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AfriTECH 2.0: Agada Lists Factors That Could Kill Startups
Immediate past Chief Executive Officer, CWG PLC, and Founder, Ixzdorelabs, an innovation hub and consultancy focused company, Mr. James Agada, has listed some factors that could lead to the premature death of a Startup.
James Agada, Immediate Past CEO, CWG and the Founder, Ixzdore Laboratories Limited delivering keynote address at AfriTECH 2.0
Agada, who spoke to the theme: Sustainability and the company of the future, at Africa Tech Alliance Forum (AfriTECH 2.0) held in Lagos on Wednesday, listed the factors to include non-reporting of sales figures, issues around corporate governance, Court or Government interference, and inability to create new business.
A well-regarded, innovative, and versatile technology expert, Agada, while aligning with the views of economists said in his keynote address at the event that the only way to determine whether a company is alive or dead is to check whether they are reporting their sales figures.
“When a company stops reporting its sales figures, it means the company is dead. For a startup, three things are obvious: Sales, Cash and Profit. At maturity, the company’s sales, or what they call cash cow, typically flatten out. Before then, you see a steep growth in sales or what you call exponential growth.
“That sale has to translate into profit, and profit must have cash. The only thing that can kill a company is when it runs out of cash. Another thing though is that sales do not necessarily translate to cash; if you sell, you must also collect the money and make a profit. At any point the company starts declining because it’s not able to generate enough cash from the declining sales to maintain itself, death beckons,” he said.
He said that at any point a company decides to do a life extension, that’s what is at the core for the sustainability of the company, noting that between the sales a company generates and the cash it gets, it is the funding that determines where the company is going.
“At maturity, you have a lot of debt funding because you are generating enough cash and trying to minimize business risk. Kodak had misjudged where the technology it developed was leading to, leading to its decline. Customers left Blackberry and went for iPhone and Android, and that left Blackberry behind if not dead.
“Therefore, the issue of corporate governance is another thing that can kill a company. The court or government can also decide to close your company. And the inability to create new business even when you are struggling with that company can as well lead to the death of a company,” he further explained.
Agada stated that a sustainable company is one that has figured out how to balance its business risk and sales to ensure that decline does not put it in a situation where it is no longer sustainable, contending that once a company is not growing, it is dying.
In providing a solution to this, Agada opined that “the real thing is that you are looking for increased profit and increased cash flow. You have to look at what is happening around you and take those defensive and offensive actions to prevent collapse and eventual death.
In the wake of increasing geopolitical tension, Cassava Technologies has unveiled its National Sovereign Cloud offering for African governments.
The solution, the company claims, will help the continent’s governments ensure data is kept on infrastructure that remains under local legal and operational jurisdiction.
According to the official announcement, made yesterday, the solution provides “secure, locally-governed digital infrastructure that enables the deployment of AI-enabled public services”.
The overarching solution encompasses cloud, cyber security, AI computing infrastructure, as well as local language AI models and skills support for governments.
The announcement comes amid increasing uncertainty over the hosting of sensitive national data on cloud services operated by foreign hyperscalers, which are subject to legal frameworks, such as the U.S. CLOUD Act. The CLOUD Act opens the door to allow American authorities to access data stored on the servers of US hyperscalers, wherever those servers are physically located.
Cassava has claimed separately that currently, “approximately 33% to 45% of the world’s data is hosted in the USA”.
The company added: “A sovereign cloud reduces exposure to extraterritorial laws, improves cyber resilience, and ensures that model weights and training data for public AI remain under national custody.”
The Africa Data Centres Association’s 2026 Economic Report states that “data sovereignty has evolved from a legal aspiration into a strategic policy lever”.
Ahmed El Beheiry, Group COO and Group Chief Technology and AI Officer, Cassava Technologies said: “Across Africa, governments are accelerating their digital transformation agendas and are increasingly focused on ensuring that data and digital infrastructure remain secure and sovereign.”
Announced at the Mobile Word Congress in Barcelona, this week, the Sovereign Cloud offering launch accompanied the launch of Cassava’s Cloud Partner programme.
The partner programme targets mobile network operators and system integrators across Africa to resell and distribute AI, cloud, and other digital services using Cassava’s infrastructure and technology platforms.
El Beheiry added: “We are expanding Africa’s sovereign AI ecosystem to build solutions that address the continent’s unique challenges while creating new opportunities for growth and digital inclusion.”
The programme offers partners access to NVIDIA Cloud Partner solutions, Cassava’s AI Factory, its own native AI solutions and its AI Multi-Model Exchange, which supports both Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini models.
Mazen Mroue, a non-executive director at MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, has resigned effective February 27, 2026, to prioritise other responsibilities within the MTN Group, the company announced in a Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) filing.
MTN Nigeria
The notice, signed by company secretary Uto Ukpanah, stated: “This is to enable Mr. Mroue to focus on other priorities within MTN Group Limited. The Board wishes to express its appreciation to Mr. Mroue for his immense service to MTN Nigeria and wishes him success in his future endeavours.”
Mroue joined MTN Nigeria’s board on June 1, 2022, bringing over 28 years of telecom experience. A veteran MTN executive, he previously served as CEO of MTN Uganda and MTN Liberia, non-executive director at MTN Cyprus, and held leadership roles at MTN Ghana.
Since February 2022, he has been MTN Group’s Chief Technology and Information Officer, overseeing technology strategy and governance. Earlier, as MTN Nigeria’s COO from August 2018 to January 2022, he also sat on the MTN Nigeria Foundation board.
The exit follows MTN Nigeria’s stellar 2025 results, posting a ₦1.70 trillion profit before tax—reversing a ₦550.3 billion loss in 2024 driven by forex woes—marking one of the telco’s strongest rebounds.
Google has rolled out support for Yorùbá and Hausa languages in its AI-powered Search features—AI Overviews and AI Mode—enabling millions of Nigerians to get quick answers, summaries, and conversational web exploration in their mother tongues.
The update forms part of Google’s push to cover 13 African languages, including Afrikaans, Akan, Amharic, Kinyarwanda, Afaan Oromoo, Somali, Sesotho, Kiswahili, Setswana, Wolof, and isiZulu, selected based on high search activity across the continent.
Now, a Kano student can ask complex questions in Hausa, while an Ibadan trader seeks business tips in Yorùbá—both receiving culturally nuanced AI responses via text or voice on Android, iOS, or web.
Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s West Africa Communications Manager, said: “Building truly global Search requires nuanced local understanding. With Gemini-powered AI, we’ve made advanced capabilities relevant in Yorùbá and Hausa, so Nigerians converse naturally with Search in their mother tongues.”
To use: Open the Google app, tap AI Mode, and query in Hausa or Yorùbá for personalised guidance—breaking language barriers and making technology reflect Nigeria’s diverse identity.
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