👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – A New Era Begins as One Chapter Closes

Tesh Mbaabu and Mesongo Sibuti have recently stepped away from their operational roles at Chpter, the Kenyan social commerce startup they joined last year to help scale its growth. This transition reinstates original co-founder Mark Kiarie as CEO. Shortly after, the pair unveiled their latest venture: Cloud9, a mobile-first digital bank tailored for young Africans.

Constant evolution defines their journey. After closing the marketplace segment of their YC-backed B2B startup MarketForce in 2024, they pivoted to social commerce with Chpter. Now, they are diving into fintech, one of Africa’s most dynamic and competitive sectors.

Why fintech? The answer lies in opportunity. In the first quarter of 2024, Kenyan fintech companies attracted $482 million in venture capital, with the sector projected to reach a valuation of $14.54 billion by 2028.

Kenya’s fintech landscape is already bustling, with giants like M-Pesa serving over 50 million active users and commanding more than 90% of the mobile money market, alongside Airtel Money’s 9% share. Cloud9 aims to carve out a niche as a lifestyle-centric app for millennials and Gen Z, demographics often overlooked by traditional banks.

The takeaway: Launching three startups in two years highlights the founders’ willingness to reinvent and pursue new ventures. While this demonstrates boldness and adaptability, it also raises questions about the value of consistency. Today it’s social commerce; tomorrow, fintech. What’s next remains to be seen.

Though it might not be obvious, banking and IT are deeply intertwined. Without robust technology infrastructure supporting services like deposits, transfers, and account management, customers would face frustrating experiences similar to the outages GTBank encountered last year. This explains why Nigerian banks allocate substantial budgets to IT enhancements, maintenance, and oversight.

Recent figures: Zenith, GTCO, Stanbic IBTC, UBA, and Wema collectively invested ₦126.8 billion ($86 million) in IT during the first half of 2025. Zenith led with nearly ₦50 billion ($34 million), more than doubling its previous year’s spend. GTCO followed with ₦37.8 billion ($26 million), Stanbic at ₦23.7 billion ($16 million), UBA maintained ₦6.7 billion ($4.5 million), and Wema surprised with ₦8.6 billion ($6 million), a significant increase from ₦1.1 billion ($741,000).

Implications: This surge in IT spending reflects two key priorities: enhancing customer experience with instant transfers, reliable ATMs, and stable apps, and strengthening security measures. Nigerian banks suffered ₦52.3 billion ($35 million) in fraud losses in 2024, nearly triple the amount lost in 2023. As fraudsters adopt AI and cloud-based tactics, banks are investing heavily in defense systems.

Beneficiaries: Technology vendors supplying banking software and hardware stand to gain, as do customers who will enjoy faster, more secure, and more reliable banking services.

While banks may face tighter profit margins and customers might see increased fees, the financial strength of these institutions suggests they can absorb these costs for now.

Overall: Fintech companies have raised the bar for payment speed and trustworthiness. Nigerian banks are responding by investing billions in IT, aiming to boost customer loyalty through superior technology.

Following the expiration of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) on September 30, China has swiftly positioned itself as Kenya’s new major trade ally.

AGOA, a US trade agreement that granted Kenya duty-free access to American markets, has now ended, prompting Kenya to seek alternative avenues for its textile and apparel exports. China has proposed a comprehensive zero-tariff deal covering all Kenyan-made goods.

Trade figures favor Kenya: In 2023, China was Kenya’s largest source of imports, totaling $3.6 billion, while Kenyan exports to China reached over $206 million. The new tariff-free arrangement could significantly boost these numbers.

Risks and opportunities: Kenya has depended heavily on AGOA since 2000. Its termination threatens factories with the loss of their biggest market and the economy with hundreds of millions in annual revenue. Although the US government has hinted at a possible one-year extension, the China deal may represent a more sustainable long-term solution.

Potential impact: This partnership could transform Kenya’s supply chains, attract new investments, reduce reliance on the US market, and open fresh product lines for Chinese consumers. Whether it can fully compensate for AGOA’s loss remains uncertain.

Just as banks rely on IT, the internet’s backbone depends on undersea cables. Seacom, a leading pan-African ICT and telecom provider, is renowned for its submarine broadband cables connecting Africa to the global network.

Latest update: Seacom has unveiled plans for Seacom 2.0, a 25,000km subsea cable system capable of delivering 2,000 terabits per second. Construction is set to begin soon, with the first connections expected by late 2029 or early 2030. The cable will span from South Africa to Singapore, featuring a new westward branch landing in Lobito, Angola.

Unlike the original Seacom cable launched in 2009, Seacom 2.0 will utilize optical space division multiplexing (OSDM) technology, enabling up to 48 fiber pairs and vastly increased capacity. This will provide a high-speed backbone to support telecom expansion to end users.

Why it matters: Beyond enhancing streaming and communication, this infrastructure is critical as AI workloads grow and sectors like fintech, banking, and e-commerce demand instantaneous connectivity. Seacom 2.0 aims to preempt bandwidth shortages that could hinder Africa’s digital growth.

Context: Seacom joins other major projects such as Google’s Equiano and Umoja cables, and Meta’s 2Africa and Project Waterworth, all expanding Africa’s internet capacity. More landing stations also improve network resilience against cable faults.

In summary: Africa’s digital future depends on these vital undersea networks. Larger capacity means greater opportunities for innovation and growth.

Written by: Opeyemi Kareem and Emmanuel Nwosu

Edited by: Ganiu Oloruntade