Atoms & Bits - Tech News for East Africa

10 Important updates

Welcome back to our Roundup series. Today we uncover key takeaways from the 2nd Tanzania Startup Week, TTCL’s 2026 strategy, and more ecosystem stories you won’t find elsewhere. Reading time: 8 minutes.

Supported By Konnect

Share Atoms & Bits

1. Freshpack to Receive 2.5 Billion?

Freshpack Technologies has secured $50,000 after reaching the Milken-Motsepe Prize semi-finals, competing against nine other companies for $2 million in manufacturing innovation awards.
The female-led, Morogoro-based startup pitched in Abu Dhabi on December 4-5, where judges selected five finalists (yet unannounced) for a $1 million grand prize awarded in Los Angeles next year.
Freshpack makes electricity-free cooling boxes using smart fabric that extends vegetable freshness by 3-4 days.
FUNGUO’s catalytic funding in the company enabled rapid commercialization. Read more on pages 20-21 of our latest magazine issue available here.

2. Beem’s CEO Says Tanzania Alone Too Small for Any Tech

During Startup Week 2025, Taha Jiwaji told founders to stop obsessing over venture capital (VC) and focus on revenue generation.
The Beem CEO recounted years of consistent VC rejection with varying reasons: weak team, inadequate product, small market size. Rather than continuing fundraising pursuit, Beem decided to proceed regardless of external capital availability.
“I would still avoid early fundraising even with current VC availability,” Jiwaji said. African markets require longer product-market fit discovery periods, making premature external capital counterproductive. VCs prioritize 18-month raise cycles potentially misaligning with founders still seeking product-market fit.
He declared Tanzania alone too small for any tech startup, urging founders to plan for three to five African markets from day one. “Weekend building while maintaining employment enables product validation without full-time commitment risk,” he advised aspiring CEOs.
His golden rule? Get customers to pay. African markets are unsuited for million dollar customer acquisition investments. Immediate customer willingness to pay validates ideas and funds initial growth.

Hon. Mwigulu Nchemba (PhD, MP) closed the 2nd Tanzania Startup Week declaring government agencies must stop controlling and start facilitating business.
“Everywhere, control. In every corner, control. This needs to change,” he said, delivering President Hassan’s directive.
He positioned startups among the primary drivers of Dira 2050. Because a trillion-dollar economy cannot be built on commodities and incremental changes alone. It requires new processes, firms, products, and technologies (like AI) that grow tenfold rather than ten percent.
TSA submitted formal policy agenda including National Startup Policy completion, $50 million National Venture Capital Fund (NVCF) government anchor commitment, Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) framework, and 15-year tax relief for CMSA-registered PE/VC funds.

4. Startup Founder Describes Tax Treatment Challenges

“The moment you get an investment in Tanzania, that is taxable income,” TRÍ E-Mobility CEO Nico Kadjaia says.
“Imagine you’re raising $100,000 for 18 months. TRA says we’re going to take away 6 months in taxes. You thought you raised for 18 months, but truly you only raised for 12.”
The tax treatment also affects how startups attract employees. Kadjaia explained that startups cannot match the salaries companies like Vodacom or CRDB pay, so they offer stock options instead - giving employees shares that could become valuable if the company succeeds.
The problem is that when a startup gives an employee stock options (ESOPs), our tax authority treats those shares as income immediately. The employee must pay tax right away, even though they cannot sell the shares yet and the shares may not be worth anything.
This makes stock options virtually unusable as a compensation tool. So most startups cannot hire the talent they need to scale.
“I need talent to scale. If I don’t scale, I will not attract investors,” Kadjaia told TSW 2025 attendees.

5. Graphite Processing Key to EV Adoption

Australia-based Black Rock Mining secured $219 million in September 2024 for the Mahenge Graphite Project, targeting 340,000 tonnes annually starting in 2026.
GodMwanga Gems (founded by locals) has produced 25,000 tonnes monthly since January 2025 at 95% purity. Walkabout Resources (Australia) adds 40,000 tonnes per year from Lindi Jumbo.
This graphite can supply local battery assembly.
Tanzania has roughly 10,000 electric two- and three-wheelers (E2&3Ws) operating, with adoption accelerating based on cost savings. TRI’s E2 costs only $1.2 daily to charge for 100 kilometers of operation compared to at least $2.5 per day for CNG-powered vehicles. In addition, drivers who switch from petrol to E3Ws report cutting their operating costs by up to 85%.
Spiro’s battery-swap riders save $17-25 monthly. Piki runs its Dar es Salaam delivery fleet on e-bikes. Other startups like Sarafu and Moova are exploring electric options to reduce logistics costs. With batteries representing 40% of electric vehicle cost, local assembly could lower the barrier to adoption while keeping more value in-country.
Current regulations cover vehicle imports, charging infrastructure, and restrictions on older petrol and diesel vehicles but do not connect graphite mining to local production.
This is happening despite Tanzania having existing manufacturing capacity through companies like Kaypee Motors, which produces light-duty e-trucks and recently received catalytic funding from the FUNGUO Innovation Programme. We’re also home to startups like WAGA, which already have expertise in the lithium-ion batteries that power laptops (and EVs!).
Nigeria secured $150 million from China for battery manufacturing in December 2023. Rwanda and Ethiopia offer 15% corporate tax rates for e-mobility companies. Tanzania removed excise duties on electric motorcycles/scooters in 2023 but hasn’t moved on graphite processing capacity.
Tax incentives for battery assembly, partnerships between mining companies and local manufacturers, or joint ventures with regional players could close the gap.

6. Only 1.3% of African Labs Can Identify Antibiotic-Resistant Infections

Nyambura Moremi (MD, PhD) spent three years running Tanzania’s National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) through COVID-19 before joining Africa CDC in May 2025 to lead the continent’s antimicrobial resistance (AMR) strategy.
Last week she presented data quantifying the infrastructure gaps her new role exists to fill: 98.7% of African laboratories cannot perform the bacteriology tests needed to identify drug-resistant infections.
Tanzania appeared twice in the new flagship report as a case study for what works.
The East African Health Research Commission (EAHRC) built regional reference laboratories during COVID that cut diagnostic turnaround times across Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. The Ministry of Health’s “Holela, Holela Itakukosti” campaign with Johns Hopkins reached rural populations through radio and urban audiences via social media with antibiotic resistance messaging in local languages.
UK’s Fleming Fund committed $46.8 million annually to Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Malawi, and Eswatini for laboratory information systems and surveillance networks. Moremi’s report calculated continental returns: $330 million in annual healthcare cost savings and $530 million in productivity gains from effective interventions.
This lab infrastructure deficit creates addressable market opportunities.
Only 19% of populations in low and middle-income countries can access diagnostics beyond HIV and malaria rapid tests. Just 13% of African countries operate infection prevention programs meeting WHO standards.
Medicine authentication matters because 22.6% of African pharmaceuticals are substandard or falsified, with 34.6% sold unregistered.

7. TTCL Bundles Fiber with Voice and Mobile Data

The Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation (TTCL) has launched its newest product for homes and offices. It is bundling 20 Mbps fiber internet with 300 voice call minutes and 20 GB smartphone data for only $29 (Sh70K).
The state-owned telecom separately issued a franchising tender last month for private partners to sell SIM cards, distribute airtime, and operate T-PESA agent networks. Franchisees need five years telecom experience and relationships with mobile operators. Application deadline was November 28.
Airtel leads fixed internet with 81,695 subscribers (23.6% market share), ahead of Vodacom at 67,902 (19.6%) and TTCL at 44,333 (12.8%). Wananchi Cable (acquired by Yas for $63 million) serves 28,532 (8.2%) fiber customers.

NCBA Tanzania has appointed Alex Martin Mziray as CEO.
He succeeds Claver Serumaga who delivered the bank’s first profit in seven years before moving to Equity Bank Uganda as Commercial Banking Director in May 2025.
Mziray brings 12 years at FNB Tanzania, serving as CFO from 2015 to 2023 after starting as an audit senior at KPMG Tanzania from 2006 to 2011.
The appointment coincides with declining profitability despite asset expansion.
NCBA posted TZS 2.6 billion net profit in Q1 2025, down 22.5% from TZS 3.35 billion in Q1 2024.
Net interest income fell 4.1% to TZS 10 billion while non-interest income dropped to TZS 3.12 billion.
Total assets grew 4% to TZS 533.5 billion and loans expanded 6.7% to TZS 272.3 billion, but customer deposits remained flat at TZS 262.3 billion.
NCBA improved its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio to 5.9% from 6.4% in December 2024. However, the bank faces pressure maintaining Serumaga’s turnaround momentum. Under Serumaga, NCBA generated TZS 11.5 billion profit in H1 2024, reversing TZS 15.8 billion in losses from the previous year through cost rationalization and corporate banking focus.
Mziray spent a decade managing FNB Tanzania’s financial reporting, regulatory compliance, and capital adequacy before a brief CFO stint at Exim Bank Comores from November 2023 to August 2024. He returned to Tanzania banking as NCBA’s Executive Director in September 2024 before his CEO appointment.
CRDB Bank’s Abdulmajid Nsekela remains Tanzania’s longest-serving major bank CEO since October 2018. Diamond Trust Bank’s Ravneet Chowdhury has led since October 2020, while TCB’s Adam Mihayo joined November 2023.
Banks typically hire finance specialists after turnaround leaders complete restructuring work. This is exactly what NMB did in 2020 when Ruth Zaipuna moved from CFO to CEO after her predecessor Ineke Bussemaker presided over the bank’s listing on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE).

9. Absa, NBC, Vodacom Announce Job Vacancies

Absa Tanzania has two openings: a Post Write Off Recoveries Officer managing legal debt recovery and an SME Credit Manager overseeing credit risk across business lending.
NBC is hiring a Micro Merchant Acquisition specialist to onboard QR merchants at dukas, boda hubs, and mamalishe clusters through field activation.
Vodacom seeks an M-Pesa Systems Admin for core platform monitoring and incident resolution. Absa and NBC applications close December 10-11.

10. Sahara Opens $70K Fellowship Applications

Sahara Consult has launched its 2026 EdTech Fellowship (Cohort 3) with Mastercard Foundation, offering growth-stage companies equity-free grants, mentorship, and regulatory guidance. Interested founders should apply by January 31.
Separately…

Fourteen local forestry ventures have joined FUNGUO’s Green Catalyst Initiative for Finland-funded technical support and capital.
The UNDP FUNGUO team recently met with CRDB Bank Foundation to explore expanded youth empowerment collaboration. They shared Atoms & Bits’ Special Magazine Edition coverage of the $20 million Funguo Innovation Programme as reference.