His daughter’s health scare during COVID lockdowns birthed Heala
In 2020, as Nigeria entered the COVID-19 lockdown, Anderson Oriahi faced one of the most vulnerable moments of his life. He was a first-time father, and his newborn daughter had developed a health scare. With hospitals inaccessible and family unable to travel for support, Oriahi and his wife were left isolated and scrambling for solutions. “We were scared we would lose her,” Oriahi recalls. “I was searching Google, trying anything I could find that might help.” After restrictions eased, the couple took their daughter to a local hospital where they began her care from scratch with no documented health record available. As Oriahi sat in the waiting room, he began to question why healthcare felt so disconnected. Other sectors (banking, logistics, food delivery) had gone digital, but much of healthcare service was still rooted in paper records and fragmented systems. “I kept asking myself, why can’t I pull up health records the same way I can pull up my financial records?” he says. “That was my lightbulb moment. Healthcare providers are offline. There’s no digital infrastructure to connect them.” In response, he built Heala. The healthtech startup is building a digital ecosystem to connect hospitals, insurers, pharmacies, and labs seamlessly. From academia to entrepreneurship Oriahi’s path to healthtech wasn’t conventional. A trained computer engineer and former lecturer at the University of Ilorin, he began his career teaching telecommunication sciences. In 2013, an edtech platform he created was nominated for The Future Awards Africa. The product was later acquired by a publishing company after which Oriahi launched his own software development firm, ZBM, which he ran until 2020. The pandemic and his daughter’s health crisis pushed him to focus entirely on healthcare. He partnered with co-founders Ifeoluwa Aribatise, who brought health insurance expertise from Reliance Health, and Ezegozie Eze, a business development veteran and former general manager at Universal Music Group Nigeria. Heala was incorporated in 2022, piloted with select insurance providers in 2023, and officially launched in 2024. Since then, the platform has processed close to 300,000 transactions spanning consultations, lab tests, and medication orders. L-R: Ezegozie Eze, Ifeoluwa Aribatise, and Anderson Oriahi, Co-founders, Heala Image Source: Heala Building the infrastructure Heala’s goal is to digitise healthcare by connecting every point where care happens. Oriahi said the company has aggregated more than 2,500 providers (including hospitals, pharmacies, labs, and independent doctors). Oriahi compares Heala to Interswitch, which allows banks to connect seamlessly for transfers. In the same way, Heala enables healthcare providers to share patient data and coordinate care in real time. At the heart of its operations are two key products designed to solve structural problems in Nigeria’s healthcare system. The first is its virtual clinic platform, which is at the heart of this system, acting like a hidden engine that powers care delivery. Instead of asking hospitals or Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) to adopt entirely new systems, Heala integrates directly into the tools they already use. “We wanted to meet providers at their level of digital adoption,” Oriahi explains. “Whether they use spreadsheets, WhatsApp, or a mobile app, our system connects with what they already have.” Through this platform, a patient can book a telemedicine consultation via their HMO’s app while Heala handles everything behind the scenes. Doctors can prescribe medication with orders routed automatically to partner pharmacies. Lab test requests go directly to connected laboratories and results are uploaded digitally. The system even links patients with doctors both in Nigeria and those living abroad who consult. When an in-person evaluation is necessary, Heala’s referral network seamlessly connects patients to hospitals. “Our goal was to create an end-to-end journey so that, whether it’s a digital consultation or a physical visit, the experience is seamless for the patient,” Oriahi says. While the virtual clinic focuses on patient care, Heala’s insurance management system addresses the operational headaches faced by insurers. Oriahi explained that many still process claims manually, leading to delays and costly errors. One of the biggest hurdles is data standardisation. For example, one pharmacy might record a drug as “paracetamol,” another as “PCM,” and a third might misspell it entirely. Heala’s AI-powered system automatically standardizes this data with 90–95% accuracy, reducing claim approval times from months to just minutes. How it works for patients For insured users, Heala operates behind the scenes. A customer using their HMO’s app might click a telemedicine feature, get matched with a doctor, receive prescriptions, and even arrange medication delivery (all without realizing that Heala is powering the process behind the scenes). For uninsured users, Heala offers a direct-to-consumer app called My Heala. Through partnerships with HMOs, it provides affordable, digital-first insurance plans. These plans lower costs by emphasizing virtual consultations and preventive care while limiting expensive physical hospital visits. “We like to think of ourselves as insurance for the uninsured,” Oriahi says. “We’re not an insurance company, but we make coverage accessible to people who’ve never had it before.” Get the best African tech newsletters in your inbox Country Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canton and Enderbury Islands Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos [Keeling] Islands Colombia Comoros Congo – Brazzaville Congo – Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Dronning Maud Land East Germany Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories French Southern and Antarctic Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Johnston Island Jordan
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7 African startups powering credit, crypto, creators, and capital
Startups On Our Radar spotlights African startups solving African challenges with innovation. In our previous edition, we featured 7 game-changing startups pioneering logistics, artificial intelligence, law, and crypto. Expect the next dispatch on October 3, 2025. This week, we explore seven African startups in the artificial intelligence, mobility, fintech and blockchain sectors and why they should be on your watchlist. Let’s dive into it: 1. Dingpay wants to replace cash and cards with one super wallet (Fintech, Nigeria) Dingpay wants to do for Nigerians what Apple Pay has not, by building a digital wallet that works with local cards, banks, and event tickets, no matter the device. Dingpay is a digital wallet that enables easy access, management and contactless payment at the point of sale, bringing all essential payments into one place. Launched in January 2025, out of the founders wanting to replicate the ease of payments they experienced in the United Kingdom (UK), the startup wants to provide a more reliable way to make various payments both online and offline without users juggling multiple apps. Users can store event tickets or flight tickets on the app and make payments for them. The startup has pivoted to a QR-based system, where merchants can scan QR codes from a user’s app to charge them for a transaction. Since its launch, it has signed up 4,000 users and processed ₦8 million ($5,336) in transactions. Why we’re watching: Nigeria’s fintech sector is crowded, with some reports claiming that over 430 fintechs operate in the country. Dingpay is carving a niche for itself with its offline payments feature. While some payment providers already allow customers to be offline when making payments, Dingpay’s offline feature focuses on merchants, who do not need internet access to charge their customers for a purchase. All they need to do is scan a QR code on the customer’s device, and they get their payment. 2. Supplya gives retailers goods on credit (e-commerce, Nigeria) Supplya is a business-to-business (B2B) platform that helps small retailers in Nigeria source consumer goods directly from manufacturers or otherwise. Through Supplya’s platform, retailers can order inventory and access short-term zero-interest credits. Their creditworthiness is determined by their transaction history (previous purchasing volume and frequency ) and a physical verification of their stores. Supplya sources goods in bulk from its manufacturing partners, including Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC (FMN), Coca-Cola, Rite foods, and CWAY, and delivers orders through the free delivery its manufacturing partners provide or pickup by consumers from nearby fulfilment stores. They typically give users up to seven days to repay their loans. There is currently no penalty for defaulting on the loan; however, the platform intends to integrate an interest rate of 1% for each month a user defaults on their loan. Why we’re watching: A 2024 Stears report reveals that Nigeria’s 40 million Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) face a financing gap estimated at $236 billion. For many who rely on informal lenders with steep rates, Supplya flips this model by offering interest-free inventory financing while still earning revenue from product margins and in-app advertisements from partners. The company has onboarded over 2,000 retailers and processed over $350,000 in revenue. Competitors like OmniRetail are digitising informal trade, but Supplya’s focus on interest-free financing makes it stand out. Get the best African tech newsletters in your inbox Country Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canton and Enderbury Islands Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos [Keeling] Islands Colombia Comoros Congo – Brazzaville Congo – Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Dronning Maud Land East Germany Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories French Southern and Antarctic Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Johnston Island Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau SAR China Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Metropolitan France Mexico Micronesia Midway Islands Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar [Burma] Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles Neutral Zone New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island North Korea North Vietnam Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pacific Islands Trust Territory Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Panama Canal Zone Papua New Guinea Paraguay People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria São Tomé and Príncipe Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu U.S. Minor Outlying Islands U.S. Miscellaneous Pacific Islands U.S. Virgin Islands Uganda Ukraine Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Unknown or Invalid Region Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Wake Island Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Åland Islands ?> Gender Male Female Others TC Daily Events TC Scoop <!– Next Wave –> <!– Entering Tech –> Subscribe 3. SwarmZero will not rest until small businesses
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The FG released an AI model for Nigerian languages; when can you use it?
Every Thursday, Delve Into AI will provide nuanced insights on how the continent’s AI trajectory is shaping up. In this column, we examine how AI influences culture, policy, businesses, and vice versa. Read to get smarter about the people, projects, and questions shaping Africa’s AI future. Let us know your thoughts on the column through this form. This weekend, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Nigeria’s Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, unveiled N-ATLAS, an open-source language model that can recognise and transcribe spoken words and generate text, in Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Nigerian-accented English, joining a growing field of AI tools trained to handle how Nigerians speak and write. For a ministry that has sought to position itself as a leader in “responsible and inclusive AI,” the timing and venue of the announcement helped the ministry reinforce that positioning. N-ATLAS was built in collaboration with Awarri, a Lagos-based startup, and reflects months of work since the government first announced the project in April 2024. . The models are currently free to access and use for research, prototyping, and smaller-scale applications. However, once they are deployed in commercial settings with more than 1,000 end-users, a separate licence is required. By making these local language tools more available to Nigeria’s AI ecosystem, the project positions Nigeria as a participant in the global race for “AI sovereignty.” However, its real significance lies in whether local researchers, developers, startups, and policymakers can turn this symbolic launch into practical tools for classrooms, clinics, and farms, despite persistent funding and infrastructure gaps. Foundational tool for the ecosystem At first glance, the average Nigerian hoping to chat with N-ATLAS will be disappointed. The model is not yet available as a consumer-facing app. Instead, it lives on Hugging Face, the open-source repository popular with developers and researchers. “The first release now is literally geared towards developers,” says Sunday Afariogun, lead project engineer at Awarri. “An average user might see the news and think, ‘this is great,’ but they don’t really know what they’re going to do with that information.” N-ATLAS is more of a foundational layer than a finished product. By offering a base model that understands Nigerian languages and accents, Awarri hopes that others in the ecosystem will build sector-specific applications that reach everyday users in fields like healthcare, agriculture, and education. For developers, the gap N-ATLAS could fill is significant. “Most of today’s widely used AI models are trained on data that doesn’t fully represent our languages, contexts, or cultural nuances,” says Bilesanmi Faruk, co-founder and CTO of Lena, a Lagos-based edtech firm. “That means we spend extra time adapting global models, or worse, we end up with tools that don’t work well for local users.” Faruk has already begun experimenting. “I’ve hooked the Nigerian-accented English and Yoruba speech recognition model up to a microphone for live translation,” he explains. “We’re building it into our offline app at Lena so that kids can learn in their native language and still get feedback. That way, we deliver world-class learning in rural areas while maintaining cultural context. It opens up the next 100 million learners.” Zainab Tairu, a natural language processing (NLP) engineer and researcher, sees similar promise. She has been working on a machine learning project on medication management and struggled to find reliable datasets. “Getting access to a local, open-source model was a big hurdle,” she says. “Having something like this makes it easier for researchers like us, and many others, to build solutions with African voices and contexts at the core.” Although still invisible to most citizens, the models could play a role in the ecosystem’s progress. Developers are already imagining sector-specific applications. In theory, this could mean farmers calling a hotline and asking about crop diseases in Igbo, patients could describe symptoms in English accents that AI tools actually understand, and receive relevant, contextual responses. Joshua Firima, co-founder of KrosAI, a voice and text infrastructure AI startup, believes “phone-based AI systems that reach citizens directly” are the next step. “Success will be when Nigerians use AI daily in their own languages without even thinking about it,” he says. To get these specialised applications, Faruk believes more needs to be done to bring the developers and researchers on board. “Documentation and community support also matter; without them, even open-source models can remain underutilised.” Lowering barriers, but not eliminating them While N-ATLAS signals possibilities for the broader AI ecosystem, it also highlights what still constrains the country’s AI space: data, compute, and funding. “We cannot decide that as a country we’ll wait until we have infrastructure before building software and solutions. If we did, we would fall further behind,” says Afariogun. Nigeria’s data centres are improving, but few can host the GPU racks needed to train large AI models. Currently, Awarri relies on foreign cloud providers, including AWS and Google Cloud, which remain the more reliable option, but issues of national sovereignty over AI systems still pose a challenge. “If we decide that we’re gonna wait for infrastructure before we start providing solutions. Then we just lag behind further. So we have to try to do this simultaneously,” he explains. Access to infrastructure remains a significant challenge for developers expected to adopt the N-ATLAS tools in their AI applications. “Training and fine-tuning still require significant GPU power, which is often out of reach for small teams,” says Faruk. “The cost of cloud credits makes it worse.” Getting reliable data to support AI projects is another bottleneck. While Awarri built LangEasy.ai to collect thousands of voice samples from fellows in the government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme, most researchers still collect their own domain-specific datasets. “Starting a new project often means you can’t find existing datasets,” Tairu says. “That makes the whole process very tedious, from collation to deciding what a quality benchmark even means in a Nigerian context.” Funding is another unavoidable constraint. The government has supported 20 peer-reviewed AI research papers through an
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Samsung released its new Galaxy phones for 2025. Here’s what’s different
Table of contents Samsung Galaxy lineup and core specs Samsung Galaxy S25 series Galaxy S25 Edge and S25 FE Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 Samsung’s 2025 Galaxy phones place less emphasis on major hardware upgrades and more on intelligent software driven by Galaxy AI. From the flagship Galaxy S25 series to the new S25 Edge and the budget-friendly Fan Edition (FE) and A-series, Samsung aims to provide a smoother and more personalised smartphone experience. The most significant upgrade is the deeper integration of Galaxy AI with One UI 8, making features like Circle to Search, Now Brief, and Cross App Action part of your daily use. Most premium models run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, while others utilise Samsung’s latest Exynos chips. Another major shift is Samsung’s promise of seven years of Android OS and security updates for the S25 series and select mid-range devices. If you buy a Galaxy S25 today, your phone will still get updates into the early 2030s, giving you more value and peace of mind. While hardware upgrades may seem modest, the new designs, added AI features, and extended support window make the 2025 lineup a strong choice. As you’ll see in this report, user and community reviews show excitement and concerns, proving that specs alone don’t always tell the whole story. The 2025 Samsung Galaxy lineup and core specs Samsung’s 2025 Galaxy phones cover almost every price range, giving you more choices than ever. Here’s the full lineup: Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra – launched in January and released in February Galaxy S25 Edge – launched in May as a slimmer, style-focused model Galaxy S25 FE – launched in September, bringing flagship features at a friendlier price Galaxy Z Fold 7 – Samsung’s productivity-focused foldable Galaxy Z Flip 7 – the compact foldable with a larger FlexWindow Galaxy A16, A36, and A56 5G – budget-friendly options with fast charging and IP67 rating Instead of pushing one “best” phone, Samsung now offers different models tailored to various needs. The Ultra targets power users, the Plus serves mainstream flagship buyers, the Edge appeals to those who want a sleek design, and the FE gives price-conscious users solid value. Even without SD card slots in most premium models, Samsung encourages you to choose higher storage options or rely on cloud backups. Samsung’s strategy makes the 2025 Galaxy lineup flexible. No matter your budget or priority, performance, portability, or affordability, there’s a Samsung Galaxy phone built for you. Specifications comparison table Samsung Galaxy S25 series: Image source: Mike O’Brien on Youtube 1. Galaxy S25 and S25+ The Galaxy S25 and S25+ are the dependable flagships in 2025. Both run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip, giving you faster performance and smoother multitasking thanks to the new 12GB base RAM. The cameras remain similar to those in the S24 series, featuring a 50MP wide-angle lens, a 12MP ultrawide lens, and a 10MP telephoto lens. However, Samsung has introduced new AI photo tools under the ProVisual Engine, offering sharper pictures and enhanced editing capabilities. The displays stay at 6.2 inches (S25) and 6.7 inches (S25+), with the Plus model gaining a new ProScaler feature for brighter, more vibrant colours. 2. Galaxy S25 Ultra The Galaxy S25 Ultra remains Samsung’s top phone but has some significant design changes. Instead of sharp corners, the Ultra now has rounded edges, making it easier to hold and more pocket-friendly. The 6.9-inch QHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate is slightly larger than before, and durability is enhanced with a titanium frame and Gorilla Glass Armour 2. Performance is its biggest strength. The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy delivers more power for Samsung’s Galaxy AI features, like improved Circle to Search, Now Brief for daily summaries, and Cross App Action for multitasking with voice commands. Battery life also improves with the same 5,000mAh capacity. The Ultra’s 200MP primary camera remains, but the ultrawide lens jumps from 12MP to 50MP, improving low-light shots. It also keeps the 50MP 5x telephoto and 10MP 3x zoom lenses. The S Pen still comes built-in but loses its Bluetooth gestures, which has divided long-time Note fans. Samsung’s shift to rounded corners has drawn mixed reactions. Many users welcome the comfort, while others feel the brand lost a bit of its unique “Ultra identity.” Galaxy S25 Edge and S25 FE: Image source: Theprtech Mike O’Brien on Youtube 1. Galaxy S25 Edge The Galaxy S25 Edge is Samsung’s thinnest phone yet, at just 5.8mm and only 163g. It’s built for users who want a stylish and lightweight device while still getting Galaxy AI and One UI 8. But the slim design comes with trade-offs. The 3,900mAh battery struggles to last a full day, and you may need to charge it midday. It also lacks a dedicated telephoto camera and does not support the S Pen. 2. Galaxy S25 FE The Galaxy S25 FE is the better choice if you’re looking for substantial value. It features a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, IP68 water and dust resistance, and a sturdy Armour Aluminum frame with Gorilla Glass Victus+. It runs on the Exynos 2400 chipset, handles casual gaming well, and supports 45W fast charging, which powers up to 65% in 30 minutes. With seven years of software and security updates, the S25 FE gives you long-term reliability at a mid-range price. If you prioritise design and thinness, the Edge might be better for you. However, if you’re looking for a balanced phone with improved battery life and long-term value, the S25 FE is the more intelligent choice. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7: Image source: GSMArena Official on YouTube 1. Galaxy Z Fold 7 The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is slimmer, lighter, and more user-friendly than the Fold 6. Samsung widened the cover screen and expanded the inner display, so it feels closer to a regular phone when closed and a tablet when open. It
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Nearly one million Nigerian retail shops are invisible to big brands; Lengo wants to fix that
In crowded Lagos neighbourhoods, small shops stocked with soft drinks, instant noodles, and toiletries are where most Nigerians shop. But for consumer giants like Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Dangote, these informal shops remain hard to map, creating blind spots that waste marketing budgets, weaken supply chains, and deter investment. Informal retailers account for between 40% and 90% of total food sales in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet companies seeking to access the continent’s growing consumer market often lack visibility into how many outlets exist, what they stock, or how fast goods move. Lengo, a Lagos-based startup founded in 2022, wants to change that with artificial intelligence. The company is part of the Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First programme in Africa and is backed by investors including Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures, Launch Africa, and Acasia Ventures. Its ambition is to provide global fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies with the visibility and precision needed to make informed decisions in markets like Nigeria, where Lengo believes data can be scarce and unreliable. “There’s little visibility on what’s being sold, in which quantities, and to whom,” says Max Smith, CEO and co-founder of Lengo. Reaching the informal market Although now based in Lagos, Lengo started in Senegal after a global FMCG client had reached out to Smith to assist with updating its retailer database. “We found twice as many as they had,” he recalls. “That’s when we knew there was a big gap.” Early on, Lengo relied on field agents to walk the streets, interviewing shopkeepers and counting outlets. The method was costly and, by the time results came in, already outdated. To scale faster, the company adopted tools like Google Street View and in-house AI models to digitally identify shops, detecting storefronts, mapping locations, and classifying shop types. This year, Lengo expanded into Nigeria, where it estimates that close to a million informal shops drive the bulk of consumer goods sales. “We can recognise stores across food and beverages, pharmacies, telcos, hair salons, from Nigeria to India, wherever Street View coverage exists,” says Smith. After identifying areas with retailers, Lengo connects with shop owners through Instagram and Facebook ads, onboarding them via WhatsApp. Then they are verified using pictures of storefronts, which are then geotagged and verified by the Lengo team. Since Google Street View doesn’t cover every area, Lengo relies on referrals from shopkeepers to keep expanding its footprint. Using incentives such as airtime bundles, special discounts, and product promotions, shopkeepers are helping the team promote their popularity amongst retailers. “30% of our growth now comes from retailers referring their peers,” Smith notes. Moving beyond what Street View already captures could benefit Google, which is eager to map under-documented markets and feed data into its services, as well as consumer goods companies intent on understanding how best to reach shoppers. Lengo also strengthens its database by using existing intelligence from its FMCG partners, who already maintain their own fragmented lists of outlets. The start-up combines these datasets with its own mapping to create a more comprehensive view of the retail landscape. Get the best African tech newsletters in your inbox Country Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canton and Enderbury Islands Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos [Keeling] Islands Colombia Comoros Congo – Brazzaville Congo – Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Dronning Maud Land East Germany Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories French Southern and Antarctic Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Johnston Island Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau SAR China Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Metropolitan France Mexico Micronesia Midway Islands Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar [Burma] Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles Neutral Zone New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island North Korea North Vietnam Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pacific Islands Trust Territory Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Panama Canal Zone Papua New Guinea Paraguay People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria São Tomé and Príncipe Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu U.S. Minor Outlying Islands U.S. Miscellaneous Pacific Islands U.S. Virgin Islands Uganda Ukraine Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Unknown or Invalid Region Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Wake Island Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Åland Islands ?> Gender Male Female Others TC Daily Events TC Scoop <!– Next Wave –> <!– Entering Tech –> Subscribe Building trust with retailers and bigger brands Larger companies still only reach a fraction of the approximately 40 million informal businesses in Nigeria. “You might think your brand is everywhere,” says Smith, “but when the data comes in, you realise you’re covering maybe just 20% of stores
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Out for Delivery: Inside the lives of Lagos’ food delivery riders
Lagos has become the centre of Nigeria’s rapidly growing gig economy, driven by food delivery apps like Chowdeck. Riders chase bonuses, battling rain and manic traffic to keep up with demand. Radio Workshop, with support from Luminate, produced an episode that explores the actual cost of convenience in Nigeria’s fast-growing delivery industry. 33-year-old Goodnews shares what it’s like to survive on two wheels – even though he’d rather be following his true passion: writing. Listen to the podcast here. “Out for Delivery: Inside the lives of Lagos’ food delivery riders” is published in partnership with TechCabal. It’s 3:00 p.m. on Monday, and Goodnews is weaving through Lagos traffic on his scooter. He’s on his way to pick up a mango smoothie. It’s his sixth order of the day from the food delivery app, Chowdeck. He is hoping to reach his target of ten orders before the app closes for the day. If he succeeds, he’ll get paid an extra ₦3,000 (around $2). For Goodnews, every order is a gamble against the weather, the roads, and the unexpected challenges that come with the job. In this episode, Radio Workshop Reporter Mo Isu follows Goodnews, a food delivery rider in Lagos. We discover what it really takes to keep Nigeria’s biggest food delivery app running—and what gig work means for the riders who power it. This episode was produced by Radio Workshop, a non-profit that works with youth reporters across Africa to broadcast on local radio and create podcasts. Radio Workshop provides the tools and teaches the skills, while youth reporters bring their creativity, experience, and passion for tackling the issues that matter to them and their communities. Radio Workshop’s documentary-style podcast has won numerous awards, including Best Standalone Documentary from the International Documentary Association in 2023. Lesedi Mogoatlhe, Radio Workshop’s Editorial Director, reflected, “As we follow Goodnews along the streets of Lagos, we see how young Africans use gig work to find employment and gain independence. But we also see how vulnerable they are to being exploited in jobs with little or no regulation. So the story is really a wake-up call for African governments to step up and make sure that global companies are accountable to the people who drive their business – it’s an echo of the cry to put people before profit.” Goodnews is the son of farmers from Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. He has an engineering degree, but has always dreamed of becoming a published writer. When he moved to Lagos in search of better opportunities, he found himself trapped in low-paid security jobs. That is, until he discovered Chowdeck. Now he spends his days delivering meals mainly around the University of Lagos, weaving through busy streets and hoping every order brings him closer to stability. Reporter Mo Isu spent a day with Goodnews and a group of 12 Chowdeck riders in Yaba, a neighbourhood in Lagos. Mo interviewed them between orders. Through their stories, we hear not just the hustle behind every delivery, but also the questions about fairness, safety, and what it means to have a job where your boss is essentially an app. Across Lagos, Chowdeck has become a fixture of daily life. Ngozi Chukwu, a reporter from Tech Cabal, says it’s a productivity tool for young professionals. The company’s growth mirrors the rise of Nigeria’s gig economy, where flexibility and fast payouts make delivery work one of the few viable options for thousands of young people shut out of formal jobs. But behind the convenience, researchers warn that riders face low pay, little protection, and a system where the algorithm makes all the rules. By nightfall, the rain is still coming down as Goodnews pushes through his final orders, trying to reach his target for the day. How long can riders like Goodnews keep carrying the weight of convenience on their shoulders? Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Meet and learn from Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Get your tickets now: moonshot.techcabal.com
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This new app lets tourists pay Kenyan traders without local SIM cards
Kenya earned about KES 452 billion ($3.5 billion) from inbound tourism in 2024. A large chunk of that cash changes hands in markets where people buy souvenirs, lodges for sleep or entertainment, and on tours because many of those transactions rely on cash. Tourists who do not buy a local SIM face high ATM costs and poor card acceptance. So, on Monday, I passed by Craft Silicon, a Kenyan fintech startup (its main product is Little Cab, an e-taxi company that thrives in corporate rides), to understand how the company managed to bring together the tourism ministry, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), and Mastercard at an event that looked more like a plan to appeal to visitors who want to test M-PESA, but want to transact from their debit or credit cards. The presence of those institutions makes the project more than a product launch since it touches, to some extent, on a private interest in how tourists pay. Why is this important? Tourists travelling from abroad (outside Kenya, in this case) often plan to use debit or credit cards. They expect small purchases to work like at home. In Kenya, many small traders still prefer cash, or in most cases, mobile money payments. That forces visitors into one of three options: buy a local SIM and use mobile money, withdraw cash from an ATM, or haggle over exchange rates at a bureau. Each choice has a cost. During his presentation at the Monday launch, Craft Silicon CEO Kamal Budhabhatti clarified that its latest app, Tourist App, wants to cut that friction. It targets low-value transactions: think of a KES 500 ($4) souvenir or a $43 entry fee to Nairobi National Park—moments when tourists look for quick payments. If those payments can happen digitally, traders keep more sales, and tourists spend less time hunting for cash. How the app works The Tourist app is available on both iOS and Android, and uses a single interface for tourists and merchants. This means merchants do not have to install a separate app or learn a new system. A merchant with an NFC‑enabled phone can prompt a tourist to tap and pay, while the tourist uses a contactless card or phone wallet. Payments can also be routed to mobile money wallets, till numbers, or bank accounts, reducing the need for cash entirely. NFC is at the centre of the experience, since both the merchant and the tourist need devices to support it. In effect, the app turns the merchant’s smartphone into a point‑of‑sale terminal. Tourists do not need a Kenyan SIM card to complete a payment, which removes a common barrier to adoption. Craft Silicon says the service connects to M‑PESA and Airtel Money as local settlement rails. A payment from a foreign card can land in a merchant’s wallet balance in near real time. Budhabhatti told TechCabal that the company is working with Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest telco, to add recipient‑name confirmation before money is sent, a feature that mirrors the standard M‑PESA experience and is key to building trust for one‑off transactions. Who is backing the product? Craft Silicon is the software house behind Little Cab, a Kenyan ride-hailing and delivery service (I have spoken to over 20 Little Cab drivers, who say they prefer corporate rides). I spent over three hours at the launch event, and that mix mattered, per my assessment, for two reasons. First, it shows regulators and private firms are watching how tourist spending is tracked. Second, KCB will be a key payments partner, and the bank runs in-house processing capacity in the region, meaning the card flows and the acquiring logic can be routed and settled locally. Craft Silicon positions the Tourist app as a local solution. The company will charge a 5% fee on each transaction, which is a trade-off. Tourists avoid ATM and exchange costs, and merchants avoid buying new hardware, so it makes sense why Craft Silicon takes a cut. Business model and numbers Craft Silicon will charge 5% on each transaction. That rate sits against two common alternatives. ATM withdrawals come with per‑withdrawal charges and exchange spreads. Card acceptance through merchants often involves monthly fees or hardware costs. For small traders, the choice to accept a new payment method depends on cost and simplicity. A model that sends incoming card funds straight into a local mobile wallet reduces the need for complex merchant acquiring setups. It also moves payment records into systems that are easier to audit. That is likely part of the reason KRA was present at the launch. Adoption hurdles There are three immediate obstacles. First, both merchant and tourist phones need near field communication (NFC) tech. Many basic smartphones do not have it. Second, tourists must download and register on a new app. A short trip reduces the incentive to do that. Third, trust matters. Tourists want to see the recipient’s name before they send money. I felt like Budhabatti didn’t have the right answer. Yet he said the app is working with Safaricom to bring name pull into the flow. That is a practical request. M-PESA already displays a recipient name in standard person-to-person transfers. Extending the same confirmation into an app flow for card-to-mobile money transfers will matter for trust and adoption. Regulatory and tax implications The launch drew a tax authority presence for a reason (Hon Ndiritu Muriithi was there, image attached). Moving tourist spending from cash into traceable digital records changes how revenue is tracked. For KRA, that shift can improve visibility of informal sales and help close compliance gaps. A system that converts card payments into mobile wallet balances touches on card scheme rules and on anti‑money laundering checks. Any solution that moves funds across rails must meet KYC and AML requirements for both the card scheme and the mobile wallet operator. That is likely why the presence of local partners matters. A bank that processes transactions locally can ease some cross‑border friction. Competition and context Card schemes and banks
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👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Tax banana
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning. Okay, somebody needs to stop NVIDIA. After pouring $5 billion into Intel shares last week in a move resembling consolidation to compete with TSMC and AMD, the chipmaker is at it again. On Monday, the three-trillion-dollar company announced plans for a massive data centre buildout with Sam Altman’s OpenAI, investing $100 billion into the startup. The deal will allow OpenAI to build and deploy at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems for its artificial intelligence data centres to train and run its next generation of models. Global tech companies are firmly in pursuit of superintelligence, and every player wants a finger in the pie. Let’s get into today’s dispatch. Safaricom completes M-PESA upgrade Kenyans pay more taxes than Nigerians Malawi has a new tech to fight corruption New CEO for Canal+ ahead of MultiChoice takeover Cool Suff World Wide Web 3 Events companies Safaricom completes M-PESA’s biggest upgrade yet Image source: M-PESA Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telco, has completed the biggest M-PESA upgrade since launching the mobile money platform over a decade ago. In the early hours of Monday, the telco restored services after a three-hour cutover that shifted its mobile money service to a new cloud-native system named Fintech 2.0 Out with the old. Fintech 2.0 was built to handle Africa’s busiest payments rail. The old setup was built to process a maximum of 5,000 transactions per second, and was already near its ceiling at 4,500. It was running out of room to grow. This new architecture starts at 6,000 transactions per second, with room to double as demand rises. More importantly, it allows Safaricom engineers to upgrade or fix components of the platform without shutting the whole thing down. Safaricom is betting that the new system might bring more partnerships and plugins. Whether that gamble pays is left for us to find out, but Fintech 2.0 gives it a good shot. Why should M-PESA users care? For a platform that processes more than 21 billion transactions a year, a sturdier and more flexible core means faster transactions, fewer outages, faster rollouts of new features, and smoother connections for banks, fintechs, and developers. For competitors already eating into M-PESA’s market share, Fintech 2.0 is a reset button that could reassert its dominance in Africa’s digital payments race. eCommerce Without Borders: Get Paid Faster Worldwide Whether you sell in Lagos or Nairobi, customers want local ways to pay. Let shoppers check out in their local currency, using cards, bank transfers, or mobile money. Set up seamless payments for your global online store with Fincra today. tax Kenya collects more taxes than Nigeria despite being four times smaller Image Source: Meme Kenya collects around $20 billion in taxes annually, while Nigeria plans to collect only $12 billion next year, despite Nigeria’s economy being $56 billion larger and having four times the population. The difference? Kenya gets 15% of its GDP from taxes while Nigeria barely manages 7%. State of play: Kenya’s revenue authority has gone full detective mode. The taxman now scans social media to see if people’s flashy lifestyles match their tax returns. In 2024, they flagged 460 wealthy individuals. Its systems are also plugged directly into M-PESA and banks to track money flows. And on the ground, 1,400 paramilitary-trained agents are deployed to enforce compliance and crack down on evasion. Why does this matter? Nigeria has relied on oil money for decades, but prices are becoming unstable. Now, the government needs regular people and businesses to start paying taxes. The problem is that only 10% of Nigerians pay tax, and just 9% of companies comply properly. Nigeria’s tax authority now wants to double down on tracking all electronic transactions so it can secure its fair share. Zoom out: Nigeria just launched new tax reforms, raised corporate tax to 30%, and aims for 18% tax-to-GDP in two years. But will these new reforms just end up creating more creative tax dodgers? Shop anywhere with Paga’s physical prepaid card Own every checkout with Paga’s Physical Prepaid Card. Suitable for all your security and speed needs. Just fund, shop, and pay anywhere with confidence. Get yours today. policy Malawi now has an app to report corruption Image source: Pixbay Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has launched the ACB Connect App, a mobile and web tool that lets citizens report corruption safely and anonymously. The aim: to make whistleblowing easier and less risky. Malawi is rife with corruption. Transparency International’s corruption perception index, the most widely used measure of corruption across the world, scored Malawi 34 out of 100. This index measures corruption on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 indicates the worst or highly corrupt and 100 means corruption-free. Malawi has been implementing many anti-corruption initiatives and policies since 1994, with the Corruption Practices Act. Its vice president and the Judiciary have faced probes for alleged corrupt practices. Now, an app allows citizens to make reports on suspected corruption. Power to the people. It’s not the first time Africa has gone digital in the fight against corruption. In 2021, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) launched a whistleblower app named The Eagle Eye. In 2024, the Integrity Watch Liberia (IWL) launched the Talkay App that enables citizens to report corruption in real time. These initiatives seemed like big wins when released, but months after Nigeria’s “Eagle Eye” launched, adoption stalled, and users alleged data theft. Malawi will need to learn from that. Here’s the catch. Internet penetration in Malawi is at 18%. Although mobile penetration is much higher at 60.3%, the low connectivity could limit how many people actually use ACB Connect. That’s why the bureau is pairing the launch with digital outreach to build awareness and trust. Turn your hustle into an online store with Paystack! Anyone can sell online. With Paystack Storefront, you can create a sleek online store, share your link, and accept payments. No code
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Why Kenyan remittance startup Bonto is shutting down after two years
Bonto Kenya, a Nairobi-based remittance fintech, is shutting down two years after launching, and less than eight months after securing a licence from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). Bonto founder and CEO Yoann Copreaux announced on Monday that the company, which specialised in remittances and foreign exchange services, stopped processing transactions on August 15 and later asked the CBK to revoke its licence. The regulator confirmed the revocation last week. “It is notified for the information of the general public that pursuant to Regulation 44 (2) of the money remittance regulations 2013, the Central Bank of Kenya has revoked the license of Bonto Kenya Money Transfer Limited,” CBK governor Kamau Thugge wrote in a notice. Bonto’s exit reveals the uneasy reality facing fintechs in Kenya, where regulatory approval no longer guarantees a path to survival. In a market where foreign exchange spreads have narrowed, remittance fees are being driven to zero, and compliance costs keep climbing, only established players with deep client relationships can withstand the squeeze. For Bonto, the timing proved wrong. In a candid note on LinkedIn, Copreaux said the shutdown was due to collapsing FX margins, thin remittance fees, and rising compliance costs that made it impossible to scale profitably. Unlike older money remittance providers (MRPs) that can lean on legacy clients, Bonto was “trying to build in the desert.” “FX margins collapsed, breakeven scale became unrealistic,” Copreaux said. Bonto considered selling its licence, reaching out to more than 50 fintechs and securing five offers. But none proved viable once CBK approval timelines and ongoing monthly losses were factored in. “It was emotionally tough, but closing was the only rational decision by a wide margin,” Yoann wrote. The team behind Bonto will now wind down operations fully, with Copreaux hinting at a reset before pursuing new ventures. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Meet and learn from Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Get your tickets now: moonshot.techcabal.com
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Why Fincra is teaming up with Reap to speed up Africa–Asia transactions
Fincra, a payments infrastructure provider for businesses in and beyond Africa, has partnered with Reap, a global stablecoin-enabled infrastructure provider, to expand card services and cross-border transactions for businesses across Africa and Asia. The partnership will see both firms develop Card-as-a-Service offerings, programmable spend controls, and new financial tools for African fintechs and SMEs. Marking Reap’s first strategic alliance in Africa, this deal combines Fincra’s local payment infrastructure with Reap’s stablecoin-enabled rails to speed up the payments corridor between Africa and Asia. “Stablecoin rails are something we are trying to leverage on because they provide more speed, reliability, and capabilities where the traditional banking rails don’t,” said Kevin Kang, Reap’s co-founder. Sub-Saharan Africa has become a global leader in stablecoin adoption, accounting for 43% of all transactions in 2024. At the same time, moving money in and out of Africa is expensive. In the second quarter of 2024, the World Bank put Sub-Saharan Africa’s average cost of remittances at 8.37%, the highest in the world. Stablecoins are starting to change that dynamic, giving businesses alternatives that move faster and cheaper. “This collaboration will give African businesses across the continent the flexibility to spend and scale with ease,” Wole Ayodele, CEO, Fincra, added The partnership comes four months after Fincra obtained a Third Party Payments Provider (TPPP) licence in South Africa, which will allow the company to process key local payment methods, including debit and credit card transactions, electronic funds transfers (EFTs), and rapid payments. As Reap grows its stablecoin-enabled services, Fincra will support with the infrastructure needed to connect local businesses to global markets. Reap plans to expand across Africa, starting with the market with the most demand. “Fincra is in over 15 countries in Africa. If this works, we will expand across all jurisdictions there,” said Emmanuel Babalola, the company’s Chief Commercial and Growth Officer. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
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