2023: Ending well, launching forward
Coming into 2023, we had ambitious goals about the breadth of our coverage across news, products and events. Twelve months later, we’re sitting with the results of our lofty dreams, and we couldn’t be more grateful for how far we’ve come.
One of our goals was to pay closer attention to the geography of our readership and ask critical questions to guide our coverage. It’s been particularly gratifying to see our readership in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and the US grow collectively by 307.94%, from 249,808% in 2022. Our story on Chowdeck hitting ₦1 billion in order value was picked up by Y Combinator.
Our tech-career newsletter, Entering Tech, started this year with 23K readers and it’s closing with over 60K readers. Our analytical forecast newsletter Next Wave has grown to over 50K readers, up from where we were at 31K in January.
We maintained a two million-strong readership for two quarters running. In our top-10 most-read stories for the quarter were the Dash, Zazuu, and Pivo shutdowns; and Fidelity Bank blocking transfers to some neobanks.
It’s interesting to note how these stories are all about happenings in the payments space. In 2024, we will be doubling down on our reporting in the financial services sector: we will be asking the revealing questions about business models in the sector, regulations, retail and SME lending, remittances, and wallets.
Edutech
This quarter, we were interested in the intersection between tech and education. We told the story of the evolution of edtech startup uLesson from an extra-lesson service for pre-university students to an online tertiary institution, Miva University.
We also brought you the inspiring story of visually impaired software developer Victor Ekwueme, whose work is fostering tech inclusion for disabled persons.
The people behind your favourite startups
Startups are run by human beings who put their heart, love and ambition into building strong businesses. This quarter, we asked: who are the minds calling the shots at some of our most prominent startups? Here they are for Piggytech, and for Eden Life. Get to know them!
Events
In October, TechCabal hosted over 2,000 persons for two days at our flagship tech conference in Lagos—Moonshot. Were you one of them? You can read everything we wrote about it here and watch videos from the event on our YouTube channel.
And wait: next year, Moonshot will be back and bigger. It will be for three days, from October 9–11! Click here to join the waitlist for Moonshot 2024.
We didn’t just host an event, we were guests at some: Next Fintech Forum in Abidjan, Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town, Africa Fintech Summit in Zambia, Norrsken Africa Week in Rwanda, and Africa Startup Conference in Algeria.
From the Africa Startup Conference, read our special TC Daily dispatch from Algeria, and also Ganiu Oloruntade’s report on Algeria needing to open up to drive innovation on the continent.
Ephraim Modise was our man at the Africa Tech Festival and he wrote about how Africa can replicate Estonia’s startup success. We’ve actually discussed this topic at length on Next Wave, with a focus on Kenya. Read that here.
We also attended an investor summit in Uganda and wrote about the country’s push to become central to innovation in East Africa.
Thank you, over and over!
We can’t have told these stories without your readership, feedback, and engagement. As we go into 2024, we will continue to deliver excellent reporting on tech and business on the continent, and we hope you’ll join us for the ride!
Is something interesting happening in your area that might interest us? Email us at team@techcabal.com.
Happy new year in advance!
Muyiwa Olowogboyega Kelechi Njoku
We’d love to welcome you at Moonshot in October 2024. Click here to join the waitlist!
