The Build: Of Japatech in Africa.
When your brightest minds pack their bags, you build the tools to help them fly 🧳
Editor's Note
👋🏾 Hello, everyone. Welcome to a brand new series called The Build—a series of deep dives into the build of various sectors in the African tech ecosystem. Each month, we'll highlight one sector and discuss its foundations, its current state, and many other fascinating topics in between. We'll be releasing one article weekly until the end of each series.
For our maiden edition, we're diving into The Build of Japatech in Africa. Hold on to your hats as we take you through this very exciting and unassuming sector. We hope you come away from this first article in the Japatech series with lots of insights and questions.
As always, we love to hear from you, so don't hesitate to write us. Enjoy!
— Dumss ✨
The Great African Exodus:
Forty million Africans have packed their dreams into suitcases and boarded one-way flights to somewhere else. They've chased visas through bureaucratic mazes, hustled remote jobs across time zones, and learned to call two places home.
This isn't just migration—it's a movement. And where movements go, innovation follows.
Before we dive into the innovation that this mass emigration has birthed, let's trace the history of japa—an indigenous Nigerian slang that captures the urgency of leaving, the hope of escaping, the pursuit of something better.
Contrary to popular belief, the 2020s mass japa was only the latest wave in decades of African emigration. Each era has been defined by its own collective pain point, its own catalyst for departure.
The 1940s-1950s saw Africans traveling to Europe and North America primarily for education, returning home to build civil service systems with their newly acquired Western credentials.
The 1960s-1970s brought the Independence wave, but newly formed governments struggled to provide adequate professional opportunities. Young professionals began leaving in droves, seeking careers that matched their ambitions.
The 1980s-1990s witnessed economic downturns and political instability driving another exodus. Ghana lost 60% of its medical doctors in the 1980s alone—a brain drain that continues to echo today.
The 2000s-2010s saw continued emigration fueled by insecurity and dysfunction. Nigeria's Boko Haram crisis, Ghana's "Dumsor" power outages, Kenya's post-election violence, and Zimbabwe's economic implosion under Mugabe all contributed to compound brain drains across African borders.
Then came the 2020s.
The 2020s & Japa Generation:
To Japa /ˈdʒɑː.pɑ/, means to run, to escape, to seek liberation.
The 2020s ushered in the "Japa" momentum: a movement powered by a digital generation that is hyper-connected, globally aware, and solution-oriented. This current wave is different.
While economic hardship and insecurity remain driving forces, this generation approaches migration with unprecedented access to information, networks, and tools.
Across Africa, similar slang expressions have captured the collective urgency and hope that define this wave. While "japa" originates from Nigeria, it has become a pan-African internet colloquialism:
In Ghana, people talk of "coasting:" a coded expression of their quiet frustration
In Kenya, "kuenda majuu" (Swahili for "going abroad") speaks to dreams of opportunity
In South Africa, "chasing the diaspora dream" or simply saying "I'm out" echoes Nigeria's 1980s emigration slang of "checking out"
The language varies, but the sentiment is shared. It's about running toward possibility, not just away from problems.
And here's what makes this generation unique: they're not just leaving. They're building.
What Exactly Is Japa Tech?
Africans have always been early adopters when given access to digital solutions. From mobile money to social media, the continent has shown time and again that innovation thrives when it serves real needs.
So what happens when a significant chunk of a continent's most educated, skilled, and driven individuals is leaving?
The answer: You build for them.
Japa Tech represents immigrant-focused tech solutions built by Africans for Africans in the diaspora. These platforms serve the unique needs of African migrants, offering services that help them move, settle, thrive, and stay connected to their roots.
It's about easing the move, softening the landing, and never losing touch with home.
The Four Pillars of Japa Tech
The Japa-tech space is taking shape across four main categories, each addressing critical pain points in the migration journey: Migration Services Tech, Finance and Remittances, Community and Wellness & Career and Learning Platforms.
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Migration Services Tech:
The emigration process is notoriously daunting and complex. Worse, many aspirants fall prey to scammers who promise visa services and then disappear with their money. This category tackles these challenges head-on.
eMigr8, co-founded by Bade Adesemowo, is a tech-enabled relocation platform designed specifically for African tech professionals and entrepreneurs. The platform demystifies tech visa processes through expert coaching and up-to-date immigration insights, offering a user-friendly app that helps users manage tasks and access global opportunities.
Guideli, backed by Techstars and co-founded by attorney Daniel Jaiyeoba, brings AI-powered visa guides and connects individuals with immigration lawyers to streamline the petition process.
Vesti tackles the financial side, providing immigrants with access to bank accounts, debit and credit cards in their destination countries, alongside simplified emigration pathways and coaching.
CareerEdu provides personalized assistance from visa applications to educational admission guidance and job placement.
Blumefy, launched in 2023 by Temitope Tude-Alli after her extensive experience in banking, ecommerce, and startups, simplifies the migration journey through AI-powered personalized advice. The platform analyzes user data to craft customized migration plans, recommending suitable destination countries and visa routes while providing comprehensive checklists and action plans for seamless transitions.
For housing needs, YALO and SmallSmall offer flexible rental solutions for African migrants, while Bongalow facilitates diaspora property investments back home.
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Finance and Remittances:
Think black tax. Think investing back home. Think paying employees directly without risky intermediaries. This category makes cross-border financial transactions faster, more affordable, and more secure.
Tanzanian born Nala, founded by Benjamin Fernades, serves 500,000+ customers globally with the tagline "send love home," facilitating seamless payments to eleven African countries.
Lemfi, founded by Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran, secured $53 million in Series B funding in January 2025, demonstrating investor confidence in the remittance market.
Daba Finance takes a different approach entirely. While other startups build remittance solutions for migrants to send money back home, Boum III Jr built Daba Finance from a different perspective—enabling diaspora Africans to invest in real estate, agriculture, and small businesses back home, turning remittances into wealth-building opportunities.
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Community and Wellness
Migration isn't just a financial or logistical challenge—it's an emotional one. New environments, feelings of disconnection, loneliness, and overwhelm are common experiences that need addressing.
Fleri, founded by Ghanaian immigrant Sam Baddoo, helps African immigrants provide healthcare for their loved ones back home, reducing the financial burden of medical emergencies.
Nguvu Health, founded by Joshua Koya, provides on-demand telepathy platforms for Africans on the continent and in the diaspora.
Shezlong, founded by Ahmed Abu Elhaz, provides similar telepathy services for Africans worldwide. Ahmed, born and raised in Egypt, created Shezlong after an accident affected his limb and left him struggling to find convenient, anonymous therapy. His personal experience of falling into a funk and needing help shaped a platform designed to make mental health support seamlessly accessible.
Agbora helps African migrants build and find communities digitally, connecting lonely immigrants with social networks, friends, and local events.
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Career and Learning Platforms
Success in foreign job markets often requires upskilling, networking, and understanding new professional environments. This category bridges those gaps.
Breedj is an HR fintech platform connecting African talent with international remote opportunities, offering an all-in-one solution for vetting, hiring, and paying talents across borders.
Utiva, founded by Eyitayo Ogunmola, helps Africans at home and abroad upskill and gain new competencies for the global market.
Movemeback serves professionals in the diaspora looking to return to Africa, providing connections with organizations hiring entrepreneurs and talents.
AI Examiner, relatively new on the scene, caters to a global audience with its AI-backed tool that rigorously quizzes learners on study materials of their choice.
Japatalent provides CV revamp services, career coaching, and online courses to Africans at home and abroad looking to transition between careers or find new roles.
Concluding Thoughts:
Today, over 36 million Africans live outside their home countries; almost as many people as the entire populations of Canada and Poland combined. This isn't just a statistic; it's a market, a community, and an opportunity.
Japa Tech has become more than just a business category: it's a movement. Not a movement born of panic and frustration, but a well-informed shift supported by skilled, tech-savvy individuals who understand that innovation can solve the challenges of modern migration.
People are stepping up to serve this vibrant, mobile, and ambitious community, creating tools that don't just help them survive abroad but truly thrive. As the Japa generation continues to grow, so too will the demand for platforms that understand their unique challenges and aspirations.
In many ways, Japa Tech is building the future of African innovation—one without borders, but never without roots.
This is the first in our four-part series exploring the Japa Tech ecosystem. In the coming issues, we'll dive deeper into each category, profile the founders building these solutions, and examine how this movement is reshaping both the African diaspora and the continent itself. The future of African tech isn't confined to African borders: and that's exactly the point.
In this series we’ll dive deeper into these categories and platforms. I’m very excited! If there are other categories we missed or other products you’d love for us to highlight in this series, please let us know!
Yours in deep diving,
Sadie