👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Banks can no longer gatekeep

Jessica Tee Orika-Owunna is an experienced SaaS content marketing specialist who has worked with global brands such as Vena Solutions, Softr, Contentsquare, Foundation Marketing, and Hotjar, while based in Nigeria. Her work focuses on content strategy and production: creating buyer-first content that drives conversions and supports go-to-market (GTM) teams.

Explain what you do to a 5-year-old.

I help software companies teach their target buyers what their product does and how to use it, so people can decide if it’s the right fit for their needs.

I do this by learning what buyers are trying to get done, what frustrates them, and how they work. Then I create content based on the patterns I see—showing, step by step, how the product helps with real examples and practical tips, or how it compares to other options—so choosing feels easy.

I also make sure these explanations show up in the right places and formats, so the people who need them actually see and use them.

What’s been your biggest career win, and what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned along the way?

One of my biggest career wins has been building a thriving business after a layoff. I had built an additional income stream alongside my full-time role. It was exhausting at the time, but that extra income became a foundation when my job ended.

Second, I learned to document my work properly. I used to assume good work would automatically lead to promotions or opportunities, but that wasn’t enough. Tracking results, saving proof of impact, and being intentional about presenting my work helped me secure promotions, negotiate better pay, and eventually transition to solopreneurship.

What is one hack you swear by when finding global SaaS jobs?

Be good at what you do but make sure that you’re easy to find and easy to trust online. That’s the one hack I swear by.

Most global opportunities I’ve landed didn’t come from applications. They came from people already having a sense of who I was and how I think. That starts with something as simple as your LinkedIn title. I treat it like a keyword, not a job description, so recruiters and potential clients can actually find me when they search.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the country’s central bank, plans to open the National Payments System (NPS) to licenced non-bank financial institutions, allowing them to use the country’s core payments infrastructure directly.

State of play: The NPS is the national framework and infrastructure for clearing and settlement—similar in role (though broader in scope) to systems like Nigeria’s NIBSS, Tanzania’s TIPS, or Rwanda’s Rswitch—that enables your funds to move from one account to another. When the NPS opens up the NPS to authorised “non-bank” players, fintechs and mobile money services will be able to access the network directly instead of always going through sponsoring banks; previously, non-banks had to rely on traditional banks—with access to NPS—as intermediaries, and banks charged marked-up processing fees to settle payments.

Between the lines: This development will open the market for banks and non-banks to operate more equitably over time. As a result, banks have lost their gatekeeping hold on the market, where they previously dictated how payments flowed between themselves and fintechs. It will likely force them to lower fees and improve their digital services to compete with nimble fintechs.

Why this matters: While the SARB has blown the whistle on reforming the NPS, it has not yet completed a large-scale rollout, with key directives and the activity‑based authorisation framework still in consultation and phased implementation. When the NPS opens fully, and the new licences are in place, companies like MTN could pursue their own banking or payment‑institution licences and rely less on traditional banking partners to offer payment and money‑holding services for their subsidiaries.

For customers, it means cheaper and faster ways to send money without needing a bank account.

When Nigeria introduced Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), in 2014, the goal was to combat fraud. The country’s banking system was having a hard time identifying customers, and BVNs, which provide a way to identify every Nigerian with a formal bank account, were created to solve that problem.

Over a decade later, 67.8 million Nigerians now have a BVN, or have at least registered. It is a 6.7% jump from 2024’s 63.5 million, showing a steady climb that has lasted half a decade.

BVN 101: It is a biometric identifier that links all of an individual’s bank accounts, now firmly embedded in how Nigeria’s financial system works.

Why are the numbers rising? Policy has done much of the heavy lifting. In April 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ordered banks to freeze customers’ accounts without a BVN or National Identification Number (NIN), pushing millions to register or risk losing access to their money. The introduction of the Non-Resident BVN (NRBVN), which allows diasporan Nigerians to enrol remotely, also widened the net.

What does it mean? Nigeria had over 320 million active bank accounts by March 2025, many tied to the same BVN. The BVN growth would ensure that trust is improved and fraud, the main reason it was created, is curbed.

Sora Technology, a Japanese drone technology startup with significant operations in Africa, secured $2.5 million in a late-stage seed funding round. The investment was led by three investors, including Daiwa House Group Investment Limited Partnership, Central Japan Innovative Research Fund I, and UNERI Capital Fund Series I, which joined existing investors. (Jan 5)

Here are the other deals for the week:

• Woliz, a Moroccan retailtech startup, raised $2.2 million in equity investment from Sanlam Maroc. (Jan 6)
• Business For Teens, an Egyptian Edtech startup, raised an undisclosed pre-seed funding led by Salah Abou Elmagd, alongside a group of angel investors. (Jan 7)

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. Before you go,what did we learn about African tech in 2025? Find out here.

Written by: Emmanuel Nwosu and Opeyemi Kareem

Edited by: Emmanuel Nwosu & Ganiu Oloruntade