Startups On Our Radar spotlights African startups solving African challenges with innovation. In our previous edition, we featured five game-changing startups pioneering artificial intelligence, e-commerce, cleantech, and cryptocurrency. Expect the next dispatch on January 30, 2026.
This week, we explore five African startups in the fintech, healthtech, artificial intelligence, and agritech sectors and why they should be on your watchlist. Here are our picks for today:
FirstResponse AI wants to turn health symptoms Googling into actual care (Healthtech, Nigeria)
After losing three close family members over a decade to preventable deaths, which he says were caused by delays in accessing care, Christopher Emelife Jnr founded Firstresponse AI in July 2025.
FirstResponse AI is a web-based AI health assistant that acts as a first point of care and connects users to doctors, hospitals, labs, pharmacies, and emergency services. The platform operates as a multilingual web app, which supports languages like English, Pidgin, Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa, where users describe their symptoms through text; after which the AI analyses their symptoms within 10 to 17 seconds and provides possible conditions, a probability and severity assessment (for example, distinguishing between a migraine and meningitis), urgency ratings, first-aid steps, recommended tests, and over-the-counter medication options. Each result has a disclaimer that it is not a medical diagnosis.
In that same web app, users can book virtual consultations, register at partner hospitals, order lab tests, or get medications delivered through pharmacy partners. If escalation is required, the full AI interaction (the symptoms logged and analysis and recommendation given) is shared directly with the doctor or hospital. In emergencies, the platform coordinates ambulance dispatch and provides real-time first-aid instructions while help is on the way.
The platform also serves hospitals and Health Maintenance Organisation (HMOs). Hospitals can use the platform to receive patient information for registrations and manage care. HMOs use it to connect enrollees to approved hospitals, verify claims, and reconcile payments.
Since its launch, Firstresponse AI says it has onboarded 498 users and claims to have generated over $1,000 in revenue. The platform leverages ChatGPT 4, combined with proprietary prompt engineering and acquired healthcare datasets, which Emelife says have been tested with clinicians. The startup is developing a multilingual voice AI agent to allow users, particularly those who cannot read or type, to access care by speaking directly to the assistant.
Why we’re watching: A 2020 study published in the African Journal of Emergency Medicine revealed that over 80% of Nigerians lack basic first aid skills. Firstresponse AI wants to bridge this gap by providing quick first aid care to users. The startup distinguishes itself by building around existing user habits (Googling symptoms), instead of pushing users toward new habits. The startup is building an integrated system that spans symptom assessment, consultation, testing, medication, insurance verification, and emergency response.
Afiari wants to turn Africa’s informal FMCG trade into real-time market intelligence (SaaS, Nigeria)
Afiari, founded by Chigozie Njoku and George Ebisike in 2024, is building an intelligence and operations ecosystem for Africa’s FMCG distribution chain, including distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and sales agents.
The idea for Afiari emerged in early 2022 when Njoku tried to help his mother sell yams online. That experiment expanded into onboarding supermarkets and other retail businesses to sell inventory digitally. But while working with these businesses, the team ran into an issue: product listings on their platform were constantly out of sync with in-store inventory. Prices had to be updated manually using flash drives, inventory levels were unclear, and the entire process was chaotic, he describes.
Afiari is a multi-application ecosystem that digitises informal trade and creates a two-way intelligence channel between merchants and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies. One of the applications in this ecosystem is a merchant business management platform that allows informal operators to run their businesses. Merchants can create purchase orders, track historical buying prices, manage inventory, calculate markups, handle stock transfers between warehouses, record expenses, set budgets, and view sales reports.
Sales are recorded through a separate point-of-sale (POS) application, which runs on mobile phones and web browsers. Cashiers or sales reps can log transactions, accept cash payments, transfers, or card payments, and assign sales to specific users. Every transaction instantly syncs back to the merchant’s backend dashboard, which enables owners to monitor sales remotely. Merchants can also sell through Afiari’s marketplace, which reflects live stock availability. The marketplace is currently live but will be relaunched under a separate brand. Only merchants already using Afiari’s operational software are allowed to sell on the marketplace.
Afiari also provides an FMCG intelligence platform that aggregates anonymised transaction data from connected merchants and sales agents. FMCG companies can view overall market share, performance by product or category, regional sales breakdowns by state or zone, and merchant-level performance. Data visibility depends strictly on which merchants or agents are connected to an FMCG’s enterprise account.
Afiari generates revenue across the three channels. On the marketplace, it charges no product markup, but takes a service fee of up to 8% per transaction (capped at ₦3,000 [$2.11]) and delivery fees where applicable. Merchants using the software independently pay ₦100,000 ($70.46) for the first year, and then ₦60,000 ($42.28) annually. FMCG companies pay annual subscription fees per connected merchant (₦60,000 [$42.28] per merchant) and an additional ₦6,000 ($4.22) per sales agent monthly.
Since its launch, Afiari says it has generated over $3,000 in revenue, processed more than $150,000 in transactions through its POS system, and onboarded 33 paying individual merchants.
Why we’re watching: Informal merchants control up to 98% of distribution channels in Nigeria, yet they often rely on paper records, which can be slow and fragmented. Afiari wants to tackle this fragmentation problem by digitising the FMCG distribution chain. Unlike competitors like OmniRetail, which focuses on digital distribution, or Moniepoint and Bumpa, which target payments or social commerce, Afiari targets the disconnect that exists across the distribution chain. The startup is currently rebuilding its platform to be AI-native, as it plans to introduce AI agents that allow merchants to interact with the software.
Vermi-Farm Wallet wants to strengthen financial access for underserved farmers (AgriTech, Kenya)
Vermi-Farm Wallet, founded by Royford Mutegi in 2023, is a mobile-based financial platform built to address the widespread financial exclusion of smallholder farmers in Kenya. Vermi-Farm Wallet’s solution to this is a USSD-based digital financial platform designed specifically for rural farming communities, which allows users to access services without smartphones or internet connectivity.
Through a USSD code that it provides, farmers can save money, access microloans, and obtain insurance. The platform integrates agricultural data, like farming cycles, into its financial decision-making framework to allow a more informed lending and savings decision. Since its launch, the startup says it has reached 5,779 farmers, with 70% of users being women. It says it has issued over 3,700 microloans and recorded a 99% repayment rate.
Why we’re watching: 28% of Kenyan rural youth do not have access to mobile money. Vermi-Farm Wallet is tackling financial inclusion, starting with farmers who are often left out of formal financial systems. Its reliance on USSD rather than smartphone apps reflects a practical understanding of rural constraints
Odysy wants to eliminate the chaos of corporate expense management (Fintech, Nigeria)
Odysy, founded by Chinonso Nwosu in 2025, is a Nigerian expense management and corporate card platform designed to help businesses replace fragmented, manual spending processes with a single, centralised system. According to Nwosu, the company aims to address how most businesses still manage expenses through cash advances, reimbursements, scattered receipts, and delayed reconciliation.
Teams travel for work, pay vendors, manage subscriptions, fund field operations, and cover daily operational costs, and different departments spend independently. This can make it hard for companies to track budgets or accurately account for expenses at the end of a month or year.
Odysy is a centralised expense management platform built around wallets and corporate cards. A company is issued a central business wallet when they sign up on the app. The company then invites employees, who receive their own individual wallet, onto the platform. The employees’ individual wallets can be funded directly from the business wallet. Employees do not receive funds automatically. Instead, they submit wallet top-up requests for specific amounts tied to specific needs, such as travel, project expenses, feeding, or transport. These requests are routed to company administrators or finance teams, who have control over the central wallet and can either approve or reject the requests. Once approved, the requested funds move instantly from the central wallet to the employee’s wallet.
To support corporate spending, Odysy issues Naira physical corporate cards for local expenses, which can be used for POS payments, transfers, ATM withdrawals, and everyday local spending. The startup also issues USD virtual cards for international payments and subscriptions, such as cloud infrastructure, and can be linked to Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Every transaction is recorded automatically on the dashboard, and finance teams can view expenses in real time, track spending by employee, department, project, or category. Although Odyssey is primarily B2B, the platform is also available to individuals who want to track personal or travel expenses, view spending history, and analyse expense patterns over time.
The startup currently earns revenue from transaction fees on expenses, just like the regular transaction charges on payments. As more features are added, Odysy plans to introduce subscription fees to unlock full access to its services.
Why we’re watching: Odysy is focusing narrowly on expense control and being an intelligence tool, rather than operating as a bank or payment processor. It enters a competitive landscape that includes local players like Flex, Bujeti, and Sava, which offer variations of corporate cards and spend control. Odysy says it distinguishes itself with a competitive pricing strategy.
MyKolo Box wants to bring Nigeria’s traditional savings culture into the digital age (Fintech, Nigeria)
MyKolo Box is a Nigerian savings platform built to digitise traditional, community-based saving habits such as ajo and esusu. The startup was founded by Muyiwa Fajimi in January 2026, a serial entrepreneur who says his work is driven by job creation and community participation.
Fajimi says he observed that modernisation has brought banking to the masses, but it has also diminished the communal accountability found in traditional saving systems. MyKolo Box addresses this by offering a digital platform that mimics these traditional structures and is designed to be accessible even to those who are not tech-savvy.
The platform is currently a web app that supports both solo and group savings, with three core product features. It has a personal savings feature that allows users to save individually. Funds are not locked, meaning users can withdraw in emergencies, but the structure is designed to encourage discipline.
The startup also allows group savings, where users can create groups with people they already know and define contribution amounts and rotation order. In each circle, everyone can see who has paid and who hasn’t, and once contributions are complete for a cycle, the designated member receives a quick payout. After this, the rotation continues until all members have received their turn. Before joining, all members must agree to a basic contract that makes everyone collectively responsible for meeting contribution commitments.
The platform also includes a matching structure that asks five basic questions to assess compatibility among group members. Users can override these recommendations; however, the system provides warnings if it detects potential mismatches based on its algorithm.
The platform also allows goal-based savings where funds are locked until a target amount is reached. To use MyKolo Box, users pay a one-time ₦500 ($0.35) fee to create an account. There are no recurring subscription fees and no commissions charged on savings or withdrawals, according to Fajimi.
Why we’re watching: Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) says that only 60.2 million people hold bank accounts. MyKolo Box is trying to serve the left-out population by attempting to formalise their most popular financial instrument, the rotating savings group. MyKoloBox’s key differentiator is its matching structure, which uses data analytics to determine the compatibility of members in a group to mitigate the risk of default. Unlike many digital savings platforms, MyKolo Box does not charge fees for interest rates and strips savings back to its traditional form of regular contributions and shared responsibility.
That’s all for today. Expect our next dispatch on January 30th. Know a startup we should feature next? Please nominate here.
