Three of Nigeria’s biggest banks lost $1.56 million to fraud in 2025
Nigeria’s biggest banks are processing record volumes of digital payments, but this is also increasing their exposure to fraud. Access Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO), and United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) lost a combined ₦2.13 billion ($1.56 million) to fraud and forgery incidents in 2025, according to an analysis of their audited financial statements. Most of the incidents were electronic, with the total number of fraud incidents declining by 15.03% in 2025. However, the amount extracted per successful attack increased, indicating that fraudsters are becoming more efficient at exploiting banks’ vulnerabilities. The three banks lost an average of ₦44,454 ($32.65) per fraud incident in 2025, up from ₦40,488 ($29.74) in the previous year. The amount linked to fraud incidents declined by 0.87% to ₦10.29 billion ($7.56 million). Only 20.66% of that amount became actual losses, suggesting the three banks were able to recover or block part of the stolen funds before settlement. The 2025 Bank Fraud Landscape Not all defense lines hold equal. By comparing the total volume fraudsters targeted against the actual financial impact, we can see how efficiently different banks intercepted attacks before settlement. System Insight: UBA faced the heaviest bombardment (₦4.56B targeted) but their infrastructure successfully intercepted 86.4% of it. Meanwhile, Access Bank suffered the highest actual impact (₦1.24B), with 39.1% of their successfully targeted funds crystallizing into a loss. UBA 26,400 Incidents ₦4.56B Targeted ₦621.57M Lost (13.6%) Access Bank 5,981 Incidents ₦3.17B Targeted ₦1.24B Lost (39.1%) GTCO 15,469 Incidents ₦2.58B Targeted ₦269.44M Lost (10.4%) Blocked / Recovered Crystallized Impact Data extracted from 2025 Audited Financial Statements. Target amounts represent the “Successful” attack attempts. Built by TechCabal The numbers highlight that while faster payments create new revenue opportunities for banks and fintechs, they are also widening the attack surface for cybercriminals. Data from the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed that there were 67,518 fraud-related incidents in 2025 alone. On an individual level, Access reported that electronic fraud cases fell 47.74% to 5,931, but cash theft, representing only 26 incidents, and contributing 14.31% to total losses. At UBA, electronic fraud accounted for 99.91% of the 26,400 fraud cases it recorded in 2025. Fraudulent transfers alone accounted for 35.99% of actual losses—the single largest fraud channel by value. GTCO disclosed that the amount linked to fraud incidents increased 30.05%. Actual fraud losses rose 69.34%, despite a 0.48% decline in total fraud cases. These losses are absorbed by the banks, and stricter verification requirements and tighter transfer controls for customers are imposed. Instant payments reached ₦284.99 trillion ($209.34 billion) in the first quarter of 2025, according to NIBSS. Four commercial banks, GTCO, UBA, First Bank of Nigeria, and Zenith Bank, processed ₦286.19 trillion ($210.22 billion) through their mobile apps in 2025. As transaction volumes rise, banks have to spend more money to protect their infrastructure. Collectively, Access Holdings, GTCO, and UBA spent ₦280.90 billion ($206.33 million) on technology investments in 2025, including cybersecurity systems, fraud-monitoring tools, customer-authentication infrastructure, and transaction-security upgrades. The True Cost of Cashless Banks lost ₦2.13 billion to fraud in 2025, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Explore the data below to see the hidden scale of cyber attacks and the massive defense budget required to protect the ecosystem. The Attack Flow The Defense Budget Total Exposed Capital ₦10.29 Billion Blocked/Recovered (79.3%) Lost (20.7%) Insight: While the total number of fraud incidents dropped, the amount extracted per successful attack increased to ₦44,454. Fraudsters are becoming more efficient, but banks successfully intercepted over 79% of targeted funds before settlement. Financial Burden: Spend vs Loss Cybersecurity Spend ₦280.90B Actual Funds Lost ₦2.13B Insight: To keep ₦71.06 trillion in customer deposits secure, Access, GTCO, and UBA collectively spent roughly 131 times more on defense systems than what they actually lost to cybercriminals. Data based on 2025 Audited Financials (Access, GTCO, UBA). Built by TechCabal Regulatory push Banks have to render monthly returns on fraud and forgeries to the CBN, according to section 24 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020. According to NIBSS, fraud reporting fell by 34% in the final quarter of 2025. Beyond that, the apex bank is increasingly mandating banks and fintechs to move from simply processing transactions to actively policing them. Banks are now expected to verify customers more aggressively, monitor transactions in real time, including using artificial intelligence, detect suspicious device activity, and absorb the consequences of fraud failures. In 2025, the CBN directed NIBSS to begin debiting institutions that receive proceeds from fraudulent transactions. The regulator also tightened onboarding requirements, including mandatory liveness verification and device-binding measures designed to limit account takeovers and identity fraud. Telecom operators are also increasingly being pulled into fraud enforcement as regulators push for real-time phone-number risk flagging and broader data-sharing frameworks between telcos and financial institutions. When financial institutions fail to comply with anti-fraud controls, they face sanctions. In 2025, the CBN fined Access Holdings ₦138 million ($101,366) for inadequate Know Your Customer controls linked to fraud cases. For now, Nigeria’s banking system remains financially resilient. Access, GTCO, and UBA held ₦71.06 trillion ($52.19 billion) in customer deposits at the end of 2025, with actual fraud losses representing just 0.003% of deposits. But as digital payments scale deeper into the economy, fraud is becoming embedded as a hidden operating cost of Nigeria’s cashless transition, one that banks, customers, telecom operators, and regulators are increasingly being forced to pay. Note: exchange rate used: ₦1,361.4/$
Read MoreMTN Rwanda returns to profit as data and fintech drive Q1 growth
MTN Rwanda returned to profit in the first quarter of 2026, helped by strong growth in internet usage and mobile money services. The company posted a profit after tax of Rwf 10.8 billion ($6.8 million) for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, reversing the net loss reported in Q1 2025, according to its financial results. The performance marks a sharp recovery from the losses the telecom operator recorded during the same period last year. Service revenue rose 14.7% year-on-year to Rwf 295.7 billion ($200.78 million), while EBITDA—a measure of operating profitability—grew 17.3% to Rwf 106.8 billion ($72.52 million). Its EBITDA margin improved to 35.8%, up from 32.7% a year earlier. Growth was driven mainly by MTN Rwanda’s digital businesses. Active data subscribers increased 14.1% to 2.8 million, reflecting rising demand for internet services, while monthly active users on its mobile money platform, MoMo, climbed 17.3% to 6.2 million. Revenue from data services rose 15.6%, while fintech revenue from MoMo services jumped 27.6%. The recovery also built on momentum from late 2025, when increased data consumption and home broadband usage helped strengthen the company’s revenue base. The results suggest Rwanda’s telecom sector, although smaller than markets such as Nigeria or South Africa, is becoming one of Africa’s fastest-growing digital economies. “We remain focused on protecting affordability for our customers, accelerating efficiency across the business, and continuing to invest in the capabilities that will define the next phase of growth,” said Monzer Ali, MTN Rwanda Chief Executive Officer, in the company’s Q1 earnings commentary. Rwanda’s broader economy has remained resilient despite rising inflation and global economic uncertainty. The country recorded GDP growth of 9.4% in 2025, up from 7.2% the previous year, driven mainly by services and industry. However, inflationary pressures have intensified in early 2026. According to Rwanda’s National Institute of Statistics, urban inflation averaged 7.6% between March 2025 and March 2026, while energy prices rose 25.5%. The National Bank of Rwanda also raised its benchmark interest rate to 7.25% in February 2026 to contain inflation. For MTN Rwanda, these pressures are affecting both operating costs and consumer spending. The company said geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have increased energy costs and disrupted global trade flows, putting pressure on supply chains and customer purchasing power. Still, the company continues to invest heavily in network expansion and digital infrastructure. During the quarter, MTN Rwanda said it expanded 4G population coverage to 94.8% and continued its phased rollout of 5G services. Compared with larger MTN subsidiaries, Rwanda remains a relatively small market. MTN Nigeria reported a profit after tax of roughly $256 million in Q1 2026, while Airtel Africa posted $227 million. MTN Rwanda’s subscriber base of 8.2 million is also far smaller than MTN Nigeria’s 89.5 million users or Airtel Africa’s 183.5 million subscribers across its markets. Growth in mobile money usage in Rwanda, at 5.9 million adults, has outpaced adoption levels in some larger African markets, reflecting the country’s broader push toward financial inclusion and digital payments. MTN Rwanda said it is targeting capital expenditure intensity of between 7% and 10% of revenue, lower than the aggressive network investment cycles underway in larger telecom markets such as Nigeria and South Africa. Despite macroeconomic uncertainty, MTN Rwanda described the return to profitability as a “positive start to the year” as it continues to execute its long-term “Ambition 2025” strategy.
Read MoreAgritech attracts strongest African angel investor interest despite funding decline
In 2025, agriculture and agtech startups attracted the strongest interest from Africa’s angel networks, according to a new report by the African Business Angel Network (ABAN), an industry group. The report, produced in partnership with Briter Intelligence, a market intelligence and data platform, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), surveyed more than 60 angel investors and angel network managers across Africa. It examined investment preferences, ecosystem trends, funding constraints, and the role of angel investors across the continent. The renewed attention on agriculture comes despite a difficult funding year for the sector, underscoring a gap in the funding ecosystem. While agriculture is attracting stronger interest from angel networks, agritech startups continue to struggle to attract larger pools of institutional capital. A separate Briter Intelligence report showed that agritech funding declined to $168.1 million in 2025, down from $206.9 million in 2024, while other sectors, including fintech, logistics, and energy, captured a larger share of capital. Still, the growing interest from angel networks suggests that early-stage investors see long-term potential in the sector despite the funding slowdown. Angel investors are typically high-net-worth individuals who invest personal capital into early-stage startups and fund companies before institutional venture capital firms step in. Angel networks allow these solo investors to pool capital and share investments across multiple startups. Across 37 African countries, there are more than 75 active angel networks and over 5,000 individual angels, according to the report. The report found that agriculture and agtech ranked as the top sector of interest among angel networks in 2025, although it ranked second among individual angel investors, trailing behind fintech. Logistics and supply chain startups attracted the strongest angel investor participation across the ecosystem, per ABAN’s 2024 report, highlighting how investor priorities are evolving. Alongside shifting sector preferences, the ABAN report showed how angel investing itself is evolving across Africa. The report found that more than 35% of surveyed investors prefer startups already generating revenue, reflecting caution in a tighter funding environment where investors want evidence of traction before deploying capital. Ticket sizes also remain relatively small among the group. The report stated that more than 90% of individual angel investors wrote cheques under $25,000 in 2025, up from 76% in 2024. Angel networks, however, demonstrated a greater capacity for larger investments, with 8% reporting writing ticket sizes above $100,000. Still, the ecosystem faces structural constraints. According to the report, limited exit opportunities and liquidity remain one of the biggest challenges facing angel investors across Africa, despite the continent recording more than 100 startup exits between 2023 and 2025. The report also identified limited deal flow, limited investor knowledge, and economic and regulatory gaps as key barriers to scaling angel investment activity across the continent. Nearly 29% of respondents indicated that they have either paused or reduced their investments in the market. “If Africa is to build stronger innovation ecosystems and convert entrepreneurial energy into broad-based development, angel investing must be recognised not as a peripheral activity, but as part of the continent’s growth infrastructure,” Fadilah Tchoumba, CEO of ABAN, noted in the report. As Africa’s venture funding remains constrained due to the pullback of development finance institutions (DFIs) and global investors, the report suggests that angel investors and angel networks could play a more influential role in determining which startups receive the early backing needed to scale.
Read MoreSASSA SRD grant payment dates for May 2026 explained
Table of contents What is the SASSA SRD R370 grant? SASSA SRD R370 payment dates for May 2026 How to check your SRD payment status What to do if your application is declined Common reasons for payment delays and how to fix them If you receive the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) Social Relief of Distress (SRD) R370 ($22.59) grant, you already know that your payment does not arrive on the same day as the older persons or disability grants. The SRD runs on its own schedule, and May 2026 is no different. SASSA has confirmed that SRD payments for May 2026 will be processed between Saturday, May 24 and Saturday, May 30, 2026. Since SASSA only processes payments on business days, most beneficiaries will see their money between Monday, May 25 and Friday, May 29. Your personal payment date within that window depends on when your monthly verification clears. The quickest way to find your exact date is to log into srd.sassa.gov.za with your South African ID number and the cellphone number you used when you applied. What is the SASSA SRD R370 grant? The SRD grant is a monthly cash payment from SASSA for unemployed people who have no other source of income or government support. It pays R370($22.59) every month and is the last in the payment queue, always processed after all permanent grants have gone out. Unlike grants such as the Older Persons or Child Support Grant, the SRD does not have a permanent approval. SASSA reassesses every application each month against government databases before releasing any payment. This is why your payment date is different from your neighbour’s, and why the same person can be approved one month and declined the next. To qualify for the SRD R370 grant, you must: Be a South African citizen, permanent resident, refugee, or asylum seeker with a valid Section 22 permit Be between 18 and 59 years old Have no income above R624($38.09) monthly in any bank account linked to your ID Not be receiving any other SASSA grant, UIF payments, or NSFAS funding Not be living in a state-funded institution such as a prison or care facility A single deposit that pushes your account balance above R624 ($38.09) in a given month, even from a family member or a refund, can trigger an automatic decline for that month. This is one of the most common reasons people get declined, even when they have no regular income. The SRD grant was first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been extended several times since. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana confirmed in the November 2025 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) that the grant will run until March 31, 2027, and is backed by an additional R36.4 billion($2.22 billion) in Treasury allocation. The government has signalled it may be replaced by a more permanent income-support arrangement after March 2027, but no final design has been published yet. SASSA SRD R370 payment dates for May 2026 SASSA confirmed the May 2026 SRD payment window as May 24 to May 30, 2026. The table below shows the full payment schedule for all grants this month. Since May 24 is a Sunday and May 30 is a Saturday, actual processing will happen on business days within that range. SASSA does not process payments on weekends, so plan around Monday, May 25, through Friday, May 29. Your personal date within that window depends on when your monthly means test clears. SASSA cross-checks your application against records from SARS, UIF, Home Affairs, NSFAS, and your bank before assigning your payment day. Once that check is complete, your date will appear on your status page at srd.sassa.gov.za. Banks and retailers also process at different speeds. If your payment shows as released by SASSA, allow one to three business days for it to reflect in your account, depending on your bank or payment channel. How to check your SRD payment status There are four ways to check your status. The online portal is the most reliable because it shows your month-by-month history and your personal payment date once assigned. Option 1: Online at srd.sassa.gov.za (most reliable) Open a browser and go to srd.sassa.gov.za. Make sure the address ends in .gov.za. Click “Check Your Status” or “Application Status.” Enter your 13-digit South African ID number. Enter the cellphone number you used when you applied. Submit. Your month-by-month result and, where available, your personal payment date will appear. Option 2: WhatsApp at 082 046 8553 Save 082 046 8553 as a contact and open WhatsApp. Send “Hi” or “Status” to start the chat. Follow the menu prompts and enter your ID number when asked. The chatbot will return your current grant status. Option 3: USSD by dialling *120*3210# (no data needed) Dial *120*3210# from any cellphone. Select “SASSA R370 Status” or “Status Check” from the menu. Enter your ID number. Your status will appear on screen. If *120*3210# fails, try the legacy code *134*7737#. Option 4: Toll-free call centre at 0800 60 10 11 Available Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 16:00. Have your ID number and your registered cellphone number ready before you call. An agent will read your latest status aloud. What your status result means What to do if your application is declined A declined status does not always mean the end of the road. SASSA gives you 90 days from the date of the decline to request a reconsideration. This process is free, and you do not need a lawyer. The most common reasons SASSA declines SRD applications are: A bank deposit pushed your account above R624 ($38.09) in the assessed month, even if it was a once-off transfer from a family member or a refund UIF payments or an active UIF registration were detected NSFAS funding was found linked to your ID Your identity details do not match what Home Affairs has on record You were found to be receiving another SASSA grant Your age is recorded as being outside the 18 to 59
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Digital Nomads: Olayinka Oke saves $368 monthly to live in three countries a year
Olayinka Oke has travelled to 23 of Nigeria’s 36 states, exploring her nomadic curiosities from humble beginnings before she began branching out of the country and, eventually, Africa. Before Ghana, Malta, Sierra Leone, and Kenya, there were shorter trips across Nigeria. She would wait for a public holiday, take two extra leave days, book a hotel or Airbnb, and disappear for four days. Sometimes, it was a quick weekend stop in Ekiti, in southwestern Nigeria. Other times, Kano, in the far north. At the time, international travel still felt distant for Oke. But in 2017, she crossed Nigeria’s borders for Accra, Ghana, for the first time. That trip changed something. “Even though Ghana is a lot similar to Nigeria, there was—I don’t know the word for it—but my eyes just opened to the fact that there’s actually a lot more to life than the country where you live,” said Oke. Now, she saves a little over ₦500,000 ($368) every month into a travel fund to finance the frequent travel lifestyle she describes as requiring “meticulous planning.” In March, she was in Kenya for the month, working remotely from different high‑brow parts of Nairobi and taking a side trip to Lamu, off Kenya’s coast. Later this year, she plans to visit several European countries and at least one Asian country, preferably Thailand, she said. Oke, a chemical engineering graduate from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomosho, Oyo State, leads data management and governance at Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), one of the country’s biggest gas producers. She said her urge to travel came from a restless dislike for routine and a desire to keep experiencing new places instead of staying in one environment long enough to get bored. “There’s always the point of wanting to be in a saner clime,” Oke said. “Every time you run into a low‑quality problem in Nigeria, you tell yourself that, ‘if I were living outside Nigeria, this wouldn’t be a problem.’” Her full‑time job is based in Nigeria, but over the last few years, she has steadily built a life that assumes she will live in at least three other countries every year, one month at a time. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events Next wave Entering Tech Subscribe Oke, the traveller Oke first worked in the oil and gas sector, including a stint at Halliburton, the multinational oilfield services firm with operations in Nigeria, between 2014 and 2016. She then moved into banking as a data professional at tier-2 lender, Union Bank, from 2016 to 2021, before transitioning fully into the energy side of data, first at Easy Solar and now at NLNG. Oke traces her deliberate nomadic life to two moments: that first Ghana trip and later, a job that pushed her to move to Sierra Leone. For a while, the change showed up mainly as tourism. She travelled when she could afford it, mostly for short stays. The shift from tourist to temporary resident came in 2022, when she got an offer from Easy Solar. The company sells renewable energy products to last‑mile users on a pay‑as‑you‑go (PAYG) basis in Sierra Leone and Liberia. She said she started as a commercial data analyst, working remotely at first, but the role came with a condition: at some point, she would have to move to Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. “I eventually moved to Sierra Leone in 2023,” she said. “Sierra Leone is not like Europe, which is a lot more developed; in fact, I would say Sierra Leone is a bit less developed than Nigeria, but the way things were just different was very interesting to me.” Oke poses for a photo at the ‘I Love Salone’ sign in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Image Source: Olayinka Oke While she spent about a year in Sierra Leone, the stay was long enough for daily details to matter more than the idea of “moving abroad.” The first shock came from housing and groceries. Rents in the parts of Freetown where expatriates and professionals clustered were quoted in dollars, and her two‑bedroom apartment, shared with a flatmate, cost about $600 a month. Groceries, too, were often more expensive than she expected, partly because many products were imported, she said. Food and convenience became the biggest pressure points. In Lagos, Oke prefers to order almost everything online and can go weeks without leaving her house when working remotely. Oke hiking the Leicester Peak, a mountain in Sierra Leone’s Western area. Image Source: Olayinka Oke In Freetown, that setup simply did not exist. There were restaurants with Instagram pages, but no central food‑delivery platforms, she said. She had to ask colleagues how people managed. Eventually, she settled into the local workaround: finding a trusted bike rider who acted as a personal dispatch, buying items from different places, and bringing them over. The Malta cameo, sacrifice, and returning home In the middle of her Sierra Leone stint in 2023, she applied on LinkedIn for a data analyst role at a Malta-based gaming company. She got the offer while she was still with Easy Solar, and kept working for the company as the Malta process moved ahead. Oke left Sierra Leone around June and returned to Lagos, continuing to work remotely for Easy Solar until it was time to travel. In September, she flew to Malta to start the in‑country stages of her new role. She said the gaming company sponsored her visa, paid for her flight, and put her
Read MoreNigeria now Airtel Africa’s second-largest market by revenue per subscriber
Nigeria is now Airtel Africa’s second-biggest market by revenue earned from each subscriber, as higher telecom tariffs boosted earnings in the company’s largest African market. Airtel Africa, which operates in 14 countries, grew its average revenue per user (ARPU) in Nigeria by 41.18% for the financial year ended March 2026, according to the company’s financial results released on Friday. ARPU measures how much telecom operators earn per subscriber and is a key indicator of whether revenue is sufficient to cover operating costs and fund network investments. Money The ARPU Gap: Value vs. Velocity Francophone Africa still extracts the most revenue per user, but Nigeria’s recent 50% tariff hike has triggered explosive year-over-year growth. Source: Airtel Africa plc FY’26 Financial Results. Bar length represents actual Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Badges represent YoY growth.
Read MoreOpera-backed stablecoin app MiniPay rides Africa demand to 15 million wallets
MiniPay, the Opera-backed stablecoin wallet and payments app that operates in seven African markets, has crossed 15 million activated wallets, more than double from the previous year. The 123% year-on-year jump extends the app’s growth after it crossed 13 million wallets by the end of 2025, according to Opera’s Q1 2026 report. Launched in Nigeria in September 2023 as part of the Opera Mini browser before becoming a standalone app last year, MiniPay has emerged as one of the most widely used stablecoin payment products focused on emerging markets, with the majority of its users in Africa, according to Opera. It underscores how Africa has become one of the world’s most active testing grounds for crypto payments and dollar savings products. Apps like MiniPay, Bitget Wallet, and UglyCash are betting that users in countries with volatile currencies and costly banking infrastructure will embrace dollar-denominated digital money for everyday use. “MiniPay launched first in Nigeria in 2023 and expanded first across Kenya and other key African markets before going global in 2025,” Murray Spark, Senior Director Business Development at Opera, told TechCabal in an email response on Tuesday. “We don’t go into country-level detail, but it’s fair to say our earliest markets in Sub-Saharan Africa are where we’re seeing the most traction. This reflects where our most engaged users are, and we expect the geographic mix to evolve as we expand.” Opera reported that MiniPay users completed 290 million peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions worth over $300 million by the third quarter of 2025. That figure climbed to 360 million completed transactions by year-end. Opera declined to disclose average transaction sizes for MiniPay, but said activity on the app is concentrated around “everyday financial activities that traditional banking infrastructure either ignores or makes too expensive to bother with,” including peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers, airtime and data purchases, bill purchases, merchant payments, and universal basic income (UBI) disbursements. The app runs on the Celo blockchain and is heavily centred on USDT, the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by El Salvador-based firm Tether. According to Spark, USDT remains “by far the dominant asset” held in MiniPay wallets and is primarily used for everyday transactions. Opera is also leaning into tokenised gold products—digital assets backed by physical gold—as a savings tool for users in emerging markets. “On-chain data shows that over 91% of XAUT0 holders [holders of Tether Gold, a digital product that tracks the price of gold] are on Celo. Virtually all of those are MiniPay wallets,” Spark said. “What that means is that MiniPay has become the single largest platform for Tether Gold holders in the world.” While MiniPay’s growth has become prominent in Opera’s shareholder communications, the Oslo-based company has yet to disclose revenue generated directly from the wallet business. Opera said its primary revenue drivers remain advertising and search, while describing MiniPay as part of its “broader ecosystem.” In recent earnings reports, Opera has increasingly highlighted MiniPay alongside its AI browser ambitions, framing the wallet as a strategic product for emerging markets. In its Q4 2025 earnings released in February, CEO Lin Song said Opera’s partnership with Tether, the Salvador-based issuer of the USDT stablecoin and Tether Gold, was helping provide “seamless financial access and innovative digital utility to emerging markets globally.” MiniPay’s expansion is also moving beyond Africa. In November 2025, Opera rolled out a “Pay Like a Local” feature in Latin America that allows users to spend stablecoin balances directly through Mercado Pago and Brazil’s PIX payment system. Opera said it already supports bank and mobile money integrations across Africa and plans to continue expanding local payment rails as adoption grows. To deepen engagement, MiniPay offers incentives such as daily login rewards, crypto-earning games, and miniapps, and is also planning to launch virtual cards.
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WayaWaya founder Teddy Ogallo lived a sheltered life, then had to rebuild everything
By the time Teddy Ogallo sits down at Artcaffe Westgate Mall in Nairobi’s Westlands, he already has a mental list running. Not talking points for this interview, but customer problems, things that broke overnight, features that need reworking, small frictions that, if fixed, might bring him the next hundred users. He orders a latte. I go for Kenyan tea, non-spiced. He’s present, but you can tell his mind is never far from the build. Ask him who he is—especially on days he’s tired of the startup label—and he doesn’t hesitate. “I’m a builder,” he says. It comes out effortlessly during our chat, as if it’s almost a default setting, something that predates his journey at WayaWaya, a Kenyan startup that provides conversational banking tools via WhatsApp and mobile apps. He traces it back to his childhood in the barracks in Eldoret—a city in Western Kenya—a contained, almost ideal world. Good housing, a supermarket, a hospital, a proper school, everything in place, little reason to step outside. “You had no reason to leave,” he says. Then, at 17, that world fell apart. His father lost his job, and the transition into what he calls “real-life Kenya” was abrupt. Suddenly, the cushioning was gone, replaced by scarcity, but with awareness of how most people actually live and get by. That contrast—comfort, then lack—sits beneath how he sees things now. It shows up in how he talks about systems that don’t work, about people forced to find their own way around them, and about why he builds at all. He tells me he doesn’t just want to solve problems, but leave a legacy that holds up under pressure. Our conversation moves between those personal aspirations and what it takes to build something that lasts. For Ogallo, the two are not separate. They rarely are. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. How do you usually introduce yourself when you’re tired of talking about startups? I know it’s cliché, but I’m a builder. I’ve always been a builder since I was four years old—building drones, building things. I’m an innovator and a builder. I’ve always been that character who thinks differently. I started building, then I started asking myself: How do I create value out of everything I’ve built? That’s why my entrepreneurship journey started very, very early in life. Because I’m this innovative builder, looking at problems, thinking of solutions, and actually building a workable solution. If we weren’t doing this interview over coffee, where would you rather be right now? I have this list. I usually make a list of customer requests and customer feedback. I’m a tech founder, so I’m involved with the daily build, finding solutions. So I plan how to solve this list of problems for our customers, then plan to iterate on that process and use it to get even more customers. I’d be scaling and maintaining the customers we’ve already set up on our platform. What’s been your most recent small win that had nothing to do with WayaWaya? When you’re an entrepreneur, the startup becomes your life. Everything else is peripheral. I finished a small build project. Once I’m successful with WayaWaya, I’ll be able to build something bigger. I’ve been building a prototype of that technology solution, more hardware-oriented. I finished a prototype, and it worked. It’s at that point where you start thinking of getting a Chinese company to print the boards. That’s a success. What’s something you’ve changed your mind about in the last year? I used to believe in changing people, changing mindsets. But I’ve gotten tough lessons. Human beings, by the time someone has become an adult, have these rigid frames they live inside. You can’t really change those fundamental bits, character, aspiration. Those are the basics that most people can’t change. That’s why in business, you have to develop a skill. Even as a founder, when you’re looking for team members, you look at their motivations, the things that drive them. Those are usually very hard to change in an adult. I spent a significant part of my life trying to change that in people. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks… Exactly. That’s something I’ve learned. Teddy Ogallo at a past Housing Finance event. Image source: WayaWaya Where did you grow up? What did it teach you about money, trust, and financial systems? I was born in Eldoret [Western Kenya], in a sheltered setup. My dad was in the military, posted at one of the best-built barracks in Kenya, a flagship. This barracks had a supermarket, a good hospital, and a really good school. You had no reason to leave. Bungalows. Everyone had their own room. Perfect, sheltered life. We only ventured out once every two months to town. Eldoret has more cushioning, more civil servant jobs, and more middle class than comparable towns. We didn’t know some of the struggles Kenyans go through. Then life happened. My dad lost his job. We had to move when I was about 17. That was my welcome to real-life Kenya. I saw people buy milk in plastic containers; there was poverty. And then there was that drive. You could see people really pushing to escape that place. So, I’m a teenager, the firstborn, wanting to pull my entire family out of that. That’s where I saw Kenyan resilience. Put a typical Kenyan in a tough situation, and you get stories of guys who started in places like Kawangware and are now somewhere out there in the world. Kenyans just don’t settle. That contrast—shelter to crash course—taught me Kenyans are resilient and aggressive by nature. On financial systems: at that point, the system was not built for the reality on the ground. We have one of the highest poverty rates—even as a middle-income country, our poverty rate is higher than most neighbors. Our financial system is built for the ministers. That’s why micro-lending apps are prospering in Kenya. I discovered quickly how it was built to fail. That’s
Read MorePaga enters crypto through partnership with blockchain network Sui
Paga, one of Africa’s oldest fintechs, has partnered with Sui, the blockchain network built by US-based Mysten Labs, as it pushes into crypto payments, stablecoin yields, and asset tokenisation. The partnership was announced at the Sui Live event in Miami, the United States, on Thursday. It marks Paga’s first formal move into crypto since Tayo Oviosu transitioned to Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in April. Oviosu said the partnership will help Paga build financial rails that help Africans hedge against currency instability that erodes wealth, unlock opportunity in global commerce, fix cross-border payments, and expand access to alternative financial products. “These are the walls of the cage, and until we tear them down, financial freedom on this continent is incomplete,” Oviosu said during a presentation at Sui Live. “Tearing down these walls is not a job we can do on our own; it requires the right rails, the right partner, the right technology that is fast enough, cheap enough and global enough to serve 1 billion people. We found that partner—Paga and Sui.” The partnership will cover four things: high-yield USD accounts backed by USDsui, Sui’s newly launched dollar stablecoin; crypto on-ramps and off-ramps across Paga’s markets; tokenised real-world assets (RWAs), including real estate, bonds, and solar projects; and cross-border payment rails for businesses and consumers. Paga users could soon hold a dollar account that earns interest automatically, convert between local currency and crypto without friction, invest in assets like property or green energy projects that were previously out of reach, and send or receive money across borders as easily and cheaply as sending an email, said Oviosu. Paga’s move comes as African fintechs increasingly explore crypto and digital currency infrastructure for payments, settlement, and treasury operations. In October 2025, Flutterwave partnered with blockchain firm Polygon to build out its stablecoin payment infrastructure. Stripe-owned Paystack reorganised into The Stack Group (TSG) in January to deepen research in emerging technologies within fintech. Both companies were admitted into the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) anti-money laundering supervisory programme for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) on March 31. “57% of African adults don’t have a bank account,” Oviosu said. “When people hear that number, they see a problem. I see something different; I see an Africa that is the single largest financial greenfield market in the world, and that is the opportunity we’re going after.” Paga currently processes $1.5 billion in monthly payments. In 2025, it processed $11 billion from 169 million transactions, Oviosu said. Since its founding in 2009, the company has processed $42 billion in total payment volume (TPV) from 653 million transactions, a scale that gives the Sui partnership immediate reach rather than a standing start. “$42 billion are school fees paid, salaries received, grandmother receiving money from her son in the city, instantly, safely, and at a fraction of the cost of what it used to [be],” Oviosu said. “This is what the infrastructure was built for and we’re just getting started.” Sui launched USDsui, a US dollar-backed stablecoin, on its network on Monday, entering a stablecoin market dominated by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. Unlike those two stablecoins, USDsui is yield-bearing, allowing users to earn interest by holding the digital dollar in their accounts, putting it in competition with similar products such as DAI. The launch marks the second currency developed within the Sui ecosystem after the blockchain introduced its native SUI token in 2023. Blockchain networks often create native tokens to drive adoption and utility across payments, lending, and decentralised application ecosystems. Bridge, the US crypto infrastructure firm Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion in 2025, will issue the USDsui stablecoin on the Sui blockchain.
Read MoreSafaricom is pushing M-PESA deeper into Kenya’s retail investing market
Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecom operator, is expanding M-PESA’s presence in retail investing after assets in its money market fund more than doubled. Assets under management in Ziidi fund sold through M-PESA more than doubled to KES 18.7 billion ($145 million) in the year ended March 2026. Total wealth assets on the platform rose to KES 21 billion ($162 million), according to results released on Thursday. The expansion pushes Safaricom deeper into businesses long dominated by banks, fund managers, and brokerage firms. After building Kenya’s largest mobile payments platform, the company is now trying to keep more of its customers’ savings, investments, and financial activity within M-PESA. In February, Safaricom launched Ziidi Trader, a new service that allows customers to buy and sell listed securities on their mobile phones, further extending M-PESA into retail investing. The expansion points to M-PESA’s move from a transaction platform to a broader financial services business. Kenya’s mobile money market is already mature, with person-to-person transfers and merchant payments deeply embedded in daily commerce. M-PESA processed KES 41.7 trillion ($323 billion) in transactions during the year and now serves nearly 41 million active users across payments, transfers, and merchant services M-PESA revenue rose 13.4% to KES 182.7 billion ($1.41 billion) during the year, accounting for 45.6% of Safaricom Kenya’s service revenue, up from 44.2% a year earlier. Transaction volumes rose 25.1% to 46.4 billion, while transaction values increased 8.9% to KES 41.7 trillion ($323 billion). The strategy also signals a shift in financial habits among younger consumers, many of whom are increasingly saving, borrowing, and investing through mobile platforms rather than bank branches. Retail investing in Kenya remains limited, with access largely restricted to institutional and wealthier investors, leaving room for platforms with mass distribution and low entry barriers. Safaricom’s scale gives it an advantage few financial institutions can match. Merchant numbers on M-PESA rose 71% to 3.1 million, helped by growth in Pochi la Biashara, a payment product targeting small businesses and informal traders. Safaricom said it plans to introduce more savings, investment, insurance, and international money transfer services in the coming financial year, increasing pressure on Kenyan banks already competing with M-PESA for deposits, payments, and consumer lending. “In FY27, we will accelerate growth by deepening customer value through more personalised, affordable, and integrated propositions, while scaling M-PESA’s next frontier across merchant solutions, credit, savings, insurance, wealth, and cross-border payments,” Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said on Thursday.
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