Trenderz’s Kim Tran says influencer marketing misses how Africa actually buys
9 juin 2026 Hello , Welcome back to Francophone Weekly by TechCabal, your weekly deep dive into the tech ecosystem across French-speaking Africa. For readers who want to understand Francophone Africa beyond headlines—through markets, startups, and systems. New editions of the newsletter will land directly in your inbox every Tuesday at 12 PM WAT. By default, this newsletter is in French. If you’re reading this in your email inbox, click the “Read in English” button below to switch to the English version. If you’re reading on our website, you can either click the button below or toggle the language selector at the top right-hand side of the page to view the English edition. Read in English Kim Tran, directrice générale et co-fondatrice de Trenderz, une startup abidjanaise spécialisée dans la creator economy, passe près d’une décennie à travailler dans le marketing d’influence en Afrique francophone. Elle connaît les agences, les cycles de pricing, les clients. Quand elle a lancé Trenderz en 2024, elle construisait sur un terrain qu’elle maîtrisait bien. À la mi-2025, elle avait décidé de tout démolir. Aujourd’hui, Trenderz est une plateforme d’infrastructure de réservation et d’attribution qui trace la recommandation d’un créateur du premier clic jusqu’à la réservation confirmée et au versement d’une commission fixe. La couche agence a disparu. Le nouveau modèle est transactionnel, data-driven, et déjà déployé sur cinq marchés africains. Lina Kacyem, investment manager chez Launch Africa Ventures, s’est entretenue avec Kim Tran pour parler du pivot, de ce que trois mois avec le programme Creator Ventures de 500 Global lui ont appris, et pourquoi elle pense que l’économie de la recommandation en Afrique est cent fois plus grande que le seul marché influenceurs. 1. La création et la réorientation de Trenderz Kim Tran (à gauche) lors de l’Africa Creator Summit, Lagos, Nigeria, en janvier 2026. Source de l’image : Kim Tran. Lina Kacyem : Trenderz, c’était autre chose au départ. Peux-tu expliquer le pivot et ce qui t’a convaincue que c’était la bonne direction ? Kim Tran : Trenderz a démarré en 2024 à Abidjan, en Côte d’Ivoire, comme un modèle hybride agence et abonnement-en-tant-que-service (SaaS) pour le secteur du tourisme et des loisirs. Nous orchestrions des collaborations entre établissements et créateurs de contenu, et nous avions construit une plateforme SaaS avec une couche marketplace pour aider les hôtels, restaurants, spas et lieux d’activités à gérer leurs campagnes de marketing d’influence et à se connecter aux bons créateurs. Après un an et demi d’opérations, deux choses sont devenues claires. Premièrement, le business fonctionnait. Les établissements payaient ; la demande était réelle. Mais le modèle ne scalait pas. Chaque nouveau client demandait du temps humain, et nos unit economics étaient plafonnées par le nombre de campagnes que mon équipe pouvait orchestrer manuellement chaque mois. Deuxièmement — et c’est ce qui a tout déclenché — nous nous sommes rendu compte que nous résolvions le mauvais problème. Nos clients ne nous demandaient pas un outil de gestion d’influenceurs. Ils nous demandaient de la conversion : des réservations, des clients. Pas des impressions, pas des vues, pas des taux d’engagement. Des clients réels, attribuables au créateur qui les avait amenés. Chaque conversation avec un directeur d’hôtel finissait de la même façon : « Nous ne voulons pas voir des vues ou des likes. Nous voulons des clients — et savoir quels créateurs remplissent réellement nos chambres. » Ce signal a tout changé. Nous n’étions pas en train de construire un service marketing. Nous étions assis sur un vide beaucoup plus grand : l’infrastructure qui permet de transformer la recommandation sociale en transactions traçables et monétisées. La décision de tuer le modèle hybride agence/SaaS pour évoluer vers une infrastructure pure a été la plus difficile que nous ayons jamais prise. Elle impliquait d’arrêter une activité rentable pour tout reconstruire depuis zéro, sans aucune garantie que la nouvelle version trouverait son marché aussi vite. Mais le signal était constant. À la mi-2025, la conviction était prise. Au premier trimestre (T1) 2026, le système de réservation, la couche d’attribution et l’infrastructure de paiement créateurs sont passés en production. Aujourd’hui, chaque réservation générée par un créateur sur Trenderz est trackée de bout en bout : contenu, clic, acompte et paiement créateur — sur une seule plateforme. Kacyem : Qu’est-ce que vous avez dû abandonner en pivotant ? Et qu’est-ce que ça vous a appris sur la façon de construire dans ce marché ? Tran : Trois choses, chacune douloureuse à sa manière. Premièrement, nous avons abandonné un modèle de revenu qui marchait. La couche agence générait du chiffre d’affaires mensuel avec des marges correctes et des clients qui revenaient. La tuer, c’était accepter zéro revenu pendant toute la durée de la reconstruction, tout en continuant à payer l’équipe et à livrer le nouveau produit. Sans les 250 000 dollars de pré-seed apportés par Digital Africa, GIZ et un pool d’angels stratégiques, ce trou de trésorerie aurait été impossible à combler. Deuxièmement, nous avons renoncé à un terrain que nous connaissions bien. J’ai pratiqué le marketing d’influence en Afrique francophone pendant huit ans avant Trenderz. Je connaissais les agences, les clients, les cycles de pricing, les cycles de vente. Passer à un modèle d’infrastructure, c’était entrer dans un métier différent : développement produit beaucoup plus long, conversations commerciales plus complexes, investissement initial plus lourd. Mais c’est aussi un métier où ce qu’on construit reste — alors qu’en agence, chaque campagne se revend à zéro. Le troisième renoncement a été le plus contre-intuitif. Nous avons accepté de sortir d’une catégorie existante. Quand vous êtes une agence ou un SaaS, les acheteurs vous comprennent en cinq secondes. Quand vous êtes une infrastructure de réservation boostée par la creator economy, vous devez expliquer ce que vous faites à chaque conversation, parce que la catégorie n’existe pas encore. Plus difficile à vendre, plus difficile à pitcher aux investisseurs, plus difficile même à expliquer à votre propre équipe — jusqu’à ce que les premiers chiffres commencent à valider la thèse. Ce marché m’a appris trois choses.
Read MoreKenya’s new tax proposals threaten M-KOPA, Sun King phone assembly plants
Kenya’s Finance Bill 2026 has proposed a series of tax changes that could raise the cost of locally assembled smartphones while making imported handsets cheaper, threatening the viability of local plants built by M-KOPA and Sun King. The Bill removes the zero-rated VAT status enjoyed by locally assembled phones, imposes a 25% excise duty on domestically manufactured devices, and exempts imported finished phones from the Import Declaration Fee and the Railway Development Levy. A Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) position paper, seen by TechCabal, said the measures will erase the competitive advantage that attracted investment into local assembly. The proposals have raised concerns that Kenya could undermine an industry it deliberately nurtured through the Finance Act 2022, which introduced zero-rated VAT on locally assembled phones to attract manufacturers and lower smartphone prices. “The foundational tax structure underpinning the creation, growth, and sustainability of the industry will be eroded,” the position paper said, warning that the proposals could lead to factory closures, job losses, and undermine Kenya’s digital economy ambitions. M-KOPA, one of the largest local assemblers, employs an estimated 500 workers at its assembly plant, which has a monthly production capacity of 300,000 smartphones. Since launching local production in 2023, the company has manufactured more than 3.5 million devices, supplying Kenya and regional markets through its pay-as-you-go financing model. Sun King also invested in local manufacturing; it opened a Nairobi assembly plant in October 2025 as it expanded beyond solar products into smartphone production, betting on Kenya’s ambition to become a regional electronics manufacturing hub. According to the position paper, the proposed VAT changes will prevent local assemblers from recovering tax paid on components, spare parts, electricity, and other production inputs. Those costs could be passed on to consumers, raising device prices. The changes to VAT will also require companies to reverse previously claimed input VAT on inventory already in stock, potentially putting pressure on working capital. The 25% increase in excise duty on locally manufactured phones will likely raise device prices by KES 2,500 ($20). Exempting imported finished phones from the Import Declaration Fee and the Railway Development Levy, without extending similar relief to imported components, will leave local manufacturers facing higher production costs than their foreign competitors, according to industry submissions to Parliament. Since 2023, the local assembly has created hundreds of manufacturing jobs, expanded access to affordable smartphones, and positioned Kenya as an emerging electronics production hub serving East Africa. Companies like M-KOPA are already exporting locally assembled devices to neighbouring markets.
Read MoreARM-Harith is raising $200 million to tap African pension capital for infrastructure
ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investments, a pan-African private equity fund manager focused on sustainable energy and infrastructure, has raised $76 million at the first close of its Climate Transition Fund, a vehicle seeking to attract African pension funds into climate and energy projects. The fund, which is targeting $200 million at final close, combines US dollar and local currency investments within a single structure, an approach the Lagos-based fund manager said could help unlock domestic institutional capital that has remained on the sidelines of infrastructure investing. The first close is backed by $20 million from the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) and FSD Africa Investments, a UK-backed development finance investor, according to ARM-Harith. Such catalytic capital is often used to absorb part of the investment risk and encourage participation from private investors. ARM-Harith’s new fund is part of a broader effort to channel more African capital into financing the continent’s infrastructure that powers energy, telecoms, and logistics networks underpinning its digital economy. In the first quarter of 2026, European development finance institutions (DFIs), including DEG, Proparco, and British International Investment (BII), remained the most active investors in African private capital funds, according to research firm Stears, highlighting how dependent the sector remains on foreign capital. With African governments facing an estimated $400 billion development financing gap, fund managers are searching for ways to unlock domestic pools of capital, particularly pension assets. ARM-Harith is testing a bigger idea: whether African pension funds can become a meaningful source of capital for the infrastructure that powers the continent’s digital economy. For years, startups, telecom operators, and governments have depended heavily on foreign investors and DFIs to fund critical infrastructure. Yet, Africa’s pension industry and other collective investment schemes (CIS) now manage about $600 billion in long-term savings that, in theory, should be well suited to infrastructure investments. The problem has been getting that money into projects. Many infrastructure funds are structured in US dollars, while roads, power plants, fibre networks, and other assets generate revenues in local currencies. For pension funds, that creates a currency mismatch that can erode returns when local currencies weaken against the dollar. ARM-Harith’s new fund wants to address that challenge. By allowing local and hard-currency investments to coexist in the same vehicle, the firm is seeking to make infrastructure equity more attractive to domestic institutional investors while preserving dollar exposure for international backers. “With our first fund, we demonstrated that domestic institutional capital can be mobilised into infrastructure equity,” Rachel Moré-Oshodi, ARM-Harith’s chief executive officer, said. “With this successor fund, we are building on that foundation by bringing local and hard-currency capital together within a single platform.” The strategy reflects a broader shift taking place across African infrastructure finance. DFIs are increasingly positioning themselves as catalytic investors, focused on crowding in domestic and local capital, rather than serving as the dominant source of funding. In 2015, the African Development Bank (AfDB) launched Africa50 as an equity and project development platform that brings in African institutional investors alongside sovereign and development capital. It has supported projects such as Kigali Innovation City in Rwanda and the Benban solar complex in Egypt. In these deals, DFI capital helped de-risk early-stage project risks and enabled participation from pension funds and commercial lenders. By August 2025, it had crossed $1.4 billion in managed assets. In 2025, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched its Catalytic First Loss Guarantee (FLG) Facility under its MSME Finance Platform. The facility provides first-loss guarantees to financial institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, aiming to expand lending into SMEs, agribusiness, and climate-linked sectors by absorbing early credit risk. The Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF), managed by Ninety One, has also used AfDB and other development finance commitments as anchor capital to crowd in commercial lenders into African power and transport projects. This includes a $100 million AfDB facility structured to catalyse private investment into sustainable infrastructure. This shift has led DFIs to take minority positions in infrastructure funds and use concessional or anchor capital to de-risk deals for pension funds, insurers, and other long-term institutional investors. “The constraint has never been capital itself, but the absence of investment products structured to meet pension funds’ liability-matching needs, particularly around tenure, risk allocation, and currency alignment,” Anne-Marie Chidzero, chief investment officer at FSD Africa Investments, said. “Investment structure was designed to bridge that gap, enabling pension funds to participate in infrastructure equity.” That challenge matters beyond traditional infrastructure sectors. As Africa’s technology ecosystem matures, the conversation is gradually shifting from startup funding to the physical infrastructure needed to support digital growth. Data centres, telecom towers, fibre networks, embedded power systems, and renewable energy projects require patient capital with investment horizons measured in decades rather than years. Venture capital is rarely structured to finance those assets. Pension funds are. ARM-Harith believes the opportunity exists if investment structures are designed around the realities of local markets. The firm’s first fund, ARM-Harith Infrastructure Fund I, which first closed in 2015 and backed projects like the Lagos-based energy supplier Elecktron Power Infracom, invested in transport and energy assets across West Africa, including power projects in Nigeria and Ghana. According to ARM-Harith, the portfolio financed more than 700 megawatts of installed power capacity, supported roughly 22,500 jobs, and avoided an estimated 2.6 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually. Its more recent investments include distributed renewable energy platforms and embedded energy systems that reflect growing demand for decentralised power solutions, such as AD Power HoldCo’s mini-grid and commercial energy projects serving multiple Nigerian communities, and Prime Meridian, a port infrastructure project in Ghana aiming to strengthen regional maritime trade in West Africa. If ARM-Harith can convince more African pension funds to allocate capital to infrastructure equity, it could help establish a new source of financing for the power, transport, and digital infrastructure that the continent will need to sustain economic and technological growth.
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Sim Shagaya’s Myka wants to do for insurance what agency banking did for fintech
“Why do so few Nigerians buy insurance?” That question naturally follows Nigeria’s insurance penetration numbers. With a population of more than 200 million people, over 70% of Nigerians have no form of insurance as of 2025, according to the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB). When Sim Shagaya, the entrepreneur who founded Konga, an e-commerce platform, and uLesson and Miva Open University, began looking for answers, he got the same answer: Nigerians do not believe in insurance. Yet that explanation never fully aligned with his observations. “It’s not that Nigerians don’t understand protection,” he told TechCabal in an interview on May 11. “The desire for protection is there. What has been lacking is the distribution of structured protection products to people who haven’t had it.” After more than a decade of building businesses that solved access and distribution challenges, he launched Myka, a licenced digital broker that enables consumers and businesses to purchase insurance products from multiple providers. Myka is backed by Ventures Platform, TLcom, Shola Akinlade, co-founder of Paystack; Ridwan Olalere, founder of LemFi; and Olumide Soyombo, founder of Voltron Capital, in an undisclosed pre-seed round. It launches with insurance products spanning motor, gadget, property, health, life, and travel insurance. Myka and Ventures Platform. Image source: Myka The billion-dollar industry with a retail problem Nigeria’s insurance industry recorded an aggregate sum of over ₦4 trillion ($2.9 billion) in total assets in Q4 2025, according to data from the Insurance Market Performance report published by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), the country’s insurance regulator. Despite its size, the industry’s reach remains limited, with most insurance premiums coming from large corporate customers who typically provide coverage as an employee benefit, Shagaya noted. This leaves retail adoption lagging far behind the market’s scale. Low awareness, cost perception, limited distribution channels, and low trust in the industry have posed a challenge to insurance adoption by Nigerians. “One thing that has caused issues in the industry has been a lack of trust, which has happened because the claims payment process has not been great,” Shagaya said. “Nigerians have felt like they buy insurance, but when it’s time to claim, it’s cumbersome, it’s hectic, it’s difficult, and oftentimes they feel like they are treated unfairly.” According to him, that trust deficit was reinforced by a prevalence of fake insurance policies and fragmented records across the industry. Without reliable verification systems, consumers struggled to confirm that their coverage was genuine. However, over the past year, the industry has undergone reforms through the Nigeria Insurance Industry Reform Act 2025, which placed retail insurance and digitisation at the centre of the sector’s growth strategy. The reform was aimed at expanding access, strengthening consumer protections, improving claims settlement, and creating the infrastructure needed to bring insurance to Nigerians who have been excluded from the market. For Shagaya, the reforms create the conditions needed for Myka to bring retail insurance to more Nigerians. How Myka works Myka’s response to Nigeria’s insurance problem begins with a consumer app that lets users purchase insurance policies across multiple categories and receive their policy documents directly on WhatsApp, according to Shagaya. Myka operates as a digital broker, aggregating products from up to 17 insurance underwriters, including AIICO, emPLE, Cornerstone, Coronation, Leadway, Rex, and Tangerine, to allow customers to compare policies across providers. Insurance companies create and underwrite policies, while Myka distributes those products, handles customer onboarding, and manages customer experience, he noted. It integrates with insurers via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Shagaya noted that the platform is designed to reduce documentation errors that pose challenges during insurance claims. For motor insurance, Myka can verify vehicle information and match identities against regulatory databases, according to him. Myka takes a different approach to claims by building repair networks that connect policyholders, people who buy insurance policies, with service providers. He gave the example of a customer with gadget insurance and a damaged phone screen who can report the incident, receive directions to an approved repair centre, and have the device fixed without paying out of pocket. The same model is being extended to vehicle insurance claims to reduce downtime and remove friction. To support that system, Myka uses National Identification Number (NIN) identity verification, biometric checks, and AI-powered tools that compare policy information against claims data. However, Shagaya noted that selling insurance through an app is only one part of Myka’s vision. The Myka and emPLE team. Image source: Myka Agency banking, but for insurance While the insurance tech industry has focused on digital-first distribution, Shagaya argued that insurance adoption in Nigeria could be driven by a distribution strategy that makes insurance policies available where people already make purchasing decisions. “People have talked a lot about embedding insurance in checkout flows and in digital flows, but I think that that is a mistake. I think that doesn’t speak to our reality,” he said. “The truth is that the flows in Nigeria are very manual for a lot of businesses. Nobody has provided a channel for a car dealer to sell comprehensive or third-party insurance as the car is being sold. That is a role that Myka seeks to fill.” According to Shagaya, in May, Myka’s Structured Customer Referral Program was admitted into NAICOM’s regulatory sandbox designed to test innovative insurance products, services, and business models. The referral program, he explained, allows Myka to explore a community-based distribution model in which trusted individuals and organisations can refer insurance products within their networks. Under the model, a pharmacist could recommend or sell health insurance products, while a travel agent could recommend travel insurance when booking an international trip. Community associations and other local networks could also introduce insurance products to their members through Myka’s partner platform. The model drew inspiration from agency banking, which expanded access to financial services by relying on local agents. “This work would not be possible without the kind of regulatory engagement that NAICOM has shown,” he said. “That openness to exploring new models—while maintaining the consumer protection standards that should always
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From Siri AI to iOS27: Everything Apple announced at WWDC 2026
Table of contents Tim Cook’s final keynote as CEO All the major announcements from Apple’s WWDC 2026 What developers are getting When can you get all of these? Apple just wrapped its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2026 keynote, and it was one of the most significant in the company’s history. Tim Cook took the stage one last time as CEO, and Apple used the moment to finally deliver on a promise it made two years ago: a completely rebuilt Siri. The tech giant also announced iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 “Golden Gate,” watchOS 27, visionOS 27, and tvOS 27. No new hardware was shown. This was a software-only event, and AI was the whole story. Here is everything Apple announced, broken down by platform. Tim Cook’s final keynote as CEO This was Tim Cook’s last WWDC keynote as Apple’s chief executive. Cook steps down as CEO on August 31, 2026, and John Ternus, Apple’s head of hardware engineering, takes over on September 1. Cook moves to the role of executive chairman. Ternus did not appear on stage during the keynote, which many observers found notable given the transition. Software chief Craig Federighi kicked off the announcements by laying out Apple’s three focus areas for this year: platform improvements, trust and safety, and a major push forward for Apple Intelligence. Federighi was blunt about the privacy angle from the start: “We believe privacy in AI is non-negotiable. Data is only used to execute your request, and outside experts can continue to verify this promise at any time.” This keynote carried some extra weight. Apple promised a smarter, context-aware Siri at WWDC 2024 and did not deliver it for nearly two years. In May 2026, the company also sought approval for a $250 million class-action settlement over those undelivered Siri features, covering roughly 36 million iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max units sold between June 2024 and March 2025. Eligible owners could receive between $25 and $95 per device. Apple denied wrongdoing. Today’s keynote was Apple’s chance to show it has finally followed through. All the major announcements from Apple’s WWDC 2026 1. Siri AI: Apple is calling the new assistant “Siri AI,” and it is a complete rebuild. VP Mike Rockwell introduced it as “the biggest overhaul since Siri launched in 2011.” The new version is powered by Apple’s next-generation Foundation Models, which Apple says were built in deep collaboration with Google using Gemini. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple is paying roughly $1 billion a year for a 1.2 trillion-parameter Gemini model, and The Information reported that the heaviest queries route to Google Cloud, which runs on Nvidia Blackwell B200 GPUs, because running that model inside Apple’s Private Cloud Compute was too slow at scale. Apple did not confirm those numbers on stage, so treat them as credible reporting rather than official figures. What Siri AI can do: Dedicated Siri app: There is now a standalone Siri app across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. Your chat history syncs privately across all your devices via iCloud and Private Cloud Compute. You can set conversations to expire after a set period. Conversational mode: You can go back and forth with Siri in a natural, multi-turn conversation for research, planning, and brainstorming. Apple demoed asking Siri to pull up the FIFA 2026 World Cup schedule, then plan a viewing party and suggest dishes from both competing countries. On-screen and personal context awareness: Siri can see what is on your screen and act on it. It can access your emails, messages, files, and photos to give you relevant answers. Apple demoed asking about a location seen in an Instagram post and getting directions instantly. Visual Intelligence: This feature, first introduced with iPhone 16, becomes a dedicated “Siri mode” inside the Camera app. You can point your camera at a restaurant bill to split it through Wallet, scan a poster to add an event to your calendar, or identify nutrition information on a food package. Customisable voice: You can now adjust Siri’s pace and expressiveness beyond the existing preset voices. Image source: @theapplehub on X Cross-platform: Siri AI is available on watchOS, visionOS, CarPlay, and AirPods. Mac integration: On Mac, Siri is built into Spotlight (Command+Space) and accessible via Ctrl+click on images, text, and videos. There is a dedicated Mac app and a new monochrome menu-bar icon. Apple demoed selecting three presentations and asking Siri to compare them. Writing tools: Highlight any text and Siri will suggest improvements. “Write with Siri” can learn how you communicate with specific contacts and adapt accordingly. System-wide automatic proofreading works even inside third-party apps. On iOS, you access Siri AI by swiping down on the Dynamic Island, which shows a “Search or Ask” prompt. Siri AI launches in English first and expands to more languages later. Some features will have daily usage limits, with higher limits for iCloud+ subscribers. Important: Siri AI will NOT be available on iPhone or iPad in the European Union at launch, due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Federighi said Apple is “deeply disappointed” and that there is currently no timeline for Siri AI arriving on iOS or iPadOS in the EU. EU users will still get Siri AI on Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. Siri AI is also unavailable in China while Apple works through regulatory requirements. 2. iOS 27: iOS 27 is built around two things: significant performance gains and AI features woven into the apps you use every day. Performance improvements: Up to 30% faster app launches Up to 70% faster loading of new photos in your camera roll Up to 80% faster AirDrop transfers, Mail loading, and Apple Music playback start Faster Wi-Fi-to-cellular handoff when you leave a network A modified CPU scheduler that makes older iPhones feel faster iOS 27 runs on every iPhone that supported iOS 26, so iPhone 11 owners and second-generation iPhone SE owners benefit too. No devices were dropped. Rebuilt search: Apple rebuilt the foundation powering
Read MoreThe CBN has a big plan for payments by 2028. 13 things worth knowing.
Nigeria leads on payments and fintech in Africa, and that isn’t a conversation that needs an argument. It’s anchored on world-class payments system visions and the rigorous implementation that comes with them. The Central Bank of Nigeria has been at this for almost twenty years, and it’s genuinely good at it. The first vision came in the mid-2000s; the last one launched in November 2022, and between them they took a country where most adults had no bank account, and cash settled almost everything, and turned it into one of the few places on earth where you can send money to a stranger and watch it land in seconds. We built a real financial identity in the Bank Verification Number (BVN), an agent network of close to two million touchpoints, and an instant-payment system the rest of the continent studies, and we now move well over a quadrillion Naira a year through electronic channels. PSV 2028 is the next installment, and it’s ambitious, which is the polite way of saying the CBN has handed itself roughly thirty months to deliver a list that would stretch a far simpler country. There’s plenty to like, a few things I’d argue with gently, and a couple of things I wish were in it that aren’t. Thirteen points, in that order. The good 1. The National Payment Stack is the real deal The most important thing in the document is as flashy as the foundation of the Burj Khalifa, deep and invisible. The NPS is NIBSS’s full rebuild of the national rails, and it’s already gone live, with its first real transaction running between PalmPay and Wema Bank in November 2025, and it’s now rolling out to the rest of the banks (pages 34 and 42). It replaces the NIBSS Instant Payments engine that’s carried us since 2011 and was processing more than nine billion transfers a year before it ran out of room, and being built on ISO 20022, it finally gives us richer payment data, automated reconciliation, and the international compatibility we’ve lacked. If PSV 2028 shipped nothing else, this would earn its keep. 2. The CBN builds policy with the industry This is the strength most people don’t appreciate, and it’s a big reason these documents are worth taking seriously. When the CBN wants to set national policy, it convenes the Nigerian experts who actually run the rails, the banks, the fintechs, the switches, the development partners, and the subject-matter experts, and it builds the thing with them rather than handing down an edict and daring everyone to comply. PSV 2028 says as much in its own acknowledgements, crediting financial institutions, industry associations, and fintech innovators for shaping the document (page 10), and anyone who’s sat through these working sessions knows how real that process is. When the industry pushed back on the automated-AML timeline, the compliance window was stretched from twelve months to eighteen, and when operators argued the 10-meter POS geo-fence was impossible to hit accurately, the CBN widened it to 70. A regulator that consults and then actually adjusts is rarer than it sounds, and it’s a big part of why Nigerian payments policy tends to stick once it lands. 3. Fraud and cybersecurity are finally first-class, and the work has already left the page For years, fraud was the thing everyone complained about, and everyone refused to kill. PSV 2028 puts it at the center, with AI-driven monitoring and predictive analytics (page 63), a stronger Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) posture (page 38), a national security operations center, and an industry fraud-intelligence sharing platform (pages 39 and 95 to 103). Why it matters is well documented, because NIBSS data shows fraud losses jumped from about ₦11.6 billion in 2020 to 52.3 billion in 2024. And unlike most vision-document promises, this one’s already moving across more than one CBN department at once. The CBN’s Banking Supervision Department issued the baseline standards for automated AML in March 2026, giving deposit banks 18 months and other institutions 24 months to run AI and machine-learning monitoring with annual accuracy testing. The Payments System Supervision Department ordered GPS geo-tagging on every POS terminal layered on device binding and a BVN fraud watchlist on the instant-payment side. Whatever you make of any single rule, the direction’s crystal clear and it’s happening now. 4. The BVN, and the reason NIN exists at all Give the CBN its due on identity. The BVN sits under more than 320 million accounts and became the backbone of digital Know Your Customer (KYC), and it’s the proof of concept that made the National Identification Number (NIN) program credible, so the two are a sequence and not rivals (pages 32 and 75 to 76). The document puts NIN coverage past 122 million as of late 2025, and it’s refreshingly blunt that enrollment is short of funding and field kits, which is the real reason it still trails the BVN. That candor matters, because the forced bank-account-to-NIN linkage has itself been flagged as a risk that could push people back into the informal system if the identity rails can’t keep pace. 5. The compliance-automation ambition is genuinely modern PSV 2028 wants a national RegTech and SupTech capability, a machine-readable CBN rulebook in JSON and XML, and 90% of institutions feeding automated compliance data to the CBN by 2028 (page 63). This isn’t blue-sky talk, because the automated-AML baseline standards now in train are already the first concrete move toward supervision that reads structured data in near real time instead of chasing quarterly paper returns. Very few central banks anywhere have committed to this in writing, and it’s the sort of capability that compounds quietly for a decade. 6. Consumer protection and inclusion, which I wish ranked higher The track record here is real, with the service-level rules that force ATM chargebacks to clear within a day and failed POS reversals within three (page 32), and formal inclusion did climb from 56% in 2020 to
Read MoreMTN revives streaming ambitions with new pan-African platform
MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecoms company, has launched MTN One TV, a streaming platform that gives the operator another shot at Africa’s video entertainment market nearly a decade after its South Africa-focused FrontRow service failed to gain traction. In a Monday statement, the company said MTN One TV will offer a mix of free-to-view, advertising-supported, pay-per-view, and subscription-based content models depending on local market conditions. The launch marks MTN’s most ambitious attempt yet to build a pan-African content business, one that could immediately tap into the group’s 307.2 million subscribers reported at the end of 2025. While the company has not disclosed which markets will receive MTN One TV first, it operates across 16 African countries, giving the platform distribution scale that few regional streaming rivals can match. The platform, which combines live television, local content, and international programming, will be rolled out progressively across MTN’s markets as the company seeks to capture a larger share of Africa’s growing digital entertainment economy. “The proposition is designed to give customers greater choice in how they watch content, with viewing models that may vary by market and can include free-to-view content, advertising-funded experiences, pay-as-you-watch access, and subscription offerings,” MTN said “Depending on local availability, customers may also be able to pay through airtime, Mobile Money, and other locally supported payment methods, helping to reduce common barriers to streaming access.” The move reflects a broader push by African telecom operators to expand beyond connectivity into digital services, content, and fintech. In December 2025, Vodacom launched the Value News Network (VNN) as part of a broader digital engagement strategy, and Safaricom has continued to deepen the integration of content and digital services. MTN One TV extends that evolution into video entertainment, using the group’s network reach, mobile money infrastructure, and billing relationships to address barriers that have historically constrained streaming adoption across Africa, including payment friction, affordability, and limited access to international credit cards. The launch also comes as Africa’s streaming landscape undergoes significant change. Showmax, the subscription streaming service previously operated by Canal+-owned MultiChoice, shut down in April as the company shifted focus to DStv Stream, its linear over-the-top (OTT) offering, creating an opening for telecom operators seeking to bundle content, connectivity, and payments into a single ecosystem. “Entertainment is increasingly becoming an important gateway to digital participation,” Selorm Adadevoh, MTN Group Chief Commercial, Strategy and Transformation Officer, said. “Through MTN One TV, we are leveraging the scale of our connectivity, fintech, and digital capabilities to make relevant content more accessible while creating new opportunities for Africa’s creative and digital economies. This is aligned with our ambition to deliver digital solutions for Africa’s progress.” The launch builds on MTN’s partnership with video software company Synamedia in April 2025 to develop a pan-African streaming platform initially targeted at Nigeria before expanding across its footprint. MTN is no stranger to streaming. In December 2014, the operator launched FrontRow, later rebranded as VU, in South Africa. It was a Netflix-style video-on-demand service offering movies and television shows through subscriptions and pay-per-view rentals. The company later cut prices from R179 ($10.85) to R99 ($6) monthly in an effort to compete with Netflix and Showmax. The service ultimately failed to scale and was discontinued in 2017 as competition intensified and consumer adoption remained limited. In 2018, MTN launched MusicTime, a music streaming platform that gained modest traction across several markets by allowing users to stream and download music while managing data usage. Unlike FrontRow, however, MusicTime remained an audio product and never evolved into a broader entertainment platform. MTN also discontinued Ayoba, its instant messaging app, in March to consolidate its digital services ecosystem under its Ambition 2030 Strategy. In 2021, MTN partnered with South African broadcaster eMedia on eVOD, providing technology and distribution support, though the service remained eMedia’s product rather than an MTN-owned platform. Those earlier efforts highlight the challenges of building sustainable streaming businesses in African markets, where content licencing costs, limited broadband penetration, and low consumer spending power have historically constrained growth. MTN One TV highlights the company’s first attempt to build a scaled, pan-African video entertainment proposition by combining content distribution, mobile payments, and telecom infrastructure. The company said the rollout will occur in phases, with content partnerships and viewing experiences tailored to individual markets before being consolidated under the MTN One TV brand over time.
Read MoreShuttlers brings bus routes to Google Maps after hitting 10 million trips
Shuttlers, the Nigerian shared mobility startup, has integrated its bus routes into Google Maps Transit, bringing its services to the navigation platform after completing more than 10 million trips since launching in 2016. The integration brings Shuttlers’ scheduled routes into Google Maps’ transit layer, allowing commuters to discover routes and book seats directly within Google Maps while navigating Nigeria’s major cities. The move reflects how private mobility operators are increasingly filling gaps left by overstretched public transport systems in African cities. According to the World Bank, African cities are about 29% more expensive overall than cities at similar income levels, with residents paying roughly double the global average for transport. In Lagos, a study by the Danne Institute for Research found that the average commuter spends about 2.21 hours in transit daily, equivalent to roughly 11 hours in a five-day workweek. Private mobility operators have emerged as structured alternatives to informal buses and increasingly expensive ride-hailing services. “For millions of professionals, commuting is still unpredictable, exhausting and expensive,” said Damilola Olokesusi, CEO and co-founder of Shuttlers. “We have spent the last 10 years building technology and operational infrastructure that makes daily transportation more dependable for commuters, businesses that employ them, and the fleet operators who power our network.” Shuttlers said it integrated its route data, scheduling systems, and real-time operations with Google’s technical requirements to join Google Transit. Founded in 2016, Shuttlers operates a scheduled bus service for professionals and corporate employees across Nigeria’s major cities. The company said it currently serves 30,000 active users across more than 1,000 itineraries and runs a fleet of more than 430 buses daily across Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. Shuttlers said it has completed more than 10 million trips since launch, maintains a 99% trip completion rate and a 99.94% incident-free record, and operates both a Business-to-Business-to-Consumer (B2B2C) model, allowing companies to fully or partially subsidise employee transport, and a direct-to-consumer option for individual commuters. “Reliable transit information helps people navigate cities more confidently and efficiently,” Olumide Balogun, Director for West Africa at Google, said. “As more Nigerians adopt digital tools for everyday mobility, integrations like these help make trusted transportation easier to discover and access.” As it expands its mobility offering, Shuttlers said it is integrating compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric buses into its fleet as part of efforts to reduce emissions from urban transport operations, with the company estimating emissions reductions of up to 60% compared to diesel alternatives. In April 2025, the company announced that it had introduced 20 CNG buses to its fleet. In 2023, Shuttlers raised a $4 million equity round led by Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, following a previous $1.6 million seed round in 2021, led by VestedWorld, which also participated in the raise alongside SheEquity, CMC 21, Alsa, EchoVC, and VestedWorld.
Read MoreAions Ventures backs South Africa’s climate-tech ambition with $6 million fund
Aions Ventures, a South African venture capital firm, believes the country’s next billion-dollar startup will emerge from climate, energy or water innovation rather than fintech. The firm has backed that conviction with a new R100 million ($6 million) seed fund. Aions Ventures CEO Kerryn Campion told TechCabal that the Johannesburg-based company has launched Aions Seed Fund I to support early-stage startups developing solutions in climate technology, energy innovation, water sustainability and the broader digital economy. For years, African venture capital has been dominated by fintech. But a growing group of investors believes the continent’s next breakout company will emerge from climate, energy or water technology. As South Africa battles energy insecurity, water shortages and ageing infrastructure, Aions Ventures is betting that solving these challenges could create startups capable of scaling across Africa and other emerging markets. The fund includes R60 million ($ 3 million) allocated through the High Impact Seed Fund of Funds (HISFoF), a R300 million (R18 million) initiative managed by the SA SME Fund and backed by the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA). TIA has committed a further R40 million ($2.5million), bringing the fund’s total capital to R100 million ($6 million). As software and fintech markets mature, Aions sees growing investment potential in sectors such as climate technology, energy innovation and water sustainability. “South Africa’s biggest constraints are now becoming our biggest markets,” said Campion, arguing that challenges such as energy insecurity and water scarcity have become major cost centres for households and businesses, creating opportunities for technology-driven solutions. The investment reflects a broader shift as investors increasingly channel capital into climate-tech and energy-transition businesses. According to Campion, startups that make energy more reliable, reduce water losses and help businesses adapt to climate pressures are becoming more attractive investment targets. For South Africa, years of load shedding and growing concerns over water security have created an opportunity to develop solutions with export potential. “If a solution can work here, where there are infrastructure constraints, affordability challenges, municipal complexity and grid limitations, it can definitely work across Africa and other emerging markets,” she said. Campion believes the next South African unicorn is unlikely to emerge from another payments app or digital wallet. “It will likely come from a company solving a major infrastructure challenge in a way that can be replicated across the continent,” she stated. The fund also aims to address a persistent weakness in South Africa’s startup ecosystem: the shortage of capital available between seed stage and institutional growth funding. “Too many promising South African startups stall before they reach scale,” Campion said. “This fund backs founders earlier and gives them the support they need to build businesses ready for follow-on investment.” Aions has already backed startups including Delivery Ka Speed, a logistics and delivery company, and SpaceSalad Studios, a gaming startup. For founders, the value extends beyond funding. “Aions Ventures encouraged us to think beyond immediate opportunities and focus on building a scalable business,” said Thabo Tsolo, Managing Director of SpaceSalad Studios. “Their support has helped us become more disciplined as we prepare for the next stage of growth.” The launch aligns with broader efforts by institutions such as the Technology Innovation Agency and SA SME Fund to close South Africa’s commercialisation gap and expand access to early-stage funding.
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The Next Wave: Why $215 million went to Spiro
Cet article est aussi disponible en français <!– In partnership with –> First published 07 June, 2026 African electric mobility has entered an interesting and quite frankly, a different phase. For years, investors funded the sector like a technology market. The focus was on founders, vehicle design, battery chemistry and the expectation that electric motorcycles would eventually replace petrol bikes. Today, capital is flowing according to a different logic. Investors are no longer asking who builds the best motorcycle. They are asking who owns the infrastructure that every motorcycle needs to operate. Spiro’s latest $215 million equity raise, led by Impact Fund Denmark and Equitane, captures that shift. The round is the largest ever secured by an African two-wheeled EV company and brings the company’s total funding to over $500 million. It follows a $50 million debt facility from Afreximbank and another $100 million funding round in late 2025. At the same time, several technically capable EV startups continue to struggle to secure even $5 million in seed funding. The contrast reveals how investors view the market now. Capital is not concentrated around superior engineering but on infrastructure ownership. In this case, the economics start with the rider since the most important figure in African electric mobility is not the investor or the manufacturer but a boda boda (two-wheeler taxi) rider. In Kenya, Uganda and other markets, commercial riders typically earn between $10 and $15 a day. Fuel often absorbs 40% to 60% of that income. Any company that wants to scale must solve that problem before anything else. Many EV startups approached the market by selling electric motorcycles directly to riders. The challenge was that the economics never worked particularly well. A lithium-ion battery accounts for roughly 40% to 50% of the cost of an electric motorcycle. Passing that cost to riders makes the upfront purchase price difficult to justify. Get smarter about Francophone Africa with our newsletter, Francophone Weekly—the startups, tech policies, and institutions building the pipelines for ecosystem growth. Subscribe Charging presents a second problem considering a commercial rider earns money only when moving. Waiting one to four hours for a battery to recharge means lost trips and lost income. A charging station may work for a private vehicle owner, but is a tougher proposition for someone whose motorcycle serves as a daily business vehicle. Spiro’s answer was to separate the battery from the motorcycle. Under its battery-as-a-service model, riders purchase the motorcycle while subscribing to the battery network. The company says this reduces the motorcycle’s price to roughly 40% below that of a comparable petrol bike. When power runs low, riders exchange depleted batteries for fully charged ones in under 2 minutes. Daily operating costs can fall below $2, producing savings of up to $2 per day and reducing mobility costs by around 40%. This shows that the appeal is not really that difficult to understand. The model works because what saves riders money also creates predictable demand and turns each motorcycle into a recurring customer rather than a one time sale. Spiro looks less like a EV company and more like a utility This distinction sits at the centre of the funding story. Look at it this way: a conventional motorcycle manufacturer earns revenue when a vehicle is sold. The relationship with the customer largely ends at the point of purchase. Spiro’s model extends far beyond the initial sale because every motorcycle added to the network becomes a long-term consumer of battery swaps. Revenue is generated not only when the bike enters service but also every time the rider returns for energy. That difference may sound subtle but in practice, it changes the type of capital a company can attract. The investors behind Spiro are not typical venture capital firms chasing software-style growth. Impact Fund Denmark, for example, deploys capital on behalf of Danish pension savers. These investors spend their time assessing ports, power projects, transport assets and utilities. They are accustomed to businesses that require large upfront investments and produce steady cash flows over many years. A battery swapping network fits comfortably within that framework. Spiro claims it has deployed 100,000 electric vehicles, built 2,500 smart battery swapping stations, and completed more than 30 million battery swaps. Those figures are notable not simply because of their scale, but because they resemble the operating metrics of infrastructure networks rather than those of a typical startup. Next Wave continues after this ad. We’re thrilled to announce the official theme for Moonshot 2026: “Courage & Conviction: Building for a New World.” This year, we’re calling on the African tech scene to back bold ideas and dig deep to build an ecosystem that solves African problems on a global scale. The continent’s most ambitious founders, investors, LPs, operators, creatives, and policymakers will converge at Moonshot 2026 to chart Africa’s next era. You don’t want to be left out. Secure Your Spot! The real asset is the network The easiest way to understand Spiro’s position is to stop thinking about motorcycles and start thinking about telecom towers. A telecom operator with the largest tower network enjoys advantages that go far beyond handset quality. Coverage becomes the product. Battery swapping networks operate similarly. Once thousands of swap stations are distributed across major cities, convenience becomes difficult to replicate. Riders naturally gravitate towards the network with the greatest coverage because access to energy determines how much income they can generate each day. A competitor cannot solve that problem by producing a slightly lighter motorcycle or a more efficient motor. It must first spend tens of millions of dollars building an alternative network of physical stations. This is the central logic of infrastructure investing: scale makes competition more expensive. As networks grow, the cost of replicating them rises, which is why investors often prefer backing a company that has already achieved scale over one that is still proving its model. Governments have reasons to support the model Large funding rounds rarely happen without some degree of political alignment. Across Sub-Saharan Africa,
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