Author: Insider Editor

Safaricom has pulled off one of the most emphatic funding wins in Kenya’s capital markets this year, raising KES 20 billion ($154 million) from the first tranche of its medium-term note (MTN) programme after investors rushed in with bids nearly three times what the telecom giant had asked for. Kenya’s largest telco initially opened the sale seeking KES 15 billion ($116 million). But the flood of demand amounting to KES 41.4 billion in applications,forced the company to activate its KES 5 billion ($38 million) greenshoe option, allowing it to absorb part of the excess interest and close the tranche at…

Flutterwave’s cross-border remittance product, Send, has launched a physical Naira travel card aimed at Nigerians returning home from the diaspora for the festive season. Called the Send App Travel Card, the product was developed in partnership with Odysy, a business expense management and technology firm, and AfriGO, the Nigerian domestic card scheme. “For years, we’ve helped Nigerians abroad support life at home through fast, reliable remittances,” said Harvey Bahia, Head of Send App Business at Flutterwave. “Now, for the first time, we’re giving them a physical way to spend with the same ease and control when they return.” The card…

CAC has ordered all point-of-sale (PoS) operators to register their businesses before January 1, 2026, warning that unregistered terminals will be seized. The move represents the government’s most assertive effort yet to formalize an industry that has expanded rapidly but unevenly, putting renewed pressure on fintech companies to strengthen compliance across their agent networks. In a public notice dated December 6, 2025, the CAC highlighted “the rising number of PoS operators running without registration,” calling the trend a violation of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA 2020) and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s agent banking regulations. “This reckless practice,…

Seamfix has announced a new partnership with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), the Afreximbank-backed network driving continental payments, to strengthen the compliance and governance framework supporting Africa’s real-time cross-border transactions. At the center of the partnership is PGATE, a compliance and transaction-governance layer developed by Seamfix. The platform brings identity data, payment patterns, and regulatory checks into a single workflow, giving central banks, commercial banks, and other financial institutions a clearer end-to-end view of cross-border transactions, allowing them to enforce limits and detect suspicious activity without slowing down payment flows. PAPSS will lead the rollout of the platform…

Africa’s financial landscape is undergoing a quiet revolution. Once primarily associated with cryptocurrencies, blockchain is now emerging as a transformative force across the continent’s banking, fintech, and payments sectors, offering solutions to long-standing challenges while opening doors to new opportunities. One of the most significant impacts of blockchain in Africa is its potential to advance financial inclusion. Millions of Africans remain unbanked, often excluded from traditional banking due to lack of identification, infrastructure, or access. Blockchain-based platforms enable secure, transparent, and low-cost financial services without the need for conventional bank accounts. Digital wallets, remittance services, and peer-to-peer payment systems powered…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept, it is reshaping how we create, consume, and interact with content. At the forefront of this transformation is ChatGPT, OpenAI’s language model, which has captured global attention for its ability to generate coherent, human-like text on virtually any topic. Alongside other AI content creation tools, it is redefining the boundaries of creativity, productivity, and digital communication. For writers, marketers, and businesses, tools like ChatGPT are quickly becoming indispensable. They can draft articles, write social media posts, generate marketing copy, or even assist in scripting videos. What makes these tools powerful is…

UK-based fintech Wise, renowned for its low-cost international money transfers, has cleared a major regulatory milestone in Africa. The company received conditional approval from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to operate as a “Category 2 Authorised Dealer in Foreign Exchange with Limited Authority (ADLA)” its first licence on the continent. The approval allows Wise to start offering cross-border transfer services to consumers in South Africa, a market that handles significant volumes of remittances, diaspora flows, student fees, and trade payments. Traditional providers often charge high fees, offer opaque pricing, and deliver slow transfers gaps Wise aims to address with…

Canal+ has officially completed its $2 billion takeover of South African pay-TV giant MultiChoice, after securing all regulatory clearances and shareholder backing. The deal, months in the making, became unconditional on Monday, September 22, 2025. The acquisition drew heavy scrutiny in South Africa because national rules cap foreign ownership of broadcasting licences at 20%. To comply, MultiChoice created a new entity called LicenceCo to house its broadcasting licence. Under the approved structure, MultiChoice holds 20% of LicenceCo’s voting rights and 49% of its economic interest. The remaining share is controlled by historically disadvantaged persons and other South African stakeholders, including…

Africa’s streaming culture hit new milestones in 2025, with Nigerians driving some of the most significant shifts in how music and podcasts were consumed this year. New data from Spotify Wrapped shows that listeners in Nigeria alone logged more than 1.3 billion hours on the platform, one of the highest engagement levels on the continent. Local music led the charge. Nigerian songs recorded an 82% spike in listening time, while daily streams grew by 23%, reflecting the country’s deepening appetite for homegrown sounds. Podcast engagement also surged, with listening time up 97% and podcast creation rising by 48%. Phiona Okumu,…

Nigeria’s push to strengthen its non-oil economy has received a major boost as Sterling Bank Limited and the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Pan-Atlantic University formalise a new partnership to certify graduates of the Sterling Bank Non-Oil Export Academy. The agreement, sealed through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), marks a significant step in building a pipeline of export-ready entrepreneurs at a time when the country is seeking more sustainable sources of foreign exchange. The partnership follows a nationwide training rollout in Lagos, Ondo, and Kano, culminating in a grand finale themed “Excel in Non-Oil Export.” The programme is built to…