LAGOS, Nigeria, July 15, 2026/APO Group/ –SeamlessHR (www.SeamlessHR.com), a leading African HR technology company, today announced its evolution into Seamless Technologies, a strategic transition driven by the company’s expansion into AI and financial services and its ambition to build a broader technology platform serving businesses and workers across Africa.

 

Having established itself as a market leader in HR technology, Seamless Technologies is extending its capabilities beyond workforce management to address one of the continent’s most significant challenges: access to financial services. Working with partners, the company is enabling businesses and their employees to access financial solutions directly within the flow of work, creating new opportunities for financial inclusion, operational efficiency, and business growth.

Under the new corporate structure, Seamless Technologies operates through three core verticals: SeamlessHR, its flagship workforce management platform; Breeze, an embedded financial service that gives businesses and workers access to Employee Self-Service, financial solutions including payroll financing, earned wage access, and lifestyle services; and SeamlessProcure, a procurement solution designed to streamline enterprise purchasing and vendor management.

As part of this evolution, Seamless Technologies is expanding its workforce technology portfolio with the launch of BWOP (Blue Collar Operations Platform), a solution built for organisations managing frontline and shift-based workforces. Together with SeamlessHR’s existing platform for office-based teams, BWOP enables the company to support the full spectrum of workforce operations, helping businesses digitise attendance, payroll, workforce records, communication, and employee self-service regardless of where work happens.

Supporting these products is Samira, the company’s artificial intelligence layer, designed to help organisations and employees automate tasks, access insights, and interact more intelligently with technology across the Seamless ecosystem.

Commenting on the transition, Dr Emmanuel Okeleji, CEO and Co-Founder of Seamless Technologies, said, “This evolution reflects a much bigger opportunity than HR technology alone. As we looked at the challenges facing businesses and workers across Africa, it became clear that access to finance sits at the centre of economic participation and productivity. Our expansion into financial services is a natural extension of our mission, and Seamless Technologies gives us the platform to solve these challenges at a much larger scale.”

Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder Deji Lana added, “The future belongs to platforms that connect people, work, and financial services in a seamless way. Through financial solutions, artificial intelligence, and our growing suite of products, we are building infrastructure that helps businesses operate more efficiently and enables workers to access more opportunities.”

Irfan Keshavjee, Chairman of the Advisory Board, said, “The transition to Seamless Technologies reflects the company’s maturity and ambition. Having built a leading position in HR technology, the business is now entering a much larger addressable market with the capabilities to create long-term value across multiple sectors.”

The transition provides a unified corporate identity designed to support product expansion and international market entry, while enabling individual product brands to maintain clear positioning and operational focus.

The move reflects the company’s long-term commitment to building technology infrastructure that supports productivity, access, and enables prosperity for working Africans.

LIMASSOL, Cyprus, July 15, 2026/APO Group/ –Africa’s growth potential was a recurring theme at iFX Expo International 2026, with brokers, payment service providers and fintech companies increasingly looking to the continent as a strategic expansion market. Businesses operating across multiple regions increasingly require solutions that can support local collections, cross-border payouts and settlements through a single platform.

This was a recurring theme at iFX Expo International 2026 in Cyprus, where brokers, payment service providers and fintech companies gathered to discuss the future of trading, payments and customer acquisition.

Africa remains a priority growth market

Through conversations with industry players including B2Broker, Zotapay, Virtual Pay, Equals, Verify Africa, and Exness, Africa emerged as one of the most discussed growth markets. Participants highlighted the increasing demand for unified infrastructure that can simplify payment operations across multiple African countries.

Speaking during the panel session, “Who Will Power the Future of Global Payments’’ Kora’s Chief Financial Officer, Ayodeji Osisami highlighted why local expertise is essential to building payment infrastructure for Africa.“You can’t serve a growing market by making assumptions. You have to be on the ground, understand what customers actually need, and build infrastructure that reflects the realities of each market.”

His remarks reinforced the importance of combining local market knowledge with scalable infrastructure to help global businesses expand confidently across the continent.

Building the infrastructure behind growth

At the event, Kora shared how businesses can access Pay-ins, Payouts and settlement across multiple African markets through a single integration. These conversations reflected a growing need for payment infrastructure that can support expansion without adding operational complexity.

As demand for cross-border financial services continues to grow, Kora remains focused on helping global businesses access African markets through reliable, connected payment infrastructure that enables seamless money movement across the continent.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 15, 2026/APO Group/ –Africa’s push to retain domestic value from its oil and gas resources has become a defining strategic priority. This agenda, which spans regional refining expansion, cross-border trade and local capital mobilization will drive the 8th APPO NOC-CEO Forum in Cape Town on October 12, held alongside African Energy Week (AEW) 2026.

 

Hosted by the South African National Petroleum Company (SANPC), the Forum brings together the chief executives of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization’s (APPO) member national oil companies (NOCs) to advance one primary goal: building a more integrated African energy industry. From financing billion-dollar projects and expanding refining capacity to strengthening regional gas markets and harmonizing petroleum regulations, the meeting has become one of the continent’s most influential executive platforms for turning shared priorities into coordinated action.

The Forum comes at a defining moment for APPO, where, since its establishment in 1987, the organization has largely served as a platform for policy coordination among Africa’s petroleum-producing nations. Under Secretary General Farid Ghezali, the organization is evolving into a commercially focused alliance that seeks to mobilize investment, strengthen regional infrastructure and position Africa as a more integrated energy market.

That shift has accelerated throughout 2026. APPO has advanced an African refining model, promoted cross-border energy corridors and strengthened cooperation between NOCs. Most significantly, the launch of the Africa Energy Bank marks a major step toward giving African energy projects access to financing sourced on the continent, reducing reliance on international lenders that have increasingly withdrawn support for oil and gas developments.

Against this backdrop, this year’s NOC-CEO Forum moves beyond dialogue towards identifying projects, strengthening partnerships and aligning the continent’s NOCs around practical initiatives that can be delivered over the coming year.

As such, a central theme of this year’s meeting is ensuring Africa captures more value from the resources it already produces.

Delegates will examine proposals for regional financing and petrochemical hubs capable of processing African crude closer to home, reducing dependence on imported fuels while creating new industrial opportunities. The discussions support APPO’s broader objective of replacing fragmented national markets with an integrated regional value chain that keeps investment, jobs and expertise within Africa.

The Forum will also advance plans for an African petroleum products market through a proposed products exchange platform, alongside efforts to harmonize fuel specifications and simplify cross-border trade. Together, these initiatives are designed to make it easier for African countries to trade energy with one another while strengthening supply security across the continent.

Natural gas will feature prominently throughout the program as executive explore regional LNG cooperation, long-term supply agreements, gas-to-power initiatives and projects that expand LPG access while reducing routine flaring. As governments look to improve electricity access and support industrial growth, gas continues to play a central role in APPO’s long-term energy strategy.

Financing will remain high on the agenda following the operational launch of the Africa Energy Bank, one of APPO’s flagship initiatives.

Forum discussions will focus on how the Bank, working alongside Afreximbank, can help accelerate upstream, midstream and downstream developments through African-backed financing structures. Delegates will also identify bankable projects for 2027 and examine commercial frameworks that reduce investment risk while supporting long-term infrastructure development.

Beyond financing, executives will review progress on existing cooperation agreements and identify new opportunities for joint investments, technical collaboration and shared infrastructure between member NOCs.

Meanwhile, reflecting APPO’s ambition to institutionalize cooperation, delegates will also explore digital platforms designed to connect suppliers, investors, researchers and training institutions across member countries. New tools covering supplier certification, procurement, research collaboration, financing access, training and business intelligence aim to create a more connected energy ecosystem while strengthening local content across Africa’s oil and gas value chain.

The program also includes discussions on legal harmonization, methane reduction, carbon capture, asset integrity and APPO’s revised Long-Term Strategy for Sustainable and Inclusive African Energy Sovereignty by 2050, ensuring that commercial growth is supported by stronger governance and common industry standards.

The meeting will conclude with the adoption of resolutions, a roadmap and key performance indicators for 2027, reinforcing the Forum’s role as an execution platform rather than simply a venue for discussion.

The momentum behind these efforts was evident during the previous APPO NOC-CEO Forum, held in Accra in September 2025. Hosted by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), the meeting focused on advancing regional cooperation while supporting the operationalization of the Africa Energy Bank. Executives also explored opportunities for greater cross-border infrastructure collaboration and visited the 40,000-barrel-per-day Sentuo Oil Refinery, highlighting the growing importance of domestic refining capacity and value addition as African countries seek to strengthen energy security and reduce reliance on imported petroleum products.

The lineup during this year’s meeting features an impressive roster of NOCs including: Nour Eddine Daoudi, CEO of Algeria’s Sonatrach, Sebastião Gaspar Martins, CEO and Chairman of Angola’s Sonangol, Issifou Moussa Yari, CEO and President of Benin’s SNH-Benin, Adolphe Moudiki, CEO of Cameroon’s SNH-Cameroon, Augustin Nkuba Kasanza, Managing Director of the DRC’s SONAHYDROC, Maixent Raoul Ominga, Director General of the Republic of Congo’s SNPC, Fatoumata Mbalou Sanogo, CEO of Ivory Coast’s Petroci, Salah EL-Din A/Kareem, CEO of Egypt’s EGPC and Bienvenido Nguema Envo, CEO of Equatorial Guinea’s GEPetrol.

Additional participants include: Marcellin Simba Ngabi, CEO of Gabon’s GOC, Kwame Ntow Amoah, CEO of Ghana’s GNPC, Masoud Suleman Mousa Mahmoud, CEO of Libya’s National Oil Corporation, Victoria Sibeya, Managing Director of Namibia’s Namcor, Colonel Ali Seibou Hassane, Director General of Niger’s Sonidep, Bashir Bayo Ojulari, Group CEO of Nigeria’s NNPC, Alioune Guèye, CEO of Senegal’s Petrosen, Godfrey Moagi, CEO of South Africa’s SANPC and Djalila Abdourahim, Director General of Chad’s SHT.

As Africa seeks to finance more of its own projects, process more of its own resources and build a truly integrated energy market, the APPO NOCs CEOs’ Forum has become one of the continent’s most consequential gatherings of energy leaders. This October’s meeting will help determine how those ambitions translate into investment, partnerships and projects that strengthen Africa’s energy future.  ​