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🤖CAC Deploys AI to Fix Company Registration Portal

🤖CAC Deploys AI to Fix Company Registration Portal

Plus: 📲WhatsApp Adds Built-In Message Translation To Chats, Groups, and Channels

Innovation Village
September 24, 2025

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Today’s Menu ☕️

🤖Nigeria’s CAC Overhauls Company Registration Portal With Artificial Intelligence (AI)
🏦Paga Group enters U.S. market to serve African diaspora with full-service banking
🔋Norfund divests African hydropower assets to Savannah Energy, marking full exit from SN Power
🌱Sahara Impact Ventures invests in Agriarche to strengthen agricultural value chains in Nigeria
⚙️Taiwan restricts chip exports to SA over national security concerns
💵Mirova’s $10m bet on ARC Ride powers Kenya’s battery-swapping boom

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🤖ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Nigeria’s CAC Overhauls Company Registration Portal With Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is turning to artificial intelligence to tackle its backlog of over 7,000 stalled company registration applications. Registrar-General Hussaini Ishaq Magaji announced the move at a stakeholders’ forum in Kano, saying the AI tool will process up to 3,000 emails daily, detect duplicates, and route queries to the right departments—aiming to cut delays and improve responsiveness for entrepreneurs.

The initiative follows the CAC’s troubled June rollout of a new AI-powered registration portal, which promised instant name approvals and smoother user experiences but instead drew complaints of glitches, failed payments, and upload issues. Despite this, demand remained high, with over 11,000 daily transactions overwhelming the system.........…continue reading

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🚙 BANKING

Paga Group enters U.S. market to serve African diaspora with full-service banking

Paga Group has expanded into the U.S. to serve the African diaspora, starting with over 3 million Nigerian-Americans who send an estimated $21 billion in remittances to Nigeria annually. Unlike traditional money transfer services, Paga is offering a “banking-first” model through a partnership with a U.S.-regulated bank, enabling users to open FDIC-insured accounts with Visa debit cards, Apple Pay/Google Pay compatibility, and integration with apps like Robinhood and Venmo. The move positions Paga to compete in the diaspora fintech space by providing a single digital wallet for saving, spending, investing, and cross-border transfers. The company says this launch is a key step toward its vision of building financial infrastructure to serve a billion people globally..........…continue reading

🔋HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER

Norfund divests African hydropower assets to Savannah Energy, marking full exit from SN Power

Norfund has sold its African hydropower assets to Savannah Energy, completing its exit from SN Power, the renewable energy firm it co-founded with Statkraft. The deal involves divesting its 50.1% stake in Klinchenberg, which holds shares in Uganda’s Bujagali Hydropower Plant, Malawi’s Mpatamanga project, and the regional Ruzizi III initiative. This follows earlier sales of SN Power’s assets in Zambia and part of Klinchenberg to British International Investment, while Scatec’s stake was sold to TotalEnergies in 2024. Norfund said the exit delivered a 21% annual USD return and frees capital for reinvestment into new renewable projects, reinforcing its mission to mobilize private capital and expand clean energy access in emerging markets.....…continue reading

🌱AGRICULTURE

Sahara Impact Ventures invests in Agriarche to strengthen agricultural value chains in Nigeria

Sahara Impact Ventures has invested in Nigerian agri-tech startup Agriarche, founded by Deina Mayaki, to help scale its solutions tackling post-harvest inefficiencies and boosting smallholder farmers’ incomes. Agriarche’s flagship platform, Kasuwa, connects farmers, aggregators, and processors with real-time data on markets, weather, and demand, already supporting over 12,000 farmers and trading $12 million worth of commodities. The company is also expanding globally with exports to Canada and Brazil and diversifying locally through its consumer food brand, Mitera, which leverages underutilized processing facilities. This investment underscores rising investor confidence in tech-enabled agriculture to improve food systems and drive inclusive growth in Africa.......…continue reading

⚙️TECHNOLOGY

Taiwan restricts chip exports to SA over national security concerns

Taiwan has imposed new export restrictions on semiconductors to South Africa, requiring pre-approval for most shipments over national security concerns. The move comes amid rising diplomatic tensions, after South Africa pushed Taiwan to downgrade its representative office, a shift seen as aligning with Beijing’s influence.

The restrictions highlight Taiwan’s growing use of its dominance in global chip production—led by TSMC—as leverage in geopolitics. South Africa, in turn, emphasized its role in the semiconductor supply chain as a supplier of platinum group metals and outlined ambitions to move up the value chain by developing advanced domestic industries.

The standoff underscores the intersection of technology, diplomacy, and economic strategy as global supply chains become increasingly politicized in a multipolar world.......…continue reading

💵INVESTMENTS

Mirova’s $10m bet on ARC Ride powers Kenya’s battery-swapping boom

Mirova, through its Gigaton Fund, has committed up to $10 million in senior secured debt to ARC Ride, a Nairobi-based electric mobility operator. The financing, following a recent $5 million injection from British International Investment, will fund 600+ battery-swapping cabinets and 25,000 batteries, enabling large-scale deployment of electric two-wheelers (E2Ws) in Kenya.

ARC Ride’s battery-swapping model cuts downtime for riders, making E2Ws more affordable and competitive against fuel motorcycles. The investment is both a climate and economic play—each bike avoids about 2 tonnes of CO₂ annually while helping low-income riders save on fuel and maintenance, boosting daily earnings.........…continue reading