Technology journalist, Tage Kene-Okafor, has announced his departure from TechCrunch after five years of covering Africa’s technology and venture capital ecosystem for a global audience.
He made the announcement on LinkedIn, marking the end of a period in which he became one of the most visible and influential reporters documenting African startups, fintech, investors, and policy shifts on the international stage.
“After five incredible years at TechCrunch, I’m signing off,” Kene-Okafor wrote on LinkedIn. “I spent that time telling the stories of Africa’s tech ecosystem and helping shape how the world understands it. It’s been some of the most fulfilling work of my career, covering many of the continent’s most important companies, founders, investors, and transactions.”
In his announcement, he expressed gratitude to his editors at TechCrunch – Matthew Panzarino, Henry Pickavet, Ingrid Lunden, Connie Loizos, and Julie Bort, as well as to colleagues, sources, and the wider African tech community.
What You Need to Know
Kene-Okafor also hinted at his next chapter, saying he is “excited to join a young company working at the centre of this shift,” though he did not yet disclose the company’s name or sector.
In his farewell message, Kene-Okafor reflected on the limits of software-led growth, particularly in fintech, a sector that has produced many of Africa’s most valuable startups so far.
He argued that while financial technology has been transformative, it cannot on its own create broad-based prosperity for Africa’s rapidly growing and youthful population.
“If we want to build truly thriving economies for the world’s youngest population, we must invest in infrastructure, industrial capacity, and the physical systems that drive economic growth,” he wrote.
He added that this shift will become even more critical as artificial intelligence and automation reshape global industries, making Africa’s physical resources, energy systems, and production capacity strategically important.
What This Means
Since joining TechCrunch in January 2021, Kene-Okafor has played a central role in shaping how Africa’s technology ecosystem is understood globally.
His reporting has spanned early-stage startups, billion-dollar fintech firms, cross-border payments, venture funding, and the structural challenges facing African innovation.
The move suggests a transition from journalism into operating or investing within the technology ecosystem itself, a path increasingly taken by senior tech reporters globally.
Tech experts say his departure marks the end of a significant chapter in global reporting on African innovation and reflects a broader moment of change for the continent’s technology and economic development narrative.
About Tage Kene-Okafor
Tage Kene-Okafor began his professional journalism career at Techpoint Africa, where he worked as a startup reporter from 2019 to 2021.
During this period, he developed a strong reputation for data-driven reporting on African startups, funding trends, and market structure, gaining the trust of founders and investors across the ecosystem.
In January 2021, Kene-Okafor joined TechCrunch as a Technology Journalist based in San Francisco.
Over five years, he became one of the most consistent global voices reporting on African innovation, covering fintech, venture capital, cross-border commerce, regulation, and the economic forces shaping the continent’s digital future.
Tage Kene-Okafor trained initially as an engineer, earning a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
In April 2025, Kene-Okafor became a co-host of The Upside Podcast, where he discusses technology, markets, and emerging economies.
The podcast expanded his role from reporter to public intellectual and commentator, giving him a platform to explore broader themes around development, capital, and global technological change.
According to industry leaders, Kene-Okafor’s career mirrors Africa’s tech journey itself, from early digital experimentation to a deeper reckoning with the structural foundations required for sustainable prosperity.
Talking Points
It is notable that Tage Kene-Okafor has spent the last five years doing what very few journalists have done consistently, telling Africa’s technology story to a truly global audience, and doing so with depth, context, and credibility.
At TechCrunch, he did more than report funding rounds. He helped international investors, founders, and policymakers understand the realities behind Africa’s startups, from fragmented markets and regulation to infrastructure gaps and capital constraints.
His engineering background gave him an edge. It allowed him to engage founders on product, systems, and technical trade-offs, not just headlines and valuations, which made his reporting more rigorous and more useful.
At Techparley, we see his work as part of the reason Africa’s tech ecosystem is now taken more seriously in global conversations, not as a trend, but as a complex and evolving market.
If anything, Tage’s career reminds us that storytelling is infrastructure too. Without it, capital, talent, and policy struggle to move in the right direction.
——————-
Bookmark Techparley.com for the most insightful technology news from the African continent.
Follow us on Twitter @Techparleynews, on Facebook at Techparley Africa, on LinkedIn at Techparley Africa, or on Instagram at Techparleynews.
