automation Developer Emediong Usanga both listed noise-cancelling headsets as top items on their wish lists, demonstrating that the ability to hear oneself think simply is a high-impact daily luxury. Bukola Abati, a product intern at Big Cabal Media, puts the premium on headphones, specifically the AirPod Max, because the “noise cancellation is just perfect for taking courses, zoning out when you’re deep in documentation or research. And yes, music.” Source: Unsplash Ergonomic items Hours spent at a keyboard demand an investment in the body. The small, thoughtful items that make a workstation less punishing are treats that pay dividends in productivity and health. Software engineer Biliqis Onikoyi requested a “Thumb sock to protect my thumbs,” a micro-comfort for a highly strained body part among many tech professionals. Similarly, Martins Adegboyega, a web designer, listed a full suite of supportive items: anti-glare glasses, ergonomic chairs, and an ergonomic mouse. Source: Unsplash Stephen Akinola, a full-stack software engineer, listed the LiberNovo Omni Dynamic Ergonomic chair and Sihoo Doro C300 pro, noting it “will help me be more comfortable while working, hence higher productivity.” Gadgets Tech professionals are also constantly looking for devices that bridge work and life, allowing for instant creation and consumption without the heft of a laptop. This is why the Apple iPad Pro is a highly coveted item. Chioma Nwandiko, a product designer, wants an iPad Pro, “because I hate having to carry my laptop [around].” Software engineer Pelumi Shonowo says he wants a portable monitor, a multi-port dongle, and a power bank. Mayo Obadofin, a project manager, specifically requested the M5 11-inch model, stating she needs “one device that can handle everything like planning my life, ignoring my life, watching things, journaling, and pretending I’m an artistic prodigy.” Source: Unsplash For capturing life’s moments without being anchored to a phone, the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 Smart Glasses are a perfect treat. Obadofin requested these as well, saying, “I want to live in the moment and record stuff without looking like I’m livestreaming 24/7. With these glasses, I won’t miss anything good.” Intellectual fortifications: Subscriptions and learning The true luxury for a tech worker is time and access to knowledge. Gifts that fuel continuous learning and provide shortcuts to productivity are an investment in their future. Access to quality education is a top priority. Omeiza Owuda, a software engineer, wants an annual educational subscription to master in-demand skills such as System Design and Machine Learning. The gift of powerful software is also essential. Senior product manager Chioma Nwandiko and software engineer Frank Owobu both asked for “a year’s worth of subscription for my apps,” including OpenAI, Netflix, Canva, Google LLM, and YT music. Source: Unsplash Tobi Omole, Head of Build & Deploy at Xown Solutions, looked even further afield, requesting a Harvard Business School Online course for management, showing that investing in formal high-value training is an ultimate gift. Software engineer Biliqis Onikoyi wants a whiteboard and marker “to help track daily goals in a more efficient way” and draw maps around ideas. Escape: play, hobbies, and rest The tech workers we spoke to know that the best productivity hack is a total break. The classic gaming console remains a popular choice. Product designer RoseMary Emenike and Frontend Engineer Allwell Onen both listed a PS5 and gaming accessories. Onen also wants an electric bicycle “only because it’s cool stuff to have.” Source: Unsplash For a hobby that takes them far away from the desk, mobile and full-stack engineer Femi Adeniji wants a DJI camera drone, adding, “I’ve been quite fascinated with how they work.” Ultimately, the most profound wish for many is pure rest. Product marketer Iyanu Hunye wished for “a car, lots of money, and a dollar-paying job,” and software developer intern Priscilla Fadayini needs: “a vacation trip to clear my head. That way I’ll be well rested and more productive afterwards.” Former HR manager at software quality partner company Assurdly, Ola-Thomas Gabriella, who used to curate Christmas gifts for tech employees, suggests massage/spa gift cards, routers/MiFi, and snacks as essentials for Christmas packages. This wishlist proves that the best gift isn’t necessarily the most expensive one, but one that directly addresses a pain point. The underlying value of the gift item remains the same, and it is an acknowledgement of the demanding year for tech professionals. So, as you begin or wrap up your shopping, remember to get something that shows you see and appreciate the continuous hustle that comes with working in the Nigerian tech ecosystem.
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