Broadcasting
CNN’s Inside Africa meets Nigeria’s Techpreneurs
On this week’s Inside Africa, CNN International showcases Nigeria’s entrepreneurial spirit, meeting four start-up stars who are improving the world from Africa’s largest tech hub.
Firstly, the programme meets Olatunbosun “Bosun” Tijani, the brains behind one of Africa’s biggest networks of tech talent. Tijani founded the Co-Creation (CC) Hub in 2010 as a meeting place for innovators in the heart of Lagos. He speaks about his inspiration, “Science and technology can leapfrog development across Africa and there are so many smart people on this continent, we just need to build a platform that will enable them to create.”
Some of CC Hub’s successful partnerships include a healthcare logistics company that delivers lifesaving blood, a digital security platform promoting internet safety, and Google-sponsored ‘Pitch Drives’ that help introduce African start-ups to Asia.
Tijani discusses the Hub’s strategy, “I believe that Africa is going to be a lot stronger if we start to see the continent as one. How do we leverage the expertise and resources that you may find in a country like Kenya and lay eyes on the creativity and energy that you find in Nigeria?”
Tijani’s latest venture is the STEM café, an imaginative space dedicated solely to children. He tells CNN about the project, “I want to help build a generation of people in Africa with a strong belief in science, people that are comfortable in science, that can apply science to change things. So, it’s a maker space for kids. It’s a space where we don’t use curriculums. It’s a nonlinear way of teaching so we actually don’t teach but we encourage kids to build.”
Featured next is Odun Eweniyi one of the founders of PiggyVest, a financial technology company that is teaching young people the value of their money, by helping them to save it. Eweniyi explains the business,
“PiggyVest is an automated savings and investment platform that helps young Nigerians put aside little amounts of money daily, weekly or monthly towards their targets or their responsibilities and eventually gives them access to micro-investments to get competency returns.”
According to Eweniyi, PiggyVest now has more than two million registered users. Despite the coronavirus shutdown and the disruptions it has caused, Eweniyi says she remains committed to her original mission of helping people save small in order to achieve big results, “Whether we’re in a crisis or out of a crisis the mission remains the same, to get them to a place where they are financially free with the power to continue to manage their finances.”
The third techpreneur is Chika Madubuko, the co-founder and CEO of Greymate Care. This healthcare start-up is a pioneer in providing on-demand care in Nigeria and Madubuko details the concept, “Before Greymate Care was launched, you would normally find someone who was a caregiver or an auxiliary nurse signing up with the hospital or an agency, but then they stayed for so long without jobs. With Greymate Care they got more jobs quickly, and they got the appropriate jobs that matched the kind of services they could provide.”
Madubuko’s company is one of many start-ups revolutionising the healthcare industry. She speaks about differentiating her product, “I knew we had to be very innovative, we have to make our processes different, we have to differentiate ourselves in the market.
“We added a training curriculum, which was the best in Africa, training our caregivers to make sure that they can provide adequate care to our service users. Running background checks on our caregivers to make sure that service users feel safe letting them through their door.”
Finally, Inside Africa meets documentary filmmaker Joel “Kachi” Benson. As the founder and CEO of VR 360 Stories, Benson works as a virtual reality storyteller. He speaks about his first time using the technology, “I think it was February 2018 that I wore a headset for the first time. And my experience was a Coldplay concert. It was like I was there.
“And I remembered what the guy was trying to tell me two years before about putting viewers in the midst of the action. All I could see was the IDP camps that I’ve been filming in northeast Nigeria, the places that I had been to, and that I felt I did not properly express with my 2D camera. You know, what a tool for storytelling.”
Benson’s 360-degree immersion into the lives of internally displaced people was a first for a Nigerian filmmaker and it influenced another project focusing on the families of the Chibok schoolgirls. He recalls the aims of the film, “With the Daughters of Chibok, what I wanted to do was to take people to Chibok and show them this reality that was almost unreal. It’s so far away, so distance, we’re so detached from the story. I wanted to put people in that space. But I also wanted to amplify the voices of these women that I saw.”
Nigeria’s techpreneurs are innovators across multiple fields of industry and are putting in the hard work to build businesses that both help and inspire.
Globally recognized South African actress Nomzamo Mbatha will feature on this week’s edition of African Voices Changemakers, the 30 minute show on Cable News Network International (CNN).
In this episode of the Glo-sponsored programme, Mbatha sits down with CNN’s Larry Madowo for an exclusive conversation while filming the final season of the hit television series Shaka iLembe. The interview was recorded at the historic Cradle of Humankind outside Johannesburg, where she reflects on her career and the legacy she hopes to build beyond the screen.
As her international profile continues to rise, Mbatha has appeared in two Hollywood productions and was named to the prestigious TIME100 Next list in 2025, which celebrates emerging global leaders shaping the future. She is also making strides in the beauty industry as the first South African woman to secure endorsement deals with global skincare brand Neutrogena and haircare brand Cream of Nature.
Mbatha also shares the cultural importance of Shaka iLembe, her journey from South Africa to the global stage, and why giving back remains central to the enduring contribution she aims to leave behind.
The programme will air on Saturday at 8.30 a.m., with additional broadcasts at 12.00 p.m. the same day; Sunday at 4.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m.; Monday at 3.00 a.m. and 5.45 p.m.; and Tuesday at 5.45 p.m. It will also air again on Saturday, March 14 at 7.30 a.m. and 11.00 a.m.; Sunday, March 15 at 3.30 a.m. and 6.00 a.m.; and Monday, March 16 at 3.00 a.m.
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has directed Overland Airways to refund Value Added Tax (VAT) wrongly charged to passengers on flight tickets purchased in 2025.
NCAA
The directive follows a social media complaint that highlighted the airline’s application of new tax policies to older bookings, prompting NCAA intervention.
Michael Achimugu, NCAA Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, confirmed Friday that Overland Airways agreed to process refunds after receiving clarification from the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).
The issue emerged in late January 2026 when a passenger alleged on X (formerly Twitter) that her grandmother faced an extra N11,286 VAT charge at the airport for a 2025 ticket. On January 28, NCAA summoned the airline to justify the additional payments for pre-2026 tickets.
The regulator sought NRS guidance on retroactive VAT application. NRS ruled that updated VAT rules, effective January 1, 2026, exclude tickets issued before that date.
Achimugu updated on X: “This means passengers who paid VAT at check-in in 2026 for 2025 tickets were not supposed to be charged.”
Overland Airways accepted the clarification and pledged refunds, earning NCAA commendation for cooperation. Achimugu noted the airline initially viewed charges as valid under the new framework, but NRS interpretation prevailed.
“The issue has reached a satisfactory conclusion,” he stated, reaffirming NCAA’s commitment to passenger rights and fair policy enforcement.
Affected passengers who paid extra VAT on 2025-issued Overland tickets qualify for full refunds.
MultiChoice has said that it will not implement its customary yearly price increase on DStv and GOtv subscriptions.
This is the first time the Pay-TV company will not be adjusting its price in April, as it has in previous years, signalling a clear shift in direction under its new owner, Canal+.
The decision, confirmed by David Mignot, group chief executive,MultiChoice in an interview with TechCentral, comes as the pay television operator grapples with steep subscriber losses across its markets.
For many households accustomed to annual April tariff adjustments, the announcement will be a welcome break.
Responding to questions about whether DStv prices would rise in April as they have in previous years, Mignot gave a firm response: there will be no increase.
He explained that the company’s immediate focus is on rebuilding its subscriber base, making this an unsuitable period to adjust prices upward.
He added that while there are no current plans for a price hike, the company has not completely ruled out adjustments later in the year, especially if economic conditions demand it, such as significant currency movements.
MultiChoice has historically reviewed and raised DStv subscription fees in April, often citing inflationary pressures and rising content costs. As recently as April 2025, bouquet prices were adjusted upwards by between 2.1 per cent and 7.9 per cent.
The DStv Premium package rose from R929 to R979 per month, while DStv Access, the entry-level satellite package, recorded one of the steepest increases.
This year’s pause represents a break from that pattern and forms part of a broader reset following Canal+’s acquisition of MultiChoice in September 2025.
Mignot, who brings three decades of experience in the pay television industry, summed up his mission in simple terms: halt subscriber losses and return the business to growth.
The urgency behind the move is evident in MultiChoice’s recent performance.
The group has lost 2.8 million linear broadcasting subscribers in the two years ended 31 March 2025, with roughly half of those losses occurring in South Africa.
In the financial year to end-March 2025 alone, MultiChoice shed 1.2 million subscribers, representing an eight per cent year-on-year decline and leaving the group with 14.5 million active customers.
The previous year saw an even steeper drop of 1.6 million subscribers. By June 2025, Canal+ indicated that the pace of decline had intensified further.
The financial impact has been significant. Revenue for the year ended 31 March 2025 declined by R4 billion to R52 billion, while trading profit fell sharply by 49 per cent to R4 billion.
According to Mignot, the company’s difficulties stem less from its programming slate and more from weaknesses in its commercial execution.
He argued that in subscription businesses, a churn rate of between 12 and 15 per cent annually is inevitable as customers relocate, experience job losses, adjust household budgets, or change priorities. Without attracting a comparable number of new subscribers each year, losses accumulate.
Mignot maintained that the content offering remains strong, particularly in sport and general entertainment. He cited flagship brands such as SuperSport, M-Net and Africa Magic as evidence of sustained investment in programming. However, he stressed that content strength alone cannot offset a weakening subscriber acquisition engine.
He noted that MultiChoice’s commercial machinery had performed robustly across Africa until around 2022, describing the current challenges as relatively recent.
Drawing on Canal+’s experience in French-speaking African markets, Mignot pointed out that pricing there has remained largely unchanged for close to 14 years, supported by a volume-driven approach. He described his strategy as one focused on growing subscriber numbers while maintaining profitability.
While he did not dismiss the possibility of reviewing prices downward in future, he indicated that no such decision has been taken.
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