Acquisition for Kenyan fintech and SaaS teams that answer to a regulator.
One email every other Friday, readable in five minutes. Each issue has three parts: a dated platform or regulator change, a teardown of an ad or landing page, and one acquisition number worked through.
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Who it’s for
Heads of Growth, Heads of Marketing or Digital, and founders who still run marketing at Kenyan fintechs and Kenyan SaaS companies. It’s written for two kinds of reader.
Regulated Kenyan fintechs
Licensed by the CBK, CMA, IRA or SASRA: digital lenders, payment service providers, banks’ and microfinance banks’ digital teams, investment platforms, insurers and Saccos.
Kenyan SaaS
Software companies selling to Kenyan businesses, especially into financial services.
What each issue covers
1 · The change
One dated change from the CBK, CMA, IRA, SASRA or the ODPC first, then from Google or Meta as they apply in Kenya: who it affects, from when, and the source so you can check it yourself.
2 · The teardown
One ad or landing page pattern that a reviewer or regulator would flag, and the fix. No company is named.
3 · The number
One acquisition metric worked through with the arithmetic shown, such as CAC payback, ROAS or cost per lead, with a link to a free tool where one fits.
Signed by Elijah Oling Wanga. Reply to any issue and it reaches him directly. At most once a month, a one-line P.S. offers a 20-minute fit call. Nothing else is sold.
Sample · Issue 1 · 25 September 2026
What an issue looks like
1 · The change: UK verification now needs a contact on the firm’s own email domain
Google’s UK financial services verification page now says that “beginning from 26 September”, a contact with the same email domain as the FCA-registered firm must be on the Google Ads account before you apply for verification. The page gives no year. If only agency or personal addresses run your account, add someone on the firm’s domain before you apply or re-apply.
2 · The teardown: the rate in the headline, the example in the footer
“Rates from 4.9%” in the hero and the representative example three scrolls down in small print. Under the FCA’s CONC 3.5, a promotion that states a rate of interest must include a representative example, labelled as one and given no less prominence than the rate. The fix is to put it directly under the headline, at the same size.
3 · The number: 12 months or 9?
Same company, same quarter: CAC payback comes out at 12 months when it is margin-adjusted and lagged, and at 9 months when it isn’t. Check the method before you compare yourself with a benchmark.
Read issue 1 in full, with the sources and the arithmetic.
Past issues
The web version of each issue goes up a few days after the email.
- Issue 3 · 23 October 2026: CBK now wants the APR in every lender ad, the text that keeps coming after STOP, and what showing the APR does to payback
- Issue 2 · 9 October 2026: Google names South Africa’s ad code, the risk warning that only shows once, and the dearer lead that costs less
- Issue 1 · 25 September 2026: Google’s UK firm-domain contact rule, the APR headline problem, and the 9-month payback that was really 12
Free now, no email needed
The fintech ad compliance checklist has 28 checks across all six markets, each with a dated source. The Google Ads policy tracker dates every financial services verification change. The Ad Account Risk Scorecard scores your account out of 100 in about three minutes. If an account has already been flagged, the Acquisition Audit finds the cause and costs the fix.