Happy pre-TGIF. 
Fido, an Accra-based fintech, has secured a $200,000 grant from the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to expand its digital lending, savings, and financial literacy products for women- and youth-led small businesses in Ghana. The programme is expected to help businesses access up to $1 million in loans and savings.
Meanwhile, Power Brunch: Nigeria Data Sovereignty Future is happening today.
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Let’s get into today’s dispatch.
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connectivity
MTN Nigeria crosses 100 million subscribers
MTN Nigeria has joined the 100 million club—the only Nigerian telecom company to do so.
What happened? The operator ended July with 100.86 million subscribers, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country’s telecom regulator, crossing a milestone that no Nigerian telecom company has reached before. MTN added more than 2.2 million subscribers in a single month, its biggest monthly increase since November 2024.
That puts MTN in a commanding position, with 51.76% of Nigeria’s mobile market. In other words, if Nigeria’s mobile market were a classroom, MTN would have more than half the seats.
State of play: The growth has been remarkably fast. MTN started 2026 with about 94.2 million subscribers and added more than 6.6 million lines by July, averaging roughly 31,000 new subscribers a day. Its rivals also grew, but none came close to MTN’s scale.
Between the lines: The bigger prize, however, is not the 100 million headline. It is what MTN can do with that scale. More subscribers mean a larger audience for data, fintech, and other digital services—but also greater pressure to keep the network fast and reliable.
MTN is already spending heavily to support the growth. In the first half of 2026, it invested ₦620.5 billion ($450 million) in capital expenditure, excluding lease additions.
The 100 million mark is a milestone. Keeping all those people happy may be the harder part.
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companies
Why Uber still sees Kenya as a priority market
Uber, the ride-hailing giant, is getting pickier about where it wants to compete in Africa. Last week, it shut down its operations in Nigeria and Uganda, following its exit from Tanzania in January. But Kenya is getting a very different treatment. Uber says the country remains a key market with “strong potential,” even as fuel and operating costs rise.
What’s different about Kenya? Uber has spent more than a decade building beyond basic car rides. It operates in Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret, Kisumu, Nakuru, and Naivasha, and has added Uber Eats, motorcycle taxis, electric bodas, and premium rides. Its 2023 economic impact report estimated that the platform supported KES 17.3 billion ($134 million) in economic activity that year, while drivers earned an additional KES 2.2 billion ($17 million) through the platform.
The market itself also gives Uber reasons to stay. Kenya’s economy grew 4.6% in 2025, while transport and storage grew 3.7%. Tourism is another useful demand pool: it contributed $12.7 billion, or 9.3% of Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP), in 2025, and supported 1.8 million jobs, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Kenya’s growing tourism and transport sectors give Uber more room to grow bookings.
What about South Africa? Uber is showing the same strategy there, but at a much larger scale. It plans to invest R5 billion ($310 million) over three years in mobility and delivery, including motorcycles, electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and Uber Go. Yet, has also discontinued UberX. That is not necessarily a retreat. Uber said several products used the same vehicles, so it is simplifying the range while pushing customers towards products it thinks can work better.
Zoom out: Uber seems to be separating markets where it sees enough demand, scale, and room for new products from those where the economics no longer justify staying. Kenya has a growing digital economy, a large informal transport market and strong tourism demand. It also has fierce competition: on Monday, Bolt said it has invested over KES 19 billion ($147 million) in Kenya and reached more than eight million riders.
What could change? Kenya stops being a priority if growth slows while fuel, vehicle, and regulatory costs keep rising, or if competition makes it harder for Uber to earn enough from each ride. Nigeria is a useful warning. Its exit came as fuel costs, inflation, currency volatility, and competition put more pressure on the economics of ride-hailing.
For now, Uber appears to be betting that Kenya has enough demand and enough room to build a broader mobility business to make those costs worth absorbing.
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defence-tech
Terra Industries secures $2 million in lithium-mining security contracts
Terra Industries, the Nigerian defence-tech startup that raised $52 million in seed funding, has spent the last two years building drones and convincing governments that African security problems need locally built technology. Now, it’s time to put all that hardware to work.
What happened? Terra has signed two contracts with Nigerian lithium mining companies to secure their sites. It will deploy 20 Sentry towers and four Iroko drones, all connected through ArtemisOS, its software platform for monitoring sites, detecting threats, and coordinating responses.
Explain like I’m new here: On August 28, Terra announced the launch of its commercial division, a dedicated business unit serving privately owned infrastructure. The division aims to extend the same technology it was deploying to protect power plants, mines, and other nationally critical assets to more private operators.
A lot has happened in two years: Terra launched in 2024 to build autonomous security systems for Africa. In January, it raised $11.75 million, and an additional $22 million a month later. In August, it closed another $ 18 million seed round, bringing its total to $52 million.
In April, it announced plans for a manufacturing facility in Ghana that could produce up to 50,000 aerial systems by 2028. In August, it opened its first international office in London and appointed Ben MacWilliams, a former SpaceX executive, as its Vice President of Strategy.
A different Terra: Until now, much of Terra’s pitch has centred on governments and defence customers. The company said its systems already protect about $11 billion worth of critical infrastructure across several African countries. The commercial division changes the customer. Now Terra is going after the private companies operating mines, power plants, pipelines, ports, and refineries
banking
Kenya is one step closer to getting its first locally domiciled exchange-traded fund
Kenya’s banks have had a strong year on the stock market. Now, investors have a new way to bet on the sector without having to pick only one bank.
What happened? Wall Street Africa, a Nairobi-based financial media and fintech startup, has received conditional approval to list a banking exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). If it meets the remaining regulatory requirements, Kenya could have its first locally domiciled ETF. The approval follows an earlier nod from Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) in July.
Explain like I’m new here: An ETF is a basket of investments packaged into one thing you can buy and sell on a stock exchange. WSA’s ETF will track the NSE Banking Sector Index, which currently contains 12 banks, including Equity Group, KCB, Co-operative Bank, Absa Bank Kenya, NCBA, and I&M Group. Instead of buying shares in several banks, investors can buy one ETF unit for exposure to the entire basket.
Why is this important? Kenya’s banking stocks have been among the biggest drivers of the stock-market rally. The NSE was valued at KES4.28 trillion ($33 billion) at the end of the week to September 4, with banks accounting for much of the activity. For investors, the ETF offers a way to participate in that growth without putting all their money behind one bank. If one bank has a bad quarter, you still have exposure to the others in the basket. It also lowers the hassle of buying and managing multiple stocks individually.
What happens now? Wall Street Africa is now working with Tradiam Asset Managers, its fund manager, to complete the remaining regulatory checks, appoint a custodian and market makers, and finalise the information memorandum investors will read before buying. WSA is targeting a Q4 2026 launch, and said it is about 90% done.
CRYPTO TRACKER
The World Wide Web3
Source:
|
Coin Name |
Current Value |
Day |
Month |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bitcoin |
$78,487 |
+ 0.07% |
+ 22.81% |
| Ether |
$2,482 |
– 0.14% |
+ 32.41% |
| XRP |
$1.41 |
– 0.97% |
+ 39.24% |
| Solana |
$103.15 |
– 0.24% |
+ 36.03% |
* Data as of 05.57 AM WAT, September 10, 2026.
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Written by: Yemi Kareem and Emmanuel Nwosu
Edited by: Emmanuel Nwosu & Ganiu Oloruntade
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I am the CEO of 9JAGISTLAND.My name is Adedeji Timothy and my co-owner is Oyekola Damilare.This blog is born out of our passion to educating to people in all aspect of internet life.We are enthusiastic about writing posts and articles online.
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