Apple releases iOS 26.5: Here is everything that changed on your iPhone
Table of contents What’s new in iOS 26.5 What Apple did not include in iOS 26.5 What’s coming next Which iPhones can run iOS 26.5 Should you update now? Apple dropped iOS 26.5 today, and your iPhone can pick it up right now. Head to Settings, tap General, then Software Update, and the download will be waiting for you. The update is about 14+ GB, so you need Wi-Fi connection before you start. Image source: Iphone 15 pro screenshot This is the last major update in the iOS 26 lineup. Apple’s next big software reveal happens at WWDC on June 8, 2026, where the company is expected to show off iOS 27. Until then, iOS 26.5 is what you get, and it brings a handful of changes worth knowing about. What’s new in iOS 26.5 Image source: @theapplehub on X (formerly Twitter) 1. End-to-end encrypted RCS messaging The biggest change in this update is encrypted messaging between iPhones and Android phones. For a long time, texts sent from an iPhone to an Android device were not encrypted, which meant they could be read by your carrier or anyone intercepting the connection. iOS 26.5 changes that, at least in part. Apple has built support for RCS Universal Profile 3.0, which uses the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol to encrypt your conversations. Encryption is enabled by default. You can check the status by going to Settings> Apps> Messages> RCS Messaging, where you’ll see an “End-to-End Encryption (Beta)” toggle. When a conversation is encrypted, you’ll see a lock icon and the word “Encrypted” in your Messages thread. Google Messages on Android shows the same label, so both sides of the conversation will know the protection is active. There’s an important catch, though. The encryption only works if your carrier and the other person’s carrier both support RCS Universal Profile 3.0. If one side doesn’t, your messages will still go through as unencrypted RCS or plain SMS. Apple hasn’t published a full list of which carriers support it yet. For iPhone users in Nigeria, this feature will likely not be active right away. Apple’s Africa carrier page currently lists MTN, Airtel, Glo, and 9mobile as partners for basic iPhone features like eSIM and LTE, but RCS is not listed as supported by any of them. Until those carriers upgrade their networks to support the new standard, iPhone-to-Android chats in Nigeria will continue to work as they do today. If you need encrypted messaging now, Signal and WhatsApp both provide it without depending on your carrier. 2. Suggested Places in Apple Maps Open Apple Maps and tap the search bar. You’ll now see two recommended places appear above your recent searches. Apple says the suggestions are based on what’s trending nearby and your past activity in the app. The privacy note Apple includes in the app states that advertising information from these suggestions is not linked to your Apple Account and that data is not shared with third parties. That said, there is no way to turn this off. The suggestions will always be there when you search. This feature also sets the stage for paid ads in Apple Maps, which Apple has confirmed will launch in the US and Canada later this summer. Those ads will appear in the same space, labelled as “Ad.” There’s no opt-out for those either. If you don’t want to see sponsored results in your map searches, switching to Google Maps is your main option. 3. Pride Luminance wallpaper iOS 26.5 includes a new wallpaper called Pride Luminance. It refracts colours dynamically as the light and angle on your screen shifts. The wallpaper comes with 11 preset colour options and a custom mode that lets you pick between 1 and 12 colours. It matches a new Apple Watch face and Sport Loop of the same name that Apple is also releasing. 4. Magic Keyboard and accessory pairing improvement If you use a Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, or Magic Trackpad with your iPhone or iPad, iOS 26.5 makes pairing easier. Connecting one of those accessories via USB-C will now automatically pair it over Bluetooth. Once you unplug the cable, the Bluetooth connection stays active. You won’t need to go into Settings to pair it manually anymore. This is how those accessories already work on Mac, and Apple has now brought the same behaviour to iPhone and iPad. 5. Other changes under the hood Beyond the main features, iOS 26.5 includes several smaller updates: App Store subscriptions get a new billing option. Developers can now offer monthly pricing with a 12-month commitment, so you get a lower monthly rate but agree to pay for the full year. This is available in most markets outside the US and Singapore. The Reminders app now shows specific times when you snooze a reminder. Instead of “This Afternoon,” you’ll see “Remind Me at 3:00 PM,” which is more useful at a glance. Transferring data from an iPhone to an Android phone now includes new options for how long to keep message attachments, with choices ranging from 30 days to everything. EU users get additional interoperability features, including proximity pairing for third-party earbuds and Live Activities support on non-Apple accessories. These are exclusive to the European Union due to the Digital Markets Act. What Apple did not include in iOS 26.5 The most talked-about missing feature is the upgraded Siri. Apple promised a more capable version of Siri starting with the iPhone 16 launch in 2024. The features in question include: Personal context: Siri reading your emails, messages, and calendar to answer questions like “When is my friend’s birthday?” On-screen awareness: Siri understanding what you’re currently looking at on your screen In-app and cross-app actions: Siri completing tasks across multiple apps without you having to switch between them A new on-device AI model to power all of the above None of this shipped in iOS 26.5. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, internal testing encountered accuracy and speed issues, which is why the features keep getting
Read MoreABAN says Africa’s startup funding recovery is “more grounded” than previous peaks
After three years of decline from the 2021 peak, African startups raised $3.4 billion in 2025, a 32% rebound from the previous year. But beneath that headline lies a less-discussed shift. Angel participation has recovered after two years of caution, and deals below $1 million, one of the few segments of the market that has expanded steadily since 2019, continue to grow. For the African Business Angel Network (ABAN), an industry body representing angel investors across the continent, the growth validates a decade of work to organise Africa’s local angel base. Since 2015, ABAN has served as a bridge for the continent’s angel investment ecosystem and now links more than 5,000 angel investors through 75-plus member networks across 37 African countries and the diaspora. Its 2025 Angel Investment Survey Report, released this month in partnership with the United Nations and Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is the closest thing the ecosystem has to an audit of how early-stage capital moves on the continent. The report found that 62 angel networks deployed at least $4.4 million in disclosed funding in 2025, with 65% of the startups they backed securing follow-on capital. Over 90% of individual angels are now writing cheques below $25,000, up from 76% in 2024, a compression that reflects both shifting risk appetite and the depreciating currencies most of these angels operate in. What makes the findings worthy of discussion now, rather than at any other point in the past three years, is the structural question underlying the rebound. International capital is retreating, and the cheap-money era that fuelled 2021 and 2022 is no longer today’s reality. If the early-stage layer of the African ecosystem is to hold, it will be because local and diaspora angels, organised through networks like ABAN’s, can move faster and write more cheques than they have historically. For this week’s Ask an Investor, I spoke to Favour Ubaka, one of the report’s creators and a stakeholder engagement officer at ABAN, to understand why angel deal participation rebounded in 2025 after a two-year decline, and what a $5,000–$10,000 cheque actually buys a founder in a market where the naira has lost more than 70% of its dollar value since 2022. This interview has been edited lightly for clarity and length. Data shows angel deal participation rebounded in 2025 after declining in 2023 and 2024. What’s driving it? First, we are seeing early-stage funding become active again after a period of caution across the ecosystem. Many investors became more conservative in 2023 and 2024 because of global economic uncertainty, currency pressures, and the broader venture capital slowdown. But in 2025, there was renewed confidence around early-stage innovation, particularly around startups that could demonstrate traction and real market demand. Second, local and diaspora investors are stepping in more intentionally. One of the strongest signals from the report is that angel investing in Africa is no longer being driven only by external capital. We are seeing more African founders, operators, executives, and diaspora professionals participating in angel investing. These investors understand local markets better and are often more willing to take early bets on African founders. Third, the ecosystem itself is becoming more organised. Angel networks are more structured today than they were a few years ago. We now have stronger syndication models, matching funds like Catalytic Africa, investor education programmes, and vehicles like ABAN helping angels invest across borders more efficiently. All of this reduces friction and gives investors more confidence to participate in deals. What is also interesting is that the rebound is not only happening in the traditional “Big Four” markets anymore. We are increasingly seeing activity in ecosystems like Zambia, Ghana, Senegal, Uganda, and Tanzania. This tells us the ecosystem is slowly becoming broader and more distributed across the continent. African tech funding rose 32% to $3.8 billion in 2025, but the report notes deals below $1 million have been expanding steadily since 2019. What share of 2025’s $3.8B actually went to sub-$1M rounds, and how does that compare to other time periods? What we are seeing is a bit of a split story. The $3.8 billion headline is still largely driven by bigger, later-stage rounds. But underneath that, sub-$1 million deals have been quietly growing and becoming more consistent since 2019. So while they don’t dominate the total capital deployed, they make up a significant share of deal activity. In simple terms, most of the money is concentrated at the top, but most of the activity is happening at the early stage. And compared to earlier periods like 2021 and 2022, the market leaned more towards larger rounds. What we are seeing now is a stronger, more active early-stage layer, with angels and angel networks continuing to fund that first cheque. That is really what sustains the pipeline. The report frames 2025 as an “uptick.” How fragile is that uptick given macro headwinds? I would not describe the uptick as fragile, but I would say it is still early and very dependent on how the ecosystem continues to respond to current conditions. What we are seeing in 2025 is not just a rebound driven by external capital coming back in. In many ways, it is being supported by a stronger foundation, particularly local investors, diaspora participation, and more organised angel networks stepping in at the early stage. At the same time, the macro headwinds are real. We have seen reduced activity from some international funding sources, tighter global liquidity, and broader economic uncertainty. Those factors have not gone away. But what is interesting is how the ecosystem is adjusting. Early-stage activity, especially below $1 million, has remained active and continues to grow. Angels are still writing those first cheques, and in many cases, they are filling gaps where larger capital has pulled back. So rather than fragile, I would describe this as a more grounded recovery. It may not be as fast or as headline-heavy as previous peaks, but it is being built on more consistent early-stage activity and stronger local participation.
Read MoreThree of Nigeria’s biggest banks lost $1.56 million to fraud in 2025
Nigeria’s biggest banks are processing record volumes of digital payments, but this is also increasing their exposure to fraud. Access Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO), and United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) lost a combined ₦2.13 billion ($1.56 million) to fraud and forgery incidents in 2025, according to an analysis of their audited financial statements. Most of the incidents were electronic, with the total number of fraud incidents declining by 15.03% in 2025. However, the amount extracted per successful attack increased, indicating that fraudsters are becoming more efficient at exploiting banks’ vulnerabilities. The three banks lost an average of ₦44,454 ($32.65) per fraud incident in 2025, up from ₦40,488 ($29.74) in the previous year. The amount linked to fraud incidents declined by 0.87% to ₦10.29 billion ($7.56 million). Only 20.66% of that amount became actual losses, suggesting the three banks were able to recover or block part of the stolen funds before settlement. The 2025 Bank Fraud Landscape Not all defense lines hold equal. By comparing the total volume fraudsters targeted against the actual financial impact, we can see how efficiently different banks intercepted attacks before settlement. System Insight: UBA faced the heaviest bombardment (₦4.56B targeted) but their infrastructure successfully intercepted 86.4% of it. Meanwhile, Access Bank suffered the highest actual impact (₦1.24B), with 39.1% of their successfully targeted funds crystallizing into a loss. UBA 26,400 Incidents ₦4.56B Targeted ₦621.57M Lost (13.6%) Access Bank 5,981 Incidents ₦3.17B Targeted ₦1.24B Lost (39.1%) GTCO 15,469 Incidents ₦2.58B Targeted ₦269.44M Lost (10.4%) Blocked / Recovered Crystallized Impact Data extracted from 2025 Audited Financial Statements. Target amounts represent the “Successful” attack attempts. Built by TechCabal The numbers highlight that while faster payments create new revenue opportunities for banks and fintechs, they are also widening the attack surface for cybercriminals. Data from the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed that there were 67,518 fraud-related incidents in 2025 alone. On an individual level, Access reported that electronic fraud cases fell 47.74% to 5,931, but cash theft, representing only 26 incidents, and contributing 14.31% to total losses. At UBA, electronic fraud accounted for 99.91% of the 26,400 fraud cases it recorded in 2025. Fraudulent transfers alone accounted for 35.99% of actual losses—the single largest fraud channel by value. GTCO disclosed that the amount linked to fraud incidents increased 30.05%. Actual fraud losses rose 69.34%, despite a 0.48% decline in total fraud cases. These losses are absorbed by the banks, and stricter verification requirements and tighter transfer controls for customers are imposed. Instant payments reached ₦284.99 trillion ($209.34 billion) in the first quarter of 2025, according to NIBSS. Four commercial banks, GTCO, UBA, First Bank of Nigeria, and Zenith Bank, processed ₦286.19 trillion ($210.22 billion) through their mobile apps in 2025. As transaction volumes rise, banks have to spend more money to protect their infrastructure. Collectively, Access Holdings, GTCO, and UBA spent ₦280.90 billion ($206.33 million) on technology investments in 2025, including cybersecurity systems, fraud-monitoring tools, customer-authentication infrastructure, and transaction-security upgrades. The True Cost of Cashless Banks lost ₦2.13 billion to fraud in 2025, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Explore the data below to see the hidden scale of cyber attacks and the massive defense budget required to protect the ecosystem. The Attack Flow The Defense Budget Total Exposed Capital ₦10.29 Billion Blocked/Recovered (79.3%) Lost (20.7%) Insight: While the total number of fraud incidents dropped, the amount extracted per successful attack increased to ₦44,454. Fraudsters are becoming more efficient, but banks successfully intercepted over 79% of targeted funds before settlement. Financial Burden: Spend vs Loss Cybersecurity Spend ₦280.90B Actual Funds Lost ₦2.13B Insight: To keep ₦71.06 trillion in customer deposits secure, Access, GTCO, and UBA collectively spent roughly 131 times more on defense systems than what they actually lost to cybercriminals. Data based on 2025 Audited Financials (Access, GTCO, UBA). Built by TechCabal Regulatory push Banks have to render monthly returns on fraud and forgeries to the CBN, according to section 24 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020. According to NIBSS, fraud reporting fell by 34% in the final quarter of 2025. Beyond that, the apex bank is increasingly mandating banks and fintechs to move from simply processing transactions to actively policing them. Banks are now expected to verify customers more aggressively, monitor transactions in real time, including using artificial intelligence, detect suspicious device activity, and absorb the consequences of fraud failures. In 2025, the CBN directed NIBSS to begin debiting institutions that receive proceeds from fraudulent transactions. The regulator also tightened onboarding requirements, including mandatory liveness verification and device-binding measures designed to limit account takeovers and identity fraud. Telecom operators are also increasingly being pulled into fraud enforcement as regulators push for real-time phone-number risk flagging and broader data-sharing frameworks between telcos and financial institutions. When financial institutions fail to comply with anti-fraud controls, they face sanctions. In 2025, the CBN fined Access Holdings ₦138 million ($101,366) for inadequate Know Your Customer controls linked to fraud cases. For now, Nigeria’s banking system remains financially resilient. Access, GTCO, and UBA held ₦71.06 trillion ($52.19 billion) in customer deposits at the end of 2025, with actual fraud losses representing just 0.003% of deposits. But as digital payments scale deeper into the economy, fraud is becoming embedded as a hidden operating cost of Nigeria’s cashless transition, one that banks, customers, telecom operators, and regulators are increasingly being forced to pay. Note: exchange rate used: ₦1,361.4/$
Read MoreMTN Rwanda returns to profit as data and fintech drive Q1 growth
MTN Rwanda returned to profit in the first quarter of 2026, helped by strong growth in internet usage and mobile money services. The company posted a profit after tax of Rwf 10.8 billion ($6.8 million) for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, reversing the net loss reported in Q1 2025, according to its financial results. The performance marks a sharp recovery from the losses the telecom operator recorded during the same period last year. Service revenue rose 14.7% year-on-year to Rwf 295.7 billion ($200.78 million), while EBITDA—a measure of operating profitability—grew 17.3% to Rwf 106.8 billion ($72.52 million). Its EBITDA margin improved to 35.8%, up from 32.7% a year earlier. Growth was driven mainly by MTN Rwanda’s digital businesses. Active data subscribers increased 14.1% to 2.8 million, reflecting rising demand for internet services, while monthly active users on its mobile money platform, MoMo, climbed 17.3% to 6.2 million. Revenue from data services rose 15.6%, while fintech revenue from MoMo services jumped 27.6%. The recovery also built on momentum from late 2025, when increased data consumption and home broadband usage helped strengthen the company’s revenue base. The results suggest Rwanda’s telecom sector, although smaller than markets such as Nigeria or South Africa, is becoming one of Africa’s fastest-growing digital economies. “We remain focused on protecting affordability for our customers, accelerating efficiency across the business, and continuing to invest in the capabilities that will define the next phase of growth,” said Monzer Ali, MTN Rwanda Chief Executive Officer, in the company’s Q1 earnings commentary. Rwanda’s broader economy has remained resilient despite rising inflation and global economic uncertainty. The country recorded GDP growth of 9.4% in 2025, up from 7.2% the previous year, driven mainly by services and industry. However, inflationary pressures have intensified in early 2026. According to Rwanda’s National Institute of Statistics, urban inflation averaged 7.6% between March 2025 and March 2026, while energy prices rose 25.5%. The National Bank of Rwanda also raised its benchmark interest rate to 7.25% in February 2026 to contain inflation. For MTN Rwanda, these pressures are affecting both operating costs and consumer spending. The company said geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have increased energy costs and disrupted global trade flows, putting pressure on supply chains and customer purchasing power. Still, the company continues to invest heavily in network expansion and digital infrastructure. During the quarter, MTN Rwanda said it expanded 4G population coverage to 94.8% and continued its phased rollout of 5G services. Compared with larger MTN subsidiaries, Rwanda remains a relatively small market. MTN Nigeria reported a profit after tax of roughly $256 million in Q1 2026, while Airtel Africa posted $227 million. MTN Rwanda’s subscriber base of 8.2 million is also far smaller than MTN Nigeria’s 89.5 million users or Airtel Africa’s 183.5 million subscribers across its markets. Growth in mobile money usage in Rwanda, at 5.9 million adults, has outpaced adoption levels in some larger African markets, reflecting the country’s broader push toward financial inclusion and digital payments. MTN Rwanda said it is targeting capital expenditure intensity of between 7% and 10% of revenue, lower than the aggressive network investment cycles underway in larger telecom markets such as Nigeria and South Africa. Despite macroeconomic uncertainty, MTN Rwanda described the return to profitability as a “positive start to the year” as it continues to execute its long-term “Ambition 2025” strategy.
Read MoreAgritech attracts strongest African angel investor interest despite funding decline
In 2025, agriculture and agtech startups attracted the strongest interest from Africa’s angel networks, according to a new report by the African Business Angel Network (ABAN), an industry group. The report, produced in partnership with Briter Intelligence, a market intelligence and data platform, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), surveyed more than 60 angel investors and angel network managers across Africa. It examined investment preferences, ecosystem trends, funding constraints, and the role of angel investors across the continent. The renewed attention on agriculture comes despite a difficult funding year for the sector, underscoring a gap in the funding ecosystem. While agriculture is attracting stronger interest from angel networks, agritech startups continue to struggle to attract larger pools of institutional capital. A separate Briter Intelligence report showed that agritech funding declined to $168.1 million in 2025, down from $206.9 million in 2024, while other sectors, including fintech, logistics, and energy, captured a larger share of capital. Still, the growing interest from angel networks suggests that early-stage investors see long-term potential in the sector despite the funding slowdown. Angel investors are typically high-net-worth individuals who invest personal capital into early-stage startups and fund companies before institutional venture capital firms step in. Angel networks allow these solo investors to pool capital and share investments across multiple startups. Across 37 African countries, there are more than 75 active angel networks and over 5,000 individual angels, according to the report. The report found that agriculture and agtech ranked as the top sector of interest among angel networks in 2025, although it ranked second among individual angel investors, trailing behind fintech. Logistics and supply chain startups attracted the strongest angel investor participation across the ecosystem, per ABAN’s 2024 report, highlighting how investor priorities are evolving. Alongside shifting sector preferences, the ABAN report showed how angel investing itself is evolving across Africa. The report found that more than 35% of surveyed investors prefer startups already generating revenue, reflecting caution in a tighter funding environment where investors want evidence of traction before deploying capital. Ticket sizes also remain relatively small among the group. The report stated that more than 90% of individual angel investors wrote cheques under $25,000 in 2025, up from 76% in 2024. Angel networks, however, demonstrated a greater capacity for larger investments, with 8% reporting writing ticket sizes above $100,000. Still, the ecosystem faces structural constraints. According to the report, limited exit opportunities and liquidity remain one of the biggest challenges facing angel investors across Africa, despite the continent recording more than 100 startup exits between 2023 and 2025. The report also identified limited deal flow, limited investor knowledge, and economic and regulatory gaps as key barriers to scaling angel investment activity across the continent. Nearly 29% of respondents indicated that they have either paused or reduced their investments in the market. “If Africa is to build stronger innovation ecosystems and convert entrepreneurial energy into broad-based development, angel investing must be recognised not as a peripheral activity, but as part of the continent’s growth infrastructure,” Fadilah Tchoumba, CEO of ABAN, noted in the report. As Africa’s venture funding remains constrained due to the pullback of development finance institutions (DFIs) and global investors, the report suggests that angel investors and angel networks could play a more influential role in determining which startups receive the early backing needed to scale.
Read MoreSASSA SRD grant payment dates for May 2026 explained
Table of contents What is the SASSA SRD R370 grant? SASSA SRD R370 payment dates for May 2026 How to check your SRD payment status What to do if your application is declined Common reasons for payment delays and how to fix them If you receive the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) Social Relief of Distress (SRD) R370 ($22.59) grant, you already know that your payment does not arrive on the same day as the older persons or disability grants. The SRD runs on its own schedule, and May 2026 is no different. SASSA has confirmed that SRD payments for May 2026 will be processed between Saturday, May 24 and Saturday, May 30, 2026. Since SASSA only processes payments on business days, most beneficiaries will see their money between Monday, May 25 and Friday, May 29. Your personal payment date within that window depends on when your monthly verification clears. The quickest way to find your exact date is to log into srd.sassa.gov.za with your South African ID number and the cellphone number you used when you applied. What is the SASSA SRD R370 grant? The SRD grant is a monthly cash payment from SASSA for unemployed people who have no other source of income or government support. It pays R370($22.59) every month and is the last in the payment queue, always processed after all permanent grants have gone out. Unlike grants such as the Older Persons or Child Support Grant, the SRD does not have a permanent approval. SASSA reassesses every application each month against government databases before releasing any payment. This is why your payment date is different from your neighbour’s, and why the same person can be approved one month and declined the next. To qualify for the SRD R370 grant, you must: Be a South African citizen, permanent resident, refugee, or asylum seeker with a valid Section 22 permit Be between 18 and 59 years old Have no income above R624($38.09) monthly in any bank account linked to your ID Not be receiving any other SASSA grant, UIF payments, or NSFAS funding Not be living in a state-funded institution such as a prison or care facility A single deposit that pushes your account balance above R624 ($38.09) in a given month, even from a family member or a refund, can trigger an automatic decline for that month. This is one of the most common reasons people get declined, even when they have no regular income. The SRD grant was first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been extended several times since. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana confirmed in the November 2025 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) that the grant will run until March 31, 2027, and is backed by an additional R36.4 billion($2.22 billion) in Treasury allocation. The government has signalled it may be replaced by a more permanent income-support arrangement after March 2027, but no final design has been published yet. SASSA SRD R370 payment dates for May 2026 SASSA confirmed the May 2026 SRD payment window as May 24 to May 30, 2026. The table below shows the full payment schedule for all grants this month. Since May 24 is a Sunday and May 30 is a Saturday, actual processing will happen on business days within that range. SASSA does not process payments on weekends, so plan around Monday, May 25, through Friday, May 29. Your personal date within that window depends on when your monthly means test clears. SASSA cross-checks your application against records from SARS, UIF, Home Affairs, NSFAS, and your bank before assigning your payment day. Once that check is complete, your date will appear on your status page at srd.sassa.gov.za. Banks and retailers also process at different speeds. If your payment shows as released by SASSA, allow one to three business days for it to reflect in your account, depending on your bank or payment channel. How to check your SRD payment status There are four ways to check your status. The online portal is the most reliable because it shows your month-by-month history and your personal payment date once assigned. Option 1: Online at srd.sassa.gov.za (most reliable) Open a browser and go to srd.sassa.gov.za. Make sure the address ends in .gov.za. Click “Check Your Status” or “Application Status.” Enter your 13-digit South African ID number. Enter the cellphone number you used when you applied. Submit. Your month-by-month result and, where available, your personal payment date will appear. Option 2: WhatsApp at 082 046 8553 Save 082 046 8553 as a contact and open WhatsApp. Send “Hi” or “Status” to start the chat. Follow the menu prompts and enter your ID number when asked. The chatbot will return your current grant status. Option 3: USSD by dialling *120*3210# (no data needed) Dial *120*3210# from any cellphone. Select “SASSA R370 Status” or “Status Check” from the menu. Enter your ID number. Your status will appear on screen. If *120*3210# fails, try the legacy code *134*7737#. Option 4: Toll-free call centre at 0800 60 10 11 Available Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 16:00. Have your ID number and your registered cellphone number ready before you call. An agent will read your latest status aloud. What your status result means What to do if your application is declined A declined status does not always mean the end of the road. SASSA gives you 90 days from the date of the decline to request a reconsideration. This process is free, and you do not need a lawyer. The most common reasons SASSA declines SRD applications are: A bank deposit pushed your account above R624 ($38.09) in the assessed month, even if it was a once-off transfer from a family member or a refund UIF payments or an active UIF registration were detected NSFAS funding was found linked to your ID Your identity details do not match what Home Affairs has on record You were found to be receiving another SASSA grant Your age is recorded as being outside the 18 to 59
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Digital Nomads: Olayinka Oke saves $368 monthly to live in three countries a year
Olayinka Oke has travelled to 23 of Nigeria’s 36 states, exploring her nomadic curiosities from humble beginnings before she began branching out of the country and, eventually, Africa. Before Ghana, Malta, Sierra Leone, and Kenya, there were shorter trips across Nigeria. She would wait for a public holiday, take two extra leave days, book a hotel or Airbnb, and disappear for four days. Sometimes, it was a quick weekend stop in Ekiti, in southwestern Nigeria. Other times, Kano, in the far north. At the time, international travel still felt distant for Oke. But in 2017, she crossed Nigeria’s borders for Accra, Ghana, for the first time. That trip changed something. “Even though Ghana is a lot similar to Nigeria, there was—I don’t know the word for it—but my eyes just opened to the fact that there’s actually a lot more to life than the country where you live,” said Oke. Now, she saves a little over ₦500,000 ($368) every month into a travel fund to finance the frequent travel lifestyle she describes as requiring “meticulous planning.” In March, she was in Kenya for the month, working remotely from different high‑brow parts of Nairobi and taking a side trip to Lamu, off Kenya’s coast. Later this year, she plans to visit several European countries and at least one Asian country, preferably Thailand, she said. Oke, a chemical engineering graduate from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomosho, Oyo State, leads data management and governance at Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), one of the country’s biggest gas producers. She said her urge to travel came from a restless dislike for routine and a desire to keep experiencing new places instead of staying in one environment long enough to get bored. “There’s always the point of wanting to be in a saner clime,” Oke said. “Every time you run into a low‑quality problem in Nigeria, you tell yourself that, ‘if I were living outside Nigeria, this wouldn’t be a problem.’” Her full‑time job is based in Nigeria, but over the last few years, she has steadily built a life that assumes she will live in at least three other countries every year, one month at a time. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events Next wave Entering Tech Subscribe Oke, the traveller Oke first worked in the oil and gas sector, including a stint at Halliburton, the multinational oilfield services firm with operations in Nigeria, between 2014 and 2016. She then moved into banking as a data professional at tier-2 lender, Union Bank, from 2016 to 2021, before transitioning fully into the energy side of data, first at Easy Solar and now at NLNG. Oke traces her deliberate nomadic life to two moments: that first Ghana trip and later, a job that pushed her to move to Sierra Leone. For a while, the change showed up mainly as tourism. She travelled when she could afford it, mostly for short stays. The shift from tourist to temporary resident came in 2022, when she got an offer from Easy Solar. The company sells renewable energy products to last‑mile users on a pay‑as‑you‑go (PAYG) basis in Sierra Leone and Liberia. She said she started as a commercial data analyst, working remotely at first, but the role came with a condition: at some point, she would have to move to Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. “I eventually moved to Sierra Leone in 2023,” she said. “Sierra Leone is not like Europe, which is a lot more developed; in fact, I would say Sierra Leone is a bit less developed than Nigeria, but the way things were just different was very interesting to me.” Oke poses for a photo at the ‘I Love Salone’ sign in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Image Source: Olayinka Oke While she spent about a year in Sierra Leone, the stay was long enough for daily details to matter more than the idea of “moving abroad.” The first shock came from housing and groceries. Rents in the parts of Freetown where expatriates and professionals clustered were quoted in dollars, and her two‑bedroom apartment, shared with a flatmate, cost about $600 a month. Groceries, too, were often more expensive than she expected, partly because many products were imported, she said. Food and convenience became the biggest pressure points. In Lagos, Oke prefers to order almost everything online and can go weeks without leaving her house when working remotely. Oke hiking the Leicester Peak, a mountain in Sierra Leone’s Western area. Image Source: Olayinka Oke In Freetown, that setup simply did not exist. There were restaurants with Instagram pages, but no central food‑delivery platforms, she said. She had to ask colleagues how people managed. Eventually, she settled into the local workaround: finding a trusted bike rider who acted as a personal dispatch, buying items from different places, and bringing them over. The Malta cameo, sacrifice, and returning home In the middle of her Sierra Leone stint in 2023, she applied on LinkedIn for a data analyst role at a Malta-based gaming company. She got the offer while she was still with Easy Solar, and kept working for the company as the Malta process moved ahead. Oke left Sierra Leone around June and returned to Lagos, continuing to work remotely for Easy Solar until it was time to travel. In September, she flew to Malta to start the in‑country stages of her new role. She said the gaming company sponsored her visa, paid for her flight, and put her
Read MoreNigeria now Airtel Africa’s second-largest market by revenue per subscriber
Nigeria is now Airtel Africa’s second-biggest market by revenue earned from each subscriber, as higher telecom tariffs boosted earnings in the company’s largest African market. Airtel Africa, which operates in 14 countries, grew its average revenue per user (ARPU) in Nigeria by 41.18% for the financial year ended March 2026, according to the company’s financial results released on Friday. ARPU measures how much telecom operators earn per subscriber and is a key indicator of whether revenue is sufficient to cover operating costs and fund network investments. Money The ARPU Gap: Value vs. Velocity Francophone Africa still extracts the most revenue per user, but Nigeria’s recent 50% tariff hike has triggered explosive year-over-year growth. Source: Airtel Africa plc FY’26 Financial Results. Bar length represents actual Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Badges represent YoY growth.
Read MoreOpera-backed stablecoin app MiniPay rides Africa demand to 15 million wallets
MiniPay, the Opera-backed stablecoin wallet and payments app that operates in seven African markets, has crossed 15 million activated wallets, more than double from the previous year. The 123% year-on-year jump extends the app’s growth after it crossed 13 million wallets by the end of 2025, according to Opera’s Q1 2026 report. Launched in Nigeria in September 2023 as part of the Opera Mini browser before becoming a standalone app last year, MiniPay has emerged as one of the most widely used stablecoin payment products focused on emerging markets, with the majority of its users in Africa, according to Opera. It underscores how Africa has become one of the world’s most active testing grounds for crypto payments and dollar savings products. Apps like MiniPay, Bitget Wallet, and UglyCash are betting that users in countries with volatile currencies and costly banking infrastructure will embrace dollar-denominated digital money for everyday use. “MiniPay launched first in Nigeria in 2023 and expanded first across Kenya and other key African markets before going global in 2025,” Murray Spark, Senior Director Business Development at Opera, told TechCabal in an email response on Tuesday. “We don’t go into country-level detail, but it’s fair to say our earliest markets in Sub-Saharan Africa are where we’re seeing the most traction. This reflects where our most engaged users are, and we expect the geographic mix to evolve as we expand.” Opera reported that MiniPay users completed 290 million peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions worth over $300 million by the third quarter of 2025. That figure climbed to 360 million completed transactions by year-end. Opera declined to disclose average transaction sizes for MiniPay, but said activity on the app is concentrated around “everyday financial activities that traditional banking infrastructure either ignores or makes too expensive to bother with,” including peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers, airtime and data purchases, bill purchases, merchant payments, and universal basic income (UBI) disbursements. The app runs on the Celo blockchain and is heavily centred on USDT, the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by El Salvador-based firm Tether. According to Spark, USDT remains “by far the dominant asset” held in MiniPay wallets and is primarily used for everyday transactions. Opera is also leaning into tokenised gold products—digital assets backed by physical gold—as a savings tool for users in emerging markets. “On-chain data shows that over 91% of XAUT0 holders [holders of Tether Gold, a digital product that tracks the price of gold] are on Celo. Virtually all of those are MiniPay wallets,” Spark said. “What that means is that MiniPay has become the single largest platform for Tether Gold holders in the world.” While MiniPay’s growth has become prominent in Opera’s shareholder communications, the Oslo-based company has yet to disclose revenue generated directly from the wallet business. Opera said its primary revenue drivers remain advertising and search, while describing MiniPay as part of its “broader ecosystem.” In recent earnings reports, Opera has increasingly highlighted MiniPay alongside its AI browser ambitions, framing the wallet as a strategic product for emerging markets. In its Q4 2025 earnings released in February, CEO Lin Song said Opera’s partnership with Tether, the Salvador-based issuer of the USDT stablecoin and Tether Gold, was helping provide “seamless financial access and innovative digital utility to emerging markets globally.” MiniPay’s expansion is also moving beyond Africa. In November 2025, Opera rolled out a “Pay Like a Local” feature in Latin America that allows users to spend stablecoin balances directly through Mercado Pago and Brazil’s PIX payment system. Opera said it already supports bank and mobile money integrations across Africa and plans to continue expanding local payment rails as adoption grows. To deepen engagement, MiniPay offers incentives such as daily login rewards, crypto-earning games, and miniapps, and is also planning to launch virtual cards.
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WayaWaya founder Teddy Ogallo lived a sheltered life, then had to rebuild everything
By the time Teddy Ogallo sits down at Artcaffe Westgate Mall in Nairobi’s Westlands, he already has a mental list running. Not talking points for this interview, but customer problems, things that broke overnight, features that need reworking, small frictions that, if fixed, might bring him the next hundred users. He orders a latte. I go for Kenyan tea, non-spiced. He’s present, but you can tell his mind is never far from the build. Ask him who he is—especially on days he’s tired of the startup label—and he doesn’t hesitate. “I’m a builder,” he says. It comes out effortlessly during our chat, as if it’s almost a default setting, something that predates his journey at WayaWaya, a Kenyan startup that provides conversational banking tools via WhatsApp and mobile apps. He traces it back to his childhood in the barracks in Eldoret—a city in Western Kenya—a contained, almost ideal world. Good housing, a supermarket, a hospital, a proper school, everything in place, little reason to step outside. “You had no reason to leave,” he says. Then, at 17, that world fell apart. His father lost his job, and the transition into what he calls “real-life Kenya” was abrupt. Suddenly, the cushioning was gone, replaced by scarcity, but with awareness of how most people actually live and get by. That contrast—comfort, then lack—sits beneath how he sees things now. It shows up in how he talks about systems that don’t work, about people forced to find their own way around them, and about why he builds at all. He tells me he doesn’t just want to solve problems, but leave a legacy that holds up under pressure. Our conversation moves between those personal aspirations and what it takes to build something that lasts. For Ogallo, the two are not separate. They rarely are. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. How do you usually introduce yourself when you’re tired of talking about startups? I know it’s cliché, but I’m a builder. I’ve always been a builder since I was four years old—building drones, building things. I’m an innovator and a builder. I’ve always been that character who thinks differently. I started building, then I started asking myself: How do I create value out of everything I’ve built? That’s why my entrepreneurship journey started very, very early in life. Because I’m this innovative builder, looking at problems, thinking of solutions, and actually building a workable solution. If we weren’t doing this interview over coffee, where would you rather be right now? I have this list. I usually make a list of customer requests and customer feedback. I’m a tech founder, so I’m involved with the daily build, finding solutions. So I plan how to solve this list of problems for our customers, then plan to iterate on that process and use it to get even more customers. I’d be scaling and maintaining the customers we’ve already set up on our platform. What’s been your most recent small win that had nothing to do with WayaWaya? When you’re an entrepreneur, the startup becomes your life. Everything else is peripheral. I finished a small build project. Once I’m successful with WayaWaya, I’ll be able to build something bigger. I’ve been building a prototype of that technology solution, more hardware-oriented. I finished a prototype, and it worked. It’s at that point where you start thinking of getting a Chinese company to print the boards. That’s a success. What’s something you’ve changed your mind about in the last year? I used to believe in changing people, changing mindsets. But I’ve gotten tough lessons. Human beings, by the time someone has become an adult, have these rigid frames they live inside. You can’t really change those fundamental bits, character, aspiration. Those are the basics that most people can’t change. That’s why in business, you have to develop a skill. Even as a founder, when you’re looking for team members, you look at their motivations, the things that drive them. Those are usually very hard to change in an adult. I spent a significant part of my life trying to change that in people. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks… Exactly. That’s something I’ve learned. Teddy Ogallo at a past Housing Finance event. Image source: WayaWaya Where did you grow up? What did it teach you about money, trust, and financial systems? I was born in Eldoret [Western Kenya], in a sheltered setup. My dad was in the military, posted at one of the best-built barracks in Kenya, a flagship. This barracks had a supermarket, a good hospital, and a really good school. You had no reason to leave. Bungalows. Everyone had their own room. Perfect, sheltered life. We only ventured out once every two months to town. Eldoret has more cushioning, more civil servant jobs, and more middle class than comparable towns. We didn’t know some of the struggles Kenyans go through. Then life happened. My dad lost his job. We had to move when I was about 17. That was my welcome to real-life Kenya. I saw people buy milk in plastic containers; there was poverty. And then there was that drive. You could see people really pushing to escape that place. So, I’m a teenager, the firstborn, wanting to pull my entire family out of that. That’s where I saw Kenyan resilience. Put a typical Kenyan in a tough situation, and you get stories of guys who started in places like Kawangware and are now somewhere out there in the world. Kenyans just don’t settle. That contrast—shelter to crash course—taught me Kenyans are resilient and aggressive by nature. On financial systems: at that point, the system was not built for the reality on the ground. We have one of the highest poverty rates—even as a middle-income country, our poverty rate is higher than most neighbors. Our financial system is built for the ministers. That’s why micro-lending apps are prospering in Kenya. I discovered quickly how it was built to fail. That’s
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