According to the Banking on Innovation report by Briter Intelligence and Lateral Frontiers, fintech firms in Egypt, Kenya, and Nigeria collectively raised more than $6.5 billion in the last decade.

This shows a shift from rapid expansion to sustainable, partnership-driven growth.

The report found that Nigeria alone attracted over $3 billion, led by major payment startups such as Paystack, Flutterwave, and Moniepoint, while Kenya’s fintech ecosystem secured around $2 billion, largely in digital credit and asset finance. 

Egypt’s fintech sector, now the country’s most funded, amassed $1.68 billion, driven by players like Fawry, Khazna, Paymob, and MNT-Halan.

What stands out is how collaboration, rather than disruption, is now bolstering Africa’s financial inclusion. In Egypt, Banque Misr’s partnership with valU has expanded Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services to underbanked groups, modernising consumer credit in a country where cash remains dominant. 

In Kenya, Citi’s alliance with Visa and Cellulant created Citi Optimised Pay, tackling a $25 billion SME financing gap by allowing small suppliers to access instant payments. And in Nigeria, Paystack’s integration with leading banks has enhanced merchant transactions, a success so notable that Stripe’s $200 million acquisition of Paystack became a model for fintech-bank synergy across the region.

Across these economies, central banks are taking a more active role. Egypt’s Digital Wallet Interoperability Regulation and the Meeza national payments network, Kenya’s Digital Credit Provider laws, and Nigeria’s Open Banking Framework (2023) reveal a coordinated regulatory initiative to encourage innovation while maintaining consumer protection. 

Samakab Hashi, partner at Lateral Frontiers, noted, “Policymakers are no longer passive observers. They are actively shaping the future, using sandboxes, tiered licensing, and data protection mandates to balance innovation with stability.”

The research stresses that over one-third of all venture funding in Africa since 2014 has gone to fintech, now the continent’s most dynamic technology sector. 

However, the focus is now changing direction. Rather than chasing payment volumes, investors and founders are turning toward credit infrastructure, embedded finance, and insurtech, sectors with deeper, long-term impact.

On challenges, the report warns that issues around data governance, regulatory inconsistency, and compliance costs threaten progress. 

Nigeria’s resolutions on unlicensed digital lenders and Egypt’s limits on data sharing have slowed expansion for some startups. Still, fintechs are adapting through strategic partnerships, early engagement with regulators, and a stronger focus on cybersecurity and user trust.

For founders, the report recommends building before licensing, forming smart alliances, and focusing on infrastructure rather than duplication. In Egypt, the opportunity lies in e-KYC and Banking-as-a-Service; in Kenya, agricultural and SME credit tools; in Nigeria, open banking-based embedded finance.

Even with global venture slowdowns, African fintechs are standing on resilience and reinvention. Egypt’s steady growth, Kenya’s ecosystem maturity, and Nigeria’s scale show that the continent’s financial sector must continually focus on collaboration among banks, telcos, and innovators working together to bridge access and trust.

Disruption and the ability to collaborate, adapt, and build inclusive systems that leave no one behind, are highly indispensable among African fintechs and others.

An Africa Finance Corporation Member State, Egypt’s equity commitment and its imminent representation on the AFC Board of Directors enhances the Corporation’s pan-African spread of shareholders and diversified Board and management, which now includes governments, development finance institutions and institutional investors. 

In 2022 alone, AFC onboarded Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation, and the pension funds of Mauritius and Seychelles as shareholders. Other sovereign shareholders include Ghana, Gabon, Togo and Guinea.

As the largest North African economy, Egypt’s investment leads the way for other countries and investors from the region to join AFC’s shareholders and use its platform to boost regional trade and co-investment opportunities.

Egypt’s Minister of Finance, H.E. Dr Mohamed Maait, said: “This equity investment is a testament to our confidence in AFC’s role as a trusted partner in delivering transformational impact in Egypt and overall in Africa. We look forward to boosting our partnership with the Corporation as we work together to develop the key infrastructure projects in the pipeline.”

A growing and diversified shareholder base alongside profitable returns and consistent dividends are behind AFC’s A3 investment-grade credit rating, which the Corporation leverages to fulfil its mandate to close Africa’s infrastructure and industrial financing gap. With a membership of 39 countries now and total investments of $11.5 billion over 16 years, the Corporation continues to deliver on its promise to support sustained robust growth and development in Africa.

AFC focuses on developing and financing sustainable investments in the core sectors of power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport and telecommunications, with a strategy of adding value to exports and creating jobs through the development of industrial ecosystems.

The Corporation is committed to making Africa pivotal in the global race to net zero by reducing global shipping through localised production—including in minerals critical to battery production—while preserving Africa’s carbon sinks through optimal utilization of transition fuels and simultaneously developing its formidable renewable energy resources.

AFC has already identified an immediate project pipeline worth over $1 billion in critical infrastructure across key sectors in Egypt, including renewable energy, natural gas, heavy industries, technology, telecoms, banking and finance. That is in addition to $265 million of existing investments by AFC in Egypt.

“We welcome Egypt as a highly valued member of our core shareholders, helping us to maximise the impact of investments in systemic solutions within Egypt and across the continent,” AFC President & CEO Samaila Zubairu said.

“We look forward to expanding our collaboration to elevate Egypt’s economy through delivering resilient infrastructure, in line with our mandate of catalysing economic growth, value accretion, and industrial development for all African countries.”

Dr. Yousrey El Sharkawi, Chairman of the Egypt African Businessmen’s Association (EABA), and Mr. Mahmood Ahmadu, President of the Nigeria-Egypt Cultural and Socio-Economic Forum (NESCEF), announced this at the end of a three-day conference organized by both organizations in collaboration with the Nigerian Embassy in Cairo.

El Sharkawi, in a statement issued Friday by Abdul-Razaq Musa, Executive Assistant to the President, NESCEF, said six companies from both countries agreed to cooperate in the sectors of construction, medical equipment, and engineering, as well as agriculture, mining, technology, and real estate.

He lauded the organized private sector in both countries for taking bold steps to actualize increased economic cooperation.

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Works and Housing, Ibrahim El-Yakub, who attended the conference, and toured some housing units developed by the private sector in Egypt, expressed the willingness of Nigeria to cooperate with Egypt in the housing sector.

Yakub said Nigeria requires a minimum of 200,000 housing units each year.

Nigeria’s Ambassador to Egypt, Nura Abba Rimi, noted that the agreements reached by the private entities would encourage more business and trade opportunities for the benefit of citizens of both countries.

He emphasized that both countries are endowed with rich natural and human resources, as well as a very enterprising and innovative youthful population.

Ahmadu, the president of NESCEF, thanked EABA and the Embassy of Nigeria in Cairo under whose aegis the conference was held successfully.

He also thanked Nigerian firms and government organizations including Online Integrated Solution Services (OIS) Limited, Ocean City Development, Imam001 Global Agency Ltd, Uyk Holdings Ltd, Strategic Transparent Solutions, G-one Energy Ltd, MFS Limited, Bashik Nasiku & Co, Hinterland Oil & Gas Ltd, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Slaylab Fintech, Lakeside Pharmaceutical, Danyalli Farms, among others, for participating in the conference.

Musa said NECSCF, which is a model business association devoted to promoting successful economic relations and business relationships between Nigeria and Egypt, aims to promote its members in Nigeria and Egypt and facilitate the establishment of mutually beneficial partnerships between Nigerian and Egyptian businesses.

The 2021 KnowBe4 African Cyberthreat Report focused on key metrics around cybersecurity awareness and behaviours to gain a holistic view of the continent’s cyber stance and how users perceived the threats.

Key findings:

• The pandemic is still playing a major role in influencing working behaviours and patterns.
• Only 38% of respondents have returned to their offices or are accessing the internet from their office network;
• 55% continue to work from home;
• 32% of respondents were affected by cybercrime while working from home, and one-third (33%) of the attacks were social engineering;
• The number of people concerned about cybercrime has risen to 72%.

Collating insights from 763 respondents across South Africa, Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mauritius and Nigeria, the report highlights some of the gaps that remain in security awareness in spite of the risks posed by the pandemic and the evolution of hybrid working frameworks.

“The pandemic remains a central issue for most users when it comes to how they plan to work and live in the future,” says Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist KnowBe4 Africa. “This year, nearly 55% plan to continue working from home. Respondents are increasingly concerned about the risk of cybercrime at 72%, however, the trend this year has been an increase in overall security confidence, which is not necessarily earned. People think they know more than they do and this is causing issues.”

The challenge is that people are still taking unnecessary risks, in spite of their growing awareness and understanding of cybercrime. Around 10% are very likely to share their personal information and 54% will trust an email from someone they know, even though 36% have fallen for a phishing email and 55% have had a malware infection.

These numbers are up from 2020, and are compounded by the fact that most users believe that they can confidently identify a security incident (44%) but only 46% could accurately identify ransomware – a small drop from 2020 at 47%.

The concern is that more than 30% of users do not know what two-factor authentication is, 40% are not using a secure password – 20% believed that P@$$word! was a strong password – and yet 63% use their mobile devices to do payments or banking. They are putting themselves at risk with poor password hygiene and limited security controls.

“Email remains one of the biggest security threats,” says Collard. “People are still very trusting of emails they have received from people they know (54%, up 2% from 2020), even though those email accounts could have been impersonated or hacked. There is definite need to educate people around the rising social engineering threats around emails, social media, chat apps and the phone (vishing).

The report found that while people are paying more attention to security, they are still falling prey to scams and attacks that they could have avoided. From social engineering to investment scams, the threats are gaining ground. Considering that around 34% have lost money because they fell victim to a scam, and 26% have experienced a social engineering attack over the phone, it is clear that cybercriminals remain determined to use any means necessary to catch people unaware.

“For organisations, it has become critical that they train employees around security best practices and the various methodologies used by the cybercriminal,” concludes Collard. “People need more help in learning about how to stay safe online at home, the office and on the road. Perhaps the worst mistake is that they believe they are security smart and can identify the risks, when they actually cannot. This is putting both them and their company at risk.”

Building a security culture, or in other words, strengthening the human defence layer and making them aware of how to detect and prevent social engineering attacks is a crucial element in organisational cybersecurity posture, especially as many people continue to work from home.