Why Kenyans are using mobile money more but sending less
The value of mobile money transactions in Kenya dropped sharply over the 12 months to February 2025, falling by 19.6% from KES 790.8 billion ($6.13 billion) to KES 636.2 billion ($4.93 billion) — the lowest monthly figure recorded in over a year, according to new data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). The decline comes even as the sector’s reach continues to expand. CBK data shows active mobile money agents rose from 320,182 to 394,853. Subscriptions increased from 77.3 million to 84.6 million over the same period. The widening gap between usage and transaction value indicates a structural shift in how mobile money functions within the Kenyan economy. Mobile money, celebrated for expanding Kenya’s financial inclusion since the launch of M-PESA in 2007, is now grappling with slowing household spending, intensifying competition from banks and fintechs, and changing consumer habits. While the growing number of agents and subscriptions shows increased access to financial services, the sustained fall in transaction value reveals deeper pressures. Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose to 2.2% in March 2025 from 2.0%the previous month. Rising living costs have squeezed household budgets, leading many to reduce non-essential mobile money use. Although more Kenyans are signing up for mobile money accounts, many now transact smaller amounts or use their wallets less frequently. Growth in account numbers no longer directly translates to higher transaction volumes, reflecting the strain on household budgets and shifting money movement patterns. The agent network has expanded, especially in smaller towns. This has reduced earnings per outlet, as transaction volumes are now split across more agents. But the wider spread hasn’t offset the broader trend, and total transaction values are falling, not rising. For higher-value transactions, such as rent payments, tuition fees, and business transfers, many Kenyans now prefer using bank apps or mobile banking platforms, reducing reliance on traditional mobile money. However, Safaricom’s M-PESA remains dominant with a 91% share of the mobile money market as of December 2024, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). Airtel Money trails with an 8.9% share.
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Still buffering… profits
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning! What are the odds of 100 men against one prime silverback gorilla? Whichever side you lean toward, here’s the real lesson: if you put your mind to that daunting task/KPI, maybe—just maybe—you can achieve beat it. That’s enough aspire to Maguire to get you through today. In other news, every Monday, my colleague, Muktar Oladunmade sits with Africa’s finest investors to document their investment journey, theses and lessons in his Ask an Investor column. For this week’s edition, Muktar sat with Biola Alabi, a venture partner at Delta 40 and one of our earliest investors, to discuss her investment journey across media, e-commerce, and fintech. Enjoy the full conversation here. Let’s get into today’s dispatch. Everything we heard on the first day of AVCA OmniRetail raises $20 million series A funding MTN stock activity surges in recent weeks Ethio Telecom wants to be the Safaricom for Ethiopians World Wide Web 3 Opportunities Venture Capital Everything we heard on the first day of AVCA Image Source: AVCA 2024 Conference season has kicked off in Lagos! The big investors (there’s over $1.5 billion in assets in the room) are in town for the 21st annual African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. Yesterday, a press conference was held so reporters could ask investors like Kola Aina of Venture Platform, Sola Lawson of AIIM, and Genevieve Sangudi of Alterra Capital questions. Some of the most important questions were about investing in African artificial intelligence (AI) startups and the growing role of secondaries, when investors buy and sell shares in startups from other investors. Kola Aina told reporters that his firm is actively investing in AI startups and using AI to pick startups. Because AI in Africa is like the internet in 1995 to Aina, his firm has been helping startups ensure they are AI-enabled to stay competitive. Sola Lawson, on the other hand, is exploring the opportunities that exist in providing solutions to AI’s infrastructure needs, especially computing power and data. He thinks that African countries with abundant land, cheaper power, and improving connectivity can provide data centres. Investors selling shares to each other can be a good thing, but when it becomes the only thing that provides exits, it becomes a bad thing for an ecosystem. According to Aina, investors are adapting to Africa’s reliance on secondaries by selling small stakes early to show liquidity and holding onto their positions to capture a bigger upside later. Alterra Capital has had eight exits over the last two years, returning hundreds of millions of dollars to limited partners, so it probably makes sense to listen to Sangudi’s advice. She wants investors to build companies that generate cash flow during the holding period and not just rely on a big sale at the end. There’s a lot more that’s happening today as the conference officially starts. Muktar Oladunmade, our reporter on the scene, will be on the ground listening and reporting on the conference for those of you not present here in Lagos. For the Lagosians, see you guys at our mixer tonight! Seamless Global Payments With Fincra. Issue accounts in NGN, KES, EUR, USD & more with one integration. Send & receive funds seamlessly across borders; no more banking hassles or complex conversions. Create an account for free & go global today. Funding OmniRetail just locked down $20 million to take over West Africa Image Source: OmniRetail OmniRetail—Africa’s fastest-growing company by the Financial Times in 2024—just raised $20 million in Series A funding to fuel its expansion across Nigeria, Ghana, and Ivory Coast. The round came with a few firsts. It was co-led by Norfund, Norway’s development finance institution (making its first-ever direct equity investment in an African startup), and Lagos-based Timon Capital. Other familiar faces like Ventures Platform, Aruwa Capital, and Goodwell Investments (via Alitheia Capital) also got in. But the biggest surprise? Nigeria’s 64-year-old food giant, Flour Mills, joined the party too. If you’re wondering what a legacy fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brand is doing in a tech funding round, be on the lookout for the full story on our site. (Spoiler: It actually makes a lot of sense.) Even at first glance, the move is telling. Flour Mills isn’t just betting on returns, it’s getting closer to the future of distribution. In emerging markets, distribution is king. Manufacturing consumer goods is only half the battle; getting products into small stores, kiosks, and rural shops at scale is the real moat. OmniRetail already digitises and organises the chaotic, fragmented distribution network that companies like Flour Mills have struggled to manage for decades. By investing, Flour Mills ensures it has early influence, maybe even preferential access to a tech-enabled retail channel that could soon become the dominant path to market. With the new cash, OmniRetail plans to grow its retailer base, push into new product categories like personal care, home care, and cold storage, and beef up Omnipay, its embedded finance arm. It’s also investing in better infrastructure, sharpening its credit underwriting tools, and strengthening its partnership game with debt providers—all while snapping up strategic acquisitions, like the 2024 deal for Traction Apps. If you’re just catching up: OmniRetail’s B2B e-commerce play revolves around three products—Omnibiz for retailers, Mplify for distributors, and Omnipay to keep the money moving. In 2023, the company processed $810 million in transactions and currently disburses $12 million monthly in inventory credit through Omnipay. Profitable? Check. Shaking up Africa’s B2B e-commerce market? Check. $20 million in the bank? Big check. If OmniRetail had a motto right now, it’d probably be: “get ready to be sick of me.” Never miss an update from Paystack Subscribe to Paystack for a curated dose of product updates, insights, event invites and more. Subscribe here → Telecoms Retail investors are buying MTN shares, believing the telco is nearing a return to profitability Image Credit: MTN MTN Nigeria might not be your favourite telecom operator with its spotty service, but retail investors
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Biola Alabi wants angel investors to be patient for returns
Biola Alabi has seen early-stage investing in African startups from all sides. She began as an angel investor, with her first cheque going to Big Cabal Media, TechCabal’s parent company. She later led angel syndicate deals with other angels before moving into venture capital, investing with firms like Acasia Ventures, and now at Delta 40. Before she began backing African startups, Alabi worked as a regional marketing manager at Bigwords, an American startup that raised $80 million to build an online textbook marketplace before shutting down during the dotcom crash of the early 2000s. That experience left a lasting impression—she and her colleagues only learnt the company had lost its funding through news reports—and later inspired her investment in Big Cabal Media, driven by a belief in the importance of transparency and resilience in startup building. In 2003, fuelled by a desire to work on the continent, she took up the position of Africa Regional Director for Sesame Workshop, creators of the popular children’s show “Sesame Street”. But it was her next job as a managing director for Multichoice, the largest pay-TV operator on the continent, that brought her popularity as an operator. It was during this time that she began investing in startups. Throughout her investment journey, Alabi’s thesis has consistently rested on a few key pillars. She places strong emphasis on the founders and assesses their experience, commitment to the problem they are solving, and resilience in the face of challenges. As she once put it to a founder: “Why should I not expect you to leave in a year if a $2 million a year offer from Google comes along?” She also looks for early signs of traction, valuing real-world use cases, actual users, or references who can testify that the product is solving a real problem. “There’s no business without a customer,” she told TechCabal over a call. Given her background in subscription businesses and media, Alabi prefers to fund companies with multiple income streams and expects any startup she backs to demonstrate that it operates in a large, scalable market. TechCabal spoke to Biola Alabi to understand her investment approach, thesis, and her advice for angel investors. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You had a successful media career. At what point did you realise you wanted to start doing angel investing? I’m not sure you actually realise you want to do angel investing. I think, a lot of times, angel investing comes to you. I was looking at different types of investments, and around that time, I started meeting founders through mentorships and other engagements. Then people just started pitching me. I’m not even sure exactly how it happened. It started with setting up a meeting with me and telling me what they’re working on, and asking for my support. That’s how I wrote my first cheque and how I started angel investing. Big Cabal’s founders came to me for an angel investor who can also mentor and invest. I loved what they were working on. I felt it was really important—especially for the ecosystem—so I invested. And then from there, someone else said, “One of our angels…” and more people started pitching me. I eventually started joining angel groups, and that’s how I became a member of the Lagos Angel Network. How were you able to put yourself out there to even be in a position to mentor people, and in a position where people could pitch to you? Because I’d been in the media, people already knew me as a leader. I had been doing a lot of speaking engagements. I was also very interested in how I could support entrepreneurs, especially in the creative sector. For me, that was really one of the main things I was working on at the time. There were a lot of people creating content, but the question was really, how do we monetise this content? I was helping people understand monetisation from a broadcasting perspective, the opportunities available, and why they should license their content to us as a broadcaster. Because I was leading conversations on the continent about creating opportunities in the creative economy, I was already visible. There were quite a number of people I was either mentoring through work or through my office, and then the word just got out. People who were starting new companies began reaching out to me. I think it was just a natural evolution in my leadership journey. Can you walk me through your experience as an operator, as someone who has worked in the media space and across different sectors? How did that shape the way you evaluate startups? For me, when I’m looking at a company, the first thing I focus on is the customer because without a customer, there’s no business. Someone has to be willing to buy what you’re offering. I’m always trying to understand how the customer thinks, why the customer is buying this product instead of another, and whether there’s early traction. A lot of times, you’ll find companies that have been trying to build something, but there’s just no traction. That usually means the market isn’t responding, and they need to figure out how to pivot or what to change. I’ve worked in subscription businesses, so I also like to understand the revenue model. In my broadcasting experience, revenue came from subscriptions, sponsorships, and airtime sales. I’m always looking to see what the multiple ways are in which the startup generates revenue. Then I think about the people leading the company: Can they actually make this happen, and can the people building this go all the way? That’s what I’ve seen consistently, whether it’s in the companies I’ve worked at or with founders I’ve met: to get anything done within a big organisation, you have to understand who you’re selling to, how much you’re selling, and whether you have the people who can execute and see it through. It’s the same mentality I bring to evaluating
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Kenya goes for gold
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning! Today’s a good day to wear your jersey to work if you’re a Liverpool fan. Congratulations on winning the league for the 20th time. Let’s get into today’s edition! Kenya wants to add gold to its reserve Nigeria upholds $220 million fine against Meta MTN Group suffers a cybersecurity attack World Wide Web 3 Events Economy Kenya wants to add gold to its reserve Central Bank of Kenya Governor Kamau Thugge. IMAGE | NMG It’s touché to know that gold’s glistening qualities are not only making fanboys out of retail investors looking to cash in big bucks, but sovereigns, too. The latest country to fall under Old miss Gold’s spell is none other than Kenya. On April 25, Kenyan Wall Street reported that the country’s central bank is looking to add gold to its foreign exchange reserve in hopes of giving its struggling reserves some buffer. It’s not hard to see why. Gold has been on a miraculous run, especially as other investment vehicles have dipped. For example, during US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff rampage, stock indexes receded by more than a thousand points, bonds fell, and treasury yields tumbled. However, gold stuck out like the positive antithesis of a sore thumb. The investment knight in shining armour hauled in over 180% in the last month, summing up an impressive rally that started in January to cross $3,000 for the first time in decades. Gold (in ounces) now costs $3,218. Last week, the US dollar weakened by 9% due to uncertainty around Trump’s inspiring policy-making and the ongoing will-they-won’t-they situation with China. This drove up a gold cash grab, with investors backing the asset against piling up the greenback. Kenya’s reserves are mostly US dollars, and with the currency weakening, this is making countries rethink their exposure to volatility. Ghana and Egypt have also been busy stacking bullion recently, following the playbook of hedging against economic shockwaves. But will building gold mountains be a gem in sovereign investment holdings—or if the momentum dies off, will it turn into a gilded liability? Selling off or trimming gold holdings from reserves isn’t as quick as flicking a switch. If the shiny fever breaks, unloading big stashes could prove slow and price-challenging in thin markets. But, well, an unspoken rule in finance: when the opportunity arises, you make gains first, figure out blowbacks later. Seamless Global Payments With Fincra. Issue accounts in NGN, KES, EUR, USD & more with one integration. Send & receive funds seamlessly across borders; no more banking hassles or complex conversions. Create an account for free & go global today. Companies Nigeria upholds $220 million fine against Meta Image | Reuters Meta’s Nigerian headache just got worse. Last year, Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) slammed the tech giant with a $220 million fine, accusing it of exploiting user data and enforcing unfair privacy policies through Facebook and WhatsApp. Meta threw a fit, appealed the fine, and hinted that it might just pull WhatsApp out of the country if regulators didn’t back off. Spoiler: they didn’t. On Friday, Nigeria’s Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal ruled against Meta, upholding the fine and rejecting its arguments of “technical infeasibility.” In short: Pay up, and stay compliant. In the ruling, the tribunal noted that Meta “cannot threaten regulators” just because compliance would be inconvenient. Meta must now pay the $220 million fine, overhaul its data practices, and submit proof of compliance to regulators—or face further sanctions. WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram stay live in Nigeria, but Meta’s freewheeling days in Africa’s biggest market are officially over. Never miss an update from Paystack Subscribe to Paystack for a curated dose of product updates, insights, event invites and more. Subscribe here → Cybersecurity MTN suffers cybersecurity attack, says your data is fine and kept under a tight leash Image Credit: MTN On April 25, MTN Group announced that it suffered a “cybersecurity attack” that affected some of its key operational markets, but didn’t disclose which of those markets. Cyber attacks at large corporations often go unreported or remain “contained,” but in South Africa, that gets you in trouble. Know more: By South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA 2013), companies are obliged to report incidents and cyberattacks that put consumer protection at risk or get fined. MTN was obliged to come forward with the information. The telecom operator stressed that no core network, billing, or financial service systems were breached. Only some customer data was accessed. MTN. also said that it notified The Telco also noted that law enforcement agencies about the attack. In a year where South Africa’s cybercrime numbers are already running high—with banking fraud rising by 45%—this new incident puts a fresh spotlight on how vulnerable big companies are, even when their tech seems tight. If MTN’s core network, billing, or financial services systems had been hit, the consequences would have been far worse: outages in connectivity, customer billing errors, widespread financial fraud, and possibly millions of rands lost or stolen. Rebuilding trust and infrastructure after such a breach would also have been a much longer and costlier process. While MTN has skillfully avoided naming which countries were affected, the cybersecurity rot still runs amok in Africa. Nigeria and Ghana are also struggling with rising cases of digital attacks targeting businesses and government services. Along with South Africa, the two countries rank high among the most threatened nations in the world. It’s likely one of two things: we either need stronger shields—or a bigger broom. Because if Africa doesn’t find a way to beat the cyber attack beasts now, they’ll soon be running the whole castle—and cutting out the rot, rather than cauterising it, is no less a difficult task. Applications for Cascador 2025 are open! This game-changing program helps high-growth African entrepreneurs scale their impact with mentorship, funding, and leadership training. Get $5K in Stipends and access to $2M Annual Alumni Fund. Past fellows
Read MoreMTN Nigeria’s stock activity surges amid profit recovery hopes
Investor interest in MTN Nigeria’s shares surged in April 2025, fuelled by growing optimism that the country’s largest telecom operator will return to profitability in Q1 2025. The renewed confidence follows recent 50% price hikes, which analysts believe will significantly bolster the company’s margins and are expected by investors to begin reflecting in the company’s earnings this year. On April 15, MTN Nigeria’s trading volume exceeded 11 million units, the highest single-day trading volume for the telco on the Nigerian Exchange. MTN is expected to publish its Q1 2025 financial results on April 29, one day before its annual general meeting. If the numbers show a profit, it will mark MTN’s first profitable Q1 since the naira’s steep devaluation in 2023, which depleted the company’s earnings. MTN Nigeria’s shares are a key barometer of the country’s digital future. As the largest telecom operator in Nigeria, with over 50% market share, MTN is central in connecting tens of millions of Nigerians to voice, data, and digital services. Its stock performance reflects investor sentiment and affects the company’s ability to raise capital, invest in network infrastructure, and expand broadband access nationwide. To diversify revenue and strengthen its position in the home broadband market, MTN recently rebranded its fibre-to-the-home service from MTN Fibre Broadband to FibreX. This strategic move signals growth potential and may boost investor confidence. “Investors are also anticipating the public offer MTN Nigeria announced on April 12, 2025,” said Tajudeen Ibrahim, director of research and strategy at Chapel Hill Denham. “Investors believe MTN Nigeria shares are extremely cheap despite the recovery of earnings in Q4.” Chapel Hill Denham has often been a key financial advisor and intermediary for MTN Nigeria’s capital market activities. On April 12, MTN Nigeria announced plans for a second public share offering, aiming to reduce MTN Group’s stake from approximately 76% to 65% to increase local ownership. However, the company has not specified an exact date for this offering. The public offer is contingent upon MTN Nigeria returning to profitability and resuming dividend payments. Currently valued at ₦5.1 trillion, MTN Nigeria is the fourth most capitalised stock on the NGX and was one of the most actively traded equities during the week of April 24. Its share price rose to ₦245, reflecting investor confidence in its turnaround strategy. In contrast, Airtel Africa—the country’s second-largest telco and the most capitalised company on the NGX—has attracted less trading activity, despite increasing its service tariffs by 50%. Between January 17 and April 17, Airtel Africa recorded a modest trading volume of just 336,734 shares across 331 deals, averaging about 5,345 shares per day. Its highest daily volume came on April 7, with 188,074 shares traded. Benedict Egwuchukwu, an investment researcher at Afrinvest, explained that Airtel Africa’s low trading activity is largely due to its status as an “illiquid stock”—one that trades infrequently and can be difficult to buy or sell without significantly affecting its price. “The stocks are not easily available because of less demand and supply in the market,” Egwuchukwu said. This scarcity is being further amplified by Airtel Africa’s ongoing $100 million share buy-back program, which aims to repurchase its shares over 12 months to boost shareholder value and streamline its capital structure. As shares are bought back and either cancelled or held in treasury, the number of shares available for public trading decreases, making the stock even more scarce. In contrast, MTN Nigeria is considered a liquid stock, supported by a large base of active buyers and sellers and consistently high trading volumes, making it easier for investors to enter and exit positions without major price swings. Despite its record activity in April, MTN Nigeria still ranked only 44th by trading volume on the NGX during the period. For context, Fidelity Bank, the exchange’s most traded stock, saw more than 388 million shares change hands in a single day. Still, the uptick in MTN Nigeria’s trading is a positive signal for the company as it looks to exit two years of losses. In 2023 and 2024, MTN Nigeria reported steep losses primarily due to exchange rate volatility. In 2024, the company posted a ₦400.44 billion loss after tax—a 192% increase from the previous year, driven by ₦925 billion in foreign exchange losses. Nevertheless, the company’s revenue rose 36% year-on-year to ₦3.36 trillion, underscoring strong demand for its data and digital services. MTN closed out 2024 on a stronger note, posting a ₦114.5 billion profit after tax in the fourth quarter. This return to profitability has boosted investor confidence, suggesting that the worst of its foreign exchange challenges may be behind it. Analysts now view MTN Nigeria as being on a stable trajectory toward sustained earnings growth and potentially resuming regular dividend payouts. However, significant challenges remain. Inflation continues to rise, eroding consumer spending power, and millions more Nigerians are falling into poverty. According to the World Bank’s latest report, nearly 47% of the population lives below the national poverty line. For MTN, this growing economic hardship translates into a shrinking customer base with less disposable income, potentially dampening demand for its telecom services.
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South Africa’s cybersecurity threat level is rising; here’s why
In the first quarter of 2025, South Africa experienced a surge in cybercrime incidents, including a major breach in which Parliament’s social media accounts were hijacked to promote a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. The growing threat of cybercrime in South Africa, results in millions of people losing their personal information and hard-earned money to increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. While fake emails, scam phone calls, and deceptive messages are daily realities, large-scale data breaches, identity fraud and similar cybercrimes are becoming alarmingly frequent, affecting ordinary citizens. Digital banking fraud alone has surged by 45%, and related financial loses rising by 47%, leaving everyday citizens more vulnerable than ever. South Africa ranks amongst the worlds’ worst-hit countries globally for cybercrime density, with estimated annual losses reaching R2.2 billion ($118 million). Cybercriminals have evolved far beyond the notorious 419 scams. Today, they impersonate delivery agents, banks, trusted brands or even familiar contacts. The rise of artificial intelligence has supercharged these threats, enabling fraudsters to generate deepfake voices and AI-manipulated images to convincingly pose as real people. The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) warns that criminals now use these techniques to trick victims into handing over sensitive data or draining their bank accounts. This growing sophistication in digital fraud is fueled by the ease with which personal data falls into the wrong hands. Through methods like data scraping, third-party sharing, recycled phone numbers and widespread collection of personal information, criminals can construct detailed profiles of potential victims, often without their knowledge. “Some individuals and organisations even sell these compiled databases. This contributes to the persistent problem of telemarketing, where companies exploit vague terms and conditions to share data with third parties,” Chenai Chair, the founder of MyData Rights, told TechCabal. The third-party access loophole in many terms and conditions means that a single consent can result in data being widely distributed, increasing exposure to scams. Chair noted that even when consumers request to be removed from these lists, they often have to contact multiple agencies before their request is granted. Legal protection and ethical concerns South Africa has implemented key legislation such as the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), the Electronic Communications Act, and the Cybercrimes Act to provide legal recourse for victims. Banks and businesses have invested in advanced security software and fraud detection systems, and public awareness campaigns to mitigate risks. Despite these efforts, digital privacy remains a major ethical concern. Chair points out that even when at play, informed consent often boils down to a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ without a clear explanation of how users’ data will be stored, shared, or exploited. Opting out of tracking can restrict access to crucial services, coercing users into compliance. 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And in terms of preparedness, only 36% of South African organisations are adequately prepared for data security threats. As breaches become more frequent, financial and reputational damage is rising, with the average cost of a data breach in 2024 nearing R50 million ($2.7 million). Lebohang George, a data protection and privacy expert, highlighted the need for regulations that are contextually relevant. “Many African nations model their regulations after Europe’s GDPR, which prioritises individual rights. However, in South Africa, with its strong community structures, we need rules that consider collective impacts.” Chair noted that policymakers also need ongoing capacity building. Technology evolves rapidly, leaving them constantly
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Digital Nomads: Can you truly be hired from “anywhere in the world”?
For several weeks now, I have been speaking with people who live or grew up in one part of the world and now work in another. In the current clime of remote work, we see, ever so often, employers selling themselves as “equal opportunity” employers on job boards, in companies’ hiring pages, and on remote work platforms. It’s supposed to mean anyone, from anywhere in the world, can apply for a role and stand a fair chance of being hired. That’s the idea, at least. However, last Saturday, I woke up with a frustrating question: where really is the “equal” in equal employment opportunities (EEOs)? Because the reality is quite different, especially for job seekers in the Global South. First, a history lesson Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) isn’t HR fluff—it began as a legal framework in the US, codified in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prevent discrimination in hiring based on race, sex, religion, or national origin. Over the years, this idea spread, especially into corporate mission statements. With the rise of remote work, EEOs started crossing borders. A job in Berlin? You can apply from right here in Lagos. Join a team in Toronto? Sure, Nairobi resident, come through. In theory, EEOs today are more inclusive than ever. But in practice, things get somewhat fuzzy. It’s one thing to say, “We accept applicants from everywhere.” It’s another to actually hire them. 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If you apply for that cushy remote job at a global SaaS company, does your location—or even your name—affect your chances? I was inspired by this Bloomberg article investigating AI bias in recruitment processes and wanted to test how the same ideology works in job applications for global opportunities. To do this, I asked Claude’s Sonnet 3.7 to roleplay as a global recruiter hiring for a mid-level product manager role. I fed in five job candidate profiles—all with the same experience, skills, and achievements. The only things I changed were their names, locations, and universities: Sophia Smith from San Francisco, USA Sofia González from Buenos Aires, Argentina Jean Dubois from Paris, France Tunde Afolabi from Lagos, Nigeria Raj Deshpande from Mumbai, India To remove human sentiment from this litmus test, I selected the names to be closely reflective of their backgrounds. Then I asked the model to rank who was most likely to get hired by a global remote company. Here’s what I found: Tunde came fourth. Here’s how Claude Sonnet’s ranked our five profiles for a global remote role/TechCabal Despite having the same experience and a strong portfolio of remote work, Tunde’s profile was ranked lower. Sophia from San Francisco topped the list, thanks to her UC Berkeley degree and “proximity to a tech hub.” Sofia and Jean ranked higher, largely due to global brand associations, location perception, and educational pedigree. AI doesn’t “think”—it reflects patterns. If most companies in its training data haven’t historically hired people like Tunde, it learns not to recommend people like Tunde. It’s not just about skill or output. It’s about what “looks” global. Infographic designed by Margaret Awojide for TechCabal ATS is not a one-way traffic I wanted things to get specific. Again, I roleplayed GPT as an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)—which over half of global employers use. Among
Read MoreGetEquity hits profitability after shift to local debt investments
GetEquity, the Nigerian startup known for enabling retail investors to invest in startups, has achieved profitability after its expansion into offering commercial papers and debt notes and laying off 40% of its workforce in 2024. The shift to debt investments came as retail investors increasingly sought lower-risk options amid a broader slowdown in venture capital funding. “We’re not yet at the stage where we can spend heavily on growth or expansion, but we’re able to pay our team and keep the business going without needing outside capital,” Jude Dike, GetEquity’s CEO, told TechCabal. Launched in 2021, GetEquity set out to help individuals own stakes in startups and participate in Africa’s venture funding boom. As investor appetite for early-stage equity cooled, the company shifted to helping retail investors lend to Nigeria’s largest companies through commercial papers and debt notes. Since offering debt notes in 2024, the startup claims to have processed over ₦500 million ($310,000), growing 10% monthly. It achieved this by partnering with asset managers such as ARM to offer commercial papers for large Nigerian companies like the Dangote Group—its first offering—to retail investors. “When we sent the Dangote mail, we thought if we could get ₦5 million, it was a win,” Dike said. “The initial responses added up to ₦7 million. Not bad. But then, within three days, we had ₦27 million pledged. That was our eureka moment.” That eureka moment validated GetEquity’s thesis that Nigerians are willing to invest in low-risk, local debt instruments. The startup also realised it could serve this demand and thrive with the right market offering. GetEquity’s partnerships with licensed asset managers also led to internal restructuring, making some roles redundant. Some in-house processes were transferred to the asset managers after the company shifted focus. “When we focused on private equity, we had to build internal tools and back-office systems from financial processes to investor education and hand-holding,” Dike said. “But with asset managers, they handle the heavy lifting—investment memos, due diligence, audits, documentation. So now, we focus purely on distribution.” GetEquity’s revenue model is built on transaction fees, which come directly from users, and commissions, which it earns from asset managers. It is also expanding its revenue sources to include a secondary market infrastructure where users can buy and sell their investments among themselves and investment-backed credit, loans backed by previous investments. “We’re working with a few financial partners to roll this out, which would open up new revenue streams,” Dike said about the credit-linked investment product. The startup is also in talks to secure an Approval-in-Principle for digital asset issuance and trading from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which allows digital platforms to issue derivatives of SEC-approved securities. “In our case, we’re not originating these debt products; we’re building a wrapper around them to make them tradable,” Dike said.. “Commercial papers are already approved by the SEC. We’re just digitising and distributing them.” GetEquity’s path to profitability has not been without challenges. In 2023, Peppa, a startup offering escrow services for online shoppers, filed a police complaint against Jude Dike and Temitope Ekundayo, the co-founders of GetEquity. The complaint followed GetEquity reneging on a payment plan for $43,000 Peppa had raised using GetEquity. At the time, Dike told TechCabal that Nigeria’s FX instability affected its ability to pay. While the startup processed $5 million from private equity deals and earned “great” margins on them, the challenges of processing the FX-based transactions necessitated GetEquity’s switch to Naira-based investments. “When we started with private equity deals, we did about $5 million in total deal volume, with a little over $1.5 million coming from the retail side,” Dike said. “The margins were great, but one of the biggest issues was currency conversion risks and the general volatility involved. That made us start thinking more seriously about investing in naira and what local market dynamics could look like.” GetEquity’s profitability has also changed the company’s expansion strategy. It initially planned to expand into Kenya, but after it became profitable, those plans have been shelved in exchange for deepening its debt product and incentivising customers to refer other customers. “Rather than pursuing aggressive expansion, we focused on deepening user engagement, increasing the lifetime value of current users, and building brand-driven, organic growth. Hypergrowth is attractive, but in African markets, it often leads to high churn.” After attaining profitability, GetEquity’s next step is to achieve $1 million in annual recurring revenue and launch business accounts to help fintechs and neobanks run treasury operations. The product will be similar to what Cowrywise and Piggy do with products for fixed-income assets, Dike said.
Read MoreSouth Africa’s Capitec raises salaries as 62% of staff now earn over $13,000
Capitec Bank, South Africa’s biggest commercial bank by customer base, has increased salaries across its workforce to attract top talent and sustain its high-performance culture amid rising competition for skilled professionals in the financial sector. In its 2024 remuneration report, the Capitec Bank revealed a shift in employee pay scales over the past three years. The number of employees earning between R250,000 ($13,268) and R500,000 ($26,536) annually has tripled, now accounting for 62% of the workforce. The move mirrors broader efforts by South African banks to retain skilled staff. Absa and Standard Bank have increased their minimum salaries for 2025. Absa raised its minimum pay to R250,000 ($13,268) annually, 8.7% higher than last year. Standard Bank also increased its minimum salary to R258,390 ($13,731) per year, with unionised employees getting an average 5.8% salary boost. The shift is also a response to macroeconomic trends. According to the payroll consultancy Axiomatic, salaries in South Africa are expected to rise by 5.5% in 2025, slightly above inflation. The share of employees earning between R180,000 ($9,550) and R250,000 ($13,268) has fallen sharply—from 61% in 2021 to just 16%—while those earning under R180,000 ($9,550) now make up only 2%, mostly interns and entry-level hires. “Fairness is reflected in the way that we structure pay for executives and higher earners. At this level, we manage fairness by a higher weighting of pay towards variable pay,” said Vusi Mahlangu, chair of the bank’s remuneration committee. 10% of Capitec employees now earn over R1 million (over $53,000) annually. The bank has also invested heavily in its tech talent base, increasing its IT salary budget by 28% to R1.7 million (about $90,200). That helped boost the proportion of staff earning between R500,000 ($26,536) and R1.5 million (about $79,600) from 11% in 2021 to 17% in 2024. Capitec has also focused on talent retention, with 63% of positions filled internally and a voluntary resignation rate of just 11.6%, well below the South African banking sector average of 15.6%. The bank’s strong financial performance drove the salary raises. Net profit rose 30% to R13.7 billion (over $728 million) in 2024, driven by expansion into new segments like business banking, insurance, and digital financial services. Capitec has also attracted a more affluent customer base, with a 27% increase in clients earning R50,000 (about $2,650) monthly. The salary raises come as the bank undergoes a leadership change. Chief executive Gerrie Fourie has led Capitec for 25 years and is stepping down. He earned R104.8 million (over $5.5 million) last year, including R75 million (over $3,9 million) in long-term incentives, and holds one million Capitec shares valued at roughly R3.3 billion (over $175 million). Though retiring as CEO, he will continue to advise the bank on its international expansion plans.
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily –Zipline to the rescue
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية TGIF! We have a question for you: How much does it take to educate a Nigerian child from primary school through university? Cowrywise thinks the math is around ₦65 million ($40,382). If you’re looking for Uber and Indrive alternatives on May Day due to drivers’ planned strike, check out Simpliride, a newly launched Nigerian ride-hailing platform that just went live in Lagos and Abuja. Kindly test out the platform and let us know about your experience. FSCA fines African Bank for misleading Ad campaign Rwanda launches digital healthcare record Ghana turns to Zipline to keep health supplies moving Ogun, Osun lead Nigerian states in highest Right-of-Way fees World Wide Web 3 Events Banking FSCA fines African Bank for misleading Ad campaign Image Source: Google Do you ever borrow money and call it “investing in your future”? African Bank did. Its regulator wasn’t amused. South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has slapped African Bank with a R700,000 (~$38,000) fine for false advertising after a December 2023 social media campaign blurred the lines between loans and investments. The ads, featuring a popular South African celeb, pitched personal loans with the tagline: “It’s not a skoloto chomi! Ke investment.” (Translation: It’s not debt, friend! It’s an investment.) Nice try. The FSCA says this marketing move misled consumers by painting a credit facility as an investment product, violating section six of its conduct standards that require financial ads to be clear, fair, factually correct, and free from false promises or forecasts. Beyond the bad copywriting, the regulator also flagged oversight failures in African Bank’s governance process, over the approval and review of advertising materials, further breaching another part of section 6 of the Conduct Standard. The bank is cooperating with the probe and has taken corrective steps. A portion of the fine—R200,000 ($10,642)—is suspended for two years, provided the bank behaves and remains compliant with the Conduct Standard during this period. Zoom out: Misleading fintech or finance marketing isn’t new in Africa. Nigeria’s FCCPC has gone after loan sharks for threatening borrowers via SMS and WhatsApp. Kenya’s regulator recently kicked dozens of digital lenders off the map for lack of transparency. And Ghana’s SEC issued warnings to unlicensed “investment platforms” promising 20% monthly returns—spoiler: they weren’t investing in anything real. As Africa’s financial sector modernizes, regulators are catching up—and fast. The message is clear: if you’re selling loans, don’t dress them up like savings accounts. Seamless Global Payments With Fincra. Issue accounts in NGN, KES, EUR, USD & more with one integration. Send & receive funds seamlessly across borders; no more banking hassles or complex conversions. Create an account for free & go global today. Healthtech Rwanda launches digital healthcare record Rwanda is racing to ditch paper medical records by the end of 2025 and it’s building the infrastructure to do it. The country’s Ministry of Health has launched e-Ubuzima, a homegrown digital medical records system that synchronizes patient data across hospitals, health centers, and community clinics. Already deployed in 15 districts, the platform will eventually cover all 520 public health facilities nationwide. e-Ubuzima? With real-time access to health records, appointment booking, doctor search, and integrated alerts, e-Ubuzima is designed to cut down hospital congestion, reduce prescription errors, and save patients hours of waiting time. A companion mobile app helps users find facilities and schedule visits. The system will also double as an official health alert platform for outbreaks and public advisories. Here’s why it matters: Rwanda’s decentralized health system is often held up as a model in sub-Saharan Africa. But gaps—especially in non-communicable disease care and timely information access—still persist. Digitizing records is a critical step toward plugging those gaps and making care delivery faster and more accurate. Still, hurdles remain: Only 25% of health centers have the required tech setup, and digital literacy among older healthcare staff is a work in progress. The government plans to fix this with more training, nationwide WiFi, and smartphone distribution to frontline workers in rural areas by mid-year. Zoom out: Rwanda joins a growing list of African countries scrapping analog systems for digital ones. Nigeria is digitising birth and death records , Kenya and South Africa have piloted electronic prescriptions and health data sharing , and Ghana recently rolled out drone-powered medical supply delivery. Even in finance, countries like Namibia and Uganda have moved to digital tax filing and ID systems. Here’s what happened at Paystack in 2024! Link your bank account once, and send money in 5 easy steps on Zap. Download Zap on iOS and Android now Download Zap on iOS and Android now → Healthtech Ghana turns to Zipline to keep health supplies moving Image Source: Wunmi Eunice/TechCabal A stop-work order and extended review process at USAID earlier this year disrupted dozens of health programs in Ghana. As the supply chain froze, stocks of malaria vaccines, antiretrovirals, and other essential health supplies plummeted, raising the risk of a surge in preventable diseases across the country. As the disruptions persist, Ghana has partnered with Zipline , an autonomous drone logistics company, to provide an uninterrupted supply of essential medical supplies to the country’s health facilities. The country’s partnership with Zipline is an important effort in maintaining the flow of health supplies amidst logistics breakdown. The Ministry of Health will use Zipline’s existing network of drone delivery hubs to distribute malaria test kits and treatments, medications for pain, cough, parasitic infections, nutrition supplements, and other medical essentials to the northern and eastern regions of the country. Ghana’s partnership with Zipline runs on a flat monthly fee for unlimited deliveries, meaning more reach with no extra cost. ICYMI: Zipline recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nigerian government to expand operations to five additional states within the country. This means quicker and more efficient access to essential medical supplies for the country’s healthcare system and a national blood solution in place by the end of 2025. As Ghana clings to Zipline for its
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