On this episode, Laolu, Furo, and Nosa discuss some recent fundraises in the ecosystem — Spiro’s $215M raise backed by Impact Fund Denmark and Equitane, Nala’s $50M credit facility, LemFi’s $34.8M extension, BFREE’s growth round led by AfricInvest, and Shiprazor’s $2.65M seed funding.

They also unpack Chowdeck’s vendor trust issues and explore broader financial trends and news.

This episode is sponsored by Busha — Nigeria’s licensed digital assets exchange for businesses looking to move money across borders. If you are running a business exploring fast cross-border payments, stablecoin and FX liquidity, and easy treasury management, get started at busha.io/business, and for individuals? You can buy, sell, and send digital assets anywhere in the world, and also save in naira or dollars, with up to 20% annual interest. Download the Busha App and use code OPENAFRICA or visit https://surl.li/jvbwvt to get started.

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We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on X (@TheOAPod) and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Laolu, Furo, and Nosa talk about Chowdeck using its $9 million Series A to chase a superapp strategy and whether that ambition risks diluting the operational focus that made it Nigeria's best food delivery app, ARCON arresting small business owners for running Instagram ads without prior approval under the 2022 ARCON Act, the CBN's 2026 Guide to Charges, Airtel Money’s IPO, and other news in Nigeria’s Fintech ecosystem.

This episode is sponsored by Busha — Nigeria’s licensed digital assets exchange for businesses looking to move money across borders. If you are running a business exploring fast cross-border payments, stablecoin and FX liquidity, and easy treasury management, get started at busha.io/business, and for individuals? You can buy, sell, and send digital assets anywhere in the world, and also save in naira or dollars, with up to 20% annual interest. Download the Busha App and use code OPENAFRICA or visit https://surl.li/jvbwvt to get started.

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We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on X (@TheOAPod) and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Laolu, Furo, and Nosa talk about Flutterwave's acquisition of Mono to gain a National Microfinance Bank licence, the CBN's AML/CFT supervision pilot for six crypto and fintech firms including KuCoin and Paystack, Moniepoint's acquisition of restaurant management platform Orda Africa as a credit underwriting play, and OPay turning the CBN's new One Principal Rule for POS agents into an aggressive marketing campaign while opening physical branches across Nigeria.

This episode is sponsored by Busha — Nigeria’s licensed digital assets exchange for businesses looking to move money across borders. If you are running a business exploring fast cross-border payments, stablecoin and FX liquidity, and easy treasury management, get started at busha.io/business, and for individuals? You can buy, sell, and send digital assets anywhere in the world, and also save in naira or dollars, with up to 20% annual interest. Download the Busha App and use code OPENAFRICA or visit https://surl.li/jvbwvt to get started.

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We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on X (@TheOAPod) and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Laolu, Furo, and Nosa talk about Moniepoint taking Alerzo to court over ₦5 billion unpaid loan, NIN for sale and data compromise, Terra Industries’ partnership with DICON to boost sovereign defence production and give some context to Nigeria’s GSI framework for loan recovery alongside other industry news.

This episode is sponsored by Busha — Nigeria’s licensed digital assets exchange for businesses looking to move money across borders. If you are running a business exploring fast cross-border payments, stablecoin and FX liquidity, and easy treasury management, get started at busha.io/business, and for individuals? You can buy, sell, and send digital assets anywhere in the world, and also save in naira or dollars, with up to 20% annual interest. Download the Busha App and use code OPENAFRICA or visit busha.io to get started.

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We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on X (@TheOAPod) and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Laolu, Furo, and Nosa talk about CBN upgrading OPay, Moniepoint, and Kuda to national MFB licences, Paystack turning 10 and launching The Stack Group, Busha launching crypto-backed loans, Raenest expanding into India, and a deep dive into why African startups have a numbers problem; with Moniepoint as case study.

This episode is sponsored by Busha — Nigeria’s licensed digital assets exchange for businesses looking to move money across borders. If you are running a business exploring fast cross-border payments, stablecoin and FX liquidity, and easy treasury management, get started at busha.io/business, and for individuals? You can buy, sell, and send digital assets anywhere in the world, and also save in naira or dollars, with up to 20% annual interest. Download the Busha App and use code OPENAFRICA or visit busha.io to get started.

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We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on X (@TheOAPod) and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to a new season of The Open Africa Podcast!

On this episode, Laolu, Furo, and Nosa talk about Flutterwave acquiring Mono, the peculiarities of Fintech product names, Glovo’s call out by Corporate Ewa, and Moniepoint trying to recover a ₦2.4 billion loan from ShopRite.

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We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on X (@TheOAPod) and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Laolu, Furo, and Nosa do the usual Year in Review and make few predictions for 2026!

Thank you for loving the podcast all year long!

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We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on X (@TheOAPod) and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations.

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We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on X (@TheOAPod) and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Laolu, Furo, and Nosa break down some recent and interesting moves in Africa’s fintech industry.

We explore LemFi’s FSCS-protected savings launch in the UK and what it means for retention beyond remittances. We also discuss Nomba’s remittance-first expansion into the DRC and Nigeria’s new National Payment Stack, built to modernise instant transfers and onboarding.

Finally, we unpack South Africa’s Discovery Bank adding crypto integration via Luno, Chowdeck’s new airtime feature, and Wave’s evolving journey from mobile money to full bank ambitions.

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P.s: you’ll find a suprise if you listen to the end!

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We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on X (@TheOAPod) and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations.

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We love hearing your thoughts! Find us on X (@TheOAPod) and Instagram (@openafricapod) and tag us in your conversations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.