When Samuel Gikandi and his cofounders launched Africa’s Talking in 2010, the idea was to bridge a critical gap: helping developers build applications that could tap directly into telecom infrastructure. At a time when African businesses struggled to integrate SMS, USSD, and mobile payments into their services, Africa’s Talking became a quiet but powerful enabler.
From a modest Nairobi office, the company grew into one of the continent’s most influential infrastructure players, powering solutions for banks, fintechs, ecommerce startups, and even government services. Developers relied on its APIs to send bulk SMS, build customer support lines, enable mobile transactions, and run large scale campaigns.
By 2018, after years of self funding, the company attracted global attention and raised $8.6 million in Series A financing from heavyweight investors including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Orange Digital Ventures, and Social Capital. At the time, Gikandi said the funding would help Africa’s Talking expand aggressively across the continent. Today, it operates in 11 African countries, with Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania among its key markets.
But behind the success story, a different narrative has been unfolding — one of founder clashes, contested exits, and governance crises.
Gikandi Says He Has Been Forced Out
On Sunday, Gikandi announced on social media that he had been forced out of Africa’s Talking. His post, short but sharp, alleged he was removed by “the very criminals I am investigating,” claiming his probe into misconduct inside the company had been treated as unlawful.
Looks like I am going to have to tell the Africa’s Talking story from the outside. Having been kicked out by the very criminals I am investigating. For investigating them, a crime in itself. Oh how I refuse to make this up. May the spirit quicken, oh Mighty Protector of All ☀️
— samuel gikandi (@sgikandi) September 28, 2025
He offered no details on the alleged misconduct or who was involved, leaving more questions than answers. Neither Africa’s Talking nor its major investors have commented publicly on the claims.
Not the First Dispute
This is not the first time Africa’s Talking has faced leadership upheaval. In 2023, former CEO and cofounder Bilha Ndirangu filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging she had been unlawfully removed as a director.
Court documents showed she was voted out seven months after demanding an independent investigation into alleged misconduct by senior officials. Ndirangu argued that the removal process violated a court order and was improperly carried out using votes from an inactive employee share trust with no legal voting rights.
At the time, she and her allies held a 20.83 percent stake, while Gikandi and his supporters controlled about 25.25 percent. Her departure came after she had been promoted to CEO in 2019 following the Series A round, only to exit in 2021 in circumstances that court filings later suggested were not voluntary.
She was not the only cofounder to leave under contested circumstances. Eston Maina, who once also held the CEO role, supported Ndirangu’s petition against the company.
A Troubled Pattern
Now, with Gikandi claiming he too has been pushed out, all three original founders — Gikandi, Ndirangu, and Maina — have exited the leadership of Africa’s Talking through disputes, litigation, or contested votes.
The repeated clashes point to deeper governance issues at one of Africa’s most high profile software infrastructure firms. For a company backed by global investors like IFC, such turmoil raises difficult questions: Who ensures proper oversight? Are minority shareholders adequately protected? And how do companies with global backers balance founder control with institutional governance?
The Bigger Picture
Africa’s Talking remains a vital player in the African tech ecosystem. Its APIs power critical communication and payment flows used by thousands of businesses and millions of end users every day. In many ways, the company laid the groundwork for today’s fintech and digital services boom, long before “infrastructure startups” became a buzzword in venture capital.
But the internal disputes suggest that scaling from a bootstrapped startup into a multinational enterprise has come with sharp growing pains. The legal battles and boardroom tensions risk overshadowing the company’s contributions to Africa’s digital economy.
For Gikandi, the latest ouster marks an ironic twist. After taking over as CEO following Ndirangu’s disputed departure, he now claims to have been pushed out for similar reasons — investigating alleged misconduct.
Whether his claims spark fresh scrutiny of Africa’s Talking’s governance remains to be seen. For now, the silence from the board and its investors leaves the tech ecosystem and Africa’s Talking’s developer community with more questions than answers about the future of one of the continent’s most influential technology enablers.
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