Author: Elan

I sat in on a cloud panel at GITEX Africa in Morocco on April 8, 2026, that was less about how countries and companies are adopting the cloud, but more about who is controlling it.  The session, themed ‘Africa’s Cloud Moment – Build Regional or Stay Fragmented,’ brought together Kashifu Abdullahi, director-general of Nigeria’s  National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and Abderrahmane Mounir, chief executive officer, Maroc Data Centers, Morocco. The session was moderated by Adil Al Youssefi, CEO, Africa Data Centres Kenya. “If digital is a lifestyle to us, then cloud is the oxygen to sustain it,” Abdullahi said.…

If every time you hear the word “git” and immediately start picturing developers hunched over terminals, I won’t blame you. The version tracking tool was built for code and has lived in that world for decades now. However, at its core, Git is just a very clever way of tracking changes made to a file over time. It doesn’t know or care what those files contain. Whether it’s a C script or a notes file, it’ll track changes just the same. I use Git for non-programmer tasks daily, and this usage has nothing to do with writing code. Once you…

Madica, the pre-seed investment programme backed by Flourish Ventures, has invested up to $600,000 across three new startups in Tanzania, Kenya, and Nigeria.The three companies, Kilimo Fresh, Hakimu, and Biovana, will each receive up to $200,000. They also gain entry into Madica’s 18-month support programme, which bundles mentorship, executive coaching, and two fully funded immersion trips to technology ecosystems in Africa and abroad. On top of that, the founders get access to Madica’s global investor network.This is the latest batch from a programme that has been steadily building a portfolio since launching in 2022. Madica previously invested in startups like…

From Indaba to the budget: Will fiscal policy unlock mining-led growth? – African Business From Indaba to the budget: Will fiscal policy unlock mining-led growth? – African Business

Africa’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, VALR, has partnered with the digital payments gateway Onafriq. This integration allows users in 43 African markets to fund their crypto accounts directly using mobile money in local currencies, without the need for a bank account. The partnership, announced on Wednesday, allows anyone with a mobile money wallet (like M-Pesa or MTN MoMo) to deposit Kenyan shillings, Nigerian naira, Ghanaian cedis, or Ugandan shillings. They can then use these funds to access Bitcoin, stablecoins, tokenised gold, and over 100 other digital assets on VALR’s platform. This integration utilises Onafriq’s extensive network, which includes almost one billion…

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has extended the deadline for filing individual annual income tax returns for the second time, now giving taxpayers until April 21, 2026, to complete their submissions. The agency announced the extension on Friday, citing a surge in traffic on its eTax platform following the previous extension to April 14. The LIRS stated that the high volume of users attempting to file reflects genuine compliance efforts and that the additional time is being granted to ensure everyone has a fair opportunity to submit their information accurately. “This additional extension is granted in consideration of…

I use Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude almost every day, both for work and for my own projects. Each service has its strengths and weaknesses, and you can access a lot of the features for free. The paid plans offer even more features, but if you only want to pay for one, there’s a clear winner. Gemini is great for research It’s a good choice if you’re all in on Google services Credit: Google Unsurprisingly for a chatbot built by Google, Gemini is great for search. In my experience, this is something that Claude in particular struggles with; it can’t read through…

Lara-Anne Nel, Lead Strategist: Boomtown There’s currently just too much information out in the world for consumers to handle – including a stifling amount of AI-generated advertising, content and information, much of which has the same feel because it’s generated using similar AI tools. This leads us to trust erosion because people stop believing the messages delivered by these ‘perfectly-optimised narratives’, leaving us in a landscape where everything is polished and ‘perfect’ – yet empty. Evolution, Devolution, Revolution We worked through the phase in advertising where understanding consumers was all about data, information and research – and came out the other side understanding that the…

** For the best experience, download the free Africa Private Equity News app Android | iOS **A MESSAGE FROM OUR SUPPORTERSInaugural SAVCA Fellowship: The next generation of excellence can still applyAccelerate your career trajectory and deepen your industry knowledge through a curated 11-month experience. Read moreHere are summaries of the five most widely read stories the past week on Africa Private Equity News.1. South Africa: Kholo Capital and Tensai Private Equity back Isambane Mining MBOThe Kholo Capital Mezzanine Debt Fund I and Tensai Private Equity announced the provision of R275 million (about $16.4 million) in mezzanine debt funding to support…

Kenya is drawing a tight circle around who can issue stablecoins in the country and how those digital currencies must be built.  The National Treasury’s draft Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations, published in March and now out for public comment until Friday, lay out reserve rules, capital thresholds, and disclosure standards that together try to pull stablecoin value, data, and control firmly onshore. Under the proposed regulations, any firm issuing a stablecoin to the public in Kenya must hold local fiat‑backed reserves at all times in high‑quality liquid assets, such as cash or deposits with commercial banks or the central…