Hi, welcome to Tech This Evening, an After-Work Tech Newsletter from Techparley Africa. Sure, there is a lot to unpack right now. Sit back, while I walk you through.
Top Story: Paystack Acquires Ladder Microfinance Bank, Launches Paystack MFB to Provide Credit and Deposits for Nigerian SMEs
Nigerian fintech Paystack Inc., owned by Stripe, has officially entered the country’s banking sector with the acquisition of Ladder Microfinance Bank.
The move marks a shift for the decade-old payments company, enabling it to exert greater control over the funds it processes and expand into lending and banking-as-a-service (BaaS) offerings.
The newly acquired entity, now branded Paystack Microfinance Bank (Paystack MFB), will initially focus on lending to businesses before gradually offering services to consumers. It will also provide BaaS products to companies building financial tools and treasury management solutions.
“After 10 years of building payment infrastructure and going deep, we realised that businesses needed more than just getting paid to grow,” Amandine Lobelle, Paystack’s Chief Operating Officer told TechCabal. “We wanted to leverage the expertise that we have built over the last decade to continue to address some of the pain points that (businesses) have.”
Other Tech News Stories You Should Read:
Meska AI Launches “Meska Spark Vol.2” to Support Egypt’s Growing AI Startup Ecosystem. Read now.
UK–Kenya Consortium Launches Startup 360 Connect to Provide Early-Stage Capital for Kenyan Startups. Read now.
Kenyan Constantnople is Tackling Losses and Boosting Productivity with AI-Powered Fish Cages for Small-Scale Aquaculture. Read now.
On Startup Spotlight:
Stars From All Nations (SFAN) and British Council Partner to Train 100 Ghanaian Creative Entrepreneurs
Ghanaian ed-tech startup, Stars From All Nations (SFAN), has secured a grant partnership with the British Council Ghana to train 100 creative entrepreneurs in business and enterprise skills, as part of a wider effort to strengthen the country’s fast-growing creative economy.
The partnership will see SFAN deliver the British Council’s SoCreative Learning Programme to selected creatives across Ghana, equipping them with practical tools to build sustainable, commercially viable careers in sectors such as film, music, fashion, digital content, design, and the visual arts.
The initiative sits within the British Council’s broader Creative Economy Programme, which aims to equip more than 100,000 creatives across Sub-Saharan Africa with entrepreneurial and business capabilities.
“We are delighted to partner with the British Council Ghana on this vital initiative. At SFAN, we firmly believe that young people are smart, and if given the skills and opportunities to engage the real world, magic will happen,” Tom-Chris Emewulu, SFAN founder and president said.
Quadri Adejumo brings you all the details. Read here.
Also Read:
How Vet Konect Is Using AI and Mobile Technology to Close Nigeria’s Animal Healthcare Gap. Yakub Abdulrasheed brings us the details, here.
Quote of the Day:
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke.
Thank you for joining me yet again this evening. Stay safe, and see you tomorrow for the next tech newsletter.
Best, Quadri
