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Kenya goes easy on cyber cafes
E-Finance eyes Egyptian expansion
South Africa’s rocket-launch plans
Who secured the bag?
World Wide Web 3
Events

policy

Kenya’s regulator says cyber cafes don’t need to share customers’ browser history

Local cyber cafe operators in Kenya can breathe a small sigh of relief. After mandating them to collect and record customer data and usage sessions, the country’s communications regulator has clarified that those details do not include browser history.

The rules, previously expected to take effect on August 14, could have put cyber cafe operators in a weird position, where they have to record how and when customers use Internet services; that would have caused a trust deficit, possibly leading operators to lose customers.

What happened? On Thursday, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) issued a clarification stating that the new rules for Public Communications Access Centres (PCACs), including cyber cafes, do not include tracking users’ browsing histories. Instead, operators only need to keep basic session logs—names, identity numbers, and terminal times—for at least three years.

The updated rules will now take effect on September 7, in the latest regulatory effort to tackle cybercrime in the country without making business economics risky for cyber cafes.

Between the lines: The CAK is walking a tightrope between national security and the constitutional right to privacy. By explicitly excluding browsing history, the regulator is likely trying to avoid a repeat of thelegal drama surrounding Huduma Namba, a controversial biometric ID scheme that the courts halted because it lacked a clear data protection framework. It is also dodging the shadow of arecent KES 900,000 ($6,900) privacy fine slapped on Safaricom after the High Court ruled that data controllers have a non-delegable duty to prevent third parties from accessing sensitive subscriber data.

The message from the bench is clear: if you collect it, you are liable for it. It suggests the government has realised that while tracking who was in the chair is necessary for fraud audits, tracking what they were reading is a legal minefield it isn’t ready to cross.

The maths of the mandate: The penalty for ignoring the new rule is steep. Non-compliant cafes face fines of at leastKES 500,000 ($3,864) or 0.2% of their annual turnover. In a market where many cafes are already pivoting to printing and scanning just to stay afloat, a single fine could be a death sentence.

Zoom out: Kenya’s decision to dial back the surveillance aspect of the rules is a rare win for digital rights in the region. Until the identity gap in public Internet access is fully closed, the CAK has decided that a paper trail is enough of a deterrent. For now, local cyber cafes remain a place to get online—without the government looking over your shoulder every time you open a tab.

Getting paid in cedis just got easier for African businesses operating in Ghana.

Fincra now issues dedicated GHS virtual accounts to enable businesses to collect payments. See how Fincra GHS virtual accounts work.

companies

E-finance makes a $96 million bet on Egypt’s micro-lenders

Egyptian fintech giant E-finance is no longer content with just building the pipes for digital payments; it now wants to own the water flowing through them. The Egyptian-listed heavyweight isacquiring 100% of Tamweely Financial Services in a deal valued at up to EGP 4.8 billion ($96 million).

What is Tamweely? Launched in 2017, Tamweely is a powerhouse in Egypt’s non-banking financial services (NBFS) sector. It specialises inmicrofinance and microinsurance for small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMEs). With over230 branches and 183,000 active borrowers, it has built a massive footprint in a country where millions of entrepreneurs still lack access to traditional bank loans.

Between the lines: The acquisition is a strategic vertical integration. E-finance already powers much of Egypt’s digital government and payment infrastructure; buying Tamweely means it can now offer credit directly to the thousands of small businesses already using its platforms. It’s a move to capture the full value chain, from the moment a business pays its taxes to the moment it needs a loan to expand its shop.

The maths of the move: With 183,000 borrowers, e-finance is paying about $522 per active customer, betting on the premium to deepen banking relationships in Egypt’s MSME economy.

Zoom out: E-finance’s swoop for Tamweely highlights a broader trend in North Africa: the rise of the super-infrastructure player. As digital payments become commoditised, the real money is moving into credit and insurance.

Until Egypt’s MSME sector is fully digitised, acquisitions like this will remain the fastest way for fintech giants to secure their dominance. E-finance didn’t just buy a lender; it bought a massive, ready-made customer base that is seeking working capital.

Naira Life 2026 is here!

The Naira Life Conference 2026 is bringing together Nigeria’s top finance minds, industry leaders, creators, and business strategists for a full-day of specialised sessions and masterclasses designed for ambitious Nigerians who want to make, keep, grow, and pass on real wealth. Happening on August 22 at the Jewel Aeida, Lekki, Lagos. Secure a seat in the room.

countries

South Africa wants to stop exporting its satellites for launch

South Africa has built satellites, supplied components for spacecraft, and developed a surprisingly capable space-technology ecosystem around Stellenbosch and the Western Cape. What it has never done is launch a satellite into orbit on a rocket built and launched from South African soil. That is, until it made a consequential decision on Thursday.

What’s happening? The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Aerospace Systems Research Institute (ASRI) is targeting 2028 for a suborbital space-capable rocket and 2030 for South Africa’s first orbital launch using its own Saffire liquid-fuel engine and a locally developed two-stage commercial launch vehicle.

The ambition is not small. ASRI estimates the full programme could cost about R3 billion ($186 million), while its current government allocation is R100 million ($6.2 million) for 2026 and 2027. It is also trying to grow from roughly 20 staff to at least 120—a reminder that rocket science is as much a talent problem as a technology problem.

Between the lines: What makes this more than another futuristic announcement is that ASRI already has hardware in the field. Its Phoenix-sounding rockets have flown multiple times from the Denel Overberg Test Range, a South African aerospace and missile-testing range on the Western Cape coast. There, a permanent launch gantry was commissioned in December 2024 specifically to support future suborbital and orbital missions.

The proposed rocket is designed to carry a 200kg satellite into orbit to about 500km above Earth; it is roughly the size of the small satellites used for weather, mapping, agriculture, and communications, making this a potentially significant step toward South Africa launching its own satellites instead of relying entirely on foreign rockets. That would be enough for many Earth-observation and scientific missions, which are exactly the kinds of satellites African countries need.

Zoom out: The bigger question is not whether South Africa can build a rocket engine; it has already hot-fired sophisticated liquid-fuel systems. The harder question is whether it can turn a university research programme into a potential commercial rocket-launch company, secure the funding, navigate export-control rules, and build the supplier network needed for repeated launches.

If ASRI succeeds, South Africa would become one of the few African countries capable of both building satellites and launching them from its own soil.

Moonshot is back!

Moonshot 2026 is coming! Join us at the National Theatre, Lagos on October 28 & 29 for two days of tech and innovation. Grab your early bird tickets now and get 15% off.

insights

funding tracker

Jumia, a pan-African e-commerce company, raised $50 million in equity funding. The round was led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which invested $25 million, while Axian and other investors provided the rest. (Aug 13)

Here are the other deals for the week:

Peach Cars, a Kenyan automobile marketplace startup, raised $4 million in debt financing from Japan Finance Corporation (JFC) and Shoko Chukin Bank. (Aug 7)
Tennsa, a South African deeptech startup, raised a $61,000 investment from the Oakvale Invest fund. (Aug 7)
Blockops Network, a Nigerian blockchain startup, raised $250,000 in pre-seed funding from Antler VC. (Aug 13)

That’s all for this week. Before you go, discover how electric vehicles and debt deals dominate the $1.66B raised so far in 2026 in the African tech ecosystem.

CRYPTO TRACKER

The World Wide Web3

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$63,871	+ 0.60%	+ 1.79%
Ether	$1,895	+ 0.40%	+ 5.94%
Capricorn	$0.4467	+ 85.71%	+ 112.70%
Solana	$76.23	– 0.00%	+ 1.22%

* Data as of 06.25 AM WAT, August 13, 2026.

Events

Condia is bringing together founders, payment leaders, regulators, investors, and businesses for The Borderless Experience, an event exploring the future of cross-border payments, travel, and commerce in Africa. Taking place on August 21, 2026 in Lagos, Nigeria, the event will focus on practical, operator-led conversations around payment infrastructure, AI, stablecoins, market expansion, and the realities of building across African markets. Register here to attend.

Written by: Emmanuel Nwosu and Zia Yusuf

Edited by: Emmanuel Nwosu & Ganiu Oloruntade

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