Why more exits don’t mean more liquidity for Africa’s tech ecosystem
For the first time in years, capital is finding its way back to investors in African ventures, according to a new report from Stears and Ventures Platform that tracked 181 verified VC-backed exits across the continent between 2011 and 2026. The report shows that Africa’s tech ecosystem is producing more exits than ever, but the improvement is driven as much by a 33% decline in funding as a 36% rise in exits. If you combine this with less participation from foreign investors and acquirers, the dominance of acquisitions (73%), and the concentration in four countries (81%), the result is a backlog of companies that raised large rounds and now need to provide liquidity in a market that cannot provide it. For fund managers who have to return money to their investors, the importance of planning for liquidity from the outset can not be overstated, a shift from it being currently treated as an eventual outcome of ecosystem maturity. International buyers made up 56% of disclosed exits in 2020. By 2025, that share had fallen to 33%, the report said. Acquisitions now account for 73% of all exits, more than four times the next most common route. Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, and Kenya together account for 81% of disclosed exits. Financial services alone delivers 30%, more than the next two sectors put together. “The problem is not too few exits,” Dr Dotun Olowoporoku, the managing partner at Ventures Platform, noted in the report. “It is that exit routes are narrow, buyer pools are shallow, and the broadening that should accompany maturity is not happening fast enough.” The recycling mirage The capital recycling ratio, exits divided by investments in a given year, climbed from 0.032 in 2022 to 0.065 in 2025. While that’s an improvement on paper, in practice, it’s mostly arithmetic. Funding volumes fell 33% over the window as exit volumes rose 36%, meaning the ratio improved mostly because the denominator shrank. For the companies that raised money during the 2019-2022 boom, less funding has created a stockpile of companies that will eventually need buyers, but the market has not widened to receive them. Peer markets offer useful context. Southeast Asia runs at 0.03 to 0.05, but exit activity there has scaled alongside investment. Latin America boomed, corrected, and still settled at meaningfully higher exit levels even as funding fell sharply between 2022 and 2025. Africa has yet to show it can sustain exit activity independently of the funding cycle. A new way to measure liquidity The report also introduces the Stears-Ventures Platform Liquidity Index, the first composite measure of African venture liquidity. It separates liquidity volume (80% of the score) from liquidity quality (20%). The quality component draws 60% from international buyer share, 20% from fresh liquidity intensity, and 20% from route diversity. The baseline is 2020-2023, with quarterly updates. West Africa leads with 86 recorded exits, an unadjusted Liquidity Quality Index of 87.03, and a Diversity Score of 85.80 – top of the table on both. North Africa scores well on quality, almost entirely because of Arab and European buyer participation. Southern Africa, despite South Africa’s deep corporate base, posts a Diversity Score of just 32.81 as 89% of its VC exits run through trade sales. Central Africa, with only 10 recorded exits, sits at the bottom across every metric. The most interesting signal in the data The most encouraging thing in the dataset is venture-backed companies buying other venture-backed companies. Flutterwave’s all-stock acquisition of Mono Technologies, Risevest acquiring Chaka in Nigeria and Hisa in Kenya, and OmniRetail’s 2024 acquisition of Traction Apps. They all show that parts of the ecosystem, particularly West African fintech, are beginning to generate buyers from within, and this is the closest thing African VC has to structural improvement. When buyers come from inside the ecosystem, dependence on external capital cycles eases, and the effects compound. Companies that grow through acquisition scale faster, become more attractive targets themselves, and set valuation reference points along the way, which is very useful for investors. But, just like exits, it’s still concentrated. These acquisitions are most visible in financial services, faint elsewhere, and not yet at the scale needed to shift the overall buyer mix. The report combines the Stears Transactions Database with direct submissions from 16 participating funds: Ventures Platform, LoftyInc, Future Africa, Acumen, Microtraction, Golden Palm Investments, Launch Africa, Enza Capital, VestedWorld, DOB Equity, HoaQ, Norrsken22, Atlantica Ventures, Consonance Capital Managers, Serena Ventures, and MaC Venture Capital.
Read MoreMoonshot by TechCabal returns to Lagos for fourth edition in October
TechCabal, Africa’s leading technology media publication, today announced that Moonshot by TechCabal, its flagship pan-African technology conference, will return for its fourth edition on October 28 and 29, 2026, at the National Theatre Nigeria in Lagos, Nigeria. Since its inception in 2023, Moonshot has grown into Africa’s fastest-growing technology conference and one of the most important convenings of the global tech ecosystem. The 2025 edition welcomed 6,000 attendees from 39 countries across 6 continents, bringing the three-year run to more than 12,650 participants from 44 countries since the conference launched in 2023. “Moonshot has become the moment each year when African tech meets itself to take stock, to make deals, and to decide what comes next”, said Tomiwa Aladekomo, CEO, Big Cabal Media. “We are excited to be bringing the ecosystem back to Lagos for a fourth edition and to share more about what this year’s conference will look like in the coming weeks.” What Moonshot has built Across three editions, Moonshot has become a genuine economic and ecosystem event for African technology. Investors attending the conference have collectively raised and deployed over $5 billion through their funds, while startups exhibiting on the Moonshot floor carry an estimated combined market valuation exceeding $15 billion. More than 2,000 unique organisations have been represented across editions, with one in seven attendees a funder, investor, or ecosystem enabler with active capital to deploy. The conference has also become Africa’s most prominent stage for early-stage startup discovery. TC Battlefield, Moonshot’s flagship pitch competition, has attracted 960 applicants, named 14 winners, and awarded $105,000 in prize money since 2023, alongside structured pre-accelerator mentorship and direct access to top-tier investors. Beyond capital, Moonshot has anchored continental policy alignment. The 2025 edition convened ministers and dignitaries from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and others across six major policy roundtables, with stakeholders pledging over $120,000 to support the newly formed Tech Ecosystem Alliance. What’s coming In the weeks ahead, TechCabal will announce: The headline sponsor for Moonshot 2026 The conference theme and editorial direction for this year’s edition The content tracks, session formats, and confirmed speakers Ticket tiers and pricing, including bundle access to co-located events Past editions of Moonshot have featured speakers including Dr Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy; Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General of NITDA; Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment; Iyin Aboyeji, Founding Partner of Future Africa; and Marlon Nichols, Co-founder and Managing General Partner of MaC Venture Capital, among others. Moonshot 2026 will once again anchor a week of African tech and investment programming in Lagos. Off-conference activities, side mixers, and co-located events will run through the week of October 28. To stay updated on speaker announcements, ticket sales, and programming details, visit moonshot.techcabal.com and subscribe to TC Daily, TechCabal’s daily newsletter. About TechCabal TechCabal is Africa’s leading technology media publication, providing reporting, data, and context on African technology, business, and innovation since 2013. TechCabal covers startup funding, mergers and acquisitions, fintech, policy, the creative economy, and the people building the continent’s digital future. TechCabal is part of Big Cabal Media, which also operates Zikoko, Cabal Creative, and TC Insights. For more information, visit techcabal.com and moonshot.techcabal.com.
Read MoreMTN Nigeria says it saved $5.89 million on gas as diesel dominates energy mix
As MTN Nigeria braces for potential profit pressure if diesel prices remain above or rise beyond ₦2,000 ($1.45) per litre, the telecom operator is exploring a shift to gas and a broader energy mix to cut operating costs. In its latest Sustainability Report, MTN Nigeria said it saved ₦8.1 billion ($5.89 million) in 2025 by increasing its use of gas-powered electricity. However, diesel continues to dominate its energy mix, underscoring the structural challenge of powering telecom infrastructure in Nigeria. The company said it consumed more than 1 million gigajoules of energy in the year—about 277 million kilowatt-hours—reflecting the scale of its operations across base stations, data centres, switching facilities, offices, and its vehicle fleet. This level of energy use is equivalent to powering about 25,000 to 30,000 Nigerian homes annually, or the energy contained in roughly 25 million litres of diesel. As data demand grows, the cost and source of this energy are becoming central to both profitability and sustainability. MTN estimates a 2.0% margin decline—equivalent to about ₦140 billion ($102 million) at current revenue levels—as rising energy costs outpace gains from increased data usage. Although data revenue grew 56.2% this quarter, each gigabyte now costs more to deliver, putting pressure on margins. In its Q1 2026 report, MTN Nigeria said it nearly doubled its capital expenditure, rising 92.8% year-on-year to ₦390.3 billion ($283.74 million), as it accelerated the deployment of solar-hybrid and gas-powered solutions. The strategy is partly anchored on Nigeria’s natural gas reserves, estimated at 215.19 trillion cubic feet (tcf). However, ongoing supply constraints—reported to have left 16 of the country’s 33 power plants idle or operating below capacity in early 2026 due to gas shortages—could limit this transition and sustain reliance on diesel power if not addressed. In 2025, diesel made up 58.11% of MTN Nigeria’s total energy consumption, far exceeding gas-powered Independent Power Producers (23.63%) and electricity from the national grid (18.04%), the sustainability report noted. Renewable energy, including solar, contributed just 0.05%, highlighting how marginal clean energy remains in the company’s overall power mix. “Our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions stood at approximately 106,588 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, a 4.8% increase over the prior year, driven primarily by network expansion and grid supply constraints, which increased reliance on diesel,” Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, noted in the report. The 106,588 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent represent emissions from MTN Nigeria’s direct operations, such as diesel generators and fuel-powered vehicles, as well as the electricity it consumes. It captures the company’s operational carbon footprint and highlights the energy intensity of telecom infrastructure, particularly in markets where unreliable grid supply forces operators to depend heavily on diesel. That dependence also carries financial risk. With diesel prices hovering around ₦2,000 ($1.45) per litre, MTN Nigeria remains highly exposed to fuel price volatility. For a business operating at this scale, energy costs feed directly into margins. The company reported operating expenses of ₦1.39 trillion ($1.01 billion), making the ₦8.1 billion ($5.89 million) saved through increased use of gas relatively modest. While gas provides a partial buffer, it is not yet enough to materially reduce the overall cost burden imposed by diesel reliance. Grid instability continues to play a major role. Frequent power outages and unreliable supply force telecom operators to depend on diesel generators to maintain uptime, particularly for critical infrastructure like base stations and switching centres. Where the energy goes A breakdown of MTN Nigeria’s electricity consumption shows where the pressure points lie. Data centres accounted for the largest share, consuming 38.2% of electricity, an indication of the growing demand for data services and digital infrastructure. Base transceiver stations (BTS), which form the backbone of mobile connectivity, consumed 31.6%, while switches used 21.2%. Office buildings accounted for 8.7%, and mobile combustion vehicles made up a negligible 0.3%. The concentration of energy use in high-demand facilities like data centres and network infrastructure makes transitioning away from diesel particularly difficult. These operations require constant, reliable power, which renewables alone currently struggle to provide at scale. Beyond fuel switching, MTN Nigeria said it implemented several energy efficiency measures in 2025 aimed at reducing both costs and emissions. The deployment of high-efficiency cooling systems and inverter solutions generated an additional ₦352.6 million ($256,330) in savings. The company also said it expanded its solar-powered rural sites by 18%, extending connectivity to underserved communities while reducing reliance on diesel in those locations.
Read MoreSabou Capital secures Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund investment to back SMEs
Sabou Capital, a Nigeria-based impact fund investing in tech-enabled small and medium enterprises (SMEs), has secured an undisclosed anchor investment from the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund. The capital will be deployed to early growth-stage companies across the agriculture, healthcare, logistics and mobility, fintech, and climate tech sectors in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Nigeria. The Mastercard Growth Fund is a $200 million fund of funds focused on African-owned investment vehicles that invest in women-led and gender-diverse enterprises. The investment is a boost for Sabou Capital, which targets a gap in Africa’s funding landscape where revenue-generating SMEs are locked out of growth capital because they cannot meet investor standards. “We target secondary cities and regions that mainstream capital bypasses,” said Surayyah Ahmad, partner at Sabou Capital. “Many of these businesses are investment-ready: the revenues are there, the model works, and the market is real. Yet they are excluded because they lack the investor-readiness infrastructure required by conventional capital.” While fintech continues to dominate Africa’s funding environment, capital is gradually spreading into other sectors like logistics, agriculture, healthcare, and climate tech, industries that are related to supply chains. African startups raised $575 million across 58 deals between January and February 2026, with the logistics and transport sectors emerging as the most-funded sectors in February. The agritech sector, which struggled to hold investor interest in 2025, also began to show tentative signs of recovery in that window. Sabou’s focus on such sectors leans directly into that change by backing companies in secondary cities where markets are active, but capital remains scarce. The fund said that it will disburse ticket sizes ranging from $300,000 and $2 million, and targets a final close by the third quarter of 2027, focusing on businesses that have moved beyond the idea stage with consistent revenue but still struggle to meet the requirements of institutional investors. Sabou noted that it pairs funding with hands-on support, such as its pre-investment technical assistance programme, which helps founders tighten their financial reporting to build the documentation they need to attract follow-on capital. It also added that its post-investment support focuses on operational growth and climate resilience. “What we see across markets is not a lack of viable businesses, but a mismatch between how capital is structured and how these companies actually grow,” said Christian Amouo, partner at Sabou Capital. “Our role is to bridge that disconnect so businesses can move forward on terms that reflect their realities.” Launched in 2025, Sabou Capital invests in late pre-seed to Series A SMEs in agriculture and agroprocessing, renewable energy and climate, supply chain, logistics, and mobility sectors. Its portfolio businesses include Tomato Jos, a Nigerian agricultural production company that produces tomato paste from locally grown tomatoes, alongside other companies operating across food processing and fashion. Sabou estimates that its fund could help create about 4,200 direct jobs and an additional 50,000 indirect value chain jobs with a strong focus on women and youth.
Read MoreStitch enters South Africa’s BNPL market with merchant-first model
Stitch, a South Africa-based payments infrastructure company, has launched a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) product for merchants, expanding its platform to support instalment payments across merchants’ online and in-store channels. The company noted that the product would allow merchants to offer customers flexible repayment options at checkout by letting them choose their repayment schedule and split purchases between two and six instalments. While customers pay over time, Stitch said it would settle merchants the full purchase amount, minus fees, within 24 hours to remove the repayment uncertainty that makes instalment payments difficult to adopt. The BNPL payment market in South Africa is expected to grow annually by 22.2% and reach $1.17 billion in 2026. Stitch is positioning itself to capture that demand by embedding the service directly into its existing payments infrastructure. “What sets our BNPL product apart is both its commercial performance — we’re already seeing higher approval and facility rates than other players in the market — and the flexibility we offer consumers to choose a repayment term that genuinely works for them,” said Junaid Dadan, President and Co-founder at Stitch. “For enterprise merchants, that translates to more conversions, higher average order value and a better customer experience.” Stitch said that its BNPL feature would enable enterprise merchants to customise how the feature will appear on their storefronts. Merchants can display the option for specific product categories and also gain visibility into customers’ repayment behaviour. According to the company, businesses on Stitch Express, a checkout solution for businesses that use e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Woo, can activate the BNPL feature through a toggle on their dashboard, while enterprise merchants (larger businesses) have a more customisable implementation model that can be added alongside their existing payments stack. For in-store payments, customers can scan a (Quick-Response) QR code at checkout to launch the BNPL flow that mirrors the online transaction, the company noted. Once the feature is selected, customers will be prompted to complete an onboarding process within the merchant’s checkout, including Know-Your-Customer (KYC) onboarding and a credit assessment. The company noted that based on their credit history, customers are assigned a spending limit, which they can use across participating merchants. “BNPL has been steadily growing in popularity in the South African market, and it’s now becoming table stakes for retailers,” Thea Sokolowski, Head of Marketing at Stitch, said. “We serve a lot of South Africa’s largest retailers, and a rapidly growing number of small to medium e-commerce businesses, and we increasingly hear demand from them for a BNPL option that works seamlessly alongside our existing payment methods.” Stitch noted that it manages the entire repayment lifecycle. Merchants would be paid upfront within 24 hours, while it takes on the responsibility of collecting instalments from customers. This structure means the merchant carries no default risk, even if a customer fails to repay. The BNPL landscape in South Africa already includes players that operate as standalone layers, including PayJustNow, which partnered with Shoprite Group in January to provide BNPL services to customers, and Happy Pay, which raised $5 million in March. Stitch said its approach differs from that of existing players because it embeds the service directly into its payments infrastructure. “Existing players in the market direct customers away from a merchant’s site to their own app, once they select BNPL at checkout,” Sokolowski said. “We keep the customer in the payments flow on the merchant site the entire time… customers won’t be redirected to a marketplace once they complete a purchase.” The BNLP product launch comes a year after Stitch raised a $55 million Series B round and its acquisition of Efficacy Payments, a digital payments startup with direct access to the national clearing system, in July 2025. The acquisition allowed Stitch to offer end-to-end card-acquiring services without relying on banks or third-party processors. Although officially launching now, Stitch noted that it had tested the product with its Express merchants over the last few weeks. “Today, we offer the most reliable, comprehensive payments platform for enterprise businesses in South Africa, and BNPL is the next important step in that journey,” Dadan said.
Read More“It’s been a story of a lot of pivots”: Day 1-1000 of Insight7
Odun Odubanjo became obsessed with data during his time as a computer engineering student at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, in southwestern Nigeria. He recalls using J2ME, a technology for developing applications and games on older mobile phones, to build mobile applications for Java-supported phones. Although he was skilled at programming, he was drawn to understanding how data could be used in real-world scenarios. Fresh out of university, he cofounded Twinpine, a mobile advertising startup, in 2011. The company eventually evolved into a cloud-based marketing data platform, pulling him deeper into data-driven decision-making. Still, that passion for working with data didn’t let up. Odubanjo relocated to Toronto, Canada, in 2019 to join Security Compass, a cybersecurity startup, as a Product Innovation lead. But as he gained more experience, he noticed a disconnect in how data was used. During his one-year stint at Security Compass, Odunbanjo said he found teams relying on spreadsheets to manually piece together insights, struggling to turn information into something usable. Later at Shopify, an e-commerce company, where he worked as a Product Lead for three years, he encountered a more complex version of the same problem: companies had access to data but lacked the clarity needed to act on it. “It was clear to me that there needed to be tools that would help you really understand your customers and markets, and then use that data to make the right product and market decisions in your business,” he said. “I immediately recognised that there was an opportunity here.” In May 2022, Odubanjo set out to build Insight7, an AI-powered platform designed to help businesses turn qualitative data—such as interviews and customer conversations—into valuable insights. Insight7 operates in the conversational intelligence and customer experience analytics market, projected to reach $27.4 billion in 2026 and grow to $60.3 billion by 2036, according to Future Market Insights, a market research company. The startup primarily serves United States-based mid-market and enterprise businesses, and has seen growing adoption in European markets, including the United Kingdom and Germany, according to Odubanjo. It is now expanding into Nigeria. 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 Next wave Entering Tech Subscribe Day 1: False starts and building anyway Insight7’s earliest version aggregated job postings and mined them for company insights. The thinking was that if a company was hiring for certain roles, the data could reveal what it was building. That kind of intelligence could help sales teams identify prospective clients and better product positioning. However, the model required a large volume of data to be useful, making it difficult to execute, according to Odubanjo. So, he scrapped it. When he tried again, he changed the model. This time, instead of collecting external data, he built a system where companies could bring in their own data, and Insight7 would synthesise it. The pioneer team had four engineers and later grew to seven. Their focus was building the product, testing it with potential users, and refining it based on feedback. “The early days were us just trying to figure out a product that could analyse interviews for product managers or product teams so that they could understand their customers better,” he said. The final product launched publicly in January 2023. Day 500: Understanding wasn’t enough After Insight7’s public launch in January 2023, Odubanjo’s focus shifted from building the product to adoption. “There was a lot of confusion around what we were doing,” he said. “The idea was to prove that conviction.” So, he reached out to founders and product leaders in his network to show them what his product could do. He said he walked them through the problem of understanding customer behaviour from qualitative data, such as interviews and conversations, to explain why it mattered that they use his solution to fix the problem. He posted consistently on LinkedIn to build an audience around the idea and get the product in front of as many people as possible. For a while, it seemed to be working for him. He explained that he was getting in front of decision-makers at large companies—he declined to disclose. They understood the problem and, in some cases, described it as serious. But these conversations kept ending with interest and not commitment. Even when Insight7 started making money, bringing in a few thousand dollars in monthly revenue, according to Odubanjo, it did not change his conviction that the product made sense. But, but it was just not a priority for the people he was speaking to. “There was revenue,” he said. “We could see that there was something here, but we couldn’t get traction. It was clear that the urgency of the pain wasn’t there.” For Odubanjo, Insight7’s day 500 felt like being stuck, but not for much longer. 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 Next wave Entering Tech Subscribe Day 1000: Pivots and the pivot hell Insight7’s first pivot came in 2024. After months of trying to convince product teams to act on a problem they acknowledged
Read MoreFour graduates are building an AI video-dubbing tool for African filmmakers
Apotierioluwa Owoade had a problem he could not stop thinking about. He had spent time working at Aforevo, a local streaming and dubbing firm in Lagos, Nigeria, and his experience stayed with him. During his time at the company, from 2022 to 2023, he saw firsthand how cost-prohibitive the dubbing industry could be. Translating a film into another language costs upwards of $500,000 for a full production, according to Owoade. Yet, beyond the cost, something frustrated him even more: the lack of nuance that most translators failed to capture in the local tongue. Voice actors, overstretched and underpaid, flattened the emotional texture of scenes they were recording. The existing software tools were no better. He had seen Yoruba rendered so poorly that the phrase “I am pregnant” came out flatly as “I have a ball,” he explained, his face visibly grimacing over our video call. He wanted to fix it. He called his friend David Mac-Asore, who was a Computer Engineering undergraduate at the time and a software developer. Owoade and Mac-Asore had known each other for years, a friendship anchored partly through shared work at Living Faith Church Worldwide International, one of Nigeria’s largest churches. Since 2022, the two have collaborated on projects to bridge the language divide between the church’s English and French-speaking congregations at its headquarters in Ota, Ogun State, in south-western Nigeria, said Mac-Asore. When Owoade pitched his idea, Mac-Asore was in, but they agreed they needed someone steeped in machine learning. 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 Next wave Entering Tech Subscribe Assembling a team Mac-Asore reached out to two of his former schoolmates from Covenant University, a private Christian university in Ota: Maryann Nnaji and Emmanuel Ibiang. Both had graduated in 2024. The four got on a call. At the time, they did not even have a name for what they were building. According to Owoade, they called it the Hagen Project, a name that made me chuckle. The ‘Hagen Project’ eventually evolved into Reedapt in 2025. Nnaji brought the machine learning depth the team needed. Before joining, she had built a sign language-to-speech and text model as part of her undergraduate thesis, working through the full pipeline from data collection to training, deployment, and testing. She had noticed the friction the hard-of-hearing (HOH) community faced in everyday interactions and wanted to use technology to address it. She had to put the work on hold, partly due to a data gap that would later feel very familiar when she began working on Reedapt. According to Nnaji, most research on sign language recognition was built on Western contexts, not Nigerian or African ones. “When I started the project, it was just a way to actually see how technology could be a way of bridging this gap,” Nnaji said. “To prove something to myself that this is applicable.” Ibiang, Reedapt’s product engineer, arrived with a different but equally critical instinct: an obsession with usability. Where the AI engineers on the team reached for accuracy, Ibiang optimised for the user. “Can the average Joe use your product without having to be walked through?” Ibiang asked rhetorically, almost as if he was expecting a response. “Ease of use of the product—that’s what my role optimises for.” For a product as technically complex as Reedapt, that perspective has been the team’s internal check against building something impressive that nobody can use. In a four-man small team where Mac-Asore and Nnaji are the technical engineers, and Ibiang is the product specialist, Owoade was described by his teammates as the person with the ideas. The four of them, all fresh out of school and under 25, decided to build together. From a translation tool to a dubbing platform I first met Owoade and Mac-Asore at the Builders Summit by Founders Connect in May 2025, a networking event for early-stage technology founders held in Lagos, Nigeria. At the time, they told me they wanted to build a translation tool that allowed users to move between different languages over text or audio, without needing to learn a new language. I remember joking that their ambition would eventually put Duolingo out of business. More seriously, I asked them why this needed to exist in a world where we already have DeepL. They didn’t have a clear answer. I sensed they were still finding the edges of it. Since that conversation, the vision has sharpened considerably. Reedapt is now focused on becoming the go-to dubbing and real-time multilingual streaming platform for Nollywood filmmakers, churches, and African content creators who want their work to travel further than the English language will take it. The startup, Owoade said, has signed two enterprise dubbing contracts with a Nollywood gospel producer, with those projects expected to be completed before the end of 2026. Reedapt’s paying customers today are a mix of Nollywood producers and churches. It currently serves over 200 active users. About 94% are individual creators on its consumer tier, while the remaining 6% are enterprise clients who generate the majority of revenue, said Owoade. Reedapt makes money by charging subscription fees. Pricing is structured in dollar-denominated tiers: a free plan offering up to 60 minutes of usage, a creator plan at $11 per month, and higher tiers at $39 and $99. The decision to price in dollars was deliberate, said Owoade. The team had experimented with Naira pricing early and found that it undercut their credibility with both users and potential investors. “Most of our costs are not in
Read MoreNigeria’s data consumption hits record 4 million terabytes in a quarter
For the first time, Nigerians consumed more than 4 billion gigabytes of data in 90 days, according to the latest data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). In the first three months of 2026, the country recorded 4.06 million terabytes of data, the highest level since the NCC began tracking the data, and a clear sign of how quickly Nigerians are going online. A terabyte is equal to about 1,000 gigabytes; 406 million terabytes brings the number of data consumed to above 4 billion gigabytes. The new record surpasses the previous high of 3.86 million terabytes recorded in the last quarter of 2025. It also shows steady growth, even though the pace has slowed slightly after the spike typically seen during the festive season at the end of the year. March 2026 played a major role in pushing the numbers higher. It was the busiest month ever, with 1.42 million terabytes of data consumed. This marked a strong recovery from February, when usage dipped. On average, Nigerians used about 45,896 terabytes of data every day in March, overtaking February 2026’s 45,002 TB/day. Behind this surge is a massive expansion of the country’s Internet infrastructure. Moving 4 million terabytes of data requires a network of undersea cables, fibre optic lines across the country, and more than 20,000 telecom towers working at high capacity. Telecom operators have significantly increased investment. MTN Nigeria spent about ₦1 trillion ($726.97 million) on network upgrades last year, while Airtel committed around $500 million and Globacom expanded its infrastructure footprint. The scale of growth has been rapid. In early 2023, Nigeria’s monthly data usage stood at about 517,000 terabytes. By 2026, that figure has more than doubled, highlighting how quickly both demand and capacity have expanded. Another key factor is the shift to faster Internet technologies. As of March 2026, 4G networks account for 53.76% of all connections in Nigeria. Older networks like 2G and 3G simply cannot handle this level of data traffic. Meanwhile, 5G, though still in its early stages at 4.2% penetration, is helping to carry heavy data loads in major cities like Lagos and Abuja, especially for high-definition streaming and cloud-based services. This shift is reflected in rising demand for fixed wireless and fibre services, driven by telecom operators expanding into home Internet. The fixed Internet subscriptions saw a 10.02% jump in March, with MTN Nigeria dominating the market with 80.7% of total subscriptions.
Read MoreNGX nearly doubles profit as transaction fee income climbs 189%
The Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group) nearly doubled its profit in the first quarter of 2026, as a surge in trading activity drove transaction fee income up 189.08%. Profit after tax rose by 93.67% to ₦4.09 billion ($2.98 million) in Q1 2026, according to its Q1 2026 unaudited financial statements. Total income climbed 70.51% to ₦7.80 billion ($5.67 million). The growth was driven primarily by transaction fee income, which surged 189.08% to ₦5.80 billion ($4.22 million), making it the largest contributor to the group’s revenue. The spike reflects stronger trading activity on the exchange, buoyed by improved investor sentiment, rising retail participation via digital platforms, and higher market turnover. Investors gained ₦29.83 trillion ($21.69 billion) on the exchange in the first quarter, as market capitalisation rose 30.02% to ₦129.21 trillion ($93.98 billion) by March 31, 2026. While transaction fees powered growth, other income lines showed mixed performance. The NGX Income Engine Explore how the composition of NGX’s Total Income shifted between 2025 and 2026. Hover (or tap on mobile) to see each stream’s exact share of the pie. Total Income ₦7.80B +70.5% YoY Q1 2026 Q1 2025 Transaction Fees ₦5.80 Billion 74.3% of Total Listing Fees ₦0.73 Billion 9.4% of Total Treasury Income ₦0.63 Billion 8.1% of Total Other & Rental Income ₦0.64 Billion 8.2% of Total Hint: Hover or tap bars to see percentage share. Source: NGX Group Q1 Unaudited Financial Statements Technology and data-related income, captured under other income, also fell by 75.41%. Drivers & Drags: NGX Other Income Tap on any line item to see the core businesses driving NGX’s side income—and the macro FX factors dragging it down. Q1 2026 Q1 2025 Total Other Income ₦579.7M -43.0% vs Q1 2025 Source: NGX Group Q1 2025 & 2026 Financials (Note 5) ${item.val}
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Framework laptops worth buying in 2026
Table of contents Framework laptop 12 Framework laptop 13 Framework Laptop 13 Pro Framework Laptop 16 Framework desktop Side-by-side comparison If you have ever bought a laptop and felt frustrated when something breaks, you cannot fix it yourself, or the battery dies just two years in, Framework laptops were built for you. Framework Computer is an American laptop maker founded in January 2020 by Nirav Patel, a former Apple engineer who also led hardware at Oculus and Meta. His idea was simple: laptops should be built to last, and when something goes wrong, you should be able to fix it yourself without sending it to a service centre or buying an entirely new device. That idea turned into a company that now has about 60 employees, ships to 32 countries, and has raised around $44 million in funding. YouTube creator Linus Sebastian of Linus Tech Tips personally put in $225,000 in 2021 because he believed in the concept. Framework laptops have received a 10 out of 10 repairability score from iFixit, the gold standard for measuring how easy a device is to repair. TIME magazine named the first Framework laptop one of the best inventions of 2021. Every Framework laptop ships with a screwdriver in the box. Every important component, such as the battery, RAM, storage, and ports, can be swapped out by you without any special tools or technical skills. Framework also sells individual replacement parts through its own marketplace, and it commits to keeping those parts available for at least five years after a product is discontinued. Recommended Framework laptops The lineup today covers five products: a compact convertible, two 13-inch laptops, a larger performance machine, and a desktop PC. Here is a breakdown of each one. 1. Framework laptop 12 Image source: Brad Colbow on YouTube The Framework Laptop 12 is the most affordable and most portable in the lineup. It is a 12.2-inch 2-in-1 convertible, meaning the screen can fold all the way back so you can use it like a tablet. It launched in 2025 and is aimed at students and everyday users who want something light and practical. Display 12.2-inch screen with a 16:10 aspect ratio 1920 x 1200 resolution 60Hz refresh rate Over 400 nits of brightness Glossy glass with touch and stylus support (MPP 2.0 and USI 2.0 compatible) Processor and performance Intel Core i3-1315U or Core i5-1334U (both are 13th Gen Intel chips) These chips do not have an NPU, so this is not a Copilot+ PC Three power modes: Performance, Balanced, and Efficiency Integrated Intel UHD graphics Memory and storage One SO-DIMM DDR5 slot, user-replaceable, up to 48GB M.2 2230 NVMe storage slot, user-replaceable, up to 2TB Battery 50Wh battery Battery life is the weakest point of this model, a known trade-off with the older Raptor Lake chip Build and design TPU-overmolded plastic chassis built for shock absorption and drop resistance Dimensions: 287 x 213.88 x 18.45mm, which translates to roughly 11.3 x 8.42 x 0.73 inches Available in five colours: Black, Gray, Lavender, Bubblegum, and Sage Chassis uses 30% to 35% post-consumer recycled plastic Ports and connectivity 4 user-selectable Expansion Card slots plus a 3.5mm audio jack Card options include USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet, MicroSD, SD, and storage cards Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 Other features 1080p webcam with a hardware privacy switch Stereo speakers Fingerprint reader Windows 11 pre-installed on pre-built models; DIY Edition supports Linux and other operating systems Price DIY Edition: starts at $549 (you bring your own RAM, storage, and operating system) Pre-built: starts at around $799 to $849 The DIY Edition is for people who want to save money and are comfortable setting up their own storage and OS. The pre-built version is ready to use out of the box. The stylus is sold separately. 2. Framework laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series) Image source: Framework on YouTube The Framework Laptop 13 is the standard version of the 13-inch line. It was updated in 2025 with AMD Ryzen AI 300-series chips and remains the most balanced option in the lineup if you want a portable everyday laptop without paying premium pricing. It is in stock and ships immediately. Display 13.5-inch screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio, which gives you more vertical space for reading and working Two panel options: 2.2K (2256 x 1504, 60Hz, over 400 nits) or 2.8K (2880 x 1920, 120Hz, over 500 nits) Both options are matte with anti-glare coating and cover 100% sRGB No touchscreen support on this model Processor and performance AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 (6 cores, 12 threads, up to 4.8GHz) AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (8 cores, 16 threads, up to 5.0GHz) AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (12 cores, 24 threads, up to 5.1GHz) Integrated AMD Radeon graphics: Radeon 840M (4 cores), 860M (8 cores), or 890M (16 cores), depending on which chip you pick Memory and storage Two SO-DIMM DDR5-5600 slots, user-upgradeable, up to 64GB M.2 2280 NVMe storage, user-upgradeable, up to 2TB from the order page; larger drives can be installed yourself Battery 61Wh battery Real-world battery life is around 8 to 11 hours, depending on what you are doing Build and design Aluminum top and bottom covers with magnesium-aluminum internals Dimensions: 296.63 x 228.98 x 15.85mm, same footprint as the Laptop 13 Pro Weight: approximately 1.3kg Ports and connectivity 4 Expansion Card slots plus a 3.5mm audio jack Full compatibility with the Expansion Card library Wi-Fi 7 via AMD RZ717 and Bluetooth 5.4 Other features 1080p webcam at 30fps with a 9.2MP sensor and 87-degree field of view Hardware privacy switches for the webcam and microphones Keyboard with 1.5mm key travel Conventional Windows Precision touchpad Dual-array microphones and stereo speakers (no Dolby Atmos on this model) Fingerprint reader Linux works well on this model; Fedora 40 is widely reported to work out of the box Price DIY Edition: starts at approximately $899 (AMD Ryzen AI 5 340, no RAM, storage, or OS) Pre-built: starts at around $1,099 to $1,199,
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