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PRovoke Media Crowns Woodrow Africa Agency of the Year
By Adedapo Adesanya
Woodrow has been named Africa Agency of the Year 2026 by PRovoke Media, one of the world’s leading authorities on the communications industry.
The award recognises Woodrow’s rapid growth across the continent and its work supporting clients navigating some of Africa’s most complex communication, policy, reputation and stakeholder challenges.
In announcing the award, PRovoke Media described Woodrow as “a different kind of communications firm for Africa. Built locally, but operating across borders, with a focus on high-stakes, high-complexity mandates that reflect the realities of the continent’s political and economic landscape.”
Founded five years ago by Mr Charlie Tarr, who has spent more than two decades working across African markets advising various organisations, Woodrow has grown from its Nairobi headquarters into a multi-market African consultancy. It now has teams and partners across Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Senegal and South Africa, delivering work across 13 countries.
Since 2024, Woodrow has more than doubled revenue, expanded delivery across more African markets and supported assignments that have generated global audiences exceeding 70 million people in multiple markets.
Speaking on the recognition, Mr Charlie Tarr, Founder and CEO of Woodrow Communications, said, “When we started Woodrow, we believed Africa deserved communications advice built for Africa’s realities, not imported templates. This recognition is a testament to our people, our clients and our belief that world-class strategic communications can be built from the continent and compete with the very best anywhere in the world. This feels more like a beginning than an arrival.”
Adding his input, Mr David Karega, Head of East and Southern Africa, added, “This award belongs to the team and the clients who have trusted us with some of their most important moments. From major launches and investment announcements to reputation management, policy engagement and crisis situations, we have had the privilege of helping them achieve influence. It shows that globally recognised PR excellence can be built from Nairobi and delivered across Africa.”
Woodrow’s growth has been driven by its local-first operating model, combining deep in-market expertise with regional coordination and strategic advisory support. It supports organisations such as AGRA, Bupa Global, BIC and a range of international foundations, investors and development institutions working across Africa.
Looking ahead, Woodrow is investing in new capabilities around digital influence, audience intelligence and integrated stakeholder engagement to help clients navigate the media landscape in Africa.
“Africa has never been a side conversation for us,” Mr Tarr added, “It sits at the centre of our work and future. The continent is producing some of the world’s most important opportunities in technology, investment, food systems, climate and economic transformation. We are excited to continue helping clients shape those conversations, build influence and contribute to Africa’s growth.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
An institutional investor, First Ally Capital, has strengthened a leading Nigerian financial technology company, Mathesis Analytics, to scale its proprietary credit decisioning infrastructure.
It made this possible by injecting fresh capital into the firm, which specialises in AI-powered credit decisioning infrastructure, an action that will directly support the growth and scaling of Mathesis’ core mission of providing the intelligence and infrastructure needed to bridge the credit gap for millions of unscored or underscored individuals across Nigeria.
With this investment, Mathesis will enable financial institutions to confidently assess and extend credit to borrowers who lack a formal credit history by leveraging an expanded pool of alternative behavioural and transactional data.
To date, Mathesis’ systems have supported more than 8 million loans for over 2 million unique borrowers in Nigeria, and the company is actively deploying its infrastructure to establish a growing pan-African footprint.
With the investment from First Ally Capital, Mathesis is well positioned to transform how the credit ecosystem operates, driving financial inclusion in partnership with lenders across the continent.
A significant barrier to credit access in Nigeria, which prides itself on being Africa’s largest economy, is data fragmentation. Borrowers frequently build positive financial behaviours across multiple digital platforms by repaying microfinance loans, saving through fintech wallets, or servicing Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) facilities.
However, under traditional credit infrastructure, these achievements remain invisible to new lenders.
Mathesis addresses this challenge through the concept of Personal Equity—the quantified expression of an individual’s financial behaviour aggregated across every institution with which they have transacted.
By translating these disparate signals into a precise, portable measure of creditworthiness, Mathesis creates a comprehensive credit identity that reflects the full breadth of a person’s financial life.
“True financial inclusion cannot be achieved in a vacuum; it requires structural collaboration in which lenders and fintech companies work as partners within the ecosystem.
“This investment from First Ally Capital validates our approach to reshaping credit infrastructure. By quantifying Personal Equity, we empower lenders to safely look beyond the constraints of formal credit histories and recognise a borrower’s true creditworthiness. This capital enables us to accelerate our pan-African expansion while maintaining the robust, institutional-grade infrastructure our partners rely on,” the chief executive of Mathesis Analytics, Winston Osuchukwu, stated.
On his part, the chief executive of First Ally Capital, Mr Ebenezer Olufowose, said, “At First Ally Capital, we pride ourselves on being a one-stop destination for financial solutions, offering a diverse portfolio of services ranging from investment banking and asset management to trusteeship, inclusive banking, and real estate.
“Our investment in Mathesis Analytics reflects our strong belief in the company’s vision and our commitment to supporting forward-thinking enterprises that deliver excellence.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The chief executive of Canal+ Africa, Mr David Mignot, has disclosed that MultiChoice is now fully integrated into the media group.
Mr Mignot disclosed this via a statement issued on Thursday, noting that this development marks a new phase in the evolution of one of Africa’s leading pay television operators.
He noted that the integration positions MultiChoice within a global media organisation with an extensive international footprint.
“MultiChoice is now a full subsidiary of a truly international media group operating in 70 countries. The group was founded in France, is listed in London and Johannesburg, and has a strong African presence with operations in more than 45 countries,” Mr Mignot said.
The statement underscores the scale of the combined business, highlighting Canal+’s global reach alongside its significant investments across Africa.
The completion of the transaction is expected to strengthen MultiChoice’s position in the African media and entertainment market by giving it access to the broader resources, expertise and international capabilities of the Canal+ Group, while reinforcing the group’s commitment to the continent.
MultiChoice operates across sub-Saharan Africa through platforms including DStv and GOtv, serving millions of subscribers with entertainment, sports and news content.
By Adedapo Adesanya
FoodCourt, a Nigerian cloud kitchen startup backed by Y Combinator, has suspended operations after months of unpaid salaries and mounting debts to vendors triggered a staff strike and forced the company to halt customer orders, according to a report by TechCabal.
The publication reported that customers first noticed on March 4 that they could no longer place orders through the FoodCourt app after the company disabled ordering as kitchen workers, delivery personnel and branch staff embarked on strike over unpaid wages. The company also owed outstanding payments to vendors.
By April 19, FoodCourt had temporarily shut its last operating branch after suspending activities across its Lagos and Abuja locations while seeking fresh funding and restructuring the business, according to the report.
The company’s chief executive, Mr Henry Nneji, said the decision to pause operations was not caused by a single issue but by a combination of operational, organisational and working-capital challenges.
“It’s important to clarify that the decision to pause operations wasn’t driven by one single issue. We reached a point where it became clear that continuing to patch those issues while operating wasn’t the right long-term decision,” he said.
“The objective is to build a stronger business than the one that existed before the suspension. We fully intend to bring FoodCourt back,” he added in an emailed response.
The company acknowledged outstanding obligations to employees, vendors, riders and service providers, but declined to disclose the number of affected workers or the total amount owed. It said efforts were underway to resolve the liabilities as part of its restructuring process.
It was also reported that the startup’s financial difficulties worsened after expansion into additional locations increased operating costs, while its cloud kitchen model came under pressure from rising labour, logistics, food and marketing expenses.
Despite the shutdown, Mr Nneji said FoodCourt intends to relaunch after completing its restructuring, adding that the company believes demand for its products remains strong.
Founded in 2021 by Henry Nneji and Paul Adokiye Iruene, FoodCourt operates cloud kitchens under multiple virtual restaurant brands through its consumer app. According to TechCabal, the startup had previously disclosed raising $1.7 million, delivering more than one million meals and reaching $4.3 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2024.
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