Apple announces iPhone 17e and iPad Air M4: Everything you need to know
Table of contents iPhone 17e iPad Air M4 Everything else announced Apple kicked off the first week of March 2026 with a major hardware push, a shiftfrom centralised keynote events toward a multi-day rollout of product announcements. This “Big Week” started on Monday, March 2, 2026, through coordinated press releases and product videos on the Apple Newsroom. The physical events will take place at the “Apple Experience” sessions on March 4, 2026, across three cities: New York, London, and Shanghai, starting at 9 a.m. ET (3 p.m. WAT). These are invite-only, in-person sessions giving local media a hands-on look at the hardware. The central theme for this week is “Accessible Intelligence.” Apple is bringing features previously locked behind Pro pricing into its more affordable lineup. The iPhone 17e gets the A19 chip, and the new iPad Air runs on the M4 processor, meaning the full suite of Apple Intelligence features now works across the entire 2026 product line. For buyers in Nigeria and across Africa, where the “e” series and Air models make up a significant part of the premium market, these updates are a meaningful step forward without requiring the price tag of a Pro Max or Ultra device. iPhone 17e Image source: @theapplehub on X Processor and performance A19 chip (3nm), 6-core CPU (4 performance + 2 efficiency cores) Up to 2x faster than iPhone 11 4-core GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing and console-level gaming support 16-core Neural Engine redesigned for large generative AI models Connectivity and battery Apple-designed C1X modem, up to 2x faster than the C1 in iPhone 16e 30% more energy-efficient than previous modems 26-hour battery life for video playback Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, USB-C Display 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED (60Hz) Ceramic Shield 2 front cover, 3x better scratch resistance than previous gen Anti-reflective coating, peak HDR brightness up to 1,200 nits Camera 48MP Fusion rear camera with 2x optical-quality Telephoto 12MP TrueDepth front camera with Face ID, 4K Dolby Vision Storage and Accessories Starts at 256GB (512GB option available) MagSafe (15W) and Qi2 support, first time in an “e” model Standout features Apple emphasised Ceramic Shield 2 and an IP68 rating make it the most durable “e” model yet Storage doubles from the previous gen at the same starting price, addressing a common pain point with high-resolution photos and 4K video MagSafe inclusion opens access to a wide ecosystem of magnetic accessories, including wallets, car mounts, and fast wireless chargers Action button now available on the “e” model for the first time, customizable for flashlight, camera, or Visual Intelligence New matte finish in soft pink, black, and white Design changes in iPhone 17e vs. iPhone 16e Same 6.1-inch form factor, but with a new matte finish that resists fingerprints Still uses a notch for TrueDepth camera and Face ID (no Dynamic Island) IP68 water and dust resistance retained An action button was added, which was previously exclusive to Pro and standard iPhone 17 models New colour added: soft pink, alongside black and white Specs summary Pricing 256GB: $599 globally 512GB: $799 globally Nigeria pricing for the iPhone 16e ranged from ₦1,200,000 to ₦1,400,000 at launch (2025) With double the base storage and the current exchange rate of approximately ₦1,370.89 per $1, the iPhone 17e is expected to retail between ₦1,500,000 and ₦1,700,000 at authorised resellers like iStore and iConnect. Availability and release date Pre-orders open globally on Wednesday, March 4, at 6:15 a.m. PT (2:15 p.m. WAT) In-store availability and shipping begin Wednesday, March 11, 2026 iPad Air M4 Image source: @theapplehub on X Chip and performance M4 chip with 8-core CPU and 9-core GPU Multi-core performance up to 30% faster than the M3 model and up to 2.3x faster than the M1 GPU supports second-generation hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, with 3D rendering over 4x faster than M1 16-core Neural Engine, 3x faster than M1, for near-instant AI features like Image Wand and Clean Up Memory and storage 12GB unified memory, up 50% from the previous generation 120GB/s memory bandwidth Storage options: 128GB up to 1TB Connectivity Apple N1 chip enabling Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread support Cellular variants use the C1X modem, up to 50% faster cellular data than the previous model, and 30% more energy-efficient Available in Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Cellular configurations Display Liquid Retina IPS LCD, 500 nits brightness, P3 wide colour, True Tone Available in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes 60Hz refresh rate (no ProMotion) Camera 12MP front-facing camera with Centre Stage, now repositioned to the landscape edge for more natural eye contact during video calls Standout features Apple emphasised Positioned as an “AI powerhouse” with full Apple Intelligence support out of the box 12GB RAM removes the bottleneck for running large AI models and creative apps like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro N1 chip brings Wi-Fi 7 for significantly faster and more reliable wireless speeds C1X modem on cellular models is ideal for professionals in Lagos and Abuja relying on 5G for mobile work Landscape camera placement improves the video call experience when using a keyboard Changes vs. iPad Air M2 Jumped directly from M2 chip to M4 chip, skipping the M3 entirely in this product line RAM increased from 8GB to 12GB Front camera moved to the landscape edge (both 11-inch and 13-inch models) N1 networking chip added, replacing the previous Wi-Fi solution Maintains the same thin and light design with no exterior changes Full specs comparison Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard compatibility Fully compatible with Apple Pencil Pro: supports squeeze for tool palette, barrel roll for precise brush control, and haptic feedback Also supports the more affordable Apple Pencil (USB-C) Compatible with the Magic Keyboard for iPad Air, which includes backlit keys, a 14-key function row, a large Multi-Touch trackpad, and connects via Smart Connector (no Bluetooth pairing or separate charging needed) Magic Keyboard available in black and white to match the four iPad Air colour options: Space Gray, Blue, Purple, and Starlight Global pricing (same as previous generation): 11-inch
Read More“I invest in people first”: How a UK-based Nigerian angel backs startups from abroad
Since the early 2020s, Nigeria’s tech industry has faced a wave of talent migration, which peaked after COVID-19. While the trend has raised valid concerns about brain drain, it has created a new class of diasporan angel investors backing Nigerian startups. Several angel networks have emerged from this shift, including HoaQ, which caters specifically to diasporan investors and founders. While these syndicates continue to grow in membership, capital deployed and influence, some angel investors continue to back startups independently. Though these cheques are typically small by venture standards, they play the critical role of giving founders early runway to validate ideas before syndicates, accelerators and early-stage VC firms step in. One such angel investor is Uche Divine, a 26-year-old Manchester-based product designer who works in London. He relocated from Lagos in 2023 and began investing after his first year abroad. Since then, he has backed two undisclosed startups as an angel investor through HoaQ. Angel investors are foundational to any tech ecosystem. They provide capital when institutional investors will not and often offer hands-on support at the earliest stages. Drawing on six years of experience as a product designer, Ibeafu also advises the founders he backs on product development. For this week’s Ask an Investor, I spoke with Divine about his journey into angel investing as a source of passive income and long-term retirement planning; his founder-led approach, which prioritises trust and product viability over a defined thesis; and how his product background shapes his edge as an investor. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. How many startups have you invested in, over what time period, and how have they performed so far? I’ve invested in two, and because I invested in both of them last year, I can’t really speak to performance yet. They’re still in the building phase. I just put the money in and told myself, “Okay, I’ve never done this before. I might as well do it for my first time and see how it works.” Both companies were built by people I trust. I know these guys; I’ve seen them work, and I trust what they’re doing. Why did you write the cheque—was it more support, or more that you believed in the startups? Both. I have a couple of friends building things—people I trust—but I didn’t give them money. This one was different. It was both: these are my people, and what they’re building makes sense. It wasn’t a difficult decision. After securing exits for its angel network, HoaQ is expanding with a dedicated VC fund At what point did you move from being a non-angel investor to being an angel investor? I want multiple sources of income, and I want to invest. Investing is how I imagine my “endgame”. I’ve spoken to friends, and many of them want to own a company or build something big. But for me, how I picture calling it quits is having a serious portfolio—just chilling on an island and living off profits from investments. I already explored other parts of the market: I buy stocks, I buy crypto, and I’ve played across different parts of the financial market. Angel investing was just the one thing I hadn’t done. So it felt like the perfect time to try it, especially because these founders were doing something I was interested in. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. When you invest in startups, do you have a thesis, or are you investing based on what you believe will be a good company? And what made you believe in the two you invested in? Because I’m still a beginner—like a baby angel investor—I don’t have a solid thesis yet. I can’t even tell you the returns right now because there’s nothing to measure yet. I invested mainly based on the people building and what they were building, and whether it made sense. One of them is an AI startup solving a serious problem. I don’t want to mention the name, but it’s addressing a key problem in its space. And the advice people always give is: follow the money, follow volume. Most of the companies making the most money right now are AI companies. So, if there’s one that makes sense and what they’re doing looks like it’ll eventually make money, that’s enough for me. To be fair, it was partly trend-driven. But if this is something I’m going to do more of, I’ll definitely develop a thesis. Right now, it felt safer to invest in people I trusted and in products I felt would work. It was instinct. Over time, as I invest more, I’ll build a clearer thesis. Experience improves everything. Are you investing to generate venture-scale returns or to build proximity and learn how startups work? It’s a bit of both. I’m investing for returns too, but right now, I’m also trying to understand how it works. Watching the founders go through this process has taught me a lot. I might eventually build something myself and need to raise money or go through different rounds. So for me, it’s also a learning curve—how to approach fundraising, how to reach out to VC firms—just by being close to people building and raising. What unfair advantage do you think you have as an angel investor? What makes a founder want to take your money, knowing they’re giving up equity? For me, it’s mainly my insight into how digital products work. If you’ve invested in a company, you’re part of it. The way I tell people: I own Google stocks, even if they’re diluted. If Google does anything, I’m like, “That’s my company,” because I own a piece of it. With angel investing, you’re even closer to the company. For the two companies I invested in, whenever there’s a new update or feature, they reach out: “Come and see this—what do you think?” I take it more seriously because my money is in it. I’m not just advising as a friend. I’m advising as a part-owner.
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Xiaomi 17 Series global launch: Everything Xiaomi announced in Barcelona
Table of contents Xiaomi 17 Series Everything else announced Pricing On Saturday, February 28, Xiaomi held its biggest international hardware showcase yet in Barcelona, Spain. The event took place just days before Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026. It served as the global stage for the Xiaomi 17 series, alongside a major expansion of Xiaomi’s “Human x Car x Home” ecosystem. Xiaomi President William Lu set the tone early. Under the theme “The New Wave of Imagery,” he pointed to 2025 as a breakthrough year for the company with €55 billion in revenue, and announced plans to invest €24 billion in research and development. over the next five years. This event was a statement of intent to take on the premium smartphone market head-on. According to Counterpoint Research and Canalys, Xiaomi has ranked as the world’s third-largest smartphone brand for five consecutive years and now holds strong positions in wearables and tablets too. In Barcelona, the company leaned hard into “Essential Leica Imagery” and its “Strategic Co-creation Model,” where hardware and software are built together to recreate the look and feel of legendary cameras. The goal is a unified ecosystem, not a collection of separate gadgets. Xiaomi 17 Series The centrepiece of the Barcelona event was the global debut of the Xiaomi 17 series, comprising the Xiaomi 17 and the imaging-focused Xiaomi 17 Ultra. Both phones run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a 3nm processor built for high performance and on-device AI. One thing to note: the global versions have slightly adjusted battery sizes compared to their Chinese counterparts, which is standard practice due to international certification requirements and the goal of a slimmer chassis. 1. Xiaomi 17 Image source: Xiaomi on YouTube The Xiaomi 17 is built for people who want a compact flagship without sacrificing anything. At 6.3 inches, it is designed to sit comfortably in your hand while delivering the same top-tier performance you would expect from a much larger phone. Design-wise, the display bezels are just 1.18mm thin, achieved through LIPO display packaging technology, giving the phone an almost borderless look. The screen uses an M10 display panel with SuperRED luminous material, hitting a peak brightness of 3,500 nits. That means the display holds up even under intense sunlight. It supports 1.5K resolution, a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, and is protected by Xiaomi Dragon Crystal Glass. One of the biggest talking points at the event was the 6,330mAh silicon-carbon battery. That is the largest battery capacity you will find in any 6.3-inch flagship today, with an energy density of 894Wh/L. For charging, you get 100W wired HyperCharge and 50W wireless HyperCharge, with 22.5W reverse wireless charging as well. On the camera side, the Xiaomi 17 packs a Leica-branded triple 50MP system. The primary sensor is the Light Fusion 950, measuring 1/1.31-inch and featuring a 13.5EV dynamic range. That sits alongside a 50MP ultra-wide (102 degree FOV) and a 50MP floating telephoto lens with 2.6x optical zoom and 10cm macro capability. The front camera is also 50MP and supports 4K/60fps video. Under the hood, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 pairs with up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage. The phone also carries an IP68 dust and water resistance rating. Pricing and availability The Xiaomi 17 starts at €999 for the 256GB variant and €1,099 for the 512GB model. Official Nigeria pricing has not been announced yet, but based on historical trends and the ongoing global memory shortage, expect a price range of ₦1,250,000 to ₦1,450,000. The phone will be available in Black, Venture Green, Alpine Pink, and Ice Blue starting in early March 2026. 2. Xiaomi 17 Ultra Image source: Xiaomi on YouTube The Xiaomi 17 Ultra is designed for photographers, content creators, and anyone who wants the absolute best in mobile imaging. It is also the first Ultra model to feature a flat display, which improves ergonomics without sacrificing screen quality. Despite housing a massive camera module, the phone measures just 8.29mm thick. The display is a 6.9-inch 2K LTPO AMOLED panel with peak brightness of 3,500 nits, a 120Hz refresh rate, and support for 68 billion colours. Inside, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is paired with a 3D Dual-Channel IceLoop cooling system that improves thermal conductivity by 50% compared to the previous generation. Memory goes up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB of storage. The camera setup is what separates the 17 Ultra from everything else. It features a triple-camera array co-engineered with Leica, anchored by a 50MP Light Fusion 1050L primary shooter with a 1-inch-type sensor and next-generation LOFIC High Dynamic technology, delivering an industry-leading 16.5EV sensor dynamic range. The standout component is the 200MP periscope telephoto lens with continuous optical zoom from 75mm to 100mm (3.2x to 4.3x), capable of lossless 17.2x optical-level zoom and 26cm macro shots. The front camera shoots 4K at 120fps with Log support for professional video work. Battery capacity is 6,000mAh with 90W wired HyperCharge and 50W wireless HyperCharge. The phone supports 51 roaming bands across 210 countries and carries an IP69 rating for high-pressure water resistance. Pricing and availability The Xiaomi 17 Ultra is priced at €1,499 for the 512GB version and €1,699 for the 1TB model. In Nigeria, expect a price range of ₦2,200,000 to ₦2,600,000. That jump from its predecessor reflects both the global DRAM shortage and currency shifts. Colour options are Starlit Green, White, and Black, with availability starting in early March 2026. 3. Leica Leitzphone powered by Xiaomi Image source: Xiaomi on YouTube One of the biggest surprises in Barcelona was the global launch of the Leica Leitzphone powered by Xiaomi. This is a special edition of the 17 Ultra built to mark 100 years of Leica, and it goes far beyond putting a logo on the back. Leica’s own optical engineers were directly involved in the hardware and industrial design, modelling it after the aesthetic of the Leica M-series cameras. The phone has a durable aluminium-alloy body with
Read MoreAt Zikoko Citizen Townhall, builders urged to engage, not avoid, regulators
The intersection between innovation and regulation took centre stage at the Zikoko Citizen Townhall on Saturday, February 28, themed, “Who shapes the Nigerian life?” Held at the Four Points by Sheraton in Lagos, industry leaders dissected the psychological and financial toll of regulatory uncertainty, offering a pragmatic roadmap for founders navigating one of the world’s most volatile business environments. Speaking on a panel titled “Innovation under pressure: How politics shapes what can be built in Nigeria,” Oswald Osaretin Guobadia, Managing Partner at DigitA, an advisory and policy development firm, challenged the notion that innovation must always outpace the law. He argued that the friction often stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of what new technology represents to those in power. “The government doesn’t understand disruption,” he said. “What they see is displacement. Essentially, what they’re saying is that they see that something has changed. In the absence of understanding, actions will be taken in the form of bans and a number of other tools that the government has at its disposal.” Amaka Okechukwu Opara, Founding Partner at Weav Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in gender-smart companies, pointed to specific interventions that laid the groundwork for the current tech boom. “Other countries came to Lagos to understand how to do better in terms of right of way, and the building of fibre optics in Lagos. That was one of the big things that spread in the hubs in Yaba,” Opara said. However, she also pointed out the unfavourable realities of the present day, where macroeconomic instability threatens to undo such progress. “[Exchange rates] have real implications on businesses. Businesses are struggling and are building despite what I can say is one of the toughest environments for doing business in the world,” she said. The personal cost of this volatility was echoed by Douglas Kendyson, founder and CEO of Selar, an e-commerce startup that helps creators sell products, who offered a nuanced view. “Regulation is not there to cloud businesses,” he said. “The honest idea is that they’re there to protect the citizens.” However, he recalled the 2021 cryptocurrency ban as a moment where that protection felt more like a threat. Addressing how to break this cycle of “displacement,” Guobadia emphasised that the missing component is active citizen and founder participation in the halls of power. He suggested that the gap between the private sector and the state is often a matter of communication. “It’s important that those of us who are creating amazing ideas find a way to engage the government and the policymakers on what you’re trying to achieve,” he said. Opara reinforced the need for proactive engagement of policymakers, framing it as a core business function rather than an afterthought. In her view, ignoring the regulator is a form of negligence. “If you’re a fit tech company and you’re not already going to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regularly, then you’re doing something wrong. You have to be proactive and engaged,” she said.
Read MoreDigital Nomads: The World Cup trip that turned Tayo Aina into a global creator
In 2018, Tayo Aina boarded a plane headed to Russia for the FIFA World Cup without a visa. He did not watch football, but his friends planned to watch the tournament live, so he took the opportunity to leave Africa for the first time. With about *₦300,000 ($$831.06) gathered from his filmmaking side gigs, he bought a return flight ticket and landed in Moscow in the middle of June. The Russian parliament had just approved a bill make the country visa-free throughout the World Cup. To qualify, all visitors needed to do was buy a flight ticket, which granted them a FAN ID that served as a permit to fly into Russia. That trip was the beginning of a new kind of hunger for Aina. “It was a lot of exposure,” he said, realising life was different from what he had known. “Life doesn’t have to be the way it was in Lagos—people can live differently.” In the month he had toured Moscow, watched football matches, and taken midnight walks without fear, Aina decided, he would see the rest of Africa. “[I realised,] if I could go back to Africa, then I could travel more,” he said. “Let me go across Africa, too, [and see] what Africa is like.” This is the story of Tayo Aina, YouTube creator, filmmaker, and tech founder. Aina had spent time working within the tech space before ever transitioning into the media. Before he ventured into travel and film production, he was building Spacebook, an app to book a space for events, meetings, and vacations, which he intended to be the ‘Airbnb of Africa.’ He soon realised that Spacebook was not viable, and coming off a tech career pathway, later worked as an Uber driver in Lagos in 2017, which allowed him to see places he ordinarily would not. In between rides, he would watch YouTube videos that exposed him to international creators documenting other cities. As an Uber rider, driving customers to restaurants and diverse locations, he began documenting places to visit with the phone he had at the time, then uploading them to YouTube. Eventually, Aina rented equipment to film weddings, events, and construction sites privately for clients. It was not until April 2018, when an international music star, J Cole, visited Nigeria, and Aina offered his team free video coverage in exchange for a ticket to his concert, that he realised the impact he could make with the videos he created. In under 48 hours, Aina edited the video of the performance surrounded by a crowd pulsing with energy, and uploaded it to his YouTube channel, garnering him a million views at the time. As Aina created videos, he began to recognise the power of the stories he told, revealing Lagos and Nigeria in ways his audience and the curious public did not seem to have experienced. “I started to see comments of people saying, ‘I’ve never seen Nigeria like this, or Lagos like this before, or now I have something to show my friends in the US or UK,” he recalled. It became obvious that he wasn’t just making videos but telling powerful stories that were changing perceptions. From his observation, the people commonly documenting the stories of African were non-Africans, and while it was ‘cool to watch,’ nuances and context were different, and sometimes missing. Aina is clear about why the African perspective matters, whether home or abroad: “A white person who lives in New York, their lifestyle and their perception are different from someone who grew up in Nigeria, moved to New York and is now living there. And I felt like nobody was capturing that.” How a global lockdown birthed the ‘Made in Africa’ series After Aina’s trip to watch the World Cup in Moscow, he returned more resolute to document the rest of Africa beyond Nigeria’s borders. “That’s how it started,” he admitted. “It became a bigger vision of ‘let me showcase Africa’.” Aina did not make his next international trip till a year after when he visited Kenya; all the while, he continued to upload videos on YouTube and create content for private clients. In February 2020, he planned a one-month visit to South Africa. While in the country, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the country, rolling with vineyards and wine tasting cellars, came to a standstill. The lockdown extended Tayo’s one-month visit to an eight-month stay. It was here that his lens started to take a different subject. “I felt that as I’m promoting culture[s], and tourism,” he said. “ I also want to promote the people because I know how hard it is to build a business, and black people, Africans need as much support as they can get.” With the lockdown, Aina had ample time. When his friend mentioned his mechanic, a Yoruba man from Nigeria with a story worth telling, Aina grabbed his camera and went off to the workshop. In the midst of metal drilling, soapy bonnets and polished car trunks, the ‘Made in Africa’ series was born. “Those are conversations that I would normally have without the camera,” Aina said. “It was me sharing that interest, bringing it onto a camera and making it, in a way, a lot of people can learn from how others build their businesses.” Aina returned to Nigeria in October, but not before gaining his first 100,000 subscribers while in South Africa. Later that year, YouTube monetised his channel. It took a while to access his funds because of the logistics around receiving his AdSense PIN, but eventually, he did and received his first payout in 2021. As he continued to travel, telling stories of cultures and the people behind them, Aina started to get enquiries about creating videos and growing a successful YouTube channel. “I always wished there was somebody who could take me through the process of how to grow a YouTube channel… but I never found that,” he said. Driven by a desire to distil years of trial, error and growth
Read MoreDay 1–1000 of Sharesell: How a market question built a credit startup
Every day for a month, Praise Olaoluwa showed up at Eko market, the cluster of Balogun and Idumota markets on Lagos Island, one of Nigeria’s commercial hubs. Not to sell anything. Not to pitch anyone. Just to be there – to eat lunch with the traders, share dinner, celebrate birthdays, buy a bottle of whisky when someone added another year. He was trying to understand how these businesses breathed: how they bought, how they sold, and how money moved through their hands each day. Then he noticed something. Every time he showed up, someone asked the same question, almost jokingly: “Have you come with money for us?” It happened once. Then again. And again. Different traders, the same question. “It didn’t happen once. It didn’t happen twice,” Olaoluwa says. “There were different people who were asking. Have you brought money for us to do business?” That was the moment everything clicked. Sharesell, the inventory-backed operating system for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that he had been building and rebuilding since 2022, finally had its answer. Day 1: A marketplace nobody needed Sharesell did not start as a lending company. It started as a marketplace. The idea emerged from observing a business model that had quietly gone mainstream in Nigeria: WhatsApp vendors. After WhatsApp launched its Status feature in 2017, informal sellers turned it into a 24-hour shopfront, posting products for a 24-hour shopfront and fielding orders through direct messages. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. With people stuck at home and searching for income, selling on WhatsApp became one of the lowest-friction options available. Behind the scenes, however, the supply chain was chaotic. A buyer places an order. The vendor calls the supplier to check if the item exists. The supplier ships to the vendor. The vendor ships to the buyer. No tracking. No visibility. Constant delays. “The whole process was fragmented,” Olaoluwa says. He built a marketplace to fix it: a platform connecting suppliers with resellers. Vendors could select a product, add their margin, share it on social media, and let Sharesell handle payment, settlement, and delivery. It was clean, simple, and logical – at least Olaoluwa thought so. The only problem was that the vendors didn’t think they had a problem. “They were okay with having to reach out manually to suppliers by themselves,” he says. “They were even okay going into the markets to buy items and resell.” What Sharesell had built was, in his words, a vitamin — useful, but not urgent. Nobody wakes up in pain for a vitamin. Day 500: Going back to the drawing board, twice After the first version stalled, Olaoluwa and his co-founder, Osamudiamen Imasuen– a childhood friend of over 20 years who initially joined to design the UI before becoming co-founder – shifted focus to the suppliers. If the resellers did not feel the pain, maybe the suppliers did. They rebuilt the platform for merchants: importers and major distributors operating in markets like Eko. They offered shopfronts, logistics tools, and inventory management systems. The suppliers engaged with it. But engagement wasn’t retention. “They didn’t come back to it as they should have,” Olaoluwa says. Inventory systems only work if updated regularly. Miss a week or a month, and the data becomes unreliable. The habit breaks. Part of the problem was cultural. These were businesses that had kept sales books by hand for decades. Convincing them to digitise was not just a product problem; it was a behaviour change problem. “You can maybe penetrate, but the resistance is going to remain there whether you like it or not,” he says. That’s when Olaoluwa put down his laptop and went to the market himself, every day, for a month. What he found there changed everything. The suppliers weren’t struggling with inventory software. They were struggling with cash. Banks asked for collateral they didn’t have, and the loan terms didn’t match their sales cycles. Traditional banking was built for corporate-style businesses and had largely left them out. “These guys, while the need was valid, were marginalised,” he says. Sharesell became a lending company. It took nine months of conversations to close the first credit partner. When Sharesell did, they secured a $4 million line of credit. Within the first week of launching Pulse — their lending product — over 400 businesses had qualified for loans. “The demand was more than the supply we had at that point,” Olaoluwa says. But they had learned one critical lesson early: don’t give cash. When some of these business owners received money directly, it had a tendency to go toward other things — a renovation, a second wife, urgent family needs. Instead, Sharesell collateralises each loan against the inventory or asset it’s purchasing. A business submits what they need. Sharesell buys it on their behalf and delivers it. The loan is secured against something real, and if repayment fails, the inventory can be recovered and resold. That insight—financing tied to goods, not cash—is the spine of what Sharesell is today. Day 1000: Distribution is everything Sharesell is now a team of 10, split between Lagos and Kaduna, where the engineering team is based. Olaoluwa shuttles between both but stays closer to Lagos because that’s where the suppliers are, where the partners are, and where the deals get done. “You can’t sit in Kaduna and be doing business in Lagos,” he says. The company is bootstrapped, initially funded by the founders’ savings and crypto gains from 2018 to 2020, and later topped up by an undisclosed friends-and-family round. External fundraising has been on the radar since 2023, but when the funding climate turned cold, they made a deliberate decision: build toward profitability first. “I’m trying to optimise for productivity,” Olaoluwa says, “rather than for raising.” That same shift in thinking has changed how Olaoluwa leads. In the early days, he and his co-founder were obsessed with the product — building, iterating, shipping. The market was secondary. “We didn’t engage the market early enough to be sure this is
Read MoreAn AU-endorsed reskilling drive is expanding into South Africa
Womandla Foundation, a South African upskilling non-profit, has partnered with the International Association of Volunteer Effort and IBM SkillsBuild to launch Phase Two of Reskilling Revolution Africa in South Africa. The initiative aims to equip women and young people with future-ready skills as automation continues to reshape entry-level work. The International Association of Volunteer Effort is a global network that promotes volunteering for social change, while IBM SkillsBuild is a free digital learning platform. “At IBM, we believe that access to technology skills is a catalyst for inclusive economic growth,” John Matogo, corporate social responsibility leader for IBM Middle East and Africa, said at the launch on Thursday. Reskilling Revolution Africa, endorsed by the African Union in 2023, piloted its first phase from late 2024 in Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa, reaching about 30,000 young people. Participants enrol through local NGOs, complete curated learning pathways on IBM SkillsBuild, spanning digital literacy, AI, cybersecurity, entrepreneurship and soft skills, and earn globally recognised certificates. The model combines self-paced online courses with mentorship, volunteering and community projects to build practical experience and employability. Phase Two, now being rolled out in South Africa by the Womandla Foundation, expands course offerings such as AI and green skills. Cohorts run 8–10 weeks with mentoring and post-training support to translate credentials into jobs, entrepreneurship or further study. South Africa’s youth unemployment rate for ages 15–24 sits near 59%, one of the highest globally. While job losses in South Africa linked to AI and automation are still only estimates, the reality is that some workers are being laid off, and freelancers are struggling to find new work. It is difficult to tell whether these retrenchments are driven by AI, cost-cutting, or offshoring, since current studies do not clearly isolate the causes in the South African context. But in the US, white-collar automation layoffs surged in 2025, a trend expected to diffuse globally and could soon intensify South Africa’s employment challenges. South Africa faces heightened risk in sectors such as business‑process outsourcing (BPO) and call centres, where automation technologies are advancing quickly, but human labour still carries much of the workload. As these global trends take hold, the country is under growing pressure to plan strategically, finding ways to safeguard its workforce and prepare for the disruptions ahead. “We should pay less attention to predicting job loss numbers and focus more on building adaptive learning ecosystems fast enough to keep up with technological change,” Sam Gqomo, the founder of Womandla Foundation, said. She said the foundation offers about 36 free learning paths in entrepreneurship, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), and creative industries, from beginner to advanced. “This collaboration demonstrates what becomes possible when technology, volunteering and purpose-driven partnerships align,” said Samuel Turay, Africa Senior Program Manager from IAVE. “Together, we are creating practical pathways that empower people to participate meaningfully in the economy.” Khadija Richards, head of impact at Womandla, described the AI transition as less of a threat than a structural turning point for Africa’s labour market. “Africa is the youngest continent in the world,” she said. “ Young people are already digitally adaptive, entrepreneurial and comfortable navigating change,” she said. “When AI moves quickly, youth are often the first to experiment with it.” She said automation will primarily transform, not erase, sectors built on repetitive tasks such as administration, retail operations, and routine data work. But new layers of employment are emerging above them, including AI supervision and optimisation, customer-experience design, digital operations management, tech-enabled supply chains, and platform entrepreneurship. “Automation is not only changing jobs; it’s changing how young South Africans imagine work itself. Lots of young people want a career portfolio, a job, a side hustle, a gig, a family business and the current education infrastructure is not friendly to that,” Gqomo added. A recurring theme across the Reskilling Revolution initiative is misalignment: education and policy cycles move in years, while AI capability cycles move in months. “The key gap is alignment, not ability,” Richards said. “African youth are creative, resilient and adaptive. The system must ensure early AI fluency, applied learning, and recognition of alternative credentials.” Policies are slow to catch up, and this affects jobs. Short training programs and certificates are not taken seriously in many hiring systems. That makes it harder for young people who taught themselves or learned informally to move up, even though employers are asking for exactly those skills. But that upside depends on infrastructure and policy catching up: connectivity access, devices, inclusive STEM pipelines, and recognition of non-traditional learning pathways. South Africa now faces a structural choice familiar across emerging economies: whether automation widens inequality or catalyses productivity growth. Without intervention, AI adoption could concentrate opportunity among already-connected urban youth while displacing routine workers. With targeted policy, rural digital hubs, broadband expansion, and skills-based hiring incentives, the same technologies could expand participation. “Africa’s youth are not behind the AI curve,” Richards said. “The real question is whether systems will empower youth to shape the new jobs.”
Read MoreThis startup is moving Nigeria’s land records to the blockchain
There are few investments more treacherous than buying land in Nigeria. In 2017, Ndifreke Ikpoku paid ₦23 million ($13,000) for what appeared to be a legitimate plot on the outskirts of Port Harcourt, a growing urban city in the country. The documents checked out—until they didn’t. On closer inspection, the “asset” he believed would cement his place in Nigeria’s aspirational middle-class was little more than paperwork for land that had already been sold multiple times over. He lost the money—and the pride that comes with being a landowner in Nigeria—but not his resolve. That loss would become the foundation of a startup. Alongside Nnamdi Uba, Ikpoku set out to tackle one of the country’s most entrenched property-market failures: ownership verification. They founded Sytemap, formerly HouseAfrica, a startup that digitises land records on the blockchain to reduce fraud and double allocation. In Nigeria’s property market, fraud is not an anomaly; it is a structural feature. Developers sell more plots than exist. Agents market land that has quietly changed hands. Double allocation, where multiple buyers are issued rights to the same parcel, is common. Verifying title status often requires physically visiting a registry, navigating opaque bureaucracy, and dealing with incomplete records. The risks are particularly acute in Lagos, where peri-urban estates are spreading rapidly, and land can change hands several times before formal registration is complete. While laws, such as the Lagos State Lands Registration Law (2015) and the Land Use Act (1978), seek to legitimise the property market for homebuyers in the state and the country at large, the gap often lies in enforcement. Poor record management and inconsistent oversight create fertile ground for fraud. In August 2025, the federal government launched a digital portal allowing homebuyers to track, report, and monitor housing fraud—an acknowledgment of how deeply the problem runs. “The main reason we started [Sytemap] was because he [Ikpoku] lost a huge amount of money buying real estate,” Uba, Sytemap’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said. “We realised we couldn’t solve it by just sharing risk. The problem was structural. What was missing was infrastructure.” In 2019, the startup launched as “HouseAfrica” with an initial ambition to enable fractional property ownership on blockchain rails. The premise, said Uba, was that ten people could own a property and share rental income transparently. But almost immediately, Ikpoku and Uba encountered a deeper obstacle. “We were having a lot of questions then,” Uba said. “What of the [land] title? What if something happens? How can we verify these properties? These are infrastructure issues that were already affecting us. If the underlying land is not verified, you cannot fractionalise it safely.” Before they could tokenise ownership, they had to solve verification. That realisation eventually led to what is now Sytemap and to the creation of what the founders describe as a digital map directory for real estate in Lagos State. The registry that stalled The founders’ first instinct was to work with the government. They said they partnered with the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), an institution that provides liquidity in the mortgage market, and signed agreements with the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors. They explored integrating a blockchain-based land registry with Kaduna State, a north-western state in Nigeria, as a pilot. “We wanted to launch a blockchain-based land registry as the infrastructure that can help us to do fractional ownership,” said Uba. “If we have a blockchain registry, we can clearly tell people, go here and verify.” Then the pandemic arrived; the bureaucratic processes slowed further. “We stayed the whole lot of 2020 without achieving one single thing,” said Uba. By 2021, the founders concluded that waiting for state integration would stall the company indefinitely. They began asking a different question: who already controls structured land records? The answer was private developers. The map directory solution Real estate developers in Lagos typically buy large parcels of land and subdivide them into plots. Internally, they maintain allocation records, site plans, and buyer registers. In effect, each developer operates a small, private registry. Plot configuration often depends on the developer’s intended use—residential, commercial, or mixed-use—and must comply with planning standards before allocation begins. Instead of digitising the state registry, Sytemap decided to digitise those mini-registries and connect them into a single mapped system. “What we did was to drop other features and pick only the real estate companies,” said Uba. “Developers buy acres of land and divide it into smaller plots again, which means they have access to land records. They are mini-registries. Our solution can help them to achieve what they want to do, but in a structured way.” The core product that emerged is what the company calls a map directory. It is a satellite-backed digital representation of estates across Lagos and, soon, other states. Each estate is mapped, each plot geo-referenced, and every allocation is recorded against a specific coordinate on the map. Ikpoku said Sytemap uses Google Maps as a base map and infuses other maps to enhance the embedded features on its platform. The digitised data on the map (the mapped properties) is obtained from real estate companies, who, at the point of onboarding, have government-approved estate development layouts. “You are not going to buy audio land,” said Ikpoku. “What you are buying is what you are seeing [on the map]. We do not just digitise property because a developer gives it to us. We verify that they own it and that it is there. Then we place it on the map with satellite imagery that tells you exactly where this property is.” According to Ajayi Akinwumi, a Lagos-based surveyor, large estates in the city are typically mapped using differential global positioning system (DGPS) equipment to achieve high positional accuracy before plots are formally demarcated on the ground. “After capturing the plots, you still have to do layout and physically divide each plot,” he said. “It is not something satellite imagery alone can determine.” Yet, Sytemap says its proprietary map directory serves three functions. First, it visualises supply.
Read MoreTariff hikes power MTN Nigeria to ₦5.2 trillion record revenue
MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest telecom operator, generated more revenue in 2025 reported ₦5.20 trillion ($3.82 billion) in revenue for the year, according to its full-year financial results. This is the highest ever recorded in Nigeria’s telecom sector, up from ₦3.36 trillion ($2.47 billion) in 2024. Backed by a 51.87% share of Nigeria’s 179.41 million active mobile subscriptions, MTN’s revenue nearly matched the entire telecommunications industry’s ₦5.30 trillion ($3.89 billion) revenue in 2023, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The company also restored positive retained earnings and shareholders’ equity and has proposed a final dividend of ₦15 ($0.011) per share, after announcing an interim dividend of ₦5 ($0.004) in September 2025, bringing the total dividend for the year to ₦20 ($0.015). “2025 marked a significant turning point in our business performance and resumption of dividend payments,” Karl Toriola, MTN Nigeria chief executive officer, said. “In the period, we returned to profitability, generated stronger free cash flow, and restored positive retained earnings and shareholders’ funds.” MTN’s performance marks a sharp turnaround after years of economic pressure that pushed telecom operators into losses, as currency devaluation eroded dollar-denominated earnings and reduced average revenue per user (ARPU) from $3.08 in 2023 to $1.89 in 2024. Improved macroeconomic conditions in 2025, including a more stable naira and regulatory approval for market-reflective pricing, helped unlock revenue growth for operators in the industry. Airtel Africa’s revenue grew 28.3% in reported currency to $4.67 billion during the period, with Nigeria leading performance through a 50.6% expansion in constant-currency revenue. For MTN, revenue growth of 54.93% translated into a profit after tax of ₦1.11 trillion ($816.29 million), reversing the ₦400.44 billion ($294.48 million) loss recorded a year earlier. How Data Price Hikes Rescued MTN’s Bottom Line After securing regulatory approval to double data tariffs in Jan 2025, MTN Nigeria swung from a massive deficit to its highest-ever profit. The Profit Swing 2025 Revenue Drivers 2024 (Loss) -₦400.4 Billion 2025 (Profit) +₦1.11 Trillion By transitioning to market-reflective pricing, MTN entirely erased its 2024 losses, restoring dividend payments for shareholders. Total 2025 Revenue ₦5.20 Trillion Data (53.4%) Voice & Fintech (46.6%) Data (Up 74.5% YoY) Voice, Fintech & Other Following the doubling of data tariffs and a sustained surge in internet usage, data is now unequivocally MTN’s largest revenue engine. Source: MTN Full-Year Financial Results (2025) TechCabal Data demand drives growth After more than a decade of lobbying for cost-reflective pricing amid rising operating costs, telecom operators secured regulatory approval for tariff increases on January 20, 2025. Since then, the average price of 1GB of data has doubled to about ₦575 ($0.42), up from ₦287.5 ($0.21). The increase coincided with surging internet usage across Nigeria, driven by streaming, remote work, fintech adoption, and social media consumption. Nigeria’s annual data consumption rose 35.7% to 13.25 million terabytes in 2025, pushing average monthly usage per subscriber to 89.42GB, compared with 70.09GB from the previous year. Data has now become MTN’s single largest revenue driver, contributing 53.39% of total earnings and growing 74.58% year-on-year. Voice revenue also expanded by 49.54%, showing continued resilience despite the shift toward internet-based communication. Fintech revenue is up 79.68%. Since launching operations in Nigeria in 2001, MTN has evolved from a mobile operator into a critical piece of national digital infrastructure and is now one of the country’s most profitable companies.
Read MoreNigeria’s crypto exchanges must now report trades, but enforcement remains unclear
Nigeria’s push to tax cryptocurrency transactions now requires exchanges to log customer trades daily into a government e-reporting portal, a policy that took effect in January 2026. However, industry executives say enforcement gaps and regulatory uncertainty could undermine the effort. The new system, overseen by the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), the country’s tax authority, requires digital asset exchanges to upload transaction data into a centralised platform designed to calculate applicable taxes. The move is part of a broader revenue drive as Nigeria seeks to expand its tax base and finance widening budget deficits. The crypto sector remains largely unlicenced, and questions persist over how authorities will enforce compliance, especially against offshore platforms serving Nigerian users. Nigeria is attempting to formalise and tax one of the world’s most active crypto markets through a new e-invoicing regime. But with no fully licenced exchanges, sandbox approvals stuck in limbo, and offshore competitors operating beyond domestic reach, the success of the tax push will depend less on policy design and more on whether regulators can build credible enforcement means. Ayotunde Alabi, country manager and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Luno Nigeria, a UK-born cryptocurrency firm operating in the country, confirmed that crypto startups are required to track and monitor customer transactions and upload on the NRS portal. Luno Nigeria currently uploads these transaction logs daily, according to Alabi. “There is a portal where [crypto exchanges] can upload all [customer] transactions into the NRS system; that’s where things stand at the moment,” said Alabi. “There’s still confusion about how this will be implemented. When you narrow it down to cryptocurrency or digital asset exchanges and their customers, it becomes even cloudier, because it isn’t clear what each party should be doing right now.” Crypto startups remain unclear about how different cases will be treated or how taxes will be calculated and remitted to the tax authority on the e-reporting portal. “From an individual perspective, however, it’s still not clear whether the e-invoicing system is sufficient,” said Alabi. “For example, it doesn’t address people running side businesses above the tax-exempt threshold. What happens in those cases? There’s also no clarity on how gains and losses will be treated.” Crypto exchanges are now working with auditors, including PwC and KPMG, to understand how to automate reporting into the government’s system, according to Alabi. Implementation remains uneven among local crypto startups, with no formal deadline publicly announced as startups continue to familiarise themselves with the new reporting system. Chimene Chinah, CEO of Dantown, a Nigerian crypto startup, said it has yet to begin reporting transactions to the NRS. “We [Dantown] haven’t started yet because we are trying to regularise user data to get their Unique Tax identifiers, including National Identification Number (NIN) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) registration numbers [for merchants] as proposed by the NRS,” said Chinah. Enforcement questions While the reporting obligation is clear, the broader regulatory framework is not. No crypto exchange has received a full operating licence in Nigeria. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has admitted some firms into a regulatory sandbox and granted approvals in principle to Quidax and Busha, two Nigerian crypto exchanges, but full licencing remains pending. That creates a practical problem. The tax rules contemplate penalties, including fines or licence revocation for non-compliance. But without formal licences, it is unclear what authorities would revoke. The lack of enforcement clarity could create uneven competition. If locally-compliant exchanges implement tax deductions while offshore platforms do not, customers may simply migrate. “It becomes a disadvantage for compliant exchanges,” said Alabi. “Customers will move to exchanges that don’t enforce it.” Several foreign crypto platforms operate in Nigeria without local offices, including Bitget and Bybit, yet continue onboarding Nigerian users. Bitget did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its status of transaction logging on the NRS e-portal. Bybit couldn’t be reached for comment. Revenue imperative The government’s objective is straightforward: raise revenue as the country targets to build a $1 trillion economy by 2030. Like many emerging markets, Nigeria faces fiscal pressure and has widened its tax net across banking, fintech, and digital services. The new crypto reporting regime sits alongside broader financial transaction monitoring tied to Tax Identification Numbers (TINs). In theory, centralised logging of trades could allow authorities to calculate gains and apply capital or transaction taxes. In practice, industry participants say questions remain unresolved, including how individual investors will file, how losses will be treated, and how informal activity, such as peer-to-peer (P2P) trading, outside regulated platforms will be captured. “A huge chunk of crypto exchange providers run [over-the-counter] OTC desks via WhatsApp and other chat services with millions in USD processed daily, so that can be tricky to monitor,” said Chinah. “The focus will still be on local players, and it will only lead to churn of active users to foreign players who may not comply.” The NRS did not immediately respond to questions around P2P transaction monitoring on the e-portal, or how many crypto startups, both local and foreign, are now compliant. Nigeria’s cryptocurrency market is one of the largest globally by adoption. The country has seen sustained retail participation in digital assets, even amid regulatory crackdowns and banking restrictions. That scale makes the sector an attractive target for revenue mobilisation, but also a difficult one to police. The structure of the market compounds the challenge. Crypto exchanges can operate without physical infrastructure in-country. Websites can shift domains. Users can access platforms through virtual private networks (VPNs), and switching costs are low. Without coordinated licencing, monitoring, and tax enforcement, compliant operators could lose market share to competitors that opt out of reporting obligations. For now, crypto startups say they intend to comply as rules become clearer. But executives stress that policy credibility will hinge on consistent application across the sector.
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