Telecoms

Airtel Africa had a tough 2023. The telecom reported a significant loss after tax of $151 million in Q1 of 2023, and ultimately a 99% decline in profits, dropping from $523 million to $2 million by year-end. Currency devaluations in key markets like Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia, and Kenya, were the main cause for the loss.

To improve its financial health, the telecom announced plans for a share buy-back programme in February 2024.

Sidebar: A share buyback simply means that Airtel is repurchasing its own shares from the market.

In its ongoing share buyback programme, Airtel Africa has acquired a total of 8.6 million shares from Citigroup Global Markets Limited. The most recent purchase involved 487,985 shares at an average price of $131.70 per share. 

The buyback programme, which began on March 1, 2024, involves the repurchase of $100 million worth of Airtel Africa’s shares in 12 months, and is divided into two tranches, with the first tranche of $50 million running from March to August 2024. The buy-back programme will help reduce share capital and lower debt and operating costs.

Family-owned businesses are everywhere, shaping our world in ways you might not expect. We’ve found some insights into how they work, and we’d love to share them with you. Dive in right away here.

Economy

Last week, Zimbabwe replaced its inflation-hit official currency, the Zimbabwe dollar with a new gold-backed currency, “Zimbabwe Gold” or ZiG.

The currency change was the country’s sixth attempt at restoring parity to the world’s worst-performing currency which had shed 75% of its value since the year began. 

Zimbabwe’s apex bank will begin circulation of the new currency by the end of April and has given Zimbabweans 21 days to exchange the old currency with the newly minted ZiG. However, local traders are steps ahead of the curve and have begun dumping the old currency. 

The news: According to local media, informal traders no longer accept the Zimbabwe dollar for trade and have opted to transact in the US dollar for fear that the old currency will become worthless. The development has seen a surge in the demand for the greenback on the black market, with black market forex traders upping their fees to take advantage of the demand. 

Larger supermarkets are also catching the wave, with some starting to display prices in ZiG. However, some retail stores— Zimbabwe’s OK and South Africa’s Pick n Pay—still accept the Zim dollar.

A way out of trouble: Before the ZiG was introduced, the Zim dollar traded at 28,720 to the US dollar. The ZiG which has an initial value of 13.56 to the dollar is the country’s latest attempt to tackle decades of monetary chaos. Zimbabwe’s central bank governor, John Mushayavanhu, is hopeful the new currency change will reduce the inflation rate between 2% and 5% by year-end. 

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Telecom

In September 2023, Ezra Chiloba, the former Director General of the Communications Authority (CA) in Kenya faced suspension amidst accusations of corrupt practices involving a staff mortgage scheme. The CA alleged he attempted to defraud the agency and approved his mortgage improperly.

In October 2023, Chiloba resigned from his position as CA Director General. But despite the fraud allegations against him, President William Ruto nominated him for the Consul General of the Kenyan mission in Los Angeles, USA.

EACC clears Chiloba of wrongdoing: In September, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) launched an investigation into allegations against Ezra Chiloba. To gather evidence, they requested Treasury audit reports, the authority’s mortgage loan policy and loan book, and the authorised panel of valuers from the CA. 

However, an EACC letter released yesterday found “insufficient evidence” to support the claims against Chiloba, effectively clearing him of any wrongdoing.

With the EACC clearing his name, Chiloba’s nomination for Consul General seems to be moving forward.

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TC Insights

Hewatele, a healthtech company based in Kenya, secured a $20m funding package from Finnfund, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF), and UBS Optimus Foundation and Grand Challenges Canada.

Here are other deals for the week:

• SunCulture, a Kenyan climate tech startup, raised $12 million in a Series B round that was a mix of equity, debt and carbon financing. Funding was led by InfraCo Africa and Savant Ltd, with support from Acumen Funds, Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix, and Eric Schmidt, former CEO and Chairman of Google.
• Affinity Ghana, a full-scale digital bank, secured undisclosed funding from the investment firm Renew Capital. 
• Kenya based WeCare raised $350k from Red Capital towards the production of lab diamonds.
• Inputi LTD, an agritech firm based in Uganda, announced an undisclosed investment from the DFC.

Before you go, our State Of Tech In Africa Report for Q4 2023 is out. Click this link to download it.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker.

Crypto Tracker

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$70,532	+ 0.69%	– 2.04%
Ether	$3,517	– 0.08%	– 11.61%
Tether	$1.00	+ 0.01%	– 0.04%
BNB	$605.12	– 0.10%	+ 16.62%

* Data as of 09:01 PM WAT, April 11, 2024.

Events

• The second edition of TechCabal’s Moonshot Conference is set for October 9–11, 2024, at the Eko Convention Centre, Lagos, Nigeria. Moonshot will assemble Africa’s biggest thinkers, players and problem solvers on a global launchpad for change. If you want to join the stakeholders in Africa’s tech ecosystem for three days of insightful conversations, then get an early-bird ticket at 20% off. 
• Nigeria’s biggest women-only festival, Hertitude, is back for a third time. For those new to the scene, Zikoko brings all the girls to the yard every year to let their hair down, form bonds and celebrate what it means to be a hot babe. It’s happening on April 20, 2024, in Lagos and will feature everything from talent shows and karaoke sessions to spa services, live music performances and an afterparty. Click here to get tickets.
• Attention all music lovers! On Saturday, May 11, 2024, Zikoko wants you outside for a day of link-ups, games, drinks and live performances at Muri Okunola Park, Lagos. Strings Attached is an opportunity for friends to reconnect, lovers to bond and individuals to make friends and build community. To get a free ticket, download the Onebank by Sterling App and sign up using ZIKOKO as the referral code. You’ll get your ticket in your email once tickets are available. Click here to get the app.

Here’s what you should be looking at

• US biotech Moderna suspends plans to build vaccine plant in Kenya
• World Bank warns of debt distress in Eurobond buyback
• Uber Teen Accounts in South Africa

Written by: Mariam Muhammad & Faith Omoniyi

Edited by: Timi Odueso

Want more of TechCabal? Sign up for our insightful newsletters on the business and economy of tech in Africa.

• The Next Wave: futuristic analysis of the business of tech in Africa.
• Entering Tech: tech career insights and opportunities in your inbox every Wednesday at 3 PM WAT.
• In a Giffy: business decisions powered by data-driven insights and analysis you can trust.
• TC Scoops: breaking news from TechCabal

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Crypto

The scuffle between the Nigerian government and Binance is becoming hard to keep up with. 

Two days ago, Binance asked the Nigerian government to let its people go. Tigran Gambaryan, who has been detained for about five weeks since flying into the country to resolve Binance’s restricted website access made his first appearance in court yesterday after being charged with a tax evasion charge. 

ICYMI: Gambaryan was charged alongside Binance’s Kenya-based regional manager for Africa, Nadeem Anjarwalla, who fled Nigeria on March 22, by Nigeria’s tax agency, the Federal Inland Revenue Service. Gambaryan, the former US agent will reappear in court on April 19 after a Nigerian High Court adjourned the case till then.

The FIRS also charged Binance for failing to register with it, alongside four other charges: nonpayment of corporate income tax and value-added tax, failure to file tax returns, and cooperation in helping users of its website avoid paying taxes. A Nigerian high court, yesterday adjourned the company’s tax evasion court case till April 8.

An impending suit: Gambaryan, who is yet to get the final ruling on his tax evasion case, is the subject of a potential money laundering charge by Nigeira’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).

It appears there is no love lost between Gambaryan, leader of Binance’s Financial Crime Compliance unit and the EFCC who claimed to have buddied up to fight fraud and money laundering activities in the country. Premium Times, yesterday reported that the EFCC planned a money laundering charge against Gambrayan, but the anti-graft agency faced a stern battle with Gambrayan’s lawyer who argued that Binance, the company, should be the target of the money laundering lawsuit, not Gambaryan himself.

Gambrayan’s lawyer based his argument on the fact that only the representative of a company in Nigeria could be charged individually for a suit. He argued first that Binance had no physical presence in Nigeria and that Gambaryan did not qualify as an agent of Binance in Nigeria.

Family-owned businesses are everywhere, shaping our world in ways you might not expect. We’ve found some insights into how they work, and we’d love to share them with you. Dive in right away here.

Mobility

Startups across the continent are justling for a top spot in Africa’s nascent electric vehicle (EV) industry. Last year, Possible EVs set up shop in Nigeria to produce up to 10,000 EVs annually. Spiro, an e-mobility company, also signed a $63 million debt financing to fund two electric motorcycle assembly and battery manufacturing plants in Benin and Togo in 2024. Roam, an EV company recently introduced Kenya’s first locally manufactured electric bus.

And now, Kenya is setting the stage to attract more EV manufacturers into the country.

The news: Yesterday, Kenya launched a national e-mobility draft policy to promote the local manufacturing and assembly of electric vehicles (EVs).

The policy, done in collaboration with the state’s trade and investment ministry, will help facilitate the production of EV components and support local battery manufacturing, recycling, and repurposing efforts. 

The big picture: While the new policy will help reduce Kenya’s reliance on petroleum for its mobility needs and save on petroleum import bills, the e-mobility draft policy is also coming at a time when electric buses are becoming a part of the daily lives of Kenyans. Roam’s electric buses now serve as commute vehicles for Kenyans. The company is also planning to introduce electric buses for Nairobi’s bus rapid transit (BRT) system.

Ride-hailing companies are also in the mix. Uber partnered with Greenwheels Africa to make electric motorbike rentals available in the country. Similarly, Bolt recently invested KES100 million ($770,000) to integrate e-mobility solutions into its services in Kenya. 

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AI

Yesterday, Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, Bosun Tijani, faced a bit of fire on social media.

Why? The minister had announced, on Wednesday, that the country will collaborate with 120 researchers, startups and stakeholders to create a plan for implementing AI across the country. These experts would come up with this framework at the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Workshop scheduled to be held from April 15 to 18, 2024 in Abuja. 

So why is Tijani facing fire? According to social media, AI is the least of Nigeria’s problems. One poster said, “We don’t even have the basic infrastructure to build AI frameworks on.” Another tweeted, “How do you start researching AI when you don’t have electricity? How will you power the AI?”

Nigeria’s tech minister, however, had some answers: Per Tijani, the aim is to co-create a multi-year strategy and action plan for research and AI adoption in the country and a framework for AI adoption in the country. 

“The need to coordinate and harness the power of AI for national development is a critical element in our journey towards the use of technology to accelerate productivity in our country,” he stated. Tijani emphasised that this was an opportunity to leverage AI, noting its transformative impact on agriculture, education, healthcare, and productivity.

The minister highlights that one of the earliest initiatives from the start of his term in office was to properly define and outline a comprehensive Artificial Intelligence Strategy for Nigeria.

This isn’t the first time Tijani’s AI ambitions have rubbed Nigerians the wrong way: Earlier in February, after Tijani spoke about Nigeria’s future with AI, Printivo founder Oluyomi Ojo noted, in a tweet, “If as a nation you can’t feed your 200m people and keep lights on. You have no business discussing AI. You can’t AI your way out of multi-dimension properly. We can have pockets of talents or small wins here and there but ain’t no way AI will drive your economy.”

Other experts, however, think Nigeria is ripe for AI: “AI development is happening around the world in real-time. If Nigeria does not take its place, it will be left with the crumbs,” said Kehinde Olateru, CEO and Co-Founder of Zero Complex AI, in an interview with TechCabal last month. 

One report by Diplomacy states that the AI industry is growing across Africa with over 2,400 companies specialising in AI, 41% of which are startups and estimates indicate that the technology could contribute $1.5 billion to the continent’s GDP by 2030. Globally, an increasing number of governments are releasing national AI strategies, setting objectives to capitalise on the technology’s opportunities while addressing its challenges. Already, Egypt, Mauritius and Rwanda have published national AI strategies. 

Despite the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) in Africa being on the rise, the readiness of countries on the continent is below the global average with “21 out of the 25 lowest scores belonging to Sub-Saharan African countries” according to the Government AI Readiness Index 2022 by Oxford Insights.

As per the Index findings, Mauritius emerges as the leading African government prepared for AI, securing a score of 53.38 out of 100 and claiming the 57th spot globally. Following closely, Egypt ranks second in Africa and 65th worldwide, surpassing South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, and Nigeria. Botswana rounds out the list of the top 10 African countries poised for AI readiness.

Spin up a sales force with dozens – even hundreds – of Virtual Terminal accounts in seconds, without the headache of managing physical hardware. Learn more → 

TC Insights

BURN Manufacturing (BURN), a renewable energy company based in Kenya, raised over $12 million in carbon financing via private equity. The funding round was led by Key Carbon Ltd. and backed by Cartesian. 

Here are other deals for the week:

• Zeepay, a Ghana-based fintech, closed a $3 million equity investment from Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund. 
• Kenyan electric bus startup BasiGo secured $3 million worth of equity funding from CFAO Group. 

Before you go, our State Of Tech In Africa Report for Q4 2023 is out. Click this link to download it.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker.

Crypto Tracker

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$67,932	+ 3.46%	– 0.19%
Ether	$3,282	– 0.03%	– 11.59%
Wormhole	$0.99	– 13.20%	– 27.81%
Solana	$177.26	– 2.32%	+ 43.94%

* Data as of 05:45 AM WAT, April 5, 2024.

Events

• Come and get an exclusive scoop into the State of Tech in Africa in Q1 2024. On April 12 by 11 AM (WAT), TechCabal will launch its SOTIA report which spotlights important trends in Q1 2024 while also delving deeper into the nitty gritty of various happenings in Africa’s Tech Space. As a stakeholder in Africa’s Tech Ecosystem, these insights will help you position strategically and uniquely to harness the innovative progress within this sector. You don’t want to miss this. Register here now to make sure!
• The second edition of TechCabal’sMoonshot Conference is set for October 9–11, 2024, at the Eko Convention Centre, Lagos, Nigeria. Moonshot will assemble Africa’s biggest thinkers, players and problem solvers on a global launchpad for change. If you want to join the stakeholders in Africa’s tech ecosystem for three days of insightful conversations, then get an early-bird ticket at 20% off. 
• Nigeria’s biggest women-only festival, Hertitude, is back for a third time. For those new to the scene, Zikoko brings all the girls to the yard every year to let their hair down, form bonds and celebrate what it means to be a hot babe. It’s happening on April 20, 2024, in Lagos and will feature everything from talent shows and karaoke sessions to spa services, live music performances and an afterparty. Click here to get tickets.
• Attention all music lovers! On Saturday, May 11, 2024, Zikoko wants you outside for a day of link-ups, games, drinks and live performances at Muri Okunola Park, Lagos. Strings Attached is an opportunity for friends to reconnect, lovers to bond and individuals to make friends and build community. To get a free ticket, download the Onebank by Sterling App and sign up using ZIKOKO as the referral code. You’ll get your ticket in your email once tickets are available. Click here to get the app.

Here’s what you should be looking at

• Nigeria’s stock exchange buys stake in Ethiopia’s first-ever bourse
• Bank of Tanzania raises interest rate to 6% amid steady inflation
• Huawei takes on big cloud providers with $10m credits to Nigerian startups
• How to solve the problem of financial inclusion in Nigeria

Written by: Towobola Bamgbose & Faith Omoniyi

Edited by: Timi Odueso

Want more of TechCabal? Sign up for our insightful newsletters on the business and economy of tech in Africa.

• The Next Wave: futuristic analysis of the business of tech in Africa.
• Entering Tech: tech career insights and opportunities in your inbox every Wednesday at 3 PM WAT.
• In a Giffy: business decisions powered by data-driven insights and analysis you can trust.
• TC Scoops: breaking news from TechCabal

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Fintech

Nigeria’s Data Protection Commission (NDPC) had a busy 2023. Asides earning over ₦400 million ($287,044) in revenue for the year, it also investigated three big companies—Opay, Meta and DHL—amongst others, for data infractions.

Now, the Nigerian digital lending sector is under the NDPC’s scrutiny. The watchdog is investigating 400+ cases where lenders accessed borrowers’ private information without consent—a violation of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) of 2023.

What has the NDPC found? Its investigation reveals that loan apps are “overly intrusive,” collecting unnecessary data despite Google’s policy changes which restricted loan apps on its Play Store from accessing users’ photos and contacts in April 2023. The NDPC now seeks to restrict or ban phone numbers used by lenders for such breaches.

To address this issue, the NDPC has adopted a multi-faceted strategy: teaming up with regulators and platforms to deny access to lenders misusing data. The NDPC is also drafting the Nigeria Data Protection Act-General Application and Implementation Directive (NDPA-GAID) to address data ethics and hold third-party platforms accountable for breaches.

Additionally, the NDPC will work with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to ensure lenders obtain data protection clearance before operating.

Zoom out: The Nigeria data protection framework empowers NDPC and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to fine entities violating the Act, with penalties directly linked to the severity of data protection breaches. Fines range from ₦2million ($1,435) to ₦10 million ($7,176), or 2% of the company’s annual gross revenue of the preceding year. In August 2021, NITDA fined Soko Loan ₦10 million ($7,176) for illegal data tampering with users’ private data.

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Crypto

After Nigeria restricted users’ access to the website of Binance, the global crypto exchange, two of its top executives—Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjawarlla, regional manager for Binance in Africa—flew into the country to resolve the dispute. On arrival into the country, the office of Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA) seized the travel documents of both officials, detaining both executives without any criminal charge.

Both executives remained in detention for more than two weeks before Anjarwalla, fled the country using a smuggled passport. Gambaryan, the remaining Binance employee left in detention is now looking for respite.

Tigran Gambaryan has filed a lawsuit against the NSA and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for violating his fundamental human right to liberty by detaining him and seizing his travel documents.

Per Gambaryan’s lawsuit, the seizure of his travel documents and detention violated Section 35 (1) and (4) of Nigeria’s Constitution, which safeguards the freedom of movement for all persons. The suit aims to halt the detention of Gambaryan for investigations related to Binance. The former crypto-focused US Federal Agent is seeking release from detention and return of his travel documents. Gambaryan also wants a public apology from the NSA.Gambaryan’s case has been adjourned to April 8, 2024.

In other news, Nadeem Anjawarlla also filed similar charges against the NSA and the EFCC. However, lawyers representing Anjawarlla have bailed out of the case, leaving him without legal representation. Anjawarlla’s case has been adjourned till he gets legal backing. 

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Regulation

Curiosity isn’t just for cats anymore. 

In a bid to outlive its competitors, Meta has discovered a newfound interest in what other social media platforms are up to. 

The news: New court documents show that Meta, owners of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has been spying on Snapchat’s web traffic.

How? The court document revealed that in 2016, Meta—then Facebook—launched a secret project, stylised “Ghostbusters”, to acquire, decrypt, transfer, and use private, encrypted in-app analytics from Snapchat, YouTube, and Amazon.

Mark Zuckerberg was at the helm of the plan. Court documents show that Zuckerberg, Meta’s leader, via an email correspondence with three other top executives, launched a query into Snapchat’s numbers and users’ activities due to how fast the company was growing and the difficulty in getting its metrics. At the time, Snapchat had grown from 100,000 daily active users about a year after its launch in 2011 to 158 million by 2016, with Facebook at 1.86 billion users. 

Javier Olivan, now Facebook’s COO, was sold on the plan as well. Together with Guy Rosen, CEO of Onavo, a web analytics company owned by Meta, they cracked the code and figured out a way to extract users’ data from Snapchat. Meta intercepted users’ data from their phones before it reached Snapchat’s servers, a technique known as SSL bumping. 

Meta continued spying on Snapchat users’ data from June 2016 until early 2019. Spying on Snapchat wasn’t enough. Meta also engaged the tech in spying on competitors, YouTube and Amazon between 2017 and 2018, extracting useful decision-making information in the process. 

Meta now faces a lawsuit for “anti-competitive conduct and exploiting user data through deceptive practices.”

Spin up a sales force with dozens – even hundreds – of Virtual Terminal accounts in seconds, without the headache of managing physical hardware. Learn more → 

TC Insights

Dodai, an Ethiopian electric vehicle manufacturing company, secured $4 million in Series A funding from Nissay Capital, Musashi Seimitsu, and Inclusion Japan. (Mar 24)

Here are other deals for the week:

• Egyptian AI-focused edtech startup Sprints.ai closed a $3 million bridge fundraising round led by Disruptech Ventures, with EdVentures, CFYE, and others joining the investment. (Mar 26)
• Right Now Response (RNR), a South African breakdown management platform for truck fleet managers and OEMs, raised $634k from HAVAIC. (Mar 26)

Before you go, our State Of Tech In Africa Report for Q4 2023 is out. Click thislink to download it.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker.

Crypto Tracker

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$71,006	+ 2.57%	+ 13.90%
Ether	$3,575	+ 2.02%	+ 6.19%
Tether USDt	$1.00	+ 0.03%	– 0.06%
BNB	$584.99	+ 1.81%	+ 41.02%

* Data as of 12:26 AM WAT, March 29, 2024.

Events

• The second edition of TechCabal’sMoonshot Conference is set for October 9–11, 2024, at the Eko Convention Centre, Lagos, Nigeria. Moonshot will assemble Africa’s biggest thinkers, players and problem solvers on a global launchpad for change. If you want to join the stakeholders in Africa’s tech ecosystem for three days of insightful getting an early-bird ticket at 20% off. 
• Nigeria’s biggest women-only festival, Hertitude, is back for a third time. For those new to the scene, Zikoko brings all the girls to the yard every year to let their hair down, form bonds and celebrate what it means to be a hot babe. It’s happening on April 20, 2024 in Lagos and will feature everything from talent shows and karaoke sessions to spa services, live music performances and an afterparty. Click here to get tickets.
• Attention all music lovers! On Saturday, May 11, 2024, Zikoko wants you outside for a day of link-ups, games, drinks and live performances at Muri Okunola Park, Lagos. Strings Attached is an opportunity for friends to reconnect, lovers to bond and individuals to make friends and build community. To get a free ticket, download the Onebank by Sterling App and sign up using ZIKOKO as the referral code. You’ll get your ticket in your email once tickets are available. Click here to get the app.

Here’s what you should be looking at

• CBN withdraws Cellulant’s mobile money licence as company focuses on payments solutions
• Inflation is forcing auto financing startups to rethink financing strategies
• The Washington’s Post first AI strategy editor talks LLMs in the newsroom
• Women founders and venture capital—some 2023 snapshots

Written by: Mariam Muhammad & Faith Omoniyi

Edited by: Timi Odueso

Want more of TechCabal? Sign up for our insightful newsletters on the business and economy of tech in Africa.

• The Next Wave: futuristic analysis of the business of tech in Africa.
• Entering Tech: tech career insights and opportunities in your inbox every Wednesday at 3 PM WAT.
• In a Giffy: business decisions powered by data-driven insights and analysis you can trust.
• TC Scoops: breaking news from TechCabal

ADVERTISE

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Crypto

It’s no news that the Naira has been steadily declining, recently trading at ₦1,600 to the dollar on Wednesday. However, what is rather surprising is the unorthodox effort the Nigerian government has been betting on to salvage the currency.

In 2015, Nigeria’s government cut down trees on the streets of Abuja to prevent the activities of black market BDC traders. In 2021, the Godwin Emefiele-led central bank shut down AbokiFX, a website providing currency exchange rates, accusing the platform of engaging in “illegal activities.”

And now, the government is trying out even more brow-raising methods to rein in its currency devaluation. 

The news: Yesterday, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) started restricting users’ access to the websites of cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Kraken, and Coinbase, in the country. The move is seen as part of a broader effort to curb currency speculation as the price quoted on these exchanges often set the unofficial tone for foreign local currency exchange. 

The move serves as the government’s latest attempt at applying a band-aid to its ailing currency. In recent times it has changed the method for setting its rate in the official foreign exchange market and loosened rules for Nigerians sending money from abroad to provide fixes to the naira. 

A running trend: While the Nigerian government’s recent move to restrict access to crypto exchange websites seems drastic, it’s not the first time it has grappled with regulating this digital asset. In February 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a circular prohibiting banks and financial institutions from facilitating crypto transactions, effectively banning Nigerians from using traditional channels to buy or sell cryptocurrencies. It recently lifted the restriction in December 2023. 

However, this new restriction is different. It targets the websites of major international exchanges directly, aiming to curb speculation and prevent the unofficial exchange rates set on these platforms from influencing the Naira’s value. This broader approach signifies a shift in strategy compared to the previous ban, which primarily focused on traditional financial institutions and left peer-to-peer (P2P) trading largely unaffected.

The effectiveness and long-term implications of this new ban remain to be seen. Crypto has been making a comeback globally with bitcoin reaching $51,000 for the first time in two years; and on the continent withcrypto startups making a comeback. In Nigeria, crypto startups were already applying for licences from the capital markets regulator, indicating a strong interest in legitimising the industry and navigating the evolving regulatory landscape.

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Cloud

Cloud cost and overhead expenses are typically the biggest ticket price items for startups. “The biggest fight to come i Africa is getting access to all of that data at scale through low cost/free cloud services,” tweeted venture capitalist Victor Asemota way back in 2018.

It’s been six years since that tweet and nothing is closer to the truth. 

In Twiga 2023, Kenyan e-commerce startup, Incentro sought help to pay its cloud service bill after Incentro, a Google partner, sued the company over a $2 million cloud service contract. Per the contract terms, Twiga could be paying as much as $84,000 per month for cloud services. 

But for Nigerian startups who earn in Naira, the naira devaluation and FX volatility spells an even bigger price to pay. A $1,000 cloud service—the equivalent of ₦458,000 in early 2023—now costs ₦1.52 million, a 107% increase. Sources told us that startups can spend anywhere from $2,000 to $80,000 monthly in cloud computing costs.

How are Nigerian startups navigating these high-up-in-the-clouds bills?

Find out here in our exclusive reporting.

Fincra’s payment gateway enables you to easily collect Naira payments as a business; you can collect payments in minutes through bank transfers, cards, virtual accounts and mobile money. Create a free account and start collecting NGN payments with Fincra. 

Regulation

South Africans, get ready to silence those pesky “once-in-a-lifetime investment” calls! 

The news: Yesterday, the Information regulator (IR) said it will begin cracking down on entities bombarding you with unwanted marketing calls.

According to Truecaller, a platform that flags potential spam calls, South Africans receive an average of 10 unwanted calls per month. The IR says enough is enough and will be dishing out fines of up to R10 million ($~522,000) or even jail time for offenders. No matter who’s dialing, the new rule applies to all public and private entities in South Africa. 

Late to the party: This crackdown is a long-awaited victory for South Africans yearning for phone conversations that don’t involve dubious investment opportunities or free cruises to Atlantis. However, the crackdown is not a first on the continent.

In 2016, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) issued a directive to MNOs to implement a “Do Not Disturb” (DND) code for SMS messages. Additionally, the NCC penalized MNOs for violating regulations regarding unsolicited marketing calls. 

Delight your customers by allowing frontline staff and sales agents confirm bank transfers, instantly. Learn more → 

TC Insights

This week, Hohm Energy, a South African climate startup, raised $8 million in seed funding. E3 Capital and 4DX Ventures led the round with participation from Breega, E4E Africa, TO.org, Tekton Ventures, Sunu Capital, Musha Ventures, and Climate Capital Ventures.

Here are other deals for the week:

• d.light, a Nigerian-based solar-powered solutions provider, secured $7.4 million in securitized financing from Chapel Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund, which was structured and sponsored by African Frontier Capital.
• Arnergy, a Nigerian clean tech startup, raised $3 million in funding from All On, an off-grid energy impact investment company
• Mamamoni, a Nigerian fintech social enterprise, received $270,000 in funding from the Challenge For Youth Employment (CFYE). 

Before you go, our much anticipated State Of Tech In Africa Report for Q4 2023 is now out. Click this link to download it.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker.

Crypto Tracker

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$51,467	– 0.82%	+ 28.72%
Ether	$2,956	+ 0.52%	+ 26.10%
Dymension	$7.14	+ 1.92%	+ 54.00%
Worldcoin	$8.17	+ 10.40%	+ 268.10%

* Data as of 06:30 AM WAT, Febraury 23, 2024.

Experience the best rates and enjoy swift 6-24hrs delivery times. Elevate your business with OneLiquidity–get started today.

Job openingss

• Big Cabal Media – Social Media Intern, Senior Events Associate – Lagos, Nigeria
• Adeo – Marketing Personnel – Ghana (Remote)
• Flutterwave – Frontend Engineer – Nigeria
• Credpal – Mobile App Developer – Lagos, Nigeria
• Vodacom – Executive Head: Cybersecurity – South Africa (On-site)
• MRI Software – Data Analyst – South Africa (Hybrid)
• Fairmoney – Lead Product Designer – Lagos, Nigeria

There are more jobs on TechCabal’s job board. If you have job opportunities to share, please submit them at bit.ly/tcxjobs. 

What else is happening in tech?

• South Africa eyes Nomad goldrush, targets wealthy remote workers in new draft regulations
• Inside the Board fight over Michael Moritz at Klarna
• BuzzFeed sells Complex for $108 million, announces job cuts
• Avatar: The Last Airbender is everything that’s disappointing about Netflix’s live-action cartoon shows

Written by: Stephen Agwaibor & Faith Omoniyi

Edited by: Timi Odueso

Want more of TechCabal? Sign up for our insightful newsletters on the business and economy of tech in Africa.

• The Next Wave: futuristic analysis of the business of tech in Africa.
• Entering Tech: tech career insights and opportunities in your inbox every Wednesday at 3 PM WAT.
• In a Giffy: business decisions powered by data-driven insights and analysis you can trust.
• TC Scoops: breaking news from TechCabal

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M&As

On Wednesday, Cardinal Stone Capital Advisers sold its 65% stake in i-Fitness to Verod Capital management, seemingly answering the question “where are the exits for Africa-focused VCs and PEs.”

But the devil is often in the details. 

Per our initial report, Cardinal Stone Capital Advisers sold its stake for $12 million. That figure meant that CCA was breaking out the champagne to celebrate a 2-2.5x exit.

Here’s what Muktar of TechCabal wrote:

“Cardinal Stone, the first institutional investor in i-Fitness, typically invests between $5 million and $10 million in portfolio companies across various sectors in Ghana and Nigeria.”

But what if that exit was a lot smaller than initially thought? Two people close to the deal insisted that the deal was much smaller than we initially reported.

“Two authoritative sources shared that the deal size was less than $6 million.”

It suggests that this was not a situation where the selling party was popping some bubbly. While the five-year time horizon of the deal is typical of PE firms, there may not have been any huge exit multiples here.

Depending on what the final numbers were, this might have represented one PE handing the baton to another PE firm that may have a different thinking of how to extract juicy multiples in the next five years.

You don’t have to take our word for it. Give it a shot like he did Click here to experience fast and reliable personal banking with Moniepoint.

Crypto

As of January 30, the Nigerian Naira depreciated 31% to reach ₦1,400/$1, as the country’s headline inflation rose every month in 2023, hitting 28.90%, an 18-year high, in December 2023.

Amidst this economic instability, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has disabled Nigerian users from selling USDT, and limited the buying option to a set price of ₦1,802 ($1.12). 

The crypto exchange, which facilitates trading between the Naira and USDT (a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar), claims that these measures are to safeguard users from fraud and manipulation. For Nigerian users, Binance disabled the ability to sell USDT and limited the buying option to a set price of ₦1802 ($1.12). 

Desperate times call for desperate measures? Binance’s recent limitation on Nigerian users’ ability to sell USDT coincides with unverified claims that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other government bodies allegedly ordered the exchange to limit Nigerian users’ ability to sell USDT. This marks the second time in six months that Binance has intervened in USDT/NGN pricing, following a similar action in December that briefly boosted the naira’s value by ₦300 ($0.19) against the dollar in one day of trading action. 

Traders are now exploring alternatives, with some migrating to other peer-to-peer platforms like Kucoin, where the Naira traded as low as ₦2000 ($1.25) to 1 USDT.

Despite relaxing currency controls and implementing new policies since June 2023 to curb speculation and improve price discovery, the CBN’s efforts are hindered by persistent liquidity issues and potentially ineffective communication, affecting confidence in the apex bank. In response, the Debt Management Office has increased bond yields by 3% to address excess Naira liquidity and attract foreign investors.

Fincra’s payment gateway enables you to easily collect Naira payments as a business; you can collect payments in minutes through bank transfers, cards, virtual accounts and mobile money. Create a free account and start collecting NGN payments with Fincra. 

Regulation

A wave of electric vehicle (EV) support is sweeping across Africa, with governments and businesses alike taking action to promote cleaner transportation.

In Ethiopia, the government, earlier this month, revealed plans to ban the import of gasoline and diesel cars. The country has also been offering tax breaks for electric vehicles since 2022. Kenya joined the movement by restricting the import of used EVs with less than 80% battery life on Tuesday. This decision comes alongside a recent $24 million investment secured by Kenyan EV company Roam, to expand its operations across the country.

In North Africa, Egypt’s state-owned automaker El-Nasr has partnered with a Chinese company to roll out locally-produced EVs in the country by 2025.

Now, South Africa is also joining the EV race. The country’s finance minister Enoch Godongwana, unveiled a series of tax hikes during the 2024 Budget Speech. Amidst these increases, there’s a silver lining for EV manufacturers.

What silver lining? Starting March 1 2026, companies that make electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles can get back 150% of the money they spend on their investments. This is to boost local EV production.

Additionally, the National Treasury has reallocated R964 million ($50.8 million) to the EV industry to support the transition to EVs.

Zoom out: In more renewable energy news, Teraco, an African carrier-neutral colocation provider is investing over $100 million in building a 120MW solar power plant in South Africa, to add clean energy generation capacity to the national grid. This highlights the growing interest in renewable energy solutions across Africa, which aligns with the broader shift towards cleaner transportation and environmental sustainability.

Delight your customers by allowing frontline staff and sales agents confirm bank transfers, instantly. Learn more → 

Regulation

Here’s some more news on SA. The government is taking steps to encourage citizens to switch from inefficient incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs to light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. This move aims to tackle rising electricity demand and the ever-present threat of load shedding.

What’s new? The South African government has implemented new regulations to ban the sale of inefficient bulbs for general household lighting from May 24, 2024. The Treasury has also proposed raising the tax on incandescent bulbs from R15 ($0.79) to R20 ($1.06) per bulb from April 1, 2024.

Why the switch? A typical LED light bulb reportedly uses about 10 watts, compared to about 60 watts for most incandescent bulbs and 13-15 watts for fluorescent bulbs. Incandescent and fluorescent bulbs are still widely used despite being less efficient and consuming more electricity compared to LED alternatives. LEDs are significantly more efficient than incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, consuming around 10 times less energy.

This comes after the country’s Trade, Industry & Competition Department set new energy efficiency standards for light bulbs in May 2023.

What are the standards? The first phase of implementation, starts May 24, 2024, and will require regular electric lamps to have a minimum luminous efficacy of 90 lumens per watt (lm/W), a target currently attainable only by LEDs.The second phase, beginning three years after publication, will further increase the minimum efficiency to 105lm/W.

These regulations will effectively prohibit the sale of non-LED bulbs for general household lighting in South Africa, excluding studio lighting, theatre lighting, and medical use.

Funding

d.light, a global provider of affordable solar-powered solutions, has raised $7.4 milllion in a securitisation deal led by Lagos-based investment group, Chapel Hill Denham.

d.light claims it learned from its experience of using this type of funding for off-grid solar in other sub-Saharan African countries, now it wants to use the same formula to expand access in Nigeria. 

A securitisation deal? Imagine d.light has a bunch of “micro-loans” they’ve given out to people to buy their solar-powered products. These loans bring in money over time as people pay for their solar devices, but d.light needs some cash right now to expand their business and provide more products. That’s where securitization comes in. 

d.light groups those loans together, label them as “coupons” and sell them off to an investor. These investors are buying a piece of the future payments d.light will receive from the original borrowers. 

So, in this case, the finance came from Chapel Hill Denham’s investment, but instead of giving d.light a loan, the investment group bought coupons on the promise of future payments from d.light’s customers. This way, d.light got $7.4 million cash upfront, and Chapel Hill Denham will get a return on its investment.

More money to keep the lights on: d.light says it will use the funds to expand its access to its solar-powered products for low-income households in Nigeria. D.light with nearly 30 million products sold has ambitious plans of reaching 1 billion developing countries across the world. 

Crypto Tracker

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$51,481	– 1.17%	+ 26.17%
Ether	$2,931	– 2.51%	+ 25.01%
Starknet	$1.84	– 9.19%	– 21.61%
Worldcoin	$7.28	+ 7.02	+ 217.02%

* Data as of 06:10 AM WAT, Febraury 22, 2024.

Experience the best rates and enjoy swift 6-24hrs delivery times. Elevate your business with OneLiquidity–get started today.

Opportunities

• The Africa Fintech Network (AFN) in partnership with Cenfri and the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) is developing Africa’s first regional Fintech Platform! The Africa Fintech Platform will serve as a one-stop-shop for information, resources, and networking for fintechs, fintech associations, and other stakeholders on the continent. Take this 15-minute survey to help us better understand the needs of the African fintech ecosystem. Take the survey here.


• Applications are now open for the 2024/2025 PTDF Overseas Postgraduate (Masters & PhD) Scholarship Scheme. The award includes the provision of flight tickets, payment of health insurance, payment of tuition and bench fees (where applicable), and the provision of allowances to meet the costs of accommodation and living expenses. Apply by March 18.


• The 2024 OWSD Early Career Women Scientists (ECWS) Fellowship Programme ($50,000 award) is open for application. The fellowship programme supports early-career women scientists to lead important research projects in those countries which have been identified as especially lacking in scientific and technological resources. Apply by March 14.

What else is happening in tech?

• Entering Tech #58: The path from law to tech
• YC-backed Miden has big ambitions in challenging virtual card space
• Nigeria plans clampdown on Binance, other crypto firms

Written by: Olumuyiwa Olowogboyega, Mariam Muhammad & Faith Omoniyi

Edited by: Timi Odueso

Want more of TechCabal? Sign up for our insightful newsletters on the business and economy of tech in Africa.

• The Next Wave: futuristic analysis of the business of tech in Africa.
• Entering Tech: tech career insights and opportunities in your inbox every Wednesday at 3 PM WAT.
• In a Giffy: business decisions powered by data-driven insights and analysis you can trust.
• TC Scoops: breaking news from TechCabal

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Cybercrime

Last month, we wrote about financial institutions coming together to fight fraud. Our exclusive today will tell you why they have good reason to.

African fintech giant Flutterwave is seeking to retrieve $24 million illegally transferred in October 2023 through a combination of a “technical glitch” and potentially fraudulent activity by POS merchants.

Following a High Court ruling on February 1, the fintech company will reach out to over 6,000 account holders across 35 banks and financial institutions involved in the unauthorised transactions.

The incident: On October 10 2023, a technical issue caused unauthorised transfers from a Flutterwave client to over 6,000 accounts across 35 banks and fintechs. Flutterwave quickly alerted the institutions, temporarily suspended the affected accounts to prevent further losses, and offered the institutions indemnity for reversing the transfers. 

Now, a recent High Court ruling will allow Flutterwave to contact account holders via email, SMS, and WhatsApp messages, with assistance from a recovery agency to recover the funds, according to court documents

KYC in focus: Amidst increasing fraud attempts in Nigeria’s financial sector, the Central Bank of Nigeria has mandated stricter KYC measures. These require customers’ Bank Verification Number (BVN) or National Identification Number (NIN) for account opening by March 2024, alongside plans to introduce new security features on Point of Sale (PoS) terminals.

The success of Flutterwave’s fund recovery efforts hinges on accurate customer information held by banks and fintechs, highlighting the importance of robust KYC protocols.

Moniepoint has made it simple for your business to access payments while providing access to credit and other business tools. Open an account today here.

Fintech

After three months of turmoil, Ibrahim Ibitade, CEO of Leatherback, a cross-border payments startup that operates in seven countries, has successfully cleared his name following an intense episode with Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the EFCC.

Ibitade deemed the EFCC’s actions “bullying” and is now seeking accountability for the agency’s lack of due diligence.

Here’s what happened: In September 2023, rumours were circulating that Leatherback lost money to SDQ Facilitators—an unregulated Nigerian currency trading company. Leatherback denied the rumours, but an EFCC investigation into SDQ Financials was launched. The investigation revealed that SDQ used Leatherback’s naira and USD wallets, but Leatherback claims they were unaware of any fraudulent activity. Subsequently, in November 2023, the EFCC declared Ibitade wanted for allegedly conspiring to obtain money under false pretence and posted a now-deleted photo of him on their Instagram page. 

CEO fights back: In November, Ibitade denied that he was hiding from the EFCC and has now stated that he has been cleared of any wrongdoing. The agency deleted their Instagram post of Ibitade after two petitions from Leatherback, and now, the payments company is suing the EFCC for defamation and wants them held accountable for their actions.

Leatherback says it will continue its trajectory towards success, as the company claims it processed $500 million in monthly transactions by June 2023 and was nearing the $1 billion mark before the EFCC episode.

Fincra’s payment gateway enables you to easily collect Naira payments as a business; you can collect payments in minutes through bank transfers, cards, virtual accounts and mobile money. Create a free account and start collecting NGN payments with Fincra. 

Regulation

Kenya, a nation at the forefront of African tech advancement, has proposed an AI and robotics law that includes fines of up to $6,250 for unlicensed businesses.

The Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society Bill 2023 introduced the fine to regulate and support the growing sector.

The bill also outlines the establishment of the Robotics Society of Kenya (RSK), a proposed regulatory body empowered to issue licences and levy the $6,250 fine on unlicensed businesses. Failure to comply could even land offenders in jail for two years. This body will also advise the government on emerging trends in AI and robotics.

Innovation booster or tax grab? The proposal has sparked discussions among AI enthusiasts and advocates, who view the law as a “severe threat to innovation and growth” and believe that it is merely another avenue for the government to create unnecessary bureaucracy and generate revenue.

This isn’t the first time Kenya has faced such criticism. In 2022, a similar proposal to regulate ICT professionals was shot down by the then-president, Uhuru Kenyatta, after it faced immense pushback for creating excessive hurdles and stifling freelance work in a sector already struggling with a talent shortage.

AI in Africa: The AI sector is growing across Africa. Of the 2,400 AI companies on the continent, as of 2022, 40%  were established in the previous five years. If Africa captures even 10% of the global AI market, analysts predict a staggering $1.5 trillion boost to its GDP by 2030. 

For other African countries, Mauritius was the first country in Africa to publish a national AI strategy in 2020. In 2021, Egypt launched its national AI strategy to deepen the use of AI technologies and transform the economy. In 2023, the Nigerian government invited global AI researchers of Nigerian descent to collaborate on the national AI strategy.

Mobility

Ethiopia is making headlines with its latest decree: a ban on gasoline and diesel car imports, and express admission on electric vehicles.. 

This daring decision, announced by Transport Minister Alemu Sime, prioritises both green energy and reducing dependence on fuel imports.

A bold shift to green transport: In line with Ethiopia’s Ten Year Development Plan, which targets 152,800 EVs by 2030, the ban will involve smoke tests for current vehicles, with those failing considered unsuitable for road use. Additionally, the government intends to establish a robust network of EV charging stations to support the expected increase in electric vehicles. The government’s decision in 2022 to offer tax exemptions for electric cars also underscores its commitment to green initiatives.

However, with only approximately 7,200 EVs out of 1.2 million cars on the road, Ethiopia has a long journey ahead. As of October 2023, a litre of gasoline and diesel reportedly cost ETB77.65 ($1.37) and ETB74.85 ($1.32), respectively. Sime highlighted the financial burden of fossil fuel imports, revealing that Ethiopia’s expenditure of €6 billion ($6.4 billion) on petrol and diesel imports in 2023 necessitated the ban.

Details are a little thin at this point: Despite Ethiopia’s ambitious goals, It is unclear when the new policy will take effect and how it will impact existing vehicle orders. According to reports, in 2021, Ethiopia imported vehicles worth approximately $1.19 billion. However, several companies are starting to assemble and sell EVs locally, including Hyundai and Marathon Motor Engineering.

 Paystack is excited to announce that merchants in South Africa and Côte d’Ivoire can now accept online payments from millions of global customers, with Apple Pay! Learn more →

TC Insights

This week, Nigerian edtech startup Klas secured $1 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by Ingressive Capital, with participation from Techstars, HoaQ Capital, and several angel investors.

Here are other deals for the week:

• Remoteli, a Ghana-based tech talent startup, raised $315,000 in pre-seed funding. The funding round was led by Jeremie Frimpong, a Ghanaian-Dutch professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga club Bayern Leverkusen.
• PowerUP, a Uganda-based electric cooking start-up, announced an initial close of its seed round for an undisclosed amount. The round was led by Delta40, the Nairobi-based venture studio, with participation from Autodesk Foundation’s investment and pro bono support.

Before you go, our much anticipated State Of Tech In Africa Report for Q4 2023 is now out. Click this link to download it.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker.

Join entrepreneurs and leaders from 43+ African countries in Cape Town at this year’s GEC+Africa conference. Register here to reserve your place. 

Crypto Tracker

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$44,157	+ 2.32%	– 3.63%
Ether	$2,425	+ 0.02%	+ 3.67%
Dymension	$7.57	+ 31.19%	+ 63.31%
Solana	$103.23	+ 3.38%	+ 4.66%

* Data as of 00:00 AM WAT, Febraury 9, 2024.

Effortlessly make global settlements in over 30 currencies across 120+ countries spanning four continents, delivering cost-effective and reliable solutions to your clients, suppliers, and customers. Get started today.

Opportunities

• For African founders, applications are open for the Accelerate Africa accelerator for startups on the continent. Founders will receive coaching from two of Africa’s top operating founders, access to a network of 75+ investors on demo day, and Clinics and office hours for your legal, finance, and tech needs. Apply by February 16.
• Are you a young girl with a passion for technology and innovation? Apply now for the National Girls in ICT Competition 2024. The competition is an initiative that creates a platform for girls in secondary school to showcase their skills and creativity in various ICT-related domains. Apply by February 18.
• Applications are now open for the 10th cohort of the Orange Corners Nigeria Incubation Programme(40,000 Euros in funding). The programme empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to transform their dreams into thriving realities. Apply by February 18.
• Report for the World once again invites independent news organisations across the globe to join its growing network of host newsroom partners. Newsrooms will be asked to make the case for the beat they want to cover and how they will provide support and mentorship to their prospective corps members. In turn, Report for the World will fund half the salary of the reporters for up to three years. Apply by February 20.

What else is happening in tech?

• NCC withdraws disconnection notice on Glo after N2bn interest payment to MTN
• Airtel Africa pushes infrastructure expansion with investments in 2Africa cable and IHS
• Dow Jones doubles digital subscriptions in four years
• What Medium’s CEO has learnt about technology and journalism

Written by: Mariam Muhammad

Edited by: Kelechi Njoku & Timi Odueso

Want more of TechCabal? Sign up for our insightful newsletters on the business and economy of tech in Africa.

• The Next Wave: futuristic analysis of the business of tech in Africa.
• Entering Tech: tech career insights and opportunities in your inbox every Wednesday at 3 PM WAT.
• In a Giffy: business decisions powered by data-driven insights and analysis you can trust.
• TC Scoops: breaking news from TechCabal

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Telecom

Nigeria’s 5G scene has seen its fair share of interest with big telecoms like Airtel or MTN snapping up licences two years ago. One interesting bit, though, is that both telecoms will soon find themselves competing with a newcomer: Mafab Communications. 

Nigeria’s telecom regulator has announced that Mafab plans to launch its services later this year, which would increase the total number of telecom players to five, with three telecoms—MTN, Mafab and Airtel—offering 5G services.

In December 2021, Mafab secured a 5G licence with a $273.6 million bid. Now, the Lagos-based telecom is set to launch 5G services across Nigeria, with about 30 cities currently boasting such coverage in the country.

Unlike counterparts like MTN known for infrastructure sharing with IHS Towers, Mafab chose to build its network from the ground up, which required navigating regulatory hurdles like securing a Universal Access Service License (UASL) licence—an operational licence for the 5G spectrum, which cost ₦374.6 million ($415,521).

Having secured the UASL licence in July 2022, Mafab now faces the task of investing billions to build its network infrastructure.

Failed market entry attempts:  After missing the August 24, 2022 deadline set by Nigeria’s telecom regulator to roll out the network across the country, the telco was granted a five-month extension to begin its own roll-out. However, there have been inconsistencies. Despite targeting six cities—Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kano, and Kaduna—for initial deployment, its 2023 launch in Abuja and Lagos, which was also an unveiling event of its new logo and brand name, Mcom, lacked concrete product demonstrations and a definitive launch date. The recent push to sell 5G routers before a confirmed network launch also raised questions about their readiness to hit the ground running.

Zoom out: For MTN, who won the auction for the 3.5GHz 5G spectrum alongside Mafab, the telco became the first to roll out 5G in Nigeria and is now present in 13 cities and over 700 sites in Nigeria.

Moniepoint has made it simple for your business to access payments while providing access to credit and other business tools. Open an account today here.

Public Sector

Two key government agencies in Nigeria will spend a combined sum of ₦8.7 billion ($9.6 million) on software this year. 

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC)—the body responsible for safeguarding your bank deposits—and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria’s tax office will spend ₦5.2 billion ($5.7 million) and ₦3.5 billion ($3.5 million) respectively on software it needs to run this year.

The price isn’t right: While the price tag might have you howling, Nigeria has a long history of spending huge sums on software. Last year, it forked out ₦105.25 billion ($116 million) for BVAS Biometric tablets, the tech that allowed for voter verification during its last elections. One report revealed that the tablets were overpriced and surpassed market estimates by 30.4%. 

While the need for robust software for these agencies is undeniably evident, it still requires scrutiny as Nigerian agencies haven’t always gotten the tech right. The Nigerian government also approved ₦2.8 billion ($3.1 million) for digital census software for its 2023 census which it has postponed on multiple occasions. Several of the country’s agency websites are either inoperable or clunky. 

More spends: The National Pension Commission (NPC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), have also budgeted ₦384 million ($498,000) and ₦255 million ($287,000) respectively for software acquisition this year. That’s a total of ₦9.3 billion ($10.4 million) across four agencies.

Fincra payment gateway enables you to easily collect Naira payments as a business; you can collect payments in minutes through cards, bank transfers and PayAttitude. Create a free account and start collecting NGN payments with Fincra.

Cloud computing

In 2023, Sama started the year with its head stuck in a cloud of lawsuits between its former content moderators and Meta. The company, which had ended its content moderation partnership with Meta, had to fire over 230 employees with whom it’s now locked in a court battle. 

This year, though, Sama’s head is in a different type of cloud. 

The platform which preps datasets for AI training, ensuring models meet high accuracy standards, now connects to three cloud storage providers: AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.

Customers can now keep their data on their preferred cloud and Sama can still access it securely, train their models faster and more efficiently. What’s more, the new integration has rolled out in Kenya.

With multi-cloud integrations, customer onboarding time reduces to one day, expediting the entire process by up to seven times.

High cloud bills are a concern: Remember the Twiga Foods saga in Kenya? Where Twiga owed Incentro, a Google cloud reseller $261,000 in unpaid invoices. High data transfer charges and complex integrations can quickly burn through budgets.

With Sama’s multi-cloud integration, your data stays on your chosen cloud platform (AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure), potentially lowering data transfer and development expenses. 

Zoom out: In Kenya, the activation is supported by Safaricom Fiber Optic connectivity links, which enable the download and upload speeds required for Machine Learning models to operate well.

Paystack merchants in Ghana can now send single and bulk transfers to Ghanaian bank accounts from the Paystack Dashboard and via API. Learn more →

Streaming

Netflix is in the news again, this time it is reporting surging revenue and subscriber count. The streaming service which recently inked a $10 billion deal to stream live WWE matches has announced the addition of 13 million new users and $8.8 billion in revenue in its latest earnings report. 

Crunching the numbers: Netflix recorded a 12% growth in the last quarter of 2023. The service also welcomed 7.66 million new users to its platform in Q4 2022. The latest result brings Netflix’s total subscribers to about 260 million. Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) regions contributed 5.05 million subscribers to Netflix’s new user count. 

Q4 2023 was Netflix’s best-performing quarter in terms of subscriber signups, only behind the first quarter of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a surge in sign-ups as people stayed home.

Why the surge? One theory is that Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing might have led to this rise in growth. The crackdown on password sharing, which began last May in several countries, barred multiple users from using the same account.

The company however admits that the surge in subscribers created by the crackdown might be slowing. “We believe we’ve successfully addressed account sharing, ensuring that when people enjoy Netflix they pay for the service too,” Netflix said in a statement.

TC Insights

This week, DXwand, an AI startup operating out of Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), received $4 million in Series A funding. Shorooq Partners and Algebra Ventures led the round, while a previous investor, Dubai Future District Fund, also participated.

Here are other deals for the week:

• Kenyan agri-tech startup Shamba Pride raised $3.7 million in pre-Series A debt and equity funding. The funding round was led by EDFI AgriFI with participation from Seedstars Africa Ventures.
• Morocco-based copyright management startup Crealo raised $1.42 million in seed funding. 212 Founders Programme, operating under CDG Invest, led the round, while Kima Ventures, Evolem, Super Capital, and some angel investors participated.
• Egyptian ed-tech startup Edura raised an undisclosed pre-seed amount in a funding round led by Smart Zone Startups Studio featuring some angel investors.
• Egyptian beauty startup Mira raised $200,000 from Wingoo Investment and Technology.

That’s it for this week!

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker.

Thanks to TC Daily, startups can apply to get up to 6 months free, including unlimited AI. To register your interest fill this form here by February 1, 2024.

Crypto Tracker

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$39,896	– 0.56%	– 8.57%
Ether	$2,218	– 0.77%	– 2.49%
BNB	$291.92	– 0.55%	+ 9.20%
Solana	$86.80	– 2.07%	– 28.60%

* Data as of 00:45 AM WAT, January 26, 2024.

Effortlessly make global settlements in over 30 currencies across 120+ countries spanning four continents, delivering cost-effective and reliable solutions to your clients, suppliers, and customers. Get started today.

Events

• TechCabal is excited to bring you a comprehensive roundup of funding, acquisitions, and significant developments in Africa’s tech ecosystem for Q4, 2023. We’re launching the State of Tech Report for Q4 2023 on Friday, January 26, 2023. Want to attend? Click this link to register. 
• This Friday, The Enablers Meetup is organising an event in Abuja for founders and other stakeholders in the tech ecosystem. Come prepared to unwind and network with other people in the tech space. Click on this link to register and attend. There will be fun activities and exciting prizes.

What else is happening in tech?

• How the West’s favourite autocrat engineered Africa’s most dramatic turnaround
• Microsoft has joined the $3 trillion club
• The US is investigating generative AI partnerships and trades

Written by: Faith Omoniyi & Mariam Muhammad

Edited by: Timi Odueso & Kelechi Njoku

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Cybersecurity

The Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has identified seven suspects who reportedly stole ₦142.8 million ($155,734) from fintech Patricia. 

If this sounds familiar, it’s because Patricia has been in the news for quite some time now. In May 2023, we revealed that the Nigerian fintech suffered a hack in 2022 which cost it $2 million in customer funds. The hack led to several customers being unable to withdraw funds. Patricia then tried several measures to placate its understandably angry users, including a botched app relaunch, a stablecoin backed by the dollar, and fundraising. 

In November the NPF arrested gubernatorial candidate William Bonse for the hack. According to the police, Bonse admitted his involvement in diverting ₦607 million ($760,000) of Patricia’s funds to his account. 

New developments: Techpoint reports that six more suspects, including a special assistant to a Nigerian governor, have been apprehended, while a seventh remains at large.

Meanwhile, Patricia might still be struggling to repay its customers. CEO Hanu Fejiro had previously said customers would start receiving payments in batches on November 20, 2023, but it appears the process has been slow.

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Global News

Heads up, streaming fans! Amazon is giving Prime Video and MGM a makeover, and that unfortunately means saying goodbye to some folks. 

The tech company is laying off hundreds of employees across Prime Video and the recently acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios, because it wants to focus on creating high-impact content.

This isn’t Amazon’s first rodeo when it comes to layoffs. Last year, the company laid off over 27,000 employees. In this round Twitch, Amazon’s live-streaming site, is also preparing to cut off 35% of its staff, after several top executives left the company in the final months of 2023.

Amazon isn’t alone: Beyond Amazon, the broader streaming landscape is grappling with economic headwinds, prompting layoffs at industry giants like Disney and Warner Bros. Even tech behemoth Google isn’t immune; on Wednesday, it reportedly cut 1,000 employees from its voice assistant, augmented reality hardware, and engineering teams. This is in addition to the 12,000 let go in January 2023 and further cuts in its recruitment division last September.

Why the persistent layoffs? Layoffs have been steady across the global ecosystem since 2022, with about 500,000 employees laid off since. The big question now is if companies should still be blaming these layoffs on the economic downturn, especially when profitable companies do it too. For context, Amazon’s profits more than doubled in 2023. These moves point to underlying factors like AI or a shift. This isn’t just about weathering the economic storm, it’s about asking if these layoffs are a smart play or just a quick cash grab with some nasty long-term side effects.

Banking

Nigeria’s apex bank has appointed new board members for the three commercial banks whose boards it dissolved on Wednesday.

Why the overhaul? The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) dissolved the board of directors of Union, Keystone and Polaris banks citing regulatory non-compliance and corporate governance failure.

The dissolution and replacement of board members comes weeks after Jim Obazee’s investigation into the Central Bank under former Governor Godwin Emefiele’s alleged questionable bank acquisitions. Obazee’s report claims Emefiele used proxies to purchase these banks without evidence of payment. 

Who are the new appointees? Yetunde Oni takes over the helm of affairs at Union Bank alongside Mannir Ubani Ringim, the bank’s new executive director. Hassan Imam will head KeystoneBank as CEO, while Chioma A. Mang will play the role of Keystone’s executive director. Lawal Mudathir Omokayode Akintola will now lead Polaris Bank as CEO, and Chris Ofikulu will be its executive director.

Lights out: The CBN appears to be increasing scrutiny and tightening regulatory controls over commercial banks since the appointment of its current governor, Yemi Cardoso. However, the recent dissolution of commercial bank board members is not a first in the country. In 2016, the CBN sacked the board of directors at Skye Bank for a failure to meet the regulated capital adequacy ratio, a measure of the bank’s capacity to handle financial risks.

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Funding

Seedstars Africa Ventures, a pan-African venture capital firm, has secured a $30 million investment from EIB Global, an arm of the European Investment Bank.

Maxime Bouan, Tamim El Zein, and Bruce Nsereko Lule launched the Seedstars Africa Ventures I fund in 2020, aiming to raise between $80 million and $100 million. They’ve already partnered with LBO France and Seedstars, secured $8 million from LBO France, and invested in companies like Poa Internet, Beacon, Shamba Pride, and Bizao. This new injection from the European Investment Bank adds even more fuel to their mission.

Here’s what it means for African startups: Startups can get between $250,000 and $2 million, with the potential for follow-on investments up to $5 million. Up to half of the funds will be directed towards promising startups in French-speaking African countries.

Beyond cash, startups gain access to Seedstars’ vast network, valuable tools, and increased visibility to help them thrive.

EIB’s injection also comes on the heels of Seedstars Youth Wellbeing Ventures, another $20 million fund launched seven months ago to specifically support early-stage ventures focused on improving lives in Africa.

EIB continues its African focus: Seedstars Africa Ventures is not the only pan-African impact-focused VC fund the EIB has backed. EIB has supported Partech Africa, a leading investor in African tech startups with €45 million ($49.2 million) in 2022 and Atlantica Ventures, an early-stage pan-African impact-focused VC fund with over $50 million in February 2022.

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TC Insights

This week, Lapaire, a Kenya-based eyewear startup, raised $3 million to expand across Africa. Impact investment fund Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P) led the equity round with AAIC, FINCA Ventures, and Beyond Capital pitching in.

Here are other deals for the week:

• Kenyan startup Badili, a reverse commerce platform for refurbished phones, secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding in a funding round led by E3 Capital.
• Cleva, a Nigerian fintech startup, raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding. 1984 Ventures led the round with the participation of The Raba Partnership, Byld Ventures, Firstcheck Africa, and several angel investors.
• Cynoia, a Tunisia-based startup, raised $930,000 to expand into West Africa.

That’s it for this week!

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker.

Crypto Tracker

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$46,263	– 0.40%	+ 12.18%
Ether	$2,600	+ 2.11%	+ 17.22%
Tether USDt	$1.00	– 0.01%	+ 0.07%
BNB	$306.88	+ 0.15%	+ 19.87%

* Data as of 23:35 PM WAT, January 11, 2024.

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It finally happened. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has approved bitcoin ETFs. CoinDesk reports that the SEC made the announcement early yesterday morning and the buying and selling already began.

If you’re wondering what the fuss is all about for bitcoin ETFs, here’s a thought: crypto investors in the US can invest in bitcoin without owning any actual bitcoins. It’s basically a basket of stocks that mimics the price of bitcoin, but you can buy and sell it easily like regular shares on the stock market. It’s critical because gold ETFs quadrupled gold prices in the US, and everyone is hoping bitcoin ETFs will do the same and help bitcoin get back to the sweet $60,000 spot it was before the great crypto crash of ‘22.

Job Openings

• Rubicon – Business analyst – South Africa (on-site)
• Voltrox – Full stack developer – Lagos, Nigeria (remote)
• Sun King – Technical product manager – Lagos, Nigeria (Hybrid)
• Areeb – UI/UX designer – Egypt
• Duplo – Bizdev and partnerships manager – Lagos Nigeria(Remote)

There are more jobs on TechCabal’s job board. If you have job opportunities to share, please submit them at bit.ly/tcxjobs. 

What else is happening in tech?

• A raid on billionaire Dangote’s office is spooking Nigerian businesses
• Lagos Tech Fest is set for February 15. Here’s what you need to know. 
• Domestic workers in South Africa say they’re forced to work extra hours for free
• TikTok has surpassed $10 billion in customer spending
• Kara Swisher is Silicon Valley’s most-feared and most-liked journalist. How does that work?

Written by: Mariam Muhammad & Faith Omoniyi

Edited by: Kelechi Njoku & Timi Odueso

Want more of TechCabal? Sign up for our insightful newsletters on the business and economy of tech in Africa.

• The Next Wave: futuristic analysis of the business of tech in Africa.
• Entering Tech: tech career insights and opportunities in your inbox every Wednesday at 3 PM WAT.
• In a Giffy: business decisions powered by data-driven insights and analysis you can trust.

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