The Real AfCFTA Gap Isn’t Trade. It’s Trust.
AfCFTA Needs a Data Rail: Why African SMEs Need a Data Passport AfCFTA’s big promise is simple: an African business
Continue readingAfCFTA Needs a Data Rail: Why African SMEs Need a Data Passport AfCFTA’s big promise is simple: an African business
Continue readingVodacom and Safaricom are quietly building a pan-African, telco-owned payments rail, using ownership (equity), infrastructure (JV) and product (cross-border M-Pesa) to move from “national telcos” to “regional financial infrastructure providers”.
Continue readingIf you care about technology or are in the tech ecosystem, you have to care about the slew of changes
Continue readingLet’s start with a simple truth: access isn’t the same as trust.
We’ve spent over a decade celebrating Africa’s financial inclusion boom — the millions of new mobile wallets, the rise of fintech titans from Lagos to Nairobi, the mammoth stats that make development economists beam. Yet, I keep coming back to one uncomfortable question: do Africans trust the financial systems we’ve created for them?
Because if they don’t, then all we’ve built are digital doors — not open ones.
Having sat on two investment committees—one in insurance, another in venture capital—as well as the board of Ghana’s GIFEC (which allocates universal access funds for ICT infrastructure), I’ve seen firsthand how capital allocation decisions shape long-term outcomes.
Insurance investments emphasize stability, risk management, and sustainable returns.
Venture capital emphasizes growth, agility, and the capacity to back bold bets.
GIFEC balances financial stewardship with national inclusion goals, investing in connectivity for underserved communities.
These three lenses—risk, growth, and inclusion—mirror the balance Africa must strike in digital infrastructure investments. Governance, therefore, is not a footnote. It is the multiplier that ensures that capital, once deployed, creates lasting resilience and inclusion.
Continue readingWhen African govermment talk about digital transformation, the headlines often focus on fintech, AI, or e-government portals. Yet beneath these ambitions lies a more basic truth: none of it works without robust, affordable, and resilient connectivity.
Continue readingGhana Cannot Afford to Delay: Lessons from Rwanda, Senegal, and Egypt for a National AI Policy
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant aspiration.
It is fast becoming the most critical driver of productivity, competitiveness, and governance transformation.
The African Union estimates that AI and other Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies could add $1.3 trillion to Africa’s GDP by 2030 (PwC, 2022).
Yet, as this opportunity emerges, African nations are not moving at the same speed.
Ghana has pockets of excellence—research groups, private sector pilots, and enthusiastic startups—but it has no comprehensive, resourced national AI strategy.
This is not just a gap. It is a risk.
As the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, NITA, and other stakeholders begin conversations about a future AI policy, Ghana has an opportunity to learn from the deliberate and well-funded strategies of three African peers: Rwanda, Senegal, and Egypt.
By December 2025, the Bank of Ghana expects all Payment Service Providers and Fintechs to have their governance structures
Continue readingPositioning the Ghana Card as Foundational Digital Infrastructure: From Identity to Infrastructure
The Ghana Card since its inception has been touted as the foundational digital identity for Ghana. Based on the maturity of use, I believe the Ghana Card is no longer just an identification document—it is being operationalized as core infrastructure for governance, automation, and service delivery. It reflects the state’s evolving position that identity is not merely bureaucratic—it is foundational to enabling an efficient, inclusive, and innovation-ready economy.
What Airtel Money’s Comeback against M-Pesa in Kenya teaches about Challenging Market Giants
For years, Safaricom’s M-Pesa was the immovable force in Kenya’s mobile money market. It dominated not only customer wallets but also public imagination, with over 90% market share and a network so vast it became synonymous with mobile money itself.
But quietly—and strategically—Airtel Money has staged a comeback. It didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t happen by mimicking M-Pesa’s dominance. Instead, it was a masterclass in what challenger telcos can do right when facing a Goliath.
Kenya’s story offers rich lessons—and data—to learn from.