WeeTracker

Business, Startups & Tech economy in Africa. A business publication that puts forward The African Context

[WeeTracker @weetracker]

The administrators of Koko Networks have begun marketing the company's core ethanol cooking technology and an Indian manufacturing plant, in the first major step toward winding down one of Africa's highest-profile climate technology failures, while creditors face heavy losses.

https://t.co/D3JtNeLDmr

[WeeTracker @weetracker]

Kenya wants ride-hailing drivers to earn more per trip. The government is proposing a minimum fare that could more than double what passengers currently pay. The platforms say that will kill demand.

https://t.co/micQXAyUND

[Kenyan Wall Street @kenyanwalstreet]

Aliko Dangote has announced that his proposed East African oil refinery will be built in Kenya rather than Tanzania, ending speculation over the location of one of the region's most ambitious energy projects.

The facility will have a processing capacity of 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day, making it the largest oil refinery in East Africa, and will supply refined petroleum products to Kenya and neighbouring countries to reduce regional dependence on imported fuels.

The announcement follows the commissioning of Dangote's 650,000-barrel-per-day Lagos refinery, the largest single-train refinery in the world. Further details on the Kenyan project's timeline, financing and exact location are expected as planning progresses.

[WeeTracker @weetracker]

Nigeria's president has ordered an investigation into Meta, Google, X and AI platforms over allegations that they are exploiting Nigerian news content without fair compensation.

https://t.co/afC9y0aCxi

[WeeTracker @weetracker]

Kenya's app-based delivery platforms are facing a significant cost increase after the country's communications regulator created a new licence category that will see companies like Uber, Bolt and Glovo pay substantially higher fees to operate, which could likely trickle down to consumers.

https://t.co/Hj34Y3c1mi

[WeeTracker @weetracker]

An unlikely revolution is quietly underway across Africa's stock markets.

For decades, trading was the preserve of pension funds, asset managers and wealthy individuals.

Today, a new generation of investors is buying shares from their phones, with amounts that would once have been considered too small for traditional brokers to serve profitably.

https://t.co/Dx3G2BgowT

[BBC News Africa @BBCAfrica]

As more countries move towards visa-free travel, including Togo's recent decision to open its borders to all African citizens, hopes are growing for easier movement across the continent.
But how close is Africa to becoming truly borderless?

[Reuters Africa @ReutersAfrica]

Kenya's private sector activity picked up in June, breaking a run of three previous monthly contractions, a survey showed on Friday. https://t.co/RhWjNQ4AtO

[Business Insider Africa @BusInsiderSSA]

Google has exceeded its $1 billion investment goal in Africa, focusing on cloud, AI, and connectivity initiatives.

At its first Africa Cloud Summit in Johannesburg, Google announced new projects including expanded internet capacity, an AI lab in Ghana🇬🇭, and startup growth efforts.

Google is building a connectivity hub in South Africa🇿🇦 to link Africa to Australia🇦🇺 and India🇮🇳, aiming to improve internet resilience across the continent.

A new $1 million program will be launched with Idris Elba’s Akuna Group to support 100,000 African creators with AI tools and digital skills.

[WeeTracker @weetracker]

Nigeria’s data centre expansion is being driven by demographics as much as technology, with investors betting that the country’s rapidly growing population will transform it into one of the world’s largest digital economies over the next three decades, industry stakeholders suggest.

https://t.co/h2UDpPWSVW

[WeeTracker @weetracker]

[Partner] LemFi, a financial platform for cross-border individuals, has received approval from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to acquire the investment platform Wealth8. This enables LemFi to expand its offerings into wealth-building and investment services, marking its entry into the wealthtech sector and advancing its goal of becoming a full financial life platform.

https://t.co/HwaysaEppR

[WeeTracker @weetracker]

An undergraduate thesis, NGN 250 B in daily transaction volume, and a contrarian take on why most fintech-led MFBs are still missing the hardest part of banking.

In this Q&A, Osunkeye discusses his path to the role of bank MD, how Nombank differentiates itself from Nigeria's other fintech-led microfinance banks, and where he believes the country's lending gap still runs deepest. 

https://t.co/FrJII3eVc9

[WeeTracker @weetracker]

South Africa's largest e-commerce company reported its first annual operating profit in 15 years this week, a surprising achievement against the backdrop of its stiffest competition yet, which the company, like other local African players, is navigating by hijacking the very playbook with which global rivals sought to crush it.

The continent's top e-tailers are countering the rise of aggressive foreign players by opening their marketplaces to Chinese sellers and plugging into the same supply chains.

https://t.co/IIQnmIEb3c

[Stijn Noorman @stijnnoorman]

If it was simple to consume, it was hard to create.

[Aravind Srinivas @AravSrinivas]

it’s easier to raise the ceiling than the floor

[Luke Metro @luke_metro]

Why haven’t prediction markets offered more ways to short private companies?

[Sridhar A @sridharfyi]

i think many first-time founders misunderstand what a founder salary is after raising vc money.

it's not for paying emis, upgrading your lifestyle, or building savings.

it's for food, rent, and the basics so you can keep building.

when i was a founder, i paid myself the bare minimum while our pm and software engineers earned more than me. that's the job. the company needs the best people.

your real payday isn't the fundraise. it's revenue, an acquisition, or an ipo. until then, your wealth is mostly just equity on paper.

[Mihr Thakar @MihrThakar]

A remittance sent from New York is statistically much more likely to reach a recipient in Kenya within hours than one sent from Nigeria, Sudan, or South Sudan, despite the latter countries being on the same continent.

Pan-Africanism never leaves conference rooms.

[KERUI @anthony_kerui]

Mombasa Leading Port in East and Central Africa.Lamu Port is the fastest growing port +974% in the region.

[WeeTracker @weetracker]

Consumers across Africa will gladly ask ChatGPT to compare prices, check reviews, and plan a meal. Handing that same assistant the keys to their bank account? That’s a non-starter for roughly two-thirds of them.

This is the headache and high-wire act that Paystack is wading into with its latest experiment.

https://t.co/RhuyNMH6cs