From love to loss: Top Valentine’s Day online scams and how to avoid them
The weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day bring heightened feelings of love, connection, and hope. Every year, more people turn to dating apps and social media platforms in search of companionship during this period. However, the rise in online interaction also creates opportunities for fraud, as scammers exploit increased shopping, gifting, and dating activity to steal money and personal data. Law enforcement agencies across Africa say these scams are no longer isolated incidents but part of organised digital crime networks. In 2025, an INTERPOL-led operation spanning 14 African countries led to the arrest of 260 suspected cybercriminals linked to romance scams and so-called “sextortion” schemes carried out through social media and online platforms. Investigators identified more than 1,400 victims across countries, including Ghana, Kenya, and Angola, with estimated financial losses of nearly $2.8 million. The figures highlight how emotionally driven scams are increasingly enabled as more people come online. Below are some of the most common technology-driven Valentine’s scams reported across Africa and how users can reduce their risk. 1. Fake profiles using stolen or AI-generated photos In the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, scammers often create fake profiles across dating platforms and social media to exploit people looking for romance. Using stolen or AI-generated photos, they appear attractive and trustworthy, then quickly build emotional connections with compliments and personal stories. In 2025, Meta said it deleted over 100,000 accounts from Nigeria, Ghana, Côte D’Ivoire, Benin, Kenya, and Cameroon linked to coordinated romance scam networks, showing how organised these operations are. After grooming victims, scammers introduce crises or opportunities that require money or sensitive information, such as medical emergencies or Valentine’s gifts. AI tools now let them generate realistic photos, fake video calls, and cloned voices, making deception harder to spot. To avoid being a victim, verify online partners through reverse image searches on photos, checking for inconsistencies, and keeping conversations on official platforms. Never share personal details or send money to someone you haven’t met in person or verified their authenticity, no matter how urgent their request. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events TC Scoop Subscribe 2. Fake Valentine’s Day deals In the past few days, have you noticed different companies popping up in your mailbox, blowing up your social media feeds, and grabbing your attention with ads promising heavily discounted prices on Valentine’s Day gifts like flowers, chocolates, and tech gadgets? You click a link, and roses that normally cost ₦20,000 ($14.75) are going for ₦5,000 ($3.69), with messages telling you to “grab yours before the offer ends.” Well, a lot of those deals might not be real. Scammers know people are pressured to buy Valentine’s gifts on a budget, so they set up fake e‑commerce sites or clone real online stores and social media shop pages to lure you in. You pay upfront, but the flowers never arrive, and the scammer disappears with your money. Here’s how to spot when a Valentine’s Day deal is sketchy before you hand over your hard‑earned money. First, pay attention to the website or shop you’re being sent to. Legit deals will have a proper web address that starts with https and a padlock in the browser bar — that’s a signal your info will be encrypted and safer to enter. Scammers love sites with weird URLs, poor design, or no contact details; those are classic signs you might be dealing with a fake shop. Also, watch out for ads or emails that pressure you to act right now or claim there’s “only a few left” at that price; that urgency is often used to get you to click without thinking. Another red flag is how you’re asked to pay. Experts recommend using secure payment methods that offer fraud protection instead of using crypto; Once scammers have your money from those, it’s nearly impossible to get it back. Try to stick to well‑known online stores or verified sellers. If you’re unsure about an offer, type the company’s name directly into your browser and shop from their official site instead of clicking links in ads or messages. Finally, if something looks too good to be true, trust that instinct; more often than not, it really isn’t a real offer. 3. Valentine’s Day giveaway scams Giveaway scams are all over social media this time of year. Scammers pretend that major telecom or e-commerce platforms are giving away 50GB of data or special Valentine’s Day prizes. They tell you to click a link and share it to five or 10 groups, and once your “sharing” is done, the site will turn green, and your prize is ready to claim. Victims are often asked to fill out forms with personal details or pay small “processing” or delivery fees. The goal? Steal your data or collect money. To stay safe, always verify giveaways on the brand’s official social media pages or website. Real promotions don’t ask winners to pay fees, and you shouldn’t have to spam links to unlock a prize. 4. Fake dating app subscription and verification scams Fake dating app subscription and verification scams pop up a lot as Valentine’s Day approaches. Scammers send links claiming you can get discounted premium subscriptions or verify your account on popular dating apps. The links look real, but they redirect you to fake payment pages designed to steal your data. The safest way to avoid this? Only upgrade subscriptions or verify your account through the official dating app or its verified website. Ignore any promotional links sent through
Read MorePayd taps Noah for stablecoin-powered payments for African freelancers
Payd, a Kenyan-born pan-African fintech startup, has partnered with UK-based payments infrastructure provider, Noah, to enable its users to receive international payments using stablecoins instead of traditional bank rails. For many African remote workers, getting paid is still the hardest part of the job. Freelancers and contractors working for US and European companies routinely lose up to 10% of their income on platforms like Upwork to lifting fees, FX spreads, and intermediary bank charges. SWIFT transfers can take several business days to clear. Through the partnership, initially rolling out to over 30,000 Payd users in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Senegal, customers can now generate virtual USD and EUR accounts within the app, complete with US routing numbers and European international bank account numbers (IBANs), allowing them to receive payments like a local in the US or Europe. Foreign employers pay them via an Automated Clearing House (ACH) or Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), like a local transfer. Behind the scenes, Noah converts those funds into stablecoins, such as the USD Coin (USDC) or Tether (USDT), and settles them into customers’ Payd wallets in real-time. Instead of waiting days and losing value along the way, users receive digital dollars almost instantly. They can hold those balances to hedge against local currency volatility, spend online, or withdraw to mobile money platforms like M-PESA, Wave, or Orange Money within minutes. This isn’t Noah’s first Africa-focused partnership. In January, the company announced a similar integration with pan-African fintech NALA, signalling a strategy to power African fintechs serving remote workers who earn in foreign currencies without operating directly on the continent. This partnership-led approach is central to Noah’s model. Rather than acting as a consumer-facing app for African remote workers and freelancers, Noah provides the regulated backend infrastructure: virtual account issuance (USD and EUR), compliant collection rails (ACH and SEPA), stablecoin conversion, settlement, and payout application programming interfaces (APIs). It replaces slow correspondent banking chains with programmable, real-time settlement infrastructure that fintechs, such as Payd, can plug into. African startups can offer dollar-native accounts and faster global payments without securing their own cross-border banking licences or building complex treasury operations from scratch. The timing for Noah is also strategic. Freelance and remote work in Africa has grown by over 55% since 2020; more professionals are earning in foreign currencies while living in volatile local economies. Spotting the opportunity, fintechs are turning to stablecoins as a workaround to dollar accessibility challenges and sluggish banking infrastructure that frustrate workers.
Read MoreValentine’s Day 2026: 8 digital safety tips to avoid online scams
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and for many people, it means shopping for gifts, planning romantic meals, or spending more time on dating apps and social media in search of connection. That surge in online activity is exactly what scammers look for. These criminals often exploit the heightened emotions and urgency associated with the season, using social engineering tactics that feel personal and convincing. With emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) making fake profiles, messages, and promotional offers more believable, spotting scams has become increasingly difficult for everyday users. Romance scams remain one of the most common risks during this period. They rose by 19% globally in 2023, according to data from the behavioural biometrics cybersecurity company, BioCatch. In early 2025, Meta said it removed more than 408,000 accounts across Africa linked to romance scam activity, underscoring how widespread the problem has become across the region and beyond. Others encounter fake Valentine’s gift deals, suspicious email offers, or giveaways claiming to come from well-known brands, only to discover they are scams designed to steal personal data or compromise accounts. To stay one step ahead of cybercriminals this Valentine’s Day 2026, here are digital safety tips to help you stay protected while searching for love or planning the perfect surprise for your partner. 1. Guard your personal information Before diving into online dating or shopping, be mindful of what you share. Avoid posting sensitive details like your home address, phone number, or financial information on social media or dating apps. The less personal information you put out there, the harder it is for scammers to target you. Check your privacy settings on all your devices. Make sure your dating apps and social media accounts are set to limit who can see your personal information. Only allow people you trust to view sensitive content. 2. Secure your dating and social media accounts Valentine’s Day is a great reminder to show some love to your digital security. Many people still use weak passwords or reuse the same password across multiple accounts, which makes it easier for hackers or scammers to gain access. Using a password manager like Google Password Manager can help you generate and store strong, unique passwords for every account. Enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of protection, usually combining “something you know” (password) with “something you have or are,” such as a code sent to your phone or your fingerprint. Many devices and apps now support biometric authentication, which makes it much harder for anyone else to log in, even if they somehow get hold of your password. And always be cautious of login notifications or password-reset emails you didn’t request. 3. Verify offers before you click Scammers love to take advantage of Valentine’s Day deals, from fake gift cards to irresistible discounts at popular retailers. If you receive an email or a text message advertising a great deal, don’t click the link immediately. Instead, open a new browser window, type in the retailer’s official website, and compare it with the link you saw to make sure it’s legitimate. The same goes for giveaways or promotions you see on social media. Even if the ad looks convincing, take a moment to verify it before sharing personal information or clicking any links. Being cautious about what you click can save you from phishing attacks, malware, and other scams that prey on impulse and excitement during the season. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events TC Scoop Subscribe 4. Verify identities before you trust them Even if someone’s profile looks legitimate, it is important not to assume they are who they say they are just because they have attractive photos or write professionally. Scammers often use stolen pictures or AI-generated images to create convincing profiles, and it is easy to get drawn in before realising something is off. One simple way to check is to do a reverse image search on their photos to see if they appear elsewhere online. If the same image shows up on multiple accounts or in unrelated contexts, it is a strong warning sign. Beyond photos, pay attention to inconsistencies in their stories or unusual requests for money or personal details. Taking a moment to verify someone’s identity before sharing sensitive information or investing emotionally can save you from heartbreak, financial loss, and unnecessary stress. 5. Use secure payment methods when shopping or gifting If you are buying gifts online, be careful about how you make payments, especially when dealing with unfamiliar sellers or websites. Avoid cryptocurrency payments or requests to pay with prepaid gift cards, as these methods are difficult to reverse once money has been sent. Instead, use trusted platforms or payment options that offer buyer protection, so you have a way to recover your money if something goes wrong. It is also important to confirm that the website or seller you are dealing with is legitimate before completing a purchase. Pay attention to unusual spelling or slight changes in domain names that may indicate a fake site. Before making a purchase, check reviews from independent sources, confirm contact information, and avoid platforms without clear return or refund policies. Fake online stores often appear around major shopping periods like Valentine’s Day, advertise attractive discounts, collect payments quickly, and disappear soon after. 6. Report and block suspicious accounts early If a conversation, offer, or online interaction begins to feel suspicious, it is safer to stop engaging immediately. Many people continue responding because they hope
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This Enugu-based startup believes Nigeria can manufacture world-class drones locally
In a 2,000-square-metre facility in Nsukka, Enugu State, in southeastern Nigeria, engineers assemble airframes, test control systems, and fine-tune battery modules to prove a point: Nigeria can build hard tech. Arone Technologies, founded in 2018 by AI engineer Emmanuel Ezenwere, is one of the few Nigerian startups attempting to manufacture drones and modular solar energy systems locally. The company is betting on hardware, from autonomous aerial logistics to portable solar systems, built largely in Nigeria. That ambition is set to scale through a ₦12.95 billion ($9.52 million) partnership with the state-owned Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu. Over the next four years, both partners plan to establish what they describe as Nigeria’s first tech manufacturing plant dedicated to defence, aerospace, robotics, AI, and renewable energy, an entire industrial hub built within the IMT campus. “We’re building solutions that enable energy security and enable smart living,” Ezenwere told TechCabal in an interview. “Our primary focus is energy security and artificial intelligence.” Arone was founded “way before AI became sexy,” as Ezenwere puts it. The company’s early mission was practical: solving Nigeria’s last-mile healthcare delivery problem. Arone’s journey began in 2018 with a ₦3 million ($2,200) grant from Roar Nigeria, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka’s tech hub, alongside a $5,000 angel investment. It later raised a $100,000 seed round from Energia Ventures and AfriClim Accelerator, as well as investments from angel investors. For a company that once watched its capital evaporate in a drone crash, the ₦12.95 billion ($9.52 million) manufacturing partnership marks a dramatic evolution. Solving the last-mile problem Nigeria has more than 30,000 primary healthcare centres, many located in rural communities with poor road infrastructure. Deliveries of blood, vaccines, and emergency medication can take hours, sometimes too long. Arone’s answer was autonomous drones capable of carrying up to 5kg of medical supplies over distances of up to 200 kilometres. Through a network of “Avports”, autonomous vehicle ports stationed at blood banks and distribution hubs, drones can take off, deliver to remote clinics, and return without human intervention. A trip that might take one hour and fifteen minutes by road can be completed in about 15 minutes by drone. The company’s early cargo drone, capable of carrying 20kg, was among the first of its kind in Nigeria. Its maiden flight in 2019 was successful. The next one crashed. “We were thrilled with the accomplishment,” Ezenwere recalled. “But the reality was that the crash cost was greater than the capital we had raised.” The setback forced the team to rethink how to build hardware in Nigeria. Instead of chasing perfect, finished products, Arone began breaking systems into manageable modules, refining and iterating gradually. It also pivoted toward niches that could sustain revenue, including security applications. Today, Arone claims it works with the Nigerian Defence Research and Development Bureau and the Air Force, supplying drones for surveillance and security use cases. Manufacturing in a difficult environment Arone engineers at work in the Nsukka factory. Image source: Arone Building hardware in Nigeria is not for the faint-hearted. Ezenwere describes a landscape where every layer must be questioned: talent, materials, capital, and market readiness. “It’s not just manufacturing,” he said. “It’s the full food chain, research, development, manufacturing.” When asked what “manufacturing” means for Arone, Ezenwere is careful. No modern hardware company builds everything from scratch. But Arone says over 50% of its drone systems are indigenous. The company designs and builds its airframes locally, develops its control systems and software in-house, and owns its AI models. Motors and batteries are still sourced externally, though the company says it is working toward deeper localisation. For its AI surveillance platform, QView AI, Arone owns the entire software stack. The models combine custom-built systems with open-source components, but without third-party ownership of the final product. For enterprise clients, including government institutions, the system can be deployed on-premise, scaling from a few gigabytes of RAM to terabytes, depending on requirements. The strategy reduces exposure to currency fluctuations and import markups, though not entirely. “We are exposed,” Ezenwere admits, “but the level of exposure is reduced.” The cost advantage is significant. Arone’s Aurora drone, equipped with thermal imaging capabilities for night surveillance, costs around ₦3 million ($2,190). Comparable foreign drones with similar specifications can cost upwards of $10,000. “Why would someone interested in security applications choose to spend $10,000 when they can get the same capability locally?” he asked. Powering beyond drones As Arone scaled its drone operations, it encountered another Nigerian constraint: electricity. That constraint birthed its second division: modular energy systems. Its flagship product, Luminar 2.0, is a portable, suitcase-sized solar energy system designed to power appliances and critical equipment during outages. The largest Luminar model delivers 3KVA and 2000 watt-hours, enough to power a microwave, television, and fan, sufficient for a middle-sized household. The systems use lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries with smart thermal management, designed to withstand temperatures up to 45°C and operate for five to seven years. Arone’s drones. Image source: Arone. As of late 2025, Arone says it has deployed over 1.35 MWh of modular energy systems across all 36 states in Nigeria. Vaccine refrigerators are among the critical appliances powered by the systems during blackouts. Energy security, Ezenwere argues, is inseparable from technological independence. “It’s a mission for us to build an ecosystem that will transform Nigeria from a consuming nation to a producing nation.” Under the partnership with IMT, Arone will provide intellectual property and product designs, while IMT provides funding and infrastructure. Production targets include 5,000 Aurora drones per year, over 30,000 Luminar energy systems annually, and more than 200 QView AI servers. Beyond manufacturing output, the partnership aims to train more than 20,000 students. The goal is not merely to produce factory workers but future industrialists. “The objective is not just to train production workers,” Ezenwere said. “It’s to train people who will eventually build other industries.” Arone’s facility, located near the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, initially had to transport students by bus daily to build practical
Read MoreJumia’s China bet drives 82% surge in international sales
Jumia’s international sales, largely driven by China, grew 82% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to its financial results, as the e-commerce giant strengthens its 2027 profitability strategy. After more than a decade of losses, Jumia has shifted its business model from chasing Africa’s aspirational middle class to repositioning itself for Africa’s lower-middle-income consumers, where 85% of the population lives on less than $5.50 a day, according to the World Bank. The company is rebuilding its business around affordability and mass-market volume, using Chinese supply chains as the engine, with a simple bet: cheaper goods move faster, generate more orders, improve unit economics, and create a clearer path to profitability than premium brands. That shift is now visible in the numbers. As of September 2025, Jumia had about 24,000 China-based sellers on its marketplace and roughly 2.2 million China-sourced items in warehouses across Africa. Of its more than 25,000 international merchants, Chinese partners dominate. In Q3 2025 alone, items sold from China grew 55% year-on-year. By Q4 2025, items sold from international sellers grew 82% year-over-year, driven by expanded direct sourcing capabilities. Jumia strengthened this pipeline by opening a new office in Yiwu, China. Overall, Jumia’s 2025 revenue grew 13% to $188.9 million, while gross merchandise value (GMV) jumped 13.59% to $818.6 million. However, despite topline growth, operating losses only declined marginally by 4.24%, underlining how fragile its path to profitability remains. “We closed 2025 with clear momentum across the platform, delivering strong GMV and revenue growth, improving customer engagement, and continued progress on our path to profitability,” Francis Dufay, Jumia Group chief executive officer, said in 2025’s full-year results. This growth is reflected in orders, which grew 32% year-over-year, and quarterly active customers ordering physical goods, which rose by 26% year-over-year in Q4, 2025. Nigeria continues to play a leading role, with orders up 33% and GMV up 50% year-over-year. For 2026, Jumia says it will focus on scaling usage across its existing markets and deepening customer engagement by improving availability, affordability, and reliability. “A more stable macro environment and local currencies provide a supportive backdrop for both consumers and vendors,” Dufay said. “We remain focused on unlocking operating leverage, optimising our cost structure, and refining our market footprint.” The profitability push is also reshaping Jumia’s geography. The company exited Algeria in February 2026, following earlier exits from South Africa and Tunisia in 2024. It is now operational in only eight countries. Jumia expects to break even and achieve positive cash flow in Q4 2026, with full-year profitability targeted for 2027, a goal now increasingly tied to how effectively it can turn Chinese supply chains into African consumer volume.
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This Kenyan startup promises school pickups digital paper trail
On school mornings across Kenyan cities, transport handovers happen fast and mostly on trust, yet when something goes wrong, schools often lack verifiable records of who arrived, when, and through which entry point, a gap that creates risk for pupils, parents, and administrators and turns routine logistics into a safeguarding and accountability problem. Many school transport routines still rely on paper registers, phone calls between drivers and teachers, and scattered text messages, even as the new Traffic (School Transport) Rules, 2025, and National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) notices require proper records and reporting. Meanwhile, GPS‑based school‑bus apps and communication platforms raise questions under the Data Protection Act 2019 about children’s location data and consent. For most schools, the practical need is not a full‑day trace of a child’s movements but a reliable, auditable record of key handover moments where legal duty of care changes. TerraGO, a Kenyan school operations startup, built its system around logging these predefined handover actions rather than continuously following children. The platform focuses on creating time- and place-based records tied to specific school-defined touchpoints rather than producing a stream of location data. Each logged action answers a narrow question: did a registered band or tag interact with an approved reader at a known location within an expected time window? This gives schools a way to confirm that a pupil passed through a set checkpoint without building a full movement history. The hardware in the child’s bag or on their wrist Children carry a wearable in the form of a wristband or bag tag that uses near field communication (NFC), while schools install readers at bus doors, gates, and key entrances. Once students arrive in school, a tap on one of these readers creates a record linked to that device, that location, and that moment. According to co-founder Collins Muriuki, schools decide where those readers sit, whether at the bus step, the main gate, or reception, and the system treats each tap as a discrete entry in the school’s transport and arrival log. “NFC tap confirmations at school-defined touchpoints,” Muriuki said. How a school morning plays out A typical bus journey starts with a child tapping the reader as they board, which logs the boarding event. During the trip, the school can activate a temporary link that shows the bus route to both the school and the parent. The journey also includes a map tied to the vehicle rather than an individual child, which expires when the journey ends. On arrival, the child taps again when getting off the bus and once more at the gate or entrance, and each of these actions can trigger a notification if the school and parent have chosen to receive them, while children who walk or arrive by car tap at the entrance to create a single arrival record. The system stays focused on those taps, so if a registered band interacts with a known reader in the expected time band, the platform can report that the pupil was present at that point, without relying on a phone in the child’s pocket or a chain of GPS signals. What parents see and what they do not Parents can view confirmations for arrival and pickup events, and turn notifications on or off. Live map visibility appears only during an active bus trip and ends when the route ends, with no replay of past journeys and no scrollable route history inside the app. Image: Terra GO Outside those time-bound journeys, the parent view centres on event records rather than maps, which keeps the focus on handovers rather than continuous tracking. Pickup without biometrics At pickup, parents generate a short term code and name the adult allowed to collect the child, then share that code with the guardian, and at the gate a staff member checks the string and sees either a match with the child’s details and expected adult or a warning if the code has expired, is presented by an unlisted person, or appears at an unusual time. Codes reset daily and cannot be reused, and the system avoids facial recognition or fingerprint scans, relying instead on these time-limited digital passes. How schools use the dashboard Inside the school, administrators see a morning view that compares expected and confirmed arrivals by route and class, helping them spot pupils who boarded a bus but have not yet checked in at the gate, those who are late, and flagged exceptions. Staff open individual records when the dashboard signals an issue, and alerts go out only when set conditions match, such as the right band, reader, and time window, while unclear or partial data does not trigger a message. Data scope and control The system’s records depend on physical taps at registered readers, not on continuous location feeds. Schools control their operational data, while parents see only records tied to their own child. Access to past data is time-limited and linked to specific uses, such as reviews. The company says it does not sell child data, Muriuki insisted, and that access to live and historical records inside its systems is logged and restricted by role. “Even internally, Terra staff cannot casually explore a child’s historical data. Access is tightly controlled and logged,” Muriuki said. The process of onboarding a school Bringing a school onto the platform starts by mapping its classes, routes, gates, and policies, then importing student, guardian, and transport details into that structure. After that, staff run test scenarios such as mock bus runs and trial pickups before any live use. Rollout then takes place in stages, by route, grade, or entry point, which allows staff to adjust processes in smaller groups rather than changing everything at once. How much does the product cost? The product has a wearable and a subscription. Each child uses a Terra GO band, an IP68-rated wrist device, which the company claims can last for one year without recharging. The band costs KES 2,500 ($19). Parents pay KES 500 ($4) monthly for the software, which covers
Read MoreAfter years on the sidelines, Africa’s telecoms return to the bond market
Africa’s telecom bond market has spent much of the past decade caught between promise and perception. On one hand, demand for connectivity has surged, driven by population growth, urbanisation, data-hungry consumers and the steady transition from 3G to 4G and now 5G. On the other hand, global investors have often viewed African telecom debt through a lens of risk. Between 2021 and 2025, however, the narrative shifted more decisively. Across the continent, telecom operators returned to the bond market in size, refinancing maturing obligations and raising fresh capital for infrastructure expansion. While no single figure captures Africa’s total telecom bond activity, sector reports and landmark transactions suggest that several billion dollars were raised through corporate bonds and structured debt in recent years. MTN Nigeria pioneered the space in 2018 with a ₦200 billion ($146 million) bond programme aimed at diversifying funding sources and managing local currency exposure. However, other operators largely stayed on the sidelines until 2022, when Mauritius-based Axian Telecom issued a $460 million bond, signalling a renewed interest in the continent’s telecom debt market. In July 2025, Axian Telecom again issued a $600 million bond to scale infrastructure across Madagascar, Tanzania and Togo. The deal was twice oversubscribed, attracting an order book of more than $1.3 billion, a clear signal that investor appetite for African digital infrastructure had strengthened. Meanwhile, IHS Towers remained active in debt markets, reporting total indebtedness of approximately $3.9 billion as of mid-2025 while refinancing high-cost notes and preparing for maturities in 2026 and 2027. These transactions suggest that Africa’s telecom bond market is reopening in earnest. At the centre of this revival is a familiar but often underestimated player: the anchor investor. Typically, a major institutional player, such as a pension fund, mutual fund, or insurance company, an anchor investor commits to purchasing a substantial block of securities ahead of an IPO, helping to stabilise demand and build market confidence. This matters because the telecom bond market, where companies raise debt from investors by issuing tradable securities, provides the long-term, reliable capital required to build digital infrastructure at scale. Fibre networks, towers, data centres and 5G deployments demand heavy upfront investment that far exceeds what operators can fund from revenue alone. When the bond market works well, it gives operators access to affordable financing for network expansion, spectrum acquisition and rural coverage. “Bonds remain one of the most underused but strategic financing tools in telecoms,” said Rotimi Akapo, Partner and head of Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT), Advocaat Law Practice. “They allow operators to raise long-term capital at scale, match funding to the life of network infrastructure, and expand their networks and infrastructure without diluting ownership. In emerging markets, a functioning telecom bond market can be a real backbone for financing the digital economy.” Reframing the funding narrative A common misconception about Africa’s digital infrastructure is that the continent suffers from a chronic lack of capital. Folatomi Fayemi, Investment Specialist at Ninety One, which manages the Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF), said the issue is less about the absolute availability of funding and more about structure, confidence and signalling. EAAIF was the anchor investor in the Axian Telecom $600 million bond issue. “There can be slight misconceptions as to the availability of funding because of the amount of demand that is required,” he said. “There is funding that’s coming. And there’s always going to be more funding because of the infrastructure divide we have on the continent. The demands keep growing; they don’t slow down. You just keep needing to deploy.” Two of the world’s ten largest telecom infrastructure companies by scale are African-focused tower firms. IHS Towers and Helios Towers are both listed companies that have built businesses centred overwhelmingly on Africa’s connectivity needs. In 2024 alone, IHS raised more than $1 billion in bonds, while Helios Towers executed a similarly large issuance. In 2025, these firms continued reshaping their balance sheets, refinancing debt and extending maturities. “These are businesses that are raising large bonds,” Fayemi said. “You’re talking about roughly $1.8 billion-plus going into two companies focused primarily on connectivity across Africa.” EAAIF anchored the IHS Towers and Helios’ combined over $1.8 billion bond issuances in 2024. For Fayemi, this scale underscores an important shift: telecom infrastructure in Africa is increasingly seen as a growth story anchored in demographic fundamentals. “Population growth matters,” he said. “When you step back and look at markets like Nigeria, where you already have three or four operators, it’s not about adding more players. It’s about meeting growing demand. For these businesses, this is growth.” The rise of specialisation One structural shift underpinning renewed investor confidence is the shift away from vertically integrated telecom operators toward specialised infrastructure providers. Globally, mobile operators are shifting away from owning every part of their networks. Towers, fibre, data centres and related services are now often run by specialist companies that can invest and operate more efficiently. This has led many operators to sell their tower assets to TowerCos to free up capital and reduce maintenance costs. Vodafone moved 55,000 sites into Vantage Towers, Deutsche Telekom grouped its towers under DFMG, and U.S. carriers like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile sold large portfolios to American Tower and Crown Castle. Zain adopted a sale-and-leaseback model with IHS Towers, while Telefónica sold towers to KKR and partnered with American Tower. Africa follows the same trajectory. Tower companies focus on site acquisition and maintenance. Fibre operators invest in long-haul and metro networks. Data centre companies specialise in power redundancy and cooling systems. This specialisation improves capital allocation and creates clearer revenue visibility. For bond investors, clarity matters. Telecom infrastructure assets typically generate predictable, long-term cash flows backed by multi-year contracts with mobile operators. That predictability aligns well with institutional investors seeking duration and yield. In 2025, this clarity coincided with a broader financing pivot. Across Africa’s tech and telecom ecosystem, debt accounted for 41% of total funding, reaching a record $1.6 billion, a 63% increase from 2024, based on the 2025
Read MoreOnly 26 African startups raised $174 million in January. Here’s what it signals
African startups raised $174 million in January 2026, trailing last year’s tally by $102 million and well below the 12-month monthly average of $263 million, according to Africa: The Big Deal, a monthly funding tracker. While a month-on-month dip from December to January is routine in African venture capital (VC), what stands out this January is how few startups raised money, with only 26 startups raising above $100,000, just over half the recent monthly average and the lowest January tally since at least 2020. The data reveals how narrow Africa’s VC funnel has become and how unforgiving the path ahead may be for African startup funding. Over a third of the month’s funding went to Egypt’s lending startup, valU, which raised $63 million in debt from a local bank. Nigeria’s MAX, a vehicle financing startup, followed with $24 million in a mix of equity and asset-backed financing. The two transactions accounted for half of all capital deployed in January. Neither deal reflects risk-seeking venture capital, as they are structured around lending books, assets, and predictable cash flows. Instead, they emphasise a pattern of investor comfort with revenue and collateral and a clear unease with uncertainty, the very condition that defines early-stage startups and venture capital. “After a decade of asset-light evangelism, 2026 will mark the return of the balance sheet as a competitive advantage,” Olivia Gao, a principal at Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV), a growth-stage VC firm, told TechCabal. “Startups that own or finance productive assets—vehicles, devices, and equipment—will outcompete pure marketplaces by controlling supply, monetising financing margins, and unlocking private credit partnerships,” she added. Nearly 40% of African startup funding now comes from local investors What does this mean for African startup funding If you strip out those two rounds, January looks very different. There was very limited equity activity, few first-time raises, and almost no early-stage momentum. The month reflects a deeper problem in African VC as the industry drifts toward safety. In the search for predictable returns, many firms are backing proven, familiar business models, with little appetite for riskier bets. African startup funding is beginning to look more like credit underwriting than long-term experimentation. This shift compounds an existing funnel problem in African tech. Many early-stage startups are already stuck in a capital valley, unable to raise growth-stage funding. If risk aversion now seeps further downstream, into pre-seed and seed investing, the damage will surface in 18 to 36 months. Fewer companies will have been funded, even fewer will reach Series A readiness, and exits will become scarcer, shrinking the ecosystem over time. As capital becomes more conservative, founders will be forced to optimise for early cash generation and focus on smaller, local markets, where expansion costs are lower. While this may produce leaner, more disciplined, and more profitable businesses, it also narrows the pool of venture-scale bets that deliver outsized outcomes and define a thriving startup ecosystem. It can be tempting to frame this shift as rational adaptation. Inflation is high, exits are scarce, and as the life cycle of funds ends, limited partners are demanding returns. Some African investors can argue that investing in asset-backed, cash-flow-driven models is a rational adaptation to these macro conditions and not a failure of imagination, but that thinking goes against what venture capital is. If this safety approach were prevalent during the boom of the early 2020s, startups like Paystack, Wave, and Moniepoint would likely never have raised their earliest institutional rounds. When safety becomes the organising principle of an emerging-markets risk capital, improvement at scale does not happen.
Read MoreCBN, NCC propose 24-hour refunds for airtime and data sent to wrong numbers
Nigeria’s telecom and financial regulators are moving to mandate 24-hour refunds for everyday airtime and data mistakes, from over-purchases to wrong-number transfers. The joint exposure draft released on Monday, by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), seeks to fix long-standing consumer pain points around mistaken airtime and data purchases by replacing non-existent refund practices with clear rules, legal thresholds, and standardised timelines. For the first time, mobile network operators (MNOs), NCC-authorised licencees, and banks would be formally accountable for consumer errors such as wrong-number transfers and mistaken value purchases. Under the framework, the overpurchase of airtime and data by a subscriber will be reversed within 24 hours after a complaint is lodged. For airtime or data sent to the wrong phone number, the framework introduces value-based thresholds. Transactions of ₦20,000 ($14.64) and above will require an affidavit of indemnity or a notarised indemnity letter before reversal is processed, while smaller transactions between ₦1,000 ($0.73) and ₦20,000 ($14.64) will depend on recipient consent, to be facilitated by the mobile network operators. The recovery timeline is set at 24 hours. In January, TechCabal reported that the CBN and NCC will introduce a new consumer protection framework that mandates near-instant refunds for failed airtime and data transactions, from March 1, 2026. The regulators, in a statement at the time, said subscribers who are debited without receiving value would be entitled to a refund within 30 seconds, a move aimed at addressing one of the most persistent complaints in Nigeria’s digital services ecosystem. The draft framework released on Monday expands on these efforts, which aim to address mistaken purchases and tackle rising consumer complaints around failed airtime and data transactions. “This development buttresses the need for the proposed framework to institutionalise clear accountability, standardise resolution timelines, and ensure a sustainable, coordinated approach to consumer redress across the financial and telecommunications ecosystems,” said Aisha Isa-Olatinwo, director, consumer protection and financial inclusion. If adopted, subscribers will be able to lodge complaints with either their bank or mobile network operator for refunds when they are debited without service delivery, wrong value purchases, or send airtime/data to the wrong number. The framework mandates banks and MNOs to create formal dispute resolution processes, document all claims, and process them within defined service-level timelines. For oversight, the regulators plan to introduce a central monitoring dashboard for tracking reversals, SLA breaches, and customer complaints. “This will facilitate the establishment of a real-time national “Failed Transactions Dashboard” with uniform error code, with end-to-end visibility across the value chain,” the document read. When disputes remain unresolved after five working days, subscribers can escalate them to the CBN and NCC. If adopted, the framework would expand consumer rights for millions of Nigerians who rely on digital channels for airtime and data purchases.
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Digital Nomads: How 67 countries shaped this risk analyst’s view of African tech
Driving through the Egyptian desert along the Red Sea, hotspotting a MacBook while typing reports in the back seat because being offline for a three-hour flight is a luxury that a risk analyst cannot afford. Other times, it’s realising that Kizomba, a dance you once learned in the vibrant streets of Dakar, Senegal, somehow exists in different forms across the continent and is a gateway to connecting with people in communities as you travel. This is the life of Maya Hautefeuille. In one decade, she’s a photojournalist in the Middle East, documenting the Syrian revolution and the aftermath of the Arab Spring. In the next, she is a senior analyst, uncovering the intersection of politics and economics within African countries for 14 NORTH, a company providing insights and business intelligence for Africa’s frontier and emerging markets. Staying close to communities in what Hautefeuille labels as being ‘on the ground’ has helped her realise that places that are very misunderstood from the outside. “I like to make sense of places [and] help people make better decisions ultimately,” she said. “Maybe that came across in how I was raised, and I grew up a bit mixed and all over the world.” Building bridges from Japanese classrooms to French social movements Born to an American-Japanese mother and a French father, Hautefeuille spent most of the first decade of her life in Japan, shaped by education from a school built to overcome the trauma of the Second World War, and under a curriculum imbued with peacemaking philosophies. According to Hautefeuille, the learning emphasis leaned towards students being good global citizens, as opposed to a strong micro-focus on being nationalistic to their respective countries. “There’s nowhere else on earth where they taught [me] those things and made it as though it should be your life mission to be a good citizen of wherever you are and build your bridges,” she said. Hautefeuille would later live out what it meant to be a global citizen, moving to the United States when she was 10, then a year later to France, and eventually Australia and across Asia. She spent her late teens in her home country, France, where she observed the country punctuated by social movements and protests. “I was very into politics and questions of power…and inspired by movements that claimed to be about liberation,” she said. Being ‘on the ground’ in France also fuelled Hautefeuille’s interest in Africa and the Middle East, specifically due to France’s historical relationship with North Africa, and post-colonial movements that had taken place in Africa. “If I hadn’t gone to France,” she admitted, “I wouldn’t have been able to see these things at a closer level.” And so, in 2007, Hautefeuille pursued a Bachelor’s in African studies at Columbia University in New York. She was only there for a year, but it was a turning point for how she viewed the world. Relearning power with Mahmood Mamdani Studying under professors like Mahmood Mamdani, an Indo-Ugandan anthropologist, academic, and political commentator, with whom she resonated because of his multicultural background, Hautefeuille was introduced to new ways of thinking about power and history. “I had one teacher who really impressed upon me,” she recalled. “The way he taught his theories is very different, and because he always brought an identity element [to his teachings], being an Indian-African and part of liberation movements.” However, in search of a school that she felt encompassed African studies more holistically, she transferred to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London the next year. At SOAS, she learned Swahili and Arabic, regarding language as the crucial infrastructure for understanding the Indian Ocean trade, which linked East African city-states to Middle Eastern countries such as Arabia and Persia. Before her master’s program, between 2008 and 2009, Hautefeuille had hitchhiked without public transportation or a personal vehicle from France to Touba, the spiritual capital of Senegal, travelling through Spain, Morocco and Mauritania. That early, gritty immersion to study the Mouridiya Sufi brotherhood, an Islamic order, served as her first experience with the country, and it was not an easy journey. “[I stayed] with Senegal families whose life revolved around that holy city, the mosque, the rituals, the sharing of food, the cooking of the food, the greeting of the marabus. It was like a very regulated lifestyle around the mosque.” After completing her studies in 2011, she began her master’s at the same school in the same year till 2012, but this time in Middle Eastern studies. While her degree was within the Middle Eastern studies department, her focus remained firmly on West Africa. Hautefeuille was drawn to the program for a very specific reason: the study of Senegalese religious movements. Her field ‘’Anthropology/Sociology of Religions’’ was hosted in that department, and she intended to study Senegalese Sufi movements through that lens. After she completed her master’s, Hautefeuille moved to East Jerusalem for a post-graduate research internship in a British/Palestinian studies centre. It was a period in the Middle East that marked the beginning of her photojournalism. Hautefeuille in East Jerusalem. Image Source: Maya Hautefeuille From late 2013 to 2018, Hautefeuille was based on the Turkish-Syrian border, sometimes in Palestine, in Lebanon, where she strengthened her command of Arabic, all the while documenting migration and hospital bombings as a freelance photojournalist and advocate. Hautefeuille photographed for Al Jazeera and Danwatch. Her interest in photojournalism stemmed from the urge to document and understand the relationship between power, people, and identity. “In conflict, you’re seeing really impactful things, and I had had an urge to document that,” she said. “So I started with journalism.” But as December 2018 closed in, while Hautefeuille continued advocacy work on Syria, she began feeling professional fatigue as the conflict stalled. And soon, she was yearning for the life she had once experienced in Senegal once more. Trading rituals of the Touba for the rhythm of Dakar By April 2019, Hautefeuille returned to Senegal. But this time, to Dakar. Where she
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