All our stories, in order, Dakar time (GMT).
Friday 25 September
The first ECOWAS biometric cards expire in October 2026. The deadline has been known since 2016, but the state is preparing an extension whose length and beneficiaries have not been set, after a cyberattack that halted production.
Thursday 24 September
Kenya’s main independent payment switch now lets banks issue their own cards, physical or virtual, on a local network.
Kenyan Sign Language, Kinyarwanda speech affected by speech disorders: the data needed for AI to serve people with disabilities is missing. A network of researchers wants to fill the gap.
A pilot country in a Smart Africa programme alongside Kenya and Lesotho, Senegal has approved its national plan for making use of data. The goal: move from scattered, unused data to concrete services, notably through AI.
Cheaper, open, available: Chinese AI models such as Qwen are winning over African developers, while American venture capital pulls back. A leading investor sees a huge vacuum left by the United States.
The Bank of Algeria has authorised the subsidiary Djezzy Payment Services to set up as a payment service provider. A first for a telecom operator in the country, made possible by the 2023 banking law. The final licence has yet to be obtained.
Signed in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the joint declaration opens the door to projects in health, education and public administration. With no money, no timetable and no Kenyan AI law to frame it.
The average price of a smartphone sold in Africa has risen by $41 in a year. The cause is the surge in memory chip prices, which undermines the goal of a truly affordable entry-level phone.
Wednesday 23 September
Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria are driving the market. Kenya has just been chosen as Africa’s esports hub by the Global Esports Federation.
Nvidia cited two AI infrastructure projects in Morocco, including an “AI factory” near Casablanca. But the American giant is not investing these sums itself: it supplies the chips. Untangling a misunderstood announcement.
After three years of operations in Daloa, the Ivorian state has approved an eight-year public-private partnership with Zipline to cover 2,200 health facilities and 12 million people. An ambitious project, whose cost to the Treasury has yet to be published.
Tuesday 22 September
The eight-year contract is meant to deliver vaccines, blood and medicines by drone to about 12 million people, a third of the population.
Six organisations hit in one month, and a worrying statistic: nearly one in two South African ransomware victims lacked adequate protection, according to Sophos’s annual survey.
Backed by Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala and the EBRD, the Cairo payments company has tripled its revenue in 18 months. Its growth now comes mainly from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, in a funding market in clear decline.
Friday 18 September
Senegal’s Social Security Fund pays several benefits directly into the Wave accounts of beneficiaries who request it. Here is which ones, and how to sign up.
Thursday 17 September
VAT rates applied automatically, withholding tax, invoices sent to the tax authority: the Indian software maker is launching a Nigerian edition of Zoho Books, from ₦4,320 a month.
A text message announces a traffic offence, a fake FRSC website offers a reduced fine, and the security code sent by the bank is immediately used for a purchase abroad. Anatomy of a scam that changes address every day.
Wednesday 16 September
The Dangote refinery is raising ₦2.15 trillion on the Lagos stock exchange. A small share of subscriptions goes through tokens on the Solana and Base blockchains. Public data shows a modest success, and legal questions that remain open.
The High Court declared unconstitutional the sale of 15% of Safaricom to Vodacom, which gave it control of the company. Documents withheld from the public, a disguised merger, no security assessment: the judges went through everything. The government and Vodacom are appealing.
Tuesday 15 September
The swappable-battery electric motorbike specialist and the Chinese two-wheeler giant will jointly design vehicles suited to African roads and motorbike taxis.
Monday 14 September
The South African data centre specialist is moving into West Africa with Nigeria Data Centre 1, a carrier-neutral site designed for finance, cloud and AI.
Sunday 13 September
Banking, agriculture, customer service, local languages: AI is already at work in the continent’s companies. But between the announcements and the results, the gap remains wide. Figures, concrete examples and obstacles: our Dossier-Tek on what is really changing, and what is still holding things back.