Every month, Mampe Seema, a Johannesburg-based domestic worker, remits part of her salary to her family in Lesotho.

The money covers school fees, groceries, and other household expenses. For years, sending money across the border was straightforward. Then the process began taking longer and required additional steps.

“When the banking process became more difficult, I worried that my family would not receive the money when they needed it most,” Seema told TechCabal. “I decided to try Mukuru after hearing about it from a friend. The registration was straightforward, and I could send money without the uncertainty I had started experiencing elsewhere.”

The 53-year-old mother of two is among a growing number of the estimated 400,000 Basotho migrants in South Africa turning to fintechs like Mukuru, Sasai, Ria Money and hello Paisa as cross-border payments become more complex. The shift highlights how regulatory changes are reshaping consumer behaviour and expanding the role fintechs play in regional payments.

In 2025, the South Africa Reserve Bank’s (SARB) changes affecting low-value cross-border electronic fund transfers (EFTs) within the Common Monetary Area (CMA) introduced stricter processing and verification requirements for some transactions. The CMA includes South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, and Eswatini.

The measures were designed to strengthen anti-money laundering controls, reduce illicit financial flows, and improve compliance with international financial standards.

While the changes aim to improve oversight of the financial system, they have also added friction for some consumers accustomed to moving money between South Africa and Lesotho with minimal documentation. In some cases, users have faced additional verification requirements and longer processing times.

For Lesotho, where remittances are a significant source of household income, these changes have direct implications. According to data from the World Bank, personal remittances account for almost 20.9% of Lesotho’s GDP. Statistics South Africa estimates that the 400,000 Basotho living and working in South Africa make up about 11% of the country’s immigrant population.

Cape Town-based Mukuru, a global fintech which says it serves over 17 million across Africa, Europe, Asia and North America, says the SARB’s ban on EFTs to CMA countries has attracted new customers who previously relied on traditional banking channels. Mama Money, Shoprite and Nedbank’s Zaca are the other major money transfers that have entered the Lesotho market.

“Historically, Mukuru focused on serving unbanked customers, but we are now seeing that even banked customers are facing difficulties when trying to send money home,” said Maleseli Mohapinyane, Mukuru’s country manager for Lesotho.

The company launched its South Africa–Lesotho corridor in 2016 and now operates across 22 remittance corridors globally. According to Mohapinyane, the company is seeing increased interest from customers looking for alternatives to conventional cross-border payment channels.

Cost is another factor. 

For Thabiso Nthunya, a mineworker in the Free State Province, what matters most is that the money reaches his family quickly.

“When your family is waiting for money to buy food or pay bills, you need to know it will arrive without delay. Travelling home just to take money to my family is expensive, and carrying cash is not ideal,” he said.

Moroesi Koali, Sasai Econet Financial Services Marketing Manager, agreed with Nthunya that convenience is one of the main reasons migrant workers are increasingly opting for their fintech-based remittance services.

“For many migrant workers, convenience is key,” she said. “They can send money home knowing recipients can access the funds immediately through a wallet or an agent network, without needing to travel long distances or navigate multiple banking processes,” she said.

However, Access Bank says its remittance business to Lesotho has remained largely upbeat despite the regulatory changes and competition from digital payments platforms. Naco Bolote, the bank’s Head of International Remittances, described Lesotho as an important corridor and said the lender had continued to serve the market effectively.

“As a bank, there has not been any noticeable impact for us because our market dynamics are a little different from those of remittance companies. That is because our cross-border payments are at a more formalised level,” he said.

Agenz, a Moroccan proptech startup that digitises real estate transactions, has raised $5 million to support product development and strengthen its investments in artificial intelligence.

The funding round saw participation from Breega, a European venture capital firm, Attijariwafa Ventures, and Saviu Ventures, an Africa-focused growth capital fund. 

The raise comes three years after Agenz’s $1.3 million pre-Series A financing round as activity in Morocco’s property market picks up. Residential land transactions surpassed 140,000 in 2023, an increase from 2022, according to a World Bank document, highlighting the opportunity for digital platforms that simplify property transactions for users.

“We believe the future of real estate will be built on the responsible use of data and artificial intelligence,” said Malik Belkeziz, Co-founder and CEO of Agenz. “Our ambition is to leverage technology to create a more transparent, secure and accessible market, while keeping user trust at the centre of everything we do. This funding will allow us to accelerate this vision for the benefit of the entire Moroccan real estate ecosystem.” 

Founded in 2021 by Malik and Badr Belkeziz, Agenz operates an integrated real estate platform that combines property valuation tools, market intelligence, solutions for professional services, and digital transaction solutions.  The fresh capital will also be used to expand the company’s services for individuals, real estate agents, developers, investors and financial institutions, according to the company.

“Agenz has built, in just a few years, the platform the Moroccan real estate sector was missing, bringing together data, tools and transactions into one seamless experience,” said Driss Ibenmansour, Partner at Breega. “We believe this funding will help accelerate an already ongoing transformation of the market.”

The company said it has recorded growth in transaction volumes since launching its transaction platform in 2023, including surpassing 730,000 monthly visits on its Agenz.ma website in May 2026.

Bolaji Anifowose is a product marketing manager and go-to-market (GTM) engineer with over 7 years of experience helping startups across Africa and beyond sharpen their positioning, launch products, and build compounding growth engines. He has led growth, GTM, and marketing efforts for high-impact companies such as Simpu, Distrobird, Chatbase, and Tecno, delivering successful product launches, demand generation campaigns, and market expansion strategies that produce significant results.

Before tech, Bolaji studied Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, a background that shaped how he approaches marketing today: systems-first and evidence-led. He is a graduate of the pioneer cohort of the GTM Engineer School and spends a lot of his time these days at the intersection of marketing and AI, building automations and workflows that let small teams punch far above their weight.

• Explain your job to a five-year-old.

You know when you make something really cool, like a drawing or a sandcastle, but nobody comes to look at it? My job is to make sure people come and look. I help companies that have built something good figure out how to tell the right people about it, in a way that makes them go “I want that.” I find the people who would love it, work out what to say to them, and build little machines that help do it again and again.

• Did your 16-year-old self ever imagine he’d end up in marketing?

Not even close. At 16, I was deep in science, headed for engineering, convinced my future involved metals and lab coats. Marketing wasn’t on the map. If you’d told that kid he’d spend his days writing, building automations, and obsessing over why people buy things, he’d have laughed. But here’s the funny part: the engineer never left. I still approach marketing the way I’d approach a materials problem. Test, measure, find the system underneath the noise. I didn’t abandon engineering. I just changed what I was building.

• Who’s a GTM engineer, and what’s the path to becoming one?

GTM engineering is a term Clay coined in 2023. The simplest way to think about it is this: a GTM engineer builds systems that generate revenue. You’re combining artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and creative problem-solving to do work that would normally require a much larger team. That’s the core of it: giving a small team the firepower of a big one.

Think about traditional growth work. You’re manually searching LinkedIn for leads, writing outreach emails one by one, juggling inboxes, and tracking replies. Now flip that. Clay finds and enriches leads. A signal tool identifies who’s actually in-market. Claude and OpenAI personalise outreach. A sequencer sends it, and an n8n agent handles responses. Same goal, far less manual work. That’s what a GTM engineer builds.

There isn’t just one type of GTM engineer. I usually break it into three. First, the software engineer who could work on a product or data team but chose revenue instead. Second, the systems specialist, often from revenue operations (RevOps) or marketing operations, who excels at orchestrating tools. Third, the marketer or salesperson who picked up technical skills and sits at the intersection of strategy and execution. That’s me, and for most people, it’s the most realistic path in.

The skills transfer more than you’d think: systems thinking, customer understanding, copywriting, learning new tools quickly, and being comfortable working alongside code. You don’t need a computer science degree.

To get started, learn the fundamentals first: ideal customer profile (ICP), positioning, channels, and messaging. Then look at your week and identify a repetitive task, whether that’s lead research, follow-ups, or reporting. That’s your first automation opportunity.

Build with tools companies are hiring for today, like Clay, n8n, and Claude Code. Turn a real task into a working system, then run it on actual campaigns. After that, document what you built, make it part of your portfolio, and join the communities where jobs and collaborations happen.

Every system you ship becomes proof that you can do the work. In this field, proof beats a fancy résumé every time.

• What’s your hot take on why most product launches fail?

Here’s my hot take—and the numbers back me up on this: most product launches don’t fail because of the product. They fail because teams mistake shipping for creating demand.

The numbers back it up. Depending on the study, 80–95% of new products fail. Harvard’s Clayton Christensen put the figure at 95%. In B2B, only about one in four launches hits its revenue target. That’s not bad luck. That’s a pattern.

The mistake is usually the same. Teams build the product, pick a launch date, post about it, then wonder why the market shrugs. But a launch was never an announcement. It’s the moment you prove you understand your buyer well enough to make them care.

The data shows where things break. Simon-Kucher’s global pricing study found that 72% of new products miss their sales targets, and a quarter of companies said none of their recent launches met expectations. That’s rarely a product problem. It’s usually a failure to understand what buyers value and what they’ll pay for. Many teams build on assumptions and don’t test them with real customers until it’s too late.

Messaging is another common culprit. Most launches focus on the company and its features: look what we built. Buyers care about something else: what’s changing for them, and why now. If that isn’t clear, no amount of launch-day promotion will save you.

That’s why I think launches don’t fail on launch day. Launch day simply exposes months of skipped homework. If you can’t clearly explain who the product is for, what changes for them, and why it matters now, you don’t have a launch. You have an announcement nobody asked for.

The teams that win do the unglamorous work first. They talk to customers, sharpen their positioning, and align around a clear story. By the time they hit publish, demand already exists. The launch just opens the door.

• What’s your favourite and least favourite part of the work you do?
  

My favourite part is the moment a system clicks. I’ll build a workflow, go to sleep, and wake up to find it has spent the night finding leads, enriching data, and sending personalised outreach without me lifting a finger. There’s something magical about that. You build it once, and it keeps paying you back. That feeling of compounding, where yesterday’s work keeps working for you, never gets old.

It’s the same with marketing. When positioning I’ve shaped makes a prospect say, “This is exactly what we needed,” that’s just as rewarding. For me, the real payoff is building something that creates results without me having to be in the room.

My least favourite part is keeping up with the tools. In AI, the pace is relentless. Every day there’s a new product, a new feature, or a new model. You finally master a tool and build it into your workflow, then three new alternatives show up claiming to be faster, cheaper, or smarter.

You can’t ignore them because some genuinely are better, and clients expect you to stay current. But you also can’t chase every shiny object, or you’ll never get anything done. So you’re constantly balancing learning with execution. I love that this field forces me to keep growing, but even for someone who enjoys learning, the pace can be exhausting.

• What’s the one mistake you wish you could save every early-career marketer from making?

Don’t chase titles in the beginning. Just do the work.

I see a lot of people early in their careers obsessing over the label. They want “Manager” in their title, they want to be “Head of” something, they want the senior tag before they’ve built the skills those titles are supposed to represent. And I get it. It feels like progress. But a title is just a word on LinkedIn. It doesn’t make you good. The work makes you good.

When you’re starting out, your job is to get your hands dirty. Build the campaigns. Write the copy that flops and figure out why. Run the experiments. Learn the tools. Get close to customers and understand why they buy. That’s where real growth happens: in the doing, not in the title.

Because here’s what nobody tells you: when you become genuinely good at the work, the titles come looking for you. You don’t have to chase them.

The people who skip work and chase titles early often get exposed. They land the senior role, but the title isn’t backed by real ability. So my advice is simple: forget what they call you for now. Get obsessed with becoming great at the craft. Be the person who can actually do the thing.

The recognition, the titles, and the money follow. They always do.

A detailed style shot of Nigerian music icon Davido showcasing his custom stage wardrobe during the Conakry stop of his 5IVE Alive global tour. Photo Credit: Davido/Instagram

We are not jealous of the people of Guinea today. Cough cough. Not only did they get to watch Nigerian Afrobeats star Davido perform live on his 5IVE Alive Tour, but they also got to see this outfit up close, and that, might be the bigger flex.

For his 5IVE Alive Tour stop in Conakry, Guinea, Davido stepped out in a dark navy double-breasted pinstripe suit covered in subtle golden speckles that caught every stage light going. The jacket featured a layered lapel combining a classic pinstripe fold with an inner geometric black-and-white checkered pattern, and the lower patch pockets came framed in light blue trim with white graphic silhouettes of human figures printed on them. It is the kind of detailing that rewards a second look.

He paired it with matching wide-leg pinstripe trousers breaking cleanly over a pair of white sneakers, a light blue collared undershirt, tinted sunglasses, a structured blue patterned traditional cap, and a silver luxury watch on the wrist.

Afrobeats superstar Davido showing off a tailored navy pinstripe suit accented with graphic patch pockets and gold speckles for his performance wardrobe in Guinea. Photo Credit: Davido/Instagram

The whole look sits somewhere between sharp tailoring and a cultural nod, and it works completely. The traditional cap alongside the wide-leg trousers and white sneakers is what ties it together — dressed up enough for the stage, relaxed enough to remind you this is still OBO. Whoever put this look together deserves their flowers.

Guinea got a show and a fashion moment. We are not jealous. We are absolutely not jealous.

See more looks below

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Davido (@davido)

The post Davido’s 5IVE Alive Tour Look in Guinea Has Us Zooming Into Every Detail appeared first on BellaNaija - Showcasing Africa to the world. Read today!.

A detailed style shot of Nigerian music icon Davido showcasing his custom stage wardrobe during the Conakry stop of his 5IVE Alive global tour. Photo Credit: Davido/Instagram

We are not jealous of the people of Guinea today. Cough cough. Not only did they get to watch Nigerian Afrobeats star Davido perform live on his 5IVE Alive Tour, but they also got to see this outfit up close, and that, might be the bigger flex.

For his 5IVE Alive Tour stop in Conakry, Guinea, Davido stepped out in a dark navy double-breasted pinstripe suit covered in subtle golden speckles that caught every stage light going. The jacket featured a layered lapel combining a classic pinstripe fold with an inner geometric black-and-white checkered pattern, and the lower patch pockets came framed in light blue trim with white graphic silhouettes of human figures printed on them. It is the kind of detailing that rewards a second look.

He paired it with matching wide-leg pinstripe trousers breaking cleanly over a pair of white sneakers, a light blue collared undershirt, tinted sunglasses, a structured blue patterned traditional cap, and a silver luxury watch on the wrist.

Afrobeats superstar Davido showing off a tailored navy pinstripe suit accented with graphic patch pockets and gold speckles for his performance wardrobe in Guinea. Photo Credit: Davido/Instagram

The whole look sits somewhere between sharp tailoring and a cultural nod, and it works completely. The traditional cap alongside the wide-leg trousers and white sneakers is what ties it together — dressed up enough for the stage, relaxed enough to remind you this is still OBO. Whoever put this look together deserves their flowers.

Guinea got a show and a fashion moment. We are not jealous. We are absolutely not jealous.

See more looks below

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Davido (@davido)

The post Davido’s 5IVE Alive Tour Look in Guinea Has Us Zooming Into Every Detail appeared first on BellaNaija - Showcasing Africa to the world. Read today!.

Doja Cat performs during Global Citizen’s Move Afrika: Pretoria on March 20, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

Last week in Pretoria felt like one of those moments you know will be talked about long after the lights go down. Global Citizen brought its Move Afrika tour to South Africa for the first time, and with Doja Cat headlining, it was never going to be a quiet arrival.

The night carried a certain weight. For Doja Cat, it marked her first performance on a South African stage, but not her first connection to the country. “For a place I’ve never been to, it feels like I’ve been here before,” she told the crowd, before moving through a set that included “Paint The Town Red,” “Woman,” and “Kiss Me More.” It was a full-circle moment in more ways than one, but the story here goes beyond the music.

Doja Cat performs during Global Citizen’s Move Afrika: Pretoria on March 20, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

Move Afrika, now in its third year, is being positioned as a long-term effort to build a proper touring circuit for international artists across the continent, in partnership with pgLang and Kendrick Lamar. The idea is simple but ambitious: invest in infrastructure, create jobs, support local talent, and open up more opportunities within the live events space. Since 2023, the tour has created over 3,000 job opportunities across Kigali, Lagos and Pretoria.

In Pretoria, that approach was visible from the ground up. Working with local partner Big Concerts, the entire production was delivered using a 100 percent local crew and equipment. It was a clear demonstration of what is already possible within South Africa’s live events industry when the right investment and trust are in place. Local vendor Mushroom Productions also played a key role in bringing the show together.

That focus on local capacity extended to young people looking to enter the industry. Through the Youth Technical Production Pathway, launched in partnership with Gearhouse South Africa Group and the Gearhouse Kentse Mpahlwa Academy, ten young people from Johannesburg and Pretoria, aged between 18 and 26, received hands-on training in lighting, audio-visual systems and stage rigging. They were also part of the build for Doja Cat’s show, giving them direct exposure to what it takes to deliver a production at that scale. The programme is designed as a pathway into accredited training and long-term careers in live event production.

From Pretoria, the story moves to Kigali, where the same vision is taking shape in a different context. Move Afrika: Kigali, delivered with Done and Dusted and the Rwanda Events Group, has steadily increased its use of local crew, moving from 75 percent in 2023 to nearly full localisation in 2026. A small group of international specialists supported the production, providing training and technical guidance along the way.

The scale of what was built in Kigali this year says a lot about that progress. The entire stage was sourced locally, including 880 LED panels, making it one of the most ambitious productions ever staged in Rwanda. Audio and lighting fixtures were 98 percent locally sourced, while rigging was 95 percent provided locally, installed alongside partners from the UK’s Unusual Rigging. Local crews also worked closely with teams from PRG and Done+Dusted across different areas of production.

There was also a strong focus on safety and operations. Local private security teams received additional training through a collaboration between Crowd Minders and Global Citizen’s Safety and Security training team, with Cohort Security Group delivering a tailored programme to more than 112 personnel. The training covered pit management, backstage security protocols and scene management, all aligned with international standards.

Beyond the technical side, the tour continues to open up opportunities within hospitality and the wider events space. Through its partnership with the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, Move Afrika has trained over 120 young people in Rwanda since 2023, giving them experience across event production, hospitality and the creative industries. This year, some participants moved into paid roles through collaborations with local businesses, including female-led enterprise The Financial Boutique, which employed five youth ambassadors in operational positions.

Back in Pretoria, the stage also made room for homegrown talent, with performances from Moonchild Sanelly and The Joy adding another layer to the night. It is part of a wider approach that places African artists alongside international acts, rather than as an afterthought.

For a long time, Africa has sat at the edges of the global touring map, often left out of major circuits. Move Afrika is attempting to change that by building the structures that make large-scale touring possible, while still delivering the kind of live shows audiences expect.

As the music carried through Pretoria, it was clear that something larger is taking shape. The performances may draw the crowds, but it is the systems behind them that will determine what comes next—and right now, those systems are being built in real time.

See more photos:

Fans attend the Global Citizen’s Move Afrika: Pretoria on March 20, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

Moonchild Sanelly performs during Global Citizen’s Move Afrika: Pretoria on March 20, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

The Joy performs during Global Citizen’s Move Afrika: Pretoria on March 20, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

Doja Cat performs during Global Citizen’s Move Afrika: Pretoria on March 20, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

Doja Cat performs during Global Citizen’s Move Afrika: Pretoria on March 20, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

Fans attend the Global Citizen’s Move Afrika: Pretoria on March 20, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

Fans attend the Global Citizen’s Move Afrika: Pretoria on March 20, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

A view of the audience as Doja Cat performs during Global Citizen’s Move Afrika: Pretoria on March 20, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

Doja Cat performs during Global Citizen’s Move Afrika: Pretoria on March 20, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

The post Move Afrika Is Expanding Across Africa With a Focus on Jobs and Infrastructure appeared first on BellaNaija - Showcasing Africa to the world. Read today!.

Kora, the payment infrastructure platform, has joined the International Air Transport Association’s IATA Financial Gateway (IFG), connecting global airlines to Africa’s payment ecosystem through a single, reliable infrastructure layer.

IATA Financial Gateway is the airline industry’s dedicated payment orchestration and management platform. IFG brings together global, regional and local payment partners to provide airlines with the right mix of payment options to maximise acceptance, reduce cost, and better serve customers in every market. Through this integration, airlines and travel agencies using IFG can now accept payments across Africa via Kora, including cards, bank transfers, mobile money, and local alternative payment methods, without having to build or manage multiple complex integrations independently.

Africa is one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world. The continent is expected to add more than 300 million new passengers by 2050. Yet global airlines have long faced a fundamental operational challenge when entering African markets: fragmented local payment rails, FX complexity, disconnected settlement systems, and the burden of managing multiple payment service provider relationships across Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt and South Africa. This partnership removes that friction. One connection through IFG gives airlines access to Kora’s full African payment infrastructure, with the settlement reliability and local compliance that enterprise operations require.

Dickson Nsofor, CEO of Kora, said, “Africa is not a market to figure out later. It is a growth opportunity that demands serious infrastructure today. Our partnership with IATA signals that the rails are ready. Global airlines no longer have to choose between expanding into Africa and managing payment complexity. With Kora inside IFG, they get both.”

IATA currently represents over 370 international airlines globally. With Kora now part of IFG, those airlines gain direct access to Africa’s payment stack across all markets where Kora operates.

IATA Financial Gateway (IFG) enables greater flexibility in travel payment processing for the world’s airlines and travel suppliers, helping them build a cost-effective travel payment strategy. Kora’s participation strengthens our ability to serve airlines operating in or expanding across African markets,” said Kamil Al-Awadhi, Regional Vice President, Africa and Middle East. 

The post Kora Joins IATA’s Payment Network to Power Airline Settlements Across Africa appeared first on WeeTracker.

Airtel Africa’s mobile money business processed nearly USD 200 B in transactions over the past year as the telecoms operator expands financial services across 14 African countries, putting it on track for a London listing that analysts say could value the unit at up to USD 10 B.

The company’s Sustainability Report 2026, published on Wednesday, showed that Airtel Money’s transaction value climbed 44% to approximately USD 196 B in the financial year to March 31, driven by microloans, international transfers and merchant payments. The customer base grew 21% to 54.1 million users.

Chief Executive Sunil Taldar said expanding access to financial services and connectivity remains central to the company’s strategy. “Across Africa, access to connectivity, financial services and digital education is increasingly essential to economic opportunity,” he said in the report.

The growth positions Airtel Money for an initial public offering scheduled for the second half of 2026. Analysts at CLSA estimate the unit could raise between USD 1.5 B and USD 2 B at a valuation of up to USD 10 B, a fourfold increase from 2021, making it one of the largest fintech listings on a European exchange in recent years.

The mobile money business now has an EBITDA margin of 50.8%, above the broader Airtel Africa margin of 49.3%, and contributes 20% of the group’s regional revenue. However, penetration remains at only 29% of Airtel Africa’s 184 million mobile subscribers, with significant room for growth in Nigeria, where only 2.7 million customers currently use the service.

Airtel Africa has also expanded its digital infrastructure, with mobile network coverage reaching 81.9% of the population, including 73.1% in rural areas. Smartphone penetration rose to 49.5%, while data customers grew to 84.2 million.

The company’s agent network, which supports financial inclusion and local entrepreneurship, expanded by 39% to 2.4 million agents. Women account for 44.1% of Airtel Money customers, the report showed.

Beyond financial services, the Airtel Africa Foundation connected 3,043 schools to free internet through a partnership with UNICEF, up from 2,176 the previous year. The company also converted more than 950 network sites from off-grid to on-grid power, cutting diesel consumption by 9.1 million litres.

Feature Image Credits: Developing Telecoms

The post Airtel Africa Mobile Money Transactions Hit USD 196 B Ahead Of Planned London IPO appeared first on WeeTracker.

South African small businesses are shifting from a survival mindset to more deliberate, disciplined growth strategies as economic conditions slowly improve, though lingering global uncertainties keep their optimism in check, a report released on Thursday shows.

The latest SME Pulse Report by SME funding startup, Lula, found that entrepreneurs are moving beyond short-term crisis management and focusing on operational optimisation after years of navigating power cuts, high inflation and steep interest rates.

“The story of SMEs in 2026 is no longer one of pure survival, but not yet one of full recovery either,” Lula Chief Executive Trevor Gosling said. “What we’re seeing instead is measured optimism. Businesses are becoming more deliberate about where they deploy capital, which opportunities they pursue, and how they protect cash flow.”

The report points to improving affordability for small businesses over the past 12 months, with easing inflation and greater energy stability restoring some predictability after prolonged pressure.

Business confidence has also improved. The RMB/BER Business Confidence Index rose to 47 in the first quarter of 2026, the highest level in nearly five years, building on gains in late 2025. Inflation has moderated from previous highs, and the South African Reserve Bank has begun cutting interest rates, with the prime lending rate at 10.25% by May 2026.

However, the report cautions that conditions remain fragile. Escalating conflict in the Middle East has driven up global oil prices, threatening to push inflation back up and delay or reverse further interest rate relief. Gosling said the external environment has already shifted rapidly since the report’s data was compiled earlier this year.

“SMEs are operating in a market that can change very quickly and often without warning,” he said. “Businesses cannot afford to become complacent.”

The report also noted a shift in how SME owners view funding. Many still rely on personal savings or credit, but there are growing signs that business funding is being seen less as a last resort and more as a strategic tool for growth. Some businesses are now using finance proactively to secure stock ahead of demand or expand operations rather than waiting for cash flow pressure to build.

“The future of SME finance will not simply be about access to capital,” Gosling said. “It will increasingly be about helping businesses make smarter decisions and giving them the confidence to act at the right time.”

South Africa’s SME sector faces a financing gap estimated at more than ZAR 350 B (USD 18 B), according to the OECD. The Lula report suggests businesses that embrace funding as a growth enabler rather than an emergency measure are better positioned to scale.

The report is based on Lula’s internal affordability, funding and operating environment data, alongside broader SME sentiment research conducted with News24.

The post New Shifts Push South African SMEs From Firefighting To Cautious Growth appeared first on WeeTracker.

Nearly all Egyptian consumers use artificial intelligence to help them shop, but only a fraction trust AI to complete a purchase on their behalf; a paradox that reveals a broader challenge facing the global payments industry as it rushes to build infrastructure for autonomous commerce.

A Visa study released Tuesday found that 91% of consumers in Egypt have used AI tools to assist with shopping, comparing prices, checking reviews and finding gift ideas. Fully 97% say the technology makes online shopping faster and easier. Yet when asked whether they would trust an AI agent to handle checkout, that figure collapsed to just 38%.

The findings, from the annual Stay Secure survey conducted by Wakefield Research, lay bare the gap between consumer appetite for AI-assisted discovery and their reluctance to cede control of the payment itself. The study surveyed 5,800 adults across 17 markets in Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

The trust gap is not unique to Egypt. In South Africa, only 23% of consumers would trust an AI agent to complete a purchase, according to the same study. In Kenya, that figure stood at 29%. Across the region, consumers are embracing AI for research, but they draw a firm line when money changes hands.

“Consumers see fraud protection as a shared responsibility, but they expect financial institutions, governments, and payment providers to take the lead,” said Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president for North Africa, the Levant and Pakistan.

The study also revealed a rapidly shifting e-commerce landscape. Eighty‑five percent of Egyptian consumers have purchased products directly through social media platforms. But as commerce migrates to new channels, fraud follows. Among consumers who reported experiencing a financial scam in the past 12 months, some 36% of respondents, nearly half said the incident occurred on social media, more than on any other platform.

In 2025 alone, Egyptian authorities said they thwarted financial fraud operations worth an estimated EGP 4 B (approximately USD 77 M), according to statements from the Central Bank of Egypt. Across the continent, an Interpol‑coordinated operation in early 2026 involving 16 African countries resulted in 651 arrests and exposed scams tied to over USD 45 M in losses.

The findings arrive as Visa, Mastercard, and other payments giants race to prepare financial institutions for agentic commerce – autonomous transactions executed by AI agents with minimal human involvement. Visa has already begun enrolling banks in its Agentic Ready programme, which enables institutions to process such payments.

But as the Egypt data makes clear, the infrastructure is arriving ahead of consumer trust. Asked who should bear primary responsibility for fraud protection while shopping online, nearly half of Egyptian consumers pointed to government authorities. Only 13% believed consumers themselves should be primarily responsible.

The path forward remains uncertain for payments companies. Consumers have demonstrated they will use AI to discover products and compare prices. Whether they will ever trust it to spend their money remains an open question.

Feature Image Credits: Consultancy-ME

The post Egyptians Are Using AI For Shopping But Won’t Let It Touch Their Money appeared first on WeeTracker.

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