The African tech media industry has evolved greatly over the past decade.
Global players like TechCrunch have entered the scene, and local publications like TechCabal have risen to prominence. However, there has been criticism that the media often focuses too much on success stories, neglecting deeper insights into the ecosystem.
This has prompted the emergence of a new generation of creators focusing on in-depth coverage and more nuanced reporting, a new analysis by Tech Safari, a popular newsletter focusing on Africa’s tech and startup ecosystem, says.
The blog post, written by Tech Safari founder Caleb Maru and South African journalist Adrian Ephraim, discusses the evolution of the African tech media, highlighting the key figures and publications that have contributed to the sector’s growth.
The analysis traces the history of African tech media, noting its nascent beginnings with the establishment of pioneers like Disrupt Africa in Nigeria and memeburn.com in South Africa. These early platforms laid the groundwork for the growth of tech journalism in Africa, providing coverage of the continent’s burgeoning tech ecosystem.
But as the African tech scene grew and matured, so did its media landscape. Global players like TechCrunch began covering African tech, while local publications like TechCabal started gaining global recognition. This growth prompted demand for more in-depth analysis and scrutiny of the ecosystem, and fueled the rise of newsletters, a 2023 TechCabal report says.
Newsletters, a periodical email communication used for sharing information with subscribers, are increasingly popular in the African tech media space due to several key factors. For one, newsletters are praised for their perceived independence from corporate setups, which allows them to avoid accusations of favoritism and bias that often plague traditional tech news publications. Furthermore, as traditional news publications become saturated, newsletters are emerging as a new frontier, offering fresh and engaging content.
A new generation of African tech media creators
The growth of the African tech media industry also fueled the rise of a new generation of content creators dedicated to providing more nuanced and insightful coverage of African tech, creating another layer of tech media in Africa on top of the trailblazers.
These creators, which are embracing new platforms and going deeper than the headlines, include Peace Itimi, Caleb Maru, Justin Norman, Emeka Ajene, Fatu Ogwuche and Jasiel Martin-Odoom.
Peace Itimi is a project manager, public speaker, and a certified digital marketing strategist and trainer in Lagos, Nigeria. She is the founder of Founders Connect, a series of 30 to 60 minute video chats between Itimi and African entrepreneurs and senior operators, where they share their stories on their journeys to entrepreneurship, and insights into the current products and company they are building.
With over 1 million cumulative views on YouTube, Founders Connect has featured over 80 founders of leading tech startups such as Paystack, Kuda Bank, Eden Life, Andela, Wakanow, Alt School, Nestcoin, PiggyVest, YellowCard, MTN Nigeria, among others.
Caleb Maru is the founder of Tech Safari, one of Africa’s fastest-growing tech newsletters boasting more than 15K subscribers. Tech Safari is at the forefront of amplifying the narratives of Africa’s tech sector, showcasing the industry’s potential to reshape the continent. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Maru is also a partner at Proximity Ventures, an early-stage venture capital (VC) firm investing in founders solving Africa’s most pressing problems.
Justin Norman is the founder, producer and host of The Flip, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Flip is an editorial-style podcast and weekly newsletter in which we explore more contextually relevant insights and stories from entrepreneurs changing the status quo in Africa.
A native-New Yorker, Norman left the US for South Africa in 2017. While working with South African entrepreneurship community Heavy Chef as the head of special projects, Norman found himself searching for more contextually relevant insights from entrepreneurs around Africa. His exploration and early conversations with practitioners led to the creation of The Flip.
Emeka Ajene is the founder and publisher of Afridigest, a business media brand with an editorial focus on ideas, analysis and insights for business innovators across Africa and beyond. Based in Lagos, Ajene’s professional background includes co-founding Africa’s super app, Gozem, and successfully steering the company through early growth and a Series A fundraise as managing director and CEO. Prior to Gozem, he contributed to the growth of Uber and other two-sided digital platforms across Africa.
Ajene’s writings have appeared in global publications such as The Financial Times, The New York Times, Quartz, Rest of World, Payments Dive, and Semafor, as well as in various Africa-focused media platforms including The Africa Report, TechCabal, Ventures Africa, VentureBurn, Inc.Africa and BusinessDay Nigeria.
Fatu Ogwuche is a media entrepreneur and the founder of Big Tech This Week, a leading media company and community for tech professionals and key players in Africa and the UK’s tech ecosystem. She’s also the host of Backstories with Fatu on YouTube, a talk show featuring the most prominent people in Africa’s tech ecosystem and the pivotal moments that led to their incredible success.
Finally, Jasiel Martin-Odoom is an investor and writer with a keen focus on African tech, startups and gender-lens investing. A Ghanaian native, Martin-Odoom has cultivated a meaningful audience of over 10,000 people on X. Every other Sunday, he channels his passion for startups into a biweekly newsletter that reaches over 1,000 founders, delivering actionable tips and fostering a community of informed entrepreneurs.
Martin-Odoom also serves as the lead for Africa fintech investing at Accion Venture Lab, where he applies his expertise to drive innovation and growth in the fintech space. Prior to joining Accion, he was the senior investment associate at Unreasonable Collective, a pledge fund focused on channeling diverse capital and support to Series A climate-tech companies. He has also provided fundraising and strategic support to over 100 growth-stage founders in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Over the past years, Africa has witnessed the development of a thriving tech startup ecosystem. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of tech startups in the continent tripled to around 5,200 companies, according to McKinsey. Statista estimates that the number continued to climb in 2022, reaching about 7,000.
Investment in African tech startups has also surged significantly. In 2022, African startups raised US$5 billion in VC, a notable increase from US$2 billion 2019, data from French public sector investment bank BPI France show.
Fintech is a prominent vertical in the African tech ecosystem, making up just under half of all startups in Africa. These companies attracted more than a third of all tech investments in the continent in 2023, data from Disrupt Africa reveal.
featured image credit: edited from freepik
