Welcome to November.
A fast correction earlier than we get into at the moment’s e-newsletter. In Friday’s TC Daily, we described Yango Group as a “Russian-founded mobility firm working in Africa.” We have since corrected that description to “Dubai-based know-how group.”
Elsewhere, November started with some excellent news for 15 younger ladies in Northern Nigeria. Financial Services Innovators (FSI), with assist from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has chosen them for five-week software program testing internships after an eight-week coaching programme that drew 590 functions.
Ninety-five ladies accomplished the programme, studying every thing from test-case design to software programming interface (API) testing, and the 15 high performers will now get hands-on business expertise with GoAssurify.
Let’s dive in.
Read sensible insights about Francophone Africa’s tech ecosystem—weekly.
Fintech
OPay’s US debut hits a regulatory wall
On Saturday, OPay shelved its deliberate $304 million US IPO, a day after pricing its shares at $19 every. The Nigeria-focused funds firm mentioned a regulatory inquiry in an undisclosed overseas jurisdiction compelled it to desert the itemizing, leaving a deliberate $4 billion valuation in limbo.
What occurred? OPay had deliberate to start buying and selling on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. Its American Depositary Shares had been priced at $19, however buying and selling by no means began. The firm withdrew the providing after consulting its underwriters, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Standard Bank.
In a assertion, OPay mentioned the inquiry considerations a jurisdiction unrelated to its core enterprise. It has not named the regulator or defined what it’s investigating.
Why does it matter? OPay is considered one of Nigeria’s largest funds firms, with over 50 million customers. Its proposed itemizing would have given US buyers a means to purchase into considered one of Africa’s greatest fintech companies.
The withdrawal additionally exhibits how a regulatory problem exterior a firm’s important market can derail entry to public capital. MushyBank’s backing didn’t stop that.
Explain it like I’m new right here: OPay was promoting American Depositary Shares (ADS). These let US buyers commerce securities linked to a overseas firm on an American alternate with out shopping for shares within the firm’s dwelling market.
What to observe: OPay has not mentioned when, or if, it would revive the preliminary public providing (IPO). It can be not clear what the overseas regulator is investigating. Until the corporate gives extra element, buyers have little foundation for assessing whether or not the issue is short-term or may have an effect on its plans to checklist.
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Mobility
Egypt rolls out its first domestically assembled EV
Egypt has spent years saying it desires to make extra of the automobiles it drives. Now its first domestically assembled electrical car (EV) has rolled off the road.
What occurred? State-owned El Nasr Automotive has begun producing the MAGE EV, the electrical model of Chinese automaker Dongfeng’s MAGE, at its Helwan manufacturing unit in Cairo, Egypt. SN Automotive, a three way partnership between El Nasr and Al Safy Group, Dongfeng’s Egyptian agent, handles manufacturing.
About 45% of the automobile is domestically sourced. El Nasr desires to provide 3,000 items within the first yr and steadily enhance each manufacturing and the share of Egyptian-made elements.
Explain like I’m new right here: Egypt doesn’t simply need extra EVs on its roads. It desires extra of these autos to be made in Egypt.
Launched in 2023, Egypt’s Automotive Industry Development Programme (AIDP) rewards producers that produce extra automobiles domestically, enhance native content material, and spend money on cleaner autos. The nation desires native worth added to achieve 60% and annual car manufacturing to exceed 100,000 items.
The wider automobile market is already recovering. Egyptians bought 135,445 autos within the first eight months of 2026, up 25.8% from the identical interval final yr.
Between the traces: Assembly is the straightforward half. At 45% native content material, greater than half of the MAGE EV nonetheless comes from overseas. Egypt now desires factories to provide batteries, motors, and different elements domestically, as a result of that’s the place extra jobs and industrial worth sit.
There can be an ungainly coverage downside. Fully imported EVs enter Egypt with out customs duties, whereas producers nonetheless pay duties on imported batteries and electrical motors used to construct automobiles domestically. The authorities is now contemplating eradicating these duties for factories.
Zoom out: Egypt’s EV push is changing into an industrial coverage, not simply a clean-transport coverage. Getting the primary automobile off the road is helpful. But making extra automobiles in Egypt is the actual prize.
Telecoms
Airtel Kenya pays $65 million to make amends for 5G
Airtel Kenya, the nation’s second-largest telecom operator, has paid $65 million (KES 8.4 billion) for 100 MHz of 5G spectrum, securing the airwaves it must broaden its community over the subsequent 25 years. The buy comes as Kenya’s 5G market grows, but in addition as Airtel tries to shut the hole with Safaricom and put years of licencing disputes behind it.
What occurred? Airtel acquired 100 megahertz (MHz) within the 3500 MHz band, one of many important frequency ranges used to deploy 5G networks globally.
The buy offers Airtel extra room to hold information visitors, serve extra clients, and enhance connection speeds. It additionally offers the operator a long-term asset for its community growth plans.
Why does this matter? According to the Communications Authority (CA), Kenya’s 5G subscriber base reached 2.1 million in June 2026, up from 1.2 million within the earlier yr. More clients are utilizing 5G, and operators want sufficient spectrum to accommodate that demand.
Airtel can be competing in opposition to Safaricom, which launched industrial 5G providers in October 2022. Airtel adopted in July 2023. Safaricom had 803 5G websites in March 2024, in contrast with Airtel’s 690.
The spectrum buy offers Airtel extra capability to compete, however it doesn’t routinely imply higher protection, since that will depend on how a lot it spends on tools, websites, and community upgrades.
Explain it like I’m new right here: Think of spectrum because the highway on which cell information travels. Operators want authorities permission to make use of particular parts of those radio frequencies.
More spectrum means extra room for information visitors. The 3500 MHz band is especially helpful for 5G as a result of it will possibly ship excessive speeds and substantial community capability.
The larger query: Airtel has spent greater than a decade coping with uncertainty over its working licences. It has now secured a 25-year working licence in 2026, however regulatory approvals for different authorisations had been nonetheless pending in August.
The $65 million buy settles one a part of its 5G growth plans. Can Airtel now flip that funding into a severe problem to Safaricom?
Creator Economy
South Africa tells influencers: free perks could be taxable
South Africa’s creator financial system could look casual, however the taxman doesn’t see it that means. The South African Revenue Service (SARS), the nation’s taxman, is reminding influencers, YouTubers, podcasters, and different creators that cash from model offers is taxable, and so are most of the free telephones, lodge stays, flights, and different perks they obtain in alternate for content material.
What occurred? SARS has published new pointers telling creators to declare earnings from sponsorships, internet affiliate marketing, promoting, subscriptions, and model partnerships.
Declarable fee doesn’t must be money solely, in keeping with the taxman. Products, journey, lodging, vouchers, and different advantages digital creators obtain may depend as earnings when supplied in alternate for promotion.
For instance, a creator paid R30,000 ($1,800) for a marketing campaign, plus a R20,000 ($1,200) cellphone and R10,000 ($600) lodge keep, may have R60,000 ($3,600) in gross earnings to declare.
Explain like I’m new right here: This is just not a new influencer tax. South Africa’s current tax guidelines already cowl earnings acquired in money or in type. SARS is spelling out how these guidelines apply to an business the place a creator could be paid with out cash ever hitting a checking account.
This is South Africa’s newest effort to formalise its creator financial system, just like ride-hailing—one other gig financial system. In January, the nation’s digital applied sciences regulator mentioned it was mulling plans for regulating podcasts; nevertheless, with its fingers full, particularly with the failed AI policy in April, which has since morphed into a contentious political affair, the regulator has seemingly relegated that plan to the again burner.
In SARS’ case for influencers, it desires to make sure there are not any loopholes. The tax company collected a file R2.01 trillion ($120.4 billion) within the 2025/26 monetary yr and is concentrating on R2.144 trillion ($128.4 billion) this yr. Bringing extra casual and digital earnings into the tax internet is a part of that wider compliance push.
Creators could not contribute a enormous share of that income, however SARS clearly doesn’t need earnings earned by way of posts, model offers or freebies slipping by way of just because it doesn’t seem like a conventional wage or fee.
Between the traces: SARS now describes creators and influencers as “trendy entrepreneurs.” That means creators might have to start out pondering like small companies: preserve correct information, monitor what they obtain, declare taxable earnings, and examine whether or not provisional tax or VAT guidelines apply.
Our learn right here is that record-keeping could possibly be the largest headache for influencers. Cash funds are straightforward to trace (and declare as tax), however creators could now must put a worth on free journeys, lodge stays, and different perks they as soon as handled as items. Clearer guidelines can be key right here, as SARS seeks further income from South Africa’s digital financial system.
CRYPTO TRACKER
The World Wide Web3
Source:
|
Coin Name |
Current Value |
Day |
Month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin |
$78,235 |
+ 0.66% |
– 7.50% |
| Ether |
$2,286 |
+ 0.98% |
– 14.55% |
| ZIG Finance |
$0.04151 |
– 1.50% |
– 21.54% |
| Solana |
$94.65 |
– 0.85% |
– 20.74% |
* Data as of 06.30 AM WAT, November 2, 2026.
Job Openings
- Sparkle Nigeria — Business Growth Manager — Lagos, Nigeria
- Tech Safari — Content Lead — Nairobi, Kenya, and Abuja, Nigeria (distant, anyplace in Africa)
- CredPal — Credit Underwriter — Lagos, Nigeria
- Pesa — Social & Influencer Marketing Manager — Remote (Nigeria)
- Bamboo — Product Manager (Misan) — Hybrid (Lagos, Nigeria)
- Àngeles Sostenibles — Operations Associate — Abuja, Nigeria
- Coinomad — Sales Manager, Business Development Manager — Nigeria
- Sumsub — Senior Anti-Fraud Analyst — Remote (anyplace)
- AfriChange — Compliance Specialist — Remote (Nigeria)
- Scouthappy — Growth Lead for Fintech (Stocks) — Remote (Nigeria)
- Daya — Growth Product Manager (Daya Coins) — Remote (Nigeria)
- Qore — Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Manager — Lagos, Nigeria
- Afreximbank — Student and Postgraduate Internship — Cairo, Egypt
Looking for extra alternatives? There are further openings on TechCabal’s job board. We’ve additionally cleared out outdated listings to maintain alternatives recent for job seekers. If you’re hiring and want to characteristic an open function, please submit it via this form.
Written by: Kenn Abuya and Emmanuel Nwosu
Edited by: Emmanuel Nwosu & Ganiu Oloruntade
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Joseph Onimisi is a blogger and copywriter based in Lokoja, Kogi State, where he also hails from. With five years of experience writing news articles, he is committed to fact-based reporting that is clear, accurate, and easy for readers to follow. He is the voice behind darediaries.com.ng, his own blog, where he shares his work with readers who follow public affairs. His background in copywriting gives him a sharp eye for clear, engaging language, so his stories stay readable without losing accuracy.
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