👨🏿‍🚀 Daily – Bento Unboxed |

In Monday’s edition of the newsletter, we wrote about Bento Africa, the Nigeria HR-tech startup embroiled in allegations of failing to remit taxes and pensions on behalf of its clients. The company was also being investigated by the Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). 

The company’s CEO, Ebun Okubanjo maintained that the issue only affected a few percentage of its customers and chalked the issue to the inherent limitations of Nigeria’s complex and outdated tax and pension systems. Okubanjo also said the startup was working with the LIRS to come up with a plan to repay owed taxes. 

Yesterday, Okubanjo resigned from his position as CEO of the startup. In his letter to the company’s board of directors, Okubanjo attributed his decision to the difficulty of scaling HR and payroll systems in Africa. The move marks the CEO’s second attempt at moving away from the startup this year. Okubanjo had earlier sent a resignation letter to the company’s board of directors on January 11, 2025, asking the board to begin searching for his replacement. 

Ebun’s resignation came as a shock to some of Bento’s investors, some of whom only learned about his resignation in the news. 

While you might wonder what’s next for Bento, Okubanjo already figured out what’s next for himself. He is launching a new AI startup, Ada AI, an AI-powered sales assistant.

Stakeholders with different interests—in and outside the telecom industry—won’t see eye to eye on the rationale of the recently approved 50% telecom tariff hike. Those invested in the sector’s stability—telco operators and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), acting as a proxy for the government—reached a compromise to prevent further financial haemorrhaging in an industry that is one of Nigeria’s top GDP contributors.

However, another group, including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), a member union of millions of Nigerian workers, has announced that it will not stand for the hike. The union has made its strong opinions known about the decision, strongly describing it as “insensitive, unjustifiable, and a direct assault” on Nigerians. As a result, the labour union has threatened a nationwide protest on February 4.

If we learned anything from NLC negotiations in the past, protests often lead to strike actions. A telecom-wide strike could cut off millions of Nigerians from telecom services. Worse, if fibre cuts or other network disruptions occur, striking workers and engineers who typically respond to restore service won’t be available, leading to prolonged outages.

Still, telecoms—who have spent over a decade lobbying regulators for this tariff adjustment—are unlikely to back down. They argue the hike was long overdue, though critics point out that rural Nigerians already struggle with poor service, and the country’s high inflation makes the timing especially painful. Many consumers will either stretch their budgets to afford telecom services or cut back on usage.

Yet, one thing is certain: while the timing of the hike is debatable, the rationale behind it is not. Change, especially sudden change, triggers strong reactions based on interests and incentives. The NCC appears unwilling to reverse its decision, and while a labour strike could shake up the telcos, the real question is whether workers can sustain the pressure.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has cut its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 7.5%, marking the third consecutive easing. This move was widely expected, but the apex bank’s governor Lesetja Kganyago says he remains cautious, warning that future cuts may not come as easily.

The decision, supported by four out of six Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members, brings the prime lending rate for commercial banks down to 11%. Inflation in South Africa remains within the central bank’s target range (3.0%)—despite quickening by 10 basis points in December 2024—lower than the SARB’s 3.2% preceding forecast. This gave the apex bank some room to ease monetary policy, but uncontrollable global risks still remain the elephant in the room.

Kganyago pointed to growing uncertainty in the US, particularly President Donald Trump’s trade policies. If the US imposes higher tariffs, it could push up global inflation and weaken the rand. The SARB has even modelled a worst-case scenario where the rand falls to R21 per dollar, domestic inflation rises to 5%, and interest rates are forced higher instead of lower.

Despite these risks, economists believe another rate cut is likely in the first half of 2025. However, if inflation quickens later in the year, the window for further cuts could close.

For now, the SARB has taken a step toward easing borrowing costs, but its hawkish stance suggests it won’t hesitate to reverse course if inflation or global shocks demand it.

This week, Rwandan-based Pula Foundation, an agriculture insurtech company, secured a $10.4 million grant from Bayer Foundation. (January 29)

Here are other deals for the week:

• NjiaPay, a South African fintech startup, closed an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round, raising over $1 million. The round was led by HAVAÍC, with contributions from angel investors, including the founders of Anyfin, Banxware, and Maxidrive. (January 29)
• Fincart.io, an Egyptian e-commerce logistics platform, closed its pre-seed funding round for an undisclosed amount and was led by Plus VC, with participation from Plug and Play, Orbit Startups, Jedar Capital, and other investors. (January 29)
• Kenyan e-commerce startup Kapu raised undisclosed pre-Series A funding from BlackWood and existing investors to expand its operations across Africa. (January 23)

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. Before you go, read our predictions on what to expect in African tech in 2025. Click this link to read it.