Wiza’s journey into fintech began as a web developer in Malawi before he moved into mobile technology and payments. After working at Africa’s Talking, Hover and Chipper Cash, he developed deep experience building products and commercial operations across African markets. At EBANX, his focus is on helping global merchants navigate Africa’s fragmented payments landscape and access local payment methods.

A central theme of the conversation was that Africa’s payments infrastructure is not necessarily behind more developed markets. In some respects, the continent has leapfrogged them. Kenya’s mobile money ecosystem, Nigeria’s domestic payment infrastructure and South Africa’s increasingly diverse payment rails illustrate how different markets have developed around different systems. The bigger challenge for global merchants is fragmentation, with different currencies, regulations, payment methods and settlement requirements across countries.

Wiza explained that EBANX essentially abstracts this complexity for global merchants, connecting them to local payment methods while handling much of the operational infrastructure behind the scenes. He discussed the growing interest from international companies in African consumers, but stressed that businesses entering the continent cannot treat Africa as a single market. A card-only strategy, for example, can significantly limit a merchant’s addressable market in countries where mobile money, bank transfers or other local payment methods dominate.

The conversation also examined some of the less visible challenges in African payments, including fraud, foreign exchange and repatriation. Wiza argued that global fraud models can incorrectly flag legitimate African transactions because consumer behaviour differs across markets, making local data increasingly important. FX presents another challenge, as merchants often want to settle in major currencies while collecting payments in markets with volatile local currencies.

Looking ahead, Wiza expects account-to-account payments and real-time settlement to become increasingly important across Africa. He also sees artificial intelligence changing fraud prevention and potentially creating new ways for consumers to interact with financial services, including through voice interfaces. He expects further consolidation in African fintech, which he believes could ultimately strengthen the ecosystem.

For his own predictions, Wiza identified Ethiopia as Africa’s most underrated market and backed account-to-account payments as the payment method most likely to gain ground by 2030. If he could change one regulation across the continent, he would introduce a single African Union licence for electronic money issuance, allowing providers to operate across multiple African markets under a common framework.

Check out Wiza’s blog here.

The conversation begins with the origins of the Deep Learning Indaba, which Marivate co-founded in 2017 at a time when AI was not yet receiving the attention it does today. He explains why the rise of deep learning and increasingly capable models convinced a group of African researchers that the continent needed to build its own capacity rather than simply wait for technologies developed elsewhere to arrive.

Almost a decade later, the Indaba has grown significantly, with more than 1,000 people attending recent editions and thousands applying. Marivate discusses what that growth says about the appetite for advanced AI research on the continent and, more importantly, the emergence of a new generation of African researchers. The challenge now, he says, is creating enough opportunities for that talent to remain connected to and contribute to the continent.

The conversation then turns to one of the biggest structural challenges facing African AI: research and development. Marivate argues that Africa’s ability to shape future technologies is constrained by relatively low R&D investment. Using South Africa as an example, he points to the gap between the country’s own R&D ambitions and actual spending, while arguing that the private sector will also need to play a much larger role in funding research.

From there, we explore the importance of African languages in AI. Marivate explains why the underrepresentation of African languages in datasets is not simply a problem of AI systems producing poor translations or responses. It affects whether these systems properly understand the people and environments in which they are being used. He estimates that African data accounts for less than 1% of the datasets currently being used, despite Africa being home to roughly 2,000 of the world’s 7,000 languages.

The discussion looks at the work of the Masakhane ecosystem and how researchers and communities are working to improve the representation of African languages. Marivate explains the different roles played by the Masakhane Research Foundation and the Masakhane African Language Hub, as well as the importance of enabling smaller language communities to develop their own capacity rather than relying entirely on large technology companies.

I also ask about the gap between African AI research and commercialisation. Marivate argues that the problem is not simply a lack of good research. Public and private institutions are often not structured to procure and test locally developed technologies, meaning promising products can remain stuck in pilot programmes instead of reaching customers. He also discusses the enormous cost of compute for deep-tech startups and draws on his experience as CTO of Lelapa AI to explain what it takes to turn AI research into a commercial technology company.

The conversation then moves to talent and the challenge of retaining African AI researchers. Marivate argues that the continent should not be focused on producing a handful of exceptional individuals, but on building a much larger ecosystem around them. He discusses the importance of communities such as Deep Learning Indaba in raising the quality of African AI research and introduces the idea of “brain circulation” rather than simply viewing migration as brain drain.

We also unpack the increasingly important question of AI sovereignty. For Marivate, sovereignty is ultimately about having the agency and freedom to choose which technologies Africa builds itself and which it adopts from elsewhere. That requires greater transparency around AI models, including understanding the data and design choices behind supposedly “open” systems.

The conversation then expands into the geopolitics of AI and the role of African governments. Marivate discusses data sovereignty, privacy, explainability and the challenge of creating a coordinated African regulatory position. He points to the Malabo Convention as an example of the difficulties of achieving continent-wide alignment on digital policy.

The episode closes with a look at the next five to ten years of AI in Africa. Marivate says what excites him most is the growing number of young African researchers moving into senior positions and producing increasingly sophisticated work. He argues that the continent now needs to give these people the opportunity to experiment, build and solve problems locally.

For Marivate, Africa’s AI future will ultimately depend on a willingness to believe in what can be built on the continent, support local builders and create the conditions for them to take risks.

The conversation covers the evolution of African AI research, Deep Learning Indaba, R&D investment, African-language AI, Masakhane, AI startups, compute, talent, brain circulation, AI sovereignty, regulation and the opportunities that AI could create across sectors including healthcare, agriculture and government.

Ecentric operates behind the scenes of many of the country’s largest retailers, providing the infrastructure that enables millions of card transactions to be processed every day. From card terminals and acquiring banks to payment switches and settlement systems, Wayne offers a rare look into the complex network that powers modern commerce.

The conversation begins with a breakdown of how a typical card transaction works and the role Ecentric plays in connecting merchants, banks and payment networks. Wayne explains how payment switches help retailers route transactions between multiple acquiring banks, improving reliability and reducing dependence on a single provider.

Reflecting on the last decade, Wayne identifies COVID-19 as a major catalyst for change in the payments landscape. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of contactless payments, tap-to-pay functionality and digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. At the same time, QR-code-based payment solutions like SnapScan and Zapper gained traction, particularly among small businesses looking for affordable ways to accept digital payments.

The discussion also examines the role fintech startups have played in expanding payment acceptance across South Africa. Companies such as Yoco and iKhokha have lowered the barriers for small merchants to accept card payments, helping drive financial inclusion and digital commerce beyond traditional retail environments. According to Wayne, these innovations have made it easier for entrepreneurs, informal traders and small businesses to participate in the digital economy.

Looking beyond South Africa, Wayne highlights the diversity of payment ecosystems across Africa. While South Africa has built a sophisticated card-based infrastructure, other markets have followed very different paths. Kenya’s mobile-money-led ecosystem, Ethiopia’s bank-specific terminal model and Nigeria’s tightly regulated payments framework demonstrate that there is no single blueprint for digital payments on the continent. These differences underscore the importance of building payment solutions that reflect local consumer behaviour and regulatory realities.

A significant portion of the conversation focuses on regulation and the transformation currently underway in South Africa’s payments industry. Wayne discusses the South African Reserve Bank’s efforts to modernise the country’s payment infrastructure through initiatives such as PayShap and the broader Payments Ecosystem Modernisation programme. These reforms aim to make payments faster, more affordable and more accessible while reducing reliance on international card schemes.

The episode also explores the growing conversation around open banking. While South Africa does not yet have formal open banking regulations comparable to those in Europe, Wayne believes the sector is moving in that direction. Increased competition from digital-first banks and new entrants has already begun reshaping the banking landscape and creating opportunities for innovation.

When discussing the future of payments, artificial intelligence emerges as a major theme. Ecentric already uses AI to support software development and analyse transaction data for operational insights. Looking ahead, Wayne believes one of the most significant developments will be the rise of agentic payments, where AI assistants will be authorised to complete purchases on behalf of consumers. This could fundamentally change how people interact with commerce, allowing AI agents to research, select and pay for products and services within predefined limits set by users.

Cross-border payments are another area of focus. Wayne explains how initiatives such as Transactions Cleared on an Instant Basis (TCIB) are attempting to make payments between African countries faster and cheaper. While the technology already exists, broader adoption remains constrained by regulatory coordination and differing national priorities. Nevertheless, solving cross-border payments will be critical to unlocking the full potential of intra-African trade and the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Looking ahead, Wayne sees PayShap as one of the biggest opportunities in South Africa’s payments sector. He is also particularly excited about mobile phone-based acceptance technology, which allows merchants to accept card payments directly on a smartphone without requiring dedicated hardware. Ecentric’s own focus over the coming years will be expanding its presence among mid-sized retailers and strengthening integrations between payment infrastructure and point-of-sale systems through its POSPAY initiative.

Whether you’re a fintech founder, retailer, investor or simply curious about how digital payments work, this episode offers valuable insights into the infrastructure, regulation and innovation shaping the future of commerce in South Africa and across the continent.

On this episode of the Tech Aways Podcast, Thaheer Mullins, Founding Director at African Angels Guild, unpacks how angel investors think, how syndicates are changing the way early-stage companies raise capital, and why founders should stop assuming venture capital is the only growth path.

Mullins traces the origins of African Angels Guild to his own experience in venture capital. After repeatedly encountering promising startups that fell outside the mandate of traditional VC funds, he began investing personally before joining forces with other investors to create a structured angel syndicate. Rather than simply pooling capital, the group spent months developing its governance, investment philosophy and decision-making processes before making its first investments.

Unlike venture capital funds, which often seek businesses capable of delivering outsized returns, the Guild looks for companies that have already proven customers are willing to pay for their product. The focus is less on chasing billion-dollar outcomes and more on backing resilient businesses with realistic growth potential, strong founding teams and meaningful commercial traction.

The conversation also explores one of the biggest misconceptions among African founders: that every startup should be built for venture capital. Mullins argues that VC funding is designed for a very specific type of high-growth business and comes with relentless expectations for scale. Many businesses, he says, are better suited to angel capital, which provides founders with greater flexibility before they decide whether venture funding is the right next step.

Another recurring theme is the value angel investors bring beyond money. Because syndicate members are often experienced founders, executives or operators, they frequently step into portfolio companies to help solve practical challenges ranging from marketing strategy and hiring to business development and governance. For many startups, this hands-on support can be just as valuable as the investment itself.

Looking at the broader ecosystem, Mullins believes Africa has made significant progress, with more than a hundred angel networks now active across the continent. However, he argues that the next stage of growth will depend on greater collaboration between these networks, more investor education, richer market data and stronger secondary markets that allow early investors to realise returns while recycling capital into the next generation of startups.

The episode also touches on current investment trends, why business-to-business startups continue to attract the most investor interest, the structural challenges facing consumer-focused businesses in African markets, and how syndicates make it possible for individuals to participate in angel investing without committing large amounts of capital on their own.

For founders navigating fundraising and for professionals considering becoming angel investors, the discussion offers a practical look at how early-stage investing is evolving across Africa and why patient, collaborative capital may prove just as important as venture funding in building the continent’s next generation of successful startups.

South African venture capital firm Aions Ventures believes one of the biggest obstacles facing the country’s startup ecosystem is not a shortage of entrepreneurial talent, but a lack of funding for startups that have already proven their products and are preparing to scale.

The firm recently launched the ZAR100 million Aions Seed Fund I to address what investors often describe as the “funding valley” between grant funding and Series A investment. While South Africa has numerous programmes supporting startups at the idea stage, founders who have begun generating revenue often struggle to secure the capital needed to grow into venture-backed businesses.

Speaking on the Tech Aways Podcast, Investment Principal and Partner Karabo Makete said the fund is specifically designed for post-revenue, technology-enabled South African startups that have demonstrated market traction and are preparing for rapid growth.

“We’re looking for high-potential startups that have a pathway towards globalisation and that solve real South African and African problems,” she said.

The fund will invest between ZAR5 million and ZAR7 million per company, targeting businesses operating across the technology spectrum, including fintech, climate technology, energy and other digital solutions. Rather than backing companies still at the concept stage, Aions is focusing on startups that are already generating revenue but need capital to reach Series A readiness.

According to Makete, too many promising businesses fall into a gap where they have outgrown grant funding but remain too early for institutional venture capital.

“There are many promising businesses that are starting to gain traction and working towards sustainability, but they need funding to scale and become attractive to Series A investors,” she said.

She described the challenge as a “chicken and egg” problem. Investors want startups to demonstrate strong growth before committing capital, yet startups often require funding to achieve that growth in the first place.

Unlike many venture capital firms that primarily provide financing, Aions intends to work closely with portfolio companies after investment. Makete said capital alone is rarely enough for young businesses.

“We don’t just write a cheque and let you run off on your own,” she said. “We offer strategic support, shared services and opportunities into supply chain networks to give startups a more holistic approach.”

The firm also plans to strengthen governance within portfolio companies, introduce clearer decision-making structures and help founders prepare for future institutional investment. The objective is to exit investments after around five years, ideally through follow-on Series A investors or acquisitions.

Makete said one of the biggest mistakes founders make is becoming too attached to their original product or business model.

“Bright ideas come about very often,” she said. “What matters is whether the team can execute, whether they’re coachable and whether they can pivot when the market tells them something different.”

She also cautioned founders against presenting unrealistic financial projections or failing to understand their target customers’ buying cycles. Instead, she encouraged entrepreneurs to engage potential customers early and build forecasts based on genuine market validation rather than optimistic assumptions.

While the fund is sector agnostic, Makete identified energy as the area she finds most exciting, arguing that South Africa’s ongoing energy transition presents significant opportunities for entrepreneurs. She also expects artificial intelligence to become an enabling technology across industries rather than a standalone investment category.

“I don’t see AI as a sector on its own,” she said. “Within energy, manufacturing and water there will be layers of AI interpreting data and creating intelligence, but there still needs to be actual value beneath the AI.”

The ZAR100 million fund was capitalised through ZAR60 million from the High Impact Seed Fund of Funds, managed by the SA SME Fund, with an additional ZAR40 million committed directly by the Technology Innovation Agency.

Makete hopes the fund will encourage greater participation from institutional investors and contribute to building a stronger pipeline of investment-ready startups.

She also believes South Africa’s startup ecosystem is becoming increasingly collaborative, with investors, incubators and ecosystem partners working together to improve founder support rather than operating independently.

“I see it growing into an actual ecosystem in the next few years,” she said. “We’re very open to collaborating with different funders and incubators to ensure there’s a cohesive approach to supporting startups in South Africa.”

On this episode of the Tech Aways Podcast, Treagus shared how Yazi has built a research platform that allows businesses to conduct surveys, AI-moderated interviews, and longitudinal studies entirely through WhatsApp. The idea emerged while he was working on innovation projects aimed at South Africa’s informal sector and realised traditional research tools struggled to reach large segments of the population. WhatsApp, however, was already in almost everyone’s pocket.

Founded in 2022, Yazi has since grown into a global research platform with a panel of 1.8 million profiled participants across multiple markets. The company enables brands to gather customer insights through a familiar messaging interface, improving accessibility and response rates while supporting richer forms of feedback such as voice notes, images, and videos.

Treagus’s entrepreneurial journey began much earlier during his time at the University of Cape Town, where he co-founded an e-commerce startup selling waterproof beach pillows. While the venture itself wasn’t destined to become a long-term pursuit, it taught him valuable lessons about building businesses, solving operational challenges, and developing the confidence to create something from scratch.

Today, Yazi operates both as a software platform and as a research partner. Some clients use the platform independently, while others rely on Yazi’s team to design studies, recruit participants, analyse findings, and generate reports. Its customer roster includes major brands such as Capitec, Discovery, Old Mutual, Pick n Pay, Uber, and leading research agencies. Notably, more than half of the company’s revenue now comes from outside South Africa.

One of the company’s biggest differentiators is its use of artificial intelligence. Yazi’s AI-moderated interview capability can conduct thousands of conversations simultaneously, dynamically asking follow-up questions based on participant responses. The company has also introduced AI-powered analysis tools, including automated classification of responses and the ability to generate highlight reels from participant voice notes.

Treagus believes WhatsApp will become a standard research channel for companies operating in emerging markets. That conviction helped underpin Yazi’s recent funding round, alongside strong growth metrics and growing enterprise adoption. The company has tripled in size over the past year and is targeting another year of similar growth as it expands further into international markets, particularly the United Kingdom.

The conversation also explored startup fundraising, enterprise sales, AI-assisted product development, and the realities of building a venture-backed company from Africa. Treagus emphasised the importance of developing a compelling narrative, demonstrating traction, and positioning startups as solutions to urgent business challenges rather than simply offering incremental improvements.

Looking ahead, Yazi plans to deepen its AI capabilities, including voice-based interviews conducted directly through WhatsApp calls. The broader ambition is to become synonymous with WhatsApp-based research globally, creating a category-defining business that reshapes how companies understand and engage with their customers.

Kriel reflected on how a personal frustration with the lack of meaningful local technology and business coverage led him to launch The Open Letter nearly four years ago. Having previously built and exited a technology agency, he wanted a platform that went beyond funding announcements to explain why businesses matter, what problems they are solving, and where opportunities exist.

That philosophy has helped transform The Open Letter from a niche startup newsletter into one of South Africa’s most engaged business and technology media platforms. Today, the publication reaches more than 40,000 readers, including startup founders, corporate executives, investors and decision-makers across some of the country’s largest companies.

Kriel believes media can play a direct role in helping startups grow by connecting them with customers, partners and investors. He shared examples of founders receiving business inquiries and partnership opportunities shortly after being featured in the newsletter, reinforcing his belief that better media can help unlock growth across the ecosystem.

Unlike traditional publishers, The Open Letter has built its business around long-term partnerships rather than relying heavily on advertising or subscriptions. Kriel argues that competing with technology giants such as Google and Meta for advertising revenue is increasingly difficult, while subscription models remain challenging in many African markets. Instead, the company focuses on creating value for both its audience and commercial partners through newsletters, events and community initiatives.

Looking ahead, Kriel sees a future where technology and business journalism become increasingly intertwined. As technology-native generations move into leadership positions, he believes business news will need to be viewed through a technology lens, reflecting the reality that almost every company is becoming a technology company in one way or another.

For The Open Letter, that future extends beyond newsletters. The company is investing in communities, events and new content verticals while exploring opportunities to feature more stories from neighbouring markets, including Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. But at its core, the mission remains unchanged: helping founders and innovators tell their stories and get the attention they deserve.

Today, that mission has expanded far beyond payments.

According to Yoco Chief Product Officer Lungisa Matshoba, the company now sees itself less as a payments provider and more as a technology platform designed to help small businesses run, grow and understand their businesses better.

“The first product we launched was actually two products,” Matshoba said. “We launched payments, but we also launched a point-of-sale system. From day one, businesses didn’t engage with us as just a payments company. They engaged with us as a solution provider.”

That early insight fundamentally changed how Yoco approached product development.

Rather than focusing solely on payment acceptance, the company began building tools aimed at solving a wider range of challenges facing small businesses. Over the years, this has included products such as Yoco Capital, online payments, invoicing, customer management tools and cloud-based point-of-sale systems.

For Matshoba, the long-term opportunity lies in helping entrepreneurs reclaim time and grow their businesses more effectively.

Many small businesses still spend hours manually reconciling payments, inventory and sales data across disconnected systems. Yoco’s strategy is to eliminate these inefficiencies by creating a unified platform where everything works together.

“You don’t reconcile between the same system,” he explained. “The system knows the data. It’s fundamentally there. This takes away the burden of time from the business owner.”

The next step is helping businesses grow.

Yoco has increasingly focused on products that help merchants bring customers back, increase spending and improve customer experiences. Even seemingly simple features, such as integrated tipping functionality, are designed with growth in mind.

According to Matshoba, happier employees often lead to better customer experiences and ultimately stronger business performance.

The company’s ambition is clear: become the digital infrastructure layer that powers small-business commerce.

For years, Southern Africa’s startup ecosystem has found itself stuck in an uncomfortable position. The region has no shortage of entrepreneurs building interesting businesses, yet very little venture capital flows into markets outside South Africa.

Jesaya Hano-Oshike, Managing Director of Bellatrix Investment Managers, believes that the gap represents an opportunity.

Bellatrix recently launched the Ndjaba Seed Fund, a $10 million venture capital vehicle focused on backing early-stage startups across Southern Africa. The fund will invest in between 35 and 50 startups over a 10-year period, targeting sectors such as fintech, healthcare, agriculture value chains, cleantech, e-commerce, and enterprise software.

Speaking on the Tech Aways Podcast, Hano-Oshike said the idea behind the fund emerged from observing how African startup funding continues concentrating in Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa, while founders in countries like Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe struggle to access capital.

“Most of the funding that comes to Africa goes into the big four markets,” he said. “Very little then trickles down to the rest of the countries.”

Rather than seeing Southern Africa’s fragmented markets as a weakness, Bellatrix sees them as an overlooked regional opportunity. Hano-Oshike argues that investors often underestimate the scale of the broader SADC market because they evaluate countries individually instead of as a connected economic bloc.

“People look at Namibia or Botswana individually and say the markets are small,” he said. “But if you look at SADC as a whole, it is a 400 million population market.”

The fund itself will operate across two layers of investment.

At the pre-seed stage, Bellatrix plans to back startups that have moved beyond the idea stage and already have an MVP, early users, or limited traction. These startups will typically receive between $25,000 and $150,000 to help them refine products and build early revenue streams.

The majority of the capital, however, will go toward seed-stage businesses already showing meaningful traction or generating revenue. Bellatrix wants those startups to use the capital to scale into neighbouring Southern African markets before eventually raising larger rounds from international investors or private equity firms.

Importantly, Hano-Oshike says the fund is not trying to become a controlling shareholder in startups. Bellatrix intends to take minority positions, generally below 30%, while remaining flexible on structures depending on the maturity of the business.

While equity will remain the preferred structure, the firm is also open to convertible debt and SAFEs in specific situations.

“We’re looking at equity first,” Hano-Oshike said, noting that alternative financing structures would mostly be used on a case-by-case basis for more mature businesses with predictable cash flows.

What also differentiates the Ndjaba Seed Fund from many traditional VC firms is its emphasis on operational support.

Bellatrix says it does not want to function purely as a provider of capital. Instead, the firm plans to work closely with founders on governance, operations, marketing, finance, and regional expansion strategy.

Part of that support system already exists through Basecamp Business Incubator, a Namibian incubator Bellatrix helps operate. According to Hano-Oshike, the incubator has already worked with more than 3,000 entrepreneurs over the past three and a half years, giving the firm an established founder pipeline and ecosystem network.

The fund also plans to collaborate with incubators and accelerators across Botswana, Zambia, South Africa, and other Southern African countries to source startups and support founders after investment.

When evaluating startups, Bellatrix says it will prioritise both market potential and founder quality.

“It can be a great idea, but if the team is not great, the likelihood of success is not that high,” Hano-Oshike said.

Beyond venture capital itself, the launch of the Ndjaba Seed Fund reflects a broader ambition around Southern Africa’s role in technology development.

Hano-Oshike believes the region needs to move beyond simply consuming technology developed elsewhere and begin building more locally relevant innovation ecosystems — particularly around emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.

“We should not only be followers,” he said. “We should also try to be leaders in technology.”

Application form: https://mulastream.com/

But according to Florence Bavanandan, general partner of the Botswana Tech Fund, that is exactly where the opportunity lies.

Bavanandan described the fund’s strategy as a “contrarian thesis” focused on backing startups in Botswana and neighbouring countries like Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

“Where everyone is not looking, that’s where the opportunity is,” she said.

The fund plans to invest in tech-first B2B startups solving infrastructure challenges around payments, ecommerce, logistics, and digitisation. Rather than competing directly in saturated markets, the thesis is built around helping startups scale across Southern Africa’s underserved economies.

One of the fund’s more unusual features is its dual strategy. Alongside a pre-seed accelerator programme, the fund will also deploy growth capital from seed to Series C, allowing it to continue backing its best-performing startups as they scale.

At the accelerator stage, startups will initially receive $25,000 to cover operating costs, with the potential to unlock another $75,000 after completing the programme and agreed milestones. The fund is targeting roughly 10% ownership in accelerator-stage companies.

Unlike many accelerators that focus heavily on training, Bavanandan said the Botswana Tech Fund wants to position itself as “investing first and accelerating second.”

Importantly, the fund says it is backing founders as much as products.

“At this super early stage, it’s all about the founder,” Bavanandan said, arguing that resilience, adaptability, and the ability to pivot matter more than perfect products.

The fund is also leaning heavily into AI-native businesses and infrastructure-focused startups. Bavanandan pointed to payments infrastructure and wallet-based financial systems as examples of the types of scalable businesses the fund hopes to support.

Beyond venture returns, the Botswana Tech Fund also has a conservation component. A portion of the fund’s carried interest will go toward the Tuli Conservation Trust, linking entrepreneurship and job creation to anti-poaching and tourism sustainability efforts in Botswana.

For Bavanandan, the broader goal is not simply to back startups, but to help build a regional innovation ecosystem capable of attracting more capital into Southern Africa over time.

“Africa doesn’t need another failed VC fund,” she said.

Startups can apply for the fund here.

Africa’s push toward deeper regional trade integration continues to run into a stubborn obstacle: moving money across the continent remains slow, fragmented, and expensive.

Despite years of fintech innovation and billions of dollars flowing into African startups, cross-border payments across Africa are still heavily dependent on foreign currencies, fragmented regulatory systems, and infrastructure that was never designed primarily for intra-African trade.

According to Naco Bolote, the continent’s biggest payments challenge is ultimately fragmentation, not just of payment rails, but also of policy, governance, and financial systems.

“Africa is crying out for unity,” Bolote says, arguing that the continent still lacks the seamless financial infrastructure needed to support meaningful intra-African trade. He notes that sending money between African countries often still requires routing transactions through international financial hubs such as London or New York because local systems remain poorly interconnected.

The problem becomes even more complex because much of Africa’s trade still depends on the US dollar as an intermediary currency.

That reliance creates multiple pressures simultaneously. Dollar liquidity remains scarce in many African markets, foreign exchange controls differ significantly between countries, and transaction costs remain high. Bolote says these realities continue to slow both business payments and remittances across the continent.

At the same time, geopolitical shifts are beginning to reshape how African policymakers and financial institutions think about financial sovereignty.

Bolote argues that relying on payment rails and currencies controlled outside Africa creates vulnerabilities for the continent’s economies, especially at a time when countries globally are becoming increasingly sensitive about control over financial infrastructure.

“It means you can easily be cut off the rails,” he says, referring to the global payment systems many African transactions still depend on.

These challenges have helped fuel growing interest in alternative payment technologies such as stablecoins.

Dollar-backed stablecoins are increasingly being explored as a way to reduce transfer costs, improve settlement times, and ease liquidity shortages in African markets. But Bolote believes they only partially solve the continent’s long-term problem because they remain tied to foreign currencies.

Still, he sees major opportunities for innovation.

Botswana, he argues, could potentially position itself as a regional hub for stablecoin innovation because of its relatively liberal regulatory environment around currency management.

Longer term, Bolote believes Africa could eventually develop digital currencies backed by African commodities and designed specifically for regional trade.

“My vision is really how do we create a stablecoin that is fundamentally African, designed for Africa, and backed by assets that we find in Africa,” he says.

The conversation around cross-border payments also increasingly overlaps with the rise of African fintech startups.

Over the last decade, fintech has attracted the largest share of venture capital funding on the continent, with startups attempting to solve problems ranging from remittances and settlement to liquidity management and compliance. But Bolote believes many of these companies are still building on top of global infrastructure that Africa does not fully control.

Rather than replacing banks, he sees the future of African payments being driven by collaboration between banks, fintechs, mobile money operators, and regulators.

“The entire problem is going to be solved by even banks themselves collaborating, fintechs collaborating with fintechs, fintechs collaborating with banks,” he says.

That collaboration is becoming increasingly important as remittances continue to play a larger role in African economies.

Africa received more than $100 billion in remittance inflows in 2024, with diaspora transfers contributing significantly to household income and foreign currency inflows across several economies. Yet sending money into Africa remains among the most expensive remittance corridors globally.

Bolote believes the next phase of innovation will focus on making transfers more seamless by connecting banks, mobile wallets, fintech platforms, and payment providers into integrated systems that allow funds to move instantly across borders.

He also expects the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to accelerate pressure for cheaper and faster payment infrastructure as trade volumes between African countries increase.

For Bolote, however, the continent’s payments problem ultimately comes back to a deeper issue: trust.

“Why don’t we trust each other’s currencies?” he asks.

The rise of content creators and independent publishers has broken traditional media monopolies, giving audiences more voices and perspectives than ever before. But it has also created misinformation, audience fragmentation, and what Tshepo Tshabalala, manager & team lead at JournalismAI, described as “bubble consumption”, where people only follow creators who reinforce their beliefs.

At the same time, journalism continues to struggle financially. Despite billions flowing into African tech startups over the past decade, media innovation has attracted relatively little venture capital because news businesses are difficult to scale like software companies.

“What we’re struggling to do as journalism platforms is sell the value that is journalism,” Tshabalala said.

On AI, Tshabalala warned that Africa risks becoming dependent on systems built elsewhere, especially since many African languages remain poorly represented in global AI models. He argued that African newsrooms need to help build local datasets and AI tools that understand regional contexts.

Still, he rejected the idea that AI will replace journalists entirely.

“AI won’t replace journalists, but it will replace the journalists who refuse to use AI,” he said.

According to Tshabalala, routine newsroom tasks may become automated, but human skills like investigative reporting, source-building, and editorial judgement will remain essential.

You can connect to Tshepo on LinkedIn here

Check out some cool use cases of AI from the JournalismAI library here

That is exactly the kind of sandbox experiment that is going on at 8 Darter Road, Gardens, Cape Town, the home of Innovation City.

Founded by Stephan Ekbergh and Kieno Kammies in November 2021, the hub’s business enablement model has proved to be a hit, as shown by the tenants who currently call Innovation City home. These include Yellowcard, Smile Identity, Lauch Africa Venture, Norrsken 22, and MTN Digital.

In this conversation, Kammies, who also has an extensive career in broadcasting and journalism, shares how the COVID-19 pandemic showed the need for a hub that was more than just a co-working space, but a microcosm of an ecosystem in itself.

You can connect to Kieno on LinkedIn here.

Read the full story behind Innovation City here: https://techcabal.com/2024/06/01/innovation-city/

If there is one analogy to describe Will Green’s role in South Africa’s tech startup ecosystem, it would be exactly that—a supernode.

From running one of the country’s most efficient accelerators and helping wet-behind-the-ear founders figure out their business models to driving M&A strategies for exiting founders, Will's impact stretches across the entire ecosystem.

But restricting his impact to the South African ecosystem would do an injustice to his work. Will has also been a mentor for Google for Startups, assisting African startups with their teething problems to build the next big thing. He is also an advisor, a board member, a venture studio builder, and and and.

In this episode, Will shares his take on how to improve the acceleration model, bridging the funding gap from early-stage to growth-stage, the importance of exit planning for founders, and his view on the role of policy in driving innovation.

You can connect with Will on LinkedIn here.

Banks, which were originally seen as the subjects of disruption driven by the emergence of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenised assets, are embracing them.

Traditional finance and decentralised finance, once thought to be sworn enemies, are forming new use cases which are addressing some longstanding pain points in Africa’s banking ecosystem.

For example, over the last half-decade, stablecoin adoption at the retail level has seen explosive growth, with Africans using them for facilitation of remittance payments and hedging against volatile local currency movements.

And now Absa, one of the largest banks on the continent, is expanding its stablecoin offering to its corporate and investment banking clients, with services including treasury management and cross-border payments facilitation.

Beyond stablecoins, the bank also offers tokenisation services, including token origination and asset tokenisation, with further use cases, including an Absa stablecoin, a future possibility.

In this episode, Nkahiseng describes the various elements of Absa’s stablecoin and tokenisation plays, the rate and state of adoption, and his thoughts on the growth of digital assets on the continent.

You can follow Nkahiseng on LinkedIn here.

He is a guitarist, pianist and vocalist, has been to over a hundred countries, holds a Stanford MBA and is a member of MENSA, meaning he has an IQ score at or above the 98th percentile.

In Africa’s tech startup ecosystem, Zach is known as the managing founder of Launch Africa Ventures, one of the most prolific early-stage VC investment firms on the continent. He is also a prominent angel investor and was part of the formation of some of Africa’s revered accelerators, including Startup Bootcamp.

The story of how he got into Africa’s tech ecosystem is as interesting as his profile. After concluding his career on Wall Street, which included a stint at Lehman Brothers, the first domino piece to fall in the 2008 financial crisis, he wanted to spend his life making a difference instead of just closing deals in Lower Manhattan.

A trip to the 2010 World Cup proved to be the puzzle piece that would set Zach on a path to backing some of Africa’s most innovative startups. Realising that Africa’s ecosystem had the potential to undergo a growth spurt similar to that in India and Latin America, he packed his bags and headed south, settling in Cape Town.

The rest, as they say, is history. In this episode, Zach reflects on the early days of VC in Africa, including the important role of accelerators and support from corporates, his investment strategy across his angel investments and at Launch Africa, the current state of early stage VC in Africa and what the future holds!

According to Kevin Kissi, it takes a belief that what starts as just an idea can change the world.

Hailing from Ghana, Kevin has pivoted his career from mechanical engineering to software engineering, swapping CAD-rendered designs for writing code.

Through Zof AI, he is taking it up a notch, enabling mid-market businesses to ship code that has been tested to ensure its quality.

In this conversation, Kevin shares his early days in his journey, including stints at a tractor company, a window company and one of the top 5 banks in the US.

He shares his motivation for switching careers early on and how always doing more than is required landed him at Microsoft.

We also touch on the current state of AI in Africa and how to enable the continent to catch up with the rest of the world.

You can connect with Kevin on LinkedIn here.

Canal+, Multichoice’s parent company, pointed to the streaming platform’s not-so-pretty financials as the reason for pulling the plug.

With Showmax gone, which was the closest Africa-born competitor to Netflix at least from the POV of budget spend, what will become of the continent’s streaming landscape?

While Showmax has always grabbed the headlines as Africa’s forefront streaming platform, several other streamers have amassed millions of users by telling African stories. One of those is Wi-flix, founded in December 2020 by Ghananians Louis Manu and Bright Yeboah.

Now boasting over 4 million users and a goal to reach 10 million in the next three years, Wi-flix’s focus on an African and mobile-native audience seems to be paying dividends.

In this conversation, Manu reflects on the early days of Wi-flix, which included trying to convince telcos that the soft bundling strategy would drive data sales while also convincing content creators that the revenue-sharing model was the right approach.

He also comments on the current state of streaming on the continent, including the implications of Showmax's exit and the insatiable appetite for African stories globally.

On the future of streaming, he touches on what business models are going to look like as well as the competitive environment.

You can connect to Louis on LinkedIn here.

Data centres are at the forefront of this infrastructure, providing the requisite environment to build out application layers, resources such as fintech apps and e-commerce platforms.

In this episode, Hlumelo Fungile, Chief Commercial Officer at PAIX Data Centres, breaks down the challenges facing Africa’s data centres ecosystem, including limited capital investment and energy constraints.

He also touches on the opportunities on the continent, including a growing population, which will create demand for data centres, increasing participation, an active role played by hyperscalers, and increasing investment by governments.

It is conversation which provides much-needed context on the role that digital infrastructure plays in Africa’s digital transformation ambitions and how to tackle the current challenges.

You can reach out to Hlumelo on LinkedIn here.

A few weeks ago, South African digital bank TymeBank announced a rebrand from its widely recognised yellow-and-black brand to “GoTyme”, featuring a Tiffany blue and charcoal black colour palette.

But beyond the change in logos and colours is a much broader view of the bank’s service provision, which is now more globally oriented for a natively South African bank.

To shed some insights on the rebrand, head of marketing Lucia Malapane stopped by the Tech Aways podcast to expound on the rationale for the process.

She touches on the internal processes which formed the initial rebrand conversation, ensuring that the rebrand aligns with compliance requirements and how the rebrand aligns with GoTyme’s vision of a 2028 IPO.