But then, some of the world’s biggest technology companies followed the same pattern in their early years. They spent heavily first, built infrastructure, gained users, and then monetised at scale later.

That is why the move by Flutterwave is way more important than we speak about.

After processing over $40 billion in payments over the last decade, the company secured a Nigerian microfinance banking licence last month, following its acquisition of Mono, the open banking startup often described as Africa’s version of Plaid. 

This is bigger than another fintech expansion story. What Flutterwave has done is move from simply moving money to controlling more of the infrastructure behind the movement of money.

For years, Flutterwave operated between businesses and banks. Companies used their rails to collect payments, settle transactions and move funds across borders, but the actual deposits and core banking functions still depended on licensed banks. The company processed huge volumes, but part of the economics were elsewhere.

That structure is common in fintech. A startup may appear large from the outside because transaction volume is high, but volume does not automatically mean strong margins. 

Many financial technology firms spend years paying partners, covering compliance expenses, subsidising growth, expanding into new countries and building trust before the business model fully matures.

In simple terms, some businesses spend their early years building the road before they can charge properly for traffic.

Flutterwave’s banking licence changes that equation. The licence allows the company to hold deposits directly, offer accounts, expand lending and control settlement flows inside its own ecosystem rather than depending entirely on partner institutions. 

That may sound technical, but it changes the economics of the business in a big way.

Margins improve when a company owns more layers of its infrastructure. Costs that once went to third parties begin to stay within the system. Products become easier to bundle, data becomes more useful, lending becomes possible and customer retention becomes stronger.

This is why the Mono acquisition is also very important. Mono’s infrastructure gives Flutterwave stronger access to account connectivity, financial data, identity verification and repayment intelligence. 

That means the company is no longer thinking only about payment processing. Its focus is a future where payments, banking, verification, lending and financial data operate together.

And that transition explains a fact that many people ignore when discussing startups. Not every serious business is designed to become profitable immediately.

Some companies optimise for early profit, while others optimise for scale, distribution and infrastructure first.

If a company focuses too early on squeezing profit from every transaction, growth can slow down. Expansion becomes harder, product depth suffers and competitors with stronger infrastructure eventually overtake them.

This is especially true in Africa, where building financial infrastructure is far more expensive and fragmented than many outsiders realise.

A fintech operating across multiple African countries must navigate different currencies, regulators, banking systems, compliance standards and settlement structures. 

In many cases, the rails barely speak to one another efficiently. Building around those gaps costs money and takes time.

That is why many African startups spend years appearing “busy but unprofitable”. The asset being built is usually invisible at first.

Trust, distribution, licensing, compliance, partnerships, technical infrastructure, and customer behaviour take years to develop properly.

What investors and founders usually hope is that once those layers become strong enough, monetisation becomes easier and more durable.

Flutterwave now appears to be entering that phase, already managing payments for global brands including Uber and Netflix across Africa. But the bigger shift is gradually moving from being a payments processor to becoming a financial infrastructure company.

That changes who its competitors are and also changes how the company earns money.

A processor earns from transaction activity, while a financial ecosystem earns from multiple layers at once, including deposits, cards, settlements, lending, verification, subscriptions and embedded services. That is a very different business.

Of course, delayed profitability is not automatically a good sign. Some companies simply burn cash without building durable value. Scale alone is meaningless if the economics never improve.

But there is usually a visible pattern when infrastructure businesses begin to mature. They stop renting critical systems and start owning them.

That is what we see behind Flutterwave’s banking licence. For nearly ten years, the company helped businesses move money across Africa while relying heavily on external banking infrastructure. Now, it is beginning to own more of that infrastructure itself.

And in business, that is the point where the monetisation begins.

The post What Business Owners Should Learn From Flutterwave 10-Year Wait for Real Monetisation appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The companies, which are Bani, MasteryHive AI, Regxta and Termii, were picked from nearly 2,600 applications, joining 11 other African startups to form a final cohort of 15 startups drawn from across Africa.

Their selection gives Nigeria the largest share of startups in the new cohort and underlines the country’s strong presence in Africa’s dynamic technology sector.

Each of the four companies is building products to solve financial and business challenges.

1. Bani provides cross-border payments infrastructure for African businesses trading internationally. The company aims to reduce delays in settlements between markets.

2. MasteryHive AI focuses on automating transaction reconciliation, fraud checks and anti-money laundering monitoring for financial institutions.

3. Regxta uses alternative data to score credit applicants and combines this with a digital agent network to offer services to small businesses that often struggle to access finance.

4. Termii builds communications systems used by banks and fintech firms for alerts, login codes and payment notifications.

Other startups in Google Accelerator Africa cohort 10, spanning fintech, agritech, health tech, mobility and software services, with artificial intelligence being the core of most of their products, include Anda Africa, Coamana, Duck, Emaisha Pay, Loop, Maad, Meditect, ReportsAI, Safiri, Vambo AI and VunaPay.

Gbolade Emmanuel, CEO of Termii said: “At Termii, we’re building AI-powered infrastructure that ensures financial transactions don’t fail, from login PINs to payment OTPs and fraud alerts.

“The Google Startup Accelerator is helping us accelerate our AI roadmap and scale globally, and even in the first week, access to technical support and insights has been incredibly valuable for our next phase of growth.”

The programme began on April 13 and will run until June 19, 2026. It combines virtual and physical sessions, with founders receiving mentoring, technical training and support from industry experts.

Folarin Aiyegbusi, head of Startup Ecosystem, Africa, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to welcome these exceptional founders into Class 10. African startups are driving essential economic growth and social development.

“Our role is to serve as a supportive partner, providing these developers and founders with the technical infrastructure, mentorship, and global network they need to scale their solutions and amplify their real-world impact.”

Google said the accelerator, launched in 2018, has now supported 106 startups from 17 African countries. Those companies have raised more than $263 million and created over 2,800 jobs.

The African startup sector also showed resilience last year, attracting $3.9 billion in funding as founders continued to build businesses in finance, agriculture, healthcare, transport and software services.

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This completes a leadership shake-up at the Kenyan fintech as it strives to grow across Africa.

Makarem joins from Agoda, where he served as global CFO and oversaw a payments network handling more than $12 billion in transactions each year.

He has worked on multi-currency systems and high-volume payment operations, areas that are important to Cellulant’s business.

His appointment comes weeks after Michael Muriuki was named chief product and technology officer. Together, both hires fill key roles at a time when the company is rebuilding its leadership team after several exits.

Cellulant processes over 4.5 million transactions daily and operates in more than 20 African markets. It turned a profit in 2024 and is now looking to expand further as digital payments continue to grow across the continent.

Speaking on the appointment, Peter O’Toole, Cellulant chief executive said, “Darren Makarem doesn’t just understand the numbers; he understands the customer. He will leverage these insights to build a finance centre of excellence, ensuring our financial operations are as innovative, agile, and customer-centric as our products.”

Before Agoda, Makarem worked at Binance as regional CFO for Asia-Pacific and Latin America. He later led OnRamp as chief executive. Those roles gave him exposure to digital assets and evolving payment systems.

Now at Cellulant, he is expected to focus on financial discipline and support the company’s expansion into cross-border payments.

He said, “What excites me about Cellulant is the quality of what has already been built. My priority is to ensure the business has the financial discipline, insight, and operational support to move fast, stay bold, and keep delivering.”

Cellulant is aiming to take a larger share of Africa’s digital payments market, which is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030.

The company is also competing with other fintech firms and banks that are building their own payment systems for large business clients.

The post Cellulant Appoints Darren Makarem as CFO to Drive Pan-African Payments Growth appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Disclosed by Africa: The Big Deal, the amount raised was well below the $276 million recorded in January 2025 and also under the average monthly total of $263 million seen over the past 12 months. 

Still, it was higher than January figures from earlier years, including 2023 and 2024, when funding volumes were far lower.

What stood out in January was not just the money, but the number of deals. 

Only 26 startups across the continent announced funding of $100,000 or more. That figure is unusually low and the weakest monthly count since at least 2020. 

A small group of companies accounted for much of the funding announced during the month. In Egypt, fintech firm valU secured $64 million in debt from the National Bank. 

Nigeria-based mobility financing company MAX raised $24 million through a mix of equity and asset-backed debt.

Several other firms closed double-digit rounds. NowPay, another Egyptian fintech, raised $20 million in equity. Moroccan proptech start-up Yakeey announced a $15 million Series A round. 

Terra Industries raised $12 million, while Côte d’Ivoire fintech company Cauridor announced a round of more than $10 million.

There were also transactions that did not count towards the funding total. Flutterwave acquired Nigerian startup Mono in an all-stock deal valued at about $30 million. 

Tech talent company Savannah was acquired by Commit, and Izili Group took over off-grid solar firm Qotto.

January is usually a slow month for startup funding, both African and international, especially after a busy December, and similar dips were recorded at the start of 2023, 2024 and 2025, not just 2026. 

Even so, the thin deal flow this time has shown how tough investors have become.

Fintech continued to attract the largest share of capital, but deals in property technology, mobility and defence showed that interest was spread across sectors. 

Egypt and Nigeria led activity, while Morocco and Côte d’Ivoire featured through fewer but sizeable transactions.

The post African Startup Funding Slips to $174m in January 2026 as Deal Count Hits Multi-Year Low appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The two-day conference, themed “The Big Bold Step,” brought together telecoms operators, global technology firms, startups, investors, students and public-sector leaders at Landmark Event Centre to discuss what it will take for Africa to stop lagging and start building platforms of its own.

From keynote sessions to fireside chats and product showcases, the conference stressed that the limitations initially preventing African companies from competing at scale are fading away, but hesitation remains highly expensive.

Glory Olamigoke, co-founder and co-convener of Tech Revolution Africa, said the conference was designed to close a persistent gap in the ecosystem.

“We are trying to solve a number of problems and close a number of gaps, but perhaps the most critical one is bridging the gap between the early stage innovators, builders, founders in the ecosystem and the leaders in the space,” he said.

Unlike typical industry gatherings, Olamigoke said the event was intentionally structured to bring founders and decision-makers into the same room, while also extending its reach beyond established stakeholders.

“We are going all the way down to the secondary schools, the primary schools, because we believe that if we can start to culture these young ones, then we will be able to influence the next generation,” he said, pointing to the student tech debates introduced at this year’s edition.

That emphasis on long-term capacity building was reiterated through the day’s conversations, including a fireside chat with the Federal Government, represented by Lagos State Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Olatunbosun Alake.

Drawing from Nigeria’s reputation challenges abroad, Alake said that while technology is important, Africa’s potential cannot be realised without addressing surrounding challenges, including Nigeria’s image abroad.

“It’s not a technology conversation,” he said. “It’s a conversation that is at the very bottom of the motivation behind everything.”

He urged young professionals to engage the public sector rather than avoid it, describing the work as difficult but impactful. “By all means, do that, because you will have an impact, but make sure that your principles and your values remain strong,” he said.

MTN Nigeria’s keynote on the digital economy forecast for 2026, delivered by its Chief Information Officer, Shoyinka Shodunke, went beyond a focus on growth projections. 

Shodunke traced Africa’s marginal role across previous industrial revolutions and warned that the fourth leaves little room for delay.

“The inputs today are data, and where’s the factory? The factory sits in the cloud,” he said, adding that talent is no longer bound by geography and computing power no longer requires heavy capital outlay.

He pointed to cloud subscriptions available “at $50” compared to six-figure infrastructure costs in the past, arguing that scale is now accessible to startups and enterprises alike. But he warned that comfort with legacy revenue streams could still hold organisations back.

“You cannot live with a legacy mindset, a fear of disruption, or the comfort of mediocrity,” Shodunke said.

Using MTN as a case study, he explained how the telecoms giant has had to intentionally disrupt itself, moving beyond voice and data into cloud services, fintech and intelligent platforms layered on top of its network infrastructure.

The focus on infrastructure continued during MTN’s product showcase, where Onome Ologe and Tobechukwu Ajoku outlined the company’s local cloud services, emphasising data residency, naira-based pricing and predictable operating costs for Nigerian businesses.

“If you’re a CFO or a founder and you need to know cost accountability, you can go to sleep,” Ajoku said, noting that pricing remains stable regardless of foreign exchange volatility.

From infrastructure, the conversation at Tech Revolution Africa 2.0 moved into data and artificial intelligence during a presentation by Ligadata’s Mike Penner, who revealed the scale of its partnership with MTN Nigeria’s data operations.

“We now are running at 1.2 trillion pet records, 1.4 million records per second,” Penner said, describing a system designed to turn fragmented enterprise data into real-time, actionable intelligence.

“What we’ve done over the past few years at MTN together is something extraordinary,” he said, adding that the goal was not experimentation but measurable value creation.

Penner noted that African enterprises must treat data and knowledge as sovereign assets, warning against outsourcing intelligence without understanding what drives it.

That theme of sovereignty and control resurfaced during a panel on open innovation and hybrid platforms featuring executives from Red Hat and Redington. 

Speakers explained that open-source software and hybrid cloud models offer African companies flexibility without locking them into single platforms or geographies.

“Open source is driving innovation.” It is a condition of innovation, particularly for startups seeking speed without prohibitive expenses.

During a fireside chat on Global Tech & the African Market, Soji Maurice-Diya, CEO of ntel (NatCom), emphasized the need for Africa to focus on solving its own problems rather than simply chasing global trends.

He said, “Nobody’s going to solve our problems for us. Yes, we need global access, we need all the technology that’s available, taper all of the solutions and build our own solutions.”

Maurice-Diya added that African companies should prioritise innovation that addresses local challenges, ensuring technology creates measurable impact rather than just replicating global models.

Equinix’s Ayomide Jones, EMEA Business Development, West Africa, also spoke on the role of interconnection in Africa’s digital growth. She highlighted how networks, content and cloud providers work together to enhance modern businesses. 

“Everything we use nowadays to solve our problems is content. This is only possible because of interconnection,” Jones said. 

She explained that Equinix’s data centres in Lagos and across Africa enable startups and enterprises to connect to cloud services, financial systems, and global platforms without heavy upfront investment, creating the infrastructure that allows African businesses to scale quickly.

For all the talk of opportunity, speakers repeatedly returned to execution as the differentiator. “We always talk, so now, let’s go back and execute,” Olamigoke said.

Day Two of Tech Revolution Africa Conference 2.0 continues on Saturday, with further sessions on policy, investment, emerging technologies and the role of African enterprises in strengthening the continent’s digital economy.

The post Tech Revolution Africa 2.0: MTN, Experts Urge Continent to Harness Cloud, Data and Talent to Compete Globally appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Shoyinka Shodunke, chief information officer of MTN Nigeria, said this as he delivered the keynote on the digital economy forecast for 2026 at Tech Revolution Africa Conference 2.0 in Lagos, headlined by MTN. 

Speaking under the theme “The Big Bold Step,” Shodunke stressed that the fourth industrial revolution is the first moment in history where Africa can compete on equal terms, but only if it moves fast.

“The inputs today are data, and where’s the factory? The factory sits in the cloud,” he said.

During the first industrial revolution, the continent was absent. In the second, it supplied raw materials. In the third, it became a consumer of finished technology. Each delay came at a cost.

“We got punished for the first. Got punished for the second time. We got punished for the third,” he said. “But in the fourth, if we fail to act, we get punished again.”

What makes this era different, he explained, is that scale no longer depends on capital. With cloud services, access to talent from anywhere and locally generated data, the limitations are lower. Startups no longer need massive data centres or years of runway before launching products.

“You can subscribe to cloud services today at $50,” he said. “You don’t have to invest over $100,000 on compute power for you to be able to power your industry.”

Shodunke explained that the actual threat is not lack of technology but fear, fear of disrupting existing business models, revenue streams and comfortable ways of working. He warned that organisations clinging to legacy systems risk repeating Africa’s old mistakes.

“You cannot live with a legacy mindset, a fear of disruption, or with the comfort of mediocrity,” Shodunke further stated at the Tech Revolution Africa Conference 2.0. “Whatever is being built has to be built with a scale in mind, not mediocre.”

Using MTN as a case study, he described how the telecoms giant has had to intentionally disrupt itself, moving beyond voice and data into cloud services, fintech and intelligent platforms layered on top of its network infrastructure.

“History punished everyone who hesitated,” he warned. “So don’t really wait for the perfect time to come in, only take that big bold step.”

In closing, he stressed that the race has already started. Africa is not arriving late anymore, but hesitation could still leave it watching others disrupt.

“Revolution,” Shodunke said, “it punishes hesitations.”

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Between January and August, over $2 billion flowed into more than 500 deals across the continent, with the median deal size climbing to $1 million. 

The short read for African startups in 2025: capital is concentrating. A small number of large rounds, and a wave of debt instruments, are lifting totals even as deal counts remain well below the 2021 peak. If you follow winners and losers, this report gives you both the scoreboard and the pattern behind it. 

What moved the needle

A handful of headline transactions drove much of the volume. Healthtech saw a major consolidation when US-based Eargo and South Africa’s hearX merged to form LXE Hearing, then secured $100 million from Patient Square Capital. 

Fintech company Zepz raised $165 million in debt from HSBC, bringing its total capital to more than $1 billion, and South Africa’s Nedbank completed a $93 million acquisition of payments firm iKhokha. These single events changed the shape of the year. 

Cleantech also punched above its weight: persistent, large debt deals, including packages from Sun King and d.light, pushed Cleantech funding toward $950+ million for the year and raised its median check to about $5 million, higher than many other sectors. 

Fewer deals, bigger checks

The report shows deal counts are down, but checks are larger. Since the 2022 bubble, investors have leaned toward later-stage, capital-heavy businesses. Sub-$250k rounds and the $250k–$1m tier have collapsed: the latter fell from 90 deals in 2022 to just 21 in 2025. The result is a 2025 picture that looks healthier by value, but narrower by opportunity. 

Seven of the top ten companies used debt to accelerate growth, a striking indicator that lenders and development finance players are comfortable backing asset-heavy, revenue-generating models across the continent. 

Sectors and products

Fintech remains the largest sector by value, $1+ billion, and leads in deal count (115+ deals). But Cleantech’s growth is the story of the year: nearly $950+ million, largely driven by debt. Health, mobility and property tech lag in total capital but remain steady in activity. 

Top product lines tell the same tale:

• Solar energy: $830+ million (the single largest product grouping).
• Payments & transfers: $455+ million.
• Diagnostics, gas & cooking equipment, and POS solutions all appear in the top five. 

That distribution explains the debt tilt: asset-heavy, capital-intensive products (solar kits, gas equipment, etc.) are natural fits for structured lending and project finance.

Regions: East and Southern Africa surge

Geography shifted in 2025. Briter records East Africa ($865m+) and Southern Africa ($845m+) as the top-funded regions by value, while West Africa ($420m+) and North Africa ($450m+) sit behind. 

The long-time lead from West Africa, largely Nigeria-driven, has softened as billion-dollar rounds and large debt deals flow to companies headquartered in East and Southern African hubs. 

The gender gap remains glaring

I find this worrying: the recovery has not been inclusive. The report shows male-led teams capturing the vast majority of capital. Measured over the past five years, male-led teams took close to 90% of funding by value; in 2025 so far, roughly three quarters of funding has gone to primarily male-led companies. Female-led and mixed teams still receive only a sliver. 

M&A and churn

Activity on the exit front has been busy. Briter records 35+ acquisitions in 2025 to date, including high-profile buys like Meta’s purchase of Egypt’s PlayAI and Lesaka’s $60m+ acquisition of South Africa’s Bank Zero. The report also notes six company shutdowns this year, reminding us that while capital inflows are rising, risk and churn remain. 

What this means?

• Recovery yes, broad-based no. 2025 is a rebound in dollar terms, but not a broad reopening of early-stage funding. 
• Debt is mainstream. With debt crossing $1 billion for the first time, expect more structured financing for asset-centric companies. 
• Concentration risk. A small number of very large deals can create the illusion of a healthy market while nascent startups struggle. 
• Inclusion remains unfinished business. The gender imbalance and the collapse of the $250k–$1m tranche mean founders outside established networks face a tougher climb. 

Briter’s Venture Pulse gives us a simple, necessary truth among African startups in 2025: capital is back in Africa, but it’s pickier than before. If you’re building a capital-intensive product with clear revenue, 2025 is a good moment. If you’re an early-stage founder hunting sub-$1m cheques, the space is tighter and you’ll need a different playbook.

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The fund, named Accion Venture Lab Fund II, LP, is managed under Accion Impact Management’s venture strategy, now rebranded as Accion Ventures. 

It is the continuation of a decade-long initiative to back startups providing affordable and inclusive financial tools. Since 2012, the strategy has invested $59.4 million in 76 companies across 39 countries, with 13 successful exits.

The new fund brings in commitments from a mix of old and new investors, including development finance institutions, family offices, asset managers, foundations, and financial service firms. Among them are FMO, Proparco, ImpactAssets, Ford Foundation, MetLife Asset Management, and Mastercard Worldwide.

Some of the first investments under this fresh round have already been made. PaidHR in Nigeria, Foyer in the United States, FinFra in Indonesia, and Flowcart in Kenya are among the startups receiving early backing.

Accion Ventures is focusing on fintech solutions that can make a difference for the 1.6 billion people globally who remain unbanked or underbanked, and the $5.7 trillion annual credit gap faced by small businesses. 

The fund is designed not only to provide capital but also to give startups operational support, governance guidance, and connections to networks that are often closed off to early-stage firms.

Michael Schlein, president and CEO of Accion, explained the rationale behind the move:

“With the huge uptick in mobile technologies in emerging economies, we see a significant opportunity to connect many small businesses and low-income consumers to the digital economy for the first time. Leveraging third-party capital to deliver social and financial objectives is a critical part of Accion’s strategy. 

“This fund seeks to support the growth of early-stage, disruptive companies providing high-quality, affordable financial services that can help reduce poverty and create opportunity for millions of people globally.”

Rahil Rangwala, managing partner, Accion Ventures, emphasised the role of innovation in the fund’s direction:

“We are excited to support the growth of incredible innovators across the globe in early-stage fintech who are using new technology ranging from Gen AI to satellite imagery and embedded finance, leveraging the power of mobile phones and the internet to deliver sustainable financial returns, alongside real world impact for underserved people globally. 

“We have a strong pipeline and team in place and will continue to leverage our networks to deliver quality, affordable financial services for small businesses and consumers globally.”

Managing Partner, Amee Parbhoo, noted how Accion Ventures plans to use the fund:

“With this new funding, we will build on our success to date, finding and scaling some of the world’s most innovative fintech companies that provide a full suite of financial products and services to small businesses globally. 

“Our global portfolio and local approach mean we can spot and respond to trends faster, driving local innovations on a global scale, and share learnings across geographies. We aim to be one of the first institutional checks a company receives and will continue to engage early, while maintaining sufficient reserves to back our winners as they scale.”

Accion Ventures operates across Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the United States. Its strategy is to identify startups with a deep understanding of their local markets, then provide the financial backing and strategic input needed to grow beyond their immediate environment.

Accion fintech fund supports the growing momentum of inclusive fintech as both a social need and a market opportunity. The venture aims to back innovators capable of bolstering financial access on a global scale.

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The Johannesburg-based telecoms giant now expects its service revenue to grow by at least “high teens” in the medium term, an upgrade from its previous “mid-teens” guidance. 

For the first half of 2025, service revenue climbed 22% to R105.1 billion ($5.97 billion), with Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda driving the surge for MTN Group. Total revenue increased 20% to R109.26 billion. 

The company swung back to profitability, recording R9.7 billion after reporting a R7.39 billion loss a year earlier when currency fluctuations weighed heavily on performance.

MTN’s strong rebound shows what management describes as a disciplined push into high-growth areas. Its fintech operations remain one of the brightest spots, with Nigeria delivering a 71.8% jump in revenue to N83 billion, powered by airtime lending and customer deposits. 

Connectivity also saw heavy investment, including 3,700 new sites rolled out in the first half of the year, 327 of which were 5G-enabled. The company is also scaling its digital infrastructure portfolio, anchored by the launch of the Dabengwa Tier III Data Centre, part of a $240 million infrastructure programme spanning fibre and satellite services.

With growth accelerating, the company has reorganised its leadership to match its evolving strategy. Ferdi Moolman, who previously led MTN Nigeria and is currently Group Chief Risk Officer, will take over as CEO of MTN South Africa. 

Charles Molapisi returns to the role of Group Chief Technology and Information Officer, with a mandate to drive artificial intelligence adoption across operations. Mazen Mroué will now focus entirely on digital infrastructure, overseeing MTN’s fibre and data centre expansion. 

Meanwhile, Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, has been handed additional responsibility for Francophone Africa, including Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, and Benin.

The company said the changes align with its Ambition 2025 plan, which aims to transform MTN into Africa’s leading digital platform. By simplifying operations and strengthening leadership across its core platforms, MTN is positioning itself to capture opportunities in financial inclusion, broadband expansion, and technology-driven services.

“The executive changes are about positioning our leadership team to accelerate our strategic priorities,” MTN said in its update.

The tech giant is no longer simply chasing growth in traditional telecoms; its focus is now on a future where data, financial services, and infrastructure will bolster competition, not just against African competitors, but against global tech giants eyeing the continent.

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VitalSwap provides a Stripe-like alternative for freelancers, remote workers, digital entrepreneurs, and small businesses across Africa who have historically been excluded from accessing international payment platforms. 

The platform allows users to open foreign business accounts denominated in United States dollars, British pounds, and euros under their registered company names. Through these accounts, they can receive payments, convert currencies, and withdraw earnings locally.

Mr Jegede said the platform emerged out of necessity after years of frustration with global payment systems that routinely exclude African users. 

“VitalSwap gives African freelancers and startups a way to receive money globally, convert it easily, and manage their businesses without relying on platforms that don’t support their countries,” he explained.

Global platforms like Stripe and PayPal remain unavailable or partially restricted in many African nations, hindering the continent’s vast digital talent pool from participating in international trade. 

For African professionals offering services in areas such as software development, design, marketing, or consulting, receiving payments from foreign clients remains a logistical challenge, one that often forces them to rely on informal and high-risk payment channels.

VitalSwap seeks to eliminate these roadblocks by offering a platform built with African realities in mind.

The service integrates an artificial intelligence-powered compliance engine that automates KYC (Know Your Customer), KYB (Know Your Business), and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) processes. 

This ensures users can be verified quickly and securely, meeting international regulatory standards without compromising user experience.

“Our onboarding process ensures that African businesses are fully compliant with global financial standards while maintaining simplicity and accessibility,” Mr Jegede added.

Currently in its early rollout phase, VitalSwap has onboarded a pilot group of users and opened a public waitlist for wider access. 

According to Mr Jegede, the reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with early adopters praising the platform’s ease of use, transparent currency conversion, and speed of withdrawals.

The company said its vision goes beyond payments. It is building a holistic financial infrastructure that supports the ambitions of Africa’s remote workers and digital businesses, who often operate at a disadvantage due to limited access to trusted financial tools.

As the continent’s digital economy continues to grow bolstered by remote work opportunities, digital exports, and an expanding tech ecosystem experts say the need for accessible global financial infrastructure will become even more pressing.

“Too many African businesses and freelancers have been shut out of global opportunities not because of a lack of talent or ambition, but because of payment restrictions. VitalSwap bridges that gap,” the company stated.

Mr Jegede concluded that VitalSwap’s ultimate goal is to democratise financial access and empower a generation of African professionals who deserve to compete and thrive on a global scale.

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