Over 1,400 students have been kidnapped in Nigeria since 2014. Schools are closing, and families live in fear.
Now, a US-based company, UrSafe, is proposing a radical solution: autonomous AI drones to protect schools.
Here’s how it plans to work. UrSafe’s model is “Security-as-a-Service.” Schools wouldn’t buy drones. They'd pay a monthly subscription for surveillance.
AI drones would patrol "Safe School Zones," detect intruders with thermal sensors, and alert a control center, aiming for a 3-minute response time.

When @AltSchoolAfrica launched, it promised the glitz and glory of the tech ecosystem to prospective students. Now, 4 years later, its fulfillment of that promise is being called into question by former and current students. It began with a few angry posts on X. Students complained about missing grades, skipped classes, and broken logins. Within days, AltSchool Africa was trending. A startup built to fix education was now facing its own learning curve.

🚀 If we told you to guess how much money moved in Nigeria in 2025, how much would you guess?

If you guessed in the trillions, you’d be correct. ₦647 trillion (~$440 billion) moved via digital transfers this year. But here’s the thing, despite all the hype about fintechs, the informal sector still keeps cash as the main method of transacting. 📊 According to the @moniepoint Informal Economy report, only 1 in 4 informal businesses say digital payments account for 10% or more of their revenue. That means 3 in 4 earn less than that from digital channels.

Medsaf demands a retraction to TechCabal's ‘defamatory’ coverage. Here’s our response

A THREAD Through their lawyers, the Nigerian health tech startup, Medsaf, on Friday, July 7, 2023, sent TechCabal a “cease and desist” letter, requesting that our story on Medsaf, published earlier that same day, be taken down. 2/

Meet the OPay Mafia: alumni of OPay who have started companies that are currently building tech-enabled solutions for Africa.

A THREAD Chukwudi Enyi - @chukwudienyi

He was a Senior Marketing Manager at Opay for 2 years. Enyi is currently the chief operating officer and co-founder of @bfree_global, Africa’s first digital credit collection company.

Nigeria is going after MasterCard and Visa with the launch of its domestic card service called AfriGo

AfriGo basically does everything your Mastercard, Verve, or Visa cards can do.

A THREAD Nigeria’s payments and cards market have an $18 billion value, and the CBN wants to tap into that. Debit and credit cards are issued by the above-listed companies, and now AfriGo will take a stab at it.

It's today

Join us and our speakers for a special edition of TechCabal Live where we will launch the State of Tech report for Q4 2022.

We will look at 2022 in retrospect and identify the trends for 2023.

Sign up: bit.ly/sotiajan27 In 2022, over 1,264 workers lost their jobs in Africa's tech market per @TC_Insights

Join us now as we discuss how the African tech ecosystem performed last year.

Sign up for Free: bit.ly/sotiajan27

Nigeria has slashed right-of-way charges for telecoms by 90%

Starting December 1, telecoms that wish to install broadband infrastructure in green areas would only have to pay ₦14.50 ($0.033) per metre instead of ₦145 ($0.33)

Photo: Vanguard Green areas are places where there is no telecoms equipment—underground internet cables and other telecommunication equipment. When telecoms companies want to install any of this equipment, they pay a tax called a “right-of-way fee” to the state government.

Jumia is planning to lay off employees

This comes just a few weeks after the company’s long-standing co-founders and co-CEOs Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec stepped down.

Let's take you through how Jumia performed in Q3 2022

1/ In Q3, Jumia reported $50.5 million in revenue, a 6% growth compared to $47.6 million in Q2, and 18.4% increase compared to $42.7 million revenue in the same period last year.

2/

Uber was hacked last Thursday

The hacker - an anonymous 18-year-old who has been sharpening his cybersecurity skills “for years” - said Uber has weak security.

Here is what we know about this.
1/ Last week Thursday, employees at Uber received a Slack message from a colleague that read, “I announce I am a hacker and Uber has suffered a data breach.” The message went on to list several internal databases that the hacker claimed had been compromised.

2/

Ruth Moshabane allegedly stole R53 million (~$3 million) from MTN in the period from December 2010 to April 2017.

She had access to 76 MTN bank accounts used to pay its vendors. However, she pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.

1/ According to court documents, state prosecutors revealed that Moshabane stole an average of R7.6 million (~$435,000) rands a year through 90 transactions over an almost seven-year period.

2/

What you should know about Uganda's controversial computer misuse bill.

One thing African govts have in common - other than devaluing currencies and national debts - is coming up with controversial bills on tech and digital issues.

1/ Nigeria has its debated Social Media, Hate Speech, and NITDA Code of Practice Bills; Kenya has its ICT Practitioners’ Bill; and Uganda has recently come up with its Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill.

2/

Funding updates!

In August, African startups made 38 fully disclosed raises totalling $218,000,000.

So far, this is the lowest raised in a month by African startups, a 9.06% decrease from July’s $239,706,000

@TeamAptHQ's $50M raise topped the list

🧵1/5 Funding raised per sector in August

The top 3 sectors are fintech, e-commerce/retail, and logistics.

Fintech startups raised $91,000,000 (41.7%), e-commerce/retail startups raised $79,500,000 (36.5%), and logistics startups raised $21,600,000 (9.9%).

2/5

Ping Express CEO Anslem Oshionebo, 45, and COO Opeyemi Ode, 43, have been reportedly sentenced to a combined 8 years in US federal prison for money laundering.

Here is what you need to know 👇🏽 Ping Express - a Texas based Fintech reportedly admitted it failed to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme, and operated without a licence in at least 5 US states.

European countries are banning Google analytics due to concerns about data protection.

The inside story is quite interesting;

1/ The issue with data protection

When you visit any website, Google Analytics notes the time, date, browser you use, your IP address, screen resolution, operating system, language selection, etc.

Most websites use this data to track users' preferences.

2/

Earlier in May, TechCabal asked 5 employees at different startups what was important to them when considering a job offer. All, understandably, listed monetary compensation as high on their list.

Here's what you should know:

1/ But they ranked something else even higher: company culture.

“Everyone likes money, including me. Salary is a major motivation, but I value other benefits as well.

2/

On food scarcity;

This year, the global wheat market reached an all-time high of $12.94 per bushel, compared to the price ($7.99 per bushel) it was in 2010.

1/ In Sudan, rising wheat prices have caused the price of bread to roughly double. At the end of April, the Premium Bread-Makers Association of Nigeria warned that bread prices would increase by 50% in May due to wheat scarcity.

2/

Should Africa be worried about Chinese tech dominance?

As of 2020, China-based Huawei controls 31% of the global telecom infrastructure market and has the most number of contracts—91 of them—to build 5G networks across the world.

1/ In Africa, subsidiaries of Huawei own up to 70% of 4G networks across the continent, and Huawei already has a significant lead in building Africa’s 5G network.

2/

Kenya is currently experiencing dollar scarcity so the country's Central Bank has ordered commercial banks to ration dollars as a way to preserve the fiat currency.

Here is what you should know:
1/ Over the last year, the Kenyan shilling has steadily devalued against the dollar, from the Ksh109 in January 2021 to where it is now at Ksh115.

As the rates went higher, the demand for dollars followed as most raced to beat the prices.

2/

What is the difference between a Series A round and a Series D round? Who is an angel investor and what do they do? How does debt financing differ from equity financing?

Let's break down these funding terms for you 👇

1/ First, the funding types:

There are 2 major ways startups can get investors to fund them. There’s equity financing and debt financing.

2/

What has MTN SA been up to in the past weeks?

Alongside partnering with JPMorgan to help build out its fintech arm, MTN SA is investing $56.4 million to modernise its network infrastructures in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. The Modernisation of Network South Africa project (MONZA) will also include the expansion of 5G network in SA.

While over 18 countries are still testing 5G in SSA, SA is 1 out of 4 African countries, including Kenya, Nig and Zimbabwe to have deployed a 5G.