Artificial Intelligence

OP-ED - Africa's AI awakening: from Western brainrot to homegrown tech sovereignty

As Gen Z in the West abandons social media's endless scroll for "meaning," Africa is laying internet connectivity infrastructure at scale. Will it import yesterday's engagement-maximisation playbook or build for actual human flourishing?

Market Intelligence

OP-ED - What do SAG Ventures and Balloon Ventures have in common? The intermediary trap

Prince Nwadeyi's published research and Joshua Bicknell's operational experience expose the same problem: entrenched incentive structures don't serve those closest to real economic activity.

Startups

POD - Prince Nwadeyi on building financial services solutions corporates commission but won't execute themselves

Prince Nwadeyi unpacks how aligning incentives across value chains turns corporate muscle and founder execution into profitable innovation, and why Mustard Finance Group's reported 99.9% repayment rate proves the model works.

Impact Investing

OP-ED - M-KOPA’s decade of discovery: when patient capital buys time to pivot

M-KOPA’s lengthy path to profitability shows how patient capital can buy the time (and permission) to pivot until the real business emerges.

Digital Transformation

OP-ED - What can standing in an iPhone 17 queue in Tokyo reveal about digital power and control? Plenty.

Scarcity and sovereignty play out differently in Tokyo and Nairobi, but the underlying lessons for Africa’s tech builders are strikingly similar.

Fintech

POD - April Long on why chasing 'impact' almost killed her fintech whilst bulk traders quietly transformed Africa-China trade

Pyxis CEO April Long reveals how her obsession with serving SMEs blinded her to the aggregators actually moving $286 billion in trade - and why accepting this reality saved her venture.

Market Intelligence

OP-ED - Boring is beautiful, but can $50 million pyrethrum flower power fuel a natural insecticide industry revival in Kenya?

When development finance meets agricultural nostalgia, the unit economics must be interrogated.

Digital Transformation

OP-ED - Lessons from 25 Years of Africa’s internet story: a preview of Russell Southwood’s reflections

Drawing from an upcoming African Tech Roundup podcast, this op-ed unpacks Russell Southwood’s reflections on lessons, blind spots and enduring questions.

Market Intelligence

OP-ED - Who controls the narrative? First-party data, truth and power in Africa’s digital economy

As powerful actors spin persuasive stories, the challenge is documenting reality with first-party evidence, resisting myths, and shaping narratives that serve more than self-interest.

Health Economics

OP-ED - A son's grief and gratitude in a world of unequal healthcare

Dr Leonard Masuku's death within Zimbabwe's constrained hospital system serves as a stark reminder of healthcare's global inequities.

Fintech

OP-ED - The education of April Long: a Chinese entrepreneur's humbling lessons building for Africa's $286 billion trade gap

After a decade in East Africa, fintech founder April Long reflects on the tough pivots, misread assumptions, and modest wins behind building Pyxis for Africa-China trade.

Digital Transformation

OP-ED - Namibia’s telecom network disruptor wants your customers, whoever you are

Paratus Namibia is tearing up telecom playbooks, eyeing 5G mobile markets and crossing industry lines. In a game of territory and tech, no customer is off-limits.

Infrastructure

POD - Paratus Namibia's Andrew Hall on infrastructure investment in Southern Africa's most sparsely populated giant

Managing director Andrew Hall discusses building sustainable telecoms infrastructure across Namibia's challenging geography: vast distances, low population density, and competition from state-owned enterprises.

Banking

OP-ED - KCB Group builds on groundwork laid by 'Gov-preneurs' in Ethiopia as banking liberalisation accelerates

Following Safaricom's lead, KCB's imminent Ethiopian entry leverages policy frameworks informed by 'Gov-preneurs' who embedded with government to safeguard 'fin-sovereignty'.

Market Intelligence

POD - Bridging Africa and Tokyo, Bernard Laurendeau explains why Africa needs strategic global partnerships over patient capital

Bernard Laurendeau argues that telling investors to "think long-term" about Africa is the wrong message. The managing partner at Laurendeau & Associates shares how he's building bridges between Japanese corporations and African markets from his new base in Tokyo.

Digital Transformation

OP-ED - Zero human error? What AI’s financial wins might be hiding

AI promises fewer mistakes, leaner teams and more cost efficient businesses. But do these wins blind us to deeper ethical, societal, and economic trade-offs we must confront?

Artificial Intelligence

OP-ED - The end of SEO as we know it? AI search and the future of discovery

With AI reshaping how we find answers online, the rules of engagement are shifting. Here's what creators, founders, and strategists need to understand now.

Career

POD - From Maputo to Shopify and why Guidione Machava says 'African Designer' is a career-limiting label

Guidione Machava argues that leading with geographic identity in a global market can unconsciously devalue your talent. He shares how he's built a cross-continental product design career, from founding Mozambique’s top dev community to working at Shopify and 23point5.

Sona's Field Notes

Sona's Field Notes #04: Strong Founder or Wrong Founder?

After three Field Notes on external challenges, Sona Mahendra turns inward: exploring founder archetypes, market timing, and the uncomfortable truth about what constitutes winning.

Market Intelligence

OP-ED - How routine township shopping in South Africa now buys you 'invisible' funeral cover through embedded insurance

SAG Ventures’ Purchase Pal, underwritten by Sanlam, tucks funeral insurance into everyday grocery purchases. No forms, no intermediaries, no premiums. Prince Nwadeyi shows what happens when deep consumer research drives product design.

Career

POD - Wabo Majavu on early AI, strategic foresight, and digital activism

South African strategist Wabo Majavu traces her technical roots at CSIR, MTN, and Intelsat to reveal how they've informed her executive strategy work—balancing digital inclusion, AI innovation, and commercial success.

Fintech

OP-ED - Stablecoins promise efficiency for Africa's fintech future, but at what cost?

As stablecoins promise fast, cheap transfers, African businesses must weigh efficiency against surveillance risks and shifting gatekeepers in a new digital financial order.

Digital Transformation

OP-ED - Can fibre optic manufacturing joint ventures like YOA Cable drive Africa’s next industrial wave?

Pieter E. Viljoen, a physicist-turned-optic cable manufacturing boss, is betting that rethinking fibre from first principles could help restart Africa’s stalled industrial ambitions.

Fintech

POD - Inside Verto's fintech strategy for cracking Africa's $286 billion trade puzzle

Ola Oyetayo shares how Verto is tackling cross-border payment challenges, exploring stablecoin potential, and scaling a profitable fintech serving businesses across key African markets.

Ecosystem

OP-ED - Alesimo Mwanga on why strategic partnerships are the secret to scaling African innovation beyond funding

Ecosystem strategist Alesimo Mwanga explains how strategic partnerships unlock cross-border venture growth where funding alone falls short.