Opinion: African Tech Doesn't Need More Hype. It Needs More Honest Reporting.
Boosterism has been the default register of African tech coverage for a decade. It has not served founders, and it has not served readers.
AfroTech Horizon Newsroom
The AfroTech Horizon editorial desk. Bylines are replaced with the reporting journalist once a story is commissioned — this account exists so the site has a working author profile before the newsroom is staffed.
Articles by AfroTech Horizon Newsroom
What African Founders Actually Think About AI Tools
Adoption is high and enthusiasm is lower than the marketing suggests. Founders describe real productivity gains alongside costs and constraints that rarely make the pitch.
Inside the Developer Communities Rewriting What African Software Looks Like
The most consequential technical work on the continent is happening in meetups, Telegram groups and unpaid open source, largely outside the companies that get written about.
What a Seed Round Actually Buys You in Lagos, Nairobi and Douala
The same headline figure means three different things depending on where you spend it. Salaries, cloud bills and currency risk do most of the work.
The Infrastructure Gap That Explains Half of Africa's Startup Failure Rate
Post-mortems blame the market, the team, or the funding environment. Often the real cause is more boring: the electricity, the bandwidth, and what both cost.
Data Protection Laws Are Coming to More African Countries. Is the Sector Ready?
More than thirty African countries now have data protection legislation on the books. Enforcement is another question, and compliance costs land hardest on the smallest companies.
Why So Many Startups Raise Once and Are Never Heard From Again
The gap between a seed round and a Series A is where most companies on the continent stop. The reasons are structural more often than they are about the product.
Why Cameroon's ICT Corridor Is Getting Quiet Attention From Investors
Douala and Yaoundé rarely appear in continental funding round-ups. A handful of funds have started looking anyway, and their reasoning is not sentimental.
The State of African Tech in 2025: What the Numbers Actually Say
Funding totals fell again, and the headline figure hides more than it explains. A closer read of where the money went, and what the drop does not mean.
The Case for Boring Businesses
Logistics software, payroll, compliance tooling and B2B invoicing do not make good launch posts. They make good companies.
Data Protection Law: What Compliance Actually Requires of a Small Company
Most African data protection statutes borrow the same structure. Knowing that structure tells a founder what they will be asked for long before a regulator asks.
Startup Acts: What They Deliver, and What They Do Not
Several countries now have dedicated startup legislation. The tax relief tends to arrive; the harder promises tend not to.