March 2026 - Page 38 of 50

CBN mandates liveness checks for Nigeria bank account openings 2026

Business

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CBN Mandates Liveness Checks for All Nigerian Bank Account Openings

UphivaBETAR
March 14, 2026

Nigeria’s Central Bank has made biometric liveness detection mandatory for all bank and fintech account openings, effective immediately. What compliance teams must implement now.

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South Africa VAT digital platform operators April 2026 — SARS compliance

Business

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South Africa Flips the VAT Switch on Digital Platform Operators — Effective April 1, 2026

UphivaBETAR
March 14, 2026

From April 1, South Africa’s platform operators become default VAT collectors for electronic services. What changes, who is affected, and why SARS pushed for this.

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Ethiopia 1.5% telecom revenue levy rural connectivity fund 2026

Business

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Ethiopia Mandates 1.5% Telecom Levy to Fund Rural Connectivity

UphivaBETAR
March 14, 2026

Ethiopia’s 2026 Finance Law introduces a 1.5% levy on telecom operator revenues to fund a rural connectivity subsidy fund. What Safaricom and Ethio Telecom must pay and how the fund works.

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Cameroon 3% digital services tax SEP framework 2026 — foreign platforms compliance deadline

Business

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Cameroon’s 3% Digital Tax Puts Foreign Platforms on Notice — First Filing Deadline March 15

UphivaBETAR
March 14, 2026

Cameroon’s 2026 Finance Law activates a 3% Significant Economic Presence tax on foreign digital platforms — Netflix, Meta, betting operators — with the first filing deadline March 15, 2026.

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Africa student financing crisis 2026 — NSFAS South Africa, NELFUND Nigeria, KALF Kenya comparison

Education

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Africa’s Student Financing Crisis: Three Broken Promises, One Generation at Risk

UphivaBETAR
March 14, 2026

South Africa’s NSFAS is under administration. Nigeria’s NELFUND is unproven. Kenya is mid-transition. Across the continent’s three largest higher education markets, the scaffolding meant to carry first-generation students into the workforce is failing simultaneously.

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CBN AI AML compliance Nigeria fintech 2026

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Nigeria’s Central Bank Just Made AI Mandatory in Fintech Compliance — Here’s What That Means

UphivaBETAR
March 14, 2026

The CBN has embedded artificial intelligence requirements into its anti-money laundering framework for the first time. Nigerian banks and fintechs now have 18 to 24 months to build automated transaction monitoring with documented human oversight.

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Africa film production economics — Nollywood financing and Netflix effect on budgets

Creative Economy

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Africa’s Film Industries Have a Distribution Story. The Production Economics Are More Complicated.

UphivaBETAR
March 14, 2026

From investor circles to Netflix commissions: BETAR.africa maps the economics of African film production — who finances it, what budgets look like, and how streaming has restructured cost structures across the continent.

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CESA 2016-2025 education audit — Africa's access paradox: 75M more enrolled, 100M still out of school

Education

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6 minute read

The CESA 2016-2025 Audit: 75 Million More Children in School, 100 Million Still Left Out

UphivaBETAR
March 13, 2026

The African Union’s ten-year Continental Education Strategy has closed. The continent enrolled more children than ever while falling further behind on access and STEM output — and adopted a successor framework without resolving the structural blockers that defeated the last one.

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NCC and CBN joint telecoms-banking enforcement dashboard illustration

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Nigeria’s ₦10 Billion Problem: How the NCC and CBN Built a Joint Telecoms-Banking Enforcement Dashboard

UphivaBETAR
March 13, 2026

The NCC and CBN’s joint refund framework — live since March 1, 2026 — mandates 30-second automatic refunds and introduces a shared enforcement dashboard that for the first time attributes failed transaction liability across both regulatory domains.

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COMESA investigates Meta WhatsApp API changes that blocked third-party AI providers across 21 African markets

Technology

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COMESA probes Meta over WhatsApp AI lockout across 21 African markets

UphivaBETAR
March 13, 2026

Africa’s largest regional trade bloc has opened a formal antitrust investigation into Meta after October 2025 changes to the WhatsApp Business API effectively locked out third-party AI providers — while Meta’s own assistant retained full access.

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Month: March 2026

CBN Mandates Liveness Checks for All Nigerian Bank Account Openings

South Africa Flips the VAT Switch on Digital Platform Operators — Effective April 1, 2026

Ethiopia Mandates 1.5% Telecom Levy to Fund Rural Connectivity

Cameroon’s 3% Digital Tax Puts Foreign Platforms on Notice — First Filing Deadline March 15

Africa’s Student Financing Crisis: Three Broken Promises, One Generation at Risk

Nigeria’s Central Bank Just Made AI Mandatory in Fintech Compliance — Here’s What That Means

Africa’s Film Industries Have a Distribution Story. The Production Economics Are More Complicated.

The CESA 2016-2025 Audit: 75 Million More Children in School, 100 Million Still Left Out

Nigeria’s ₦10 Billion Problem: How the NCC and CBN Built a Joint Telecoms-Banking Enforcement Dashboard

COMESA probes Meta over WhatsApp AI lockout across 21 African markets

Nigeria BRIDGE Fibre Rollout: How the World Bank’s Pay-for-Results Architecture Is Funding Africa’s Biggest Broadband Project

Nigeria BRIDGE Fibre Rollout: How the World Bank’s Pay-for-Results Architecture Is Funding Africa’s Biggest Broadband Project

GITEX Africa 2026 Day 2: STAR Summit — AI, Cybersecurity and Fintech Take Centre Stage

GITEX Africa 2026 Day 1: Africa’s AI Governance Moment Lands in Marrakech

Africa PE Exit Crisis 2026: $10B in Private Equity, Nowhere to Go

Q1 2026 Africa Tech Funding: What the Numbers Actually Say

Q1 2026 Africa Tech Funding: What $537 Million Actually Means

Q1 2026 Africa Tech Funding: What $537 Million Actually Means

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Nigeria BRIDGE Fibre Rollout: How the World Bank’s Pay-for-Results Architecture Is Funding Africa’s Biggest Broadband Project

Nigeria BRIDGE Fibre Rollout: How the World Bank’s Pay-for-Results Architecture Is Funding Africa’s Biggest Broadband Project

GITEX Africa 2026 Day 2: STAR Summit — AI, Cybersecurity and Fintech Take Centre Stage

GITEX Africa 2026 Day 1: Africa’s AI Governance Moment Lands in Marrakech