Everything you need to know about 2026 UTME registration
Table of contents How to register for the 2026 UTME online How to register for the 2026 UTME offline Comprehensive 2026 UTME/DE registration and examination timeline Important things to know before and after you register Registration for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) began with the sale of e-PINS on Monday, January 19, 2026. Full registration opened on Monday, January 26, 2026 and will end on Saturday, February 28, 2026. The five-week window covers nearly two million candidates who must create online profiles and complete biometric capture at accredited computer-based test (CBT) centres. Several new rules apply to this year’s exercise under the “No Vision, No Registration” policy introduced by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede. Every computer-based test centre must livestream all registration activities to the board’s headquarters in Abuja, a measure aimed at curbing extortion, impersonation, and data breaches. Candidates must also be at least 16 years old by September 30, 2026, to qualify for university admission, a requirement which JAMB says helps ensure students are ready for higher education. Here is everything you need to know about registering for the 2026 UTME. How to register for the 2026 UTME online You can start your 2026 UTME registration online before going to any CBT centre. This step links your identity, phone number, and NIN to JAMB. What to check before you start Your details on the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) database must be correct, including your name, date of birth, gender, and state of origin JAMB pulls this data directly, so you cannot change it at a CBT centre Use your own phone number You must use one personal number for the whole process This number receives your profile code, your ePIN, and all JAMB messages Get your profile code Send your 11-digit NIN by SMS to 55019 or 66019 Use this format: NIN 00123456789 You will get a 10-character profile code by SMS If you used UTME before, send RESEND to 55019 or 66019 to reactivate your old code Choose your exam and pay Pick UTME with mock, UTME without mock, or Direct Entry The cost is N8,700 for UTME with mock, N7,200 for UTME without mock, and N5,700 for Direct Entry Pay through bank apps, POS, or fintech apps like OPay, PalmPay, or Kuda You can also use BuyCard with your profile code Get your e PIN After payment, JAMB sends your ePIN by SMS to your phone If you lose it, send UTMEPIN or DEPIN to 55019 or 66019 Keep your SIM active If you bought a new SIM, ask your network to activate the Keep My Number service This keeps your number active for up to three years Set up your email Create a personal email address You will use it for your JAMB e-facility account, exam slips, and CAPS admission checks How to register for the 2026 UTME offline You must go to a JAMB-approved CBT centre to finish your 2026 UTME registration. This is where your biometrics and exam choices are confirmed in person. Where to go Visit only JAMB-approved CBT centres, professional registration centres, or JAMB state and zonal offices Do not use private cybercafés or unapproved places because your registration can be canceled What to take Your 10-character profile code Your e PIN You do not pay any extra fees at the centre because it is already included in the e PIN What you will do at the centre Fill a paper template with your first, second, third, and fourth choices of schools and courses Give your fingerprints for all ten fingers to stop impersonation Take a live photo using approved Microsoft or Digitech cameras, which links to the NIMC database Your centre must stream this live to JAMB under the No Vision policy Upload and exam location If you have WAEC or NECO results, the operator uploads them If your result is not ready, choose Awaiting Result and upload later Choose your exam town, and JAMB will place you in a centre within that zone Final checks Use the dual screen to see everything being typed Check your name and subject choices before you approve Confirm with your thumbprint After registration You will get a printed registration slip with your details and subject combination Collection of Mandatory Reading Materials: After successful registration, you are entitled to collect the prescribed reading text, “The Lekki Headmaster” by Kabir Alabi Garba and the JAMB CD containing the brochure and syllabus Comprehensive 2026 UTME/DE registration and examination timeline The table below shows the key dates for the 2026 cycle. You must follow these dates because the system will shut down vending and registration at the end of each period. Important things to know before and after you register The 2026 UTME is strict, and small mistakes can prevent you from gaining admission, even if your score is high. You need to get your details right from the start and check your JAMB account regularly after you register. What you must have before you register Your 11-digit NIN that matches the NIMC database One personal phone number that no other candidate has used Your O Level results with grades and dates, or for Direct Entry, your previous matric number and school details Money to pay for the ePIN, because once you buy it, JAMB does not give refunds Common mistakes that cause problems Using henna or laali on your fingers, which can stop the scanner from reading your fingerprints and get you blocked from the exam Picking the wrong subject combination, such as leaving out Mathematics for Science or Technology courses Using more than one NIN to create multiple profiles, which the JAMB software will detect and cancel Having different names on your NIN and O Level result, which schools can reject unless you fix it at NIMC before getting your profile code What to do after you register Print your exam slip seven to ten days before the exam to see your date, time, and
Read MoreAGOA extension buys time for Kenya’s digital export economy as US tightens rules
The United States (US) government has renewed the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade agreement that offers duty-free access to the US market for selected goods. The renewal will run through December 31, 2026, extending access to the American market for eligible African exports and offering a political lifeline to countries betting on digital trade for jobs and growth. Kenyan officials and industry groups had warned that more than 66,000 export processing zone (EPZ) jobs and as many as 800,000 livelihoods, including 3,000 to 7,000 tech‑related roles tied to export processing, could have been hit after US President Donald Trump signalled that AGOA could be scrapped as part of a wider tariff move. That prospect raised the stakes had the trade deal lapsed without renewal. But the renewal lands in a world where the real test for hubs like Kenya will be whether digital exports, including call centre work, software development, and AI data labelling, can still create stable and well‑paid jobs even as Washington sharpens scrutiny of cross‑border data flows and digital services. Kenya has spent years cultivating its “Silicon Savannah” brand, building an IT‑enabled services sector that ranges from business process outsourcing (BPO) to niche AI annotation outfits serving large global tech firms. Information and communication technology (ICT) export earnings fell from KES 227.0 million ($1.76 million) in October 2025 to KES 208.1 million ($1.61 million) in November, according to data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). ICT imports grew from KES 4.4 billion ($34.1 million) to KES 5.1 billion ($39.5 million) over the same period, widening the trade gap and underscoring the growing weight of digital payments and the labour market. That concentration makes the jobs pipeline highly sensitive to policy signals from the US. A tariff on specific digital services or a new data‑localisation rule can prompt large clients to shift contracts overnight, leaving Kenyan firms scrambling to fill capacity and workers watching their shifts disappear. Kenya’s official unemployment rate of about 5.6% obscures an economy in which more than four in five non‑farm workers operate without formal contracts or social protection. For those workers, fewer US‑facing contracts mean weaker earnings and thinner remittance flows to their families. Industry lobby group Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) said on Tuesday that the extension helps firms avoid supply chain disruption and order cancellations that had started to weigh on export planning in late 2025. “The United States of America is one of Kenya’s most important trading partners, accounting for about 9% of our external market. Kenya’s exports to the USA stood at $788.6 million in 2025, compared to imports of $930.8 million,” Tobias Alando, the CEO of KAM, said. AGOA’s renewal keeps Kenya among countries with preferential access to the United States market, buying time for exporters, but it does little to slow the shift towards tighter checks on digital trade tied to national security and data privacy.
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How to check 2025 NECO results
Table of contents How to check your 2025 NECO results on the official NECO website How to check your 2025 NECO results on your phone How to check your 2025 NECO results offline What to do if your result is not showing On Tuesday, the National Examinations Council (NECO) released the 2025 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) External results, with 72% of candidates passing. NECO Registrar and Chief Executive, Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi announced that a total of 96,979 candidates registered for the exams, comprising 51,823 males and 45,156 females, and were tested across 16 subjects. The exams took place from November 26 to December 13, 2025, while marking ran from January 5 to January 21, 2026, creating a 52-day gap between the final paper and the release of results. According to NECO, 93,425 candidates sat for the English Language exam, and 78.32% earned credit or higher. Mathematics saw 93,330 candidates, with 91.35% passing with a credit or higher. Overall, 68,166 candidates achieved five credits, including English and Mathematics, while 82,082 earned five credits or more without those two subjects, indicating strong performance. Malpractice remains a major challenge. 9,016 candidates were booked for malpractice during the 2025 NECO, a 31.7% jump from 2024. Five supervisors were recommended for blacklisting, and four centres in Niger, Yobe, and Kano were flagged for full centre malpractice. If you are a candidate, here is how you can check NECO results on the website, your phone, and offline How to check your 2025 NECO results on the official NECO website Image source: NECO portal You can check your result on the NECO portal at results.neco.gov.ng. The site uses a token system with a 12-digit alphanumeric code instead of scratch cards. When you check your result via the portal, you can view your full electronic certificate, including your passport photo and all your subject grades. What you need A NECO result checking token with a 12-digit code Your 10-digit registration number An internet connection Method 1: Get your token from NECO Log in or create an account using your email and phone number Go to Purchase Token Pay through Remita using debit card, USSD, or bank transfer The token costs ₦1,000, though some vendors may add a fee Method 2: Authorised third-party vendors If the NECO site is slow, you can buy tokens from: BuyCard.ng for about ₦1,300 E PinMall for about ₦1,500 Cegital Inc for instant display and email delivery How to check your result Go to https://results.neco.gov.ng/ Select 2025 as your exam year Choose your exam type, either SSCE INTERNAL or SSCE EXTERNAL Enter your 12-digit token, which is case sensitive and can be used up to five times Enter your 10-digit registration number Click Check Result Key things to know A single token works for the same result up to 5 times For official school or admission checks, you may need to use the NECO eVerify Platform Token prices usually range from ₦1,300 to ₦1,500 when you buy from vendors Save your result Click Print to download a PDF Save it on your phone or computer for school and admission use This online system lets you get your result without visiting any NECO office, so you can access it faster and with less stress. How to check your 2025 NECO results on your phone You can check your NECO result on your phone using a mobile browser or by SMS. The mobile browser option works with 3G, 4G, or 5G internet. The SMS option works without data and is useful in areas with weak network coverage. Mobile browser method Open Google Chrome or Safari and go to results.neco.gov.ng Log in or use the Check Result option if you already bought a token Enter 2025, your exam type, your 12-digit token, and your 10-digit registration number When your result shows, use Save as PDF from your browser to store it on your phone SMS method Open your phone’s messaging app and type your details in this specific format: NECO*ExamNo*PIN*ExamYear. Example: NECO*12345678AB*686442341122*2025 Note: Ensure there are no spaces between the details. Send to Shortcode: Send the message to the official NECO result-checking number: 32327. Wait for Response: You will receive a text message with your subject results and grades shortly after you send. Important Requirements: Token (PIN) Still Needed: You must have already purchased a result-checking token from the NECO Results Portal to use this method. Airtime Balance: Ensure you have at least ₦50 in airtime on your phone, as SMS charges apply. Network Support: This service is typically available for major Nigerian networks, including MTN, Glo, and Airtel. How to check your 2025 NECO results offline You can also get your 2025 NECO result offline through your school or a NECO office. This is useful if you need official checks, name fixes, or if you wrote the SSCE Internal. If you wrote SSCE Internal Go to the secondary school where you registered The school exam officer or principal collects the Master List from the NECO state office You can ask for a stamped and signed result slip from this list, which you can use for school clearance If you need corrections or attestation Visit the nearest NECO office for name or date of birth issues, or for Attestation of Results In Lagos, go to 175 Ikorodu Rd, Onipanu or the zonal office in Lekki Phase I, Lagos Take your ID, your exam registration slip, and proof of payment for any service fees How to get your original certificate Schools release original certificates one to two years after the exam Go back to your school to sign and collect it if you wrote the SSCE Internal If you wrote the SSCE External, collect it from the NECO state office where you took the exam All offline and special service fees must be paid through payments.neco.gov.ng before NECO will process your request. What to do if your NECO result is not showing If your result does not appear on the portal, the message you see
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Nigerian gig workers struggle with tax rules. KeepAm wants to guide them
KeepAm, a Nigeria-based tax record and filing app launched in January, is built for remote workers, creators, and small operators who have historically earned first and thought about tax later. Instead of a once‑a‑year tax chore, the app reframes as something users quietly keep up with through everyday record‑keeping. Its founder, Emmanuel Olorunshola, frames the product around two linked ideas: many new earners now fall under tax rules they do not understand, and many also miss deductions that could reduce what they owe if they kept proper records. The app, available on the web and usable offline, is built to address this. Large parts of economic activity in Nigeria sit outside payroll systems, where tax is deducted automatically. Policy, however, is moving toward greater data visibility. For instance, Nigerian banks already report transaction data under financial surveillance rules. The Federal Inland Revenue Service has pushed e-filing systems alongside closer monitoring of digital and cross-border income. Platforms like KeepAm sit between raw bank transactions and formal tax filings, translating one into the other. Turning bank inflows into tax records KeepAm’s design is based on a practical problem that defines modern tax enforcement in digital economies. When money lands in a bank account, authorities can see the amount and the account holder, but cannot determine whether the transfer represents profit, reimbursed expenses, a pass-through payment to suppliers, or a personal gift. In an open banking system that relies on customer data, the default risk for organised freelancers is that gross inflows begin to resemble taxable income, Olorunshola explains, unless the individual can prove otherwise. Olorunshola describes this burden of proof as central to the product’s design, arguing that without structured records, people who work project to project may be assessed on turnover rather than actual earnings after costs. KeepAm responds by building a continuous documentation layer over everyday transactions. Signing up User journey. Image: KeepAm The product follows a simple and intuitive flow. Users start by signing up and logging income each time they are paid. Next, they attach related expenses and store corresponding proof or receipts in one place. From there, users can generate a detailed report whenever they need it. This process continues throughout the year, making it easier to stay organised rather than rushing to compile records during filing season. “We use multi-layer validation with Nigerian-specific patterns,” Olorunshola said. “Common issues include mixed currencies (we auto-convert to NGN), cash transactions (we allow with confidence scoring), and informal descriptions.” Users log income as it comes in and are prompted to attach related expenses, ranging from data purchases and transport to software subscriptions and equipment. The system asks whether costs were incurred to deliver a specific job, then classifies those items as potential deductions. Receipts, whether paper or digital, can be captured and stored within the app, turning what might otherwise be lost or informal evidence into a retrievable archive. According to Olorunshola, this structure feeds into the filing report that users can download and submit to their state tax authority. The product also incorporates digital invoicing, which aligns with broader government interest in traceable billing. Instead of sending clients only an account number, users can issue invoices through the app, linking payment requests to documented work. Once paid, the invoice, payment and related expenses sit within a single chain of records. For creators and freelancers accustomed to informal workflows via messaging apps, this represents a shift toward formal bookkeeping without the need to adopt full accounting software, which many find too complex or expensive. Olorunshola said the goal is not to turn individuals into accountants, but to embed tax-relevant structure into actions they already take. That design choice matters because the platform deliberately avoids accounting jargon. Using KeepAm KeepAm user interface. Image: TechCabal Signing up for KeepAm took less than three minutes, with instant email verification and a dashboard that loaded in about two seconds on my device. The main screen gives a clear overview of a user’s finances, showing income, expenses, net position for the month, and tax status for the year in one place. The dashboard highlights practical tools across the top, including Calculate, Tax Plan, Clients, Projections, Invoices, and Savings, allowing users jump straight into core tax and business tasks without digging through menus. Each section opens into a focused workspace, such as tracking income and expenses, managing receipts, or handling clients and business profiles. Upcoming tax and value-added tax (VAT) deadlines are displayed in a dedicated panel, with due dates and countdowns in days, making it easier to stay compliant rather than relying on memory or separate reminders. A “Tip of the Day” card surfaces context-aware guidance, such as how to claim home office deductions, with quick links to launch a relevant calculator or view more tips. The tax status module shows total earned this year, progress toward the next tax bracket, tax owed so far and how much to set aside monthly, with links to view a detailed breakdown or plan. Myth‑buster banners at the top address common fears about taxes and compliance in plain language, helping users feel more confident about starting to file, even if they have not been paying regularly. Automation KeepAm positions itself as an automated system rather than a human advisory service. Olorunshola clarified that calculations and classifications are run through the software, with limited back-end visibility into user data and no logging of administrative access, reflecting compliance with Nigeria’s data protection framework. This architecture matters because target users are being asked to centralise sensitive financial information in one place, including income records and tax identifiers. There is a free basic account that includes up to 20 invoice checks, 20 income and expense entries, and 20 receipt scans. The pro version costs ₦2,500 ($1.79) and provides access to invoicing, expense tracking, and tax filing tools. The business version costs ₦7,500 ($5.37) and includes all pro features, plus full business tools designed for SMEs. For a population that often mistrusts government and digital platforms, perceived data risk can be as
Read MoreInvestors often overlook promising startups. This VC program trains scouts
Since the capital rush of the zero-interest rate era of the early 2020s, which saw investors increase their appetite for riskier bets, Africa’s venture capital industry has slowly solved its talent problem. Today, local investors account for nearly 40% of the total funding that African startups receive yearly. Some of this growth has been driven by the rise of venture capital-focused training programmes such as Dream VC, Included VC, and Immerse VC, which have helped professionalise the industry by teaching new VC employees how to operate as venture capitalists and, in some cases, help people secure jobs with VC firms. But while these programmes have focused on VC employment as a whole, none have been dedicated to venture scouting, an entry point that can be part-time, decentralised and help attract more foreign investors to the continent. Benjamin Udokwu, a former founder and consultant, is trying to fix that with Seven24 Ventures, a program designed to teach Africans how to be venture scouts. Venture scouting is the process of finding and evaluating promising early-stage startups on behalf of a venture capital firm (or angel syndicate) before those startups are widely known or formally fundraising. Udokwu became a scout himself after Gopaxy, his retail tech startup, failed in 2019 due to a lack of capital. “I even joined Founder Institute’s very first cohort in Lagos to test the idea better, but it still did not pan out,” he said. That experience led him to co-found Climatr, an environmental and sustainability consultancy, and ultimately discover the access-to-capital challenges faced by other early-stage founders between 2020 and 2021. Udokwu’s scouting began with informal conversations on LinkedIn and evolved into a manual process of finding VCs and cold-messaging them about deals. For this week’s Ask an Investor, I spoke to Udokwu about his motivation for starting Seven24 Ventures, how the scout academy addresses access-to-capital challenges faced by underrepresented founders, the traits of a great scout, and common misconceptions about deal sourcing. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Why did you start Seven24? What gap did you see that you were trying to fill? Back in 2019, there weren’t many people into scouting. Back then, it was like four people doing scouting across Africa, even including North Africa. Scouting wasn’t a mainstream thing. It seemed like we were gatekeepers, and of course, that came with certain privileges. But I’d receive calls regularly asking for advice on how to enter venture scouting. I thought, ‘Why hoard the knowledge?’ The ecosystem is growing. 2019 isn’t 2026. The volume of startups launched every day, every month, is massive. Four people can’t cover Nigeria, let alone West Africa or sub-Saharan Africa. The market is huge. It made sense to disseminate the expertise and experience we’d built, bring in passionate people, and pass the baton—so they can do more than we did in helping underrepresented founders get visibility, access to capital, and funding to grow their businesses. How are scouts typically compensated? There are different models. The model I started with, and still use, does not charge upfront. A founder doesn’t pay me to begin scouting. Instead, we agree that if any introduction I make leads to an investment, I take 5% of that specific check. For example, if a startup is raising $500k and I bring an investor who puts in $100k, I take 5% of that $100k—that’s $5,000. I’m not taking 5% of the entire round—just the portion I sourced. Some scouts or agencies charge upfront—$2,000, $5,000, or sometimes $10,000. I don’t like that model because once you take money upfront, you’re under pressure to “deliver” an investment even though you don’t control the final decision. If none of the VCs invest, it can damage your reputation. My approach protects reputation: no upfront fee. I get you access. If it results in investment, you pay. I’ve personally onboarded and introduced over 150 startups to VCs through my network. What are you optimising for with Seven24? Two things: more deals and better deals. More deals in the sense that VCs can have a more robust pipeline to evaluate before concluding whether there’s quality in the ecosystem. And better deals, because the issue is often not deal scarcity—it’s visibility to great deals. I spoke with a VC firm last year. Their plan was to invest in, say, 10 deals, but they ended up doing four because they felt they didn’t have access to quality opportunities. My conviction is: the deals exist. Many founders are building amazing things, and a lot of prominent VC firms don’t know about them. They go for the usual suspects—people who are already visible on major platforms—but many underrepresented startups aren’t seen. What we’re optimising for is access to quality, underrepresented deals. If we train 10–15 quality scouts across markets—say South Africa as an example—they can plug into local ecosystems and spotlight founders that would otherwise be overlooked. VC firms benefit from a stronger pipeline and are more likely to meet their annual investment targets. It’s a win-win: more founders get funded, and VCs have a better, more robust deal pipeline. What makes a great Seven24 scout? First is market curiosity. Great scouts are endlessly curious about industries, trends, and market behaviour within their ecosystems. Curiosity helps you spot early signals that other people miss. You should be able to look at historical data and current trends and understand where the market is tilting so you can position yourself to source the best deals. Second is networking and relationship building. Scouts thrive on trust. Strong relationships with founders, operators, and investors create a steady pipeline of credible opportunities. On the VC side, you need relationships with the right people—GPs when possible, but also analysts and associates who review deals. On the founder side, you need trust and credibility, because founders who trust you will refer you to other strong founders. Third is analytical thinking. Scouts need to quickly filter startups and distinguish real traction from noise. Strong analysis sharpens judgement and reduces wasted
Read MoreMoniepoint went from PoS scale to full-stack lock-in in two years
This is Follow the Money, our weekly series that unpacks the earnings, business, and scaling strategies of African fintechs and financial institutions. A new edition drops every Monday. In 2015, Moniepoint, then TeamApt, one of Nigeria’s most prominent fintechs, was building payment infrastructure for banks. By 2025, it was no longer a company in the shadows. It had become one of the most important pipes through which Nigeria’s informal economy moves money. Founded as a back-end technology provider, TeamApt built payment infrastructure for banks before it started courting merchants directly in 2019 as Moniepoint. That year, it crossed 100,000 daily transactions. In 2023, TeamApt rebranded as the name of its flagship product, Moniepoint. According to the company, the move was a testament to the success of Moniepoint and part of a desire to bring the company closer to its customers. By 2025, it processed ₦412 trillion ($297 billion) and handled over 14 billion transactions. Between 2019 and 2025, Moniepoint has moved from being a merchant acquiring company with strong distribution to becoming something closer to a national infrastructure, with payments as the hook, credit as the engine, and product depth as the lock-in. Moniepoint’s early start as a backend provider gave it visibility into transaction flows, failure points, settlement bottlenecks, and how banks break under volume. That knowledge shaped its expansion into Point of Sale (PoS) acquiring, agency banking, and credit. Moniepoint’s 2025 numbers reveal a shift from agency banking. Its payment terminal had become one of the major processors for everyday commerce at supermarkets, restaurants, small retail shops, fuel stations, traders, and informal businesses. Moniepoint did not disclose a full channel breakdown for 2025, but it noted that “8 out of 10 in-person payments in Nigeria are made with Moniepoint.” It also said it processed ₦8 billion ($5.77 million) daily for restaurants, ₦1.7 trillion ($1.23 billion) at bakeries, and ₦90 million ($64,909) at gyms daily. Moniepoint’s transaction volumes show how quickly digital payments are scaling in Nigeria, especially over the last two years. Alongside OPay and PalmPay, the fintech unicorn has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of this growth. According to data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), the country’s central payment gateway processed 9.6 billion transactions worth ₦600 trillion ($432.73 billion) in 2023. One year later, it processed ₦1.07 quadrillion ($771.69 billion) in transaction value. Based on Moniepoint’s 2025 figures, its total transaction value of ₦412 trillion is equal to 38.5% of NIBSS’s full-year 2024 transaction value. How much of ₦412 trillion becomes revenue? Moniepoint processed ₦412 trillion in 2025, but what percentage became revenue? The Revenue Reality Check Visualizing Moniepoint’s ₦412 Trillion Volume TechCabal Estimate Conservative Base Case Aggressive Avg. Transaction Fee 0.30% NPL Rate (Bad Loans) 10% Est. Payment Revenue ₦1.24T Net Interest Income ₦180B Moniepoint Est. Revenue Vs. Big 8 Banks (₦514bn) Bank Benchmark At this rate, Moniepoint isn’t just a fintech; it generates 2.4x the electronic fee revenue of Nigeria’s 8 largest banks combined. Methodology: Payment Revenue = ₦412T Vol × Take Rate. Interest = (₦1T Loans × (1-NPL%)) × 20% APR. Bank Benchmark: ₦514bn (9-month e-fees for Access, GTCO, etc.). Because it is a merchant acquirer and payment processor at scale, Moniepoint’s business model depends on volume rather than high pricing. Transaction fees in payments are usually thin. For instance, Kuda, a Nigerian fintech, charges a merchant service commission of 0.5% per PoS transaction, capped at ₦1,000. For Moniepoint, its estimated transaction fee could sit anywhere between 0.1% and 0.5%, depending on channel mix (PoS, transfers, bills, collections), pricing caps, and incentives. Although a CBN guideline puts the maximum take rate at 1.25%. Using ₦412 trillion as the total transaction value across all its platforms, the estimated gross revenue could look like: · Low case (0.10%): ₦412 trillion × 0.10% = ₦412 billion ($297.14 million) · Mid case (0.30%): ₦412trillionn × 0.30% = ₦1.24 trillion ($894.31 million) · High case (0.50%): ₦412 trillion × 0.30% = ₦2.06 trillion ($1.49 billion) This is not net profit, or even net revenue. It does not take into account costs, incentives, chargebacks, fraud losses, and settlement expenses. In the first nine months of 2025, eight of the country’s biggest banks, including Access Holdings Plc and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc, earned ₦514.82 billion ($371.29 million) from electronic payment fees. Banks earn a commission on every transfer: ₦10 for transactions below ₦5,000; ₦25 for transfers between ₦5,001 and ₦50,000; and ₦50 for anything above ₦50,000. While Moniepoint earns ₦20 on interbank bank transfers, its estimated revenue from payment was calculated with a blended rate because its 2025 presentation does not break down transaction value by channel. In 2023, the company said it was processing transactions profitably. For its loan income, Moniepoint disbursed over ₦1 trillion ($721.22 million) in 2025. The company claims that its non-performing loans (NPLs), a loan when payments of principal or interest are overdue by 90 days or more, are small. According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NPLs rose to 7% in 2025. Assuming Moniepoint’s NPL ratio is closer to 10% of disbursed loans, that implies roughly ₦900 billion ($649.09 million) of the loan book remained performing. At an annual interest rate of at least 20%, that could translate to around ₦180 billion ($129.82 million) in gross interest income, depending on average outstanding balances and loan tenors. Moniepoint’s growth between 2023 and 2025 Transactions In 2023, Moniepoint processed 5.2 billion transactions and $182 billion in transaction value. It disclosed that 3.3 billion transactions were made on its terminals. It also said $92 billion of its transaction value was bank transfers, and it processed $194 million in airtime and bill payments. Two years later, the company processed over 14 billion transactions and ₦412 trillion in transaction value. According to Moniepoint, it has over one million active terminals and processes ₦10 trillion monthly. Annualised, that is ₦120 trillion. For context, the CBN said total PoS transaction value amounted to ₦223.27 trillion ($161.03 billion)
Read MoreCinetPay customers owed over $1 million months after alleged cyberattack
CinetPay, an Ivorian payment processor serving over 25,000 businesses, was reportedly targeted by a cyberattack in September 2025, resulting in financial losses and leaving the company owing customers more than $1 million. “CinetPay has recently been the victim of significant cyber fraud incidents, notably in Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Burkina Faso. Bailiff reports, as well as official complaints filed in each of these countries, attest to the reality of these incidents,” reads an October 3, 2025, letter signed by Daniel Dindji, the company’s chief executive officer. The document, sighted by TechCabal, added, “These events, which had a direct and substantial impact on our cash flow, explain the delays observed in the execution of our commitments.” The fintech, which claims to process over six million transactions monthly, is now in a legal dispute with one of its users, DPay, a Nigerian payment processor, after reportedly failing to remit the funds it processed for DPay from September 2025. CinetPay has yet to respond to repeated requests from TechCabal sent between December 2025 and January 2026. “Merchants depend on the timely settlement of funds to run their operations,” John Schubbe, an operations manager at DPay, speaking on behalf of the company, told TechCabal in a telephone interview in January 2026. “By withholding customer funds for months, this situation has restricted our access to working capital and affected our ability to serve our clients.” DPay and CinetPay agreed in December 2024 to have the Ivorian fintech process payments for DPay in Francophone West Africa. By early August 2025, CinetPay began delaying settlements and reportedly owed DPay CFA 250 million ($455,000), according to documents obtained by TechCabal. By September 2025, CinetPay had acknowledged outstanding obligations of more than CFA 655 million ($1.2 million) and proposed a repayment plan. The documents revealed that DPay issued legal notices in November 2025, but as of the time of filing this report, CinetPay has yet to honour the proposed repayment terms. Another legal notice sent to CinetPay on December 18, 2025, and obtained by TechCabal in January 2026, reads: “CinetPay is hereby required to pay immediately to the requesting party (DPay Limited) […] the sum of 655,209,302.95 FCFA ($1.2 million), representing amounts collected via CinetPay.” Liquidity problems at a payment processor can quickly cascade to the businesses that rely on it, as merchants depend on predictable settlement cycles to access revenue. In CinetPay’s case, some merchants allege that funds remained unsettled for months, limiting their ability to access cash collected on their behalf. CinetPay’s cyberattack occurred in the same month it was licensed as one of a small group of payment fintechs authorised to operate within the West African Monetary Union (WAEMU) by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). The license, granted to only 30 fintechs, allows holders to process payments across member countries such as Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, and Togo. The licence also requires a minimum capital of 100 million CFA, robust governance, strong anti-fraud and AML controls, and resilient technical infrastructure, standards designed to prevent operational and security lapses. Given the recency of CinetPay’s licence, the cyberattack tested how effectively these standards were implemented in practice. The cyberattack and inability to settle customer funds occurred 20 days after Senegalese authorities placed CinetPay under investigation for allegedly “facilitating money laundering, organised fraud, and illegal online gambling.” While CinetPay has denied any involvement in illegal activity in Senegal, saying a third-party merchant misused its platform to commit fraud, it remains unclear whether the allegations in the regulatory probe are connected to the cyberattack. Since 2016, CinetPay has provided payment collection and settlement services, enabling businesses to accept mobile money, card, and other online payment methods across five French-speaking West African countries. After opening a merchant account, businesses can accept customer payments online, with CinetPay charging transaction fees that typically range from 2.5% to 3.5%, depending on the country and payment method. When a customer pays a business using CinetPay, the fintech briefly holds the funds in the business’s CinetPay account before sending them to the business’s bank account or mobile money account within two days, after deducting a set of fees that typically range from 1.2% to 2%. CinetPay’s cyber attack In September 2025, CinetPay suffered multiple “cyber fraud incidents” simultaneously in Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Burkina Faso that allowed intruders to withdraw money by exploiting internal limits and sending it to mobile money accounts in these countries, according to the letter from Dindji, which references police reports from the same month. Routing money to many wallets simultaneously, experts have noted, is a ‘textbook laundering tactic,’ allowing fraudsters to evade detection quickly and withdraw cash before security systems can react. CinetPay only detected the breach after large sums across four countries had vanished. By then, customers had begun asking why settlements were no longer arriving. Where it all began Founded by Idriss Monthe and Daniel Dindji in 2016, CinetPay raised $2.4 million in a 2021 seed funding round from 4DX Ventures and Flutterwave, leading the round. The company launched at a time when Francophone African payments were not connected across mobile money schemes and banking rails, and CinetPay offered merchants a single interface to accept them. The fintech also reduced the need to integrate with multiple financial institutions such as Orange Money, MTN MoMo, and Wave. The fintech later expanded beyond checkout to include payment links, school fee collection, and bulk payouts and transfers by creating products that make payment providers important to institutions and platforms. That importance enabled the fintech to build a customer base and status to join an exclusive list of financial institutions that received regulatory approval from the BCEAO ahead of a September 2025 deadline that would have shut it out of the formal cross-border payment system. The approval also allows CinetPay access to the BCEAO’s long-awaited regional instant payment system (PI-SPI), which enables interoperability with all payment methods and allows smaller payment service providers without access to rely on the few fintechs with the licence. As of the time of filing
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Digital Nomads: Kennedy Adetayo traded an MBA for a life of global expansions and Maltese sunsets
“I was in Lagos, but barely in Lagos. I was almost abroad every other time,” Kennedy Adetayo recalled of his role as Regional Marketing Manager at Exness, a global fintech company and multi-asset broker. But it did not start this way. When Adetayo pivoted from his academic background in agribusiness, he was driven by a hunger for the world mentioned in the case studies on Apple and Google from his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) classes. “I wanted something different,” he said. And he went for it: a career rich in marketing, branding, and artificial intelligence (AI) for global companies, just like he had always wanted. The MBA pivot in his early career days After obtaining his MBA in Agricultural Business Operations from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, in southwestern Nigeria, Adetayo realised he did not want to build a career around fast-moving consumer goods—or agri-only products. In his first role after completing his MBA in February 2015, he worked as a brand officer at Africa Prudential, a Nigerian-based share registration and dividend management provider, where he oversaw printed banners and ensured brand compliance. In that time, Adetayo realised he loved reading and writing and had an eye for mistakes in narratives. So, when an opportunity for a copywriting role at Aqua Agency, an integrated marketing agency, arose, Adetayo applied. “The difference was my interview process,” he recalled. “During my live walk-in interview, I sat down and created a full campaign from beginning to end. It wasn’t the answer they expected, and they just hired me on the spot.” When he joined Aqua Agency in February 2016, Adetayo and other strategists handled briefs for companies such as MTN. It was here that the Head of Strategy and Digital Innovation, Adepoju “PJ” Bakare, offered guidance, and soon after Bakare’s conversation with management, Adetayo started working in strategy by June 2016. Adetayo during timeat Aqua Agency. Image source: Adetayo. In 2018, a Dubai-based management consulting and marketing company, Livingstone-Templeton, was expanding into Nigeria, and Adetayo applied with the same playbook with which he secured his role at Aqua. “I gave them a 90-day plan for it as part of my interview process,” he admitted. “And they absolutely loved it and asked me to come execute it myself.” By June 2018, Adetayo was a Brand Manager at the multinational before joining TigerWit, a UK-headquartered global financial technology company, in February 2020. This was where things started to shift for Adetayo. Deepening the African footprint In 2018, two years before Adetayo joined, TigerWit launched a partnership with the football club Liverpool, a partnership that extended till 2021. TigerWit planned to expand into Africa by January 2020. The then Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tim Hughes, had shared the company’s expansion plans. By February 2020, as the Marketing manager for the Nigerian and African region, Adetayo was tasked with establishing TigerWit’s presence in Nigeria and Africa. “Part of my role in TigerWit included relations with the foreign teams [in] London and Dubai,” he said. “They both had independent marketing teams, and I had to be in sync, so that our global brand could also be in sync, and there’s no off-brand messaging, even though most of my brand branding was localised, but it was also in regulation with the global brand guidelines.” Only four months after Adetayo had come onboard, he was promoted to Head of Marketing/Business Development, Africa. His role went beyond traditional marketing; he was responsible for establishing TigerWit’s brand in Nigeria, driving user acquisition and retention, and overseeing campaigns for everyday traders (B2C), payment partners and other intermediaries (B2B), and engagement with regulators and banks (B2G). “TigerWit was not that big before they came into Nigeria, and by moving to Nigeria, their numbers went exponential for multiple reasons. We are over 200 million in Nigeria,” he said. Observing the impact of Adetayo’s work at TigerWit, Exness, a global fintech company and multi-asset broker, invited him to replicate the success: “They asked if I would be able to handle at least 30 African countries. I said, ‘I wouldn’t know till I try.’” The role was travel-heavy and initially focused on West African countries, then moved into East and Southern Africa. There was one major recurring constraint: visas. Within West Africa, Adetayo had fewer visa issues, but between East and Southern Africa, getting a visa became a major challenge. Twice, Adetayo was rejected when he had applied for a South African visa. In one of those rejections, Exness was opening a new office in South Africa, and he needed to be present as the regional marketing lead. His visa difficulties were unusual enough that they exposed a new challenge for the company. So, Exness created a dedicated team to handle visa-related issues for cases like his. Eventually, he built relationships with two travel agents whom he used in rotation to secure his visas. Adetayo headed to Cape Town. Image source: Adetayo. At Exness, Adetayo found an unusually supportive environment: the company cared primarily about results, giving him wide autonomy to decide where he needed to be and how to execute. If he needed to fly to a market like Kenya the next day, the response was essentially to approve the budget and let him get on with it. Adetayo on a safari trip in Kenya with Exness. Image source: Adetayo. Discovering data and Malta Adetayo began repositioning himself towards data analysis to strengthen his role at Exness. So, in early 2021, he enrolled at Isles of Content to learn marketing data analysis, then transitioned into a contract role with the school. There, he handled real user and product data for brands targeting Nigeria and Africa. “They’re [Isles of content] based in Nigeria, but their clients are in Malta, and are serving Nigerian markets,” Adetayo said. The data work sharpened his decision-making at Exness but also opened his eyes to opportunities beyond pure regional marketing, making it easier to contemplate life after a role he felt was close to the peak of what he
Read MoreChams grows 17.9% in 2025 on a $4.26 million SIM and bank card boom
Chams Holding Company Plc, a Nigerian identity management and transactional technology provider, grew its income by 17.89% to ₦17.48 billion ($12.61 million) in 2025, according to its unaudited full-year results. The growth was largely driven by a 573.16% jump in card sales, which the firm categorises as “data card products supply of cards,” to ₦5.90 billion ($4.26 million). This was driven by increased SIM card purchases from telecom operators, and banks’ demand for cards remained strong. Chams 2025: The Revenue Decoder How card manufacturing became the new growth engine. Total Revenue ₦17.48bn ▲ 17.9% vs 2024 Net Profit ₦605.6m ▲ 54.9% vs 2024 The “Card Boom” Factor +573% Growth Revenue from producing SIMs and bank cards exploded in 2025. 2024 Card Sales ₦0.88bn 2025 Card Sales ₦5.90bn Where did the money come from? (2025) Biometrics & Machines ₦10.65bn (61%) Card Sales (SIMs/Payment) ₦5.90bn (34%) The TC Take: While machines are still the cash cow, the future is plastic. The surge is driven by telco SIM demand and new bank card issuance. Data source: Chams HoldCo 2025 Unaudited Results Chams’ profit for the year climbed by 54.86% to ₦605.58 million ($436,753). Since 2020, the company’s turnover has jumped by 728.75%. The 5-Year Sprint Revenue trajectory (2020–2025) ₦2.11bn 2020 +728% ₦14.84bn 2024 ₦17.48bn 2025 728.75% Growth in 5 Years Chams has multiplied its revenue ~8x since 2020, driven largely by its pivot to card production and identity management. The company’s 2025 results show how it is cashing in on two of Nigeria’s busiest lanes: SIM distribution and payments infrastructure. As telecom operators buy more SIM cards and banks continue issuing cards, Chams earns more from supplying the physical layer behind those ecosystems, while biometrics still does most of its revenue heavy lifting. “The expansion into the production of SIM cards for telecommunications providers and initiatives in cross-border payments are key contributors to performance enhancement,” the company told TechCabal in March 2025. The company is also a major player in biometric identity solutions, with clients across government and financial services. Its banking customers include Keystone Bank, First Bank, and Sterling Bank, while public-sector partners include the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Nigerian Customs Service, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Nigerian Communications Commission, and several pension fund administrators. Despite the surge in card sales, biometrics-related revenue, including counting, phone, computer, and sorting machines, remained Chams’ largest income line in 2025, generating ₦10.65 billion ($7.68 million). That product mix also pushed the cost of sales up by 30.77%, contributing to a 13.06% decline in gross profit. The Profit Paradox How Chams made more profit while margins shrank. 1. The Pressure (Cost of Sales) Cost of Sales ▲ Spiked 30.77% – ₦13.71bn Result: Gross Profit (Down 13.06%) ₦3.79bn 2. The Relief (Efficiency Gains) The company slashed overheads to protect the bottom line. Admin Expenses ↓ 19.7% Major efficiency boost Taxation Cost ↓ 57.2% Significant saving 3. The Bottom Line ₦605.6m ▲ Net Profit grew 54.9% Takeaway: Lower Admin and Tax bills absorbed the shock of rising Cost of Sales, allowing Net Profit to soar. After posting a 42% year-on-year revenue growth in 2024, Chams chairman, Demola Aladekomo, said the company would pursue fundraising as part of its growth strategy. On August 5, 2025, Chams announced plans to raise ₦7.65 billion ($5.52 million) through a rights issue and private placement. By December 23, 2025, the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) said an additional 2,348,030,000 ordinary shares had been listed following the rights issue. As of January 30, 2026, the company had a market capitalisation of ₦45 billion ($32.46 million), with its share price at ₦5 ($0.0036).
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5 African startups building transport, talent, and tokens
Startups On Our Radar spotlights African startups solving African challenges with innovation. In our previous edition, we featured five game-changing startups pioneering artificial intelligence, agriculture, clean energy, and finance. Expect the next dispatch on February 6, 2026. This week, we explore five African startups in the mobility, cryptocurrency, agriculture, and artificial intelligence sectors and why they should be on your watchlist. Here are our picks for today: BodEr wants to cut carbon emissions with its e-ride hailing platform (E-mobility, Kenya) Born out of a frustration with Nairobi’s traffic while working in logistics at ShipShap, a shipping company, Martin Lusasi and Kelly Mutugi founded BodEr, a Kenyan ride-hailing platform focused exclusively on electric two-wheelers. It connects urban commuters and small businesses to e-bike riders, aiming to reduce travel time, lower costs, and cut greenhouse gas emissions. Lusasi says the user journey mirrors regular ride-hailing platforms where users download the app, log in, request a ride, select an e-bike, wait for pickup, and pay either in cash or through the app. BodEr’s dashboard. Image: BodEr. The startup does not manufacture its own bikes; instead, it partners with e-bike manufacturers. For its pre-launch tests, Lusasi said BodEr is working with Roam, an electric mobility company, and is also in discussions with Ampersand, an electric transport energy company, to expand supply. While riders who already own e-bikes can sign up directly on the platform, others who do not can access financing to acquire bikes through partnerships with microfinance institutions. As of January 2026, BodEr is at its minimum viable product (MVP) testing stage and says it has completed over 200 test rides, with a public launch planned for February 2026. BodEr operates a multi-stream revenue generation model. On the consumer side (B2C), the startup plans to take a 15% commission per ride, and expects to earn 10% profit on electric bike purchases on the business side (B2B). It intends to offer corporate mobility and delivery services through its fleet and generate revenue from there. The startup also plans to introduce a leasing and subscription model, including daily, monthly, or yearly options, targeted at campus communities. Why we’re watching: BodEr is entering Kenya’s competitive ride-hailing market with a narrow focus on electric two-wheelers. Rather than competing head-on with platforms like Uber and Bolt, the startup differentiates itself by focusing on an entirely green fleet and targeting secondary cities such as Embu, Kisumu, and Mombasa. BodEr plans to integrate AI-based route optimisation to help riders avoid traffic, as well as an internet of things (IoT) model that prevents a ride from starting unless the system detects that the rider is wearing a helmet. In 2024, BodEr won Kenya’s TotalEnergies Startup of the Year (Energy category), which came with a $12,000 grant, and secured AUD 100,000 ($70,000) from the KMA Foundation Palladium grant competition to fund app development. Pyn wants to turn job hunting into a guaranteed outcome (HRTech, Nigeria) Pyn, a job placement platform founded in 2025 and designed to move away from the manual effort of recruitment for both candidates and businesses, emerged from the personal experience of the founder, Charles Okala, who struggled to secure roles as a candidate and struggled to find the right talent as a founder. In his view, the job market forces candidates into a volume-driven process of sending out countless applications with little feedback, while businesses are left sifting through several resumes to find a handful of suitable candidates. Pyn’s core proposition is to take away job searching entirely. Rather than acting as a job board, the startup operates a placement system designed to match verified talent with companies and guarantee outcomes. The startup began as an AI-powered service that helped candidates apply for jobs by creating tailored resumes, submitting applications, and tracking responses. Although Okala says that the model attracted over 5,000 users, he realised he could not verify skill levels, which led to Pyn’s current model. Pyn’s dashboard. Image: Pyn. Under the model, candidates submit their CVs, specify the roles they want, and enter a three-day manual verification process. Instead of relying on credentials alone, the startup assesses candidates through real-time proof of work, observing them solve problems live to test factors Okala says cannot be faked with AI-generated portfolios. Once verified, Pyn guarantees a job offer within 60 days that matches the candidate’s level and salary expectations or issues a full refund. Pricing for candidates to access this service is ₦30,000 ($21.58) for junior, ₦75,000 ($53.96) for mid-level, and ₦300,000 ($215.85) for senior talent. For businesses, Pyn sells access to verified talent, not CV databases. Companies can request between three and nine candidates, paying per verified profile. Pricing starts at ₦9,000 ($6.48) per verified junior candidate, ₦25,000 ($17.99) for mid-level, and ₦45,000 ($32.38) for senior roles. The startup reports nearly 10,000 users on the platform so far. Under its earlier model, it claims that about 20% of users secured jobs. In the newer placement-focused pilot, tested with 400 users, Pyn reports a 70% success rate in job placements. Why we’re watching: Pyn is reframing hiring as a placement and verification problem rather than a search problem. Rather than optimising for application volume, the startup is betting that both candidates and companies will pay for certainty. Its key differentiator is the real-time proof-of-work verification, which it argues is necessary in an era where AI can easily fabricate portfolios. MyCryptocasa wants to make getting crypto into a social gaming experience (Crypto/Web3, Nigeria) Dosunmu Damola started building in 2024 MyCryptocasa in response to what he describes as a stagnant cryptocurrency ecosystem in Nigeria, one dominated by repetitive buy-and-sell activity and platforms with little differentiation. After seeing how crypto and Web3 ecosystems operate in Europe and other markets, Dosunmu set out to build a product that allows users to do more with their digital assets, especially without requiring deep prior knowledge of crypto. MyCryptocasa combines traditional crypto trading features with a Web3 gaming layer, which can also be used independently. Its Web3 offering includes money-backed multiplayer games, inspired by
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