👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Access Bank completes NBK acquisition
In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy new month! We know yesterday felt like we had entered the second half of the year, but we hate to break it to you, but June 1 isn’t the halfway mark of the year—July 1 is. So no, this isn’t your cue to hit snooze on your goals or push everything to “Q3 You.” The clock’s still ticking. Access completes NBK acquisition Kenya’s Equity Group fires 1,200 staff Nigeria to export 1 million talents with export scheme relaunch World Wide Web 3 Events Banking Access completes NBK acquisition Access bank Access Bank has sealed its acquisition of the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) from KCB Group. The acquisition—first announced in March 2024—marks a significant step in the Nigerian lender’s aggressive East Africa expansion. With all regulatory green lights now secured, NBK becomes a fully owned subsidiary of Access Bank Plc. The transaction gives Access Bank a substantial footprint in Kenya. Access Bank will gain access to NBK’s 77 bank branches across its 28 counties, elevating Access Bank Kenya to a tier-two bank status. The acquisition also increases Access Bank’s market share from 0.2% to 1.9%. Access entered Kenya in 2020 by acquiring Transnational Bank (now Access Bank Kenya), but until now, its presence remained modest. The NBK deal changes that. While the purchase price wasn’t publicly disclosed, NBK was valued at 1.25x its book value—roughly pegging the deal around $102 million. Why it matters: The acquisition isn’t just about scale for Access Bank. NBK has deep ties with Kenya’s public sector and strong brand equity. That means Access gets not only infrastructure and licenses but also instant credibility. As the East African region becomes more interconnected, Access Bank sees Kenya as a launchpad into regional trade and finance flows. CEO Roosevelt Ogbonna called the move a “springboard” into East Africa, aligning with the bank’s wider pan-African ambitions. Beyond Kenya, Access has recently expanded into Angola and Guinea, with sights set on Morocco, Namibia, and Ethiopia. Join Fincra for an Exclusive Side Event at Money20/20 Europe Fincra is co-hosting “Stablecoins & The Future of Payments” at Money20/20 Europe with Utila, Rail, Wirex & more. Join fintech leaders for insightful panels & networking. Limited spots – RSVP here. Banking Kenya’s Equity Group fires 1,200 staff Image Source: Zikoko Memes Equity Group’s CEO, James Mwangi, isn’t playing nice anymore. Sip on this real quick : Kenya’s second-biggest bank by assets has fired over 1,200 employees in a brutal crackdown on fraud. What began on May 20 with 200 sackings has snowballed into a full-on purge. What triggered this purge? Turns out $15.4 million has quietly disappeared over the past two years—some of it sneaking into offshore accounts, including a high-profile case in Abu Dhabi last year. After months-long soul searching, the bank found internal rot across multiple departments. Since then, the bank has placed heavy scrutiny on employee transactions, including personal M-PESA activities and bank accounts. Even blinking in the direction of known suspected fraudsters will get them fired. This is a big deal: It is very rare for financial institutions to take such a public and far-reaching approach to addressing internal fraud. Plus, this layoff marks one of the largest anti-fraud moves by a Kenyan bank in recent years. In July, 2024, First Bank of Nigeria fired at least 120 employees over a ₦40 billion fraud scandal. The future holds more possible layoffs: Out of Equity Group’s 14,000 staff—as CEO, Mwangi, has confirmed that investigations would spread to the banks’ other markets in Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda and DR Congo. Zoom out: Equity’s move echoes a loud message to staff, customers, regulators, and other banks: this is a zero-tolerance zone. If the CEO’s tone is anything to go by, grab your popcorn, the show is not over. Paga is on the Financial Times List Three Times in a Row! Milestone achieved: 3x in a row! Celebrating 16 years of growth with our third consecutive appearance on the Financial Times’ Africa’s Fastest-Growing Companies list. Read more. Policy Nigeria to export 1 million talents with export scheme relaunch Image source: UNDP In addition to its exports in mineral fields, cocoa beans, and Afrobeats, Nigeria wants to start exporting something new: people. (Well, technically, their talent, but how else would I have baited you?) Brain drain or brain gain? : The National Talent Export Programme (NATEP) has been relaunched by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment, and it is taking one of the country’s most valuable resources, human capital, global. This initiative, launched 18 months ago at a UN event, intends to tap into the $854 billion global outsourcing industry by positioning Nigeria as a leading exporter of skills in technology, creative industries, healthcare, business process outsourcing (BPO), professional services, and remote work. The initiative is backed by private sector partners like Itana, Alaro City, and Sterling Bank. Why? Apparently, the world is hiring, and Nigeria is fluent in the language of opportunity with about 55% of the population being youths, a strategic time zone (similar to Europe), and growing digital skills in the country. What’s in it for Nigeria? We can say it’s definitely good news for citizens who want to japa. In addition, this project will make Nigeria a key part of the modern global economy, where skills are just as important as physical products. It is an ambitious plan that aims to attract over $1 billion in foreign investments, 1 million export-linked jobs, and make services contribute to the GDP. Zoomout: It sounds like a win until the questions start rolling in: Nigerians have heard big, shiny plans before. Will this one actually deliver? The country is already losing talent to other countries: can they really afford to export the talent they’re still struggling to keep? And maybe the biggest question of all: who gets to control the narrative, the talent walking out, or the country learning how to cash in before they do? How Paystack protects
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Next Wave: The real cost of chasing higher returns in private debt
Cet article est aussi disponible en français <!– In partnership with –> <!–TopBanner Join us for TechCabal Battlefield, Moonshot’s startup competition where you can showcase your startup idea to a global audience and an esteemed panel of judges and stand a chance to win up to 2.5 million naira in funding for your business! Click to register for TC Battlefield First published 01 June, 2025 The real cost of chasing higher returns in private debt Image | Alter Finance Across Africa’s startup landscape, attention usually goes to big-ticket equity raises, flashy valuations and headline-making VC or private equity (VCPE) backing. But underneath, a quiet and telling shift is underway. Startups and growth-stage companies are increasingly relying on debt financing, sometimes in conjunction with equity, and sometimes as the primary strategy. In 2024, African startups collectively raised $3.2 billion in equity and debt, according to Partech data. Equity funding held steady at $2.2 billion, but debt financing dipped 17% to $1 billion. Debt introduces a fundamentally different set of dynamics compared to equity. With equity, investors are buying into the company’s long-term upside, taking ownership, and often influencing governance. With debt, the focus is on cash flows, repayment ability, and downside protection. For startups, debt offers a way to grow without dilution. For investors, it offers a chance to earn predictable returns, often with structured protections, in a market where public fixed income can be thin or unattractive. The private debt market has garnered some attention as institutional investors seek yield in an environment where traditional fixed income no longer meets their needs. At the centre of this market are two distinct deal types: private-debt funds investing in companies backed by VCPE firms, or investing in companies without any VCPE involvement. Next Wave continues after this ad. Moonshot is back, and this year, it’s about moving from resilience to results. With the theme Building Momentum, the 2025 edition explores how Africa’s digital economy can shift gears into scale, structure, and long-term growth. Expect more honest reflections, sharper insights, closed-door roundtables, and conversations that don’t end when the panels do. Watch the 2024 highlights. Early bird discount now available Reserve your spot here! On the surface, African companies without VCPE investors often yield higher debt returns for lenders. This “sponsorless premium” can translate to senior secured debt commanding 10-13% interest, with other credit products even higher, compensating for increased risk and the hands-on approach lenders provide. But once you dig into the details, the picture becomes much more complicated. An investment banker at Citibank told me this week that the core issue revolves around risk, where companies without VCPE backing leave private-debt funds to handle everything themselves and intervene if things go wrong. When a VCPE firm invests in a company, it effectively acts as an extra layer of filtering to push stronger deals into the market and steps in when performance wobbles. So, without that sponsor, the private-debt fund carries the full weight of risk management, which naturally drives them to demand higher returns. This explains why non-VCPE-backed deals often post stronger headline returns, but that doesn’t mean they’re the better or safer choice. Next Wave continues after this ad. Nigeria’s digital payment space is evolving fast. Are you keeping up? Our latest report highlights key shifts, challenges, and opportunities across the country’s payments ecosystem. Donwload the report now. It’s also worth thinking about the potential conflicts of interest that exist when VCPE firms are involved. While they can improve deal quality, they also have their agendas. Sometimes, VCPE sponsors are incentivised to push for more debt financing in larger or riskier transactions to increase their potential upside, leaving private-debt funds exposed to risks they might not have taken on independently. This raises fundamental questions about whether VCPE backing consistently improves the risk-return profile for debt investors or whether it sometimes distorts incentives. Deal structure reveals another critical divide. African companies without VCPE sponsors often carry higher leverage because they rely entirely on debt funding. While VCPE-backed companies like to blend equity and debt injections. That difference in the capital structure matters because higher debt ratios amplify both the risk of default and the returns debt investors require as compensation. Private-debt funds understand this trade-off well, which is why non-sponsored deals often come with stricter covenants, steeper interest rates, and tighter controls to manage the extra risk. If we look closely at how returns are generated, the contrasts deepen. Private-debt investors, especially those lending to established Kenyan or Nigerian companies not backed by venture capital, strongly prefer immediate cash interest payments. They dislike “payment-in-kind” (PIK) interest, which defers interest payments, because it ties their returns directly to the company’s future success and market fluctuations. For example, a Nairobi textile firm or a Lagos snack company seeking a loan would find investors favouring consistent cash interest over promises of larger, delayed payouts. By contrast, VCPE-backed deals are more likely to include PIK because investors feel more confident that the sponsor’s involvement reduces downside risks. Per a former investment advisor at Enza Capital, who spoke to me while researching this piece, this difference in structuring reflects how investors think about risk across these two deal types. Without that sponsor stepping in to guide and monitor performance, private-debt funds often secure additional rights, such as equity stakes, warrants, or even board seats, to protect their interests and gain more control. These mechanisms don’t just sit on the sidelines; they are central to aligning the interests of lenders and borrowers, and give debt funds a share in any upside. In VCPE-backed deals, the sponsor typically takes the lead, reducing the need for lenders to incorporate equity-like protections. One of the most debated points is whether the higher returns seen in non-VCPE-backed deals hold up once you factor in the cost of risk management. After all, all those extra controls, governance tools, and due diligence steps come at a price. If you adjust for those, do these deals still deliver superior risk-adjusted returns, or do
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Digital Nomads: For Chiderah Azodoh, Dubai’s promising tech industry is a hotbed for fintech
In 2019, Nigeria’s banking sector experienced a major event: Access Bank, now the country’s largest bank by assets, acquired Diamond Bank, which used to be at the top of the food chain as the largest tier-2 lender in the country. For Chiderah Azodoh who worked on the intricate corporate finance details of the merger, it was painstaking but exciting work; one she says she was privileged to be staffed on. Azodoh is a Harvard Law School alum. She graduated from the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC), located in the country’s southeast, in 2016. After completing law school the following year, she dove straight into legal practice, gaining hands-on experience in the field. “I started out in the litigation department,” said Azodoh. “I was wearing a wig and going to court for three months. During your national service, you are made to rotate at different teams at Aluko & Oyebode (now known as ALN Nigeria | Aluko & Oyebode),” she said. The firm is one of Nigeria’s most storied. It was on one of those rotations that Azodoh scored a lucky win to work with the capital markets and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team. At the start of her career, she had a supervising partner whom she describes as an “organised and extremely professional man” who was responsible for staffing people on interesting deals that were happening in the country. “The exposure was incredible,” she said. “You’re having calls with CFOs all the time and you’re discussing how the things people see in the news happen. It does something to your mind; it helps you see how things work.” As Azodoh climbed the legal career ladder at Aluko & Oyebode, she got the opportunity to work on more interesting deals, like the Access Bank-Diamond Bank merger, alongside a team of other finance professionals. During her heydays in corporate finance, she worked as an associate on Nigeria’s GTBank’s restructuring to a subsidiary of the holding company, GTCo, in 2021. She has also sat in a similar deal for Access Bank transitioning to its holding company, Access HoldCo, in 2022. She served as an associate for telecom company MTN Nigeria issuing bonds to raise money. As an associate on these deals, her job was to ensure that these companies were abiding by the regulations that guided restructuring, M&A, and market expansion deals. Her firm, Aluko & Oyebode, advised what licences these corporate firms needed to apply for, from central banking approvals to competition and investment permits. 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Her work focused heavily on the deal’s legal aspects, particularly ensuring compliance across the work of a team of investment bankers, auditors, and anyone else involved in the deal’s many moving parts. “Interestingly enough, in 2019 when we were still on the [Access-Diamond] deal, a new competition law came in,” she recounts. “Nigeria passed the FCCP Act which changed how mergers were happening.” Before the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, (2019) was signed by former president Muhammadu Buhari in January 2019, corporate M&A deals went through Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which oversees the capital markets. As part of the Investments and
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“We made zero revenue in our first three years”: Day 1-1,000 of Izesan!
Few founders dare to take on the challenge of preserving Africa’s linguistic heritage. Anthony Otaigbe is one of them. When I first stumbled on Izesan!’s Instagram ad, I paused. Here was someone promising to do for African languages what Duolingo did for Spanish and French. Anthony Otaigbe, founder of edtech platform Izesan!, was one of the first founders I interviewed as a journalist for TechCabal. Two years after our first interview, Otaigbe joins the call from his car, sunlight filtering through the windows and casting a warm glow on his beige kaftan. He sits upright, with a distinctive blonde hair and beard. Even through the pixelated video, his passion for Izesan! and its evolution since our last conversation is hard to miss. Otaigbe, who hails from Esan, a local community in the southern Nigerian state of Edo, was raised and brought up in the US and could not speak his indigenous language. Otaigbe would sit silent at family meetings unable to join in or grasp what was being said around him. “I couldn’t relate to my siblings. I was the only one who didn’t understand,” he said. “Learning my own language was very difficult because there were really no resources out there,” he said. “I had to make Herculean efforts just to learn what I felt I should have known since childhood.” Otaigbe would go the extra mile to learn his indigenous language. “I reached out to my parents, uncles, and aunts, asking them questions. I even went as far as calling my grandfather in the village, just to try and talk to him and ask questions and learn more,” Otaigbe said when we first spoke two years earlier. But not everyone is as determined to learn their native language as Otaigbe was. “So I felt it might be easier for my contemporaries if an app was there to learn these languages.” So Otaigbe tried to build one . Not just for himself but for a whole generation of diasporan Nigerians who’d grown up fluent in French, Spanish, and survival, but mute in their own mother tongues. So Izesan! was born. He built a mobile app that taught African languages, starting with Esan. No VC capital. No advisors. Just one person trying to stitch their identity back together—with code. Izesan! started off with the Esan language and grew to teach 15 different African languages including Yoruba, Swahili, Hausa, Igbo, Zulu, Fulfulde, Xhosa, Jamaican Creole, Kanuri, Tiv, and Nigerian Pidgin, amongst others. The app offers interactive lessons using flashcards and other exercises to teach users how to speak different African languages. Get the best African tech newsletters in your inbox Country Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canton and Enderbury Islands Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos [Keeling] Islands Colombia Comoros Congo – Brazzaville Congo – Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Dronning Maud Land East Germany Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories French Southern and Antarctic Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Johnston Island Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau SAR China Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Metropolitan France Mexico Micronesia Midway Islands Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar [Burma] Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles Neutral Zone New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island North Korea North Vietnam Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pacific Islands Trust Territory Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Panama Canal Zone Papua New Guinea Paraguay People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria São Tomé and Príncipe Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu U.S. Minor Outlying Islands U.S. Miscellaneous Pacific Islands U.S. Virgin Islands Uganda Ukraine Union of Soviet Socialist Republics United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Unknown or Invalid Region Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Wake Island Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Åland Islands ?> Gender Male Female Others TC Daily Events TC Scoop <!– Next Wave –> <!– Entering Tech –> Subscribe Day 1-1000:A free app. A flood of downloads. And a deafening silence Otaigbe had reached out to a group of developers in faraway Pakistan, and together, they built what would become the Izesan! app. When they launched it in 2019, it was completely free—a gift to the world, especially to Nigerian diaspora communities hungry for reconnection. Downloads surged. But beneath the surface, cracks quickly began to show. “People downloaded it, yes. But they didn’t stay. Retention was terrible,” he recalls. Making the app free came with its own problems. People felt entitled to endless fixes and improvements. “People expected perfection. But they didn’t want to pay. I updated that app endlessly—for nothing.” Every day, Otaigbe fielded complaints about features, bugs, and quality. He poured
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The tech tools and platforms shaping how Nigerians say “I Do”
Thousands of weddings are held every year in Nigeria’s booming million-dollar wedding industry. Blessing Oluwawamiri Alakija, wedding planner and founder of Bblizz Events, says that on average, newlywed couples spend as much as ₦20,000,000 ($12,500) or more for a 500-guest wedding. These days, budgets don’t necessarily depend on the number of guests, she says, rather on the desired quality of the wedding. Couples wouldn’t invest millions in their big day without some assurance that things will run smoothly and, increasingly, that assurance comes from a number of technologies. “Our events heavily rely on technology,” Alakija says. “From virtual consultations with clients across Nigeria and the diaspora via Zoom, to sharing digital mood boards, tech helps us streamline communication, improve precision, and save time,” says Oyindamola Adeleke, a wedding planner who runs 234 Event. Tech’s influence on Nigerian weddings goes far beyond Zoom calls and digital mood boards. From how couples share their engagement stories on social media to online gift registries, technology is involved in every aspect of the wedding experience. Take how couples find wedding vendors. The ‘S’ in ‘weddings’ is for social media An intending couple knows that the choice of a wedding vendor can make or mar their big day, so extra care is placed on who they contract to bake a cake or beat a face. Nigerian wedding vendors, including photographers and make-up artists, agree that social media contributes significantly to how couples discover and book their services. “Most of our bookings come through social media,” says Joshua Aderounmu, a wedding photographer who runs Tush Studios. “Prospective clients only have to reach out via direct message on these platforms.” Platforms like Instagram, therefore, double as portfolios, helping vendors showcase and market their craft to potential customers. Wedding planners like Alakija and Adeleke also depend heavily on social media. “We rely on Instagram and WhatsApp to showcase event transformations, before-and-afters, vendor shout-outs, and testimonials,” Adeleke says. But visibility is just one piece of the larger picture. Though social platforms help vendors and planners communicate their aesthetics and reach new potential clients, trust remains king. Ifedayo Akapo, a wedding photographer, says that while social media showcases his style and personality to would-be clients, referrals seal the deals. “Most of my best clients come through word of mouth because someone they know loved what I did. Both matter, but referrals turn leads into loyal [customers] faster,” he says. David Shonowo, another photographer, agrees, adding that 80–90% of his work comes through referrals. Makeup artist Davina Folowosele, founder of Halevigne Beauty, says likewise. “The majority of my jobs have come more from referrals than social media,” she says. For couples, beyond one of many tools to vet potential vendors, social media platforms are like real-time postcards documenting and communicating relationship and wedding planning milestones to their circle of friends and family, as well as “online in-laws”, a term used to describe more distant social media followers. For make-up artist Folowosele, social media worked as an “online diary” when she was getting married in 2024. Virtue Ekong, married in 2024, says social media was primarily used for sharing and receiving wedding information, documenting beautiful memories, and engaging with friends and family. “It added a fun, interactive element to the experience by allowing us to celebrate moments in real time with people on our timeline,” Ekong adds. Gift registries, wedding apps, and websites Not long ago, newlywed couples were subjected to an overflow of household items wrapped in nylon gift wrappers that they then packed away into a cupboard, never to be used. Today, couples are setting up online gift registries with specific items they need to begin their new homes and in what quantities—like Shonowo, who used Wishgum, a digital wishlist and gift registry, to receive wedding gifts. Or they are setting up payment portals to receive cash gifts that would normally be delivered in an envelope. Receiving gifts digitally is not always seamless, however, for Nigerian couples. Folowosele says that she eventually had to resort to collecting gifts through her account directly, because “the interface of the Nigerian inclusive [payment] gateways wasn’t as attractive as the ones I fancied, and it wasn’t just straightforward to set up.” On the vendor side, an array of fintech services informs how cash flows between clients and businesses. Aderounmu says tthat hough his studio primarily uses Paystack to receive payments from wedding clients, he usually adapts to whatever suits them, including international transfers. Alakija prefers invoice apps and OPay: “It has simplified my banking experience.” While some vendors like Alakija are already embracing tech-enabled payment tools, others like Folowosele are still navigating limitations in integrating local platforms. Yet, across the board, tech remains a wedding game-changer in more ways than one. Wedding or movie? Spend a few hours on social media platforms, and you will glean that Nigerian weddings today are now designed to generate full-blown cinematic experiences. Couples are increasingly opting for more than a simple wedding photo book or bland documentary video of the day to look back on. “Wedding coverage today is purely cinematography. We shoot like it’s a movie,” Aderounmu says. “Hence, the introduction of drones. It adds creativity and class to footage.” There’s also the now-ubiquitous 360 video booth. Initially seen as a luxury, it’s now a staple. “Guests love it. It’s become part of the social media ritual for weddings,” Aderounmu says. “They come, they dress up, and they expect to leave with 360 footage.” Drones, gimbal stabilisers, wireless audio systems, and 360 video booths make filmic and photographic outcomes not just media by which the couple might remember the day, but “content” to be shared with and consumed by an online audience. In more recent times, even artificial intelligence tools have become part of vendor work processes, improving efficiency and ease. “AI is infused into all our post-production tools like Photoshop, Lightroom, and Premiere Pro. We use it to select, add, remove, and even change backgrounds,” says Aderounmu. “It speeds things up and gives better results.” Wedding photographer Akapo says his work
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“Starlink should be in South Africa only if it plays by our rules” — Youth ICT Council President
On May 23, South Africa’s Communications Minister, Solly Malatsi, released a policy amendment to allow multinational corporations to use Equity Equivalent Investment Programmes (EEIPs) as an alternative to the strict Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) ownership. While the update to South Africa’s policy appeared routine, the timing, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s meeting with President Donald Trump in the U.S, has sparked intense debate and concern among industry experts, local businesses, and the public. Depending on who you ask, they say the regulatory update looks suspiciously like a diplomatic gift to Elon Musk’s Starlink, but Malatsi insists the changes have been in the works for months. Traditionally, South Africa’s policy in ICT has been developed through careful consultation, with a strong focus on promoting local ownership, economic transformation, and fair competition. The B-BBEE framework was designed to address historical injustices by ensuring that black South Africans have a meaningful stake in the country’s economy. Any changes to these rules, especially if they appear to benefit foreign interests at the expense of local businesses, raise important questions about the future of economic empowerment and digital sovereignty in South Africa. TechCabal spoke to Luvo Grey, the president of the National Youth ICT Council, an organisation that represents young people in South Africa’s ICT sector, to unpack the deeper issues behind the amendments. For Grey, “Starlink, or any satellite operator, should be in South Africa only if it plays by the rules.” Grey noted that if the regulatory changes are meant to make it easier for Starlink to enter the market under more favorable conditions, then it raises an important question of whether South Africa’s digital independence is being protected, or whether the country should cater to the financial interests of a foreign billionaire’s business interests. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. ICT regulation amendments came soon after President Ramaphosa met President Trump. What’s your take on this timing? The timing is highly suspicious. It raises legitimate concerns about whether our national regulatory processes are being influenced by diplomatic pressure or foreign corporate interests. Historically, ICT regulations have been shaped through local consultation, stakeholder engagement, and public participation. Now, we’re seeing expedited regulatory shifts, including the lifting of the moratorium on individual ECNS licenses and the sudden introduction of an EEIP model tailored for the ICT sector, all conveniently timed after the president’s U.S. engagement. If this was indeed a prelude to facilitating Starlink’s entry on softened terms, then we must question whose interests are truly being prioritised: is it South Africa’s digital sovereignty or the profits of a foreign billionaire? [newletter] Reports say some multinationals like Samsung and AWS operate in South Africa using EEIPs. Can you unpack what that means as opposed to B-BBEE? B-BBEE is anchored in ownership, control, and genuine transformation. It’s about economic redress through structural inclusion of historically disadvantaged individuals by becoming owners and decision makers in companies operating in South Africa. An EEIP, or Equity Equivalent Investment Programme, on the other hand, is an exemption model, basically a backdoor clause, primarily intended for multinationals that cannot sell equity due to global ownership structures. They are allowed to contribute a percentage of their turnover into development initiatives instead of equity. Unlike in manufacturing or finance, where EEIPs have long existed, Telecommunications requires 30% ownership by historically disadvantaged groups as per the ECA and ICASA licensing requirements. The sudden attempt to extend EEIPs to ICT now, at the convenience of one foreign company, undermines the very purpose of B-BBEE. If EEIPs become the norm for multinational entrants, what mechanisms will be in place to audit, evaluate, and enforce corrective action if promised benefits don’t materialise? That’s exactly the problem. There is no binding regulatory framework specific to ICT that governs, audits, or enforces EEIPs effectively. The BEE Commission has raised concerns before about how loosely EEIPs are monitored. There’s limited public transparency, weak evaluation metrics, and often no recourse when companies fail to deliver on promised impact. If EEIPs become the norm in ICT, we risk creating a parallel transformation track, one that is symbolic rather than substantive. To avoid this, the government must ensure that any EEIP proposed in this sector is subject to public scrutiny, enforceable by law, aligned to national broadband goals, and explicitly tied to SMME and youth empowerment outcomes. Otherwise, we are simply rebranding non-compliance. How will these proposed amendments affect the competitive landscape for local ISPs and youth-owned ICT businesses that have worked hard to meet the 30% ownership threshold? It will devastate them. Local ISPs, especially youth and black-owned, have spent years navigating a complex, underfunded ecosystem, complying with stringent B-BBEE and license requirements. If a foreign company like Starlink can bypass this through a relaxed EEIP with no real ownership inclusion, we will have created a two-tier market: one where locals play by the rules, and another where foreign players dominate without meaningful transformation. This not only distorts competition but also destroys the very foundation of policy certainty and investor confidence in local enterprises. Why should anyone invest in compliance if the rules can be bent for billionaires? What precedent would be set legally and politically if Starlink or similar companies are granted licenses under relaxed B-BBEE rules? The legal precedent would be catastrophic. It would signal that South Africa’s policy transformation is negotiable depending on who you are or how much political sway you carry. Politically, it would erode public trust in the state’s commitment to redress and economic justice. Once one company is allowed in under relaxed rules, others will follow, and we will have effectively gutted the Electronic Communications Act and our transformation charter. This would not only impact ICT, but it would ripple across sectors, weakening the entire legislative framework of B-BBEE in South Africa. We would be setting a precedent where capital has more power than the Constitution. Get the best African tech newsletters in your inbox Country Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia
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African Gen Zs vs. millennials: Age and generative AI
Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT and Meta AI continue to raise big questions about ethics, job security, and privacy. In spite of the uncertainties, Africans are putting these tools to work, and how they’re doing it depends a lot on which generation they were born into. Three African millennials and six Gen Zs from Ghana, Kenya, Benin Republic, Botswana, Nigeria, and South Africa, share their experiences about these tools. Digital natives Lisa Lena, a millennial Kenyan who works at her college’s International Student Office in Germany, “runs to ChatGPT to get answers” for class or office tasks. She explains that AI has become her “go-to place” for answers and that it has replaced the way she uses search engines like Google. “I do this because it is more personalised, the answer will come with a greeting, starting with: ‘Hello Lisa’. I no longer have to search through lists of articles to find an answer and neither do I have the time to do so,” Lena says. Millennials, otherwise known as Gen Y, are characterised by their pursuit of efficiency, preference for convenience, and reliance on digital tools to save time. Lena is no exception. “Nowadays I place more focus on actually living life, that means that I want to finish work and have a good three hours after work for wellness, leisure, and connection with people,” she explains. To her, these are the things that “make life meaningful” and AI has freed up her the time to pursue them. Another aspect of these technologies that makes life more enjoyable is the ability to multitask seamlessly. In Nairobi, Kenyan-American millennial Josephine Opar, who is a communications officer and student, uses AI for both work and leisure. “AI has made multitasking more enjoyable for me,” Opar says. “ I like listening to my notes while I’m walking, so I don’t have to choose between exercising and revising.” It is no surprise, then, that she uses AI tools “at least once every two days.” Opar also uses virtual assistants like Siri to open apps on her phone and convert her notes into audio while she’s driving. 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Ephraim Modise, a millennial senior copywriter in Botswana, though sold on AI’s upsides, is clear-eyed about its limits. He uses ChatGPT and Grammarly every day to refine work tasks, make plans, and ask “Google-like questions.” His confidence is reflected in his bold “any roadblocks [in using AI technology] can be ChatGPT-d,” but he reveals that it was not always so. He was hesitant to use AI at first because of hallucinations. AI hallucinations, which are incorrect or “nonsensical” (according to IBM) results that AI models generate, are not new to frequent AI users. “Hallucination was a concern for me because my line of work requires accuracy. You learn to manage the hallucination by double-checking the output,” Modise explains. Despite the concerns about AI, many millennials are open to adapting to the technology. For instance, Lena is not concerned about AI-induced job insecurity, though people are losing their jobs to AI. “Things that are being done are going to be more efficient,” she says. “ If, in the process, people
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Fincra gets South African payments licence to deepen African reach
Fincra, a payment infrastructure provider that serves remittance companies and businesses, has obtained a Third Party Payments Provider (TPPP) licence in South Africa, allowing the company to process key local payment methods including debit and credit card transactions, electronic funds transfers (EFTs), real-time clearing (RTC), and rapid payments. The licence aligns with Fincra’s ambition to expand its cross-border payment infrastructure and deepen its footprint across the continent through multiple payment rails. In South Africa, Fincra competes with other fintech startups, such as Yoco, Ozow, and Peach Payments, offering similar services. “Securing the TPPP licence in South Africa is a significant step toward realising our mission to build the rails for an integrated Africa,” said Ayowole Ayodele, CEO and Co-founder of Fincra. “It reinforces our commitment to building compliant, reliable infrastructure that powers cross-border trade at scale. We’re excited about the opportunities this opens for businesses across the continent.” The licence gives Fincra’s clients—including e-commerce platforms, logistics providers, B2B marketplaces, and travel companies—access to faster settlements, greater reliability, and full compliance with South Africa’s stringent financial regulations. Emmanuel Babalola, Fincra’s Chief Commercial and Growth Officer, described the development as a “game-changer for businesses looking to expand or operate in the region, and a strong signal of Fincra’s continued focus on enabling growth for our customers.” This regulatory milestone comes three months after the company appointed former Bundle CEO Emmanuel Babalola as chief commercial and growth officer. Fincra’s regulatory progress is complemented by its partnerships with Tier-1 banks and its innovative suite of APIs, which enable businesses to collect payments globally and make payouts locally. The company has processed over $10 billion in transactions since 2023 and continues to expand its reach across Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, the UK, Europe, and North America. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com.
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Sycamore is raising ₦1 billion to complete $1.5 million debt funding round
Sycamore, a Nigerian digital lender, is raising ₦1 billion ($628,000) to complete a $1.5 million debt funding round, just one week after securing ₦1.5 billion ($943,000) debt from Cascador, a Nigerian entrepreneurship accelerator. The six-year-old company will use the capital to expand its loan book amid surging demand for credit from individuals and businesses. The Lagos-based lender disbursed over $5.5 million in loans in 2024 and has generated over $3.5 million in revenue, with over $1.5 million earned in 2024 alone, a 115.19% year-on-year growth. Sycamore currently serves 300,000 users through its peer-to-peer lending platform and plans to issue over 10,000 loans with the combined $1.5 million over the next year and hopes to serve an additional 5,000 to 10,000 businesses. Founded in 2019, Sycamore offers businesses working capital loans starting from ₦500,000 ($314) and could go as high as ₦20 million ($12,500). Raising local debt allows lenders to recycle capital into higher-yielding loans, which helps scale operations and returns without diluting ownership. Casador’s debt funding is 10% cheaper than the local market rate, and with its private debt round, Sycamore can structure longer repayment terms of up to a year. “Debt allows us to grow the loan book without giving up equity,” Babatunde Akin-Moses, Sycamore CEO, told TechCabal. “That became a priority because we saw an increase in loan demand. Our traditional method of financing wasn’t keeping up.” Economic reforms and record inflation have caused the naira to lose 75% of its value over the past 18 months. For startups that raised capital in dollars but earn revenue in Naira, this sharp devaluation makes it significantly harder to deliver venture-scale returns in dollar terms. Sycamore is bypassing that headache by raising in Naira, and the startup joins a growing list of Nigerian startups that have turned to the local debt market to finance their operations. Fairmoney, another Nigerian lending startup, has increasingly turned to commercial papers to finance its loan book. “The Cascador deal was initially supposed to be $1 million. But we thought that if the Naira hits ₦2,000 to the dollar, do we really want to be repaying ₦2 billion? Eventually, we all agreed to structure the deal in Naira, and we approximated it to ₦1.5 billion,” Akin-Moses said. If Sycamore can successfully raise ₦1 billion in the private debt market, it will join a growing group of startups turning to debt financing. In 2024, at least a third of the $3.2 billion raised by startups across the continent came from debt, with 77 debt deals in Africa, a slight 4% growth from 2023, according to Partech. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com.
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Kenya’s Equity Group fires 1,200 staff after internal $1.5 million fraud probe
Equity Group, Kenya’s second-biggest bank by assets, has fired more than 1,200 employees in a sweeping internal purge to crack down on fraud, CEO James Mwangi said on Wednesday. This marks one of the largest anti-fraud moves by a Kenyan bank in recent years. The mass dismissal follows a months-long internal investigation into staff collusion with fraudsters, which has cost the bank more than $1.5 million (KES 2 billion) over the past two years. Some funds were illicitly wired to offshore accounts, including a high-profile case involving transfers to Abu Dhabi last year. The probe found that staff across multiple departments had either facilitated or ignored suspicious transactions involving bank clients. While Equity’s new zero-tolerance stance will likely get regulators and public backing, it reveals deeper governance challenges within Kenya’s banking sector, which has been plagued by high-profile fraud cases. Few financial institutions have taken such a public and far-reaching approach to addressing internal fraud. “The moment of reckoning has come,” Mwangi told Business Daily in an interview. “It doesn’t matter how many I will lose. I don’t even care. I have just started the journey. I will protect the customers and the bank. I will be ruthless.” The cleanup began quietly on May 20 when Equity dismissed an initial group of 200 employees, according to Mwangi. But the scale of this week’s layoffs—affecting more than 1,200 staff—signals a significant shift in the lender’s internal culture and tolerance for misconduct. Mwangi said the investigations would extend to the bank’s seven markets, signalling that more dismissals could follow. The bank employs over 14,000 staff. “I want to encourage customers not to compromise staff,” Mwangi said. “Because we have zero tolerance for anybody who is conflicted.” Since April, the bank has scrutinised employee transactions, including personal M-PESA activity and bank accounts, to identify staff with links to ongoing fraud cases and customers. An internal source familiar with the probe said even minimal transactional contact with known fraud suspects or ordinary bank customers was grounds for dismissal. “This is not a toll station,” Mwangi said, condemning a culture where customers routinely offer bank staff tips or gifts to expedite services. “If you have ever eaten Mama Mboga’s chicken, the moment has come.” Equity Group has positioned itself as a financial inclusion champion, growing from a cooperative society into one of Africa’s biggest banking groups, operating in seven countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. However, rapid digitisation and rising transaction volumes have exposed vulnerabilities, especially internal controls and staff conduct. Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Join Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Early bird tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com.
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