News In Brief

News In Brief

NCC Tightens Enforcement, Targets ₦12.4 Billion in Telecom Fines

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Nigeria’s telecoms regulator is preparing penalties of about ₦12.4 billion ($17.3 million) for breaches of service standards, tightening oversight after months of consumer complaints about patchy networks. The push follows a directive from Communications Minister Bosun Tijani, who asked the Nigerian Communications Commission to introduce automatic penalties tied to poor network performance. In response, the NCC says it is updating its Enforcement Processes Regulations to strengthen deterrence and add offences not covered under the Nigerian Communications Act 2003. Meanwhile, revised Quality of Service rules issued in July 2024 widened performance obligations, including for colocation providers, and introduced stiffer sanctions. After a transition period through 2025, the commission set September as the compliance deadline. In October, the NCC fined Globacom, Airtel, and IHS Towers a combined ₦45 million. However, the larger liabilities now in process relate to additional breaches, with pre enforcement notices already issued, the regulator said. At the same time, the commission approved tariff adjustments in January 2025, saying it aimed to balance consumer protection with rising operator costs. It reported that the sector attracted more than $1 billion in capital investment in 2025 and added or upgraded over 2,850 network sites nationwide. Looking ahead, the NCC said it is narrowing consumer protection efforts to network quality, unexpected data depletion, and refunds for failed airtime and data transactions. It added that it is finalising a Spectrum Roadmap for 2025 to 2030, which it expects to release in March 2026.

News In Brief

PayPal Re-Enters Nigeria Through Paga, Enables Incoming Payments

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PayPal come back to Nigeria and has expanded access to its services in Nigeria through a partnership with local fintech Paga, allowing individuals to receive international payments and withdraw funds in naira after years of limited functionality in the country. The integration was announced by Tayo Oviosu, Paga’s founder and group chief executive, who said he first proposed a partnership with PayPal in 2013, when Nigeria’s online payments market was still in its early stages. Under the arrangement, users can link their PayPal accounts to Paga wallets, receive money from abroad at scale and view PayPal balances directly within the Paga app. Funds can be converted at willing buyer willing seller rates and withdrawn locally, while users also have the option to keep balances in dollars for online purchases where PayPal is accepted. The setup also enables Nigerians to receive money from Venmo users in the United States through PayPal’s global network, widening access to peer‑to‑peer transfers from abroad. PayPal had restricted Nigerian accounts to “send only” status from around 2004, citing fraud and compliance concerns. Subsequent steps, including a 2014 tie‑up with First Bank and a 2021 collaboration with Flutterwave, improved outbound payments and merchant acceptance but left most individuals unable to receive funds directly. The latest move marks PayPal’s most significant expansion of inbound payments for Nigerian users to date. The return comes as global payments firms increasingly rely on local rails to navigate regulatory and operational hurdles in emerging markets. Paga said it processed about 17 trillion naira across 169 million transactions in 2025 and now has more than 21 million users. Nigeria’s broader digital payments market has also been growing rapidly. Transaction value rose to 1.07 quadrillion naira in 2024 from 600 trillion naira in 2023, and reached 284.99 trillion naira in the first quarter of 2025. In December 2025, PayPal said it was in talks with Nigerian fintech companies under PayPal World, an interoperability programme designed to connect PayPal with local wallets in key markets.

News In Brief, Startups

OneDosh Raises $3 Million Pre Seed to Build Stablecoin Payments Between US and Nigeria

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OneDosh has raised $3 million in pre seed funding to build stablecoin powered infrastructure for cross border transfers, starting with the United States to Nigeria corridor. Founded in February 2025 by Jackson Ukuevo, Godwin Okoye, and Babatunde Osinowo, the startup grew from the founders’ own headaches moving money across countries. Ukuevo, the chief executive, said cards were blocked, accounts were frozen, and transfers stalled under currency controls. The team concluded that demand is there, but the underlying systems are outdated. OneDosh is live in the U.S. and Nigeria. It lets users send money between both countries, hold value in stablecoins, and spend through a stablecoin linked card that can be added to Apple Pay and Google Pay and used wherever Visa is accepted. Alongside the consumer product, the company is building programmable stablecoin rails that connect wallets, cards, and markets into a single settlement layer. It says the rails are designed to make cross border payments simpler for individuals and businesses that move funds often. The founders bring compliance and payments experience from firms such as ZeroHash and Plaid, plus product experience from Amazon. Next, OneDosh plans to use the funding to expand into new corridors, strengthen liquidity partnerships, and hire senior talent as it scales operations. The round comes as stablecoins gain ground across Africa as a tool for day to day value storage and cross border spending this year.

News In Brief

CBN Upgrades Opay, Moniepoint to National Status

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Nigeria’s central bank has upgraded the operating licences of several leading fintech companies and microfinance banks, bringing their regulatory status in line with how widely they already operate across the country. The Central Bank of Nigeria said the move covers firms such as Opay, Moniepoint, Palmpay, Kuda Bank, and Paga, all of which have now been approved to operate nationally. Speaking in Lagos at the annual conference of the Committee of Heads of Banks’ Operations, Yemi Solaja, director of the CBN’s Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, said many of these institutions had long outgrown their earlier regional licences. In practice, he noted, their services were already being used across Nigeria through mobile apps and large agent networks. Founded and scaled by local founders who focused on everyday payments and small businesses, these fintechs built momentum by serving informal traders and consumers often overlooked by traditional banks. As their customer bases expanded, the gap between licence limits and real activity had became harder to ignore. As a result, the regulator has moved to formalise their reach. With national licences, the firms are now subject to higher capital requirements and stricter supervision. National microfinance banks must maintain minimum capital of ₦5 billion and keep physical offices where customers can raise complaints knowing there is a clear point of contact. Overall, the licence changes reflect a broader effort by the regulator to match Nigeria’s fast growing digital finance sector with stronger oversight, while still supporting financial inclusion at scale.

News In Brief, Startups

Trove Takes Brokerage Operations In House With UCML Securities Purchase

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Nigerian investment platform Trove Finance has acquired UCML Securities Limited, bringing its brokerage services in house as it looks to gain more control over how trades are executed and regulated. Although the value of the deal was not disclosed. Following the acquisition, UCML Securities has been rebranded as Innova Securities Limited, which will now operate as Trove’s Securities and Exchange Commission licensed broker dealer in Nigeria. Founded in 2018, Trove Finance started by working with third party brokers to give Nigerian investors access to local and global markets. A model that helped the company grow quickly while staying compliant. Over time, however, higher trading volumes and a wider range of products made closer oversight more important. Chief executive Oluwatomi Solanke said owning a licensed broker allows Trove to take direct responsibility for trade execution, compliance, and governance, while also improving how quickly new features are developed. Trove says it has processed more than ₦500 billion in trades since launch and has been downloaded over 400,000 times. as the platform is among a group of early African digital investment startups focused on widening access to global markets for retail investors. With the purchase of UCML Securities Limited, Trove gains greater visibility into settlement timelines and regulatory processes. Some staff from UCML, especially in compliance and operations, have moved into the newly renamed Innova Securities Limited to support continuity. Existing user accounts opened through previous brokerage partners will remain active and will be moved to Innova gradually. New users will be onboarded directly under the new structure. The move follows a broader shift among Nigerian fintechs toward owning licensed infrastructure as companies mature and face closer regulatory attention.

Africa Focus, News In Brief

Startup World Cup Regional Competition Set for Abuja in May

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The Startup World Cup’s regional competition is scheduled to hold in Abuja in May, giving African startups a chance to pitch for a place at the global finals and compete for a $1 million investment prize. The competition will run as part of the RegTech Africa Conference and Exhibition in Nigeria’s capital, in partnership with Pegasus Tech Ventures, the organiser of the global Startup World Cup pitch series. Startups across sectors such as fintech, regtech, payments, AI, cybersecurity, digital identity, healthtech, agritech, e-commerce and climate tech can apply to compete. The Abuja event will select one top startup to represent the region at the Startup World Cup global finals, where companies pitch for investor backing and international exposure. Finalists in Abuja will pitch live to a jury of venture capitalists and industry leaders, according to the organisers. RegTech Africa chief executive officer, Cyril Okoroigwe said bringing the Startup World Cup qualifier to Abuja is meant to tighten the link between innovation, regulation and capital. He framed the competition as a route for founders to reach global investors and partners while building solutions that can scale across African markets. For startups, the draw is not only the prize money. The audience typically includes regulators, corporate decision makers, investors and ecosystem partners, which can speed up pilots, partnerships and fundraising for companies building in heavily regulated sectors like finance, identity and cybersecurity. Applications are open, and the organisers urged startups to register early.

News In Brief, venture capital

Hashgraph Ventures Pledges $1 Million to Hedera Africa Hackathon

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Hashgraph Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Abu Dhabi, has pledged $1 million to the next Hedera Africa Hackathon, adding fresh backing to one of the continent’s largest Web3 focused developer programmes. The pledge comes through the wider Hedera ecosystem. Hashgraph Ventures, part of the Hashgraph Association, is a Swiss non profit that supports training, certification, and innovation programmes for Hedera powered solutions. The firm said it backs early stage ventures and projects building real world tools and solutions across blockchain, artificial intelligence, and deep technology. Additionally, organisers said the new commitment takes equity investment commitments tied to the hackathon to $2 million, following participation from United Gulf Financial Services (UGFS). Alongside, they also stated that the next edition will run with a $1 million prize pool, contributed by The Hashgraph Association and the Exponential Science Foundation. By way of background, the first Hedera Africa Hackathon ran between August and October last year, using a hybrid format across more than 20 African cities. Organisers said it drew 13,000 developers and produced 1,300 project submissions. During the programme, teams built Hedera powered concepts across sectors including finance, healthcare, telecoms, sustainability, agriculture, and manufacturing, with attention on how AI can work with areas like IoT, robotics, and quantum computing. Commenting on the pledge, Kamal Youssefi, president of The Hashgraph Association, said the commitment reflects support for scalable adoption of distributed ledger technology, and follows what he described as strong outcomes from the earlier programme.

Africa Focus, News In Brief

Egypt Brings Banks, Startups, and Regulators Together for AI Everything MEA in Cairo

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AI Everything MEA Egypt 2026 is set to hold in Cairo on February 11 and 12, as Egypt and its partners push to make artificial intelligence a working layer inside the economy, not a side project. The event, organised by GITEX GLOBAL and hosted with Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and ITIDA, will bring together technology firms, banks, startups, regulators, and investors, with expected participation from over 60 countries. This timing is closely linked to Egypt’s National AI Strategy 2025 to 2030, which treats AI as a long term national priority. The strategy focuses on practical building blocks like access to computing power, local model development, stronger data governance, and faster adoption across key sectors. Official estimates tied to the plan put AI’s potential contribution to GDP at $42.7 billion over the coming years. Investment momentum is part of the backdrop. Foreign direct investment is estimated to have risen from $10 billion in 2023 to $47 billion in 2024, while Egyptian startups raised $330 million in the first five months of 2025, according to figures referenced in strategy and ecosystem tracking. Finance is expected to be a major theme with sessions to focus on how banks, payment providers, and fintechs are using AI for risk checks, fraud detection, customer support, and compliance work. For African markets where digital payments keep growing, these tools often decide how fast trust, inclusion, and cross border flows can scale. The programme also introduces a Chief AI Officer track for enterprise leaders, with closed door discussions on deployment, governance, and alignment with national priorities.

News In Brief, Startups

Chipper Cash Reaches Operating Break Even After Two Year Restructuring

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Chipper Cash, the African fintech best known for cross border transfers and consumer payments, said it covered its operating costs in the fourth quarter of 2025 after a two year restructuring that trimmed spending. Co-founder and chief executive Ham Serunjogi shared the update via a LinkedIn post, saying the company’s operating revenue was enough to fund day to day expenses. However, it did not state the figures. The shift comes as many African consumer fintechs move from growth at all costs to tighter margin control, especially as venture funding has slowed and regulators have increased scrutiny of payments firms. Chipper’s rebound is tied to a smaller set of priorities. A source close to its operations said Nigeria and Uganda are among its strongest revenue markets, alongside demand for US dollar virtual cards. Those cards have gained traction as more Africans struggle to pay for global subscriptions and services with local bank cards, particularly in markets where foreign exchange access is uneven. Two former employees familiar with the company’s finances said Chipper is now profitable and has about 24 months of runway, Although the company did not respond to a request for comment. Chipper was founded in 2018 and expanded across Africa, the US, and the UK. It rode the 2021 venture peak to a reported $2.2 billion valuation before later being marked down, with Forbes placing it in a $250 million to $500 million range as global tech valuations fell and some backers, including FTX and Silicon Valley Bank, collapsed. The wider trend is clear showing how fintechs are prioritising products that generate predictable revenue and can survive long funding winters especially in current volatile FX environment.

News In Brief

Nedbank moves to buy control of Kenya’s NCBA in $856m East Africa play

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South Africa’s Nedbank has made a cash-and-shares offer to buy 66% of Kenya’s NCBA Group in a transaction valued at about $855.5 million, tightening the link between two banks that sit on opposite ends of Africa’s fastest-growing retail markets. NCBA said the proposal prices the lender at about 1.4 times book value. The structure keeps NCBA listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, with the remaining 34% of shares continuing to trade locally, while NCBA would become a subsidiary of Nedbank if the deal closes. Shareholders who tender their shares would receive 20% of the consideration in cash and 80% in newly issued Nedbank ordinary shares listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The share-heavy mix reduces the immediate cash cost for Nedbank, while giving NCBA investors exposure to the South African bank’s performance. The deal brings together two leaders with different strengths. According to Nedbank’s Chief executive officer, Jason Quinn, this deal serves as a better entrance into East Africa, choosing an established platform over the slower work of building from scratch. While NCBA CEO, John Gachora has framed it as bringing in a strategic partner with deeper capital and cross-border capability, one that can help the group grow in its current countries and widen its options for the next set of markets. Formed in 2019 through the merger of NIC Group and Commercial Bank of Africa, NCBA operates 122 branches across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, and offers digital banking services in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The bank has built a large digital lending and payments franchise, which has helped it scale beyond its home market. The proposed acquisition fits a wider trend of African banks pursuing cross-border consolidation to capture regional trade flows and deepen digital retail banking in high-growth corridors.