Côte d’Ivoire doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel
This article was contributed to TechCabal by Leslie Ossete, through The Realistic Optimist. A tale of two cities Africa has seen a schism between its francophone and anglophone startup ecosystems. The latter have vastly outperformed the former, carried by Nigeria and Kenya. Francophone Africa has had a late start to the race, despite ecosystems like Tunisia becoming legislative pioneers in the field. Multiple factors explain the dichotomy, each of them linked. First, anglophone Africa implemented foundational infrastructure such as mobile money earlier than its francophone counterparts. M-Pesa, widely recognized as mobile money’s paragon, hails from Kenya. Mobile money has been the cornerstone of many African startups’ strategies, representing a convenient halfway between burdensome but prevalent cash and efficient but rare online payments. This infrastructure fomented startup creation, putting pressure on the local job market to form startup-ready talent, such as developers. This gave rise to companies like Nigeria’s Andela, tasked with pumping out that tech-literate workforce. A similar trend is picking up pace in francophone Africa through companies like GoMyCode, but the initial infrastructure delay has retarded subsequent steps. This initial lag domino-affected VC funding. In Africa, a group of countries known as the “Big Four” (Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa) received over 75% of the continent’s 2022 VC funding. As the astute observer will note, anglophone Africa boasts three members in that group, compared to francophone Africa’s zero. These three linked reasons explain the logical, visible reasons for the lag. More subtle differences may have contributed as well. Anglophone African countries tend to enjoy a more entrepreneurial culture compared to Francophone ones, owing to divergences between English and French economic dogma (laissez-faire vs dirigisme). With an important fraction of African VC funding coming from the United States, francophone founders also face a substantial linguistic challenge when pitching in their second or third language. This overarching anglophone business culture led to the launch, as early as 2010, of formative tech hubs such as iHub and Co-Creation Hub in Nairobi and Lagos respectively. These encouraged knowledge sharing and skill building, crucial to exposing local talent to startups’ intricacies. Trade is also easier in anglophone regions. Anglophone East Africa is a more auspicious cross-border expansion environment than francophone West Africa, for example. Cultural uniformity plays a role, with West Africa’s religious mix making it hard for an Ivorian fintech founder to onboard Muslim (and thus usury-free) users in neighbouring Mali. Trade agreements in East Africa also hold more weight than the ones in West Africa. As for Nigeria, its crown as Africa’s most populous nation gives founders ample space to scale before even thinking of foreign forays. According to QZ, 39% of African countries are francophone.Graph source: Partech Ivory Coast: A smaller, francophone Nigeria? Despite the challenges, the past couple of years have seen francophone ecosystems pick up speed and the jury is out for its most promising contenders. Ivory Coast ranks high on the list. Compared to state-led peers such as Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire’s startup ecosystem was trail-blazed by the private sector. The CI20, a collective made up of early Ivorian founders, was instrumental in materializing an otherwise free-flowing ecosystem, including the implementation of the country’s Startup Act. Côte d’Ivoire’s founders operate in an unequal albeit booming economy, clocking in Africa’s highest 2024 GDP growth forecast. Compared to some of its anglophone neighbours, Côte d’Ivoire enjoys a sturdier currency by virtue of its peg to the euro. The digitalization of this growing economy is where the Ivorian startup opportunity lies. While the country’s ecosystem has witnessed an “Anglo-style” private-sector-led development, the country’s founders still face perennial “francophone” Africa problems. This includes a lack of familiarity with the lingo, codes, and other quirks of the VC-backed startup world. As a result, many promising Ivorian companies end up as stable digital SMEs rather than the fast-growing startups they could aspire to be. This is less of a problem in anglophone Lagos, where startup culture is more widespread. While orders of magnitude smaller than Nigeria (28 vs. 219 million people), parallels can be drawn between both ecosystems. Bottom-up development, a booming economy, and many industries to be tech-disrupted breed great potential. To attain the next level, the Ivorian ecosystem could benefit from what made Nigeria tick: an inflow of returning diaspora talent, bringing with them capital and startup savviness. Investors should view Côte d’Ivoire as a gateway to the 140 million people-strong francophone West Africa region, a vast and untapped greenfield for tech innovators. No need to reinvent the wheel One might wonder which business ideas Ivorian startups should pursue. The answer is not as complicated as many make it out to be. So far, many African startup successes have been built on the back of an existing business model, something that had worked elsewhere but not on the continent. Think online payment gateways, peer-to-peer fintech, e-commerce marketplaces and ride-hailing. Where Africans can claim a pioneer position are mobile-money-related innovations. The point is the following: if a business model is working in a socio-economically similar market to X African country, there’s an honest business case to launch it locally. This is especially true for startups digitizing the informal sector, a field where African founders can look to LATAM or South East Asia for inspiration. While geographically distant, these continents share the similarity of having a large informal sector and all the challenges (and opportunities) that it brings. LATAM and Southeast Asia are a few steps ahead of Africa economically, so observing what worked there could be insightful. For example, the thesis behind Frubana, a B2B marketplace connecting small restaurant owners to local producers, might’ve originated in Colombia but is pertinent to many African markets. With the right localization tweaks, such as enabling mobile money payments, the idea has the merit of at least being tested. Sourcing startup business models from slightly more advanced markets is akin to a crystal ball, conferring the ability to predict what startups might or might not work locally. As African founders search for the next big idea,
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Mastercard Foundation conference spotlights Africa’s edtech startups
Investor interest in African education technology (edtech) has cooled since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns highlighted how technology aids learning. Yet there’s an argument that a continent chock full of young people must continue its focus on education and technology. It’s the premise for the Mastercard Foundation Edtech conference which began in Abuja on Monday. Hundreds of conference participants from 13 African countries caused traffic delays on Aguiyi Ironsi Road, Maitama, and the adjoining roads leading to Transcorp Hilton Abuja on Monday morning. The participants, are a healthy mix of edtech founders, CEOs, investors, development institutions, university lecturers, students, and government officials. Many African tech conferences take broad outlooks and focus on big problems and regulators. It has created a gap for over 300 edtech companies that have taken time out this week to discuss the peculiar challenges of their industry. “This is the Web Summit of edtech startups,” said an excited founder who joined the queue of participants trying to access the main hall – a large tenth with a 600 seater capacity and an exhibition area with 24 companies. While 600 people are far from the hundreds of thousands of attendees the Web Summit records yearly, for the edtech industry the attendance at the Mastercard Foundation Edtech Conference was a feat. PICTURE: Attendees get their tags at one of the registration points. Attendance of 600 edtech who-is-who in Africa was impressive for an inaugural conference. It brought edtech startups into the same room with two parties critical to the industry’s growth – government and investors. 8 education ministers are at the conference with panel discussions scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. Mastercard Foundation believes that edtech can bridge the education gap and enable over 600 million young people in Africa to access quality education. Joseph Nsengimana, director, Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Mastercard Foundation, said the edtech conference was important as it gets every stakeholder in the industry talking to each other towards finding solutions to the many problems that the education sector faces in Africa. These solutions would include ways to make edtech services profit-oriented while still affordable to the underserved, to attract investors. Edtech startups have been trying to convince investors for many years that they can help people in underserved communities get needed quality education and make money for them by doing so. Only a few investors have been convinced. In 2023, over 300 edtech startups accounted for a paltry 0.7% of total funding to tech companies in Africa. Even in 2021 when funding to the industry rose to its highest at $81 million, it was still less than 2% of total funding. “The challenge is that many do not see where to come in. Companies need to pick areas of specialisation in edtech which gives a clearer picture for investment,” Chimdi Neliaki, Youth Reference Committee, Office of the AU Youth Envoy. The decline in edtech funds is also a result of issues with the scalability of the models, according to Ruth Wairimu, investment manager of Acumen Fund who spoke during an investors’ panel. The edtech models that scale are usually those that are B2B-focused and create solutions for private schools and public schools as well. The B2C edtech companies find it hard to scale because they depend on decisions from parents facing income inequalities. Nonetheless, investing in any edtech company, B2B model or B2C model, requires a different approach. “We need to encourage more investors to be more patient,” Wairimu said. But before getting more investors to fund startups, the infrastructure that powers the industry needs to be built. Tochukwu Ezeukwu, regional director of AVPA divides infrastructure into broadband and internet penetration. CAPTION: L-R: Rory Fynn, country director Nigeria, Mastercard Foundation, Bosun Tijani, Federal Minister of Communication, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Joseph Nsengimana, director, Mastercard Foundation, and Hon. Albert Nsengiyumva, executive secretary, Association for the Development of Education in Africa. “Edtech is not an end in itself. It is supposed to do something. Across many markets in Africa, there is little developed infrastructure that edtech would ride on and scale,” Ezeukwu said. The edtech industry may also be leaving funds on the table by working in silos while disconnected from government programmes on education, according to Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy. “The edtech industry is not taking advantage of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF),” Tijani said. The fund which is under the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, is to facilitate the achievement of national policy goals for universal access and universal service to information and communication technologies (ICTs) in rural, un-served, and under-served areas in Nigeria. It is more important to prioritize the content and how teachers use it to achieve learning outcomes in edtech solutions rather than just buying laptops for schools. This was the consensus of three-panel sessions that included the minister, Joseph Nsengimana, director, Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Mastercard Foundation, Albert Nsegiyumva, executive secretary of Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), Alex Twinomugisha, Risian Kanya, deputy vice-chancellor, Baze University, and Adefunke Ekine, deputy director, Research and External Relations, Tai Solarin University of Education.
Read MoreKenya misses revenue collection by $2 billion despite raising taxes
Despite tax increases in the 2023/2024 Finance Bill in Kenya, the country’s Revenue Authority (KRA) missed its tax collection target by $2.09 billion (KES 267 billion) for the financial year ending June 2024. The shortfall followed a tough macroeconomic environment that saw a drop in corporate profits and an increase in layoffs. KRA set a revenue target of $21.8 billion (KES 2.79 trillion) in the year under review. Corporation Income Tax (CIT), paid by profits, grew at a slower rate of 4.9% compared to 7.2% to June 2023, indicating reduced profitability in key sectors of the Kenyan economy including finance, insurance, ICT, and manufacturing. KRA also recorded the highest shortfall of $567 million (KES72.3 billion) in employee collections (pay-as-you-earn), despite introducing a new tax band in 2023 targeting top earners. Manufacturing tax collection recorded the biggest drop by 13% followed by ICT at 12.3% while finance and insurance declined by 2.4%. High operational costs including energy prices and the weakening of the Kenyan shilling against the dollar were some of the factors behind the economic slowdown. “Weak demand for manufactured goods affected by high retail prices that was a result of high cost of inputs (mainly import driven), high energy costs, said Humphrey Wattanga, KRA’s commissioner-general. KRA collected $18.8 billion (KES 2.4 trillion) in taxes for the 2023/2024 financial year, an 11.1% increase compared to the previous year. While KRA fell short of its overall target, reaching 95.5%. The agency saw a strong 34.9% growth in revenue collected for other government programs. Kenya’s tax revenue performance in 2023/2024 reflects the country’s challenging economic situation. Although the economy grew at a moderate 5.6% in 2023 compared to 4.9% in 2022, inflation remained a challenge early in the year, averaging 6.86% in the first half due to high fuel and energy costs. However, the Central Bank’s monetary policies helped bring inflation down to an average of 4.87% by the fourth quarter, which led to an annual average of 6.22% – a significant improvement from the previous year’s 8.78%.
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Ways to find your Twitter history in 2024
It’s easy to get lost in the moment of things when scrolling through different threads and trends on Twitter. Before you know it, you may mistakenly refresh or exit a thread you were looking to screenshot, a video you hoped to download, or a post you would bookmark. And sometimes, circling back on your past interactions on the platform can be a bit trickier, unlike when you’re browsing with Chrome, where you can quickly get your history through a dedicated tab. Here, we’ll explore the functionalities Twitter offers to find your history in 2024, including past views and interactions. 1. Using the standard Twitter search bar This method is suitable for finding specific tweets you saw or media interactions you had without bookmarking, liking, retweeting, or saving. However, it depends on how retentive your memory is of the textual components of the post you are trying to locate. In other words, you must remember a few words on the post or thread you’re looking for. If you remember any, here’s how to use the components you remember to find your desired post: Access Twitter: Log in to your Twitter account on the web or mobile app. Use the search bar: In the search bar at the top of the screen, type in your closest memory of the texts on the post you’re searching for. For example, let’s assume you’re looking for a random person’s tweet of a video with the caption, ‘Moonshot is one of the biggest tech events in Africa that happens in October, and it’s hosted by TechCabal.’ If the only words you can remember include ‘world tech TechCabal’, you’re good to go. Simply type those three words; the post will be among the search results, and the Twitter search engine will crawl up to you. You just need to scroll through to find it. Sometimes you can remember the handle that made the post, but can’t remember a word from the original post. Simply type in the handle into the search engine. Once you find it, scroll through their feed to locate the particular tweet. You can also use a comment you remember under the post you’re looking for to locate the post itself. Just type content from the comment into the search bar, and you should find the reply to the post. From there, you can easily find the handle that made the original post. 2. Leveraging Twitter’s advanced search Twitter’s Advanced Search feature is the way to go for a more refined search when trying to find your Twitter history, Twitter’s Advanced Search feature is the way to go. Here’s the process: Go to advanced search: Go to https://twitter.com/search-advanced?lang=en in your web browser. Tailor your search: Use the various filters offered. Under the “From accounts” section, enter your username to restrict results to your own activity. Specify dates: Use the calendar tool to define the exact date range for your search, helping you pinpoint specific interactions. Filter by engagement (Optional): You can refine results by filtering tweets with mentions, replies, or likes. 3. Downloading your Twitter archive to find your Twitter history This method provides a comprehensive record of your entire Twitter history. However, it doesn’t offer functionalities to explore the archive within the platform itself. Here’s what to do: Request your archive: Log in to your Twitter account on the web or mobile app. Go to Settings and Privacy > Your Account > Download an archive of your data. Verification and processing: Twitter will prompt you to confirm your password and may send a verification code. Processing the archive may take up to 24 hours. Download and explore: Once notified, download the archive (a .zip file) and explore its contents. The archive will contain your tweets, messages, media, and other account information. Note: It won’t contain information about accounts you’ve visited or media you consumed without commenting, reposting or liking them. Final thoughts on ways to find your Twitter history in 2024 Unfortunately, Twitter doesn’t store your complete search history. You can only find interactions based on keywords or usernames you remember. Also note that if you’ve deleted tweets in the past, they won’t be accessible through these methods.
Read MoreMoody’s downgrades Kenya’s credit rating after Ruto scrapped controversial taxes
Moody’s, a credit rating agency, has cut Kenya’s sovereign rating into junk, citing the country’s diminished capacity to pay its debts after recent protests forced President William Ruto to withdraw a controversial tax bill that would have raised billions in revenue. On Monday, the credit agency downgraded Kenya’s credit ratings by one level to Caa1 from B1 for local and foreign currency long-term issuer ratings and foreign-currency unsecured debt. After two weeks of protests, Kenya withdrew the controversial tax measures to de-escalate tensions. President Ruto proposed a 9% spending cut to the 2024/2025 budget which Moody’s said will narrow the fiscal deficit. Moody’s does not expect the East African nation to come up with new revenue-raising measures following the recent protests that turned deadly on June 25, leaving at least 41 people dead. The scrapped 2024 Finance Bill contained measures to raise an extra $2.7 billion to help the country manage ballooning debt and fund development programmes. “The downgrade of Kenya’s rating reflects significantly diminished capacity to implement revenue-based fiscal consolidation that would improve debt affordability and place debt on a downward trend,” Moody’s said in a statement. “In particular, the government’s decision not to pursue planned tax increases and instead rely on expenditure cuts to reduce the fiscal deficit represents a significant policy shift with material implications for Kenya’s fiscal trajectory and financing needs.” While the cuts announced by Ruto are expected to improve the country’s liquidity, the credit assessor maintains that Kenya’s fiscal deficit will reduce gradually than previously projected. It expects East Africa’s largest economy’s debt affordability to be weaker for longer. “As a result, we now expect the fiscal deficit to narrow more slowly, with Kenya’s debt affordability remaining weaker for longer. In turn, larger financing needs stemming from a wider deficit increase liquidity risk against more uncertain external funding options,” Moody’s said.
Read MoreMastercard Foundation convenes EdTech conference on resilient and inclusive learning in Africa
The Mastercard Foundation, an international non-governmental organisation, kicked off its inaugural EdTech conference on Monday in Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, with a conversation on advancing education with technology. “How do we build resilient and inclusive EdTech ecosystems?” asked Rosy Fynn, Country Director Nigeria, Mastercard Foundation, in a hall of over 500 people. She posed this question to the opening panel: Dr Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy; Joseph Nsengimana, Director, Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning; and Albert Nsengiyumva, Executive Secretary, Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). Tijani pointed out the need for a growing literacy agenda where Africans can be digital literates, as well as bridging a connection between the government and private sector. For Nsengimana, success in EdTech can be achieved when ecosystem players design a forward pathway with inclusivity in mind. One solution is a collaboration between EdTech innovators, telcos, and the government. Nsengiyumva called for more synergy between policymakers, and foundations invested in education. Joseph Nsengimana, the director of the Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning, said conversations regarding helping EdTech companies are part of why the conference is hosted in Nigeria. “We want to bring stakeholders and the government together to have conversations about what is missing, ” said Nsengimana on the sidelines of the conference. “What is your wish list? What goals do you want to see that will make your job easier.” With over 200 tech hubs in Africa, funding constraints have slowed growth in the EdTech sector. Despite receiving $81 million of investments in 2021, the number of funded companies in Africa fell from 29 in 2021 to 23 in 2023. Limited access to internet connectivity, infrastructure, and electricity are some of the roadblocks to EdTech’s growth. Funding constraints and scalability also emerged as critical pain points. The Mastercard Foundation hopes to address these issues by sharing successful strategies and fostering ICT innovations. “If you look at the publishing, the publishers are making money from books. How can we make it make sense for the investor? Nsengimana added. The Foundation plans to facilitate knowledge sharing among the 144 startups it has already supported.
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How to track a phone number in 2024
The need to track a phone number in 2024 can arise for various reasons. Perhaps you received a missed call from an unknown number, or are curious about a number associated with a suspicious message. While there’s no guaranteed foolproof method, here’s a breakdown of available options to consider when tracking a phone number in 2024. Important disclaimer Legality and ethical considerations surround tracking phone numbers in 2024. It’s vital to adhere to all applicable laws and regulations in your region. This guide explores publicly available methods and does not endorse any techniques that might violate privacy laws. Using online search engines An essential initial step for tracking a phone number in 2024 involves using online search engines. Here’s how it works: Enter the phone number: Simply type the complete phone number (including area code) into your preferred search bar. You may use Google. Analyse search results: The search engine might return various results associated with the number, including: Business listings if they belong to a company. Social media profiles if the number is linked to an account. Public records or news articles mentioning the number (limited cases). Effectiveness of this method of tracking a phone number The effectiveness of this method depends on the phone number’s usage. Business numbers are more likely to yield relevant results compared to personal numbers. Phone number lookup services with Third-Party options Several third-party websites and apps like TrueCaller offer reverse phone lookup services in 2024. These services claim to provide information about a phone number, including the owner’s name, address, and carrier. Important considerations: Accuracy and cost: The accuracy of information provided by these services can vary significantly. Some services might require a subscription fee. Privacy concerns: Carefully review the privacy policies of such services before using them. Proceed with caution: While reverse phone lookup services can be tempting for tracking a phone number in 2024, approach them cautiously due to potential limitations and privacy concerns. Using social media platforms to track phone number in 2024 Social media platforms can be a source of information for tracking a phone number in 204, but with limitations. Here’s why: Public profiles: If the phone number is linked to a public social media profile, you might find the owner’s name and some basic details. Limited scope: This method only works if the phone number is publicly associated with a social media account. Ethical considerations: Social media platforms typically have guidelines regarding user privacy. Avoid practices that might violate those guidelines. Official channels: Limited applicability In specific situations, contacting official channels might be necessary for tracking a phone number in 2024. Here are some examples: Law Enforcement: If you have a legitimate reason to track a phone number related to a crime or safety concern, you can contact law enforcement officials. Debt collection: If you’re being harassed by unknown callers, you might need to report the number to the relevant debt collection agency. Note: Reporting to official channels often involves legal requirements and specific procedures. Ensure you understand them before proceeding. Final thoughts Tracking a phone number in 2024 should prioritise legal and ethical considerations. Use publicly available information and exercise caution with third-party services. If necessary, consider seeking assistance from official channels.
Read MoreTLcom-backed Okra expands into cloud services
Okra, a Nigerian fintech whose APIs allow banks and other financial service providers to access customers’ data, is building a cloud infrastructure for businesses to host their data and run workloads. With Nigerian startups keen to reduce costs as inflation accelerates and interest rates remain high, Okra believes it can build a cheaper and more reliable alternative to foreign cloud providers like AWS and Azure. “Like every other business, we were doing market research to find more revenue streams,” one highly placed employee said in March, confirming its new cloud adventure. Fara Ashiru, Okra’s CEO did not respond to a request for comments. Nigerian cloud providers lobby government and PFAs for local data storage With this expansion, Okra joins a growing band of local cloud service providers rising to meet the demands of startups, big businesses, and government agencies. Some include Nobus Cloud Services, MainOne Cloud, Web4Africa, Galaxy Backbone, and Layer3 Cloud. While Africa’s cloud computing is highly contested, it is relatively large and the potential customers are willing to spend on reliable service. Open finance, the space Okra currently operates in, is currently a smaller opportunity. Okra’s open banking APIs enable third-party financial service providers to have responsible access to the bank information of their customers. The fintech’s expansion comes three months after it shut down three of its open finance products—Balance, Income, and Transaction—which helped digital lenders determine the creditworthiness of borrowers and facilitate loan repayment. “These products did not make any business sense to hold on to,” an Okra employee told TechCabal. There is very little visibility into the revenue of these open finance startups because they are private companies. One African early-stage investor questioned the market opportunity of open finance. “It is a small market and there are three big players who have raised a lot of money,” said the investor who asked not to be named so he could speak freely. “Eventually there will be one market leader.“ Okra has raised about $16.5 million while major competitors, Mono and Stitch, have raised over $17.6 million and over $52 million respectively. Okra did respond to requests for comments about its expansion. The market for companies that provide open finance APIs has also been limited by the central bank’s slow progress on open banking regulations. Despite adopting open banking regulations in March 2024, there is still an absence of common data-sharing standards. Consequently, some open banking users design their services to account for possible lapses in judgment by the technology. For example, digital lenders, aware of the imperfections of these tools in assessing creditworthiness may still apply risk premium to those loans. Okra had been working to partner with banks to standardise the banks’ APIs ahead of the enforcement of the open banking regulation, according to one person familiar with the business. In turn, Okra planned to use the relationship to improve the reliability of its open banking services. “Operating in silos with banks incentivises unreliability, and if there are no means to hold all partners accountable, scaling will be too risky and hard,” the person said.
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Nigeria wants to create its own blockchain
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning You can still get an early bird ticket to the second edition of TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference! From October 9–11, 2024, at the Eko Convention Centre, Lagos, Nigeria, you can join Africa’s biggest thinkers and players like join Iyin Aboyeji, Wiza Jalakasi, June Angelides, Kola Aina on a global launchpad for change. If you want to join these stakeholders in Africa’s tech ecosystem for three days of insightful conversations, then get an early-bird ticket to Moonshot 2024 at 20% off. In today’s edition OPay gets order to recover $456,00 from customers NITDA wants to create its own blockchain technology to secure data Niger Telecoms to reach remote areas with 16 new sites Norfund to invest $20 million in fintech The World Wide Web3 Opportunities Cybercrime OPay gets order to recover $456,000 from customers Speed in Nigerian banking was an evolution to solve that pesky trust problem you’ve read about somewhere. Instant transfer, for instance, was a boost for business, cutting down wait time and ensuring that sellers didn’t need to hold your shirt as you concluded a transaction. But even instant transactions were not fast enough to solve the trust problem in all instances. In many informal transactions, cash remained king, as transfers sometimes took 30 minutes or even hours to reach the recipient. One could sit in a restaurant, hours after demolishing eba and vegetable soup, but be held in a soft hostage situation because the restaurant owner hadn’t received the payment transfer. Solving that problem needed tremendous speed. And players like OPay, Moniepoint and Palmpay soon figured it out. If customers can receive payments in seconds or minutes, that’s how you truly solve for trust in the most sceptical Nigerian. But speed has a tradeoff. When you move fast, you break things. For Opay, this break came in the form of a technical glitch that allowed some customers to shop online for months without getting debited. These customers racked up a ₦714 million bill ($456,000) and many have refused to pay. While OPay has gotten a court order to begin recovering the funds in most value, you get the sense that there’s a bigger story here. While we’ll share that story tomorrow, catch up on our reporting here. Process payments smoothly with Moniepoint And we’ll have processed almost 5,000 more by the time you’re done reading this. Your business payments can be one of them. Click here to sign up. Crypto NITDA wants to create its own blockchain technology to secure data “Nigerium” is a hypothetical element with atomic number 444 and the symbol “Ngr”. Thanks to the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), it is also a proposed blockchain technology for Nigeria—like Ethereum. To hear NITDA tell it, Nigerium is a critical element in Nigeria’s digital future. NITDA says the blockchain smart contract will be the backbone of a new, secure digital identity system. It’s envisioned to not only protect citizens’ data but also streamline government services. The move to blockchain technology will ensure that the data of Nigerians is immutable, transparent, and secure from unauthorised access or manipulation, preventing embarrassment like the last data debacle. NITDA will argue precedent to pull from. China launched RealDID in 2023 to verify the real-name identities of its 1.4 billion population. The success of Nigerium will hinge on robust cryptographic protocols, scalability to handle millions of identities of Nigerians, and most crucially, public trust. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Building a national blockchain is no small feat. It’ll take brains, resources, and a heap of political will. Issue USD and Euro accounts with Fincra Create and manage USD & Euro accounts from anywhere. Fincra allows you to issue accounts to your users, partners & customers to collect payments without the stress of setting up and operating a local account. Get started today. Internet Niger Telecoms to reach remote areas with 16 new sites In 2016, Niger merged its public telephone and mobile communications companies into one entity—Niger Telecoms—to expand its market share in the mobile communications market. Fast forward to 2024, and Niger Telecoms is still playing catch-up with other telecoms in the country, holding a mere 6% market share. But don’t count it out just yet. Niger Telecoms has just planted 16 new telecom sites in the Maradi region, part of a larger plan by the National Agency for the Information Society of Niger to connect 1.4 million people living in 2,111 communities with mobile and broadband internet services over the next six years. Each site is a complex hub of pylons, power systems, and networking equipment, capable of transmitting voice calls, routing data, and connecting the unconnected to the digital world. For farmers, it could mean real-time access to market prices. For students, it’s a gateway to online education. It’s a critical initiative in a country where almost 1 in 3 citizens, especially those in rural areas, face difficulty accessing mobile networks. These new towers aren’t just infrastructure—they’re lifelines. The battle between the Nigerien government and mobile network operators (MNOs) is a constant dogfight, as the latter have been fined more than 4.3 billion CFA francs ($7.1 million) for failing to meet quality of service standards—including failing to provide network access to rural Nigeriens. The potential payoff is enormous: With this development, increased connectivity could spur economic growth, improve education and healthcare outcomes in rural areas, and even enhance governance through better communication between citizens and authorities. It’s a step towards mobile inclusion that could help Niger leapfrog stages of development. Paystack Virtual Terminal is now live in more countries Paystack Virtual Terminalhelps businesses accept secure, in-person payments with real-time WhatsApp confirmations and ZERO hardware costs. Enjoy multiple in-person payment channels, easy end-of-day reconciliation, and more. Learn more on the Paystack blog → Funding Norfund to invest $20 million in fintech “Banking the unbanked” may have firmly entered the realm of cliches, but financial inclusion is still a problem to be
Read MoreFive interesting takeaways from GTCO’s “Facts Behind the Offer” presentation
Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), the parent company of GTBank, Nigeria’s 5th biggest bank by assets, announced a public offer to raise ₦400 billion, joining Fidelity Bank and Access Bank to raise capital on the stock market to meet the capital requirements imposed by the Central Bank. On Monday, the lender held a “Facts Behind the Offer” presentation to investors, regulators, and stakeholders on the main floor of the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX). Here are five interesting takeaways from the presentation. GTCO was always going to raise fresh capital According to GTCO’s GCEO Segun Agbaje, the plan to raise fresh capital was in the works months before the CBN increased the capital threshold for lenders by tenfold. “We aren’t only raising this because the Central Bank asked us to do so. We have decided before that we are going to raise capital. We are going to grow the business in Nigeria and grow the non-banking businesses,” he said. 90 billion shares up for grabs GTCO will offer 9 billion shares at ₦44.50 each. The lender hopes to conclude the offer by the first week of August. The Leading issuing house is Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited, while joint issuing houses include Absa Capita Markets Nigeria, FCMB Capital Markets, and Vetiva Advisory. Aggressive growth If there is anything to remember about the presentation, it has to be Agbaje’s emphasis on the lender’s growth and expansion ambitions. “There is no Nigerian company that has ever made a billion dollars in profit and we are going to be the first ones to give you that,” he said. GTCO, which has four main business segments, will use ₦370 billion of the total amount for the growth and expansion of the banking businesses (including recapitalisation of GTBank Nigeria). ₦22.4 billion will be used to expand the company’s asset management and pension business. It also plans to use N133 billion for corporate, commercial, and SME loans. The group will also expand to new countries like Senegal and grow existing subsidiaries like Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, and Kenya. GTCO’s thesis for expansion is about scale and not just building across different markets. “I am not going to name any bank. We aren’t in 40 countries, there is no business in 40 countries. It is a waste of time. We go to countries where there is GDP growth, youthful population, and loan-to-population ratio is low,” Agbaje said. Maximising shareholder value Agbaje spoke about how the group prioritises maximising shareholder value. GTCO has averaged a 29% return on average equity (RoAE) in the last ten years. The company, with a market capitalisation of ₦1.39 trillion, accounts for about 9% of stocks traded on the NGX. “If you have invested in us over the last ten years, your return is about 253%,” Agbaje said. New subsidiaries growing rapidly In the last two years, GTCO has made inroads into non-banking industries, launching three new businesses: a fintech subsidiary, HabariPay, GT Fund Managers, and GT Pension Managers. These businesses have grown 10x, Agbaje claimed. The group hopes to strengthen these businesses with the new capital. “In three years, these businesses must give us 5% of group profit and they must be number one, number two, or number three in whatever industry they find themselves,” Agbaje said.
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