Author: John Nyabuto

Visa and Safaricom hosted a “Game Iko On” Semi-Final Watch Party, bringing together customers, partners and football fans to celebrate their partnership and also promote the M-Pesa GlobalPay Virtual Visa Card. Developed by Visa and Safaricom, the card allows M-Pesa users to make secure international online payments directly from their M-Pesa wallet through the Visa global payments network. The event marked the culmination of the “Game Iko On” campaign, which has combined the excitement of football with digital payments to educate consumers on the convenience, security and accessibility of the M-Pesa GlobalPay Virtual Visa Card. “Football has a unique ability…

TikTok has announced a series of new initiatives with the aim to improve AI literacy, increase transparency around AI-generated content and tackle AI-generated spam as the use of artificial intelligence continues to grow on the platform. The announcements were made during the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva and form part of the company’s broader efforts to help users use AI safely and responsibly. A significant enhancement is the debut of a new in-app AI literacy hub for users in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. The hub will provide educational resources to enable people to recognize AI-generated content, understand…

Flutterwave has announced a collaboration with Xoom to facilitate faster cross-border money transfers into Nigeria. The partnership connects Xoom’s global remittance network with Flutterwave’s local payout infrastructure. With this, users worldwide can send money directly to Nigerian bank accounts with improved speed and efficiency. Under the collaboration, Xoom transfers will be converted by Flutterwave and settled locally in Nigerian Naira (NGN). Recipients can receive funds directly into accounts at major banks including Access Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Zenith Bank, First Bank of Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) and other participating financial institutions. “We’re excited to have been chosen…

Samsung has unveiled its 2026 television range in Kenya. The company is bringing its new Mini LED TV range to the local market, growing its premium home entertainment portfolio. The new lineup showcases Samsung’s newest display technology with brighter visuals, richer colours, larger screen options and AI-powered viewing experiences. These experiences are designed for sports, movies, gaming and everyday entertainment. According to Samsung, the Mini LED range is powered by its Vision AI Companion, which combines intelligent picture and sound technologies to create a more personalised viewing experience. Among the new features is AI Soccer Mode, which automatically optimises picture…

Renew Capital has selected 15 startups from more than 500 applicants across 48 African countries to advance to the next stage of its inaugural Renew Venture Lab: EmFi Series, a program focused on accelerating embedded finance innovation across the continent. The selected startups will receive advanced technical training and be considered for investment after emerging from a highly competitive application process that highlighted growing interest in embedded finance solutions for Africa’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Africa’s SMEs remain the backbone of the continent’s economies but continue to face an estimated $330 billion annual credit gap. At the same time,…

Nuvion has announced the integration of Ripple USD (RLUSD) into its AI-powered global banking and cross-border payments platform. This gives businesses and fintechs access to faster, stablecoin-powered international payments and settlements. The integration allows businesses to move funds seamlessly between traditional banking systems and blockchain-based payment networks through a single platform. This reduces reliance on legacy correspondent banking infrastructure. According to Nuvion, the addition of RLUSD expands its payment and treasury capabilities by enabling faster cross-border settlement, seamless conversion between fiat currencies and digital assets, enterprise-grade digital asset infrastructure and improved global liquidity management through a unified API. “We believe…

For years, cloud adoption was positioned as a fast track to agility, scalability and digital transformation. Today, as organisations operate increasingly distributed environments, many are entering a new phase of cloud maturity; one that requires them to rethink accountability for security across public cloud, private cloud and on-premises infrastructure. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026, cloud technologies are ranked as the second most significant technology expected to affect cybersecurity over the coming year, after only AI. This finding suggests that, while many businesses are well advanced in their cloud journeys, cloud security and governance remain high priorities. This also…

Flutterwave has announced a strategic investment from Circle Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Circle Internet Group. The investment is an extension of Flutterwave’s involvement in the launch of the Circle Payments Network in 2025, and will support the company’s efforts to embed USDC settlement directly into the payment flows that businesses already use. The integration will allow merchants to accept payments in local currencies while settling in USDC. Flutterwave said the move is part of its broader strategy to position stablecoins as core financial infrastructure for Africa while maintaining a compliance-first approach that aligns with regulatory requirements and enterprise…

Swedfund has announced an additional USD 5 million investment in the TLG Africa Growth Impact Fund II (TLG II). The new commitment brings Swedfund’s total investment in the fund to USD 20 million. This is in addition to an initial USD 15 million investment in 2025. The funding forms part of TLG II’s second close, alongside investments from Proparco, Calvert Impact Capital and several existing investors. The investment will help remove one of the key barriers to business growth on the continent: limited access to appropriate financing for SMEs. While SMEs are critical to employment and economic development, many SMEs…

Visa is expanding access to Visa Pay for additional issuers across Africa and Central Asia through a software development kit (SDK) that helps banks, mobile money operators and fintechs embed Visa Pay capabilities into their existing mobile applications and launch virtual cards and payment experiences quickly and securely. Visa Pay is an interoperable and secure way for banked and unbanked consumers to pay, get paid, and move money across participating banks, fintechs and mobile networks. With integrated issuer processing capabilities, built-in customer experience, tokenization readiness and Visa-certified security and compliance components, the SDK helps accelerate and simplify the deployment of…