👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – One card to rule them all

When the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) unveiled the PAPSSCARD on June 27, it wasn’t just showcasing another piece of financial hardware. It was adding a new layer to its older idea of bolstering cross-border payments in Africa.

The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) was created in 2022 to make it easier for African markets to trade with one another in local currencies. It currently connects 15 central banks and over 150 commercial banks—22 of which are Nigerian banks.

The PAPSSCARD, built in partnership with Mercury Payment Services (MPS), is Africa’s attempt to keep transactions, data, and value within the continent, eliminating external payment systems to facilitate cross-border trade. It promises lower costs, faster transfers, and more control over data.

Cross-border payments are a big deal everywhere. In Europe, the European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) and the European Payments Initiative (EPI) recently teamed up to explore a system that will allow cross-border transactions by linking up payment solutions across the continent.

This isn’t Africa’s first shot at card sovereignty. Nigeria’s Central Bank launched AfriGo in 2023 to push domestic payment options, lower costs, and reduce reliance on foreign card schemes. While AfriGo and PAPSS are local and continental, respectively, they both reflect a shift in how Africa wants to manage its payments. Bit by bit, Africa is bringing control back to the continent.

But how will it work in real life? Can a Nigerian in Abidjan withdraw XOF from a local ATM with the PAPSSCARD? Will merchants in Accra or Nairobi accept it? The fine print is still unclear. The PAPSSCARD makes a bold promise. Can it deliver?

MTN Nigeria has just wrapped up Phase 1 of its $235 million Dabengwa Sifiso Data Centre, its first shot at commercial data hosting. 

The goal? Keep Nigerian data in Nigeria and reduce our dependence on foreign cloud giants like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure (which MTN itself used to rely on).

What’s a data centre and why should we care?  Data centres are the physical backbone of the digital world. Apps, websites, banking platforms, even AI models, live in data centres. 

For years, Nigeria has been shipping its data offshore, bleeding an estimated $350 million annually. MTN plans to reduce such spending and offer local cloud services priced in Naira. This puts it in competition with other dominating players like MainOne (Equinix), Rack Centre, Digital Realty (via Medallion), and Open Access Data Centres (OADC).

But Nigerians are not sold… yet, as portrayed by mixed reactions on social media. Some say MTN should fix their network first before attempting to rival AWS or Azure. Others doubt MTN’s ability to deliver reliability. A few are cautiously optimistic, hoping the pricing won’t be out of reach for users.

MTN has a strong pitch. An AI-ready capacity, 3D environmental monitoring, and an IT load of over 14MW at full scale. Building a data centre is one thing, convincing Nigerians to move in is another. If MTN wants serious buy-ins, it’ll need to prove it can deliver speed, uptime, and real value, because for many Nigerians, performance speaks louder than promise.

South Africa has come out to plead with the United States and President Donald Trump to be graceful with his tariffs.

On Tuesday, the country’s trade ministry said that it is trying to negotiate a trade deal with the US before the reciprocal tariffs, which Trump announced in April, kick in on July 9.

ICYMI: Like Lesotho, South Africa was one of the worst hit African countries in Trump’s new tariff regime. If it kicks in, South Africa will pay 31% extra on all goods to export to the US.

This is bad for business as the South Africa-US is one of the country’s most important trade corridors. In 2024, 8.2% of all South African exports—the second-largest after China—went to the US. 

South Africa is a major producer of pearls, metal stone ores, vehicle parts, and agricultural produce like citrus. As a result, the mining and citrus industries, which employ over a combined 235,000 employees, are two key sectors that could get caught in the Trump rampage. Prices of items made from pearls and precious stones—including jewellery and ornamental pieces—that get imported back to South Africa, could become more expensive. 

With the high cost, manufacturers of vehicle parts could consider selling sideways to local car-makers instead. If this happens at scale, it could drive down prices for consumers due to the locally-sourced parts, but quality may lag as local standards catch up to vehicle parts imported from the likes of Japan or Germany. The economy could also suffer from the repressed economic activity.

Zoom out: South Africa could aggressively pursue a trade deal. But there’s no guarantee the US will agree to anything. Like Lesotho, South Africa could offer a quid pro quo to accelerate the deal.

In more South African news, Metrobus, the second-largest municipal bus operator in the country, has introduced a new payment system in Johannesburg. Riders now use contactless cards that charge them based on the exact distance they travel. The old system charged a fixed fare based on zones and allowed free transfers between buses.

The change is part of Metrobus’s plan to modernise and improve fare collection. The older system was no longer supported by its manufacturer and could not calculate distance-based fares. On paper, the new system makes sense. But on the ground, it’s making daily life harder for thousands of working-class commuters.

Many people in Johannesburg live far from where they work. To get there, they often need to take two or more buses. Under the new system, every trip is charged separately. The free transfers they relied on are now gone. Even a small extra cost on each leg adds up quickly. Some riders are now spending R300 ($17) more per month than before.

Metrobus says fare increases are minor, and the average bump is just 4.6%. But for people who transfer often, the increase feels much larger. Taxi rides, once more expensive, are now cheaper on some routes.

Most jobs in the city are still far from where people live. A payment system that charges by distance ends up placing a bigger burden on those who travel the longest. That often includes the lowest earners, who already spend a large part of their income on transport.

Technological innovation is supposed to make people’s lives easier; but when that innovation becomes expensive, does it still count?