The Africa B2B Tech Report
Issue No. 91. Africa-Middle East B2B tech news & insights for 20 May 2025.
The Africa B2B Tech Report is a regular curation of news and insights on the development of B2B technology in Africa and the Middle East. We cover the ecosystem of partners, builders, and developers that make emerging tech work for African businesses.
The Report is written and edited by Charles Laughlin, Co-founder & Editor-in-Chief for BigFive Digital. Charles is a tech journalist, conference producer, and moderator.
New Xero Report Reveals Strong SA SME Optimism
The global accounting firm Xero’s new report on the state of small business in South Africa finds a deep well of optimism in the face of headwinds ranging from geopolitical uncertainty to a shaky local economy.
Xero’s 8th annual “State of Small Business South Africa” report is built on a survey of “more than 400” South African small businesses (up to 200 employees). The interviews were conducted online in March. Xero partnered with the market research agency KLA to conduct the survey.
The headline-grabbing finding is of course the enduring optimism of South African SMEs. The Xero survey found that 83% of the South African SMEs surveyed reported having grown their revenues in the past year. And 90% of the SMEs surveyed said they were optimistic about their growth prospects in the coming year.
“In the wake of today’s volatile geopolitical environment and challenging economic times, small businesses have continued to show resilience,” wrote Xero South Africa Country Manager Colin Timmis in the report’s introduction.
“And encouragingly, a significant number of small businesses have managed to grow their revenue over the past year. Even more promising is the optimism we see for the road ahead. Many entrepreneurs are not just hopeful - they are proactively looking for ways to future-proof their businesses.”
The Xero report also examines how South African SMEs view emerging technology as a business tool, in particular AI. The Xero report finds that South African SMEs are actively engaged with AI. This is similar to the GeoPoll/Africa 118 findings reported in our last B2B Tech Report, which found that 58% of SMEs in five African countries were using AI in some form to run their business.
While SA SMEs currently use AI for customer communications, document management, and data insights, in the coming year they plan to apply AI to content generation, process automation, and deploying AI assistants like agents and chatbots.
The Xero report finds that SA SMEs believe AI will have a big impact on business operations in the coming year.
According to the report’s summary, “Nearly half (46%) think it will automate manual tasks like invoicing and expense tracking. While 45% think it will help them quickly find and retrieve business information, such as information on payroll or expenses. Interestingly, given the cash flow challenges facing some South African businesses, almost two in five (38%) think AI will be most valuable in helping them better manage cash flow and providing financial forecasts.”
Please enjoy this curation of content relevant to the continent’s B2B tech ecosystem for 20th May 2025.
M-Pesa Surpasses $450B in Transaction Value
Edtech Zaio Attempts to Bridge SA Tech Skills Mismatch
MaxAB-Wasoko Acquires B2B Marketplace Fatura
Vuz Raises $12M to Scale Immersive Video in Emerging Markets
Vodacom Gains Muted by Currency Volatility
Q1 Results Show Jumia Losing Less Money on Lower Revenue
New Abu Dhabi AI Data Complex Largest Outside of U.S.
MTN CEO Says Next Big Tech Breakthrough Must Emerge from Africa
Qardy Buyout is Egypt’s First Fintech SPAC Deal
Egyptian Fintech Thundr Raises ~$16M for Expansion
Sponsored Message
NSPYRE is a South African digital marketing agency specializing in paid media and SEO. Bianca Waterberg founded NSPYRE to create an agency that focuses on delivering personalized strategies, direct communication, and results that truly matter to your business.
Each issue of The Report features a chart or graphic that was shared with us, or that we found online, that is relevant to the continent’s B2B tech ecosystem.
Exploring Africa’s Fastest Growing Economies
We enjoyed this graphic, which we found on LinkedIn courtesy of Anthony William Catt, the Founder and Director of Cape Town VC firm Ventures 54.
It shows which are the fastest-growing African economies, based on projections for 2025-2026. Notably but perhaps not surprisingly, Africa’s largest economies (Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt) do not rank among its fastest growing. However, both Ethiopia and Cote d’Ivoire are among the top 10 African countries based on GDP.
The data source for this chart is a report from the African Development Bank Group.
