The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has opened applications for its 2026 Innovation Prize. The program supports high-impact Nigerian startups in healthcare, climate technology, and agriculture. Winners will share a total prize pool of $275,000, along with intensive mentorship and access to significant investment opportunities. Founders have until July 8, 2026, to submit their applications.
U.S. startup accelerator Y Combinator has opened applications for its Fall 2026 cohort in San Francisco. The program is seeking early-stage tech startups from around the world, including Africa, that are focused on AI or fintech. Selected startups will receive funding, expert mentorship, and access to a powerful network of investors. Founders have until July 27, 2026, to apply.
Private equity firm Holocene has closed its inaugural climate-tech fund focused on Southern Africa. In just 18 months, the fund has backed ten local startups, creating more than 500 jobs. Its portfolio includes circular-fashion ventures and e-mobility companies developing electric motorcycles and battery-swapping stations. In addition to funding, the startups receive hands-on operational support to help them scale.
- Mouhamadou Sall founded NIMA Codes in 2019 to simplify address identification and sharing in areas lacking formal addressing systems.
- The platform allows users to create a digital address by photographing a location and linking it to geographic coordinates and a phone number.
- NIMA Codes has expanded into e-commerce and financial services through NIMA Shop and NIMA Pay.
Mouhamadou Sall is a Senegalese engineer and entrepreneur. He serves as founder and chief executive officer of NIMA Codes, a platform that simplifies address identification and sharing, particularly in regions that lack official addressing systems.
Founded in 2019, NIMA Codes offers a user-friendly solution designed for areas that remain poorly represented in conventional urban mapping systems.
To register a location, whether a residence or an office, a user simply takes a photograph of the site. The application then associates the image with the geographic coordinates required to make the location identifiable, searchable, and easy to share. The startup has built its strategy around simplicity. Instead of relying on lengthy directions, users can directly link their address to their phone number.
In addition, NIMA Codes integrates a messaging feature that facilitates interactions between users and nearby businesses and service providers. Over time, the company has expanded its platform into a broader ecosystem of digital services. The platform now includes NIMA Shop, which allows merchants to create online stores free of charge. The company has also launched NIMA Pay, a service that enables users to send, receive, and manage financial transactions.
Alongside his entrepreneurial activities, Mouhamadou Sall applies his expertise at Clearly AI. At the U.S.-based technology company, he works as an engineer responsible for automating design reviews, threat models, and security assessments. His professional profile rests on an international academic background.
Sall began his studies at the University of Sahel in Senegal, where he earned a degree in physics. He later completed a computer engineering degree at Polytechnique Montréal in Canada.
Before launching NIMA Codes, Sall built his experience at several North American technology companies. He worked as an engineer at Canadian speech-recognition specialist Nuance Communications between 2017 and 2018. He subsequently joined U.S.-based hospitality technology company Sonder, where he worked from 2019 to 2025.
This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba
Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum
- Etepe Anahlui co-founded Karaba, an AI-powered recruitment platform focused on African labor markets.
- Karaba uses a WhatsApp-based conversational agent to onboard candidates and match them with employers.
- The startup operates in more than 20 African countries and draws on a database of over 50,000 candidates.
Etepe Anahlui is a Togolese digital transformation specialist and technology entrepreneur. He serves as co-founder and chief executive officer of Karaba, a conversational artificial intelligence infrastructure designed specifically for Africa’s employment market.
Karaba combines artificial intelligence with a curated pool of local talent to modernize traditional hiring practices. The platform centers its strategy on accessibility. A conversational AI agent guides candidates through WhatsApp, helping them create professional profiles, describe their skills, and specify their availability. The system simplifies access to employment opportunities for professionals living in Africa as well as members of the African diaspora.
On the employer side, companies submit or upload job descriptions directly to the platform. Karaba’s algorithm then analyzes thousands of verified candidate profiles and identifies the most qualified applicants. Recruiters manage the hiring process and collaborate with internal teams through a centralized dashboard.
Leveraging a database of more than 50,000 candidates, the startup has already expanded its reach across the continent. Karaba currently provides services in more than 20 African countries, including Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya.
Alongside his work at Karaba, Etepe Anahlui applies his expertise at Quarantes, a Togolese strategic intelligence consulting firm. He serves as managing partner, senior functional architect, and AI product manager, roles that strengthen his cross-disciplinary perspective on technology and digital innovation.
This professional trajectory rests on a strong academic foundation. Anahlui earned a bachelor's degree in science and technology from the University of Lomé in 2022. He subsequently obtained a bachelor's degree in digital transformation from the Higher School of Commerce and Digital Economy in 2024. In 2025, he completed a professional certification in data intelligence at the Institut Mines-Télécom Business School in France.
Anahlui began his professional career in 2024 as ICT supervisor for WURI, the Togolese government's biometric identification program. More recently, he served as information technology project portfolio manager at MAONO, an independent consulting firm specializing in strategy and technology solutions development, between November 2025 and February 2026.
This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba
Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum
- Djiboutian startup Limo is building a local e-commerce ecosystem that connects consumers, merchants and restaurants through an online marketplace and delivery network
- The platform aims to address gaps in Djibouti’s digital commerce sector by improving online access for small businesses and simplifying deliveries and payments
- By supporting local merchants and expanding access to online shopping, Limo could help accelerate e-commerce adoption in Djibouti
Limo is an e-commerce solution developed by a Djiboutian startup. Through its online marketplace and delivery network, the company aims to connect merchants, restaurants and consumers within a single digital ecosystem designed specifically for the Djiboutian market.
Available through a mobile application and a web platform, the service allows users to order products from local stores, restaurants, pharmacies and service providers, with home delivery available. The platform also supports payment methods commonly used in the country, including cash on delivery and certain mobile payment solutions.
The company aims to tackle several challenges in Djibouti, including an underdeveloped e-commerce sector, the limited online presence of small businesses and logistical challenges associated with urban deliveries. Limo also uses artificial intelligence to enhance the user experience and provide personalized recommendations, according to posts published on its LinkedIn page.
Limo's development comes at a time when several African markets are witnessing the emergence of local digital commerce platforms that seek to adapt the marketplace model to the unique needs of African economies, particularly in areas such as payments, logistics and consumer trust.
Beyond providing delivery services, Limo aims to support the gradual growth of digital commerce in Djibouti by helping local merchants reach more customers and making online shopping more accessible to consumers. Over time, the platform could contribute to faster e-commerce adoption in a country where the use of digital services continues to expand.
Adoni Conrad Quenum
- Algerian entrepreneur Abdelbasset Meghraoui founded Survision in 2025 to disrupt costly, traditional market research through a mobile crowdsourced surveyor network.
- The startup implements strict data-quality controls, deploying real-time audit software and mandatory GPS tracking to eliminate surveyor fraud and data bias.
- Founder Meghraoui leverages strong technical credentials as both a computer science student and an active board member at the prestigious ESTIN institute.
Corporate decision-makers face persistent difficulties when they attempt to acquire reliable field data without exhausting massive operational budgets. Algerian market research firms are now implementing mobile surveyor networks and rigorous quality control protocols to modernize regional business intelligence.
Algerian entrepreneur Abdelbasset Meghraoui addresses this specific market inefficiency as the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Survision. His corporate strategy focuses on data integrity. Survision collects and analyzes market data to help commercial organizations decipher consumer behavior and local economic environments through verified fieldwork.
The tech startup, which Meghraoui established in 2025, manages a widespread network of mobile field agents across multiple Algerian administrative regions using an intuitive proprietary app. This digital architecture eliminates the heavy logistical burdens and prohibitive costs of legacy polling methods. Consequently, Survision provides corporate clients with unprecedented operational agility during localized data-gathering campaigns.
Survision enforces strict quality metrics throughout its data collection pipeline. The company requires all field agents to complete specialized training courses and pass procedural evaluations before they join active field operations. This rigorous preparation guarantees high data consistency and minimizes human error or initial collection bias during field interviews.
Advanced Data Auditing and Student Ecosystem Roots
The company deploys automated downstream compliance mechanisms to safeguard data fidelity in real time. Proprietary audit systems scan data streams to detect minor statistical anomalies during active survey sessions. Concurrently, built-in geolocation tools verify the precise physical coordinates of field agents to eliminate data falsification and geographic manipulation.
This structural focus on innovation reflects the technical background of its founder. Meghraoui studies computer science at the Higher School of Computer Science and Digital Technologies (ESTIN), where he also maintains an active seat on the institutional board of directors.
Meghraoui began his entrepreneurial path in 2019 when he executed commercial contracts as a freelance graphic designer. He expanded his business experience in 2020 by co-founding the streetwear apparel brand AWT TEES. This combination of creative design and team management deepened between 2022 and 2024 at ByteCraft, ESTIN’s scientific club. Meghraoui advanced from design lead to department co-head at ByteCraft before he assumed the role of club president.
This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba
Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum
- Tech specialist Youssef Sami founded Datalentech in 2025 to transform raw corporate data into automated decision-making solutions.
- Datalentech launched PAULA, a specialized poultry sector platform that predicts farming performance and optimizes profit margins.
- Sami concurrently drives circular technology projects as CTO of Environ-Adapt and advises digital health startup MedTech Solutions Egypt.
Egyptian entrepreneur Youssef Sami focuses his primary professional efforts on converting corporate data capital into genuine growth drivers. The tech specialist founded Datalentech in 2025 to achieve this goal. Sami designed Datalentech to convert raw corporate information into actionable decision-making solutions and automated operational processes.
To deliver these outcomes efficiently, Sami structures his organization as an artificial intelligence laboratory around a three-part strategic framework. Datalentech treats corporate data as its raw material. The firm utilizes tech talents as its primary transformation engine. Finally, the company delivers technological innovation as its scalable final product.
Datalentech services a diverse corporate clientele that spans major conglomerates and high-growth enterprises. The firm deploys a comprehensive portfolio of technical expertise to support these partners. Datalentech designs customized AI strategies, builds advanced predictive models, programs intelligent conversational assistants, and manages massive Big Data infrastructures. These target interventions maximize corporate operational efficiency, reduce enterprise overhead costs, and uncover new revenue streams for business partners.
This robust enterprise framework enables the rapid deployment of specialized vertical software solutions across traditional industries. PAULA represents one of the most prominent innovations from Sami's development pipeline. Datalentech developed this dedicated platform specifically for the commercial poultry sector. The digital tool allows poultry industry operators to forecast farming performance metrics, optimize corporate profit margins, and schedule agricultural production schedules with high precision. An integrated intelligent assistant supports these operators by issuing early warning alerts and providing real-time management recommendations.
While Datalentech occupies significant corporate resources, Sami expands his market footprint across other sustainable technology sectors. Sami simultaneously holds the position of Chief Technology Officer and co-founder at Environ-Adapt, an enterprise that develops circular economy technologies. Sami also provides strategic guidance to the healthcare sector as the primary technology advisor for digital health startup MedTech Solutions Egypt.
A rigorous academic foundation and extensive corporate experience support this diverse multi-firm portfolio. Sami graduated from the American University in Cairo in 2010 with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Business Management. He advanced his academic specialization in 2018 by earning a Master's degree in Business Analytics and Big Data from the IE School of Science and Technology in Spain.
Sami initiated his professional trajectory in 2011 at the American technology firm Schlumberger, where he executed projects as a digital production solutions engineer. Sami joined American energy firm Sensia Global in 2020. He managed the digital solutions team in Egypt before he assumed the role of Regional Head of Digital Solutions for the Middle East and Africa region. Sami expanded his sustainability credentials from 2022 to 2024 when he directed technical strategy as the Chief Technology Officer of Intro Sustainable Resources, an operator that develops green energy projects.
This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba
Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum
- Ivorian fintech startup Green Pay launched an interoperable platform that aggregates mobile money, credit cards, QR codes, and e-wallets into a single terminal.
- Foundering partners Anouar Traboulsi and Hervé Tairou aim to build a vast merchant network to bridge the gap between cash-reliant retailers and mobile banking users.
- The platform consolidates retail operations by processing bill payments, executing money transfers, and generating real-time business activity reports.
Ivorian financial technology startup Green Pay is aggressively capturing market share in the merchant services sector. The company provides a unified ecosystem that helps local retailers accept multiple digital payment methods seamlessly.
The emerging fintech firm designed its core payment infrastructure to eliminate technical fragmentation for businesses. The software allows merchants to process mobile money transactions, bank cards, QR code payments, and electronic wallets. Consequently, corporate clients manage their entire digital revenue streams without purchasing multiple hardware terminals or executing complex software integrations.
Co-founders Anouar Traboulsi and Hervé Tairou launched the Abidjan-based business in 2019. The executive team targets a clear operational milestone to "create a vast network of acceptance points available to mobile subscribers for merchant payments."
This commercial strategy addresses a heavily fragmented West African financial landscape where diverse mobile wallet ecosystems coexist alongside traditional banking networks. Green Pay leverages technical interoperability to accelerate financial inclusion and modernize the region's retail commerce sector.
The enterprise platform specifically serves high-volume retail stores, commercial distribution chains, and independent service providers. In addition to core transaction processing, Green Pay delivers critical value-added features to its clients. The system automates utility bill payments, manages peer-to-peer money transfers, and produces analytical business activity reports.
The corporate business model relies on an interconnected network of physical terminals and digital acceptance points. This infrastructure expands consumer access to digital financial services, particularly within geographic regions that lack physical bank branches. However, the company faces distinct market challenges, including the need to secure widespread merchant adoption and maintain durable technical integrations with top-tier mobile money operators and commercial banking institutions.
The expansion of Green Pay coincides with a broader macroeconomic surge in digital payments across West Africa. Rising smartphone penetration rates and increasing consumer adoption of mobile transaction systems fuel this structural regional growth.
Over the long term, these integrated platforms will reduce cash dependency and formalize capital flows within both informal and formal African retail markets. Rival regional fintech firms, including Djamo, FeexPay, and CinetPay, pursue similar market opportunities in this rapidly evolving sector.
This article was initially published in French by Adoni Conrad Quenum
Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum
- Somalia is accelerating its national migration to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) to expand its digital infrastructure capacity and support economic growth.
- The National Communications Authority (NCA) convened internet service providers, universities, and telecom experts on June 10 to synchronize deployment strategies.
- The government established a dedicated National IPv6 Center at Jamhuriya University to train technical experts and bypass the severe address limits of older IPv4 technology.
Somali authorities leverage digital transformation to boost the country's socio-economic development. Government agencies are aggressively strengthening infrastructure networks to support the rapid growth of digital services across the nation.
To achieve these long-term goals, Somalia is intensifying its structural transition to the new generation of internet addresses (IPv6). This strategic initiative expands the capacity of the country's digital infrastructure and anticipates the future growth of online applications.
The National Communications Authority (NCA) and the National IPv6 Center advanced this agenda on Wednesday, June 10, by hosting a specialized technical workshop. This strategic meeting united internet service providers, academic institutions, telecommunications experts, and diverse digital sector stakeholders.
According to the national news agency, this collaborative gathering provided a vital platform to raise institutional awareness about IPv6 adoption. The workshop strengthened technical collaboration among key stakeholders, supported the national digital transformation roadmap, deployed next-generation internet technologies, and upgraded existing network infrastructures.
"Today, we do not plan only for the current needs of the internet, but also for those of future generations, ensuring that they have access to modern technologies and remain prepared for the continuous growth of the digital economy," said Mustafa Yasiin Sheikh, Director General of the telecom regulator.
Prior to this workshop, Somalia adopted a dedicated national IPv6 strategy in February 2025 to create a unified implementation framework. This policy framework enabled the successful creation of the National IPv6 Center. Located inside Jamhuriya University, this research hub serves as a specialized center for research and training to prepare a new generation of experts in IPv6 deployment and network management.
These domestic infrastructure initiatives match critical global realities, as the previous generation protocol (IPv4) reached its maximum allocation limits in 2011 despite its continued widespread use across Africa. Launched originally in 1981, IPv4 provides a maximum capacity of approximately 4.3 billion unique IP addresses. Conversely, IPv6 generates up to 340 undecillion addresses, which delivers a permanent solution for the rising connectivity demands of traditional web users and connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
This article was initially published in French by Isaac K. Kassouwi
Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum
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On Monday, June 8, DevCareer and Nomba launched a five-week competition in Nigeria for teams of software developers. Running through July 18, the challenge invites participants to create innovative payment solutions tailored to the Nigerian market. In addition to cash prizes, top-performing participants will have the opportunity to join a professional development partnership program and gain support in launching their careers.
From Wednesday, June 17, to Saturday, June 20, Paris will host Viva Technology, one of Europe's largest events focused on innovation and startups. This global gathering will attract entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers from around the world to discuss emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital health, and cybersecurity. The event offers an important opportunity to explore the latest digital solutions and forge strategic partnerships for the future.
From Friday, July 3 to Sunday, July 5, Cotonou will host the sixth edition of Bitcoin Mastermind. This event will bring together professionals, investors, and Bitcoin enthusiasts from across Francophone Africa. The program features conferences, hands-on workshops, networking sessions, and discussions on the future of Bitcoin. Open to everyone—from curious newcomers to entrepreneurs—the event offers an opportunity to explore the rapidly growing Bitcoin and digital asset ecosystem.
- Metaschool AI delivers a fully digital secondary education model aligned with West African curricula and examination standards.
- The platform aims to address teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, limited learning resources and disruptions to schooling.
- Founder Richard Duodu previously launched digital banking startup Finance Mobile and now leads AI research and development at Metaschool AI.
Ghanaian education entrepreneur Richard Duodu serves as founder and chief artificial intelligence research officer of Metaschool AI. He designed the platform to make education more accessible while addressing some of the region’s most persistent educational challenges.
Metaschool AI targets teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, inadequate educational resources and frequent interruptions to students’ academic journeys. The platform aims to keep students engaged throughout the year, including during periods when they cannot physically attend school. As a result, learners can continue their studies regardless of location.
The institution operates through a fully digital environment. Students attend interactive classes, complete assignments, sit examinations and receive continuous progress monitoring. Moreover, the platform adapts each learning pathway to the individual pace of the student. The system helps learners strengthen existing competencies while improving performance in subjects where they face difficulties.
Unlike many conventional online learning platforms, Metaschool AI combines digital tools with direct human support. Teachers, mentors and academic advisers regularly conduct live sessions, answer student questions and assist learners with examination preparation. The company believes this combination of human guidance and digital learning tools provides a more comprehensive educational experience and stronger academic support.
The platform supports several educational curricula and examination frameworks recognized across West Africa as well as internationally. Students gain access to lessons that align with official academic programs. They also use practical exercises, past examination papers and assessment tools designed to measure readiness and track academic progress.
Duodu developed his entrepreneurial and technology credentials well before launching Metaschool AI. In 2018, he founded Finance Mobile, a fully digital banking startup that operated without physical branches. The company focused on providing businesses with reliable financial tools and services.
Duodu holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. Earlier in his career, he worked at Ghanaian coding education startup Nieltin between 2014 and 2017. During that period, he served first as operations manager and later as chief executive officer.
This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba
Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum