Starlink rolls out instalment payments for internet kits in Kenya
Starlink, the SpaceX-owned satellite internet service, has introduced instalment payments for its mini kits in Kenya, cutting upfront cost for users as it seeks to revive subscriber growth that has slowed over the past year. The new plan requires a KES 6,750 ($52.8) upfront payment, plus KES 16,250 ($125.8) in activation fees and KES 3,010 ($23.3) for shipping, with the balance spread over six months. It adds KES 4,500 ($34.8) a month for the kit over six months to the standard KES 6,500 ($50.3) residential subscription fee. The instalment plan cuts the upfront cost of Starlink’s equipment, which has been a barrier to adoption for most users. It is likely to increase access among price-sensitive users, particularly in rural and underserved areas where paying the full amount upfront has reduced uptake. Priced at KES 27,000 ($209.1), the mini kit now requires less upfront cash, with more of the cost spread across recurring monthly payments. A screenshot of a checkout for a Starlink mini kit. Image source: TechCabal The Starlink mini kit was introduced into the Kenyan market in September 2024, one year after the company launched to offer a cheaper alternative to the standard kit, which is KES 49,900 ($386.46). Since it entered Kenya in 2023, the company has expanded rapidly within the first six months, reaching a 0.5% market share. According to data from the Communications Authority of Kenya, the number of customers rose from 16,786 in September 2024 to 19,146 as of December 2025. However, growth was slowed after the company, in November 2024, halted new sign-ups in densely populated urban areas like Nairobi and Mombasa due to capacity challenges. The freeze, which remained in place until June 2025, reduced its momentum, with active subscriptions falling to 17,066 by March that year. The pause created an opening for competitors. Safaricom and Airtel, the country’s biggest telcos, moved to deploy 5G routers priced below KES 3,000 ($23), targeting the same rural users Starlink had aimed to reach. Safaricom controls 35.6% of Kenya’s fixed internet market, followed by Jamii Telecom (20.6%), Wananchi Group (12.7%), Poa Internet (12.5%), Ahadi Wireless (7.5%), and Mawingu Networks (3.6%). Starlink follows at a distant (0.8%).
Read MoreNigeria ends 2025 with inflation at 15.15% and fewer price shocks
Nigeria closed 2025 with headline inflation at 15.15% in December, down 19.65 percentage points from 34.80% recorded in December 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). 2025 will be remembered as the year inflation numbers stopped being shocking, even though prices remained elevated. Unlike the wild swings that defined 2024, where inflation rose to record highs, 2025 was the year of more predictability. That stability came at a price. Nigerians adapted by cutting back, repricing their lives and businesses, and lowering expectations. Nigeria’s headline inflation stood at 24.48% in January 2025 after the methodology and base year were changed. Inflation stood at 34.80% in December 2024. According to the NBS, inflation was rebased, “to replace outgoing reference periods (2009). Rebasing aligns the price and weight reference periods with the current economic environment, ensuring methodological accuracy, updating the composition of the goods and services basket, revising item weights, and incorporating necessary improvements.” Since then, inflation has seen a steady drop, falling to 15.15% in December 2025. “The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 131.2 in December 2025, up by 0.7 points from the previous month (130.5),” the NBS said. “The December 2025 year-on-year Headline inflation rate stood at 15.15% relative to the November 2025 headline inflation rate (17.33%).” Beyond the headline number, the inflation figure directly impacts Nigerian paychecks, which have not moved at the same pace. For many tech workers and startup employees, transport costs now rival rent, and food bills have reset monthly budgets. In places like Lagos, Nigeria’s startup capital, where inflation of 17.5% is above the national average, startup workers are having to absorb shock quietly through side gigs, delayed life plans, or lower living standards. While the data may be signalling a turning point, with food inflation at 10.84% in December 2025, the reality for many startup workers is a change in living standards and an everyday life that is now indifferent to economic shocks.
Read MoreUS latest visa freeze puts African founders’ global mobility at risk
The United States is suspending all visa processing for applicants from 75 countries, including Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Algeria, and Somalia, Fox News reported on Wednesday, citing a State Department memo. Fox News reported that the Trump administration has directed consular officers from 75 countries to reject visa applications under existing laws while the State Department reconsiders its screening and vetting processes. The pause will begin on January 21. “The State Department will use its long-standing authority to deem ineligible potential immigrants who would become a public charge on the United States and exploit the generosity of the American people,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggott told Fox News. “Immigration from these 75 countries will be paused while the State Department reassess immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits.” Other African countries on the list include Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, and Uganda. The suspension could have knock-on effects beyond immigration policy, particularly for startup founders from affected countries. African founders, particularly those from Nigeria and Egypt, may face disruptions to travel to the US for investor meetings, accelerators, conferences, and fundraising roadshows, at a time when access to global capital is already becoming more challenging. The suspension comes a week after the US announced a visa bond programme that could require applicants from more than 20 African countries, including Nigeria, to post refundable financial bonds of up to $15,000 as a condition for short-term business and tourist visas.
Read MoreAfter big rounds, Francophone Africa investors want ecosystem depth in 2026
In Francophone Africa, where venture funding is still dominated by a handful of large deals, investors say 2026 will be defined less by headline numbers and more by whether fintech interoperability, climate adaptation startups, and venture studios can turn early momentum into durable ecosystems. Francophone African startups raised at least $450 million in 2025, according to data from Africa: The Big Deal, mostly in fintech, mobility, and climate-linked services. Funding to countries such as Senegal, Benin, and Togo was driven by single outsized rounds, masking thinner deal flow at the early stage. Yet, deal counts and investor participation are rising across the continent, with over 500 investors backing startups with at least $100,000 ticket sizes. We asked three investors what they think of Francophone Africa and how they predict the tech ecosystem to grow in 2026. Fintech will remain a dominant sector Lina Kacyem, Investment manager, Launch Africa Ventures “Fintech will continue to dominate in Francophone Africa because the most impactful initiatives at a regional level are still happening in financial services. Interoperability efforts coming from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) are a big deal. Both regions are trying to solve the same problem but in different ways, and 2026 is when we’ll really see how implementation plays out. What makes this interesting is the mix of players. You have giants like Orange Money and MTN MoMo, Wave on the other side, and then startups that have been trying to build on the interoperability layer, like Djamo and smaller players. How those dynamics evolve matters. Another major issue is cross-border payments. There is an increasing amount of inter-regional trade within the WAEMU and the CEMAC regions, but moving money is still complicated for individuals and businesses. Even moving from West African CFA to Central African CFA requires conversion into euros first. Startups trying to solve regional payments and payments to suppliers in places like China, Turkey, or Dubai, ideally while working with regulators, are tackling a real infrastructure problem. 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 Beyond fintech, logistics is one of the most interesting sectors. Many countries are investing heavily in ports, roads, and regional trade corridors, such as Lomé, Dakar, Abidjan, Cotonou, Doala, and Accra. There is an increasing effort around the inter-regional movement of goods, and that creates real opportunities. Financial services and logistics remain the most compelling sectors. Banking still works very poorly, and that gap is not going away soon. Senegal stands out because the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Dakar is already well established. You have strong institutional players, experienced VCs, and a very active diaspora in the US tech ecosystem that stays connected to what’s happening locally. There’s also meaningful government involvement, and a next wave of entrepreneurs that has been preparing for the past two to three years and is about to emerge. Morocco has built a solid early-stage ecosystem through universities, entrepreneurship centres, government support, and funding mechanisms. The challenge now is talent retention and scaling beyond the early stage. What becomes interesting is when people come back and launch companies. Moroccan startups also benefit from serving Europe, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa at the same time. Tunisia is very similar in terms of talent and startup generation, but the economy is more fragile, which makes retaining talent harder. Still, within the Francophone ecosystem, it remains one of the stronger environments for producing startups. Benin is interesting less because of entrepreneurs coming out of the country today and more because of its ability to attract people. The government has focused on digitalising administrative processes and making it easier to set up businesses and access preferential treatment. That is starting to work. What will matter is who they manage to attract and how. Finally, in terms of funding, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon will remain notable in the ecosystem. Cameroon, for what a lot of investors note as the strength of its entrepreneurs despite a very challenging environment, and for Côte d’Ivoire, given the growth of the country.” Investor interest is broadening, but early-stage funding remains the bottleneck Maxime Bayen, Operations Partner, Catalyst Fund “Francophone African markets definitely continue to look increasingly attractive but still uneven for investors: there’s growing funding activity beyond the “Big Four,” with countries like Senegal and Benin raising significant rounds in 2025 for instance (though in these 2 cases mainly driven by 1–2 large rounds like Wave’s debt round and Spiro’s $100 million round), and targeted vehicles such as Digital Africa or Saviu directing significant portion of their capital into Francophone Africa startups. However, the ecosystem remains highly concentrated and early-stage segments are undercapitalised, with pre-seed funding unfortunately a bit stagnant—not specific to Francophone Africa though—and dependent on grants, signalling structural gaps that need to be addressed for sustained investor interest. Using Africa: The Big Deal database, in 2025, no less than 108 different investors signed cheques to startups in Francophone Africa through over 100 deals. Some of them, like Digital Africa (with over 15 deals), Axian, Plug & Play, Madica, and Janngo Capital, have been doing more than 4-5 deals across this area over the past 12 months. This is clearly more than an exploratory move. Francophone Africa is definitely on the investment radar of most active Africa-focused VCs now. According to Africa: The Big Deal database, the number of deal sizes above $100,000 in the region is now regularly above 80 each year since 2021 and
Read MoreUganda orders nationwide internet shutdown ahead of polls
Two days before Uganda’s January 15 general election, the government has ordered mobile networks and internet service providers (ISPs) to suspend public internet access, block new SIM card registrations, and stop roaming calls. In a letter dated January 13 seen by TechCabal, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) said the measures would take effect from 6:00 pm local time on Tuesday and would remain in place until further notice. The restrictions cover social media, web browsing, video streaming, messaging apps, and other online services. Mobile data roaming is also affected. The directive follows a growing trend in Africa, where governments temporarily block internet access during elections, disrupting the daily lives of millions who rely on it for information, communication, and essential services such as mobile money payments. “The suspension applies to mobile broadband, fibre optic, leased lines, fixed wireless access, microwave radio links, and satellite internet services,” UCC executive director Nyombi Thembo said in the letter. The UCC says the move will prevent misinformation and ensure security during the election period. Only essential services, such as hospitals, banking systems, government payment platforms, and secure election systems, will be allowed to operate via dedicated IP ranges, VPNs, or private circuits, the commission stated. This isn’t the first time Uganda has restricted internet access around elections. In 2021, the government shut down the internet for over 100 hours. According to Reuters, Netblocks estimated that the almost five-day shutdown cost the Ugandan economy around $9 million. President Yoweri Museveni, 81, is seeking re-election against seven challengers, including pop star Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine. Museveni has been in power since 1986. Similar internet restrictions happened last year in Tanzania. During the 2025 general election, access to the internet, social media, and messaging apps was temporarily shut down, blocking millions from accessing bank and mobile payment networks like NALA.
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Amazon’s Kuiper satellite secures Nigerian permit to begin operations in 2026
Project Kuiper, the Amazon-owned satellite internet initiative, has taken a major step toward entering Nigeria’s broadband market after securing a landing permit from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to begin operations from 2026. Dated February 28, 2026, the seven-year landing permit authorises Kuiper to operate its space segment in Nigeria as part of a global constellation of up to 3,236 satellites. According to the NCC, the approval aligns with global best practices and reflects Nigeria’s willingness to open its satellite communications market to next-generation broadband providers. NCC’s permit to Amazon’s Kuiper. Image Source: NCC website. The permit positions Kuiper to provide satellite internet services over Nigerian territory and sets the stage for intensified competition with Starlink, currently the most visible low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite Internet provider in the country. The permit also gives Amazon LEO legal certainty to invest in ground infrastructure, local partnerships, and enterprise contracts, while signalling to the wider market that Nigeria is now a contested LEO battleground rather than a Starlink-led monopoly. For regulators, telcos, and large customers, Kuiper’s approval introduces real competitive tension—one that can reshape pricing dynamics, accelerate service rollouts, and force incumbents to raise performance standards across the satellite broadband ecosystem. When contacted for comments, a spokesperson for the Amazon team in Africa told TechCabal that they had nothing Nigeria-specific yet except what was publicly available, but would reach out when they did. “We don’t have any information to share beyond what is publicly available at this time, but we’ll sure be in touch if we announce anything,” the spokesperson noted in a Tuesday email. What the NCC approval covers The landing permit enables Amazon Kuiper to offer three categories of satellite services in Nigeria: Fixed Satellite Service (FSS), Mobile Satellite Service (MSS), and Earth Stations at Sea (ESAS). FSS enables broadband connectivity between satellites and fixed ground stations, such as homes, enterprises, telecom base stations, and government facilities. This is the core service behind satellite home internet and enterprise backhaul. MSS, by contrast, is designed for mobility and resilience. It supports direct satellite communication with portable or handheld devices and low-power terminals, typically used for emergency communications, asset tracking, maritime safety, and connectivity in remote or hostile environments. ESIM extends high-speed satellite broadband to moving platforms, including aircraft, ships, trains, and vehicles. These systems rely on sophisticated antennas that can track satellites in real time while in motion, making them critical for aviation and maritime connectivity as well as logistics and transport sectors. Together, these service categories indicate that Kuiper is not entering Nigeria as a niche rural broadband provider alone, but as a multi-segment connectivity platform targeting households, enterprises, mobility, and critical infrastructure. Why the “super-high” frequency matters Kuiper’s Nigerian permit covers operations in the Ka-band frequency range, also known as super-high frequency, with uplink frequencies between 27.5 and 30.0 GHz and downlink frequencies spanning 17.7–18.6 GHz and 18.8–20.2 GHz. These bands fall squarely within the spectrum used by modern high-throughput satellite systems. Ka-band is strategically important because it delivers far greater data capacity than older satellite frequency ranges such as C-band and Ku-band. C-band, which operates between 4 and 8 GHz, relies on large dishes and is valued for its stability and resistance to heavy rain but offers limited bandwidth. Ku-band, operating between 12 and 18 GHz, supports smaller dishes and higher speeds for broadband and television services, yet is more susceptible to weather-related interference. By contrast, Ka-band operates at higher frequencies, enabling significantly higher traffic capacity and making it better suited for modern high-speed broadband services. Higher frequencies allow wider bandwidth allocations, supporting multi-gigabit traffic capacity and dense spot-beam architectures that reuse spectrum across different regions. For users, this translates into faster speeds and lower latency. For operators, it means a lower cost per bit at scale, making satellite broadband more competitive with terrestrial alternatives in urban and semi-urban markets. The trade-off is that Ka-band signals are more sensitive to rain and atmospheric conditions, particularly in tropical regions like Nigeria. However, modern LEO constellations mitigate this through adaptive modulation, power control, and intelligent routing across multiple satellites and gateways. The significance of 100 MHz bandwidth Kuiper’s approval includes 100 MHz of bandwidth per channel, a design choice that reflects a balance between performance and cost. In LEO systems, wider channels deliver higher speeds but require more expensive and power-hungry user terminals. A 100 MHz channel is well-suited to Kuiper’s target performance. Amazon has indicated that its standard customer terminal is designed to deliver speeds of up to 400 Mbps. This bandwidth size allows reliable delivery of those speeds while keeping terminals affordable enough for mass adoption. From a regulatory perspective, dividing the spectrum into 100 MHz channels also allows Kuiper to serve multiple users simultaneously using frequency division techniques, improving overall network efficiency. Why Nigeria matters to Project Kuiper Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest untapped broadband markets. With a population exceeding 200 million, rapid urbanisation, a growing digital economy, and widespread connectivity gaps—especially in rural areas—the country presents a prime opportunity for satellite broadband operators looking to bridge underserved communities. The NCC estimates that over 23 million Nigerians live in unserved and underserved areas, and mobile broadband penetration is still at 50.58% as of November 2025. LEO satellites are particularly attractive in markets like Nigeria because they offer low latency, unlike traditional geostationary satellites. By orbiting much closer to Earth, Kuiper’s satellites reduce signal travel time, enabling real-time applications such as video conferencing, cloud services, online gaming, and financial trading. For enterprises, Kuiper’s services could support telecom backhaul, oil and gas operations, mining sites, ports, logistics corridors, and remote industrial facilities where fibre deployment is costly or impractical. Raising the stakes for Starlink Kuiper’s entry significantly raises competitive pressure on Starlink, which has enjoyed a first-mover advantage in Nigeria. While Starlink has rapidly built brand recognition and a growing subscriber base with over 66,000 subscribers, making it the second-largest internet service subscriber, Amazon brings a different kind of competitive muscle. Amazon officially rebranded Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo
Read More23 million underserved Nigerians could go online if spectrum reform works
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)’s newly released 2025–2030 Spectrum Roadmap aims to bring broadband to 23 million people across 87 unserved and underserved clusters, according to the Universal Service Provision Fund, Nigeria’s primary financial vehicle for closing the digital divide. The roadmap, released in December 2025, sets out how Nigeria plans to allocate, price and deploy radio spectrum over the next five years. Spectrum, the invisible resource that powers mobile networks, satellites and wireless internet, is one of the most powerful tools available to the government to shape connectivity outcomes. The NCC bets that reforming how this resource is managed can unlock rural broadband coverage that market forces alone have failed to deliver. At its core, the roadmap answers a pressing question: how can Nigeria make it commercially viable for operators to serve communities that have long been considered too remote, too sparsely populated or too expensive to connect? Why spectrum reform matters now Nigeria crossed 50% broadband penetration in 2025, but that milestone masks deep geographic inequality. Urban centres enjoy multiple layers of 4G and growing 5G coverage, while many rural areas still rely on patchy 2G or remain completely offline. The challenge is not demand—millions of Nigerians want connectivity—but cost. Building towers, laying fibre and powering base stations in rural terrain is expensive, and returns are slower. The NCC’s roadmap frames spectrum reform as a supply-side intervention. By lowering the cost and complexity of deploying networks, especially in low-income and high-cost regions, the regulator hopes to tilt investment decisions in favour of rural expansion. The policy prioritises efficient use of low-band spectrum below 1 gigahertz (GHz), which travels longer distances and requires fewer base stations, making it particularly suited for rural coverage. Flexible licencing is another key pillar of the policy. Rather than forcing operators into rigid, one-size-fits-all deployment models, the NCC plans to allow spectrum use to reflect local realities. The regulator is also weighing targeted incentives for operators that extend coverage into hard-to-reach areas, using regulatory levers to shift investment where it is most needed. “Overall, Nigeria’s evolving spectrum landscape demonstrates that long-term market leaders have built spectrum depth through sustained investment, early technology adoption, and consistent participation across multiple assignment cycles—ranging from refarmed GSM holdings to digital dividend and capacity bands,” the NCC said in its roadmap. From edge case to core strategy A notable shift in the roadmap is the elevation of satellite connectivity from a complementary option to a core pillar of national coverage. The NCC acknowledges that terrestrial networks alone cannot economically reach every part of Nigeria. Low-Earth Orbit satellite systems are expected to play a growing role in connecting remote schools, health facilities and communities where fibre and towers are impractical. The Commission also plans to optimise existing geostationary satellite assets and explore high-altitude platforms and other non-terrestrial technologies for mobile backhaul. These alternatives could reduce reliance on expensive fibre links and lower the overall cost of rural network operations. This approach reflects a broader rethinking of what “universal access” looks like in a country with Nigeria’s size and geography. Connectivity, under the roadmap, does not have to be delivered through a single technology, so long as service quality and affordability targets are met. The pricing question While the NCC presents the roadmap as an investment-friendly framework, operators say execution, especially around pricing, will determine whether the policy succeeds. Gbenga Adebayo, president of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), which represents the four biggest mobile network operators, including MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and T2 Mobile, argues that spectrum pricing remains one of the biggest risks to network expansion. According to Adebayo, evidence from global markets shows that when spectrum prices are set too high, consumers ultimately pay the price through slower rollouts, weaker coverage and higher service costs. “Radio spectrum is a scarce and valuable resource,” Adebayo told TechCabal. “ But when spectrum prices are too high, consumers suffer from slower mobile data speeds, worse coverage and delayed deployment. That directly undermines digital inclusion and the National Broadband Plan.” ALTON has pushed for what it calls “reasonably objective” spectrum pricing, arguing that affordable access to sufficient spectrum is essential for delivering high-quality mobile broadband services. Closely linked to pricing is the industry’s call for instalment-based payment options. In Nigeria, spectrum licences are typically paid for upfront and in full, a model operators say drains capital that could otherwise be invested in network rollout. Adebayo notes that, apart from one exception, the upfront payment model has left operators with limited funds to meet coverage obligations after winning spectrum. Licence refarming challenges ALTON is also urging the NCC to align licence durations with global best practice. Citing GSMA research, the group argues that long-term licences—often 20 years or more—provide the certainty needed for large-scale network investments, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where payback periods are long. Another flashpoint is spectrum refarming. As demand for 4G and 5G grows, operators need the flexibility to repurpose spectrum currently tied to legacy 2G and 3G services. Technology-neutral licensing, ALTON says, would allow operators to upgrade networks at a pace driven by market demand, maximising the social and economic impact of mobile broadband. The industry group has also raised concerns about how spectrum assignments are handled. Under current practice, some spectrum lots are auctioned while others are administratively assigned. ALTON says this has created opportunities for arbitrage, where entities acquire spectrum without plans to deploy networks, only to trade it later for profit. The NCC did not respond to requests for comments on the concerns raised by ALTON. Quality of experience, not just coverage Beyond access, the roadmap places growing emphasis on the quality of experience. The NCC has committed to nationwide minimum data speed thresholds by the end of the decade, alongside improvements in reliability and service consistency. Achieving those targets will require more than new spectrum. The roadmap prioritises stronger fibre backhaul to base stations, better integration of existing networks and redundancy through microwave links in hard-to-reach areas. Spectrum trading guidelines are also
Read MoreIdo Sum on what Africa’s VC industry needs to do achieve scale like US and Israel
Long before Africa’s venture capital (VC) ecosystem became as visible as it is today, Ido Sum was already helping shape it. As one of the earliest partners at TLcom Capital, an Africa-focused venture firm managing over $250 million, Sum spent 14 years investing across the continent and helping define the firm’s strategy from its London office. During that time, he led investments in several African startups and served on the boards of four companies: Zone, a blockchain-powered payments infrastructure provider; uLesson, a Nigerian edtech platform; Littlefish, a South African fintech; and Ilara Health, a Kenyan startup expanding access to affordable diagnostics. In September 2025, Sum announced that he was leaving TLcom after 14 years at the firm. Two months later, he published a widely circulated essay arguing that Africa’s VC industry is not broken despite the scarcity of large, repeatable exits, but simply earlier than many investors are willing to admit. While Sum does not shy away from the truth that if African tech investors can’t systematically return capital, the venture cycle will break and the industry will eventually fold, he places the continent’s VC ecosystem at a comparable stage to the U.S. in the 1970s and 1980s, Israel in the 1980s and 1990s, Europe in the late 1990s, or India in the early 2000s—markets that only matured after decades of iteration. Sum argued that these ecosystems matured through decades of repetition, deep pools of capital, non-equity financing, a funnel that allowed progression, domestic acquirers, and a growing base of experienced operators. Africa, by contrast, remains in what he calls “Act One” with a thinner startup funnel, smaller and largely local exits, limited institutional scaffolding, and a talent bench still under development. The mistake, Sum argues, is pretending otherwise. Africa’s venture industry, he says, needs to stop behaving like it is in “Act Three” and instead design funds, strategies, and expectations that reflect current realities while deliberately building toward the next chapter. In our conversation, Sum expands on these ideas, unpacking the distortions created by impact-heavy capital, the risks of funding everything with equity—over-dilution and inflated valuations—and why capital efficiency matters even more in fragmented markets with limited exit options. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You worked at TLcom for well over a decade. Why now—after leaving TLcom—did you decide to write this piece about Africa’s VC ecosystem? Was there a specific deal, conversation, or experience that made you sit down and write it? It was a collection of many conversations and interactions over the years, and also trying to reflect. Before that, it’s important to state that people who were close to me and worked with me had heard a lot of this before. I presented parts of this data at Oxford, where I gave a lecture in a course for managers within the African tech ecosystem. I’ve shared parts of this internally before and in conversations with people. So most of it wasn’t a surprise to people who have worked closely with me. I just had the time now—time I didn’t have before—to sit down, think it through, substantiate some things that were previously more intuition-based, and put them together. It was half for myself, but also with the hope that, on a good day, it would strike a conversation. I’m not saying my view is the right or only view. I just felt this needed to be voiced and put somewhere as a reference so we can have a conversation about it. If you had to compress the entire essay into one sentence—advice for founders and VCs—what would you say? Think independently and challenge your thinking with data. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aspirational or ambitious, but my advice is to think independently and integrate data into your thesis-building. What’s your bar for a fund being good in Africa? The same bar as everywhere else. Return a lot of money. You say VC is a very simple business—you take $1 from LPs and return $3. In your experience, has that been realistic for Africa, given currency devaluation, how early the ecosystem is, and systemic challenges? Of course, the one and three are oversimplified. But there are a few simple truths about the business. Historically, venture capital has been a pretty poor asset class globally—not just in Africa. The top-performing funds are outliers, but at an industry level, returns have struggled. I don’t assume the average return of African VC will be 3x—it’s not that anywhere in the world, and it won’t be here. But we do need several outlier funds that can hit or exceed that at scale. Returning five times a million dollars is very different from returning five times fifty or five hundred million. Success, to me, is having a few funds that show global-level returns on meaningful amounts of capital. Without that, attracting global capital will remain hard. It’s a chicken-and-egg problem, but if we can’t show returns at scale, it’ll be extremely hard to attract non-concessionary capital. I agree it’s a chicken-and-egg problem. There have been signs of returns, but mostly via secondaries. How do isolated returns become more widespread, and can secondaries deliver that at scale? There’s a scale issue. Returning a high multiple on a small amount is very different from doing so on a large amount. For 5x $50k, someone needs to pay you $250k. To 5x $5 million, someone needs to pay you $25 million. That’s a massive difference. We’ve seen reasonable secondary returns on small invested amounts, not systematically on large ones. To see that, you need large growth rounds in the hundreds of millions, where tens of millions can come off the table. We’re not systematic there yet. Much of the capital comes from DFIs with impact mandates. Does that reduce accountability around returns? It’s not an accountability issue. None of us would be here without DFIs—they were the first money in. Intuitively, they’re probably 70–75% of the capital in the ecosystem. That matters. But it often creates friction. DFIs push
Read More“Work broke during COVID, we built an operating system to fix it”: Day 1-1000 of Flowmono
In 2020, Babatola Awe, then a consultant for Deloitte, was paying for Zoom, Microsoft 365, and a growing list of international software tools, all priced in dollars. Every invoice was a reminder for Awe: African businesses were paying Western companies to do African work. When COVID-19 hit in March that year, work broke. Documents were trapped in locked offices. Approvals depended on physical signatures. Emails became databases. WhatsApp groups became project management systems. For Awe and his co-founder, Akintayo Okekunle, the dysfunction was expensive. “We asked ourselves, How long will Africa depend on the West to enable business productivity?” Awe recalls. By 2021, they had an answer: not much longer. The two quit their corporate jobs and launched Flowmono, an AI-driven platform combining e-signatures, workflow automation, and document management, built specifically for African businesses. Day 1: The ₦720,000 problem The spark came from a client project. Someone asked them to build a contract management platform. While working on it, a question emerged: How do people actually sign contracts digitally? The answer was clear. DocuSign charged ₦720,000 ($480) annually. Adobe Sign charged ₦431,820 ($288). For Nigerian businesses, those prices were prohibitive. “Their solutions are expensive and not tailored for Africa,” Awe says. “That’s when we decided to build something for Africa, by Africans, and for the world.” Flowmono launched at ₦204,000 ($140) yearly, more than 70% cheaper than DocuSign, more than 50% cheaper than Adobe Sign. But cheaper wasn’t enough. It had to work at an enterprise-grade level. The team made a critical decision: build everything from scratch. No white-labeling. No licencing third-party code. Every line of code written in-house using Angular, .NET, C#, JavaScript, and TypeScript. “We built everything ourselves; our platform is 100% our intellectual property,” Awe says. “Every tool, every module, every line of code is designed for Africa, but benchmarked to global standards.” Day 500: The customers who forced them to level up Flowmono’s early customers weren’t startups testing a cheap alternative. They were enterprises with real security requirements and zero tolerance for failure: Stanbic IBTC, UAC, CardinalStone, and Coronation Bank. Banks demanded audit trails. Financial services firms needed encryption meeting international standards. Corporates wanted seamless integrations. While the features worked from the start, the user experience told a different story. “It was the UX that customers didn’t find seamless,” Awe admits. “This forced us to revamp our whole product interface in the middle of 2025.” The overhaul was comprehensive, including navigation, customisation, and the entire visual design. “Half of the features that exist on Flowmono today came directly from customer requests, especially enterprise customers,” Awe says. Every enterprise demanded more. And every demand made Flowmono stronger. Landing Stanbic IBTC as a customer required intelligence, preparation, and patience. “We got into the room through networking,” Awe explains. “But we also knew they were using Adobe Sign, and we knew their use cases already.” The Flowmono team had done their homework. They understood Stanbic’s workflows and where Adobe was falling short. “We saved Stanbic more than 70% of the cost compared to what they were spending on Adobe.” But knowing the value and closing the deal were different things. What followed was seven to eight months of proof-of-value demonstrations; multiple rounds of testing, security audits, integration trials, and stakeholder approvals. Banks don’t move fast. Enterprise procurement doesn’t favor startups. “It took like 7-8 months to close with them after doing a series of proof of value,” Awe recalls. When Stanbic finally signed, it validated more than Flowmono’s product; it validated the strategy: build for enterprise, price for Africa, compete on value, not just cost. More importantly, Stanbic became proof. If a Nigerian bank trusted Flowmono with sensitive documents and compliance workflows, other enterprises could too. Beyond signatures: Building the operating system By 2023, customers were no longer just asking for faster signatures. They wanted faster decisions. Approvals stuck in email chains. Vendor onboarding delayed by manual processes. Compliance checks slowed by paperwork. Financial reviews bottlenecked by spreadsheets. The expansion was inevitable. Between 2024 and 2025, the company launched new features to reach more customers: Flowmono Automate and Flowmono VPMC. Flowmono Automate allows businesses to design custom workflows for HR onboarding, procurement, finance approvals, and contract management—without writing code. Flowmono VPMC manages vendor relationships, purchase orders, and compliance documentation from a single dashboard. “If 20% of organisations use Flowmono today, we can create interconnectivity between business processes that the world has never seen before,” Awe says. The promise was measurable: businesses adopting Flowmono cut approval times by up to 50%, reduced compliance risk, and freed employees from manual paperwork. Flowmono was becoming what it always intended to be: an AI workflow operating system. The AI that signs (but never without permission) In 2024, Flowmono integrated AI, not as a replacement for human judgment, but as an enhancement. “Technology should make humans more human,” Awe says. “AI should handle repetitive tasks so humans can focus on strategic work.” Flowmono’s AI now provides document summarisation, automated workflow creation, risk detection in contracts, and intelligent document search using Natural Language Processing. The most ambitious feature: an AI co-signer. “It doesn’t sign on your behalf autonomously,” Awe clarifies. “It reads documents, categorises them, matches them to the correct signature stored securely, and recommends actions based on rules you set.” An executive could instruct the AI to automatically sign reimbursement requests under ₦50,000, while flagging larger contracts for manual review. Security remains paramount. Flowmono is PCI DSS-certified and employs encryption and tokenisation to ensure signatures never touch cloud AI services. “The AI assists, but it never replaces the human in the decision loop.” Flowmono has scaled without traditional venture capital, supported instead by Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub. The subscription model is straightforward: ₦204,000 ($142) annually versus DocuSign’s ₦720,000 ($500) and Adobe Sign’s ₦431,820 ($301). Customer retention is strong enough that enterprises expand from signatures into full workflow automation—suggesting real problems are being solved. Day 1000 Flowmono’s bet is simple: African businesses will increasingly choose platforms designed for African realities, priced in local
Read MoreDigital Nomads: Why Mauritius is Africa’s new magnet for foreign wealth and tech talent
In December 2025, Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), the country’s largest bank, and advisory firm Stewards Investment Capital published a report reviewing the economy’s growth over the past year. The paradisiacal nation now has over 4,800 millionaires—individuals with liquid wealth of $1 million or more—including 14 ultra-wealthy centi-millionaires. On a “wealth per capita” basis of $40,800, Mauritius now ranks as the wealthiest country on the continent, blowing past second-placed South Africa. Wealth per capita measures the average total value of assets, including financial holdings, real estate, and other material property, owned by each person in a country. It is a direct indicator of material prosperity. Mauritius, often described as a “melting pot” moulded by centuries of migration and colonial exchange, is positioning itself as a hotbed for global wealth and millionaires seeking comfort, safety, and business predictability and stability. MCB cited Mauritius as an attractive place to live, work, and plan due to its thriving financial services sector, solid tech infrastructure, competitive tax regime, and strong safety and security, compared to neighbouring countries. These perks are drawing foreign interest. According to the Bank of Mauritius, the country’s central bank, strong foreign direct investment (FDI) is flowing into the country from France, South Africa, the UK, and the UAE. In H1 2025, South Africa drew R1.7 billion ($103 million) in direct investment into Mauritius, placing it firmly among the country’s most influential foreign investors. “Everybody would love to move to Mauritius,” said Alejandra Wolf, co-founder of AfricaNomads, a pan-African coliving and travel platform for digital nomads. “[Due to proximity], South Africa has [visa-free] access to Mauritius, and [Mauritius] is definitely safer. I would think most South Africans making the move would be because of stability.” 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 Why South African capital keeps choosing Mauritius South African money didn’t arrive in Mauritius by accident. It follows a path of least resistance, drawn by a sense of familiarity that makes the island feel legible rather than foreign. For Janique Maduray, a South African software engineering student at the African Leadership University (ALU) in Mauritius, the decision is often a rational calculation of cost and stability compared to other global hubs like Dubai. “I would say it’s more affordable to come to Mauritius depending on what your reason is,” said Maduray. “It’s not too expensive if you’re comparing it to home in South Africa, and you will get good tech understanding and a job market here.” To facilitate this movement, the Mauritian government has engineered specific policy levers. The country offers occupation permits (OPs) for professionals, investors, and self-employed individuals, alongside long-stay and premium visas that allow foreigners to live and work remotely from the island. Perhaps the most powerful incentive is property-linked residency. Foreigners who purchase a home worth at least $375,000 gain permanent residence, a policy that functions like a citizenship-by-investment programme and serves as a direct source of FX for the local economy. Mauritius is also part of a small cohort of African countries that issue digital nomad visas. Once these investors and nomads arrive, the contrast in daily life often justifies the cost. Safety weighs heavily on the decision-making process. While crime and political uncertainty have become persistent anxieties in South Africa, Mauritius offers a rare predictability. Maduray describes this freedom as a relief from the high-alert existence required in South African cities. The country recorded 27,621 murders between 2023 and 2024, and several major cities like Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Durban have reached “very high” crime index scores above 80; everyday life in these urban centres often involves constant vigilance against violent and property crime. “In South Africa, crime rates are pretty high. Safety is something that you have to always be alert about, speaking from a perspective of a woman as well,” said Maduray. “Here in Mauritius, you can take a walk at 6 p.m. without fear of being followed; in South Africa, you wouldn’t be advised to do that.” Beyond safety, the migration is driven by Mauritius’ tax-friendly nature. In South Africa, top earners can face marginal income tax rates as high as 45% plus additional levies on investment income, whereas Mauritius offers a single low flat rate on personal income, creating a stark contrast that many high‑income professionals see as financially irresistible. “In South Africa, you are taxed according to the income that you earn. The higher you earn, the more tax you are going to pay,” Maduray explained. “However, here in Mauritius, the corporate tax rate is a flat 15% [with the top rate of personal income tax reaching 20% for high earners]. That difference alone plays a big role in why South Africans come here.” The fiscal environment has turned the island into a strategic launchpad for business. Alexia Jolicoeur, a Mauritian engineering student, said business formation on the island is notably frictionless. The country has successfully positioned itself as a critical entry point for capital entering the continent, said Jolicoeur. “It is not hard to set up a business in Mauritius, whether you are a local or a foreigner,” said Jolicoeur. “There are a lot of facilities, and it is really easy for you to just set up a business and get going.” Due to this relative ease, consumer electronics, among other things, are some of the low-cost items imported by South African entrepreneurs, who often sell slightly higher to the Mauritian market perceived for its wealth. The trade corridor between South Africa and Mauritius has become one of
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