The African commerce landscape is experiencing a significant shift, as highlighted in TechCabal Insights’ annual “Future of Commerce Report: Beyond the First Wave,” launched in October 2025. This report posits that the next wave of innovation on the continent extends beyond traditional payments and marketplaces, focusing instead on the often-overlooked, unglamorous back-office challenges, termed the “X Areas” that continue to hinder millions of businesses. Understanding these areas is crucial for founders, investors, and policymakers seeking to strengthen Africa’s trade backbone.

A prime example of expertise in these critical backend systems is Ibikunle Peters, an IT and telecom infrastructure expert with over a decade of experience. Having powered Nigeria’s largest network deployments and national-scale digital operations across Airtel Networks Nigeria, 9mobile, and Huawei, Peters specializes in ensuring application uptime, resilience, enterprise software management, and real-time operational troubleshooting. His work involves meticulously managing charging and billing systems that process millions of daily transactions, guaranteeing service quality, security, and availability while leveraging data science to detect anomalies and optimize performance for national rollouts like SIM registration and mobile number portability.

Peters underscores that the true complexity of telecom networks lies not in visible antennas, but in the intricate backend ecosystem comprising base stations, controllers, billing systems, databases, APIs, and integrations that handle authentication, charging, fraud detection, and regulatory compliance.

The dynamic nature of Africa’s digital economy is equally evident in its lending sector, which presents both opportunities and challenges. Lidya, a Nigerian digital lender, ceased operations after nearly a decade, despite having raised $16.5 million in funding rounds. The company cited severe financial distress and an inability to process funds or settle claims, following a previous exit from its European operations in Poland and the Czech Republic to focus on its loan recovery tool, Lidya Collect, in Nigeria. This closure was preceded by the departure of its CEO, Tunde Kehinde, and CTO, Cristiano Machado, in late 2024, alongside reports of unpaid salaries for its Portugal-based tech team.

Conversely, Nigeria’s digital lending market is witnessing robust growth under new regulatory frameworks. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) introduced the Digital, Electronic, Online, or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations in 2025, sparking a rush for compliance. Since these rules took effect on July 21, 2025, nearly 500 loan apps registered with the FCCPC to avoid a ₦100 million ($69,000) fine for non-compliance. Of these, 434 have received full approval, 36 await conditional clearance, and 22 CBN-licensed lenders remain under watch.

The new regulations aim to protect consumers by prohibiting access to contact lists and galleries, mandating disclosure of real interest rates and repayment dates, and forbidding aggressive debt recovery practices that had previously plagued Nigeria’s digital lending ecosystem.