Author: Samuel Suru

MTN Nigeria is giving Africa’s early-stage startups a boost through its 2025 Cloud Accelerator, combining enterprise infrastructure, technical mentorship, and investor access without taking equity from participating ventures. The Lagos-based Demo Day showcased 20 high-growth startups, offering founders cloud resources, mentorship, and opportunities to connect with investors and commercial partners. The Demo Day marked the conclusion of a rigorous 12-week programme aimed at fast-tracking early-stage African startups. Opened for applications in July and closing mid-August, the initiative focused on innovations in fintech, health, agriculture, artificial intelligence, and e-commerce. Through the programme, founders received cloud credits, access to MTN Cloud, MoMo,…

Venture capital (VC) investment directed toward African startups cooled substantially in November 2025, recording $134.6 million, which represents a significant contraction from the preceding month’s high of $392 million. Despite this monthly decline, the continent’s Year-to-Date (YTD) funding total has climbed to approximately $2.87 billion, securely surpassing the full-year figure from 2024. The investment composition in November indicated a clear “flight to quality,” with investors bypassing early-stage, speculative ventures and concentrating capital in asset-heavy sectors like renewable energy and cleantech, which captured roughly 60% of the disclosed funding. This trend was exemplified by the month’s largest deal: a $60 million…

South African agritech firm SwiftVEE has successfully secured R173 million ($10.1 million) in a Series A funding round, signaling a strategic shift to expand beyond its core livestock marketplace and integrate deeper into financial services. The fresh capital is earmarked for layering fintech, insurance, and data products onto its trading platform, moving the company from simply providing market access to capturing value within the transaction. Founded in 2019, SwiftVEE digitizes the traditional livestock auction process, now facilitating over $100 million in gross merchandise value (GMV) annually across several African nations. The investment round was strategically backed by African VC firm…

Ghana’s parliament has successfully approved the Value Added Tax (VAT) Bill 2025, which includes a critical measure to raise the revenue threshold at which companies must register and pay VAT, effectively exempting many small businesses from this tax obligation. This law, which still requires approval by head of state John Mahama, is a significant component of the government’s broader strategy to create a fairer tax system, simplify administration, and foster a tax environment conducive to economic growth. The chairman of the Finance Committee, Isaac Adongo, emphasized that the bill aims to reduce complexity, promote voluntary compliance, and ease the administrative…

Vodacom Tanzania has significantly expanded the reach of its mobile money service with the launch of M-Pesa Global Payment, a comprehensive suite of international payment features. This initiative allows the platform’s over 22 million users to execute payments to merchants globally, including those in China, Dubai, Uganda, and any location that accepts Visa payments, directly from their M-Pesa accounts. The rollout is supported by strategic partnerships with major global players, including Visa, Chinese digital payment giant Alipay, Middle Eastern payments networks Network International and Magnati, and East African mobile money operator MTN Uganda. New Features and Cross-Border Corridors The M-Pesa…

The Benue Investment and Property Company Limited (BIPC) has announced a strategic collaboration with the state government to establish a new Business Fund dedicated to supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), with a specific focus on young entrepreneurs. This commitment was made by BIPC’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Raymond Asemakaha, CFA, during the closing ceremony of a large-scale, state-wide skills acquisition program held in Makurdi, from which over 5,580 youths graduated. These graduates, representing all 23 Local Government Areas, showcased practical skills acquired in fields such as cosmetology, shoemaking, catering, and organic fertilizer production. Dr. Asemakaha hailed the young entrepreneurs…

The heart of Africa’s Black Friday is currently the colossal, 30,000-square-meter Jumia warehouse in Isolo, Lagos, Nigeria. Operating as a precise human-powered machine running 24/7, the facility is where workers coordinate mountains of products, from electronics to groceries, reflecting the immense energy of the continent’s largest annual shopping event. This high-octane operation, managed with staggered shifts and onsite support, is overseen by Chief Supply Chain Officer Richmond Carlos Otu, who notes the peak season is vital for acquiring new customers. The importance of this operational frenzy goes beyond sales; it symbolizes Jumia’s successful strategic transformation. Once struggling, with its stock…

The awards saw three winners receive a total of $15,000 in non-equity grants to support their cross-border operations. Rank Company Name Sector Prize Amount First Place Dingpay Fintech $10,000 Second Place AquaTrack Agrotech $3,000 Third Place Grower Tech Talent Marketplace $2,000 Itohowo Udofia, Co-founder of Dingpay, the grand prize winner, highlighted that the prize will enable the company to “scale faster, strengthen our operations, and unlock new market opportunities.”  Award Objectives and Evaluation Launched in February 2025, the award reflects Verto’s commitment to fostering a new generation of sector-agnostic startups across the continent. Beyond the financial prize, the award aims…

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), through its Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), has validated a pioneering Gender Equality Index (GEI) specifically tailored for the clean energy sector, marking a critical step toward addressing deep-seated gender disparities across West Africa’s energy transition. Concluded at a regional workshop in Cotonou, Benin, this initiative was done in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and focused heavily on integration within Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The validation resulted in three key outputs: a standardized evaluation framework, an evaluation study report detailing current gender inclusion, and a…

The A+Aromas Nigeria Foundation has rolled out a transformative online training program designed to empower young Nigerians and women across the country with practical skills essential for modern economic participation. The initiative focuses on delivering hands-on instruction in key areas such as digital marketing, handcrafts, and product packaging. The primary goal of the program is to foster financial independence, boost local entrepreneurship, and generate sustainable income opportunities, thereby strengthening economic growth at the grassroots level. Participants are being equipped to successfully convert simple ideas into commercially viable small businesses, leveraging accessible tools like smartphones to effectively reach both local and…