👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Show’s over, Showmax

Udeme Jalekun is a Senior Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer and educator who transitioned from customer support into quality engineering after identifying that most recurring production issues were preventable through stronger use-case testing. Her work spans functional and non-functional testing, including integration, system, performance, and automation testing, with a focus on building resilient, scalable systems that protect revenue and improve user experience.

• Explain your job to a five-year old. 

Let’s assume the 5-year-old loves to watch the ‘Paw Patrol,’ I would explain software testing using that animation series. Each pup is awesome in their own way because of the unique tools in their pup packs, which they use for each of their missions. A software tester is the guy who checks that each tool does what it’s expected to do, how it is expected to and at the right time.

• What’s the biggest misconception startups and founders have about QA?

The biggest misconception many startups and founders have about QA is treating it as optional, something you add later when you’re bigger, not something you build with from day one. They assume developers can simply test their own work and that this will be “good enough,” especially when the pressure is to ship fast.

• Five years from now, what will separate average QA engineers from exceptional ones?

Product understanding and sector-based knowledge. With the advent of AI, many people feel that human thinking will be contracted to AI agents. But in principle, AI is trained by data, data obtained from humans’ responses to unprecedented challenges. The exceptional QA has interacted long and deeply enough with their sector/product/service and can predict edge cases and scenarios based on actual interactions with the systems under test and with people who have used the system under test. 

In February 2026, when French media giant Canal+ said the current structure of Showmax, the streaming platform run by its newly acquired subsidiary MultiChoice Group, was unsustainable and that the group was rethinking its streaming ambitions, it sounded like the prelude to a restructuring. 

A strategic pivot or maybe a redesign of how the platform worked. After all, streaming was supposed to be part of the future. But fresh in subscribers’ inboxes now is a different message: Showmax is being shut down.

Wasn’t streaming supposed to be the future? That’s the irony. Streaming was supposed to be the next chapter of television in Africa. In Nigeria, the over-the-top (OTT) video market (streaming platforms) is expected to have 14.8 million users by 2030. But that wasn’t enough.

So this is how the story ends: Launched in 2015, Showmax was MultiChoice’s answer to global streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. A major relaunch in 2024 came with new technology and bigger content pipelines. Yet, the numbers told a different story. Showmax accumulated losses of about €370 million ($428.9 million) in the three years leading up to the Canal+ takeover. Many African markets remain highly price-sensitive, and internet access still shapes how much streaming people can realistically consume.

What happens next? For now, subscribers can keep using the platform. The company says a migration plan for content and customers is being prepared. A migration plan is reportedly in the works, which means viewers may eventually be redirected to another service or bundled offering within the Canal+ ecosystem.

In September 2025, South Africa introduced a new e-hailing operator licence under amendments to the National Land Transport Act. The goal was to bring ride-hailing into the same legal framework as other public transport services. 

The amendment came with requirements, such as the visible vehicle branding, e-hailing operating permits tied to fixed routes, and panic buttons, but platforms must first register as official e-hailing operators before their drivers can apply for permits.

Two platforms are already through the door: Bolt and WANATU have secured their e-hailing operator licences from the National Public Transport Regulator (NPTR), the country’s transport regulator, ahead of the March 11 deadline. That means they’re now officially recognised under the new framework and can legally run ride-hailing services in the country. Uber has also applied and is awaiting approval. 

Why ride-hailing drivers are shaking in their boots: The criteria that platforms must be licenced before their drivers get a permit makes them nervous. Without the proper permits, drivers risk paying up to R100,000 ($5,700) in fines and potentially renewed tension with the taxi industry, as taxi operators often view e-hailing as illegal, leading to intimidation and driver harm. 

That’s why many drivers are watching the rollout anxiously. “What happens after March 11?” That’s the big unknown hanging over the industry.

Fido Ghana, a Ghanaian fintech startup, secured $5.5 million in debt funding from the Regional MSME Investment Fund for Sub-Saharan Africa (REGMIFA), managed by Swiss-based impact investment manager Symbiotics. (Mar 3)

Here are the other deals for the week:

• Eyone, a Senegalese healthtech startup, raised $1.7 million in funding from Oyass Capital. (Feb 27)
• Weego, a Moroccan–Senegalese mobility startup, secured $1.1 million in funding from Azur Innovation Fund. (Mar 3)
• Platinum Credit, a Ugandan fintech startup, secured $4 million in funding from Symbiotics. (Mar 4)
• Subify, a Nigerian fintech startup, secured a $3,000 award following the Proof Lab challenge and from angel investor Ashley Barrett. (Feb 27)

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. Before you go, CBN has a plan to make regulation work for fintechs. Find out what it looks like here.