TechCabal • 13th January 2025

A founder's personal assets as collateral for failure—lessons from China's startup ecosystem

This week, the Financial Times reported a compelling story that shines a harsh light on China’s struggling startup ecosystem.
Here’s the issue: in China, if a VC-backed startup fails, investors can invoke redemption rights to claw back their investments by seizing the founders’ personal assets—homes, bank accounts, or other valuables.
While redemption rights have existed for years, their enforcement has escalated recently, leaving many founders millions in debt. These founders can even be adde...

TechCabal • 11th January 2025

Meta's fact-checking pivot threaten jobs, may fuel disinformation in Africa

Meta’s decision to replace its longstanding fact-checking model with community notes on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads will significantly impact content moderation companies, including Pesacheck and business outsourcing firms. It could mean job losses for hundreds of contractors in Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa, and potentially affect capacity to combat misinformation, at least three civil rights activists, managers at business outsourcing firms and media professionals told TechCabal...

TechCabal • 6th December 2024

People Daily shuts down print newspaper, pivots to digital-only model

Mediamax-owned People Daily, a 32-year-old Kenyan newspaper, will halt its print operations to pivot to a digital-only model. The newspaper published its final print edition on November 29. 


The decision reflects the shifting dynamics of the Kenyan media landscape as traditional print media struggles due to dwindling advertising revenue and changing consumer habits.


People Daily, which adopted a free, ad-supported model ten years ago, claimed the change is due to environmental sustainabili...

TechCabal • 3rd December 2024

Mergers and acquisitions require more than financial synergy

Mergers and acquisitions are notoriously complex, high-risk ventures that often take months or years to finalise.
Beyond the obvious financial intricacies, what many don’t realise is how important non-financial factors—particularly cultural alignment—are to their success. Deals aren’t just about combining balance sheets since they involve uniting people, processes, and philosophies.
A mismatch in company cultures, values, or work ethics can derail even the most promising merge which can lead to...

TechCabal • 27th November 2024

Safaricom receives approval for second money market fund Ziidi

Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has approved Safaricom’s second money market product, Ziidi. The product, which will be offered in partnership with Standard Investment Bank, ALA Capital Limited, and Sanlam Investments East Africa Limited, directly answers Kenya’s demand for accessible digital investments. 


In 2019, Safaricom launched its first money market fund (MMF), Mali with Genghis Capital, a Kenyan investment bank. Mali’s asset base grew to KES 3 billion ($23 million) in November...

TechCabal • 25th November 2024

Kenya's new law to hold BPO firms liable for employee claims

Kenya’s parliament has proposed a Business Law (Amendment) Bill 2024 to regulate business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT-enabled service (ITES) companies amid growing scrutiny of worker conditions. 


This follows a September 2024 court ruling allowing BPO firms to be sued locally. It was prompted by former Sama employees who alleged they were moderating harmful content for clients like Meta under exploitative conditions and with inadequate safeguards. Three Sama employees claimed in one repo...

TechCabal • 20th November 2024

KCB Group grows profits by 49% as total assets hit $15.4 billion

KCB Group, Kenya’s biggest bank, grew its profits by 49% in the first nine months of 2024, driven by income growth. It reported KES 45.8 billion ($354 million) in profits compared to KES 30.7 billion ($238 million) in the same period last year.


Its revenue also jumped by 22% to KES 142.9 billion ($1.1 billion), including contributions from both lending and non-lending activities such as foreign exchange income and transaction fees. 


The bank’s total assets—including cash, loans, investmen...

TechCabal • 15th November 2024

CcHub-backed iHub opens new Nairobi HQ, sets up hub in Togo

Five years after its acquisition by CcHub, iHub has moved to a sleek, two-storey headquarters in Nairobi’s upscale Lavington area, a clear sign of the accelerator’s growing influence in Africa’s tech ecosystem. 


iHub’s spacious new office in Lavington features an entertainment and media hub designed to provide specialised advisory support for film, television, and social media professionals. The facility also includes co-working spaces, private booths for calls, conference rooms, and dedicate...

TechCabal • 7th November 2024

Safaricom denies granting government access to customer data

Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile operator, has denied allegations of sharing information with government agencies after a publication alleged the telco granted Kenyan security agencies real-time access to customer data. 


“There have been some reports on this matter that, in my view, are not accurate, and we have made our position clear to those who have misreported it,” Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said during Thursday’s H1 results presentation. 


“We serve 36 million customers on the consum...

TechCabal • 5th November 2024

KCB customers overdrew accounts by $7.7m following system glitch

Technical glitches during a critical data migration allowed customers at Kenya’s largest bank, the KCB Group, to withdraw sums above their bank balances. Customers withdrew around $7.7 million (KES 1 billion) from October 11 to 31, ten people familiar with the matter told TechCabal. 


The bank has restricted the accounts of customers who overdrew their accounts and has notified them, people familiar with the matter said. The bank is also prepared to use loan recovery companies. After migrating...