Africa’s AI Data Centre Race Has a Power Problem
UphivaBETAR
MTN is spending $240 million on an AI data centre in Lagos. Microsoft and G42 are spending $1 billion in Kenya. The investment is real. So is the power problem that could undermine it.
Month: April 2026
164 posts
Africa’s Cross-Border Payments Corridor Race 2026: Who Wins the Pan-African Payments Layer?
The corridor connecting West and East Africa’s most active payments markets has never lacked for ambition — but who wins the pan-African payments layer?
Airtel-Starlink Direct-to-Cell in Kenya: The End of the Coverage Excuse
Airtel Africa’s Starlink Direct-to-Cell pilot proves the technology works on unmodified 4G handsets in rural Kenya. The CA-Kenya audit will determine whether it is allowed.
Q1 2026 Africa Tech Funding: $535M, 38 Deals, and the Signals Under the Headline
Africa’s tech funding market produced 38 confirmed deals worth approximately $535M in Q1 2026 — the most comprehensive deal-level analysis of the quarter.
Africa PE Exit Crisis 2026: $10B in Private Equity, Nowhere to Go
Africa’s 2016–2019 PE vintage holds an estimated $10B in unrealised value. IPOs, strategic sales, and secondaries cannot absorb the backlog. BETAR maps the crisis.
MTN Spent Its War Chest on Towers. Now What?
MTN’s $2.2B IHS Towers acquisition consumes 60% of its fintech war chest. BETAR analyses what it means for MoMo’s product ambitions.
The CESA 2016-2025 Audit: 75 Million More Children in School, 100 Million Still Left Out
The African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa has closed. A data-driven audit finds an access paradox, a widening STEM gap, and structural blockers that the successor framework has not yet resolved.
Africa’s First Carbon-Financed Clean Cooking Programme: How AfDB Is Using Carbon Credits to Replace Charcoal
The AfDB’s SEFA has backed a $10M blended vehicle to deploy 115,000 electric induction cookers in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia — the AfDB’s first-ever carbon finance transaction for electric cooking.
COMESA Probes Meta Over WhatsApp AI Lockout Across 21 African Markets
Africa’s largest trade bloc has launched a formal antitrust investigation into Meta after October 2025 WhatsApp Business API changes barred third-party AI providers while preserving Meta AI’s privileged access.
Nigeria DARES: The $750M World Bank Programme Targeting 750,000 Solar Connections in 18 Months
The Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up programme is the largest single solar mini-grid deployment commitment in Africa’s history. Here is what it is trying to do and the operational risks that will determine if it delivers.
