Big Tech This Week

Nigeria’s tech ecosystem and Nollywood made a baby called The Black Book. For the first time in Nollywood’s history, Nigerian startup founders were the main backers of a Netflix original directed by Editi Effiong. The founders became executive producers on The Black Book, now streaming on Netflix. Here’s a recap of my conversation with Effiong and some of his executive producers about funding The Black Book and what local investments mean for the future of Africa’s movie industry. In this issue, we’ll break down how the tech ecosystem brought this Netflix original to life. Plus, I’m hosting my first tech conference! And I’ll tell you all about it.

In 2022, chargeback and other kinds of fraud disrupted and nearly collapsed a substantial portion of Africa’s cross-border payments infrastructure. Millions of users could no longer pay for the world-class products and services they were used to. Today’s issue shows you exactly what happened: the not-so-out-there Zambian startup powering most of Africa’s virtual USD cards, how the industry operates, and why it may happen again.

Shola Akinlade, CEO/Co-founder of Paystack, broke the internet when he announced he’d launched a football club to spend the next 40 years building football talent in Nigeria – two years after Stripe acquired his startup in a whopping $200 million deal.

Big news this week – India has its eyes on Africa. Black Ostrich Ventures launched a $20m fund to invest in pre-seed and seed stage startups outside the “Big Four” African markets, and Uganda’s Asaak is expanding into Latin America.

Top stories – the CEO of one of Kenya’s most prominent startups gave a masterclass in crisis comms; Elon Musk gifted Twitter users thousands of dollars while still owing ex-employees in Africa. Plus, crypto startup Patricia might be playing a fast one with user funds.

African startups are in the third year of a brutal winter, with foreign investors tightening their pre-seed purse strings. But, there’s hope – and it’s no-code. Plus, in shocking news, Kenya’s top logistics startup Sendy shuts down, and startups are raising less than they did in their heyday—big surprise.

The most talked about news from Nigeria this week was the ministerial list – with one nomination causing controversy. For most folks, the nomination of tech entrepreneur Bosun Tijani is the break Nigeria’s tech ecosystem has needed for almost a decade – based on the assumption that Tijani gets the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.

Governments in Africa are finally paying attention to the outsized impact of tech on the economy and are setting up hubs to accelerate growth within the ecosystem. Rwanda set the pace with its Innovation City, and now Cape Verde is taking on the baton to attract the best tech talents to the country. And in other news, Nigeria’s Central Bank is not letting its digital currency – eNaira die quickly, and Smile Identity is helping startups combat fraud.

In a bold move that delighted economists across the country, Nigeria’s Central Bank (CBN) granted a long-awaited demand by floating the Naira – a decision that’s had a far-reaching impact on Nigeria’s startup scene.

A new generation of tech entrepreneurs in Africa are exploring new horizons, and Europe is welcoming them with open arms. In other news, Nigeria’s Central Bank finally grants Diasporans some relief, and Apple might be hiking app-store prices in three African countries.

Nigerians have more phone numbers than smartphones. And with mobile penetration on the rise and fintech startups competing to capture market share, OPay had its moment in the sun when Nigeria’s Central Bank introduced a new currency design, leaving Nigerians cash-strapped.

Africa’s tech entrepreneurs are making the great migration from the continent to the UK – and all for good reason. Today, we deep dive. 3 big things: – London is Africa’s tech hub – Flutterwave’s big bet – Google backs Black Founders

AI’s on a world tour with headliner Sam Altman – the CEO of OpenAI. Altman’s on a 17-city tour, with Nigeria being the only Africa stop. Nigerians are flattered, while the rest of Africa is unhappy with Altman’s lean travel schedule.

Africa’s football superstars earn millions of $ and need help spending it. Luckily, African startups are helping solve that good problem by granting our favourite athletes investment options. Plus, Safaricom breaks records in Ethiopia, and Kenya’s Court takes on the Avenger role.