In 2025, cyber breaches in Africa became harder to hide
Cybersecurity breaches remained a persistent thorn in the side of African companies in 2025, but the major highlights from the year weren’t the headline attacks. Institutions lost the luxury of keeping breaches quiet as cyberattacks became harder to hide. Several African countries tightened the breach-reporting guidelines for operators. Chief among them is Algeria, which mandated a 5-day window for companies to report breaches or pay heavy fines. Kenya and South Africa also made significant strides in forcing organisations to treat breaches as public events rather than private IT problems. In Kenya, operators that discover a potential breach are now expected to alert data controllers within 48 hours, and controllers are pushed to file a preliminary report to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) within 72 hours—even if the full facts are not yet in. Late notifications must be justified, and new guidance from the regulator ties weak security and poor reporting directly to fines, sanctions, and even the risk of losing the right to process data. For Kenyan firms, that means the old instinct to “wait until we know more” now carries regulatory risk of its own. South Africa also overhauled its breach‑reporting process. While the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) had long required organisations to notify both the regulator and affected people after a “security compromise,” in 2025, the Information Regulator tightened how that duty works in practice. In April, it mandated companies to log breaches through an online reporting portal using a form, forcing operators to spell out what happened, what data was involved, what they are doing to contain it, and what individuals should do to protect themselves. According to South Africa’s Information Regulator, there were 2,374 reported breaches in the 2024/25 financial year, with 82% of them occurring after April 2025. The number pointed to an acceleration, but also hinted that disclosure was becoming unavoidable. Elsewhere, Zambia chose to treat cybersecurity as a critical‑infrastructure issue rather than a back‑office concern. In April 2025, the country split its cyber law into two: a Cyber Security Act governing security service providers and critical information infrastructure, and a Cyber Crimes Act dealing with offences and penalties. Operators in sectors such as energy, banking and finance, health, transport, pensions and insurance, ICT, education, mining, and other designated public‑sector services can now be classified as controllers of “critical information” or “critical information infrastructure,” bringing them under a tighter supervisory net. That designation comes with hard obligations: controllers must register with the new Zambia Cyber Security Agency, keep designated critical information hosted in Zambia unless expressly authorised to store it elsewhere, and promptly notify the agency of any perceived or actual cybersecurity incident affecting those systems or connected networks. They are also required to undergo annual audits, file cybersecurity situational-awareness reports, and participate in national cyber-exercises, with non-compliance punishable by fines of up to ZMW 1.2 million ($48,000) and, in serious cases, prison terms that can extend up to 10 years. These regulatory shifts forced the disclosure of some of the most consequential breaches in 2025. At a new scale, they made visible how intrusions disrupt everyday customer services in very public ways. 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 TC Scoop Subscribe Exposure as a strategy If 2024 gave us the unfortunate breach at South Africa’s National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), the biggest healthcare incident in 2025 was Kenya’s M-TIBA breach in October. Like a trophy showcase, hackers published the siphoned data on public Telegram channels, a pattern used to force organisations to comply with ransom demands. Organisations that hold sensitive customer data remained heavily targeted businesses in 2025. Telecom firms, once assumed to be resilient by virtue of scale, became some of the most lucrative targets. Telecom Namibia, a state-owned provider, was quietly crippled by a ransomware attack in December 2024, with a public fallout that continued in January 2025. When the company refused to pay, attackers leaked sensitive billing data belonging to senior government officials in an attempt to force compliance. On January 8, hackers hit mobile operator Cell C with a cybersecurity breach, with reports stating that perpetrators, RansomHouse, had “unlawfully disclosed the incident” and published stolen customer data on the dark web, exposing them to fraud and extortion. In April, MTN Group disclosed a data breach affecting its South African subscribers. In Ghana, at least 5,700 MTN customers were directly affected in a breach reported on April 28. In South Africa, the breach escalated into a criminal investigation. The message to the industry was unmistakable: Telecoms had become identity vaults, and those vaults were being tested. Hackers maintained their exhibitionist posture, and several other sensitive data organisations were hit. In January 2025, a cyberattack on the South African Weather Service (SAWS) knocked key systems offline, disrupting the delivery of aviation and marine forecasts and limiting access to critical weather information at home and across the region. In July, the municipal systems of Otjiwarongo, a quiet town in central Namibia, were knocked offline. Residents were blocked from accessing basic services as officials struggled to explain what had happened. The year’s most consequential infrastructure breach involved South Africa’s Eskom, the state-owned power company, and it became a crowning moment of the exposure era—one that attached a clear financial cost to a cyber incident. In December 2024, the power utility detailed how its Online Vending System (OVS)—the platform used to generate prepaid electricity tokens—had been breached the previous year, after a forensic investigation linked large “non-technical” losses to fraud on
Read MoreFollow the Money (Wrapped): Tax laws, ATMs’ return, and where money went in 2025
In 2025, TechCabal published about 21 editions of Follow the Money, tracking how Nigerians earned, spent, saved, and lost money in a year shaped by policy shifts, fintech power plays, and tightening government oversight. We followed what banks spent on, how tax laws evolved, how Jumia adjusted its revenue strategy, and how individuals and companies adapted to a rapidly changing financial system. At its core, the column asked a simple question: What does spending reveal about individual and institutional priorities? In a capitalist world, money is the single most important indicator of what a company’s or a person’s interests are. Follow its movement, and you can predict the health of a company, the direction of a policy, or the future of the economy. In 2025, we tracked how Nigerians interacted with their money amid new rules, faster payments, and shifting incentives. Each story in the column has pointed to where and how money will flow in 2026, and these are some of them to keep in mind as we enter the new year: Remote workers will now pay taxes Nigeria signed sweeping tax reforms in 2025, and from January 2026, remote workers and freelancers will officially fall within the tax net. Under the new law, personal income tax will apply to Nigerians earning income locally or abroad, regardless of where the money is paid. Salaries will be taxed at a maximum rate of 25%, lower than in South Africa (45%), Kenya (35%), Egypt (27.5%), and Algeria (35%). The law, signed in June 2025, aims to raise Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio to 18% by 2027 from under 10%. It also clarifies that income earned abroad by Nigerian residents is taxable in Nigeria, even if the income is not remitted. Also, a Nigerian’s salary is taxable when they work abroad in a country that exempts their salary from tax under an agreement or diplomatic arrangement to which Nigeria is a party. Freelancers must now register with tax authorities. Failure to do so attracts a ₦50,000 ($34.64) fine in the first month and ₦25,000 ($17.32) for every additional month. Failure to file returns attracts a ₦100,000 ($69.28) fine in the first month and ₦50,000 ($34.64) for each month after. False declarations could result in fines of up to ₦1 million ($692.82) or three years in prison, or both. Come 2026, Nigerians working for foreign companies will no longer fly under the radar. Crypto earnings are no longer tax-free Crypto profits will also face taxation from 2026. “The new law that will take effect in January 2026 will tax you if you make gains on crypto and totally ignore you when you make losses,” Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, told TechCabal in October. “It is not a crime to invest in crypto. If your net gain is small, below the threshold (₦800,000), your tax is 0%.” Between July 2024 and June 2025, Nigerians transacted $92.1 billion (₦132.94 trillion) in crypto, making the country one of the world’s most active crypto markets. The new rules aim to bring structure to an economy the government has long struggled to regulate. Although a 10% tax on digital asset profits was introduced under the 2022 Finance Act, it was never enforced. This time, enforcement is coming as crypto traders must self-report their profits. To boost compliance, crypto exchanges will now be required to monitor and report transactions. Non-compliant platforms face ₦10 million ($6,928.18) in fines in the first month and ₦1 million ($692.82) for every subsequent month, alongside possible licence suspension or revocation by the SEC. ATMs are making a comeback After years of decline, ATMs are returning to the centre of Nigeria’s cash economy. In Q1 2025 alone, Nigerians withdrew ₦15.98 trillion ($11.07 billion), a 192.7% increase year-on-year. The rebound follows new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) guidelines tightening oversight of PoS agents and mandating wider ATM deployment. Under a draft regulation, banks must deploy one ATM for every 5,000 active cards issued—30% compliance by 2026, 60% by 2027, and full compliance by 2028. The shift signals a return to ATM-first access after years of PoS dominance. By 2026, Nigerians should expect more ATMs and tighter controls on PoS operations. Transfers will cost more from 2026 From January 2026, sending ₦50,000 ($34.64) will cost ₦100, not because banks changed their pricing, but because the government changed who pays. Five years after replacing stamp duty with the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), Nigeria is bringing stamp duty back under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025. Previously, EMTL charged a flat ₦50 on transfers of ₦10,000 ($6.93) and above, paid by the receiver. From 2026, the sender pays, and the charge stacks on top of existing transfer fees. Currently, bank customers pay: ₦10 for transfers below ₦5,000; ₦25 for transfers between ₦5,001 and ₦50,000; ₦50 for transfers above ₦50,000. With stamp duty added, transfers above ₦10,000 ($6.93) will now cost between ₦75 and ₦100 per transaction. For businesses and PoS agents, this removes the burden of deducting ₦50 from incoming payments. For individuals, it makes every transfer slightly more expensive. The biggest winners of 2025: OPay and PalmPay OPay and PalmPay tightened their grip on Nigeria’s microtransaction economy in 2025. In Q1 alone, mobile money transactions hit ₦20.71 trillion ($14.35 billion), up 1,518.64% from ₦1.28 trillion ($886.81 million) in Q1 2021. Much of that volume flowed through the two platforms. Their rise was driven by timing, reliability, and trust, especially during periods when banks faltered, from the 2022 naira redesign to recurring outages in 2024. By 2025, OPay had crossed 20 million daily active users, while PalmPay processed over 15 million daily transactions. Both are now betting on cards to reach semi-digital and offline users in 2026. Generally, in 2025, we learnt that apps are now becoming the most preferred means of moving cash in the country, and banks are paying attention. Mobile app payments jumped 33.65% year-on-year to ₦104.07 trillion ($72.10 billion) in Q1 2025, driven by smartphone adoption and renewed bank
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Africa’s 2025 tech dictionary
Africa’s tech ecosystem spent much of the past two years clawing its way out of a ‘funding winter.’ In 2025, it finally stood upright again. Startups on the continent raised over $3 billion, according to funding tracker, Africa: The Big Deal, the highest annual total since the zero-interest-rate era ended in 2022. Investors returned selectively to startups with revenue, infrastructure value, and clearer paths to profitability. Rather than one defining headline, the year was shaped by a set of recurring words. Each reflected a shift in how African tech was built, financed, regulated, and scaled, in 2025. AI Doctors: AI Doctor refers to AI-powered health tools that assist with diagnosis or triage. In 2025, as AI advanced, we saw African healthtech startups, including Awa Doc, Clafiya, Penda Health, and Koyo Healthtech, launch more AI triage tools that allowed patients to diagnose symptoms online and escalate critical cases quickly. These tools aim to reduce long clinic wait times, cut transport costs, and extend critical access to healthcare professionals in underserved areas. AI regulation/AI governance: AI regulation refers to rules governing how AI systems are built and deployed. As AI adoption accelerates, governments have begun drafting governance frameworks focused on data protection, transparency, and accountability. Examples include Kenya’s 2025–2030 National AI Strategy, drafted in March, and Nigeria’s draft AI oversight bill, which both tie AI use to existing data‑protection rules and explicit transparency and audit obligations. In 2025, the emphasis was less on blanket restrictions and more on preventing misuse while allowing innovation, with Kenya’s, South Africa’s, and the African Union’s strategy documents all framing “responsible AI” as potentially enabling economic growth under clear safeguards. Battery swapping: Battery swapping allows EV users to exchange depleted batteries for charged ones instead of waiting to recharge. In 2025, battery swapping gained traction in motorcycle and delivery segments, particularly where downtime directly affected income. It solved a practical problem that charging infrastructure alone could not, making EVs more viable for daily commercial use. Blended finance: Blended finance combines equity with debt or other instruments to lower risk and extend runway. Startups such as Nigeria’s Rivy (formerly Payhippo) raised mixed rounds in 2025, reflecting a broader shift toward capital efficiency and alternative financing as founders avoided excessive dilution at lower valuations. In May 2025, Egypt’s Nawy also raised $52 million in Series A funding, which included $23 million in debt financing. Blockchain infrastructure: Blockchain infrastructure includes payment rails, custody systems, identity layers, and settlement tools that make digital assets usable at scale. In 2025, foreign infrastructure companies expanded across Africa, supporting stablecoins, on-chain payments, and enterprise use cases. Locally, Hyperbridge, a Polygon-powered infrastructure, raised significant funding; Zone’s regulated blockchain crossed ₦1 trillion ($690,000) in payments, showing usage and scale; and Asset Chain, a Nigerian eponymous blockchain firm, went live. Carbon credits: Carbon credits are verified reductions or removals of greenhouse gas emissions that can be sold to companies looking to offset their carbon footprint. Africa matters here because it holds some of the world’s largest natural carbon sinks—including the Congo Basin Rainforests, Peatlands, and the Mangroves and Coastal Ecosystems—but has historically captured very little value from them. In 2025, carbon markets moved toward execution as Kenya (introducing the “eco levy” to tackle waste), Nigeria (5% fossil fuel surcharge), and others advanced national frameworks. Startups, such as Nigeria’s Vectar Energy, built digital measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) and trading platforms for credits from forests, farms, and clean energy. Kenya’s Octavia Carbon, which raised $5 million in seed funding in 2024, commissioned a geothermal direct air capture (DAC) tool for generating carbon credits from thin air. Development finance institutions (DFIs), investors, and global financiers began treating carbon as a financial asset. The discussions progressed from carbon credits as theory to assets that can be integrated into institutional and retail climate‑finance portfolios, pushing the sector into Africa’s tech mainstream. Cleantech/climate finance: Cleantech refers to technologies that reduce environmental impact, while climate finance is the capital used to scale them. In 2025, climate-focused startups attracted more structured capital, including debt, securitisation, and blended finance. This year, four of Africa’s ten largest startup rounds were in climate and energy, raising over $600 million through structured and asset‑linked deals. In Q3 2025, clean‑energy startups secured $519.5 million—about 53% of all funding that quarter—with Kenya leading on big energy projects. Investors also backed the wave through new vehicles like Equator’s $55 million fund and Acumen’s $90 million Kawisafi II, supporting clean‑energy and off‑grid operators with predictable cash flows. Corporate VC (CVC): Corporate VC is investment made by large companies into startups for strategic, not just financial, reasons. In H1 2025, corporate-backed funding to African startups reached a three-year high with 26 deals. New players from India, Japan, and the Middle East entered the market, while African corporates like Flour Mills of Nigeria and Hollard Group backed startups—OmniRetail (a Nigerian B2B e-commerce startup) and Naked Insurance (a South African insurtech), respectively—aligned with their supply chain distribution. Customer support automation: Customer support automation uses AI agents to handle user queries. The most visible experiment came from Chowdeck, the Nigerian YC-backed food delivery startup, which cut 68% of its contract workforce around operations, including customer support, in favour of AI agents, in March. Customer complaints followed, and the startup later rehired human agents. The episode showed both the promise and limits of automation in consumer-facing African startups. A November tweet from Femi Aluko, Chowdeck CEO, hiring customer support employees/Image Source: X (formerly Twitter) Cybersecurity breaches: Cybersecurity breaches occur when systems are accessed or compromised without authorisation. Cybersecurity breaches remained a headache for African organisations in 2025, with several high-profile cases affecting government agencies, healthtech, telecoms, and notably, South Africa’s power utility Eskom, which continued clean-up from a 2024 hit. Several incidents led to the exposure of customer data publicly and disrupted services. Digital asset frameworks: Digital asset frameworks are legal rules governing how cryptocurrencies and blockchain businesses operate. For years, uncertainty slowed growth. There was more clarity in 2025: Kenya passed its virtual asset bill in October, and Ghana followed
Read MoreDigital Nomads (Wrapped): Visas, skills, and the price of mobility in 2025
In 2025, we published 37 editions of the Digital Nomads column. We spoke to diasporan African professionals across tech, finance, law, privacy, venture capital, and a growing class of location-independent workers who move frequently. The internet often describes the world as a ‘global village.’ In practice, borders are less fluid, limiting movement for many in the Global South. Job applications still filter by geography. At embassies, in job interviews, Africans still need to make a painstaking case for why they deserve access and opportunities to build a life away from home. If 2025 taught us anything, it’s not that the system has become fairer, but that Africa’s workforce have become more deliberate. Mobility requires planning, capital, loads of paperwork, and trade-offs. The location-independent lifestyle rarely happens by chance, especially for average earners. If you’re thinking about global mobility in 2026, here are a few rules and lessons to keep in mind as you plan: Rule 1: Nobody just travels Movement begins long before the airport. It starts with sorting visa hassles, flight routing, and housing math. It involves choosing where to be based not on aesthetics, but on access. Many African founders we spoke to moved abroad with a clear purpose. In our reporting on first-time African founders going global, two founders relocated to cities where investors, accelerators, and partners were concentrated, while keeping teams and markets rooted on the continent. In that instance, travel became directional, not exploratory. Amaka Amaku’s experience shows how intentional this can be. By securing a Benin passport, the Nigerian travel content creator unlocked visa-free movement across several French-speaking countries in West Africa and parts of Europe. That single document changed how easily she could move, who she could meet, and which opportunities were worth pursuing. Mobility was no longer constrained by Nigerian passport limitations. It became a tool she could deploy. Other nomads structured their lives around hubs. One digital nomad we reported on used Dubai as a base to explore other regions in Southeast Asia. The city’s residency options, flight connectivity, and tax structure made it a practical launchpad for frequent work and pleasure trips, he told us in September. In 2025, travel still requires budgeting and planning, but having a stable base reduces friction. 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 TC Scoop Subscribe Rule 2: Visas are career infrastructure The most ambitious professionals we encountered plan visas the way others plan promotions. Skilled worker permits. Digital nomad visas. Investor pathways. Each option comes with constraints that quietly shape careers. Skilled worker visas across several countries open a clear path to residency abroad, but some of them can also be distressing. Our reporting captured this through the experience of a tech worker who relocated to the UK from Rwanda after securing a role at a global tech company. When he was laid off in early 2025, his job loss immediately became an immigration emergency. His visa was tied to his employer. Without a new sponsor, he had 60 days to leave the UK. After weeks of interview runs and crippling uncertainty, he eventually secured a job and another sponsor. Several other visa types also opened access to career upgrades. The most common one we saw was the student visa. Several African nomads, including Mark Irozuru (a UK-based DevOps engineer), Motunrayo Adebayo (a US-based tech privacy analyst), Oghenerukevwe Odjugo (an Australia-based equity analyst), and Jephte Ioudom Foubi (a tech consulting business owner in Portugal), all of whom we spoke to, relied on these visa types to access global markets. These visas became launchpads for their global careers. Digital nomad visas also became more sought-after, especially in countries like South Africa. In countries rolling out these visas and adjacent entrepreneurship programmes, location-independent workers could live legally without employer sponsorship, provided they meet income thresholds. It unlocked Western influx into countries like South Africa and opened access to East African countries, such as Kenya and Rwanda, attracting tech workers from other countries on the continent. Investor mobility routes served yet another purpose. Founders and investors tapped business-grade visas to access global markets like the US. Rule 3: Remote work did not erase inequality Global hiring specialists told us plainly that location still plays a major role in how Africa-based remote workers are paid and levelled. Remote roles may be global, but compensation bands often remain regional. Africans working remotely from the continent frequently earn less than peers doing identical work elsewhere, though a few still break through the ceiling. Migration does not automatically fix this. Several recruiters noted that it is common for African professionals relocating abroad to accept lower titles or pay cuts to re-enter competitive markets. For example, a senior developer taking mid-level roles, or a DevOps specialist stepping back, because their experience does not yet include large-scale AI infrastructure or hyperscale cloud systems common in Western firms. African tech professionals who break through these ceilings, either working remotely from Africa or migrating abroad, do so by stacking scarce skills, building visible track records, or positioning themselves in roles where credibility outweighs location. Others combine migration with targeted upskilling, accepting short-term regressions to unlock longer-term mobility. The ceiling exists, but it is not absolute. Rule 4: Less-crowded paths unlock new careers Everyone doesn’t compete in the same lane. As global tech roles became saturated, some professionals deliberately moved sideways into emerging or underserved fields. Tech privacy is one such path. Evolving regulatory complexity, compliance demands, and jurisdictional nuance created a space for specialists who could operate
Read MoreNigeria’s digital free zone experiment: Can Itana succeed where others failed?
When Nigeria’s currency began stabilising this year after months of volatility, many observers were cautious about calling it a turning point. But for Itana, a privately-run digital special economic zone designed to attract tech startups, services companies, and foreign investors, the shift became a timely catalyst for investor commitment. “Once someone decides to come into the country to find out for themselves, that’s one of the greatest signals,” says Nkechi Oguchi, Itana’s chief community officer. Over the past year, she says, interest has shifted from casual inquiries to founders and investors physically visiting Lagos to evaluate the ecosystem. Improvements in visa processing have helped; so has a more predictable FX regime. Touted as Nigeria’s first fully operational digital free trade zone, Itana’s growing pull offers a contrast to many other zones across the country that remain underdeveloped or inactive. It emerges as a reference point for what policy certainty and execution can unlock in Nigeria’s broader free zone experiment. Itana, which says it now hosts about 50 companies since it began operations in September 2023, is positioning itself as the 21st-century successor to Nigeria’s traditional free zones—structures that have historically catered to oil, gas, logistics, and heavy manufacturing. Itana seeks to serve digital businesses that prioritise seamless onboarding, virtual company formation, flexible capital movement, and a policy environment aligned with tech-driven scaling. Itana’s users echo this sentiment. “Overall, it has been a very positive experience for us,” says Varun Giridhar, CEO and founder of Circular Energy, a sustainable energy solutions company that focuses on Battery-as-a-Service, which moved to Itana in 2025. “The Itana team has been beneficial and responsive. It makes a big difference when you feel like there are real people on the other side trying to help you get things done rather than slow you down.” A zone designed for new economy companies Nigeria has between 42 and 52 licenced free economic zones, but only around 22 are active. Many, such as the Abuja Technology Village Free Zone (2007), Olokola Free Trade Zone (Ondo & Ogun States, 2004), and Centenary Economic City (FCT, 2014), were launched during periods of strong economic growth but now face challenges such as stalled infrastructure, low activity, or weak governance. Between 2000 and 2014, Nigeria’s economy grew at an average real GDP rate of 6–7% annually, with some years even reaching double-digit expansion, creating the optimistic environment in which these projects were initially conceived. This history raises a common question: Is Itana another flash in the pan? Oguchi acknowledges the concerns but says comparing Itana to older zones misses the point. “Most of the regular special economic zones were designed for traditional businesses like oil and gas, manufacturing, and heavy industry,” she explains. “Itana is designed for a different set of businesses: startups and service-based companies that need intentionality in building an environment that is suitable for them.” Itana’s model is particularly advantageous for companies like Circular Energy, Giridhar notes. Though his company is registered in the zone, it is not required to operate physically from it. “We run most of our day-to-day work from Lagos Island,” he says. “In a city like Lagos, that makes life a lot easier and saves huge amounts of time on commuting.” Nkechi Oguchi explains that while Itana is privately owned, it operates under a 35-year-old Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) framework, which has endured through multiple administrations and cannot be easily overturned by any government. What’s driving the surge in interest Itana’s growing appeal is being driven by a surge of interest from three key groups: African diaspora founders, foreign founders and investors, and local Nigerian startups seeking more predictable operating conditions. According to Oguchi, nearly half of the companies in the zone are owned by members of the diaspora, while roughly a quarter are led by foreign founders or investors. “People leave, but people are also coming back,” Oguchi says. “They are seeing signs of stability and projections for what Africa could be.” Foreign companies like Circular Energy say the structure addresses friction that typically deters investment. “From a business point of view, the forex access and repatriation framework is a big plus for us,” Giridhar says. “We are deploying dollar capital into Nigeria. It gives our investors more comfort and removes a lot of the uncertainty around moving money in and out.” Itana has amplified this momentum through its “Doing Business in Africa” tours, which bring investors into Lagos for curated deep-dive sessions. The first tour welcomed a single visitor, while the most recent in October—organised as part of Moonshot by TechCabal—hosted 15 participants, with another group scheduled for December. The tours are already yielding real outcomes, according to Oguchi. She disclosed that one foreign investor who attended hired Nigerians to make up 80% of his global team after seeing the quality and cost efficiency of talent firsthand. Inside Itana’s incentive stack One of the key incentives Itana offers is its FX flexibility. Companies operating in the zone can legally hold multicurrency accounts, collect revenue in dollars or any currency they prefer, retain capital for as long as they choose, and repatriate 100% of their investment when exiting. In an ecosystem where startups are often constrained by FX shortages, these provisions are highly significant. “You can collect your revenue in USD, keep it in USD, and repatriate your capital when you need to,” Oguchi explains. “It makes companies more attractive to investors.” Businesses operating within the zone benefit from a suite of corporate tax reliefs and exemptions from selected federal and state levies, lowering operating costs and improving long-term viability. These incentives typically include waivers on: the standard 30% Companies Income Tax (CIT), the 7.5% Value Added Tax (VAT) on goods and services—including imports into the customs territory, withholding tax (WHT) of about 2.5–10% on payments such as services, rent, interest, and dividends, the 10% Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on asset disposals, federal stamp duties, and the 3% tertiary education tax on assessable profits. They can also import equipment and tools duty-free,
Read MoreThe power problem at the heart of Spiro
It starts with a small, unsettling thought that refuses to go away: What if the bike you ride every day isn’t really yours? That question is what lit the fuse around Spiro, the electric motorbike company that has expanded quickly across 27 regions in Kenya. For many riders, Spiro bikes promised a way out of high fuel costs and punishing daily expenses. But critics now say Spiro bikes have come to symbolise something else entirely, a new kind of control dressed up as innovation. This argument spilled onto social media a fortnight ago after Rapcha, a well-known media personality, complained that his Spiro bike had been switched off after sitting unused for a while. The details were not very clear, but the reaction was. Riders and commentators jumped to the conclusion that if a company can turn your bike off, then your work is only yours as long as someone else allows it. “Apparently if you are sick for a few days, or involved in an accident and can’t use your bike, the battery is reported as “Stolen” and your data immediately switched off from their swapping stations,” Rapcha, whose real name is Francis Njeri, posted on X. “You have to physically tow the bike to their station in mlolongo at your own cost for the battery to be re-registered again or forever forget using your bike.” Why has the anger refused to go away To understand the backlash, you have to know how Spiro works. Founded in 2019, Spiro launched in Togo and Benin in 2022, followed by Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Nigeria in 2025. The EV maker is a subsidiary of Equitane Group, headquartered in Dubai. It assembles EV two-wheelers, with one of its biggest plants in Nairobi. Riders buy the bikes, usually through a payment plan. But the battery—the heart of the machine—does not belong to them. Instead, they swap batteries at Spiro stations and pay per swap. On paper, it makes sense. EV batteries are expensive. Swapping is faster than charging—usually less than five minutes. But in real life, riders like Vincent Odero feel it creates dependence. A petrol rider can stop anywhere and refill. A Spiro rider can’t move without Spiro’s network of swapping stations. “Spiro has addressed some of the issues, but still we cannot charge at home and only relies on their charging stations,” Odero says. So when Kenyans on social media heard that bikes could be switched off, the fear spread fast. Riders imagined falling sick, travelling upcountry, or simply taking a break, and coming back to a dead bike and a broken income. 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 TC Scoop Subscribe Spiro’s deputy head for Kenya, Raymond Kitunga, told TechCabal in an interview that fear is based on rumours, not reality. “It’s a fallacy to say we can switch off a moving bike,” he said. “If that were the case, we would have caused a trillion accidents by now.” According to him, bikes are not shut down suddenly or casually. They are not disabled after a few days of inactivity. And they are certainly not switched off while someone is riding. “There are set parameters—discussed, agreed, and contractually signed off—between all stakeholders,” he said. “We don’t just wake up and decide to switch off someone’s bike.” He explained that deactivation only comes after a long period—about 45 days—of no battery swaps or engagement. Even then, he said, the company first tries to reach the rider. “We call. We check in. We ask what’s happening,” Kitunga said. “If someone is sick, if there’s a genuine issue, those things are considered.” For many riders, the issue isn’t whether Spiro abuses this power. It’s that the power exists at all. Power, not just payments Kenya’s boda boda economy runs on thin margins, with Car and General—a Kenya car and machinery maker—estimating that riders earn an average of KES1,000 ($7.75) daily. Most riders live day to day. Missing work for a week because of illness or family issues can push someone into debt. That’s why Spiro’s critics say the company benefits from desperation. The bikes are cheaper to run than petrol ones. According to Spiro, their EVs are cheaper by between KES180 ($1.4) to KES300 ($2.33). Riders like Rapcha reckon that while the bike may be physically theirs, the battery, the software, and the rules that govern access sit elsewhere. Activity is tracked, and inactivity has consequences. Spiro rejects that framing. The company says it is offering access, not exploitation. Many riders who could never qualify for a bank loan can now own a bike. Daily repayments are as low as KES180 ($1.4). Fuel savings are real. For some riders, electric bicycles have improved their lives by helping them cut operational costs. “I spend KES200 ($1.5) less than what I used to when I had a petrol bike,” says Stephen Mutisya, a rider in Nairobi. “ At the end of the day, I have some extra money that I can save for other personal uses.” 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
Read MoreIn 2025, Nigerians used AI for therapy, breakups, and everything in between
In 2025, Nigerians used AI for far more than drafting emails or summarising PDFs. Chatbots became makeshift therapists, romantic intermediaries, and personal consultants. As we wrap up the year, one thing is clear: while much of the world was worried about AI taking over jobs, Nigerians were teaching chatbots to navigate the treacherous waters of the “talking stage” and the fallout of heartbreak. I spoke with seven Nigerians about the most ridiculous things they used AI for this year. Here’s what they told me. The automated heartbreak recovery and emotional auditing AI chatbots became a mirror for Lagos-based UI designer Obaloluwa Olaniyi’s fractured relationship, serving as a forensic tool to dissect past traumas. “I used it to go through a heartbreak,” Olaniyi says, adding that AI helped run scenarios to identify “behaviours I was blind to see and [provided] advice on how to heal [without] repeating the same mistakes.” This trend of emotional auditing wasn’t just for the post-mortem phase of a breakup. Mark*, a content editor, used AI as a moral compass during conflicts with his partner, relying on the technology for “soundboarding my relationship messages for empathy check.” To avoid being labelled a manipulator, Mark used AI as a check, ensuring his messages didn’t come off as offensive to his partner. Victor Ilo, a public relations consultant, admitted to using AI for “therapy to heal from a relationship,” proving that, for many Nigerians, a prompt was more accessible, less intimidating (and maybe less expensive) than a traditional therapist’s couch. The pivot toward digital intimacy is not localised but reflects a massive global shift in mental health care. The “AI-as-therapist” phenomenon ballooned into a multi-billion-dollar industry in 2025, with millions of users globally opting for the non-judgmental ear of a machine over human practitioners. In high-income countries, including the UK, the trend was driven by the prohibitive cost of private sessions, while in emerging markets, it was the sheer anonymity that appealed most. Digital companion apps and specialised therapy bots became the first line of defence for a generation grappling with loneliness, offering 24/7 availability that no human clinic could match. The most vulnerable conversations of a significant portion of the global population are now happening in a chat bubble. A 2025 study by Kantar, an AI-native marketing data and analytics business, which surveyed over 10,000 consumers across ten global markets, including South Africa, India, and the UK, revealed that 54% of global consumers have now used AI for at least one emotional or mental well-being purpose. Navigating the delicate art of the breakup For many people, AI has become a strategic consultant for the most awkward social transition known to man: the death of the talking stage. Ending a “talking stage” has always been a social minefield, particularly when the other person is genuinely kind. Product marketer Iyanu Hunye found herself in this exact predicament with a partner she described as a “nice guy and a softie.” Rather than ghosting or sending a blunt text, she outsourced the emotional labour to AI. “I wanted to break things up in a way that doesn’t invalidate his feelings,” she says. Using AI as a buffer for social awkwardness highlights a shift in how people communicate. People now use machines to ensure they remain humanely empathetic, even when we are checking out of a situation. For Chioma Nwandiko, a product designer, AI serves as a lie detector, asking it to “analyse a text” specifically to check for “any underlying manipulation,” effectively turning her smartphone into a digital shield against “red flags” in her interaction with people. The suburban shaman for retail and aesthetics Away from the drama of the heart, AI found a home in the mundane but essential tasks of personal grooming and consumerism. Nwandiko’s usage patterns suggest that AI has become the ultimate “bestie” for shopping and styling. She used the technology to “colour-code my hair if I want to mix extensions,” turning a complex visual task into a data-driven decision. AI was a highly specialised personal assistant for Nwandiko in 2025. She says she also took photos of two competing products to ask AI which was superior, and asked a bot to track down “random episodes of series I like when I want to binge watch.” Academic shortcuts and the simulation of corporate excellence Of course, the professional and academic spaces were not left out. David Idam, an IT support specialist, took a group work to its logical automated conclusion by “writing a full term paper for my whole group using Claude,” a move that likely saved dozens of hours of collaborative friction. Idam’s AI use mirrors a nationwide explosion in AI adoption. In Nigeria, Google Search data from late 2025 revealed that searches for “AI + studying” surged by over 200% compared to the previous year, with interest in “AI + Chemistry” and “AI + Maths” leading the charge. Nigerian students are using AI for academic tasks, ranging from simplifying complex jargon to generating complete project drafts. This has raised concerns in the academic community, evidenced by a 290% increase in searches for “AI detection” by worried lecturers. As a result, Nigerian universities like UNILAG made moves earlier in the year to draft formal “Ethical AI” policies as faculty reported a sharp rise in plagiarism. In the professional world, the desire to project high-level competence led Tope*, a corporate communications officer, to transform a chatbot into an elite advisor. He used AI to “act as a MBB management consultant, used to describe the three top-tier strategy consulting firms: McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, and Boston Consulting Group. Tope used AI to deliver a “detailed project management plan for a website revamp project.” AI use in the workforce and corporate space has had quite the impact: A World Economic Forum report shows that while AI has automated 30% of routine corporate tasks, it has also created 1.6 million unfilled AI positions globally. Cultural pivot Nigerians were busy operationalising AI in 2025 to solve the immediate and
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Common smartphone problems and how to fix them
Effective smartphone repair always begins with identifying the actual cause of the issue, not jumping to conclusions or trying random fixes in the hope that one will work. A proper diagnostic procedure helps distinguish between: Software problems (glitches, corrupted files, malicious apps, etc.). Hardware problems (damaged screen, bad microphone/receiver, bad battery, etc.). How to tell if a smartphone issue is hardware or software-related The stability of smartphones relies on two major layers: the hardware and the software. The hardware consists of the smartphone’s physical components—basically everything you can see and touch, such as the screen, battery, microphone, speaker, and charging port. On the other hand, the software is the operating system; it controls everything your phone does, and all applications run on it. Common examples of operating systems are Android and iOS. Top hardware issues that affect smartphones Damaged screens Unresponsive charging port Speakers and microphones becoming silent Frequent smartphone software issues Frequent app crashes System lag Overheating not tied to weather or heavy use How to diagnose software problems and identify the root cause Analysis of repair trends indicates that many smartphone problems stem from identifiable, preventable patterns that can be detected through basic user diagnostics. Therefore, the diagnostic process is structured into three stages to isolate the problem. Software layer triage: The initial assessment starts with basic fixes such as rebooting, clearing RAM, updating apps, and clearing the cache. Isolation layer triage: If the problem persists, the smartphone should be placed in a clean environment, known as Safe Mode, to determine whether the issue lies within the device’s operating system or a third-party app. Hardware-layer triage: The final diagnostic step after software and third-party app conflicts have been ruled out. Hardware diagnostic tools are often hidden codes provided by the manufacturer to verify component functionality and indicate whether professional repair is necessary. Essential smartphone troubleshooting: restart, system updates, and cache clearing Many complex or confusing symptoms that suggest deep corruption are, in reality, simple memory conflicts or temporary system glitches. Addressing these foundational issues is the first step in any troubleshooting process. Restarting and system updates: The device can be restarted by turning it off and back on, or by long-pressing the power button (on iPhone X and above, long-press the Volume Up and Power buttons simultaneously) to select the restart option. Restarting the device is the fundamental fix for solving software-related issues. The action effectively refreshes the RAM, ensures that recently downloaded system patches or configurations are properly installed, and resets all temporary changes to their defaults. Also, failure to install pending updates—whether for the operating system or individual applications is a frequent source of bugs, instability, reduced battery performance, screen freezes, and modem/firmware conflicts. Consequently, confirming and applying the latest system and application updates is an integral part of the foundational fix. Cache management: System and application caches are temporary storage areas designed to improve speed and user experience. But when caches become full or corrupted, they produce the opposite effect, contributing to sluggishness, application crashes, and overall lag in performance. Clearing the cache provides an effective fix for many stability issues—especially device lagging. It is essential to differentiate between clearing an app’s cache and clearing its data. Clearing the cache removes temporary files without affecting user data on the app. Conversely, clearing an app’s data deletes user login details and all other user files within the app, effectively resetting the app to its initial state (e.g., clearing the data in a game will delete your progress). For persistent failure or suspected corruption within the app data, clearing the data or deleting the app entirely might be necessary. To clear an app cache using a Samsung Galaxy device and many other Android smartphones: Navigate to Settings > Apps > [Specific App] > Storage > Clear Cache. Note: iOS devices do not allow users to clear caches manually. Safe mode: If the device continues to exhibit consistent crashes, persistent lag, or behaviour that was not solved by restarting and clearing the cache, there is a likelihood of a conflict with a third-party app. To isolate the conflict, the device must be put into Safe Mode. The procedure for entering Safe Mode varies slightly by device, but generally involves pressing and holding the Power button until the power option appears, and then long-pressing the Power Off icon on the screen until a prompt to reboot into Safe Mode appears. The diagnostic value of Safe Mode is immediate: if the phone performs normally without crashes or slowdowns, the fault is localised to a recently installed or corrupted third-party app. This isolation process is essential because it allows the user to specifically identify and uninstall problematic applications without resorting to a complete data wipe. Fixing smartphone lag, freezing, and frequent crashes Performance degradation, such as excessive lagging, application/device crashes, and instability, are frequently reported issues that compromise the effectiveness of smartphones. Performance degradation: Causes and mitigation The primary cause of excessive sluggishness and application crashes is often resource exhaustion, driven by two factors: Limited storage. Excessive background processing. Full internal storage is a critical barrier to effective performance. Smartphones require a certain amount of free space to function optimally. Consequently, deleting unnecessary files, media, and unused applications is an essential remedy for device lag. Regularly deleting and offloading unused applications jettisons “dead weight” that may otherwise consume memory and affect processing cycles via background processes. Furthermore, system optimisation can yield noticeable speed improvements, especially on older hardware. Reducing or disabling non-essential graphical features, such as animated wallpapers and transition effects, frees up processing power for essential tasks. Handling unresponsive screens and system freezes In situations where users experience a complete system freeze and the operating system is entirely unresponsive to touch input, the device requires a hardware-level override known as a Force Restart. The specific button combinations required depend on the manufacturer and model. iOS (iPhone 8/X and upwards): The user must execute a precise three-step sequence: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Press and quickly release
Read MoreThe tech stories we envied most in 2025
If there is one undeniable truth about journalism, it’s that no publication does it all. We pride ourselves on covering Africa’s technology ecosystem with unmatched rigour. Still, every so often, we come across incredible work that leaves us with only one thought: “Damn, I wish we had made that.” Instead of letting that envy stew in our Slack channel, we’re borrowing a leaf from the originators of what to do with such envy. Welcome to the inaugural TechCabal Jealousy List. This is a curated confession of the work we didn’t produce this year but wish we did: A collection of the articles, visual investigations, and documentaries from across the global media landscape that stopped us in our tracks. We asked our reporters, writers, and editors to share one story they read/watched/listened to this year that they wish they’d written/produced/been a part of making. Here’s what they said: The African president’s daughter raised in North Korea by Kim Il Sung | The Africa Report This article is on my jealousy list because it could have easily been a high-impact story for Digital Nomads, the weekend column I write for TechCabal. I’ve been looking to explore how diaspora folks live in the Asian parts of the world; I’m curious about North Korea in particular—its well-earned reputation for isolationism, and how foreigners adjust there. It would have been useful if the story touched a bit on what life for Monica—beyond growing up—was like there, at least to the extent it could. But I like the pacing, the narrative setting, and the overall elegance. I’ve borrowed the journalist, Sheriff Bojang Jr’s style in some of my work since then. Yet, more could have been done with such an interesting, unique subject. TechCabal Attribution Card Emmanuel Nwosu Junior Reporter Inside the collapse of Builder.ai: Was it even an AI company? | Rest of World This article tells the story of a supposed AI startup that sold the dream of AI-assembled apps when it was mostly just run on human labour and outsourcers despite raising $445m from Microsoft and other investors. I wish I had written it because the article is well-detailed and tells the full story of the company’s collapse. Even though it’s not breaking news, it does a good job of tying old and new information together in an engaging way because it is well-sourced. TechCabal Attribution Card – Muktar Muktar Oladunmade Associate Reporter Why 2025 is the single most pivotal year in our lifetime | The Big Think The first thing that grabbed my attention was the aspect ratio. They went with something close to 2.39:1 instead of the usual 16:9 you’d expect on YouTube. And honestly, that alone said a lot about how intentional the production was. The video introduces the concept of tipping points in technological evolution, major shifts that tend to appear in 80-year intervals and go on to shape the world for about 25 years. But what’s wild is that 2025 doesn’t have one tipping point, but three. All happening at once. Now, here’s where the aspect ratio becomes genius. It can be cleanly divided into three equal squares. Visually, it’s freakishly satisfying, but more importantly, it lets them show the three tipping points side-by-side and carry that theme all through the story. It’s such a subtle but powerful creative choice. The storyteller and creative director in me had a great time watching this. And honestly? I’d love to tell stories with this level of intentionality and creativity, too. TechCabal Attribution Card – Ayodeji Ayodeji Aboderin Video Content Creator Your Zodiac Sign Is 2,000 Years Out of Date | The New York Times Say what you will about people who take horoscopes and zodiac signs seriously (a sentiment rightly captured in the first paragraph of the article), I found it interesting that this article takes what is an inexact science and tries to make it less so. But that’s not why it’s on my jealousy list. It is on my list because of its format. What a time it’d be when and if we’re able to unlock this kind of design thinking and execution in our reporting here at TechCabal! My writing career often extends into the literary world, and there, we talk sometimes about form mirroring content; how the way an essay or story or poem is presented can communicate as much or more than its words, and I appreciate it deeply when newsrooms employ this kind of thinking. It takes news and journalism from something stuffy and straitjacketed to something interactive, deeply engaging, and memorable. TechCabal Attribution Card – Kosisochukwu Kosisochukwu Ugwuede Standards & Features Editor DOGE-Pilled | Bloomberg There is a running joke in the newsroom that I am obsessed with Bloomberg, so it’s no surprise that a Bloomberg article was my favourite this year. This piece on Luke Farritor, a 24-year-old coder who worked for the now-troubled, Elon Musk-controlled Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was a riveting profile of how a wunderkind with no government experience suddenly found himself wielding enormous influence over which agencies were gutted and which survived. It was a reminder that power—who holds it and how it’s used—is just as important to follow as technology itself. TechCabal Attribution Card – Ganiu Ganiu Oloruntade Senior Editor He’s Been Charged With Dozens of Crimes. Nobody Knows His Name | New York Times This is the story of a man who everyone thought committed a crime, only for the actual criminal to call and say the accused man stole his name. It’s a wild story, but if you are like me, who loves wild, long, meandering, and complicated storytelling, this will make your day. TechCabal Attribution Card – Frank Frank Eleanya Senior Reporter My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them | Wired Maybe it’s because I’m fascinated by how AI works and incredibly nosy about how other people use AI (don’t quote me), but this story from Wired really caught my attention in a “Why didn’t I
Read MoreNomba adds Apple Pay as Nigerian businesses seek easier global payments
Nigerian merchants can now accept Apple Pay payments through Nomba, as the fintech expands its payments stack to support Apple’s contactless payment service across in-store and online checkouts. The integration allows merchants on Nomba’s platform to receive payments from Apple Pay users without requiring physical cards or initiating bank transfers to access instant payments from their global customers, including diaspora Nigerians. “Payments globally are moving toward speed, security, and invisible checkout,” said Pelumi Aboluwarin, Nomba’s CTO. “Our responsibility is to ensure Nigerian merchants are not left behind, but are fully prepared for the future of payments.” Nomba is the latest Nigerian fintech to support Apple Pay, following Stripe-owned Paystack’s integration in 2021 and a similar launch by cross-border payments fintech Platnova in July 2025. While Apple Pay is widely used in markets such as North America, Europe, and parts of Asia, its adoption in Nigeria has been limited by regulatory constraints and infrastructure challenges. Unlike a full consumer rollout that would require Nigerian banks to issue Apple Pay-enabled cards, Nomba’s integration focuses on merchant acceptance. Customers globally can pay Nigerian businesses using Apple Pay on their iPhones, authenticated with Face ID linked to their stored card details. For Nigerian merchants using Nomba, the feature works across physical point-of-sale (POS) terminals and online checkouts. The integration was enabled through strategic global partnerships and regulatory alignment with licenced foreign entities already approved within Apple’s payments ecosystem. While Nomba did not disclose its partners, Aboluwarin said the company worked with them to “carry out the deep technical and operational work required to extend Apple Pay capabilities into Nigeria in a compliant and scalable way.” Nomba said integrating Apple Pay in Nigeria required meeting some of the most stringent global security, compliance, and certification standards in payments. The company added that its Money Transmitter (MTL) and Money Services Business (MSB) licences in the United States enable it to partner with global payment processors operating under defined service-level agreements (SLAs). For Nigerian businesses, accepting international payments often means delayed settlements, withheld funds, and unfavourable foreign exchange rates due to transactions being routed through upstream processors outside the country. Nomba believes its Apple Pay integration will reduce these frictions by allowing faster checkout and improving settlement reliability. “Even when settlements from upstream processors are delayed, we ensure merchants are paid on time using our own funds,” the company said. According to Aboluwarin, the addition of Apple Pay is expected to improve customer experience and merchant revenue, particularly for businesses that serve tourists and returning diaspora Nigerians. In 2024, Nigerians living abroad spent ₦60 billion during their December homecoming visits, according to the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM). Faster checkout, shorter queues, and fewer payment failures could make a meaningful difference for merchants during such high-traffic periods, Nomba added.
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