Designed to expand practical technology training for students and young innovators, the facility was unveiled on Monday, June 8, by the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, during a ceremony held at the university.

The hub was launched under the National Information Technology Development Agency in partnership with the Renewed Hope Initiative.

It comes equipped with laboratories focused on artificial intelligence, robotics, additive manufacturing and the Internet of Things. These are areas the government says are highly important to modern industry, both in Nigeria and globally.

Inside the campus, the space is meant to move students beyond theory and into hands-on work. It provides tools that many public universities in the country have found difficult to provide consistently.

Dr Tijani said the NITDA innovation hub should be seen as an investment in young people, both in and outside OAU, rather than just a collection of machines and lab equipment.

He also encouraged students to make use of the facility and take an active role in building solutions that can work in real settings, not just in classrooms.

With this development, the government is linking education more directly with needs across the industry. Officials present repeatedly returned to the idea of practical output, not just academic learning.

The robotics and IoT labs are expected to support hardware development, an area where many Nigerian startups still face limitations due to the cost of equipment and prototyping.

Additive manufacturing, often referred to as 3D printing, also features strongly in the hub’s design. It has growing use across sectors such as healthcare, construction and engineering.

The federal government has in recent years increased attention on digital infrastructure as a foundation for these kinds of projects. Earlier plans outlined by the Ministry include nationwide fibre deployment, expansion of communication satellites, and new rural telecom towers aimed at improving access to connectivity across the country by 2027.

Alongside the government’s initiative, private sector investment is also beginning to impact the direction of innovation hubs in Nigerian universities.

Fintech company Moniepoint has committed about N3 billion to establish innovation centres at Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Nigeria Nsukka, and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

The initiative, announced in May 2026, is designed to support training in areas such as artificial intelligence, software engineering, robotics, data science, product development and entrepreneurship.

The company says its engineers and product teams will be involved in mentorship, workshops and internship pathways. The aim is to make sure students are exposed early to how technology products are built and scaled in real business environments.

Government-led programmes and private funding are now being directed towards building a pipeline of tech talent across different regions of the country.

OAU in the South-West, UNN in the South-East and ABU in the North are among the institutions selected for these projects. The idea is to spread access beyond Lagos and Abuja, where most of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem has traditionally been concentrated.

There are still questions about how sustainable these initiatives will be. Funding is still a challenge, particularly when it comes to maintaining advanced equipment and keeping facilities up to date.

Hardware-based innovation also requires consistent technical support, which universities have sometimes found difficult to provide over time.

Connectivity is another factor that will determine how far these hubs can go. Many of the planned activities depend on reliable internet access and stable power supply, both of which are uneven in parts of the country.

Tosin Eniolorunda, founder and group chief executive officer of Moniepoint Inc, has said the next phase of growth in Nigeria’s payments ecosystem will come from building credit products directly on top of existing payment infrastructure, using transaction data to unlock financing for the millions of small businesses that have historically been shut out of formal credit markets.

Eniolorunda made the remarks during a panel session at the launch of the Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028 (PSV 2028), describing the event as a reminder of how far the country’s payments ecosystem has come and how much further it can go with deliberate building.

“I believe the next phase of growth will come from layering services like credit onto existing payment flows, using the visibility and trust already built through financial transactions,” Eniolorunda said.

The Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028 is a CBN-led framework setting out the priorities and direction for the country’s payments infrastructure over the coming years, with financial inclusion, resilience, and innovation among its core pillars.

The panel, moderated by Chief Executive of Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, also featured Managing Director/CEO of Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc, Mr. Premier Oiwoh; Managing Director/CEO of Remita Payment Services Limited (RPSL), Mr. Deremi Atanda; and Managing Director/CEO of Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities (SANEF) Limited, Mrs. Uche Uzoebo, among others.

Speaking on the power of payment infrastructure as a foundation for broader financial services, Eniolorunda argued that the data generated by payment systems, when used responsibly, holds the key to making credit faster and more accessible for underserved businesses.

“One of the most powerful things about payment infrastructure is the data it creates. When used responsibly, it can help unlock quicker and more accessible credit for businesses that have historically been underserved. For many small businesses, access has always been the real barrier,” he said.

Eniolorunda also noted that Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso used the PSV 2028 launch to stress the importance of collaboration and innovation in building a payments ecosystem capable of supporting inclusion and economic growth.

“Achieving the ambitions of PSV 2028 will require regulators, banks, fintechs, and ecosystem players working together with a shared long-term vision,” Eniolorunda emphasized, echoing Governor Cardoso’s warning against the country’s historic “start-stop” policy cycles.

In his address at the launch, CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso noted that the new framework builds on Nigeria’s progress in digital payments and seeks to accelerate the country’s transition towards a more inclusive, technology-driven ecosystem as it continues to lead Africa’s digital payments ecosystem.

“Over the past two decades, Nigeria’s payments ecosystem has evolved into one of the most dynamic and innovative in the world. From instant payments and digital adoption to fintech-led innovation, our progress has often set the pace on the continent. While this progress has not always been fully reflected in global narratives, its impact on economic activities, financial inclusion, and system resilience is evident across our economy,” he said.

The CBN governor stressed that financial inclusion must remain central to the country’s economic future, noting that millions of Nigerians are still outside the formal banking system.

“Inclusion and not exclusion must define our future. In 2023, a very large number of Nigerian adults will have access to financial services. Under Vision 2028, I would like to see this reaching 95 per cent inclusion. That means 50 million more market women, farmers, and young people will have a bank account or wallet in their name, with their name and BVN protecting them,” Mr Cardoso said.

Nigeria has grown into one of the most active fintech markets globally over the past decade, driven by mobile money adoption, agent banking expansion, and a wave of venture-backed startups building across the financial services stack.

The push to convert payment data into business capital aligns closely with the core pillars of the PSV 2028 roadmap, which emphasizes open banking, infrastructure resilience, and deep economic integration.

Moniepoint, which is Nigeria’s largest distributor of financial services has built its early dominance on payment infrastructure and agent banking for small businesses, and has since expanded into business banking and credit, with over 1 trillion naira disbursed in 2025 to Nigerian MSMEs.

In the early 2010s, Uber disrupted global transportation by commoditizing an entirely invisible transaction. Driven by a rigid Silicon Valley philosophy, the platform demanded that users maintain an active credit card on file.

This completely divorced the physical act of transport from the cognitive friction of payment. You push a button, a car arrives, and you get out. It was frictionless, seamless, and magical.

But when Uber exported this uncompromising card-only architecture to emerging markets like India and subsequently Africa, the magic broke.

Uber’s frictionless dream crashed into the heavy reality of low credit card penetration and a deep, systemic lack of institutional trust.

To survive, a trillion-dollar tech giant had to humble its global playbook, break its own design rules, and introduce the ultimate friction. They had to introduce physical cash.

They were not alone. Netflix is a platform engineered for 4K Smart TVs and infinite broadband. But when they looked at Africa, they realized they couldn’t just translate their app into local languages. To penetrate the market, they had to fundamentally re-architect their video encoding using AV1 codecs and launch mobile-only plans to combat severe data scarcity.

I constantly see startups making this exact mistake today. When you blindly export Silicon Valley’s obsession with frictionless UI to Lagos or Nairobi, you don’t get a seamless user journey. You build a “Digital Norman Door.” You end up with a product that looks beautiful in an air-conditioned boardroom but completely fails the user in the real world.

In the Global South, falling into this aesthetic-usability trap is fatal. To build products that actually scale here, product architects must stop building for the user they want and start engineering for the human they have.

To do that, we must kill the marketing persona.

The True Barriers of the African Market

Most startups begin their product development by drafting a marketing persona. It usually reads something like this:

“Meet Sarah. She is a 24-year-old professional in Lagos who loves artisanal coffee and wants a faster, more delightful way to send money.”

Sarah is a fantastic tool for an advertising agency. However, she is completely useless to a software product development team.

Knowing Sarah’s hobbies does not help a developer design a secure API, optimize a localized escrow system, or decide whether to build on USSD or React Native.

To build resilient financial infrastructure in Africa, we must utilize Constraint-Based Personas. Instead of defining a user by their desires, we need to define them exclusively by their limitations. We must map out what they cannot do, the hardware they are forced to use, and the trust deficits they navigate daily.

When you look at the hard macroeconomic data of Nigeria, the baseline constraints become very clear.

First, we have the hardware constraint. According to 2023 mobile operating system data from StatCounter, Android controls over 85 percent of the Nigerian mobile market. However, market intelligence reports from the International Data Corporation (IDC) indicate that the average mass-market device is severely limited. These phones typically run on just 2GB to 4GB of RAM and have 32GB to 64GB of internal storage. Users are in a constant state of digital triage, regularly deleting apps just to make space.

Second, we have to account for the data constraint. Internet is not a utility in this market; it is a strictly metered commodity. Based on pricing data tracked by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Alliance for Affordable Internet, the average cost of 1 Gigabyte of data in 2023 was roughly 287 Naira. Against the national minimum wage of 30,000 Naira at the time, 1 Gigabyte of data consumed nearly 1 percent of a user’s monthly income.

Finally, there is the institutional trust constraint. The 2023 EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria survey highlights that while formal financial inclusion hovers around 64 percent, a critical 10 percent of the adult population relies exclusively on informal, offline financial services. These individuals use traditional Ajo or Esusu collectors because they prefer physical human accountability over digital clouds.

When you map these verified constraints, the true architectural challenge reveals itself.

Paga and the Offline Reality

Long before the current era of digital banking, Paga recognized the absolute necessity of constraint-based design.

The friction in the market was obvious. The Nigerian economy was heavily cash-driven, making the act of carrying physical cash dangerous and inefficient. Yet, as EFInA data historically showed, the vast majority of the population was entirely unbanked and disconnected from the internet.

If Paga had designed for “Sarah,” they would have built a heavy, data-intensive mobile app. Instead, they built a constraint persona: a consumer who needs to transfer funds safely but does not possess a smartphone, has zero access to mobile data, and lacks formal digital identification.

This led to a very specific design question: How might we facilitate secure electronic money transfers for users without smartphones, internet, or even modern USSD banking rails?

To answer this, Paga built their foundational MVP architecture around an ingenious SMS-to-Voice flow and a physical agent network. A user could simply send a text message to initiate a transfer. Because SMS is unencrypted and insecure, Paga’s system would instantly trigger an automated voice call back to the user, prompting them to securely enter their PIN on their phone’s keypad to authorize the transaction.

There was no graphical user interface, no 10-megabyte download, and no internet requirement. For those who couldn’t even manage an SMS, Paga deployed human agents across neighborhoods to act as physical cash-in and cash-out nodes. Paga stripped away the aesthetic entirely to solve the core mathematical constraint of the environment. They didn’t build a beautiful app; they built a financial lifeline.

PiggyVest and the Cognitive Constraint

When we move beyond physical hardware limitations, we encounter the psychological barriers of the user. In the financial sector, one of the most difficult constraints to design for is human discipline.

In late 2015, a conversation went viral on Nigerian Twitter. A woman revealed she had saved 365,000 Naira over the course of a year simply by putting 1,000 Naira every single day into a physical wooden savings box, locally known as a ‘kolo’.

This viral moment exposed a massive friction point in the market. The founders of PiggyVest recognized that traditional bank accounts were fundamentally designed for immediate transactions, not sustained saving. Young earners faced severe “spending urgency,” meaning their salaries were spent almost as soon as they hit their accounts. People desperately wanted to adopt a disciplined saving culture, but they were relying on an insecure, physical method because the digital alternatives failed to understand their psychology.

Furthermore, this demographic was operating in a low-trust environment. The market was highly skeptical of digital financial tools, especially following the recent collapse of rampant Ponzi schemes like MMM in Nigeria.

If the founders had designed for a traditional marketing persona, they would have built a standard, flexible digital wallet with a beautiful interface. Instead, they built a constraint persona: a young earner battling daily micro-expenses, who wants to save small amounts but fundamentally lacks the discipline to not spend their own money, and who is highly suspicious of digital platforms.

The resulting “How Might We” question was brilliant. How might we digitize the strict discipline of a physical wooden box, protecting a user’s money from their own spending urges while proving the system is not a scam?

Within two weeks of that viral tweet, the team built the Minimum Viable Product for Piggybank.ng. The platform digitized the wooden box concept by automating daily, weekly, or monthly savings directly into a digital wallet.

But the true genius was in how they designed the constraint. To distinguish themselves from standard bank accounts and promote true saving, they implemented a deliberate friction point. Users could only access their funds for free once every quarter. They essentially digitized the physical friction of “breaking the box.”

To solve the institutional trust constraint, they did not rely on expensive marketing billboards. They relied on raw, organic community proof. When their early users successfully withdrew their locked savings on December 31, 2016, those users took to social media to share their positive experiences. That user-generated validation proved the system worked, instantly bridging the trust gap and fueling their exponential growth the following year.

Moniepoint and the Institutional Trust Constraint

Perhaps the most difficult barrier to cross in the Global South is the lack of institutional trust.

Before founding Moniepoint, Tosin Eniolorunda and his team at TeamApt were building backend software solutions for traditional commercial banks. During this time, they noticed a glaring disconnect. The traditional banking industry was entirely obsessed with building sleek online products for urban, digitally connected areas. Meanwhile, a massive, underserved population across the country was being completely neglected.

This offline demographic faced terrible friction. Transaction failure rates were high, interoperability was poor, and physical ATMs were largely inaccessible. More importantly, a significant portion of this population lacked basic digital literacy.

If you build a state-of-the-art mobile banking app for a market trader who does not understand how to navigate nested menus, you have built a Digital Norman Door. When an unbanked individual loses money in a digital transaction, they do not want to call a toll-free customer support hotline. They want to speak to a human being.

Recognizing this, the team pivoted their business model entirely. They stopped trying to force a digital-only experience and asked a new architectural question. How might we deliver reliable banking infrastructure to offline communities by leveraging pre-existing local relationships rather than demanding digital literacy?

Their solution was the agency banking model. Instead of expecting users to trust a faceless app, Moniepoint placed human agents directly within the communities.

These agents were onboarded by people the community already knew and trusted. The human agent became a physical branch. If a transaction failed or an issue arose, the customer had a familiar, physical point of contact to hold accountable.

Moniepoint also had to engineer around severe hardware constraints at the agent level. Point-of-Sale (POS) devices in the market were highly fragmented and ran on poorly written code. To solve this, the engineering team developed a unified virtual machine environment that allowed their software to be written once and run seamlessly across various hardware manufacturers.

They did not demand that the Nigerian masses adapt to complex software. They adapted their software to operate through trusted human proxies.

Chowdeck and the Vendor Infrastructure Constraint

The constraints of the Global South do not only apply to the end consumer. Often, the most severe friction lies with the merchants and the physical infrastructure required to serve them.

Before Chowdeck entered the market, the primary friction was that existing food delivery services were tailored to a niche, international-style market.

These platforms focused heavily on items like pizza and burgers, which the average Nigerian did not eat on a daily basis. The real, mass-market demand was for local staple foods like Amala and Pounded Yam, but the existing infrastructure simply was not designed to handle the logistical complexities of transporting these local dishes. Furthermore, accepting food delivery in Nigeria often meant accepting a waiting period of two to three hours.

The constraint persona for their merchant side was a local food vendor, or ‘buka’ owner, operating in a highly informal commercial environment. Many of these early vendors did not have the digital literacy or high-end hardware required to manage a complex restaurant-facing tablet application.

The architectural question became clear. How might we integrate local, offline food vendors into a rapid delivery network without forcing them to adopt complex new software?

Because the founders were former software engineers at Paystack, they had the technical capacity to build anything. In fact, they built the very first version of their customer-facing mobile app in just three weeks to capture demand. However, they made a brilliant constraint-based design choice for the backend.

Instead of over-engineering a complex merchant portal that local vendors would struggle to use, they intentionally kept the backend operations heavily manual at the start. When an order came through the customer app, the Chowdeck team coordinated with roadside vendors and riders using direct, everyday communication channels like SMS, WhatsApp, and regular phone calls.

This manual approach allowed them to physically deconstruct the logistics. They mapped the bottlenecks, rider reliability, and vendor preparation times in the real world before they ever tried to automate it with code.

They stripped away the assumption that vendors needed state-of-the-art hardware, choosing instead to meet the merchant exactly where their technological capacity ended. To secure the vendors’ trust, Chowdeck broke industry norms by paying merchants as quickly as possible, ensuring these small businesses had the daily liquidity they needed to survive.

The Blueprint for the Next Billion Users

As a product architect, I constantly see teams fall into the trap of trying to design their way out of foundational infrastructure problems using pretty interfaces. We obsess over pixel-perfect layouts, seamless animations, and the “happy path” of a user journey. But in emerging markets, consumer behavior does not passively adapt to the requirements of Western software. Rather, software must forcefully deconstruct and rebuild itself to survive the physical, financial, and regulatory constraints of the market.

The history of global business expansion is replete with case studies of rigid corporate playbooks collapsing under the weight of localized socio-economic realities. When you look at the trajectory of Paga, PiggyVest, Moniepoint, and Chowdeck, a unified blueprint emerges.

None of these companies succeeded by building frictionless, data-heavy applications for an imaginary, upper-middle-class marketing persona.

They succeeded by looking brutally at the hard metrics of their environment. They accepted that mass-market devices operate on 2GB to 4GB of RAM. They respected the fact that a single gigabyte of data consumes nearly 1 percent of a minimum wage earner’s monthly income. They understood that a massive segment of the population relies exclusively on offline, informal trust networks.

You cannot achieve true scale in the Global South by building a Digital Norman Door. A beautiful application that requires a 4G connection and a modern smartphone in a market dominated by cracked screens and expensive data is a failure of product design.

If you want to build solutions that actually change lives, you have to stop designing for the user you want. Kill the marketing persona, and start architecting for the constraints of the human you have.

About the Author

Faheed Alli-Balogun is a Senior Product Designer, Architect, and active contributor to Africa’s digital ecosystem. With a background spanning product leadership at Chimoney (Techstars ’23) to advising early-stage fintechs, Faheed specializes in open payments infrastructure and the mechanics of trust in digital platforms. As a guest lecturer at institutions like Covenant University and Alabama A&M University (AAMU), he champions “Designing for Agency”, a philosophy dedicated to building resilient, constraint-aware financial products that prioritize the human over the system. He also actively mentors early-stage builders through Dreamax. 

On April 24, 2026, at the Lagos Polo Club in Ikoyi, CardForté Limited marked its 5th anniversary by gathering the titans of the Nigerian payments industry to address this reality.

The event underscored a critical shift in the ecosystem: local card manufacturing is no longer just a patriotic alternative. It is the strategic backbone of Nigeria’s digital economy.

The exclusive Leadership Breakfast, hosted by Gbenga Aborowa, convened executives from tier-1 banks, leading fintechs, domestic and regional card schemes.

The gathering moved beyond celebratory remarks to tackle the hard questions facing the industry through three high-impact panel sessions, a football tournament among industry teams, and an evening anniversary dinner.

The morning opened with the “Local vs. Global: The Battle for the Nigerian Wallet” panel, moderated by Unyime Tommy, Managing Partner at Assurdly.

The discussion tackled the tension between domestic schemes and international giants. Grace Adeniyi, Divisional Head of Governance and Regional Operations at Verve International, and Ugo Obasi, E.D/Chief Commercial Officer of AfriGOPay, articulated the strategic necessity of local schemes in mitigating foreign exchange exposure for issuing banks.

They were joined by Celestina Appeal, Head of Card Business and Solutions at Zenith Bank, who provided the issuer’s perspective on balancing the national mandate for domestic cards with the consumer demand for global acceptance. A key consensus emerged: with over 95 percent of transactions occurring domestically, the economic argument for local card issuance is undeniable.

The conversation then pivoted to the last mile of financial access in the “Financial Inclusion and Agency Banking” session, moderated by Dr. Stanley Jacob, CEO of Zest Payments and Chairman of FinTechNGR. Femi Davies, Senior Vice President of Cards at Moniepoint and Bode Oyegoke, General Manager of Payments and Ecosystems at MTN Group, debated the unit economics of agency banking and the evolution of the agent network from basic cash-in/cash-out services to comprehensive financial touchpoints.

Temitope AkinFadeyi joined the discussion, and the panelists explored how agency banking has brought millions of Nigerians into the financial system, while acknowledging the challenges of fraud prevention, agent liquidity, and consumer protection that come with rapid scale.

The final panel, “Beyond the Card,” moderated by Jimmy Banjoko, Head of Acquiring and Channels Management at GTBank, explored the future form factors of payments. Nnamdi Azodo, Group Head of Card Business at Sterling Bank, Lanre Ogundare, Head of Card Business and Solutions at Providus Bank, and Wale Sogeyinbo, Head of Payment Processing and Acquiring at Wema Bank, dissected the slow adoption of tokenization and TapToPay in Nigeria.

The panelists acknowledged that while digital and contactless payments are the future, the physical card remains an absolute imperative for the present, primarily driven by issuer costs and infrastructure readiness.

The celebration extended well beyond the panel sessions. Teams from Sterling Bank, Providus Bank, Verve International, PalmPay, and Card Centre Nigeria Limited (CCNL) participated in a competitive football tournament. PalmPay took home the trophy, reinforcing the spirit of partnership and camaraderie that has defined CardForté’s relationships across the industry.

Beyond the high-level discourse, the event highlighted CardForté’s quiet but massive impact on the sector. Tunde Aka-Bashorun, Executive Director at CardForté, revealed that since its inception in April 2021, the company has manufactured over 27 million cards for more than 150 clients, serving as the critical launch partner for numerous fintechs and first-time issuers.

“Our graduate trainee programme has seen us absorb approximately 45 percent of our personnel from the NYSC level to full staff. CardForté maintains 100 percent local staff. Rather than hire foreign talent, we send our people to acquire knowledge, return, and transmit it internally,” Aka-Bashorun stated.

Seun Lawal, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CardForté, closed the event by framing the company’s mission within the broader context of national sovereignty.

“One of the biggest values we have created is local capability,” Lawal noted. “For a long time, there was a mindset that if something is high-value, technical, or security-sensitive, it must come from outside Nigeria. We have challenged that thinking by showing that local manufacturing, when done to the right standard, can deliver quality, reliability, and innovation. It means shorter turnaround times, less dependence on imports, and greater data sovereignty because critical parts of the card ecosystem are handled locally.”

The evening anniversary dinner brought together CardForté’s shareholders, including Deji Onyinlola, Olumide Soyombo (Co-Founder of Bluechip Technologies and Founder of Voltron Capital), and Gbenga Ajayi (Partner and Head of Africa and Middle East at QED Investors), alongside board members, staff and their families. Industry partners also joined the celebration, including representatives from Providus Bank, Moniepoint, Fidelity Bank, Taj Bank, Payaza, Watchdata, Kalabash, ECP (Aegis Cards), Stanbic IBTC, Zojatech, Winich Farms, and Greychapel Legal.

The breadth of attendance was a testament not only to CardForte’s relationships across banking, technology, agriculture, and professional services, but also to the strength of the family that has been built within the company over five years.

As Nigeria’s payment landscape continues to mature, CardForte’s five-year trajectory offers a powerful blueprint: sustainable scale requires indigenous infrastructure.

By replacing imported plastic with locally manufactured smart cards, CardForte is not just supplying the fintech boom. It is securing it.

Launched under the theme, There is Space for You, this year’s campaign is a direct invitation to women across Nigeria who have the talent, the drive, and the ambition but access has been a challenge.

The choice of the theme reflects intentionality as despite significant progress in recent years, women continue to account for just 25% of Nigeria’s tech workforce, even as they represent nearly half the population and 22% of annual STEM graduates.

Moniepoint’s Women in Tech programme has spent five years working to close the gap and facilitate access for women.

Building on the success of last year’s “Dream 15” cohort, the programme’s largest intake to date, the 2026 edition continues to scale, offering an expanded number of roles across some of the most sought-after disciplines in the industry which include Cloud Engineering, Frontend and Backend Engineering, Data Engineering, Systems Administration, Product Management, Information Security, Mobile Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering, These roles represent the technical foundations on which the future of digital finance in Africa is being built, and Moniepoint wants women at the centre of that work.

Successful applicants will receive a competitive salary, work tools, branded merchandise, and direct mentorship from experienced practitioners across the business.

As with previous cohorts, participants who demonstrate strong performance will be considered for full-time employment, a pathway that has already transformed the careers of women from the programme’s earliest editions.

The human evidence of that transformation is what anchors this year’s campaign. With over 8,000 applications received last year, and 15 interns selected, young women like Uzoamaka Anyaegbuna, Adaeze Ugwumba, Iyinoluwa Akenroye, Loveth Abang, and Bisola Abimbola joined the programme as interns and have since become what Moniepoint calls “DreamMakers”, full-time employees who are building technical systems, leading projects, and shaping the company’s product from the inside..

A common critique of internships is that they lack substance.

Bisola Abimbola’s experience at Moniepoint was the opposite; she was treated as a peer from day one:

“I can confidently say the internship was one of the best things that’s happened in my career. I was given real product ownership, working on multiple projects and driving them forward like an actual product manager, not just observing from the sidelines. Projects were thrown at me with an implicit question: ‘Can you handle this?’ I had to step up, own the outcomes, and actually deliver. That experience made me comfortable with the autonomy and accountability I now have. This hands-on experience made all the difference and solidified my resolve that this is exactly where I’m meant to be.”

Chinaza Nduka-Dike, head, People Operations at Moniepoint Inc., expressed the company’s continued commitment to the initiative.

“With the Women in Tech programme, we are not just inspiring inclusion, we are actively creating sustainable pathways for women to thrive in the tech industry. This is a space where diversity fuels innovation, and through programmes like this, we are empowering women to take on leadership roles, develop crucial skills, and shape the future of technology. The progress we have seen across five cohorts, where alumni have gone on to make significant contributions to the company and the wider tech ecosystem, fills us with pride. There is space for the next generation, and we are ready for them,” Nduka-Dike said.

The launch of the 2026 campaign arrives at the close of Women’s Month, and forms part of Moniepoint’s broader commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 on Gender Equality.

These initiatives reflect a consistent institutional conviction: that empowering women is not a check box or tokenistic gesture, but an ongoing responsibility that demands sustained investment across access, skills, and belonging.

Applications open March 30, 2026. The programme is open to women across Nigeria who are looking to begin or pivot their careers in technology, whether self-taught or formally trained.

How to apply is available at the Moniepoint Women in Tech website.

While Orda Africa has raised over $4.5 million in funding, its valuation remains undisclosed, though Techeconomy Intelligence estimates place it in the $10 million to $20 million range based on comparable seed-stage startups in Africa.

Under the terms of this acquisition, Orda will become part of the Moniebook platform, Moniepoint’s all-in-one Point-of-Sale (POS) and business management platform.

Since launching its business management tools product in 2025, Moniebook has rapidly become the go-to platform for thousands of African businesses seeking integrated financial and operational tools, seamlessly unifying payments and bookkeeping in one platform.

With Orda, restaurant owners can now gain access to this proven ecosystem that creates unprecedented opportunities to scale operations, optimize performance, and access credit, as well as the extensive reach of Moniepoint which has powered growth for millions of African businesses.

The acquisition comes as Africa’s food service industry experiences unprecedented growth, with the sector valued at $50 billion and Nigeria’s market alone projected to reach $19.31 billion by 2030, growing at 11.73% annually.

With Orda’s restaurant-focused capabilities now part of the Moniepoint ecosystem, the platform is well-positioned to capture this opportunity.

Founded in 2015 by Tosin Eniolorunda and Felix Ike, today Moniepoint has grown into one of Nigeria’s leading distributors of financial services as well as a trusted platform for many of the country’s MSMEs especially in the informal sector.

The company has considerably expanded its offerings to include digital payments, business and personal banking, credit, cross-border payments, and business management tools with a customer base exceeding 20 million active businesses and personal banking customers and processes over US$250 billion in digital payments transaction value annually.

Tosin Eniolorunda, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Moniepoint Inc., said:

“The food industry isn’t just about feeding people, it’s a major source of jobs and daily survival for many Africans. It highlights how vital the informal sector is, not just for the economy, but for everyday life across the continent. 

Data has shown us that Africa’s restaurant sector is one of the continent’s most dynamic economic engines, yet the majority of food businesses still operate with manual processes and fragmented tools. By bringing Orda into Moniepoint, we are giving restaurant owners what they deserve: one simple platform that handles everything from managing their kitchen to growing their business. Our goal remains to create financial happiness for Africans, giving them the tools to reach their full potential and that’s exactly what we’ve built here.”

Founded in 2020, Orda was built to give Africa’s small and independent restaurants the tools they need to run more efficiently, providing a purpose-built software to businesses that had long operated without it.

Guy Futi, CEO of Orda, reassured existing customers: 

“Orda has found the perfect home in Moniepoint. We have spent years building deep expertise in restaurant operations, but we have always known that to truly transform the industry, we needed to connect that expertise with comprehensive financial infrastructure. That’s exactly what this integration delivers. For our customers, we are assuring a smooth transition with no disruption to the platform and retained access to the support you are used to. What changes is your access to opportunities. Over the coming weeks, being part of Moniepoint means you’ll have more tools, more reach, and more ways to grow your business than ever before”

Combining their respective strengths, Moniepoint and Orda deliver a purpose-built solution that empowers food businesses at every scale to manage orders, track inventory, pay suppliers, and access working capital, all in one seamless experience.

This move represents a demonstrated commitment to building a dedicated financial infrastructure designed around the unique complexity of Africa’s food economy.

For the millions of food entrepreneurs across the continent, from the everyday buka owner to the high-end restaurateur, this acquisition means less time managing multiple tools or carrying out arduous manual work and more time doing what they do best – feeding Africa.

• Nigerian companies including LemFi, Kuda, Moniepoint and Fidelity Bank expand UK operations.
• Major boost to Northwest economy as Zenith Bank opens new Manchester branch.
• Twinings Ovaltine opens £24 million Lagos manufacturing facility, as President Tinubu heads to the UK for historic State Visit this week.

Hundreds of new jobs are set to be created as Nigerian banks, fintech innovators and creative industry businesses scale up their operations in Britain.

The move will see millions invested, reinforcing the UK’s position as a leading global business hub, backed by world‑class talent, strong access to capital, and a stable regulatory environment – while showcasing Nigeria’s expanding role as a key source of innovation and investment into the UK, growing both economies.

UK’s Twinings Ovaltine has launched a £24 million manufacturing facility in Lagos, its first in Africa, creating over 100 direct jobs and boosting the company’s exports across West Africa.

It comes as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accompanied by the First Lady, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, are set to commence an historic State Visit on Wednesday, 18th March, strengthening the UK’s position as a global hub for African business.

Thanks to the UK’s Trade and Industrial Strategies, combined with commitments made through the UK-Nigeria Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership (ETIP), the government is attracting investment into key growth sectors including financial services, technology, education and advanced manufacturing.

The Deputy Prime Minister held an ETIP reception yesterday at Kensington Palace, bringing together 180 senior representatives from government and industry to celebrate the breadth, depth, and continued growth of our trade relationship across priority sectors including financial services, education, creative industries, infrastructure and technology.

The UK’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria, Florence Eshalomi, also addressed the group.

Peter Kyle, business and trade secretary said:

“The UK and Nigeria share a belief in the power of enterprise, innovation and education to transform lives, and today’s commitments show exactly that. With Nigerian firms creating jobs across the UK and British businesses expanding into one of the world’s fastest growing markets, our partnership is strengthening both economies and delivering real benefits for people in both countries.”

David Lammy, deputy Prime Minister said:

“The UK and Nigeria’s Strategic Partnership is bringing momentum and opportunity to innovators in both our countries. We are reducing barriers, creating jobs and opening new pathways for growth. Growth is the core mission of this government, and it underpins our relationship with Nigeria. I am deeply proud that the cultural and commercial bonds between our nations are thriving and that both our businesses and people are feeling the benefits of that.”

Zenith Bank, one of Nigeria’s largest financial institutions, opens its Manchester branch today, Tuesday 17 March, with the capacity to create up to 30 new direct jobs in a boost for the Northwest economy.

The bank is also exploring a 2027 London Stock Exchange listing to deepen its UK market presence and unlock long-term funding for UK-Africa growth.

Fidelity Bank’s acquisition and rebrand of Union Bank UK into FidBank UK with plans to double its 62‑person workforce in 2026 and add new capital, while the Fidelity Group makes London its global hub. FCMB has also selected the UK as the first international destination for its digital cross border payments platform, boosting trade and investment flows between Africa and the rest of the world. Seven Nigerian banks now operate in the UK, supporting at least 1,000 jobs in total.

Dame Dr. Adaora Umeoji, group managing Director/CEO, Zenith Bank PLC said:

“The United Kingdom remains a key global financial centre. The opening of Zenith Bank, Manchester, therefore, marks another important milestone in our international expansion strategy, enabling us to deepen relationships with our customers, support trade and investments, and connect businesses between Africa and the UK more effectively.”

 Nigerian fintech investment is also accelerating rapidly:

• LemFi will invest £100 million over the next five years as it designates London its global headquarters.
• Moniepoint plans to grow its London based team to 100 employees in 2026, building the infrastructure that supports millions of African users worldwide.
• Kuda Bank is strengthening its UK headquarters as the base for global expansion and plans to double its UK footprint in 2026.

The UK’s reputation as a global creative capital also continues to deepen ties through:

• EbonyLife, one of Nigeria’s leading creative industry brands, will launch EbonyLife Place London, creating up to 40 new jobs and strengthening the UK’s role as a home for African storytelling and creative talent.
• The SCALE Creative Entrepreneur Award Programme, developed by the British Council and supported by the Department for Business and Trade, will support young Nigerian and UK creative entrepreneurs to grow internationally and build lasting ties to benefit both the UK and Nigerian creative economies.’
• The UK Advertising Exports Group will announce a strategic partnership with the Nigerian advertising sector. This will include a UK-Nigeria Advertising Summit taking place later this year and a talent exchange scheme which will deepen bilateral engagement.
• The British Council and the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy in Nigeria, will deliver the UK/Nigeria Season of Culture in 2028, involving a range of innovative initiatives and events designed by UK and Nigeria creative organisations.
• A Creative Industries Roundtable at Lancaster House will bring together alumni, Chevening scholars and creative leaders from both countries.

The following British businesses are also set to benefit thanks to:

• Twining’s Ovaltine launching a £24 million manufacturing facility in Lagos, its first in Africa, creating over 100 direct jobs and boosting the company’s exports across West Africa.
• British fintech Wise will receive approval for its first Nigerian licence, enabling it to expand in a remittances market valued at up to £39.9 million.
• The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), which was set up with UK Support in 2011, has signed an agreement with Asset Green Ltd to explore a largescale integrated dairy project that will strengthen Nigeria’s dairy value chain, reduce reliance on imports and improve nutrition.

Leading UK universities are also expanding into Nigeria, helping train the next generation of Nigerian and British scientists, technologists and innovators.

Nigeria is a key education partner and a priority country for the UK’s International Education Strategy. for instance, the University of Birmingham and the University of Lagos have signed a new agreement to deliver programmes in Applied AI, Digital Communications and Global Surgery.

The LSE has launched a new Data Science partnership with Nile University of Nigeria alongside the University of the West of England opening a dedicated office in Lagos.

Wellington College International Lagos will open in 2027, offering places for 1,500 students – becoming one of West Africa’s flagship British curriculum schools.

EStars, a UK‑owned educational esports and technology company, will partner with the Lagos State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to deliver esports‑based digital learning programmes to around three million students.

Here are the key consumer spending trends to watch in 2026:

1. Digital Payments and eCommerce Boom

Young Nigerians are driving the move away from cash. Digital payments and online shopping are now part of daily lives, powered by fintech platforms such as Opay, Moniepoint, PalmPay and eCommerce companies like Jumia.

Transactions are faster, more convenient and better trusted.

This transition is most obvious in urban centres, where mobile wallets, agent banking and QR payments are replacing cash for everything from groceries to transport fares.

The informal economy in Nigeria, which accounts for more than half of economic activity, has also taken up digital finance, enhanced by factors such as improved mobile access and the 2023 cash shortage.

Financial inclusion has expanded steadily, growing from about 54% in 2020 to 64% by 2023, mainly due to digital channels. With payments becoming seamless, spending behaviour changes with it.

Consumers are more likely to shop online, pay bills instantly, and make impulse purchases, especially in categories such as fashion, gadgets and food delivery.

Regulators, particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), continually focus on system security and fraud reduction, while consumers push demand through convenience.

Nigeria’s population size gives this trend more scale, setting it apart from similar digital adoption seen in markets like South Africa.

2. Health and Wellness Take Priority

Health and wellness spending is growing as Nigerians adopt a more preventive mindset. Families and individuals are paying closer attention to what they eat, how they exercise, and the products they consume.

Demand for organic foods, gym memberships, supplements and healthier snacks is growing, particularly in cities.

Consumers check food labels more closely, opting for reduced-sugar drinks, plant-based options and healthier ingredient lists.

Social media has been top-notch here, with fitness creators, nutrition advocates and lifestyle influencers impacting preferences and awareness.

On the policy side, government spending on healthcare has increased. The 2025 health budget rose significantly, and allocations to the Basic Health Care Provision Fund are projected to grow further in 2026.

However, healthcare workers still complain about infrastructure gaps and unpaid salaries, as well as implementation which lags behind policy announcements.

Even so, easing inflation could free up household budgets for preventive healthcare, supporting steady growth in wellness-related spending through the year.

3. Value-Driven and Price-Sensitive Buying

Consumers in Nigeria are becoming more deliberate about what they buy. Rather than volume or advertisement, many now prioritise quality, durability and brand trust, even when it comes at a higher price.

With supermarkets, convenience stores and organised retail expanding, shoppers are comparing products more carefully. Young professionals and families, in particular, are weighing long-term value against upfront cost when choosing electronics, clothing and household items.

Social media is important here. Most Nigerians now discover brands online, and influencers on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok impact perceptions through reviews, demonstrations and personal endorsements. This has pushed brands to focus more on product quality and credibility.

The result is a more sustainable spending pattern, with fewer disposable purchases and greater emphasis on products that last.

The Bigger Market Context

In 2026, the consumer market reveals a different African trend, where digital innovation fills gaps left by traditional systems. With over 70% of the population under 35, the country’s youth keeps driving adoption across mobile banking, online retail and digital services.

Recent economic reforms, including initiatives to stabilise the naira and manage inflation, are beginning to ease pressure on households. Inflation is projected to trend downward, while growth in non-oil sectors such as services, agriculture and trade is supporting gradual recovery in consumer confidence.

Fintech is indispensable to this transformation, extending financial services beyond urban centres and bringing more Nigerians into the formal economy.

This pattern shows the impact of platforms like M-Pesa in East Africa, adapted to Nigeria’s larger and more complex market.

While the cost of living is still high due to fiscal adjustments and import pressures, the overall outlook points to a more structured, tech-enabled consumer economy.

What to Watch Through 2026

Several indicators will impact how these trends evolve:

• Inflation and cost of living: Always track monthly headline inflation via CBN reports; if it goes below 13%, expect freer spending on non-essentials like health or wellness products.
• Digital adoption: Growth in mobile wallets and fintech users will show stronger e-commerce activity.
• Sector performance: Pay attention to health and retail figures from industry reports; increase in organic food sales or quality brand revenues highlight consumer changes.
• FX stability and remittances: A steadier naira could reduce import expenses and support consumption.
• Youth engagement online: Higher influencer engagement usually results in quality-focused purchases.
• Regulatory signals: CBN policies will continue to affect fintech growth and consumer trust.

Conclusion

The year 2026 will be a year of smart, tech-focused spending for Nigerians, where digital tools and quality choices will help manage economic realities.

With economic growth on the rise and inflation rates reducing, these trends come with opportunities for consumers to be more flexible in spending and for businesses to innovate.

Embracing them means building a more inclusive economy.

What remains largely unseen is the sleek, secure, and solid infrastructure that enables these diverse transactions reliably, at scale, across the entire economy.

Regarded as one of the top 3 payment technology forces in Africa’s largest economy, Remita is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a Switch, Payment System Service Provider, Payment Terminal Service Provider and as a Super-Agent.

In 2025, Remita processed well over 100 trillion Naira of payment transactions, underscoring its position as a provider of significant financial infrastructure in Nigeria.

This scale was not driven by isolated surges but by sustained, day-to-day activity spanning transaction switching for financial institutions, corporate and public payments processing, and the enablement of consumer financial flows, reinforcing its central role in the economy.

Remita also enabled access to over 15,000 products and services across 180 countries, further establishing its role as an invisible backbone connecting businesses, institutions, and individuals within Africa’s largest economy. It illustrates a defining paradox of modern infrastructure: the more essential it becomes, the less visible it appears.

Within the fintech and banking industries, this role is often described as “the rails” – the underlying tracks on which Nigeria’s payment ecosystem runs. Like electricity through power lines or water through pipes, Remita’s impact is most pronounced where secured and reliable execution is non-negotiable.

Across corporate payments, institutional disbursements, large-scale revenue collection, and complex multi-party transactions, Remita operates as a trusted national infrastructure, where even minor disruptions can have cascading consequences.

Throughout 2025, Remita supported revenue collection and disbursements across the federal, state, and local governments, operating reliably to ensure the wheels of government operations grounded smoothly to avoid delayed salaries, stalled public services, and erosion of public trust.

Sustained infrastructure uptime reinforced a core principle of modern governance: when systems function seamlessly, confidence is preserved.

On any day, Remita enables a civil servant in Gombe to receive her salary, a contractor in Kogi to be seamlessly paid, a student in Enugu to pay university fees, a resident of Abuja to pay for water, a property owner to pay land use charge in Lagos, and a contravening citizen to pay FRSC anywhere across the country.

These millions of transactions occur concurrently, at scale, and without friction, by design.

2025 marked Remita’s progression toward continental relevance. Through strategic integration with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), Remita has laid the foundation for simplified cross-border African payments – reducing dependency on third-party currencies and enabling businesses to transact across borders with greater ease.

“As Nigeria’s digital economy becomes more interconnected with the rest of Africa, the role of infrastructure becomes even more consequential,” explains ‘DeRemi Atanda, managing director of Remita. “Our responsibility is to build systems that can support that future. We are not just building for Nigeria. We are building infrastructure that can support Africa’s digital economy.”

AI was another frontier where Remita demonstrated industry leadership in 2025. Its deep understanding of the need for a shift from automation to intelligence led to its release of a landmark fintech AI report, which positioned Nigeria within global conversations on the application of artificial intelligence in financial services.

More than thought leadership, the report signaled commitment to building payment infrastructure that is not only resilient at scale, but increasingly responsive, predictive, and aligned with the realities of modern financial ecosystems.

Financial inclusion and access to financial services by yet a large population continued to be a major discussion in 2025.

Through partnerships with agent networks such as Moniepoint, NIPOST and Paga, Remita further extended services beyond traditional banking touchpoints – bringing formal financial systems closer to individuals and small businesses, particularly in underbanked communities.

In the works from Remita is a next-generation mobile app that generated a lot of buzz in Q4 2025 when it entered a public beta.

Built on the same backbone enterprise-grade infrastructure, the app has amazing features like multi-bank account management, esusu groups, discounted airline tickets, recurring payments, international payments with local currency, and others in development that will surely excite the market. The public market launch of the app is scheduled for Q1 2026.

Remita remains the core infrastructure behind Nigeria’s digital economy and is increasingly becoming a cornerstone of Africa’s financial future.

As the continent moves toward greater integration and rail-play becomes the most crucial element, the platforms that matter most won’t be the loudest or the flashiest.

They will be the ones that work, consistently and at scale, enabling prosperity for millions while remaining largely invisible to those they serve. That’s the mark of truly transformative infrastructure, and the story of Remita’s impact in 2025.

• Remita Payment Services Limited (RPSL) is a leading Nigerian fintech company committed to simplifying financial transactions for individuals, businesses, and public institutions. Through innovative payment infrastructure and enterprise tools, RPSL enables its customers to collect, disburse, and manage funds securely and efficiently. As a trusted partner in Nigeria’s digital economy, Remita continues to champion inclusive growth through technology-driven financial empowerment.

As Big Tech faces global scrutiny for monopolistic behaviour, intrusive data practices, and algorithm-driven echo chambers, African startups are showing another way forward.

What makes them different? Necessity.

African companies operate in some of the toughest environments.  Competition is fierce, friction everywhere, and failure unforgiving.

Survival is by delivering tangible value to customers fast.  Those unaligned with customers die in the ruthless dynamic that births innovative, impactful technology.

Across the continent, homegrown solutions built for local realities are transforming financial inclusion, agricultural productivity, education access, and healthcare.

Unlike Silicon Valley thought experiments chasing inflated multiples, they are built on survival, security, and empowerment, fundamentals that keep communities and economies alive.  Designed for real-world problems, they scale with purpose.

A platform that extends working capital to an informal trader in Nairobi, or delivers agronomic advice over a feature phone in rural Uganda, can adapt to any market that prizes resilience.

Human-Centred Technology

Africa’s strength is keeping people at the centre of innovation.  As AI, automation, and advanced analytics reshape industries, Africa’s ecosystem deploys them as tools alongside humans, not as replacements.

4G Capital is a leader in this space.  We serve micro-enterprises excluded from the formal financial system, providing short-term unsecured loans coupled with free business skills training.

We size loans based on risk and affordability and our human staff build trust, coach clients, and create relationships.  Technology assists: humans lead.  That balance is critical, something the world needs to relearn.

The lesson is that to ‘scale through automation’, enduring models understand human behaviour, and work with it, not against it. African tech ecosystem understands this intuitively.

What it Takes to Win

Three things must converge to realise the African opportunity: capital, infrastructure, and policy.

According to the 2022 Africa Tech Venture Capital Report, African startups raised US$6.5 billion in 2022, despite global downturns^. Funding dipped to US$3.5 billion in 2023, but early 2024 numbers suggest a rebound, led by fintech, climate-tech, and health-tech.

The continent also sits on over US$4 trillion of under-utilised domestic wealth.  It is time for Africa to invest in its future, rather than await external validation.

International venture capital has a catalytic role, but the deepest and most sustainable capital pools are local.  The next phase of growth will come from African institutions backing African innovators at scale.

Digital rails, mobile networks, payment systems, and data connectivity, are arteries of this new economy.

The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa 2023 Report estimates that mobile penetration has passed 85% across sub-Saharan Africa, and internet penetration on track to exceed 50% by 2030.

Without these rails, even the best products will stall before reaching scale.  Encouragingly, infrastructure build-out is underway, from undersea fibre projects like Google’s Equiano cable to rapid expansion of mobile money ecosystems.

The challenge now is affordability and last-mile access.

Finally, governments must create enabling environments with fair, consistent taxation and predictable regulation. Harmonisation across borders could unlock a 1.4 billion-person continental market, supported by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), projected to boost Africa’s income by US$450 billion by 2035.

The difference between an Africa that leapfrogs and one that stalls is how it chooses to foster business growth.  Policy is the silent multiplier of innovation.

Execution Over Narrative

This is Africa Rising 2.0. The first wave brought optimism and narrative.  This wave must execute.  Investors should look just at who builds models that empower citizens, generate real returns, and scale sustainably.

For too long, African innovation was framed in ‘potential’ now it is about delivery.  Across the continent, consistent results are emerging from unforgiving markets. Governments must be enablers rather than obstacles for private enterprise to create prosperity.

Digital solutions for cross-border trade, finance, and mobility can unlock unprecedented earning potential.

Inclusivity is key. Deployment must be designed to fit local realities, reaching as many people as possible including those using feature phones.

Africa’s Distinctive Advantage

Unlike ecosystems that chase dominance and scale first, then scramble to retrofit ethics, African solutions start with purpose.

Whether it’s a mobile payments platform lending to unbanked farmers, or an edtech delivering lessons through basic SMS, solutions do not chase abstractions but solve immediate, human needs.

Pragmatism is Africa’s competitive advantage.  It creates business models that are naturally resilient, inclusive, and harder to disrupt.

In a world where Big Tech is facing questions of trust and legitimacy, Africa’s approach, grounded in necessity and human focus, offers a blueprint for a better digital future.

Investors are noticing. Africa is home to seven unicorns and counting, led by fintech giants like Moniepoint, Flutterwave, and Interswitch.

Thousands of ‘gazelles’ (fast-scaling companies just below unicorn status) are building solid businesses with strong fundamentals and will deliver the next decade’s outsized returns.

The world needs a new tech model.  Human-centred, inclusive, and purposeful,  Africa is already building it.

Africa Rising 2.0 will be won by relentless execution, smart capital allocation, and enabling governments.  If we get it right, Africa won’t just “catch up” to the global digital economy. It will help drive it.

*Wayne Hennessy-Barrett is the founder/Executive Chairman of 4G Capital, an award winning fintech in East Africa growing business with working capital loans and enterprise training.