E-Business
Future of African Super Apps Relies on Great User Experience and Strong Security

Financial institutions are increasingly relying on apps and their turbo charged cousins, super apps, for much needed revenue growth. Organisations that can offer a secure, low-friction app experience are more likely to migrate existing customers to digital channels, attract new customers and lower operational costs, giving them a much needed competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive market.
Africa is one of the fastest growing app markets in the world, with Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa showing particularly high growth since the Covid pandemic.
With rapid urbanisation, a big improvement in connectivity as well as the fact that smartphone connections in Africa are expected to double by 2025, reaching 678 million, it is reasonable to expect that the app economy will see strong growth over the next few years.
Nigeria has shown itself to be a particularly high-growth region and while the volumes of transactions made over apps in Nigeria are still fairly low, the latest figures from the Nigerian government show that app transactions in the last quarter of 2020 account for 80 percent of the value of all mobile transactions in the country.
A good app strategy requires a hard look at security
“Given the growth of apps in Africa, and the growing competitiveness in the financial services industry, it would be detrimental for regional financial institutions to ignore a solid app strategy. We have seen a considerable increase in questions around how to boost security and user experience from many African CIOs over the last 18 months,” explains Tochukwu Iwuora, pre-sales solutions lead at Entersekt. “Poor user experience and concerns over security can result in customers abandoning apps for those of competitor financial institutions, especially amongst the younger generation.”
Iwuora says that while most banking apps currently offer basic functionality such as balance checks, intra and inter-bank transfers, the demand for more functionality such as mobile payments, service subscriptions, and in-app marketplaces, which require interfacing with third parties, are rapidly increasing – and so too, the need for better security.
“When you are making a mobile data subscription or paying a utility bill on an app, you won’t want to jump through hoops when it comes to authentication. Using strong multifactor authentication at the outset means customers are going to have a far better experience. And we are seeing a definite pushback on poor user experience especially from younger users who are used to a seamless experience on their social media platforms,” he says.
Iwuora points out that the friction caused by poor authentication can become even more pronounced when users have to navigate the more function-rich and complex super apps. And, given that these are increasingly where financial institutions and MNOs are focusing their growth efforts, ensuring a slick user experience from the outset becomes critical.
User experience influences super app growth trajectory
Mobile money was born in Africa and continues to dominate the global uptake. Taking the next step in its evolution, apps like M-Pesa in Kenya, which serves more than 47 million users across its markets, are now leveraging their network dominance.
The updated app will now allow users to book bus and train tickets, buy insurance as well as buy tickets for local events, with more options expected in future iterations.
In South Africa, Nedbank Avo goes beyond banking functionality to provide a merchant platform for small traders and has already attracted over a million users and 20 000 merchants.
The VodaPay super app, meanwhile, has reportedly attracted 2.2 million downloads and 1.6 million registered users in just eight months since its launch. The app offers a range of financial services including loans and savings as well as person-to-person payments and a newly launched marketplace for unsecured personal loans.
“Super apps pose a real opportunity for financial institutions and MNOs to monetize their networks, boosting revenue and building sustainability into their business models.
This is especially true in an age where traditional businesses are facing growing competition from fintechs and neo financial institutions which have a reputation for providing a better mobile experience than their traditional counterparts.
However, super apps also face a greater security risk as mobile malware attacks continue to grow,” Iwuora explains.
More moving parts mean more points of weakness
The threat to any app grows as financial institutions add new features and integrate to more third parties, increasing the surface area that is at risk of attack. However, while financial institutions must ensure security across all systems, networks and interfaces, customer-facing security measures like authentication can have a significant impact on the overall user experience.
“The balancing act between keeping users secure and ensuring that they have a low-friction experience is key for attracting and retaining customers. Using an inherence factor such as facial recognition or fingerprint authentication at login is a must. Then, when users engage with third-party providers for sensitive transactional services, step-up authentication by means of another authentication factor, adds additional security,” he says.
Iwuora says that tech savvy financial institutions are already pioneering the use of behavioural analytics to create a more frictionless experience for their customers by silently analysing their transactional and biometric behaviour in the background, and then using step-up authentication only when analytics show high risk of fraud.
“Africa has shown that it is ready to embrace all the convenience and opportunity of the app economy. Migrating consumers onto these digital channels create valuable new revenue streams and lower operating costs. But brands must be aware that poor user experiences created by intrusive authentication could make their app journey much more difficult,” Iwuora concludes.
E-Business
UK Orders Apple to Create Backdoor for Encrypted iCloud Data

United Kingdom has issued a “technical capability notice” to Apple, mandating that the company create a backdoor to access users’ encrypted iCloud data.
This directive, issued under the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, requires Apple to provide British security officials with the means to retrieve all content uploaded to iCloud by any user worldwide.
Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature, introduced in 2022, offers end-to-end encryption for iCloud data, ensuring that only users can access their information.
The UK’s demand challenges this security measure, potentially compelling Apple to either comply by creating the backdoor or withdraw the ADP feature from the UK market.
Compliance could set a precedent, leading other governments to request similar access, thereby raising global privacy concerns.
The UK Home Office has declined to confirm or deny the existence of such notices, stating, “We do not comment on operational matters, including, for example, confirming or denying the existence of any such notices.”
This development underscores the ongoing tension between governmental surveillance efforts and technology companies’ commitments to user privacy.
E-Business
Oracle Adds AI Pricing Features to Financial Software

Oracle on Thursday added another set of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to NetSuite, one of its corporate finance software offerings, including some that might make it faster for consumers to get a price quote on purchases like custom bicycles.
Oracle has taken a different tack with AI than rivals such as Microsoft. Rather than racing toward general purpose virtual assistants, Oracle has decided to add targeted features that speed common-but-tedious tasks like entering a brief write-up of how a sales meeting went into a corporate records system.
Another such task that is common in the business world is giving a customer a price quote on a complicated purchase that might have a lot of options, when a sales professional would need to sift through materials to come up with a price.
NetSuite on Thursday announced a feature to compile such a quote via conversation with a chatbot asking what the customer wants, which can either be used by sales professionals behind the scenes to speed up their work, or directly by consumers in the case of e-commerce businesses.
“When you buy something like a bicycle, you have to configure it – figure out what parts you want and which parts work together. We all do it when we buy our cars on the web these days,” Evan Goldberg, executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, said.
“If you can configure (products) for customers more easily, you can do more deals in a day, or each deal costs less.”
To power those features, Oracle has decided to skip the costly race to develop huge AI models and instead works with partners such as Canadian startup Cohere.
Goldberg said that Oracle’s recent agreement to build massive data centers with ChatGPT creator OpenAI could lead to working with it as well, though the two firms have made no formal announcements.
“I think you could safely say that there’s a possibility that OpenAI will be part of this,” Goldberg told Reuters. “We are eager to work with OpenAI.”
E-Business
IBM Exits Nigeria and Ghana, Transfers Operations to MIBB

IBM, the American multinational technology giant, has reportedly announced plans to exit Nigeria, Ghana, and other key African markets, transferring its regional operations to MIBB, a subsidiary of the Midis Group.
The move, which according to TechCabal was revealed in a statement by the company, effective April 1 2025, is part of a new operating model IBM is adopting across select African countries.
Under this arrangement, MIBB will take over IBM’s local operations, customer support, and relationships while marketing and selling IBM products and services across 36 African nations.
“MIBB will market and sell IBM products and services in 36 African countries, thereby giving MIBB’s sales network direct access to IBM products, services, and support, further boosting innovation and growth in the region,” IBM stated.
IBM has been a key player in Africa’s tech industry for decades, providing critical infrastructure for banking, telecom, oil and gas, and government services.
However, its planned exit follows a trend of multinational corporations leaving Nigeria.
In December 2024, Swiss cement giant Holcim announced its departure from Nigeria, selling its 83% stake in Lafarge to a Chinese firm.
Similarly, South African grocery retailer Pick n Pay disclosed plans in October 2024 to exit Nigeria by selling its 51% stake in a joint venture.
IBM has yet to respond to media inquiries regarding the specifics of its transition strategy and reasons for the exit.
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