Mercy Erhiawarien left Africa. She returned convinced it is the future
The maître d‘s phone rings every few minutes. Maybe a reservation, dinner enquiry, or just someone asking if the terrace is open. We choose a quiet table tucked behind the reception desk at Somerset Westview Restaurant in Nairobi’s leafy Kilimani neighbourhood, but the restaurant has its own flow. Mercy Erhiawarien, Director of International Programmes at Halcyon, a nonprofit startup accelerator, hardly notices. She sits upright, almost intimidating at first glance, with the kind of posture that makes you instinctively straighten your own back. But the seriousness dissolves quickly. She laughs easily, often at herself, and answers questions with long pauses, not because she is searching for the right words, but because she seems determined not to waste them. Over nearly an hour, our conversation wandered from Lagos and Nairobi to venture capital, village life, housing, artificial intelligence (AI) and why she believes Africa’s greatest shortage is not entrepreneurial talent but patient capital. “I believe opportunity exists in places where people rarely look,” she tells me. It is perhaps the closest thing to a personal philosophy she offers. That belief is rooted in a life lived across continents. Born in Nigeria’s Delta State and raised largely in the United States, Erhiawarien grew up moving between two worlds. The contrast in infrastructure, opportunity and public institutions sharpened rather than weakened her attachment to Africa. Stories from her father, who grew up in a rural village before becoming an accountant, reinforced a conviction that where someone is born should never determine what they can become. She dreams of financial instruments that give founders the confidence to take risks, neighbourhoods protected from speculative capital, and an Africa whose greatest export is opportunity. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Lagos or Nairobi? I’ll say both. But it depends on the weather. When it’s cold in Nairobi, I’ll prefer Lagos because it’ll be warm, and when it’s too hot in Lagos, I’ll prefer Nairobi because it’s cool. I love the way Nairobi is set up. I love the greenery. I love the vibrancy it has. I love that you guys have a solid Kizomba dance culture. And I am seeing more and more that Nairobi is a city at the centre of ideas for how we can grow the continent, or one of the centres. Kenya has done a solid job of centering itself in that way. Lagos is home. Lagos is in my blood. Although I’m not from Lagos, it’s definitely Nigeria. Lagos is the heartbeat, the energy, of Nigeria. It’s a place where things happen. It’s the New York of Africa—and I’ll say it: not Nairobi—and I’ll even say it’s more New York than New York. Erhiawarien with her colleagues at a past function. Image source: Halcyon If I visited the neighbourhood where you grew up, what would explain the investor you have become? I don’t know if the neighbourhood actually shaped the investor I’ve become. I can’t say I feel like an investor yet, but I am one in the making. My background has shaped how I view different things. I’m Nigerian, born in Delta State, but raised in the U.S. I spent the first few years of my life in Nigeria, and then we moved. Going back and forth between the U.S. and Nigeria, the disparities in quality of life and infrastructure always weighed heavily on my mind. My father grew up in a village. I don’t know if many in today’s generation know what the village looks like, but learning from his experiences shaped my perspective on the need for people to have access to opportunity and for us to find ways to support underserved communities so they can actually thrive economically. So, in terms of how it’s shaped me as a future investor, I believe in opportunities in places where they’re least sought out. I believe in opportunities for African people globally. I believe in ensuring that the poorest communities have a chance to thrive. And I have a risk tolerance for ideas that don’t come from capital cities all the time. You mentioned your dad. What is the one thing that he taught you that has stuck with you to date? Some of the things are unspoken. He’s generous and values education. He prioritised making sure that all of us were educated to the level we wanted to be. He championed the education of many of his nieces and nephews, and even people who were not related to him. He’s someone who has invested in people. I’ve taken that away from watching him operate. The way he knows people, and the way he’s always cared about young people, means so many of my friends and younger friends speak of him as one of the adults in their lives they can talk to about different things. I’ve learned that it’s important to invest in people. What was money like in your childhood? Was it discussed openly, hidden, or always scarce? My dad was an auditor and an accountant. So to an extent, it was discussed. We would have budgets for school expenses. Secretly, some of us learned to manage what was provided because you’d usually submit your budget and then get less than you asked for, because he’s like, “You don’t need the money.” But it was discussed, and I think that was important because it taught you, in a way, the value of money. What part of your younger self have you deliberately refused to outgrow? I think it’s probably a problem, but I am very idealistic about the continent. Some people would say I’m idealistic about the continent. I would say I’m deeply optimistic about Africa’s future, and I have not yet outgrown that, and I hope I never do. Sometimes there’s this perception of Nigeria as a country that will break your heart. But I feel like it’s a toxic relationship worth being in, even through the heartbreak, because we have to build the thing that matters to us. What breaks your heart
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“I’m an African”: Why MTN says migration matters to South Africa’s digital future
As South Africa’s migration debate intensifies, MTN Group, Africa’s largest telco, is warning that anti-immigrant sentiment could have consequences beyond politics, affecting the movement of skills and businesses across Africa. The telecoms giant has built one of Africa’s largest telecommunications businesses, connecting 312.7 million customers across 19 markets in Africa and the Middle East. With most of its growth coming from outside South Africa, the company is concerned that rising hostility targeting African migrants runs counter to the regional integration on which its business depends. The developments have resonated across MTN’s footprint. Nigeria and Ghana, its largest markets, have joined Zimbabwe, Malawi and Eswatini in evacuating citizens from South Africa after the March and March Movement, an anti-immigration activist group, issued undocumented migrants with a June 30 deadline to leave the country. At the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation’s Winter Seminar on Thursday, which focused on migration, MTN executives made the business case for open borders. They argued that Africa’s future depends on creating economic opportunity, expanding digital connectivity and allowing skills and talent to move freely across the continent. “If our discussion ends with the language of crisis around migration, we will have treated the symptom and missed the deeper challenge,” MTN Group President and chief executive officer (CEO) Ralph Mupita said. “People move because opportunity is unevenly distributed. The defining question is whether we can build economies in which mobility is matched by opportunity.” The message comes as South Africa has witnessed months of attacks on foreign-owned businesses, forced evictions of migrants and growing anti-immigration rhetoric ahead of November’s local government elections. For a company that has built its growth on connecting Africans across borders, those developments have become impossible to ignore. Mupita deliberately framed his own migration story as part of MTN’s identity. “I also want to admit that I’m a migrant, 35 years in South Africa,” he told the audience. “I’m from Zimbabwe… My surname, Mupita, means ‘the one who moves from place to place.’” He described having relatives across Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi and Angola before concluding: “So that’s who I am. I’m an African.” For Mupita, the personal story reflected MTN’s own pan-African journey. “I happen to be an African who is a steward… of an organisation that was born in South Africa,” he said, recalling that one of Nelson Mandela, the global democracy icon’s, earliest decisions after democracy was issuing the mobile licences in September 1993 that led to MTN’s creation. Today, that company has become Africa’s largest telecommunications operator. Its success, Mupita argued, is inseparable from Africa’s prosperity. “The future of Africa will not be determined by the borders that separate us, but by the economic opportunities that connect us,” he said. “Governments must set predictable policy and regulations. Businesses will follow and allocate resources and capital. Together, we can build a continent where opportunity is more evenly shared, and prosperity is more widely created.” Mcebisi Jonas, the MTN Chairman, said immigration has become a convenient political scapegoat for South Africa’s deeper economic problems. “Our markets are in Africa. Our opportunities are in Africa. Our future is in Africa,” Jonas said. “South Africa cannot present itself as open for investment while treating African workers and traders with hostility. It sends a contradictory message: Africans are welcome as customers and investors, but not as people.” Jonas stated that removing migrants would do nothing to solve South Africa’s economic challenges. “South Africa’s economic crisis is a product of weak growth, poor governance, inadequate education outcomes, infrastructure failures and structural inequality. If every foreign national left the country tomorrow, those problems would remain,” he said. He added that South Africa continues to lose skilled citizens through emigration while making it difficult for skilled foreigners to stay, a contradiction he believes undermines the country’s competitiveness in a technology-driven economy. The seminar’s broader message was that migration cannot be separated from Africa’s economic transformation. Dr Ishmael Yamson, chairman of MTN Ghana’s board, said Africa’s demographic boom will only translate into prosperity if governments invest aggressively in digital capabilities. “Africa’s future competitiveness will depend on how successfully we equip young people with digital skills, entrepreneurial skills, technical skills and leadership capabilities,” noted Yamson. “The demographic dividend must become a skills dividend.” True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
Read MoreQuick Fire 🔥 with Zubair Timilehin
Zubair Habib Timilehin is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bitoshi, a fintech startup building the infrastructure that makes digital assets and stablecoins practical for everyday payments across Africa. Under his leadership, Bitoshi has grown to serve nearly 100,000 users, delivering financial solutions that bridge traditional finance and blockchain technology while enabling individuals and businesses to transact in Africa’s digital economy. With a background in product strategy, product development, and growth, Zubair has led the creation of user-centric financial products that simplify crypto adoption and expand access to digital finance across emerging markets. His work is driven by a commitment to removing barriers to financial inclusion through practical innovation, with a particular focus on the future of digital payments, stablecoins, and blockchain-powered financial infrastructure in Africa. Explain your job to a five-year-old. Imagine you have two toys. One is really fun, but every time you want to play with it, you have to read a big instruction manual first. The other is so simple that you can pick it up, start playing straight away, and discover all the fun things it can do on your own. My job is to help build money tools that feel like the second toy. I want people to be able to send, save, and use their money—whether it’s cash or digital—without needing to think about the technology behind it. If we’ve done our job well, people won’t think about how it works; they’ll simply know it works. Why are you bullish about merging traditional finance (TradFi) and blockchain technology? What will that change about how we use financial products today? I’m bullish on the merging of traditional finance and blockchain because I don’t think the future of finance is choosing one over the other. It’s combining the strengths of both. Traditional finance has built trust, regulatory frameworks, and products that billions of people rely on. Blockchain brings global accessibility, user ownership, and the ability to move value instantly at a fraction of today’s cost. I believe we’re moving toward a future where people won’t choose between “banking” and “crypto.” They’ll simply choose the best financial experience. The technology powering that experience will become invisible. Just as most people don’t know whether a website runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud, future users won’t care whether a payment runs on a bank’s rails or a blockchain. They’ll care that it’s instant, affordable, secure, and works anywhere in the world. That vision is what we’re building at Bitoshi. By combining the familiarity and trust of traditional finance with the speed and accessibility of blockchain technology, we’re creating financial experiences that feel effortless for everyday users. Blockchain isn’t replacing finance. It’s becoming the infrastructure that makes finance more open, more efficient, and more accessible. What’s the hardest part of being a founder in the digital asset space that people outside crypto don’t understand? I think the hardest part is building in an industry that’s evolving in real time. The technology moves incredibly fast. New blockchain networks and upgrades, security standards, and infrastructure are constantly emerging, so you’re always learning. What was considered best practice a year ago may no longer be the best approach today. But the bigger challenge is trust. Digital assets have unfortunately been associated with scams and bad actors over the years. As a result, legitimate businesses have to work twice as hard to earn customer trust and maintain regulatory compliance. You’re not just building a great product. You’re building a secure, compliant, and trustworthy business in an industry that’s still maturing. That’s a challenge most people outside the space don’t fully appreciate. If being a crypto startup founder was a warning label, what would it read? Don’t get too comfortable. Expect the best, but always prepare for the worst. You said Bitoshi bridges traditional finance and blockchain for nearly 100,000 users. What was your hack for achieving that scale? The biggest driver of our growth has been word of mouth. We never set out to build a product that people would talk about; we simply set out to solve the complication and fragmentation of cryptocurrency transactions. By staying focused on solving a real problem and delivering a seamless user experience, people naturally began recommending Bitoshi to their friends, family, and colleagues. That organic advocacy has been our biggest growth hack. I’ve always believed the best marketing isn’t advertising; it’s building something people genuinely want to tell others about. What’s one product-building lesson you learned the hard way? I lost about ₦4 million ($3,000) in the early stages of Bitoshi because I didn’t pay attention to a little tiny detail about the product. I quickly learned that I needed to live and breathe the product, especially in the early stage, since we didn’t have much of a team in the beginning. Even though it’s not the same case now, as I no longer have to be involved in the nitty-gritty of building, but in the beginning it was important, and I learnt that the hard way. What’s one skill every aspiring founder should develop before starting a company? I think every aspiring founder should develop strong problem-solving skills. And I’m not just talking about solving a customer problem with a product. I’m talking about solving the countless problems that come with building a business. Every founder will face challenges, whether it’s funding, regulation, hiring, technology, or acquiring customers. The difference is that successful founders don’t see those challenges as dead ends; they see them as problems waiting to be solved. You have to build with the mindset that every problem has a solution. It may not be obvious, and it may require you to rethink your approach, but there’s almost always a way forward. Many founders don’t fail because their idea wasn’t good. They fail because they gave up when they encountered the first major obstacle.
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Mr Price, Mr Europe
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية TGIFCDEUTWSWGANW. Who’s hiring this week? We did a bit of snooping around on Elon Musk’s Internet. Chowdeck, Pesa, Binance, and ARM are all hiring this week. Check the updated list on our job board. Let’s dive in. —Emmanuel Get smarter about Francophone Africa with our newsletter, Francophone Weekly—the startups, tech policies, and institutions building the pipelines for ecosystem growth. Subscribe Quick Fire with Zubair Timilehin Mr Price takes over German retailer Airtel Money sets sight on London Who secured the bag? World Wide Web 3 Job Openings FEATURES Quick Fire with Zubair Timilehin Image: Zubair Timilehin, chief executive officer of Bitoshi Zubair Habib Timilehin is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bitoshi, a fintech startup building the infrastructure that makes digital assets and stablecoins practical for everyday payments across Africa. Under his leadership, Bitoshi has grown to serve nearly 100,000 users, delivering financial solutions that bridge traditional finance and blockchain technology while enabling individuals and businesses to transact in Africa’s digital economy. Explain your job to a five-year-old. Imagine you have two toys. One is really fun, but every time you want to play with it, you have to read a big instruction manual first. The other is so simple that you can pick it up, start playing straight away, and discover all the fun things it can do on your own. My job is to help build money tools that feel like the second toy. I want people to be able to send, save, and use their money—whether it’s cash or digital—without needing to think about the technology behind it. If we’ve done our job well, people won’t think about how it works; they’ll simply know it works. What’s the hardest part of being a founder in the digital asset space that people outside crypto don’t understand? I think the hardest part is building in an industry that’s evolving in real time. The technology moves incredibly fast. New blockchain networks and upgrades, security standards, and infrastructure are constantly emerging, so you’re always learning. What was considered best practice a year ago may no longer be the best approach today. But the bigger challenge is trust. Digital assets have unfortunately been associated with scams and bad actors over the years. As a result, legitimate businesses have to work twice as hard to earn customer trust and maintain regulatory compliance. You’re not just building a great product. You’re building a secure, compliant, and trustworthy business in an industry that’s still maturing. That’s a challenge most people outside the space don’t fully appreciate. You said Bitoshi bridges traditional finance and blockchain for nearly 100,000 users. What was your hack for achieving that scale? The biggest driver of our growth has been word of mouth. We never set out to build a product that people would talk about; we simply set out to solve the complication and fragmentation of cryptocurrency transactions. By staying focused on solving a real problem and delivering a seamless user experience, people naturally began recommending Bitoshi to their friends, family, and colleagues. That organic advocacy has been our biggest growth hack. If being a crypto startup founder was a warning label, what would it read? Don’t get too comfortable. Expect the best, but always prepare for the worst. Getting paid in cedis just got easier for African businesses operating in Ghana. Fincra now issues dedicated GHS virtual accounts to enable businesses to collect payments. See how Fincra GHS virtual accounts work. companies South African retailer Mr Price takes control of NKD’s European operations Image Source: Tenor Imagine going on holiday and deciding, on a whim, to buy the local bakery and stay forever. That’s essentially what Mr Price has done with its latest European expansion. The South African retailer has taken control of NKD, a German retail company it agreed to acquire in 2025. The deal adds 2,156 stores across seven European countries to Mr Price’s portfolio, previously operated by NKD under its parent company, Pegasus Holding Group, which was also part of the acquisition. What happened? Mr Price announced the R9.6 billion ($569 million) acquisition in December 2025, but it only became the owner of NKD in March 2026, after securing approvals from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and European regulators. From that point, NKD became part of the Mr Price Group. In Q1 2026, the South African retailer’s sales jumped 45.3% to R13.1 billion ($776 million), with NKD contributing R3.8 billion ($225 million) in cash sales, helping offset a much slower 3.2% sales increase in Mr Price’s South African business. Explain like I’m new here: For years, South African retailers have sought other growth avenues outside their core clothing and grocery businesses. Several companies in the same—or adjacent—bracket as Mr Price, such as Shoprite, Pepkor, Pick n Pay, Woolworths, and SPAR, have all tried other businesses, including telecoms (mobile virtual network operator), mobile phones, and even scaled-down banks. Another pattern is continental expansion. While the likes of Shoprite and SPAR have pulled back from certain foreign markets, Mr Price thinks there’s value in Europe’s retail economy. The continent offers something South Africa has struggled to provide in recent years: relatively predictable consumer demand. While economic growth across the Euro area has remained modest, inflation has eased from the highs seen after the 2021-2022 energy crisis, and unemployment has remained relatively low, giving retailers a more predictable environment to operate in. For value retailers, that makes planning inventory, pricing, and margins a lot easier. South Africa, on the other hand, has spent the past few years contending with uneven growth rates, high unemployment, elevated borrowing costs, and electricity shortages that have weighed on household spending. Why now? The maths of the deal is starting to make sense. WhileSouth African sales grew a modest 3.2%, the inclusion of NKD has supercharged the group’s overall growth. The acquisition is a hedge against a stagnating home market. Unlike previous South African retail ‘vacations’ that ended in retreat, Mr
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WayaWaya appoints ex-Chase Bank Kenya executive Raj Singh as board adviser
WayaWaya, the Kenyan company building AI-powered financial services for banks and merchants, has appointed former Chase Bank Kenya executive Raj Singh as a non-executive director and board adviser. The appointment comes as the startup intends to deepen relationships with financial institutions and merchants while expanding into new African and international markets. Singh will advise WayaWaya’s board and executive team on strategy, governance and commercial growth, the company said in a Thursday statement. WayaWaya joins a growing list of African fintechs recruiting experienced banking executives as they scale into regulated financial services. In July, Nigerian fintech unicorn Moniepoint appointed former Branch Kenya chief executive Rose Muturi to lead its Kenyan business after acquiring Sumac Microfinance Bank. In April, Cellulant, a payments firm, hired former Xapo Bank executive Anthony Hernandez as chief operating officer to sharpen its expansion strategy. “Raj joins us at an important point in WayaWaya’s growth journey. His banking, fintech and international experience will be invaluable as we move from innovation to scale,” said Teddy Ogallo, founder and chief executive officer of WayaWaya. “We look forward to working with him in shaping and executing our growth strategy, particularly in expanding our network of banking partners and merchants, strengthening strategic partnerships, and taking WayaWaya into new markets across Africa and beyond.” As a board adviser, Singh will help shape WayaWaya’s long-term strategy, strengthen corporate governance, expand banking and merchant partnerships, and guide the company’s international expansion, the statement added. Singh has spent more than two decades in banking and financial technology across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. He previously served as Group Chief Operating Officer and Director of Retail Banking at Chase Bank Kenya, where he led digital banking initiatives. Earlier in his career, he worked at First City Monument Bank (FCMB) in Nigeria, overseeing banking operations transformation, and spent more than five years at India’s ICICI Bank managing retail banking operations. Singh also held advisory roles, working with financial institutions and fintechs on digital banking and artificial intelligence. He is currently managing director of Rova, a consulting firm, and serves on the boards of Finova360 and Finnafrica, fintech advisory firms. He also mentors startups through venture builder FasterCapital. “I am delighted to join the Board at this important stage of the company’s journey and look forward to working with Teddy and the leadership team to strengthen strategic partnerships, accelerate commercial growth and support WayaWaya’s expansion across Africa and international markets,” said Singh. The appointment follows a long-running dispute over claims that WayaWaya was acquired by Kenyan customer experience company Ajua in 2021. WayaWaya has maintained it remained independent, telling TechCabal that the relationship was a consultancy arrangement rather than an acquisition. True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
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Samsung One UI 9 is official: Everything we know so far
Samsung has officially launched One UI 9, its latest Android interface, alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Galaxy Z Flip 8. The company also announced One UI 9 Watch for its newest smartwatches, bringing a range of AI features, interface improvements, and performance upgrades. Here’s everything Samsung has confirmed about One UI 9, including its new features, supported Galaxy devices, and rollout schedule. What is One UI 9 One UI 9 is Samsung’s ninth major software version for Galaxy phones and tablets. It runs on Android 17. One UI 8.5 gave your phone a new look with Samsung’s Fluid AI design. One UI 9 keeps that look and focuses on new features, AI tools, and minor fixes rather than a redesign. Samsung launched One UI 9 earlier than usual this year. Google moved its Android release window, and Samsung moved with it. This started with your Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 last year, and it continues with the Z Fold 8 line now. One UI 9 features you get 1. New AI tools on your foldable Image source: Samsung on YouTube Samsung built several new AI tools into One UI 9, and most of them arrive first on your foldable. Gemini Intelligence is the biggest one. It can complete tasks for you across more than 40 apps, including shopping, restaurant bookings, travel, and event tickets. You describe what you need, or you show Gemini your screen, and it handles the rest in the background while you do something else. On your Z Flip 8, you can call up Gemini straight from the Flex Window by holding the power button. Gemini Notebook comes preinstalled too. It gathers your notes, links, images, recordings, and files into one place, then turns them into summaries or audio overviews. On your Z Fold 8, you can drag files straight into it using Split View. Samsung also throws in six months of Google AI Pro on your Z Fold 8 Ultra, Fold 8, and Flip 8. 2. Smarter everyday assistance Image source: Samsung on YouTube Now Nudge pays attention to what you are doing and suggests your next step, like checking your schedule or saving a place you looked up. It now works across your keyboard and more apps than before. Now Brief, your daily summary, is customizable. You can add cards and action buttons that jump straight to your music, directions, or calendar, and they will flag any privacy issues they notice. You also get an AI Assistant Activity dashboard. It logs every action Gemini takes for you, so you always know what happened, and you can jump to the right settings if you want to change something. Photo Assist lets you edit a photo by describing the change out loud, then shows you the before-and-after side by side. My FanCam tracks a subject in your video and reframes it to your desired aspect ratio, right inside Gallery. 3. Stronger privacy and security Privacy Alerts now use on-device AI to flag apps that ask for your location too often or request permissions they do not need, and it gives you tips to fix them. Samsung Internet also warns you before a dangerous link loads, using its own machine learning model. Your phone gets a new Warranty and Care hub too. You can enroll in Samsung Care+, check your warranty, run a self-check on your phone, and book a repair with the cost shown upfront, all from one settings menu. 4. Foldable design upgrades Image source: Samsung on YouTube Your Z Fold 8’s screen automatically adjusts content between portrait and landscape orientations. Your lock screen wallpaper repositions itself so it never covers your clock or widgets, and you can drag it to reframe it yourself. You can run two or three apps side by side and switch between them with one tap. On your Z Flip 8, the Flex Window now works like a small home screen. Swipe up for your apps, swipe down for your notifications, and add or move widgets without opening your phone. The Quick Panel on your Z Fold 8 now floats above the rest of your screen, with a shadow underneath it. 5. Features carried over from the beta Samsung tested most of One UI 9 in a public beta before Unpacked, and all of it made it into the final release. Your Quick Panel lets you adjust brightness, sound, and your media player separately, with larger sliders. Samsung Notes gets a Tape Tool that covers part of a note, as real tape would, plus new pen styles. Game Booster now shows your resolution, screenshot format, FPS, CPU usage, and GPU usage while you play. A Blue Dot appears whenever an app checks your location, and you can tap it to see which app it was. Your phone warns you about risky apps before you install them and lists every app you sideloaded for review. Text Spotlight lets you tap any text to enlarge it in a floating window. Samsung merged its accessibility tool with Google’s, so you get TalkBack updates straight from the Play Store. Your call log now shows calls from apps like WhatsApp and Google Meet, along with context about who you are talking to. Samsung DeX lets you move app windows between virtual desktops and preview them from your Recents screen. Contacts now link straight to Creative Studio, so you can build a custom profile card without leaving the app. 6. One UI 9 Watch features on your Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 Image source: Samsung on YouTube Your Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 launched with their own version, called One UI 9 Watch, built on Wear OS 7. You can call up Gemini on your watch just by raising your wrist and talking, no wake word needed. Samsung Health also got an update, built around five areas: activity, mindfulness, nutrition, sleep, and vitals. Your watch tracks your Heart Health Score, Fitness Index, and
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Everything confirmed about the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9
Table of contents When does the Galaxy Watch 9 release? How much does the Galaxy Watch 9 cost? Galaxy Watch 9 specs Galaxy Watch 9 vs Galaxy Watch 8: how do they compare? Where can you buy the Galaxy Watch 9? Should you buy the Galaxy Watch 9? Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Watch 9. The company unveiled it at Galaxy Unpacked in London on Wednesday, July 22, alongside the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the Galaxy Z Flip 8, and Galaxy Glasses. This article covers everything Samsung confirmed about the Galaxy Watch 9, including the release date, the price in your region, the full specs list, and how it compares to the Galaxy Watch 8, so you can decide if the upgrade is worth it. When does the Galaxy Watch 9 release? Samsung announced the Galaxy Watch 9 on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Old Billingsgate in London. Pre-orders opened the same day. If you pre-ordered, you can expect your Galaxy Watch 9 to arrive from August 3, 2026. General retail availability starts on August 7, 2026. Samsung did not announce a Galaxy Watch 9 Classic this year, so the lineup sticks to the standard 40mm and 44mm sizes. How much does the Galaxy Watch 9 cost? Samsung has not announced an official Nigerian price for the Galaxy Watch 9, since the country is not part of Samsung’s first wave of launch markets. If you’re buying in Nigeria, you’ll most likely get your Galaxy Watch 9 through importers and marketplaces like Jiji and Jumia, or from gadget retailers in hubs like Computer Village. Prices depend on the naira-to-dollar exchange rate plus import duties, so expect your Galaxy Watch 9 to cost more in Nigeria than its $379.99 starting price in the US. Here is the official pricing Samsung announced for the US, UK, and EU: This is a $30 jump from the Galaxy Watch 8’s starting price of $349.99. Samsung says the increase reflects higher memory and storage costs. If you want an extra band, it costs €49.90. Galaxy Watch 9 specs Image source: Samsung on YouTube 1. Design and build The Galaxy Watch 9 keeps a similar look to the Galaxy Watch 8. It has an aluminum case with a sapphire crystal cover glass, and Samsung dropped the rotating bezel this year, so there is no Classic model. The 40mm model measures 42.7mm by 40.4mm by 8.6mm and weighs 31.5g. The 44mm model measures 46.0mm by 43.7mm by 8.6mm and weighs 34g. Your Galaxy Watch 9 is IP68 rated for dust resistance, and 5ATM rated for water resistance. It also carries MIL-STD-810H certification to handle daily wear and rough conditions. 2. Display Image source: Samsung on YouTube The 40mm Galaxy Watch 9 has a 1.34-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 438 by 438. The 44mm model has a 1.47-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 480 by 480. Both sizes reach a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, matching the Galaxy Watch 8. 3. Battery The 40mm Galaxy Watch 9 has a 390mAh battery, a 20% jump from the Galaxy Watch 8’s 325mAh battery. The 44mm model has a 445mAh battery, up slightly from 435mAh. Samsung says you can get up to 30 hours of battery life with the always-on display turned on. That’s an improvement, but it still falls behind rivals like the OnePlus Watch 3, which claims up to 120 hours on a single charge. 4. Chip and performance Image source: Samsung on YouTube This is the biggest change in the Galaxy Watch 9. Samsung confirmed the watch runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite chip instead of the Exynos W1000 chip from the Galaxy Watch 8. This makes the Galaxy Watch 9 the first Galaxy Watch to drop Exynos completely. The Snapdragon Wear Elite is a 5-core, 3nm chip with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Samsung says it delivers 32% faster CPU performance and 19% faster GPU performance. It also brings 15% better power efficiency compared to the Exynos W1000. You also get upgraded connectivity, with Bluetooth 6.0 replacing Bluetooth 5.3, and Wi-Fi 6 replacing Wi-Fi 4. 5. Health and fitness features Your Galaxy Watch 9 comes with Samsung’s Galaxy AI health suite. This includes Vitals, Heart Health Score, Daily Cardio Load, and Fitness Index. You also get a Hearing feature that warns you about unsafe noise levels, along with an upgraded sleep apnea detector. Most of these features are not exclusive to the Galaxy Watch 9. Samsung started rolling them out to the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch 8 through a software update in June 2026, so if you already own one of those watches, you’ll get similar health tracking without needing to upgrade. You also get a 60-day trial of Strava and a two-month trial of iFIT. The iFIT trial only applies in 23 countries, including the US, UK, and South Africa. 6. Colors and bands The 40mm Galaxy Watch 9 comes in Cream and Graphite. The 44mm model comes in Silver and Graphite. For bands, you can choose the Sport Band, which is 17% lighter than before, or go with the Misty Band and Fabric Band. The Galaxy Watch 9 runs on One UI 9 Watch, built on Wear OS 7. Samsung promises 5 years of OS upgrades for the watch, up from 4 years on the Galaxy Watch 8. Galaxy Watch 9 vs Galaxy Watch 8: how do they compare? Where can you buy the Galaxy Watch 9? In the US, you can buy the Galaxy Watch 9 through Samsung’s website or Amazon. Best Buy carries it too. LTE models are available through AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile carries it as well and is even offering the watch for free through bill credits on its Watch Plan Plus. In the UK, you can buy the Galaxy Watch 9 through Samsung’s website. Click and collect is available at Samsung KX and Selfridges, and Harrods offers it too. Nigeria isn’t among Samsung’s official
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Warranty imeisha
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy pre-TGIF. This week, Substack made an interesting move. The newsletter platform partnered with Pangram, an AI-writing detection software, to enable users to scan articles and comments to see how much estimated content was written by AI. I still don’t know how I feel about it. It’s borderline AI-shaming. The same tools that the tech bros of the world—running on high caffeine—built to increase productivity are now being treated like contraband. And I’m actually curious to see what use this serves. If this is about research on AI dependence, I think there’s an obvious endline, and we’ll discover that a lot of Substack authors use AI for framing and getting brilliant arguments across. No harm in that. But tell me, are you excited at the prospect of counting Substack posts that use AI? Full disclosure: at least this opening lede is 100% human-written. Even Pangram says so. —Emmanuel Get smarter about Francophone Africa with our newsletter, Francophone Weekly—the startups, tech policies, and institutions building the pipelines for ecosystem growth. Subscribe Pepkor creates new business: FintechCo Kenyan phones must now come with one-year warranty M-KOPA crosses 10 million user mark Dolphin Telecoms’ cross-border MVNO play World Wide Web 3 Events companies Pepkor merges two businesses to create FintechCo, its new super financial rail Image Source: Tenor Walk into a spaza shop almost anywhere in South Africa and chances are you’ll find a Flash terminal selling airtime, electricity tokens, or betting vouchers. If the stars align, you could also find a Shop2Shop device helping the same merchant accept card payments, deposit cash, or manage stock. Pepkor, the South African retailer behind brands such as PEP and Ackermans, wants those two businesses to become one. On Wednesday, Pepkor announced it will merge its fintech subsidiary, Flash, with merchant platform Shop2Shop in a deal that values the combined business at R21.3 billion ($1.3 billion). Pepkor will inject R1.57 billion ($95 million) in cash and fold Flash, valued at R10.6 billion ($640 million), into the combined business, giving it a 57.1% controlling stake in the new company. The retailer said the merged entity will be called “FintechCo.” What’s changing? Flash built one of South Africa’s largest value-added services (VAS) networks, allowing merchants to sell products like airtime, data bundles, prepaid electricity, gaming vouchers, and bill payments. Shop2Shop tackles a different problem: helping the same merchants accept digital payments, manage cash, order inventory, and access other business services. Both businesses process more than R200 billion ($12 billion) in annual transaction value across the formal and informal economy. State of play: The deal is another step in Pepkor’s plan to become more than a discount retailer. While clothing and household goods remain its biggest business, financial services have become an important growth engine for the South African retailer. In the first half of its 2026 financial year, Pepkor’s “Financial Services” business generated R3.0 billion ($182 million) in revenue, up 41.6% year-on-year. Flash now sits under Pepkor’s Informal Market Platform, where transaction volumes grew 20.3% to R34.7 billion ($2.1 billion). Connectivity is another pillar of Pepkor’s ecosystem strategy. By September 2024, the retailer had sold 11.5 million handsets, creating more opportunities to cross-sell lending, insurance, airtime, and other financial services to customers already in its network. Between the lines: This is ultimately a merchant acquisition play. South Africa’s informal retail economy, made up of hundreds of thousands of spaza shops and independent traders, still handles large volumes of cash despite steady growth in digital payments. Flash already reaches many of those merchants through prepaid products, while Shop2Shop helps them digitise everyday operations. Combining both gives Pepkor a stronger foothold in the businesses that millions of South Africans rely on daily. Zoom out: Pepkor isn’t hiding the endgame. The retailer says it plans to separately list FintechCo, the combined fintech business, in the medium term—likely on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)—which will create a standalone payments company while keeping control through its majority stake. If that happens, South Africa could soon have another publicly listed fintech, built not around affluent bank customers, but around the small merchants who power the country’s informal economy. Getting paid in cedis just got easier for African businesses operating in Ghana. Fincra now issues dedicated GHS virtual accounts to enable businesses to collect payments. See how Fincra GHS virtual accounts work. policy Kenya just made it harder for smartphone vendors to say “sorry, no warranty” Image Source: Tenor Bought a phone in January. It stopped charging in March. You walked back into the shop, receipt in hand, only to hear the dreaded words: “Warranty imeisha.” That conversation is about to get much shorter in Kenya. What happened? From now on, every mobile phone, laptop, tablet, and several other communications devices sold in Kenya must come with at least a one-year warranty and a return policy. The new rules from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), the country’s telecom regulator, also require sellers to repair faulty devices during that period or risk penalties starting at KES 500,000 ($3,900) or 0.2% of annual turnover, whichever is higher. Explain like I’m new here: Until now, your warranty often depended on where you bought the phone. Walk into an official Samsung or Apple store, and you’d likely get a manufacturer’s warranty. Buy the same phone from a smaller electronics shop or an online seller, and you might only get a 30- or 90-day shop warranty, especially if it was imported through unofficial channels or refurbished. The new rules level that playing field. Whether the phone is brand new or refurbished, sellers are now responsible for standing behind what they sell for at least 12 months. Refurbished devices must also be clearly labelled as refurbished, online sellers must provide a physical address customers can visit, and every receipt must include the device’s serial number and warranty details. But here’s the interesting part: Beyond providing warranties, Kenya is tightening control over its electronics market. On Tuesday, the regulator introduced
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M-KOPA reaches 10 million customers, six years after its first million
M-KOPA, the pan-African asset-financing startup, says it now serves 10 million customers across Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa, six years after crossing the one million-customer mark. The company said on Wednesday that it now onboards about 10,000 customers daily as it scales its lending business beyond its Kenyan roots. The milestone builds on M-KOPA’s strong run over the past year. In October 2025, the company reported its first-ever annual profit alongside a 66% jump in revenue. One month later, its Kenyan subsidiary crossed $1.6 billion in credit given to its customers, underscoring growing demand for credit products targeting underserved consumers. “Every Day Earners are why we do this,” M-KOPA chief finance officer (CFO) Faraimose Kutadzaushe said in a statement. “From our very first customer to this year’s ten millionth, this is proof that a model built for Africa’s Every Day Earners doesn’t just work, it scales and endures. It’s a proud moment for our team, and we’re already looking to the next 10 million.” The milestones reflect how M-KOPA’s business has evolved since expanding into smartphone financing in 2020. Rather than simply selling financed devices, the company now uses smartphones as a gateway to a suite of financial services for customers largely excluded from formal banking, including device protection. Nigeria has emerged as a key driver of that strategy. Since entering the market in 2019, M-KOPA has disbursed more than ₦231 billion ($170 million) in credit to over one million customers. The country also became the fastest market in the company’s history to reach the one million-customer milestone. M-KOPA operates in a competitive asset-financing market where companies including Sun King, d.light, and EasyBuy use smartphones and consumer electronics to extend credit to first-time borrowers. To support its expansion, the company noted that it built its own distribution network of more than 40,000 sales agents across its five markets. M-KOPA said it has maintained average annual revenue growth of 50% since 2020 while processing more than two million customer repayments every day. “Every Day Earners have always been creditworthy. What they needed was credit built around how they really make a living, not a payslip. Informal has never meant unviable,” said Jesse Moore, co-Founder and chief executive of M-KOPA. “10 million customers on, that’s no longer a belief. It’s proven.” True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
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Everything announced at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked July 2026
Table of contents Galaxy Z Fold8 Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra Galaxy Z Flip8 Galaxy Watch9 Galaxy Watch Ultra2 Galaxy Glasses One UI 9 Flex Titanium Display Galaxy Card Samsung just wrapped up its Galaxy Unpacked event in London. You get new foldable phones, new watches, new software, and a first look at Samsung’s smart glasses. This article breaks down everything Samsung announced, device by device, so you know what changed and what it costs. Every device also got more expensive this year. Samsung and several outlets point to the ongoing memory chip shortage as the reason. Here is what you are getting for the extra money. 1. Galaxy Z Fold8 Image source: Samsung on YouTube The Galaxy Z Fold8 is Samsung’s new mainstream Fold. It is shorter and wider than any Fold before it, and folded, it looks more like a passport. Unfolded, the screen takes on a shape closer to that of a small tablet, so reading and watching video feel more comfortable. At 201g, it is the lightest Fold Samsung has made. Main screen: 7.6 inches, 120Hz Cover screen: 5.5 inches, 120Hz Chip: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy Storage: 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB Battery: 4,800mAh, with 45W fast charging Cameras: 50MP wide and 50MP ultra-wide (no telephoto lens) Water and dust resistance: IP48 Price: starts at $1,899 in the US and £1,699 in the UK It costs less than the Z Fold 7 did at launch. That is because the Fold8 is a brand new shape, not a direct replacement for last year’s phone. It also has a bigger battery and lighter body than the Fold 7, though it drops the telephoto camera the Fold 7 had. 2. Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra Image source: Samsung on YouTube The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is the true follow-up to last year’s Z Fold 7. It keeps the taller, narrower shape you already know, but it is now Samsung’s thinnest Fold ever at just 4.1mm when unfolded. A new hinge, called Armor FlexHinge, makes it easier to open. Main screen: 8.0 inches, 120Hz Cover screen: 6.5 inches, 120Hz Chip: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy Storage: 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB Battery: 5,000mAh, with 45W fast charging (charges to 67% in about 30 minutes) Cameras: 200MP wide, 50MP ultra wide, and 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom Water and dust resistance: IP48 Price: starts at $2,099 in the US and £1,899 in the UK That is $100 more than the Z Fold 7 cost at launch. Samsung and other outlets point to the memory chip shortage as the reason prices went up across the lineup this year. 3. Galaxy Z Flip8 Image source: Samsung on YouTube The Galaxy Z Flip8 looks a lot like the Flip 7 from the outside, but it is now Samsung’s slimmest and lightest Flip yet at 180g. A new hinge makes it open and close more smoothly. Main screen: 6.9 inches, 120Hz Cover screen: 4.1 inches Chip: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the US and Canada, Exynos 2600 in Europe, the UK, and South Korea Storage: 256GB or 512GB Battery: 4,300mAh, with 25W fast charging Cameras: 50MP wide and 12MP ultra wide Water and dust resistance: IP48 Price: starts at $1,199 in the US and £1,149 in the UK Your Flip8’s chip depends on where you buy it, so check your region’s version before you compare notes with a friend abroad. 4. Galaxy Watch9 Image source: Samsung on YouTube The Galaxy Watch9 keeps the same cushion-shaped case Samsung introduced with the Watch 8. What changes is what is inside it, plus a bigger battery. Sizes: 40mm and 44mm Chip: Snapdragon Wear Elite Battery: up to 20% bigger than the Watch 8 Water and dust resistance: 5ATM and IP68 Health features: Heart Health Score, Daily Cardio Load, Fitness Index, and improved sleep apnea detection Software: Wear OS 7 with One UI 9 Watch Price: starts at $379 in the US and £319 in the UK 5. Galaxy Watch Ultra2 Image source: Samsung on YouTube The Galaxy Watch Ultra2 is built for people who push their bodies hard, on the trail or underwater. It is now 12% thinner than the original Ultra, even with a much bigger battery inside. Size: 47mm Chip: Snapdragon Wear Elite Battery: 35% bigger than the original Ultra, rated for up to 60 hours Display: up to 5,000 nits, the brightest Samsung has put on a watch Durability: 10ATM, IP69K, and dive rated New features: professional diving mode built with Mares, trail running tracking, hydration alerts, and all the health features from the Watch9 Price: starts at $699 in the US and £649 in the UK 6. Galaxy Glasses Image source: Samsung on YouTube Samsung closed the event with a preview of its first smart glasses, officially called intelligent eyewear. Samsung is not selling them yet. They arrive this fall. Built with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker for the design, and with Google for the software Chip: Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 Battery: up to 9 hours, plus 7 more full charges from the case No display. The glasses use audio and a built-in camera instead Runs on Gemini, so you can ask questions, get translations, and save notes just by talking You can use the glasses to summarize messages and read them out loud, translate conversations as they happen, save whiteboard notes straight to Samsung Notes, get walking directions, and share what you see during a video call. Pricing has not been announced yet. 7. One UI 9 The new foldables are the first phones to run One UI 9, built on Android 17. A new AI Assistant Activity dashboard that shows you what your phone has automated for you Smart Switch now moves your passwords, passkeys, and call history over from an iPhone Quick Share now works with AirDrop Gemini can now handle 40 or more apps for you, from booking a table to ordering food A free 6-month trial of Google AI Pro, which normally comes with 5TB
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