Amazon, a Seattle-based company announced in June 2017 that Amazon Lending has surpassed USD 3 billion worth of loans and advances to small businesses since its launch in 2011. The company is targeting to expand its lending to small businesses in the US, the UK and Japan which will prove to be a direct threat to the big banks which have historically denominated these markets. We view Amazon Lending as interesting case study for the African market given the increasing successes of many e-commerce players and various supply chain financing institutions (more on this next month). Within the past year, […]
In May 2017, Vodacom announced it had agreed to buy from its parent company Vodafone, a 35% stake in Safaricom, a Nairobi-based mobile network operator company for USD 2.6 billion. The sale of such stake will enable Safaricom to look to new markets as it is now planning to expand its popular mobile-banking service M-Pesa into other African countries such as Nigeria and Angola. This move is expected to expose the company to growth opportunities outside its home country where it is under pressure from lawmakers and regulators with respect to its dominance in the market. M-Pesa has more than […]
Premier Credit, an MSE-lending business in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, has continued to expand and broaden its “Partnership Products” programmes, its high impact asset financing programmes. Premier Credit has financed 500 bio-gas digesters in Kenya since 2014. Each digester uses 2 kg of cow dung per day, approximately the product of two cows. Each digester produces three cubic metres of gas each day which is used by most households for cooking. The bi-product is a slurry that can be used as a fertiliser, especially for higher value crops such as vegetables. The bio-gas digesters are an Indian technology. The […]
