Cham reap sour,
Victoria from Techpoint here,
Here’s what I’ve got for you today:
- Zambia’s Zoyk gets DRC payments approval
- Ghana pushes to meet 5G deadline
- Lesaka profits surge ahead of Bank Zero deal
- X changes how creators get paid
Zambia’s Zoyk gets DRC payments approval
Zambian fintech Zoyk is taking its payments business into the Democratic Republic of Congo after receiving authorisation from the Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC) to offer payment aggregation services through Zoykpay. The announcement yesterday, September 10, gives the company a formal regulatory path to prepare for commercial operations in the DRC, although it still has implementation and regulatory requirements to complete before launch.
Zoykpay connects businesses and financial institutions to different payment channels through one system. In the DRC, where payments are spread across banks, mobile-money operators and other financial providers, the company wants to make it easier for businesses to collect payments, manage transactions and reconcile their money without having to build separate integrations for every provider.
That could make the DRC a useful market for Zoyk. The company is not trying to be just another consumer wallet; it is building payment infrastructure for businesses, financial institutions and public-sector organisations. Its platform already supports payment collection, settlement, multi-currency transactions and cross-border payments, while its newer merchant product lets businesses accept Airtel Money, MTN MoMo and Zamtel through a single balance in Zambia.
The DRC move also builds on Zoyk’s regulatory progress at home. In May 2024, the Bank of Zambia designated Zoyk Pay Zambia Limited as a payment aggregator. By 2026, the company was describing itself as a Bank of Zambia-licensed payment service provider and expanding its products beyond traditional payment processing. In June, Zoyk also partnered with Visa through Visa Direct to launch an interoperable digital-payment solution targeting Zambia and the wider SADC region.
Now, the DRC becomes another piece of Zoyk’s Southern African expansion. The company says it already has active deployments in Zambia, the DRC, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa, with Angola listed as an upcoming market. The BCC authorisation does not mean Zoykpay is live commercially in the DRC yet, but it puts the company much closer to that point, and gives it another regulated market in which to test its broader bet on connecting Africa’s fragmented payment infrastructure.
Lesaka profits surge ahead of Bank Zero deal
The company preparing to buy Bank Zero, Lesaka Technologies, has swung from a R1.65 billion net loss in its 2025 financial year to a R39.8 million profit in FY2026, according to results released on September 9, 2026. Its net revenue also climbed 20% to R6.33 billion, while adjusted EBITDA jumped 41% to R1.27 billion.
The turnaround matters because Lesaka is trying to build a much bigger fintech and financial-services operation in South Africa. Its consumer business was a major driver, with revenue up 38% to R2.4 billion and adjusted EBITDA rising 78% to R775 million. Its enterprise business also improved sharply, with adjusted EBITDA jumping from R23.7 million to R136.2 million. The merchant business was weaker, with adjusted EBITDA falling 6% to R601.6 million, but the group still managed to deliver its first full-year GAAP profit.
And then there is Bank Zero. Lesaka announced in June 2025 that it would acquire the digital mutual bank for about R1.1 billion, betting that Bank Zero’s modern banking technology could strengthen its own fintech ecosystem. The deal has already received Competition Tribunal approval, but regulatory approvals are still outstanding. In June 2026, Lesaka extended the deal’s long-stop date to 31 January 2027 while it waits for the remaining approvals, including from the Prudential Authority.
The Bank Zero deal is part of a bigger transformation at Lesaka, formerly known as Net1. The company rebranded to Lesaka in 2022 and has since been assembling businesses across payments, merchant services and consumer finance. It acquired Adumo and Recharger, among others, as it tried to build a broader financial-services platform rather than rely on one business line. Bank Zero would add a fully digital banking operation, deposits and its technology stack to that mix.
So the timing is interesting. Lesaka is entering the Bank Zero deal from a much healthier financial position than it was a year ago, but the acquisition is not yet included in its FY2026 results and is still subject to regulatory approval. Bank Zero launched publicly in August 2021 with a zero-fee banking model and has built its proposition around a technology platform designed without the legacy systems used by many traditional banks. If the deal eventually closes, Lesaka will be betting that its scale and distribution, combined with Bank Zero’s banking technology, can create a much bigger challenger in South Africa’s financial-services market.
Ghana pushes to meet 5G deadline
Ghana is racing against the clock to get 5G to 70% of its population by March 2027, when the country marks 70 years of independence. The government calls it “70 per cent coverage for Ghana at 70”, but with the deadline only months away, the country still has plenty of ground to cover. The target was announced in May 2026 as part of a broader push to modernise Ghana’s digital infrastructure.
The latest step came on September 9, when the National Communications Authority (NCA) announced that three companies had qualified to compete for 5G spectrum in the 700 MHz, 2.3 GHz and 3 GHz bands. MTN Ghana, Telecel Ghana and Goal Telecommunications made the cut, while Infrav Ltd was disqualified. The spectrum process follows the NCA’s decision in July to remove Next Gen Infraco’s (NGIC) exclusivity over wholesale 5G infrastructure, opening the market to more competition.
Why should anyone outside Ghana care? Because the government is trying to move beyond simply putting a 5G logo on a phone and calling it progress. Communications Minister Samuel Nartey George has pointed out that many rural and remote cell sites still run on 2G and 3G, which can handle calls and texts but are increasingly inadequate for things like mobile money, digital agriculture, e-learning and telemedicine. The plan is therefore to upgrade ageing infrastructure to 4G- and 5G-capable networks, while improving the fibre and microwave backhaul needed to deliver actual broadband speeds.
Ghana’s 5G journey has already taken a few turns. NGIC, the country’s wholesale 4G/5G network operator, began commercial operations in March 2026, initially serving parts of Accra, Kumasi and Tamale. But the NCA began the process of removing NGIC’s wholesale 5G exclusivity in March and formally ended it on July 15, saying a competitive market would better support investment, innovation and wider access. The regulator then opened applications for new 5G spectrum in July, receiving four applications before the August 27 deadline.
Now the real race begins. The three qualified applicants will move to the next stage of the spectrum selection process, while the government expects 5G deployment to begin before the end of 2026. The bigger test, however, will be whether Ghana can turn that regulatory and spectrum work into meaningful coverage, particularly outside the major cities, before the March 2027 deadline. Hitting 70% on paper will mean little if millions of people still have to rely on ageing networks for basic digital services
X changes how creators get paid
X has officially shut down its old Creator Revenue Sharing programme and is replacing it with a new Original Content Rewards programme. The change took effect this week, with X beginning to roll out applications for existing Revenue Sharing creators on September 8, 2026. The new system is meant to reward people for creating original posts, videos, images, articles and commentary, rather than simply generating activity around their posts.
The biggest change is how X calculates what creators earn. Under the old system, creators could make money from ads displayed in replies to their posts, which meant a controversial post that attracted hundreds of arguments could become surprisingly profitable. Under Original Content Rewards, payouts are based on qualified impressions from X Premium users viewing original content on their Home Timeline. X says the programme will pay eligible creators every two weeks, with a minimum payout of $30.
That could change the kind of content creators have an incentive to make on X. The old model was criticised for encouraging rage-bait, engagement farming and posts designed to start arguments. The new rules put more weight on whether someone is actually bringing their own voice, expertise or perspective to the platform. Reposting someone else’s content, substantially copying it or using automated content will not qualify, while genuine commentary, analysis and breaking news can.
The shift has been months in the making. X stopped accepting new Revenue Sharing applications on August 7, 2026, although existing members continued earning until September 7. The final payment for earnings through that date is expected around September 11. From September 8, existing creators could start applying for Original Content Rewards, but they are not automatically transferred into the new programme.
For creators hoping to get paid, the bar has also moved. Applicants need an active X Premium, Premium+ or Premium Business subscription, at least 500 verified followers and 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users in the previous 90 days. They also need to be at least 18, be in an eligible country and maintain good account standing. So, X is clearly betting that paying creators for original work, rather than rewarding whoever can generate the loudest comment section, will make its creator economy healthier. Whether that actually kills the rage-bait business is another matter.
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Have a fun weekend!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa
