Namaste,
Victoria from Techpoint here,
Here’s what I’ve got for you today:
- Please Call Me case returns to High Court
- Inside the early hustle of BookClinic’s founder
- Somalia confirms hack after a week of silence
Please Call Me case returns to SA High Court
It turns out the “Please Call Me” saga isn’t over. Just weeks after Vodacom and Nkosana Kenneth Makate announced they had finally reached a settlement, another fight has erupted. This time, over who gets a slice of Makate’s payout. His former legal funder, Black Rock Mining, is heading back to the Johannesburg High Court, claiming it’s entitled to 40% of the settlement.
Per the Sunday Times, Black Rock has lodged urgent court papers to block Vodacom from paying Makate while it tries to secure its share. The hearing is set for tomorrow, Tuesday, November 18. This issue had already been to arbitration, where Black Rock’s claim was dismissed, but the company is refusing to let it go.
Black Rock says it represents investors who backed Makate’s legal fight years ago through a vehicle called Raining Men Trade. Under a 2011 agreement, each investor was supposed to get 4–5% of the final payout if Makate won, and they’d carry the full loss if the case failed. The company claims Stemela & Lubbe Attorneys, Makate’s current legal team, won’t pay them a cent from the settlement.
The dispute between Makate and Raining Men goes way back. Schoeman, the man who rallied the funding, has long accused Stemela & Lubbe of trying to cut investors out by claiming they weren’t paying Makate’s bills. The law firm rejected this, and courts previously blocked Raining Men from joining Makate’s litigation after it failed to settle its own cost orders.
Makate, however, isn’t worried. He told the Sunday Times he’s glad the matter is returning to court because he believes Black Rock has “no case.” He insists the funder withdrew from the fight in 2024 and says meeting Raining Men’s directors was one of the biggest misfortunes of his life, calling them “dishonest fraudsters.”
Meanwhile, the settlement amount remains undisclosed, but industry insiders estimate it at around R500 million. If Black Rock succeeds, it could walk away with up to R299 million. Makate still faces another hurdle: tax. Experts say the payout will likely be taxed as income because it stems from his employment at Vodacom. The final tax bill will depend on the exact terms of the settlement.
From building healthtech at 19 to running a global fintech
At just 19, Miracle Nwankwo wasn’t trying to “enter tech.” He was already building BookClinic, a health-tech startup that let people book medical diagnostics the same way they’d hail a ride. The product picked up momentum quickly, pulled in investment, and quietly set him on a path that would later land him in the executive seat of Veefin Africa, a global fintech company, by age 22.
Nwankwo’s journey started long before the startup spotlight. His first taste of tech came in secondary school, inside a basic ICT lab that sparked a curiosity he never managed to shake off. But it was Mark Zuckerberg who pushed him over the edge. That is, his story convinced Nwankwo that tech could be the fastest route from idea to global impact, and maybe even to a billion-naira dream.
By the time he got to Babcock University to study Computer Science, he had no laptop, no coding background, just ambition. He taught himself to code through YouTube and free online platforms, built out a GitHub portfolio, joined hackathons, and took on freelancing gigs, earning ₦60,000 from his very first one in 2022. Each tiny win cemented the belief that he could build real products.
BookClinic became his defining first shot. The platform connected users to nearby diagnostic centres, letting them book everything from X-rays to blood tests ahead of time. At its peak, BookClinic had partnered with about 80 health facilities across Lagos and operated in 18 locations. It attracted a $20,000 investment in 2023 and solid traction until founder mistakes and operational issues forced a pause. But Nwankwo says the product isn’t dead; a new version is in the works.
To find out how this early experiment opened the door to Veefin, a fintech building supply chain financing and digital lending infrastructure for banks and enterprises, read Delight’s latest for After Hours.
Somalia confirms hack after week of silence
Somalia’s Immigration and Citizenship Agency has finally admitted that hackers broke into the country’s electronic visa system, exposing sensitive data belonging to thousands of travellers, per Al Jazeera. The confirmation came yesterday, days after the US and UK issued warnings that the breach was real and ongoing.
At least 35,000 applicants may have had personal information leaked after “unidentified hackers” penetrated the platform, according to the US Embassy. Names, photos, birthdates, home addresses and other details have already been circulating on X, raising fears about how far the data has spread and who might be using it.
The incident has put a harsh spotlight on Somalia’s recently revamped e-visa system, which officials had touted as a key security tool. Just last week, Somalia’s defence minister publicly praised the platform for helping block the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters from entering the country. But behind the scenes, the government quietly shifted the service to a new domain without explaining why, fuelling criticism about a lack of transparency.
The breach is also reportedly feeding into broader political tension, especially with Somaliland. Authorities in the breakaway region slammed Mogadishu for leaving the compromised portal active, insisting Somalia’s e-visa is unsafe and warning that the data could end up with extremist groups. The standoff has already disrupted travel, with passengers heading to Somaliland being denied boarding because major airlines still require Somalia’s e-visa.
Meanwhile, Mogadishu and Somaliland are butting heads over airspace control. Somalia maintains full authority over the national Flight Information Region (FIR), while Somaliland says airlines must seek clearance from Hargeisa. Both sides have issued contradictory directives, some aircraft have reportedly been rerouted, and aviation officials are now trading accusations as tensions escalate, all while the fallout from the data breach continues.
In case you missed it
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Have a productive week!
