A unique USD 100 M philanthropic fund, backed by some of Africa’s most consequential tech founders, is betting that the continent’s startup economy has missed the trick chasing funding rounds instead of factory floors.

The Africa Jobs Fund (AJF), launched today by Wasoko founder Daniel Yu and counting Andela and Flutterwave co-founder Iyin Aboyeji among its senior advisors, is targeting large-scale formal job creation, a problem that venture capital has largely sidestepped.

“Persistent poverty is at its core a jobs problem,” Yu said. “Those same people, in the right job at home or abroad, could earn significant multiples of their income. AJF exists to back the companies that create those jobs and opportunities.”

Sub-Saharan Africa adds 15.4 million people to its labour force every year but creates only about 3 million formal jobs. By 2040, approximately 600 million of the world’s extreme poor are expected to reside on the continent. Meanwhile, nearly 9 in 10 workers remain in informal employment, such as street vending, gig work, and subsistence farming, with little income growth or social protection.

AJF’s thesis is deliberately targeting export manufacturing and international labour mobility, two sectors that have historically lifted countries out of poverty.

The logic is that a worker moving from subsistence agriculture to a factory job can increase productivity fivefold. The same worker securing a care or logistics role in a high-income country can see their annual income jump from roughly USD 2 K to USD 40 K or more. Yet these pathways remain blocked by high setup costs for pioneer manufacturers and predatory recruitment fees for migrant workers.

AJF aims to mobilise USD 100 M over five years to de-risk early-stage companies in both sectors with the goal of generating USD 50 B in cumulative income gains for African workers and doubling the lifetime earnings of at least 250,000 low-income individuals.

Unlike a traditional VC fund, AJF is a program of Renaissance Philanthropy, the nonprofit founded by former White House science advisors Tom Kalil and Kumar Garg, and includes former USAID Administrator Samantha Power as a senior advisor. With a focus on venture-style execution for social good, the fund aims to “bet early and activate the founders who can act on that thesis,” as Garg put it.

Yu, who built Wasoko into a B2B e-commerce platform serving over 150,000 informal retailers, said his experience taught him that “traditional businesses can be just as impactful — maybe even more so — than glitzy tech startups”.

This new chapter was signalled eight months ago when Yu announced he was stepping back from daily operations at Wasoko after the company’s merger with MaxAB. At the time, Yu said he was moving to India to focus on personal projects, including his role as board chair of Malengo, a nonprofit that facilitates international educational migration. His experience at Malengo, which helps low-income students move to Germany for university and work, directly influenced AJF’s labour mobility pillar.

Yu is not going it alone. The fund has recruited Ben Hyman, founder of the African recruitment firm Talent Safari, as Operating Partner.

Aboyeji, who has since pivoted to his own job-focused venture called Learn2Earn, a tuition-free, stipend-supported, 24-month programme that guarantees jobs for elite software engineers, struck a similar note having been tapped as an advisor. “African founders have shown they can build category-defining companies. The next decade is about building the ones that put millions of people to work,” he said.

A decade of venture capital has produced nine African unicorns and attracted billions in funding. But those companies, for all their innovation, have not moved the needle on mass employment. AJF represents a recognition that solving poverty may require less disruption and more manufacturing.

For over a decade, venture capital has been welcomed into African markets with open arms as the missing ingredient for a tech revolution. This year, a cascade of new laws across the continent is sending mixed signals.

Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda have all advanced or enacted measures in recent weeks that tighten scrutiny on foreign capital, from ownership restrictions in strategic sectors to exit taxes and stringent disclosure rules. The cumulative effect is rattling investors and founders at a precarious moment for the continent’s startup ecosystem.

In Accra, a contradictory picture is taking shape. Last month, parliament passed the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority Bill, 2026, scrapping the notorious USD 500 K minimum capital requirement for wholly foreign-owned enterprises; a move hailed as a game-changer for tech founders.

But tucked into Section 37 of a draft National Information Technology Authority bill, not yet before parliament, lies a rule stipulating that licenses for cloud hosting, SaaS, data centres, or government digital partnerships would be reserved for entities “wholly owned by a citizen.”

“This directly threatens the foreign capital, partnerships, and expertise that fuel Ghanaian success stories,” says MacJordan Degadjor, a Ghanaian technology policy commentator, citing homegrown firms Hubtel and mPharma as examples of what is at stake.

Communications Minister Samuel Nartey George has defended the draft, saying there is “no intent to exclude ‘big tech'” and that the government aims to “proactively protect Ghanaian technology firms” to build local capacity. But concerns remain rife. Technology blogger Alfred warned the bill could “undo years of digital sector progress.”

Meanwhile, Kenya is widening its tax net. The Finance Bill 2026, tabled on May 25, proposes a 15% capital gains tax on offshore sales where shares “derive their value from Kenya”—a direct assault on the holding-company structures that foreign venture capital and private equity investors have used for years to exit without local tax liability.

The move is partly driven by high-profile disputes, including a KES 21 B (USD 161.7 M) tax demand tied to Tullow Oil’s offshore exit. But the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) warns the amendment is dangerously broad. “As drafted, the provision may create Kenyan CGT exposure for offshore investor exits, capital raising transactions, group restructurings and internal reorganisations undertaken at holding company level,” the body told parliament.

“In most developed markets, this kind of tax is meant to stop profit shifting. The way it’s drafted in Kenya, it could tax legitimate internal reorganisations—a nightmare scenario for compliance,” said Robert Waruiru, Managing Partner at Ichiban Tax and Business Advisory.

In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni signed the Protection of Sovereignty Bill into law on May 17, criminalising the promotion of “interests of a foreigner against the interests of Uganda” and requiring government approval for foreign-backed policy work. Rights groups warn the broad language could criminalise political opposition.

Crucially, the final bill amended an earlier provision that would have forced any Ugandan receiving foreign money to register as a foreign agent. The original text, which Bank of Uganda Governor Michael Atingi-Ego warned could trigger “economic disaster,” now applies only to funds received “for political purposes.” Remittances, USD 2.5 B in 2025, or 3.8% of of Uganda’s GDP, were spared, but the episode rattled diaspora and development partners alike.

The timing also brings concern amid a funding slowdown. Data from Africa: The Big Deal shows only 162 unique investors participated in startup deals worth USD 100 K or more between January and April 2026, a five-year low and a 26% drop from the same period in 2025. Total equity funding into African startups fell 13% in the first four months of 2026.

There are concerns that African governments are sending contradictory signals, seeking investments to build a digital future while simultaneously building legal walls to keep investors out.

Some local capital is stepping into the void. The Africa Finance Corporation launched a USD 100 M investment push this month aimed at reducing foreign dominance in startups.

“The challenge is no longer talent or innovation, but the shortage of long-term African institutional capital,” AFC President Samaila Zubairu said. Whether that will be enough to offset the regulatory chill remains an open question.

Frederick Wanyonyi spent six years ferrying passengers through the lakeside city of Kisumu on a petrol-powered motorcycle, watching fuel costs slowly eat away his profits and his ability to support his family. Today, the 34-year-old rides an electric motorcycle supplied by Spiro Kenya, and his math has changed dramatically.

“Previously, I would spend more than KES 500.00 every day on fuel alone. Now I spend about KES 290.00 on battery swapping and I am able to save more money for rent, school fees and food,” Wanyonyi told Kenya News Agency.

Across Kenya, millions of informal transport workers like Wanyonyi are voting with their wallets. And their shift is quietly rewriting the earnings of the country’s state-owned utility.

On Thursday, Kenya Power announced cumulative revenue of KES 382 M (approximately USD 2.9 M) from electric vehicle (EV) charging over the past 34 months, as electricity sales to the e-mobility sector grew more than 113-fold between July 2023 and April 2026. Monthly EV charging revenue rose from KES 874 K (roughly USD 6.7 K) in July 2023 to a peak of KES 35 M (USD 271 K) in February 2026, according to the utility’s E-mobility Sales Growth Analysis Report.

The growth is being driven not by wealthy consumers in Teslas, but by the two-wheeled backbone of Kenya’s economy. Data from the Electric Mobility Association of Kenya shows the country had registered over 35,000 EVs by the end of 2025, up from just 796 units three years earlier, with two- and three-wheelers dominating the market. Riders report lower daily running costs, fewer mechanical breakdowns, and more predictable expenses compared to petrol alternatives.

For Kenya Power, which sources over 90% of its electricity from renewables, the e-mobility boom presents a rare strategic alignment as it grows electricity demand without expanding fossil fuel dependency. Under the utility’s e-mobility tariff, customers pay KES 16.00 per unit during peak hours and KES 8.00 during off-peak hours, incentivising overnight charging that helps balance grid load.

Yet infrastructure remains the sector’s Achilles’ heel. “When electricity goes off, business slows down because batteries cannot be charged,” said John Mark, who manages a battery-swapping station in Kisumu, pointing to a challenge that persists even as Kenya Power rolls out new charging stations from Voi to Nyali.

The utility plans to introduce more EV-friendly tariffs and expand its own electric fleet to 20 vehicles and 100 bikes by the end of 2026. But the real story is unfolding on the roads where hundreds of thousands of boda boda riders are making a calculation that requires no government subsidy.

Wanyonyi already did the math. “With these bikes, servicing is less frequent,” he said. “Maintenance has reduced considerably”.

Feature Image Credits: Ethical Business Africa

Growth is the goal of every ambitious business — but growth without the right infrastructure creates its own set of problems. Systems that worked adequately for a ten-person team begin to strain under the demands of a fifty-person organisation. Security gaps that were manageable at a small scale become serious vulnerabilities as the business becomes a more attractive target. Technology decisions made for short-term convenience create long-term technical debt that slows future progress. For businesses in San Antonio ready to scale with confidence, reliable IT support in San Antonio from Evolution Technologies provides the infrastructure foundation that makes sustainable growth possible.

The Infrastructure Inflection Point

Most growing businesses encounter an IT inflection point — a moment when the technology approach that served them well at an earlier stage is no longer adequate for where they are headed. This inflection point often arrives without warning, triggered by a system failure, a security incident, a compliance audit, or simply the accumulating weight of deferred maintenance and unresolved issues.

Recognising the inflection point before it becomes a crisis is one of the most valuable contributions a managed IT partner can make. By continuously monitoring infrastructure health, tracking capacity trends, and maintaining visibility into the organisation’s technology roadmap, a proactive IT partner can identify when current systems are approaching their limits and help the business make planned, strategic transitions rather than reactive, emergency ones.

Building Infrastructure That Scales

Scalable IT infrastructure shares several key characteristics. It is built on platforms and architectures that can grow with the business without requiring complete replacement. It is documented thoroughly so that new team members and support staff can understand and manage it effectively. It is continuously monitored so that capacity constraints and performance issues are identified before they become failures. And it is secured comprehensively, so that growth does not introduce new vulnerabilities.

Cloud-based infrastructure is particularly well-suited to growing businesses because it scales on demand — adding capacity as needed without large capital investments in hardware. Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, and other cloud platforms provide enterprise-grade capabilities that can be right-sized for businesses at any stage of growth, and can expand quickly as needs evolve.

The Hidden Cost of Infrastructure Neglect

Businesses that defer IT investment to preserve short-term cash flow often discover that the long-term cost of neglect far exceeds what proactive maintenance would have required. Ageing hardware fails at the worst possible moments. Unpatched systems become vectors for security breaches. Undocumented configurations slow down and make troubleshooting expensive. Technical debt accumulates until it requires a costly, disruptive remediation effort.

The businesses that scale most successfully treat IT infrastructure as a strategic investment rather than a cost to be minimised. They maintain their systems proactively, invest in security before incidents occur, and make technology decisions based on long-term value rather than short-term expense. This approach requires discipline and the right partner — but it pays dividends in reliability, security, and the ability to grow without technology becoming a constraint.

Security at Scale

As businesses grow, their security requirements grow with them. More employees mean more potential entry points for attackers. More systems mean more vulnerabilities to manage. More data means more valuable targets. The security approach that was adequate for a small team is rarely sufficient for a mid-sized organisation.

Evolution Technologies helps growing San Antonio businesses build security programs that scale with their operations — implementing controls that address current risks while establishing the foundation for more sophisticated security capabilities as the organisation matures. This includes endpoint protection across all devices, identity and access management that enforces least-privilege principles, network monitoring that detects anomalous activity, and incident response capabilities that minimise the impact of any breach that does occur.

The Partner Advantage

Scaling a business is demanding work. Leadership attention is a scarce resource, and every hour spent managing IT problems is an hour not spent on customers, products, and growth. The right IT partner removes technology from the list of things leadership needs to worry about — handling the day-to-day management, the proactive maintenance, the security monitoring, and the strategic planning that keeps infrastructure aligned with business objectives.

For San Antonio businesses with growth ambitions, Evolution Technologies provides that partnership — combining technical expertise, proactive management, and deep familiarity with the local business environment to deliver IT infrastructure that supports rather than constrains the journey ahead.

Aderonke Hannah Ajibade, a young Nigerian woman living with disability, had just landed a remote call centre job. She spent her savings on data, set up her equipment, and prepared to start. The next day, she was fired.

The reason, she said in a tearful video posted online in late April, was the network. She was talking to a client when the connection began to fail. “They told me why they are discontinuing the contract because they could not hear me,” she said.

Ajibade, an amputee, had been hired for a role that promised flexibility and income. Instead, she got one day of work. Her video spread quickly. In the comments, one frustrated subscriber wrote: “Can we file a class action suit against these useless corporations? For the entirety of today, my internet has been so slow, the only time it works is when I downgrade to 3G. In mighty 2026?”

As it turned out, someone already had.

On Tuesday, May 19th, 2026, the Sagamu High Court in Ogun State did what Nigerian courts often do: it adjourned. The matter was a class action lawsuit against MTN Nigeria Communications Plc., filed exactly one year earlier by a law firm with a history of taking on big corporations.

The next hearing is now set for September 22, 2026. But behind this mundane procedural update lies one of the most consequential legal battles in Nigeria’s telecoms history; a fight that could force MTN to pay up to NGN 550 B (over USD 400 M) in damages and fundamentally reshape how telecom operators treat their 185 million subscribers in Nigeria.

The lawsuit, filed by Pekun Sowole & Co. on behalf of two lead claimants: an IT consultant, Mr Fatokunboh Fagun, and a former Senator, Rilwan Adesoji Akanbi, accuses MTN of persistently poor quality of service and systematic violations of subscriber data privacy, two sets of violations that most Nigerians with a SIM card know too well.

And, as it turns out, the unfolding legal battle is just as much about what’s in the lawsuit as what’s happened since it was filed.

From 80 mysterious applicants who suddenly appeared to opt out of the class action — all filing on the same day MTN submitted its legal papers — to compensation payments as low as NGN 20.00 (less than 2 cents) that only seemed to prove the plaintiffs’ point, the case has become a window into the extraordinary lengths to which Nigeria’s dominant telecom operator will go to protect its turf.

And with a 50% tariff hike now fully implemented, MTN’s profits are soaring even as service quality continues to frustrate millions.

The Human Cost

The lawsuit might still be wending its way through the courts, but the urgency behind it was perhaps never more painfully illustrated than that ordeal narrated by Ajibade, which went viral on social media.

“I have a bad news. I just lost my job. The job that I got yesterday, I lost it. Guess why?” she said in an emotional video. “I was already talking to a client… told me why they are discontinuing the contract because they could not hear me.”

“I’m living with one leg, and I’m still trying my best to make it,” she said, her voice breaking.

The video sparked a firestorm. One aggrieved subscriber, Nifemi, wrote: “I swear I had the same MTN issue this morning. Network was totally down for about 2 hours… Imagine if I was having an interview then.” Others shared similar stories. Abioye Benjamin lamented: “This is painful. I lost two jobs on the network and light too, so I can relate.”

Pekun Sowole, a partner at Pekun Sowole & Co., who has decided to take on MTN, says he wasn’t motivated by professional ambition.

“If you go on every WhatsApp group, what do people complain about in Nigeria today?” Sowole told WT in an interview. “They complain about the telephone connectivity. They complain about electricity.”

Sowole has form in mass litigation. He pioneered aviation disaster litigation in Nigeria, representing families in cases involving plane crashes. But this time, the grievance was more mundane and pervasive.

The lawsuit, filed in May 2025 and certified as a class action by Honourable Justice J. O. Jibodu on March 10, 2025, alleges that since approximately January 2019, MTN has consistently failed to provide reliable telecommunications services.

The Statement of Claim paints a picture that will be painfully familiar to anyone who has ever tried to make a call or browse the internet in Nigeria. Among complaints are frequent call drops at unsustainable rates, slow data speeds that make browsing “frustrating and irritating”, data that gets exhausted at “abnormally rapid rates”, and the curious phenomenon where subscribers are charged for calls that never connect.

But the lawsuit goes beyond service quality. It also alleges that MTN has systematically violated subscriber data privacy by sharing, selling, or otherwise disclosing personal information to third-party entities without explicit consent; a direct violation of Section 24 of the National Data Protection Act 2023.

“I receive messages on email, or WhatsApp from people you don’t even know, offering some kind of service or trying to sell something to you,” Sowole explained. “That’s an invasion of your privacy as contained in Section 24 of the Nigerian Data Protection Act 2023.”

MTN’s Response: “Sub Judice”

When reached for comment, an MTN Nigeria spokesperson acknowledged the lawsuit but declined to discuss its substance.

“I can confirm that we have been served, and have retained counsel to represent us in the matter,” the spokesperson told WT. “However, we cannot make any comments about the case because it is now Sub Judice, and it would be inappropriate to comment on a case before a court or judicial tribunal.”

The sub judice rule — Latin for “under judgment” — is a common law principle that prevents parties or their representatives from making public statements that might prejudice ongoing court proceedings. It is a standard response from corporate defendants facing high-stakes litigation, but it also means that MTN’s side of the story will not be heard outside the courtroom for now.

In the courtroom, however, MTN has already made its position clear. The company filed a Preliminary Objection arguing that the High Court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case; a legal gambit that, if successful, would kill the lawsuit without ever examining its merits.

The Curious Case of 80 Ghost Applicants

A remarkable event occurred on February 16, 2026. On that single day, 80 separate individuals filed applications seeking to opt out of the class action. Eight different law firms represented them, claiming their consent hadn’t been sought before being joined to the lawsuit. And they demanded costs ranging from NGN 8 M(~USD 6 K) to NGN 15 M (~USD 11 K) each for legal fees.

The same day, MTN filed its own Preliminary Objection challenging the court’s jurisdiction. The synchronisation was, to put it mildly, conspicuous.

“All these 80 different people, all these lawyers, and then MTN also… it was the same day that MTN filed its own objection. All of them 16th of February,” Sowole told WT. “There’s a concerted effort, a coordination by MTN. MTN is the one funding all these people.”

The argument for opting out, however, had a fundamental flaw. Under the class action procedure, once a court certifies a class action, it binds everyone, but only after the court orders a publication in newspapers giving people time to opt out. Sowole’s firm had done exactly that, publishing notices twice in Punch newspapers and giving subscribers the requisite time to exclude themselves.

“They slept on their rights,” Sowole said.

The response was swift. Sowole’s firm filed counter-affidavits seeking NGN 2 M (~USD 1.45 K) in costs from each applicant. “They now realise that they can’t afford to pay that kind of money,” Sowole said. “They won’t do it again.”

The opt-out applications stopped coming.

A Tussle Over Jurisdiction

The more substantial legal fight is over jurisdiction, and it reveals a bizarre situation where both the Federal High Court and the State High Court are being told they lack authority to hear the case.

MTN has argued that the State High Court lacks jurisdiction. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has made similar arguments. Yet the Federal High Court has recently ruled that it too lacks jurisdiction in these types of class actions.

“If you say that the Federal Court lacks jurisdiction, and you also go to the State High Court and say the State High Court also lacks jurisdiction, what you’re saying is that no court in Nigeria has jurisdiction in these kinds of cases,” Sowole said. “The Supreme Court has said that if a person has a cause of action, a court must be able to hear it.”

Sowole points to a recent Supreme Court decision involving MTN that was started in the Abuja High Court, not the Federal High Court, and resulted in damages awarded against the telecom giant.

“We’re saying that there’s a violation of constitutional provisions, which is outside the purview of the NCC,” he explained. “The State High Court has jurisdiction, not the Federal High Court.”

The jurisdictional battle is still unresolved. The case has been adjourned to September 22, 2026, for argument on the preliminary objections.

“Compensation” or “Salt to Injury”?

Even as the legal battle grinds on, the broader telecoms crisis has intensified to the point where even the regulator could no longer ignore it.

In April 2026, the NCC directed mobile network operators to compensate subscribers affected by poor service quality between November 2025 and January 2026. Subscribers of MTN Nigeria began receiving airtime credits. Some of the amounts were as low as NGN 20.00. Others received between NGN 284.00 (21 cents) and just over NGN 600.00 (44 cents).

The messages read: “Dear customer, you have been credited with compensation airtime for service quality issues (Nov 2025 – Jan 2026).”

For many Nigerians who had endured dropped calls, failed data connections, and business losses running into thousands or millions of naira, the compensation hardly amounts to anything.

The NCC framed the payments as regulatory compensation, not refunds. But the discrepancy between the scale of the problem and the paltry sums on offer only supported the argument at the heart of the class action that MTN has been allowed to profit from poor service for too long.

Profits Soaring While Service Stumbles

The financial numbers tell a story that MTN would probably prefer to keep separate from the service quality debate. In 2025, MTN Nigeria staged a remarkable financial comeback. After suffering a heavy loss the previous year, the company swung to a massive NGN 1.1 T (over USD 800 M) profit after tax. Service revenue jumped 55.1% to hit NGN 5.2 T.

Data revenue led the charge with a 74.5% surge, fintech income shot up 79.7%, and EBITDA more than doubled. The company even returned to paying dividends.

The momentum has continued into 2026. In the first quarter of 2026, MTN Nigeria’s revenue rose 42% year-on-year to NGN 1.50 T, and profit before tax increased 170 percent to NGN 546.4 B (~USD 398 M). All this while many subscribers struggle to make a simple phone call.

The 50% tariff hike approved in early 2025 has been a windfall for operators. One year later, the floor price of calls has been pushed to NGN 9.60 per minute from NGN 6.40, and the cost of 1GB of data has risen to NGN 431.25 from NGN 287.5.

MTN and Airtel together earned NGN 5.16 T (USD 3.63 B) in the first nine months of 2025, 50% higher than the same period in 2024, almost exactly mirroring the tariff increase percentage.

The promise attached to that tariff hike was improved service quality. A year on, the evidence suggests that the promise has not been kept.

The Telecommunications Crisis

The operators, for their part, point to external factors, such as infrastructure vandalism, diesel theft, security challenges, and the sheer scale of fibre cuts.

The scale of Nigeria’s telecoms problem is staggering, with reports of 19,000 fibre cuts between January and August 2025 alone. Nearly 6,000 fibre cuts were recorded in the first quarter of 2026, with about 40 cuts occurring daily on the critical Lagos-to-Kano corridor.

The results are seen in 1.62 million customer complaints recorded by MTN in 2025 across multiple service channels. Meanwhile, all major operators — MTN, Airtel, Glo and T2 — recorded negative net promoter scores in February 2026, meaning more customers are detractors than promoters.

Moreover, only about 300 new or upgraded telecom sites were deployed in 2025, despite operators having committed to about 12,000 upgrades in 2026. On its part, MTN Nigeria spent NGN 887 M on security in Q1 2026 alone, up from NGN 621 M in the same period last year; money spent guarding infrastructure instead of improving service

“If you have fibre cut as many as 40 times a day across the national network, there is no way that that will not impact the quality of service,” said Engr Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria.

But subscribers counter that they are paying more while receiving essentially the same — or worse — service. The 2026 Quality of Experience report from the NCC shows that dropped calls and one-way audio continue to plague what should be the “last mile” of connectivity.

Data Privacy Questions

The class action’s second prong, data privacy violations, touches on an issue that is increasingly becoming a legal frontier in Nigeria.

The National Data Protection Act 2023 was enacted to establish a comprehensive statutory framework for data protection. It mandates that data controllers process data in a “fair, lawful and transparent manner” and that data be collected for “specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes.”

The plaintiffs argue that MTN collected subscriber data for the purpose of providing telecommunications services, then turned around and shared that data with third parties without consent, a clear violation.

The claim is bolstered by recent legal developments. In 2025, a Federal High Court decision in Akosa v. Ecart Internet Service Ltd set a precedent on how the NDPA is enforced, particularly against unsolicited direct marketing.

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission has also become more active, launching sector-by-sector probes of potential data protection violations and even reaching a settlement with Meta over privacy breaches on its platforms.

If the class action succeeds on the data privacy front, it could open the floodgates for similar lawsuits against every company that has ever shared customer data without explicit consent, including, notably, the banks that Sowole’s firm is also pursuing.

What Happens If They Win?

The reliefs sought in the lawsuit are substantial:

• NGN 200 B in general damages for breach of contract, negligence, and violation of statutory duties
• NGN 100 B in special damages for quantifiable financial losses
• NGN 100 B in exemplary damages for continued violation of subscriber rights
• NGN 100 B in compensation for pain and suffering
• An order directing MTN to implement specific technical improvements within 90 days, with quarterly progress reports to the court
• Interest and costs of NGN 50 M

If successful, the total could reach NGN 550 B.

But the more significant question is how such a sum would be distributed to a subscriber base that has topped 94 million. Sowole’s firm has named the Attorney General of the Federation and the NCC as defendants precisely to ensure that any eventual payout reaches subscribers.

“We will have the AG’s office and NCC work out the distribution because they have the details of all the subscribers,” Sowole explained. “We want to ensure that all customers get paid.”

The model is similar to what Sowole’s firm is attempting with its separate class actions against six Nigerian banks over data privacy violations. These cases could serve as a template for consumer-driven mass litigation in Nigeria.

“They’re Scared”

The September 22 hearing will determine the immediate trajectory of the case. If the court rules against MTN’s preliminary objection, the case will proceed to a full hearing, a process that could take years, especially if appeals follow. But political intervention offers another path.

“If the Attorney General stands up to protect Nigerians and calls for a meeting, says ‘we believe this is a case that you should settle,’” Sowole suggested. “The federal government can step in and say these are foreign operators coming to Nigeria and milking us. We’re supporting these cases.”

Given the NCC’s new directive imposing automatic penalties for network failures, the political winds may be shifting. But whether that translates into pressure for an out-of-court settlement, and what such a settlement might look like, remains to be seen.

Sowole is taking the long view at the moment. “If they weren’t scared, they wouldn’t have gone to that extent to get 80 people to opt out,” he said. “They thought they could get millions of people to opt out. But we’re saying: yes, opt out, but you must pay us NGN 2 M naira per person, and the opt-out applications stopped.”

The class action offers the prospect of accountability to millions of Nigerians still struggling with dropped calls, disappearing data, and the quiet frustration of paying more for less; something that NGN 20.00 in “compensation” never could:

The next hearing is in September. But for a country that has lived with poor telecoms service for years, waiting a few more months is nothing new.

Walk into any modern manufacturing unit today, and the shift in how things operate is impossible to ignore. Machines do a lot more now; they talk, calculate, respond in real time, and production lines behave like synchronised systems.

That shift, quietly but decisively, is being powered by infrastructure decisions most people never see.

In 2026, the conversation around Industry 4.0 feels less theoretical, with the real question now being, “How efficiently do manufacturers digitise?” This is where HCI use cases for manufacturing become a practical discussion, and where providers like Sangfor have been steadily building relevance.

The Infrastructure Problem Nobody Talks About

Manufacturing innovation is generally framed around robotics, AI, or IoT. But whenever we scratch the surface, we see that legacy infrastructure struggles to keep up with the density and speed of modern data loads.

This is aggravated by systems that work in silos and allow latency to creep in.

Worse, with so many issues, maintenance becomes an operational burden.

The backend becomes more complicated with each new machine: traditional three-tier setups were never designed for this scale of convergence, and they fracture under pressure when real-time decision-making becomes unavoidable.

This gap explains why conversations around hyperconverged infrastructure keep surfacing as a necessity. To clarify, as compute, storage, and networking no longer operate independently, they converge into a single, software-defined layer.

Why Does HCI Make Sense in Manufacturing Environments?

Think about a factory floor that relies heavily on predictive maintenance: sensors constantly stream operational data from machines, which needs to be processed instantly to prevent failures. In such cases, a delay of even a few seconds can impact output, or worse, safety.

HCI simplifies that entire flow, as instead of routing data across fragmented systems, everything is processed within a unified framework. This leads to less latency, fewer failure points, and better scalability.

Some practical benefits tend to stand out, which are:

• Centralised management across distributed factory environments
• Faster deployment of new production applications
• Built-in redundancy for critical manufacturing operations
• Reduced dependency on specialised IT maintenance

These improvements directly translate into production uptime and cost moderation.

Real HCI Use Cases for Manufacturing that Teams Are Prioritising

This is where theory starts to transition into application.

When manufacturers evaluate HCI seriously, a few use cases repeatedly come up.

1. Smart Production Line Optimisation

Production lines today generate massive data streams. With HCI, that information can be processed closer to the source for immediate optimisation. So, instead of analysing performance later, adjustments happen in real time.

1. Edge Computing Integration

Factories rarely operate from a single location; multiple plants, warehouses, and edge nodes require synchronisation. HCI supports seamless edge deployments while maintaining central control. This means that manufacturers get consistency without sacrificing local responsiveness.

1. Disaster Recovery and Data Continuity

Downtime in manufacturing is not measured in hours but in financial impact per minute. To solve this, HCI creates built-in replication and recovery mechanisms that ensure operations bounce back quickly when disruptions occur.

1. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure for Factory Operations

Operators and engineers often need secure access to applications across locations, and HCI supports virtual environments that enable centralised, secure access. This reflects how HCI use cases for manufacturing are evolving; it’s less about infrastructure efficiency and more about operational resilience.

Why are manufacturers moving away from traditional infrastructure?

Manufacturers are moving away from traditional setups primarily due to scalability and speed limitations. With Sangfor solutions, HCI simplifies deployment and reduces system complexity, enabling manufacturers to respond faster to operational demands without redesigning their infrastructure.

The Role of Hypervisors in Modern Manufacturing IT

Another layer to this conversation that doesn’t get enough attention is virtualisation. More specifically, the ongoing debate around Type 1 vs Type 2 Hypervisor environments.

Type 1 hypervisors operate directly on hardware, making them better suited for mission-critical environments, whereas Type 2 hypervisors are more flexible but introduce an additional software layer that can increase latency.

Sangfor’s approach prioritises lean architecture and minimal overhead, aligning closely with the needs of high-performance manufacturing. After all, choosing the right hypervisor setup becomes part of a broader efficiency strategy rather than just a technical decision.

How does virtualisation impact factory performance?

Virtualisation improves flexibility, but poor implementation can slow systems down. Sangfor optimises this balance by integrating efficient hypervisor capabilities into its HCI platform. This enables manufacturers to maintain performance and scalability without trade-offs.

Industry Validation and Market Reality

When it comes to claims made by vendors holding up to real-world scrutiny and scenarios, nothing is more reassuring than great reviews on well-known peer-review platforms.

Date: May 13, 2026

Gartner and G2 are such platforms where users rate Sangfor highly for its HCI solution: 4.7 out of 5 on G2 and 4.8 out of 5 on Gartner for HCI implementations. This is a testament to operational outcomes across industries, which reduce uncertainty for those looking to invest in long-term infrastructure transitions.

An example of success was when Sangfor HCI was implemented to support PT JFE Steel Galvanising Indonesia’s Manufacturing Execution System, operating 24/7. Compute, storage, and networking were consolidated into a single platform for this, and the company achieved simplified infrastructure management.

What kind of results can manufacturers expect after adopting HCI?

Sangfor HCI solutions ensure that manufacturers experience improved uptime, faster deployment cycles, and simplified IT management. The overall production efficiency and reliability improve.

This is a Defining Year for HCI in Manufacturing

Smart manufacturing in 2026 is defined by ambition, and this depends heavily on how well underlying systems perform under pressure. With that, the rise of HCI applications in manufacturing reflects that manufacturers aren’t just adopting technology; they are choosing systems that enable them to recover more quickly and scale smarter.

Sangfor’s role in such a scenario feels less like that of a vendor and more like that of an enabler, as it quietly reshapes how infrastructure supports production.

Abraham, a construction worker in Ghana, had never held an insurance policy in his life. When a sudden illness landed him in hospital, he faced the difficult choice of missing work and losing income, or delaying treatment and risking his health.

What changed everything was a smartphone. When Abraham purchased his device through M-KOPA Ghana’s “More than a Phone” instalment plan in January 2025, he didn’t know it came bundled with hospital cash cover from Turaco. Months later, when sickness struck, the policy paid out, covering his hospital bills and providing daily cash to manage expenses during his recovery.

“I didn’t have an income during the days I was sick in the hospital. Because they covered my hospital bills, I had cash to take care of my daily expenses,” Abraham said, as detailed in M-KOPA Ghana’s latest impact report, released Wednesday.

Abraham is one of 556,000 Ghanaians who have accessed credit through M-KOPA since 2021, and part of a quiet revolution in how insurance reaches Africa’s low-income earners, according to the report, which found that 67% of insured customers accessed health coverage for the first time through M-KOPA’s partnership with Turaco.

For decades, selling insurance to Africa’s informal sector was considered a tough gig. Premiums were too high, distribution was too fragmented, and trust was virtually non-existent. Across the continent, insurance penetration remains at just 2.7% of GDP, which is less than half the global average of approximately 7%. In Ghana, where mobile technology now contributes GHC 94 B (~USD 8 B) to the economy, roughly 8% of GDP, millions remain locked out of formal protection.

M-KOPA is cracking the code by making insurance incidental. Individuals buy a smartphone on credit with the coverage baked in, eliminating the hurdle of shopping for a policy.

The January 2025 launch of “More than a Phone”, which bundles health insurance, affordable data, and device protection directly into every smartphone instalment, drove a fourfold surge in sales and expanded operations across all 16 regions of Ghana.

For many users, the services attached to the device now matter more than the device itself. Forty-four percent of customers accessed a formal product or service for the first time through M-KOPA, and 36% said their financed smartphone was the first phone they had ever owned.

“M-KOPA Ghana works to dismantle barriers to formal financial services, and this report shows what’s possible when Every Day Earners get access,” said Chioma D. Agogo, General Manager, M-KOPA Ghana.

“From first-time smartphone ownership to first-time health insurance, we’re proving that bundling meaningful services with connectivity changes what people can achieve.”

Forty-three percent of female customers said they chose an M-KOPA phone specifically for the health insurance, and 67% of insured customers now feel more confident handling health expenses, according to the report.

Before M-KOPA, 40% of insured customers relied on harmful coping mechanisms – borrowing money, selling assets, cutting back on food, or delaying treatment – to manage medical costs. Today, that vulnerability is being systematically dismantled, one smartphone at a time.

The model is now being replicated and scaled. Across M-KOPA’s five markets, the fintech is nearing 10 million customers and onboarding over 10,000 new users daily, according to a May 12 company announcement. Revenue grew more than 65% in 2024, with growth remaining profitable into 2025 and 2026.

A Kenyan High Court ruling that ordered Safaricom to pay KES 9.9 M (USD 76 K) for a massive data breach has effectively killed the “rogue employee” defence, placing corporate Africa on notice that constitutional privacy obligations cannot be outsourced or delegated.

In a judgment delivered on May 13, Justice Bahati Mwamuye of the Constitutional and Human Rights Division found that the telecoms giant violated the rights of 11 subscribers whose personal and financial data, including betting histories, M-Pesa transaction records and geolocation information, was extracted by employees and sold to betting companies including Odibets between 2018 and 2019.

The breach compromised information belonging to more than 11.5 million subscribers, making it one of the largest known violations of subscriber privacy on the African continent.

Safaricom’s defence rested on what had previously been a reliable corporate shield, claiming rogue employees acted outside their authority. The company argued that because the individuals—including a manager of networks and M-Pesa systems who designed a bespoke algorithm to mine subscriber data—acted without authorisation, the institution itself should not bear constitutional responsibility.

The court rejected that argument entirely.

“The breach happened because of systemic failures inside Safaricom’s own infrastructure, poor data governance, weak internal oversight, and inadequate security controls,” the judgment found. “The rogue Safaricom employee could only do what they did because the system made it possible. That is on the company.”

Justice Mwamuye went further, ruling that Article 31 of Kenya’s Constitution, the right to privacy, imposes a “positive and non-delegable duty” on data controllers.

The court also found violations of Article 28, the right to dignity, and Article 46 on consumer protection, significantly expanding the definition of harm in data breach cases.

Under the ruling, a person whose data leaks does not need to demonstrate financial loss to have a valid claim. Reputational damage and psychological harm are sufficient.

Each of the 11 petitioners was awarded KES 900 K in general damages, with interest accruing from the date of judgment until payment in full. Safaricom was also ordered to bear the full costs of the petition.

But the real significance lies in what comes next. The court’s reasoning applies to every bank, telco, insurer, health provider and government body sitting on large volumes of personal data across the continent.

“If a breach happens and you cannot show clear documentation of who had access to what, what monitoring was in place, and how quickly you would have caught unusual activity, you are exposed,” the judgment warned. “The rogue employee story will not save you.”

Observers say the ruling establishes a binding precedent that will shape data protection litigation across Kenya and beyond.

Safaricom, which has not yet indicated whether it will appeal, is now staring down the barrel of cascading litigation. The court’s findings, that employees extracted and trafficked subscriber data to named betting firms over a sustained period, have opened the door for millions more affected subscribers to seek redress.

Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry and issuer of USD₮, the world’s most widely used stablecoin, today announced an investment in LemFi, a financial platform serving millions of people who live and work across borders.  This investment aims to promote financial inclusion and expand access to efficient, borderless financial systems, while accelerating the use of stablecoin-powered solutions in emerging markets. 

LemFi is one of the most trusted financial platforms, connecting communities across the UK, US, Canada, and Europe with family and loved ones in Africa and Asia. For millions of people living and working across borders, LemFi has become the financial home that traditional banks never provided. Its mission is to make financial services fair, simple, and accessible, which requires infrastructure built to go where traditional rails cannot. Stablecoins are central to making that possible.

Tether’s investment aims to support LemFi’s integration of USD₮ as a settlement layer across its key corridors, replacing multi-day SWIFT chains with near-instant, low-cost settlement across Africa and Asia. Tether will also help accelerate LemFi’s stablecoin infrastructure, which will progressively extend across its broader product suite, delivering more stable, transparent, and accessible financial services to customers on both sides of each corridor.

This investment aligns with Tether’s broader mission to bridge the gap between traditional finance and digital assets by offering a stable, liquid digital payment solution powered by blockchain technology. Through collaborations with platforms like LemFi that address real-world financial challenges, Tether continues to advance the global use of stablecoins, making them more practical and accessible.

“At Tether, our goal is to promote financial inclusion, and we are committed to working with platforms building scalable financial solutions that address the real needs of our 585 million users globally,” Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “Our investment in LemFi reflects our shared vision on how money moves across borders, prioritising speed, cost, and transparency. By supporting LemFi’s growth and innovation roadmap, we are helping bring the benefits of a stable digital asset to more people who rely on remittances in their daily lives.”

“Tether’s investment is a significant milestone for us at LemFi, but more importantly, it is a validation of the direction we are heading. We have always believed that the financial system should work equally well for everyone, regardless of where they live or where they are sending money. Integrating USD₮ into our infrastructure brings us closer to that reality, enabling faster, cheaper, and more reliable financial services for the millions of people who depend on us every day,” said Ridwan Olalere, LemFi’s CEO & Co-founder.

By combining Tether’s deep liquidity with LemFi’s established presence in emerging markets, the two companies are setting a new standard for faster, more inclusive remittances designed for today’s interconnected world.

A last-ditch bid to rescue the embattled Africa Founders Ventures (AFV), the non-profit parent of Mastercard Foundation-backed startup network 54 Collective, which controversially shut down last year, has been halted in its tracks. This ends an 18-month legal battle that exposed the fragility of philanthropy-backed tech machinery.

The High Court in Johannesburg ruled on May 12 that the provisional liquidation order granted in July 2025 is not appealable, and that the business rescue practitioner’s challenge had “no reasonable prospect of success.” The decision is final, leaving AFV’s assets to be wound down and distributed.

The case has been closely watched across Africa’s venture scene because AFV was not a typical failed startup. It was structured as a non-profit designed to recycle philanthropic capital into early-stage founders. It had deployed millions into hundreds of startups across the continent before the liquidation proceedings began in mid-2025.

The exact trigger for the winding-up application has never been publicly disclosed, but sources familiar with the matter have pointed to governance disputes and questionable use of donor funds. The court’s refusal to entertain further appeals suggests that whatever internal fractures existed were deemed irreparable by the bench.

The liquidation also raises questions about the Mastercard Foundation’s due diligence and post-investment oversight. The foundation, which has committed billions to African youth and entrepreneurship, has not commented on the ruling. AFV’s business rescue practitioner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Legal analysts say the judgment sets a precedent that non-profit entities in South Africa are not immune to aggressive winding-up applications, and that mismanagement claims, even unproven, can stick if governance structures are weak.

For now, the 54 Collective brand has effectively ceased operations; its website is out of service. It’s understood that any remaining assets will be distributed according to the court’s order, with no further recourse for those who fought to keep the entity alive.