Financial Inclusion Africa reports each month on key themes and developments in terms of financial inclusion and financial sector innovation in Africa.
This October, Verdant is excited to host our exclusive Verdant-in-London event, running concurrently with the AFSIC conference from the 7th to the 9th of October. Building on the success of our inaugural 2023 event, Verdant-in-London provides a unique opportunity for investors and clients of Verdant to engage in focused one-on-one meetings designed to foster meaningful connections and drive impactful investments. Over three days, participants will have the opportunity to meet with our clients from microfinance banks, innovative credit businesses, fintechs and other businesses currently raising debt or equity through Verdant. These meetings are designed to be highly focused, ensuring that both investors […]
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The Prudential Authority (PA) is actively considering introducing additional tiers within South Africa’s commercial banking licensing framework. This initiative aims to lower entry barriers for smaller banks, promoting competition while safeguarding the stability of the financial system. Such a shift is essential not only for increasing competition but also for advancing financial inclusion and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are the backbone of South Africa’s economy. Historically, South Africa’s banking sector has been dominated by a handful of large institutions, with few new entrants since the early 2000s. However, there has been a recent resurgence in interest in […]
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Verdant has raised ZAR 40 million for Us Plus Limited (“UsPlus”) as a senior unsecured note through UsPlus’ JSE-listed social bond. The investment comes from an Africa-focused fund headquartered in Europe and was matched by an equal investment through local funding on the JSE making ZAR 80 million in total through the bond issuance. Furthermore, in parallel UsPlus drew down ZAR 60 million for a bilateral facility previously arranged by Verdant, making a total of ZAR 140 million of new funding this quarter (approx. USD 7 million). This substantial funding injection increases the total capital raised for the business by […]
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In May 2024, the Bank of Ghana (the “Central Bank”) granted Zeepay the approval for outbound money transfer to enable its cross-border payments from Ghana to key destinations, including Nigeria, Ivory Coast, the United Kingdom and the United States, in partnership with major global remittance players such as MoneyGram which is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Zeepay has a track record of facilitating both inbound and outbound transfers in countries such as Zambia, Barbados, and Ivory Coast. This milestone is creating a good opportunity for Zeepay’s mobile wallet users, such as Nigerian and Ivorian immigrants living in Ghana, to send money to […]
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The South African government has officially enacted its digital nomad visa regulations, a significant move geared towards enticing skilled remote workers. This landmark development signals a pivotal stride in the country’s efforts to leverage the potential of the burgeoning digital nomad community. The newly introduced digital nomad visa offers a unique opportunity for foreign professionals to experience an extended stay in South Africa, far beyond the typical duration of a tourist visa. Successful applicants will be able to work remotely for foreign companies while immersing themselves in the diverse and vibrant South African landscape. Under the new regulations, digital nomads […]
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Zeepay won five fintech awards at the 13th Ghana Information Technology and Telecoms Awards (GITTA) award ceremony, which was held at Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra on 7 June 2024, as recognition to Zeepay for its excellence in the fintech sector and its remarkable contribution to industry innovation. The five Fintech awards were Fintech Company of the Year, Emerging Mobile Money Provider of the Year, Fintech Personality of the Year, Fintech Team of the Year, and Best Use of AI in Fintech. These achievements reinforce Zeepay’s dedicated leadership and its commitment to enabling innovation in the fintech sector. GITTA is […]
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Verdant Capital hosted a Women in Finance Networking Breakfast coinciding with the Africa Venture Capital Association (AVCA) conference, held in Johannesburg for the first time in 20 years. This exclusive breakfast brought together women leaders, finance professionals, and aspiring entrepreneurs from across the continent and beyond. Held on the 23rd of April 2024, the networking breakfast drew an impressive array of attendees, including representatives from leading financial institutions, private equity firms, and venture capital funds. The networking breakfast provided a unique platform for women in finance to connect, share experiences, and discuss the challenges and opportunities they face in the industry. Verdant Capital’s initiative to host this event […]
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The Ministry of Finance has proposed amending section 21 of the Income Tax Act to exempt income derived from or by private equity (PE) or venture capital (VC) firms in Uganda, regulated by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), from income tax. If approved by the Parliament of Uganda, the proposed amendment will take effect on 1 July 2024. The Ministry of Finance has also proposed an amendment to the Stamp Duty Act to exempt payment of stamp duty on shares acquired by PE or VC capital firms regulated by the CMA. Stamp duty would also be exempted on the transfer of shares by PE or VC […]
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Zeepay, a leading African fintech company, has launched an innovative account deposit service in Nigeria in collaboration with MoneyGram. This service aims to enhance financial inclusion by allowing users to deposit money directly into their bank accounts through MoneyGram’s global network. The launch of this service marks a significant milestone in the African fintech landscape. It will provide a seamless and efficient way for Nigerians to receive remittances. This partnership leverages MoneyGram’s extensive network and Zeepay’s robust technology platform, promising to revolutionise the way money is transferred across borders in Africa. Zeepay’s strategic move to introduce the Account Deposit service […]
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Verdant Capital hosted its 5th Video Africa virtual investor conference from March 18th to 20th. Over the three days, more than 30 one-on-one meetings were held with 17 leading relevant investors from 13 countries and 10 of its selected clients with operations in 11 countries across Africa. Credit-only institutions, innovative credit businesses, technology-driven leasing businesses, insurtechs, circular economy businesses, and a productive asset subscription business were represented, and they are currently raising debt or equity through Verdant Capital. The first Video Africa was held in 2020, in the first weeks of the disruption caused by the pandemic, but it is […]
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Yabx Technologies (“Yabx”) has partnered with PayCliq to launch an AI-driven merchant cash advance service in Nigeria. Yabx is a fintech platform building an ecosystem that helps banks and financial institutions discover millions of business and individual customers at low acquisition costs. Yabx operates a B2B2C operating model, getting a Revenue Split from the Financial Service Providers through a Lending as a Service business model. Since its inception, Yabx has helped millions of businesses and individuals get discovered by banks and FIs in African markets. 125 million potential credit-worthy individuals and businesses have been unlocked using Yabx’s advanced AI algorithms. […]
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A significant milestone for Watu Credit is that the financial institution obtained Client Protection Certification from MFR for its operations in Kenya and Uganda. This certification, awarded after a thorough assessment process, validates Watu’s adherence to Client Protection Principles, including fair treatment, prevention of over-indebtedness, transparency, and responsible pricing. The certification process, which began in 2021 with the Social Rating assessment, involved a comprehensive review of Watu’s policies, procedures, and practices related to client protection. MFR conducted interviews with staff and clients, awarding Watu Kenya and Watu Uganda with Bronze-level certification in February 2024. This achievement is significant, as it […]
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Verdant Capital is pleased to announce that it has acted as financial advisor and arranger of a USD 8 million senior unsecured debt funding for US Plus Limited (“UsPlus”), a fast-growing specialist small- and medium-sized enterprise (“SME”) financing firm based in South Africa. The investor in the transaction is the United States International Development Finance Corporation (“DFC”), an agency of the United States Government and a top development finance institution (“DFI”) globally. DFC adds to the list of UsPlus’ notable global impact investors. The partnership with DFC comes due to UsPlus’ uniquely structured SME financing model, which sets it apart […]
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As Verdant Capital continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, it has become crucial to streamline and enhance our client experience. With the above in mind, we have implemented a new deals platform. Accessible via our website, www.verdant-cap.com. This private market technology platform will assist Verdant Capital in offering digital investment opportunities to its clients. The platform is configured around specific operational, commercial, and regulatory needs. To access the deal platform, our clients can log on via our website to view all relevant deals. Clients who are interested in using this platform will need to create a profile and sign in […]
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The past few years have seen the African fintech sector experience a remarkable surge in activity, with the number of tech start-ups in Africa tripling, nearly half of which were fintech ventures. This proliferation, often termed a “fintech eruption,” captured the attention of both local and international investors, prompting a comprehensive assessment of post-pandemic investor sentiment by Verdant Capital in December 2023. The survey assessed investor sentiment regarding the target companies within their mandates, the position of the pre-money valuations in 2023, risk mitigating factors implemented to curb value erosion in their portfolios, challenges in the African Fintech landscape, and overall […]
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Amongst the various ecosystems Asante is active in is the Mass Transit ecosystem, where the business has been active in a unique opportunity of financing bus companies. Its partner in this ecosystem is a technology company that has been providing innovative solutions for bus companies in Rwanda and Cameroon since 2015. The partner provides cashless solutions for bus companies to collect revenue, alleviating risks associated with cash payments. Bus transport is the leading means of transport in Rwanda and the business is managed and operated by formalised bus companies that are regulated by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority. At the back […]
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Pan-African investment bank and investment manager completed 18 transactions in 2023 and received accolades from the prestigious Africa Global Funds awards. The firm won Best Independent Advisory Firm – pan-Africa and Best Advisory Firm to Private Equity. In 2023, Verdant Capital further emphasised the strength of the pan-African franchise, completing five transactions in South Africa, two in other SADC countries, eight in East Africa and three in West Africa. Eleven of the transactions were for private equity investors or portfolio companies of private equity. Verdant Capital, a successful investment bank operating since 2013, in 2021 established an investment management division […]
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Yikri won the European Microfinance Award 2023 for its commitment to addressing the complex challenges of food security and nutrition in Burkina Faso. HRH Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg presented the European Microfinance Award 2023 to Yikri, a microfinance institution from Burkina Faso, at a ceremony held at the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Luxembourg on 16 November 2023. Yikri has won the €100 000 European Microfinance Award 2023 from the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs of Luxembourg. The other two finalists were Kenya’s Fortune Credit Ltd and Guatemala’s Fundación Génesis Empresarial. Yikri champions social microfinance for […]
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Verdant Capital is pleased to announce that it has facilitated and advised on the raising of EUR 2 million of debt funding for US Plus Limited (“UsPlus”), an innovative specialist SME financing firm based in South Africa. The investor in the transaction is Triodos Investment Management (“Triodos”), a leading global impact investment firm based in the Netherlands. The funding increases UsPlus’ capacity to finance SMEs in South Africa, thereby contributing to the country’s development agenda. The new funding further broadens the institutional funding base of UsPlus following the USD 10 million debt capital raise completed by Verdant Capital in 2022 […]
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Verdant Capital has announced dates for the 5th edition of Video Africa. Verdant Capital hosted its 4th Video Africa virtual investor conference from March 22nd to the 24th, 2023. Over the three days, more than 60 one-on-one meetings were held with leading relevant investors from 22 countries and 17 of its selected clients with operations in 13 countries across Africa. Represented were microfinance banks, credit-only institutions, innovative credit businesses, fintechs, technology-driven leasing businesses, insurtechs, circular economy businesses, and agri-businesses who are currently raising debt or equity through Verdant Capital. The first Video Africa was held in 2020 within the first weeks of […]
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Globally, macro-economically volatility has increased over the last four years, and along with country specific factors has led to volatility, stress, and in some cases sovereign default in specific countries in the continent. As specific markets recover, investors are offered the opportunity to re-engage, but how soon is too soon to reinvest after a default? Verdant Capital chaired a panel session at the European Microfinance Week (EMW), which took place in November 2023 in Luxembourg. The panellists were Felistas Coutinho, Managing Director at Tujijenge Tanzania Limited (a subsidiary of LOLC), Isabel Wanjohi, Group Treasurer at Platcorp Group Holdings, and Orli Arav, […]
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Verdant Capital is pleased to announce a USD2.5 million revolving credit facility for Enable Capital of South Africa. Enable Capital specialises in providing short-term funding solutions to SME subcontractors involved in the physical construction and deployment of local, regional, and national fibre network infrastructure across South Africa. Enable Capital has built up a successful track record since its inception in 2018 – it has provided financial support of more than ZAR 1.5 billion to more than 250 SMEs. In doing so, it has facilitated meaningful growth for businesses in South Africa’s SME sector, where access to finance remains a key inhibitor. Enable […]
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IMAP celebrates its 50th anniversary at its bi-annual partners meeting, in October 2023, held in Stockholm, Sweden. IMAP, with member firms present in more than 40 countries and with more than 500 M&A professionals, is the world’s largest M&A partnership. IMAP completes more than 250 M&A transactions a year in its different geographies, more than one deal a day. IMAP began in 1973 in the US, initially under the name NAMAC (National Association of Merger and Acquisition Consultants). In order to reach new markets and create opportunities for its clients, it started recruiting top M&A advisory firms outside the US, and […]
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Nyasha has joined Verdant Capital as an Associate. He is responsible for supporting various transactions of the team and nurturing client relationships. Nyasha has experience in audit and transactional advisory. Before joining Verdant Capital, Nyasha served as a Senior Consultant in the transactional advisory field across multiple sector industries and prior as an Audit Associate at Grant Thornton. In his role, Nyasha will execute a multifaceted set of responsibilities, including financial analysis, due diligence, risk assessment, and structuring financial solutions that align with the unique needs of private companies and projects. Nyasha will also play a vital role in managing and […]
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Verdant Capital hosted its first Verdant-in-London conference on the 9th to 11th of October 2023. Over the three days, we hosted more than 50 one-on-one meetings with specially selected clients from 13 countries across Africa. Represented were microfinance banks, innovative credit businesses and agri-businesses who are currently raising debt or equity through Verdant Capital. The next One-on-One investor meeting event is Video Africa, Verdant Capital, an on-line meeting event which is scheduled for the 18th-20th of March 2024. Verdant-in-London will be back from the 7th to the 9th of October 2024. Save the Date.
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Verdant Capital participated in the fintech panel session at the Africa Financial Services Investment Conference (AFSIC), which took place in October 2023 in London. Edmund Higenbottam, Managing Director, represented the firm on this panel, which played host to representatives of top players in the financial services space such as Ugonna Iheme, Director at Stears Advisory, Funmi Dele-Giwa, General Counsel at MFS Africa, and Elizabeth Rossiello, Founder & CEO at AZA Finance. The panel was moderated by Chris Wehbe, CEO at Lendable. The panel session was centred around fintech, particularly harnessing digitalisation in financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Addressing Edmund, […]
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The founders and shareholders of ExpressCredit Finance Group (ExpressCredit) have agreed to integrate ExpressCredit into Eleving Group’s global business portfolio. ExpressCredit is an inclusive lender operating in Sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Lesotho). The company was established in 2016, and its core business is microfinance and inclusive lending across all its markets of operation. The full range of products includes government payroll loans, payroll loans to private companies, salary advance loans, and open-market loans. Eleving Group is one of the largest fintech players founded in Latvia with a strong presence in 16 global markets across 3 continents. The company […]
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MAX expands operations into Cameroon and Ghana MAX is the leading vehicle subscription platform in Africa and was founded out of MIT Sloan in 2015 by Adetayo Bamiduro and Chinedu Azodoh. MAX solves some of the biggest pain points that taxi drivers and commercial transport operators have. MAX partners with OEMs, EV manufacturers, and fleet owners to provide vehicle financing and subscriptions to gig drivers and mobility entrepreneurs via termed contracts and service bundles. These entrepreneurs are referred to by MAX as “Champions”, and what MAX does is to provide them with electric and low-emission vehicles. In addition to that, […]
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Lipa Later Group (‘Lipa Later’) has announced a new partnership with Mastercard, to promote Buy Now, Pay Later Solutions in African Markets. Lipa Later is a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Financial Technology Company (FinTech). It operates as a payment option that allows customers to access credit conveniently whilst purchasing commodities, electronics, and household items through affordable monthly instalments. The partnership with Mastercard is expected to create opportunities for low-income individuals, merchants, and other SMEs by streamlining credit accessibility and minimising challenges in transacting. Lipa Later’s technology and products promote seamless shopping interaction and transaction processing for consumers and businesses. […]
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We’re currently expanding and looking for driven, positive people to join our award-winning organisation. At Verdant Capital, we believe in the 3 Rs of Recruitment; Recruit, Reward, and Retain. We have a range of openings at various levels of seniority. Established in 2013, Verdant Capital levers extensive experience and deep relationships in pan-African private capital markets. Its largest office is in Johannesburg, South Africa. Verdant Capital is the manager of the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund, a USD 100 million fund investing hybrid capital into inclusive financial institutions on a pan-African basis. Our investment banking business is active across private credit / financial inclusion, and […]
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Bridge Taxi Finance (“Bridge Taxi”), a Mokoro Holdings subsidiary, is a development company offering finance and support products to the minibus taxi industry in South Africa. This includes strategic investments and associations in various industries supporting the developmental finance chain, from taxi finance to logistics, credit solution services, supply of parts, and vehicle servicing. South Africa’s taxi industry plays a vital role in the country’s economy, accounting for over 70% of all public transport trips, and is the most widely used form of public transport in Africa. The EUR 10 million facility from Triodos Investment Managers is an introduction and […]
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Verdant Capital is pleased to announce a revolving credit facility for Patasente Uganda (“Patasente”), a digital trade services platform for farmers, warehouses, and factories. The facility will be used to support Patasente’s invoice discounting and supplier financing activities. “Patasente” is a local Swahili and Luganda word that means “Get Money”. Patasente was established by George Bakka and Gilbert Mutungi in 2016 and is headquartered in Kampala, Uganda. Patasente operates an e-procurement, payments and factoring platform for sellers and buyers to trade on favourable terms. Patasente enables suppliers (farmers and warehousing centres), being the “principal”, to sell their produce to large buyers, […]
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Mary-Beth has joined Verdant Capital as Legal and Compliance Officer. She is responsible for the legal, compliance and regulatory functions for the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund I and the Verdant Capital Group. Mary-Beth has experience in commercial law, banking and finance and Fintech. Prior to joining Verdant Capital Mary-Beth worked in commercial litigation and as group legal at MTN as they established their mobile money operations. In her role, Mary-Beth will oversee the legal competencies and compliance requirements and maintenance for the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund and the Verdant Capital Group. Mary-Beth has a Bachelor of Laws from the University […]
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Flow Global Limited (“Flow”), a Fintech company that provides ecosystem-agnostic digital growth capital solutions to small merchants in Uganda and Rwanda, was awarded the “FinTech for Good” award at the prestigious Fintech Awards London 2023. This is yet another recognition of its ability to drive impact in emerging markets at the same time as financial returns. The Fintech commenced operations in 2018 and is on a rapid drive to expand across Africa. Flow works with merchants offering mobile money and agency banking services (“agents”), who lack the digital working capital (e-money float) to meet ever-increasing customer demand. This is a […]
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By Edmund Higenbottam, Managing Director, Verdant Capital, manager of the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund Greater macro-economic volatility, as well as outright macro- economic headwinds, are likely to impact the asset allocations of both LPs and GPs for the balance of the decade. The early years of the 2020s, which were overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic and preceded armed conflict in Europe and sharp monetary policy changes in the US, saw a growth in the private credit asset class as a proportion of private capital in Africa, albeit from a low base. Will private credit continue to enjoy growth – both relative and absolute – in these […]
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Chris has joined Verdant Capital as Fund Accountant and Finance Manager. He is responsible for the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund I and the Verdant Capital Group. Chris is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant with CIMA (UK) in collaboration with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He has experience in both public and private enterprises within the financial services landscape in Zimbabwe. Prior to joining Verdant Capital, Chris worked in the Private Equity space with Takura Capital, investing in growing Zimbabwean and SADC businesses. As Fund Accountant, he managed over USD $75 Million worth of capital from Development Finance Institutions […]
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SPENN Rwanda in partnership with I&M Bank has recently launched the Cash-Out feature on the Spenn mobile App which would enable users to send funds to other local financial institutions. This partnership will enable all SPENN users to easily send money from their mobile devices to any bank in Rwanda, including Mobile Money. This new service is expected to revolutionise the way people make payments and send and receive instant cash payments in Rwanda, making it faster, more convenient, and more affordable than ever before. Moreover, the service is expected to be faster, more secure, while allowing users to easily interact […]
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Lidya Global Limited (“Lidya”) is a Nigeria-based Financial Technology Company (“FinTech”) traditionally focused on the provision of working capital to small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs’). The company now provides secure and flexible credit infrastructure so lenders can acquire customers, originate loans and collect repayments with confidence. Credit evaluation and scoring is done through the assessment of transaction data processed through an in-house proprietary algorithm. Lidya’s platform enables SMEs to create account profiles, build credit records, and access credit to grow their businesses. The leading fintech lender is incorporating credit enabling in its business model, allowing other inclusive financial institutions to […]
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Verdant Capital was ranked No 4 by deal flow in 2022 in the prestigious DealMakers Africa M&A leagues tables, for the pan-Africa (ex-South Africa) region overall. DealMakers is the pre-eminent league table agency for Africa. In the East Africa region league table (Corporate Finance deal flow), Verdant Capital finished first in 2022. This follows the firm’s joint-first-place ranking in 2021. Verdant Capital completed M&A and private capital transactions in each East, West and Southern Africa. Verdant Capital’s landmark transactions in completed in 2022 included: the follow-on equity raise for WIOCC, the pan-African data centre and digital infrastructure player, taking the […]
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Rafiq has joined Verdant Capital Limited as Vice President. Rafiq has 8 years of senior management and corporate finance experience across financial advisory, investment management, and microfinance. Rafiq began his career in investment banking with Lazard, a global financial services firm with offices across 26 countries, in Toronto, Canada, supporting clients across a broad range of industries on mergers & acquisitions, capital structure advisory, and restructuring. Rafiq previously worked as the CFO of Watu Credit Uganda, a non-deposit-taking asset finance company, as one of the first team members in Uganda, helping the Ugandan subsidiary grow exponentially over a 40-month period. […]
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Verdant Capital hosted its 4th Video Africa virtual investor conference on March 22nd to 24th. Over the three days, more than 60 one-on-one meetings were held with 27 leading relevant investors from 22 countries, and 17 of its selected clients with operations in 13 countries across Africa. Represented were microfinance banks, credit-only institutions, innovative credit businesses, technology-driven leasing businesses, insurtechs, circular economy businesses, and agri-businesses who are currently raising debt or equity through Verdant Capital. The first Video Africa was held in 2019, in the first weeks of the disruption caused by the pandemic, but it is now an annual event. […]
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Fin, formerly Finclusion, a leading African neobanking platform, has acquired Thuthukani Housing Finance as part of its expansion plans. The acquisition will enable the impact-orientated financial institution to offer clients a holistic ecosystem for their financial well-being. Thuthukani will be integrated into Fin’s South African portfolio and rebranded to Fin Home Loans. The synergies that come with the acquisition and integration of Thuthukani into Fin enable the company to offer its customers a high-impact portfolio, which includes SME finance and affordable housing products, whilst expanding the company’s distribution network. Fin Home Loans’ target market is middle to lower-income customers who […]
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Picking up right where we left off last year, Verdant Capital participated in the first panel session to open up the 2023 edition of the Africa Fintech Summit in Nairobi which took place in February. Edmund Higenbottam represented the firm on this panel which played host to representatives of top venture capital firms on the African continent such as: Anthony Kimani, Investment Associate at Enza Capital, Amee Parbhoo, Managing Partner at Accion Venture Lab, Yvonne Okafor, Investment Officer at Untapped Global. The panel was moderated by Samuel Salako, Partner at DLA Piper Africa. The panel session centered around Fintech & […]
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SPENN Technology A/S (“SPENN”) signed an agreement to enter a joint venture with the Nigerian National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (Naseni). Naseni is a key Nigerian governmental agency, and this arrangement will greatly accelerate the penetration of SPENN products and services in the largest African market – Nigeria. The joint venture, named Naseni SPENN, is building a full-fledged digital eco-system for disbursements. “This is a game-changer for us in Nigeria,” says Jens Glaso, CEO of SPENN. “We are thrilled by the opportunities this presents SPENN. Entry and distribution of SPENN services and products will be greatly accelerated in […]
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Flow Global (“Flow”), a Fintech company that provides unique digital growth capital solutions to small Retail Merchants in Uganda and Rwanda, has successfully raised bridge funding from two investors, a Development Finance Institution and a Commercial Impact Investor housed in Europe and Asia respectively. The first funding was secured in November 2022 while the most recent was closed in March 2023. This funding sets Flow Global on a path to reach global profitability by mid-2023 as it continues to expand and scale rapidly within and across markets. Flow Global is a trendsetter in terms of providing growth financing solutions in […]
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Adehyeman Savings and Loans Limited (“ASL”) the leading regulated Financial Institution in the Ghanaian Savings and Loans category in the market. The business has the legal and regulatory mandate to receive deposits and offer loans to businesses, groups and individuals. The business is headquartered in Accra with 9 branches and 35 micro-lending offices in Greater Accra, Eastern, Ashanti, and Central Regions of Ghana. The branches offer comprehensive financial services to individuals and micro and small enterprises while the micro-lending offices focus on group lending. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) Ghana Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) project in collaboration with the Ghana […]
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Yabx, a mass-market digital lending platform, has entered a partnership agreement with SC Ventures to expand access to financial services in Africa. SC Ventures is Standard Chartered’s innovation, fintech investment, and ventures arm. Yabx has created an ecosystem of payment providers, merchant aggregators, e-commerce players, online retailers, mobile network operators, and financial services providers to acquire and underwrite customers. This enables Yabx to scale exponentially since all products are digitally created, managed, and distributed by Yabx. Yabx is a company, to address a deep-rooted need for responsible consumer finance in Africa. Africa has over 700 million mobile wallets and about […]
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Verdant Capital’s Inclusive Financial Institutions (“IFIs”) Survey for FY2022 captures the effect of key macroeconomic conditions, including increased interest rates, currency volatility and inflation, and responses by IFIs. The survey also looks at how IFIs have responded to the ‘new normal’ brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. This report summarises the survey’s key takeaways. 83% of respondents indicated that they felt the impact of increased USD and domestic currency interest rates in 2022. 30% of respondents have restructured or renegotiated any of their borrowings with lenders. 17% of respondents reported that they had challenges repatriating foreign currency debt service payments. […]
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Finclusion Group Limited (“Fin”) has successfully undergone a brand unification, consolidating all its separate brands and products across Africa into one brand, and is now simply known as Fin. The company has taken this step to consolidate its footprint across Africa under one identity, thereby highlighting its ambition to be the leading international neobank across Sub-Saharan Africa. Fin has developed a neobanking platform product range, which focuses on creating value for employers, employees and consumers, whilst addressing the continent’s persistent credit gap. Its offerings include its Earned Wage Access product which gives employees access to earned and future wages through […]
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Yabx Technologies (“Yabx”) is a financial technology company which through its partnerships with banks and telecom operators, underwrites and services target segments available over customer networks. The company operates in Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Cote d’Ivoire, Columbia and Indonesia; and has recently expanded into Nigeria. The company plans to provide digital lending and other fintech products which service Nigeria’s new-to-credit segments and banks. Yabx partners with African banks to create large, scalable and profitable digital lending portfolios by leveraging its AI/ML driven fintech platform. Additionally, Yabx aims to help banks broaden their service offerings with new products such as BNPL […]
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Flow Global (“Flow”), a Fintech company that currently provides growth capital solutions to retail merchants in Uganda and Rwanda, was part of the top 50 Fintech companies identified by Inclusive Fintech 50 (IF50) as a rising and promising business that is helping to drive financial inclusion in the world. The typical Flow target customer are retail merchants who offer mobile money services. These are often in need of digital float liquidity to sustain and grow their business, and Flow provides this liquidity in the form of instant digital float advances. Flow is a trendsetter in terms of providing digital growth […]
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Zeepay, one of Africa’s leading and fast-growing fintech companies in Mobile Financial Services, was awarded the best company in Ghana at the 19th edition of the Ghana Club 100 Awards in Accra. The keynote address was delivered by Senior Presidential Advisor Yaw Osafo-Maafo, who reiterated the government’s commitment to supporting the growth of the private sector to promote the country’s development. Speaking at the event, Mr. Yoofi Grant, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority said, “With global trade and supply chain networks hindered and other measures rendering the norm of business operations obsolete, a paradigm shift […]
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Mobile money has been a leading technology in the digital transformation of the African financial economy and the move towards total financial inclusion. According to the GSMA, sub-Saharan Africa alone accounts for approximately 70% of the USD 1 trillion global mobile money market. At the heart of the mobile money, ecosystem is “cash in, cash out” agents or mobile money microenterprises who convert physical cash to digital money or vice versa for clients for the purposes of electronic bill payments, peer-to-peer payments, safekeeping, etc. Data from a recent assessment on the proliferation of mobile money financing by Microsave Consulting for The […]
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Private Equity Africa (PEA) has announced that the Local Financial Advisor of the Decade award has been won by Verdant Capital. Verdant Capital also won the Local Financial Advisor Award of 2022 for the second year running. In their 11th year, the PEA awards are the ultimate accolade of success in the African Private Equity industry. The PEA 2022 Awards received highly competitive self-entries and were complemented by editorial recommendations from the PEA team and industry data. The final winners were selected by an independent panel of 20 judges which included representation from CDC, DEG, EBRD, IFC, Mbuyu Capital Partners, Wimmer Family […]
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Senamile Mazubane has joined Verdant Capital as the Fund Accountant and Finance Manager, and is responsible for the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund I and the Verdant Capital Group. Senamile is a qualified Chartered Accountant from Sanlam Group, with technical expertise in group consolidated reporting, fund accounting for local and international funds, and funds of funds, non-listed asset class investment reporting and regulatory reporting for financial services. While at Sanlam, Senamile also gained experience in investment management reporting, internal auditing for the investment business and corporate tax. Before joining Verdant Capital, Senamile had a diversified career and gained a variety of experience with over […]
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The financial ecosystem in Africa is reaching an exciting new phase of development, especially in terms of the provision of financial services for the underbanked and unbanked. Inclusive financial institutions (IFIs) focusing on this segment of the market, and rather than traditional banks, continue to be at the vanguard of financial inclusion. For the IFI sector to continue expanding, it must attract additional capital, which in turn requires commercial success. The 2010s was a period of rapid evolution in important technologies, including mobile wallets, mobile payments, and means of data acquisition and aggregation. The middle and latter parts of the decade […]
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Tugende, the innovative fintech platform for MSME credit and asset-financing in East Africa, closed in Q2 pre-Series B equity funding from existing shareholders led by Partech and two new investors, including Women’s World Banking. The new investors add to the diversity of Tugende’s shareholding and complement the experience and skills that each contribute to Tugende’s growth. Along with a recent debt closing, the combined USD 10 million investment further strengthens Tugende’s balance sheet, allowing it to increase portfolio growth and address a significant credit demand amongst MSMEs, particularly after the strict lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Tugende continues to deliver this MSME […]
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Pezesha’s Pre-series A has been split between USD 6 million in equity and USD 5 million in debt. Verdant Capital’s participation is as a debt investor. Pezesha offers a Business-to-Business “B2B” digital lending infrastructure serving financially excluded MSMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa by offering them affordable working capital loans with the aim of bridging the MSME credit gap that still exists and is estimated to be approx.USD 320 billion. In the last 2 years, Pezesha has disbursed more than 100,000 loans to MSMEs in Kenya, Uganda, and Ghana. MSMEs are the backbone of livelihoods and economic growth in almost every country. […]
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Nomanini, a pioneering integrated digital fintech on a mission to improve the businesses of informal convenience retailers in Africa using innovative digital financial services, has secured bridging funding from its existing shareholders, of an aggregate amount of USD 2.2 million, including disbursed bridge investment, prepayment, and capital commitment. The bridging capital will be used for production capacity expansion and new product development. Verdant Capital is currently raising a USD 5 million Series A extension for Nomanini, the external portion of which is likely to be reduced commensurately with this bridge. The Company recently launched its StockNow product in Tanzania with […]
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Bridge Taxi Finance, a leading provider of affordable credit facilities to South African entrepreneurs in the minibus taxi industry is partnering with Old Mutual Limited, a pan-African investment, savings, insurance, and banking group, to provide Wi-Fi to the South African population that uses minibus taxis as a mode of transport. The partnership will enable Old Mutual to market its financial services products to the lower end of the market. This strategic partnership between Bridge Taxi Finance and Old Mutual will deliver value creation across the businesses, while also providing financial inclusion by delivering a full suite of financial services in […]
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Johannesburg, August 10, 2022: Verdant Capital has raised USD 10 million of debt funding for Zeepay. The medium-term debt raise, which forms part of its A.5 series, comes to support Zeepay in a bid to augment its fast-growing remittance to wallet business. The debt funding is intended to support the rapid growth of the business. In 2021, the company processed USD 1.8 billion of transactions volumes, cross-border and domestically. It is the vision of the Founder and Managing Director, of Zeepay, Andrew Takyi-Appiah I, to reach the milestone of USD 200 billion of annual transaction volumes in the long-term. […]
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The investment will help provide thousands of motorbike taxi (boda boda) drivers in Uganda with greater economic empowerment and asset ownership opportunities. Verdant Capital is pleased to announce that its Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund (the “Fund”) has made its first investment, in Watu Credit Uganda Limited (“Watu”). The investment of USD 7 million will help Watu expand its footprint of two-wheeler financing throughout the country. This represents an important milestone for Watu in Uganda, it’s second largest market after Kenya, where the business was first established in 2015. In addition, Watu is expected to benefit from initiatives supported by the Fund’s […]
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During 2021 only eight Vintage I funds in Africa reached first close in the year. Looking at Vintage I funds is an interesting reference point for the direction of change in the market overall. It is consistent with a theme we have seen in the market over the last few years – the growth in the number of specialist fund managers – while certain of the traditional large cap generalist pan-African players have battled raising capital for their new vintages, or in one or two cases have left the market altogether. We have seen demand from limited partners, for […]
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In an environment susceptible to external shocks, Trader Direct offers a way for informal retailers to grow their businesses with minimal risk. Even a small increase in monthly sales can have a huge impact on the lives of informal retailers and their families. Nomanini serves a high proportion of first-time digital finance users. 82% of these retailers are accessing a service like Trader Direct for the very first time and cannot easily find a good alternative. This indicates that Nomanini is providing a service that agents would struggle to find elsewhere as well as filling a pertinent gap in the […]
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In an environment susceptible to external shocks, Trader Direct offers a way for informal retailers to grow their businesses with minimal risk. Even a small increase in monthly sales can have a huge impact on the lives of informal retailers and their families. Nomanini serves a high proportion of first-time digital finance users. 82% of these retailers are accessing a service like Trader Direct for the very first time and cannot easily find a good alternative. This indicates that Nomanini is providing a service that agents would struggle to find elsewhere as well as filling a pertinent gap in the […]
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John joins Verdant Capital as Environmental & Social and Technical Assistance Facility Manager. He is an experienced environmental and social expert with technical expertise in environmental and social impact assessment and best international practices for project financing. His experience spans 7 years of managing environmental and social risks, conducting environmental impact assessments and management, and implementing land access and resettlement plans. He is experienced in the development of Environmental and Social Management Systems (“ESMS”) and Environmental and Social Management Plans (“ESMP”) for private sector clients. Before joining Verdant Capital, John worked in the oil and gas industry with Tullow Oil, […]
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Nomanini, a pioneering integrated digital fintech platform that connects merchants, distributors and service providers to overcome fragmentation, launches StockNow, a digital retailer solution, to bring affordable working capital to Africa’s informal retail markets. StockNow is an easy-to-use app that makes it possible for informal micro and small retailers to purchase stock digitally and conveniently. The app connects retailers to distributors of global FMCG brands relevant in the general trade market, enabling retailers to purchase goods using stock advances to keep their shelves stocked with essential goods, ensuring business continuity and support for last-mile consumers. Ten million informal retailers in Africa […]
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Verdant Capital hosted its third annual Video Africa virtual investor conference on March 2022. Over the three days, more than 105 one-on-one meetings were held with thirty-one leading relevant investors from eleven countries and sixteen of our specially selected clients with operations in thirteen countries across Africa, ranging from fintechs to inclusive financial institutions. Represented were microfinance banks, credit-only institutions, innovative credit businesses, technology-driven leasing businesses, payment companies and insurtechs who are currently raising debt or equity through Verdant Capital’s investment banking businesses. The first Video Africa was held in 2020 within the first weeks of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 […]
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UsPlus, a fast growing South African based specialist SME financing firm, has on the back of the further successful debt raise through its ZAR 1 billion Domestic Medium Term Note Programme as announced on SENS on 12 May 2022, successfully raised USD 10 million (approx. ZAR 162 million) in debt funding from a leading US Impact Investor. This recent facility will take UsPlus’ book of total receivables to USD 17 million (approx. ZAR 270 million), and broadens the range of blue chip institutional Funders. UsPlus was founded in 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa, with the mission of providing flexible working capital […]
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Finclusion Group Limited successfully consolidated its operations in Kenya and Tanzania, in a transaction that saw it increase its stake in TrustGro SCA Limited (“TrustGro”), Fikia Finance Limited (“Fikia”) and awamo Uganda Limited (“awamo”) to 100%. Further to the consolidation of TrustGro, Fikia and awamo, Finclusion is currently expanding its South African footprint by integrating Commonwealth Financial Services (Pty) Limited (“Medifin”) into the Group building out its BNPL presence materially. Medifin focuses on financing life changing loans to support medical procedures, predominantly originated through medical practitioners (channel partner model). In conjunction with the integration of TrustGro, Fikia, awamo and Medifin, Finclusion […]
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The Race for Payments in Africa: Where are we now and what’s next? Verdant Capital participated in an important panel discussion on the “race” for digital payments at the Africa Fintech Summit in Nairobi this past month. Imran Patel, Director at Verdant Capital, was joined by senior executives from Africa’s leading payments-focused fintechs: Amandine Lobelle, Head of Business at Paystack, Leon Kiptum, Kenya Country Director at Chipper Cash, Hilda Gathuya, Kenyan Country Manager at Global Accelerex, and Sike Bamisebi, Chief Business Officer at Cellulant. The panel was moderated by Tage Kene-Okafor of TechCrunch. The discussion covered key drivers of digital payments including […]
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Verdant Capital participated in an important panel discussion on the “race” for digital payments at the Africa Fintech Summit in Nairobi this past month. Imran Patel, Director at Verdant Capital, was joined by senior executives from Africa’s leading payments-focused fintechs: Amandine Lobelle, Head of Business at Paystack, Leon Kiptum, Kenya Country Director at Chipper Cash, Hilda Gathuya, Kenyan Country Manager at Global Accelerex, and Sike Bamisebi, Chief Business Officer at Cellulant. The panel was moderated by Tage Kene-Okafor of TechCrunch. The discussion covered key drivers of digital payments including competitive dynamics, cross-border expansion strategies, regulation, success in new markets, as well […]
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MFS Africa has completed the acquisition of Baxi taking its footprint into Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and perhaps its most dynamic fintech market. The transaction was first announced in November 2021 pending approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which has now been achieved. As well as providing a market entry into Nigeria for MFS Africa, the combination provides exciting synergies: Baxi simplifies and integrates online and offline payments for SMEs and merchants in Nigeria through its omni-channel distribution network; MFS Africa simplifies cross-border payments, integrating payments via one hub. Baxi’s growth has accelerated over the last 24 months achieving […]
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The event will be 1-on-1 video conferences; the “Meetings” will be 50-55 mins each. The deadline for scheduling is Friday 11th of March, 2022. We are pleased to be hosting 15 of our prestigious clients. The countries represented will be Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The types of companies will include but are not limited to, Insurance, Innovative credit, Insuretech, Fintech, MSE Bank, Renewable Energy, MFI, SME Lender, Leasing, BNPL, Mobile Financial Services, Credit only businesses, Invoice Discounting, Deposit-taking businesses and Media. Please send an email to video.africa@verdant-cap.com to secure a spot. For a more […]
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Volker has joined VC Germany Management GmbH as AIFM Managing Director. Volker has over 25 years of senior management and governance experience in development finance, SME-and microfinance, financial inclusion, project and change management. Volker currently acts as board director for several banks and non-bank financial institutions of the FINCA Impact Finance network, focusing on MSME business. Since 2019 he has also acted as Supervisory Board Member of FLOCERT GmbH in Germany, the global certifier for Fairtrade. Volker has worked as senior management in multiple positions including FINCA Impact Finance, Internationale Projekt Consult and ProCredit Bank Ukraine, he brings with him […]
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Planet42 has successfully raised USD 3.4 million in equity funding from leading South African investor, Naspers. Naspers invested USD 3.4 million through its Naspers Foundry business. This funding round is a precursor to a Series A capital raise in 2022. Planet42 provides alternative vehicle finance through its Rent-To-Buy model in South Africa. The company’s target clients are the underbanked South Africans who are otherwise unfairly ignored by the local banks. The company uses its proprietary scoring algorithms to vet potential clients. These algorithms cover a wider set of data points as compared to traditional scoring systems used by banks thus […]
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Verdant Capital is pleased to announce its third annual Video Africa virtual investor conference this coming March. Last year, Verdant Capital held its 2nd Video Africa event over three days in March, arranging more than 140 one-on-one meetings with over 45 leading relevant investors from 22 countries, and 18 of our selected clients with operations in 13 countries across Africa, ranging from fintechs to inclusive financial institutions. Represented were microfinance banks, credit-only institutions, innovative credit businesses, technology-driven leasing businesses, payment companies, and insurtechs raising debt or equity through Verdant Capital. The event responds to changing patterns of doing business following […]
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Verdant Capital’s 2021 survey peered through the lens of DFIs / MIVs to unpack the current investment landscape within the context of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic. The results point a positive investment outlook on the African Market. The key insights, as packaged in the summary statements that follow, reflect on – portfolio performance, adaptations by both MIVs and MFIs to the Covid-19 environment, and the future growth of the inclusive finance/ microfinance investment industry. 84% of participants reported that their microfinance/inclusive finance investments in Africa performed either at par or above par when compared to their other global investments. […]
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Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa January 14, 2022 Verdant Capital and KfW establish new fund to support MSME growth in Africa Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund initially has USD 36 million of committed capital Support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) through investment in financial institutions Better access to financing, creation of employment and income generation for MSME in Africa Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund (VCHF) has reached its first closing with committed capital of USD 36 million. The fund is targeting high developmental impact, including job creation and income generation through SMEs and micro-entrepreneurship. The fund will be investing hybrid […]
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Tugende, East Africa’s leading innovative MSME credit and asset-financing business, has closed an additional USD 16 million in debt financing. The overall funding round has been structured to include a subordinated debt tranche into the Ugandan subsidiary providing partial equity credit to be leveraged by senior lenders, as well as senior debt funding for its younger but rapidly growing Kenyan subsidiary. This latest round of debt funding was led by a leading European development finance institution (“DFI”), existing MSME-focused impact investors that increased their commitments to Tugende, and a decentralized credit platform backed by an iconic Silicon Valley-based venture capital […]
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Verdant Capital is pleased to have advised Briisk on an investment by DEG. DEG is a leading international development finance institution and a subsidiary of KfW, Germany’s development bank. Briisk is an insurtech company which enables insurance from a financial inclusion perspective across developing markets. The company is a SaaS platform developer and it uses these platforms to link insurers with its extensive distributor network to access end user customers on a mass scale. Briisk targets 2.9 billion underinsured individuals and small businesses in c.40 countries in Africa, India and Turkey. To date the company has transacted more than 1 […]
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The insurance sector in Africa is underpenetrated vs most of the world. Given complexity, accessibility and inflexibility, insurance is seen as being a product “that is only available to the rich”. Alpha Direct is Africa’s only risk carrying Insurtech focused on delivering simple, affordable and accessible insurance products for Africa’s growing consumer market, using cloud, big data and AI. The company has become the fifth largest short-term insurance underwriter in their home market in under five years, and is now focused on regional and continental expansion across Africa as well as entering the long-term insurance market. The company recently won […]
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President Hakainde Hichilema’s victory in the August Zambian presidential election is said to have caused the winds of change to begin blowing within the country. His win was largely favoured and celebrated by the Zambian youth who constituted over 50% of the electorate. Alongside vows to foster a better democracy and restore the country’s economy, the President and his government also announced the creation of three new ministries: the Ministry of Technology and Science, the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment and the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise Development. Zambia’s new Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise Development is […]
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In March 2020, and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Bank of Nigeria (the “CBN”) announced the need to recapitalise the microfinance banking sector. The CBN in consideration of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic activities extended its deadline to April 2021 for microfinance banks (“MFBs”) to comply with the outlined minimum capital requirements. In March 2019, the CBN had reviewed the minimum capital requirements for MFBs, with a view to ensuring continued operations of these banks in rural, unbanked and underbanked areas of the economy. National MFBs were expected to meet the minimum capital […]
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The shift towards disintermediated, de-centralised energy generation in Africa is moving at a fast pace. The failure of many African governments to meet the energy needs of their economies has forced individuals and businesses across the continent to seek alternate sources of power. To aggregate this demand, energy-as-a-service (EaaS) is becoming a scalable business model to entrepreneurs and companies that have been able to identify, implement, execute and derive its strategic benefits. OneWattSolar (Owatts) is a Nigeria-HQ, Africa focused “cleantech” decentralized EaaS aggregator, with a high end, transparent digital payment/blockchain platform. Owatts makes clean energy available to a wide spectrum […]
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Verdant Capital has successfully raised ZAR 150 million (approx. USD 10 million) in debt funding for Retail Capital. The first tranche of ZAR 50 million was drawn during the month of October and the balance of which will be drawn in 2022. Retail Capital is the first and largest Merchant Cash Advance provider in the South African SME market. The company was established ten years ago, and it has disbursed over ZAR 4.5 billion to more than 38 000 merchants since inception. It is on target to disburse ZAR 8 billion to small businesses by 2023. The business’ approach is […]
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The sale of Baxi is Verdant Capital’s fifth successful fintech transaction of the year, having advised Retail Capital, a leading tech-enabled SME-financier in South Africa on a USD 10 million capital raise; Zeepay, a leading pan-African digital remittance and mobile payments business on its USD 8 million Series-A and on its acquisition of Mangwee in Zambia; and Tugende, a leading tech-enabled SME-financier in East Africa on its USD 10 million Series-A. Verdant Capital’s transactions in the sector include landmark transactions across West, East and South Africa. In part because of its successful track-record in transactions in the fintech […]
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MFS Africa is acquiring Baxi to expand its network into Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and perhaps its most fintech dynamic market. Nigeria is also the largest remittance market in Africa representing one-third of intra-Africa remittance flows, and is home to the largest number of SMEs. Verdant Capital views the two businesses as highly complimentary: Baxi simplifies and integrates online and offline payments for SMEs and merchants in Nigeria through its omni-channel distribution network; MFS Africa simplifies cross-border payments, integrating payments via one hub. The transaction further extends Verdant Capital’s track-record of advising on transactions shaping the fintech sector in Africa. […]
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Flash International (“Flash”), the largest fintech and payments aggregator in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) and with operations in the Republic of Congo (“ROC”) and Cote d’Ivoire, has entered into a strategic partnership with the DRC subsidiary of FINCA Impact Finance, FINCA DRC (“FINCA”). This partnership leverages their respective platforms and provides greater access to a full suite of financial services to a significantly underbanked population. The World Bank estimates that only 26% of the DRCs population of approximately 90 million have access to financial services in spite of a 44% mobile phone penetration rate and 23% data penetration […]
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Alpha Direct has successfully commenced operations in Zambia, its first overseas expansion. Sales have been promising to date. Alpha Direct has become the fifth-largest short-term insurance underwriter in their home market, Botswana, in under five years. Over the next five years, Alpha Direct plans to expand its product offering to include long-term insurance products and expand its footprint to include South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and Nigeria. In addition, Alpha Direct plans to license its products and technology in 10 African countries outside those where it has a physical presence. Alpha Direct recently won The African Insurance Award for Innovation of […]
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Finclusion, a leading fintech in Southern and Eastern Africa, has launched Click2Pay, a buy now, pay later (“BNPL”) business model supporting SMEs and other businesses in South Africa. Traditional credit-card payment is a system that desperately needs innovation as more and more consumers are opting out of interest-heavy purchases. This is pushing South African businesses to find solutions to attract and retain customers, such as the BNPL model. As the pandemic continues to reshape customers’ payments expectations, as well as providing a further spur to e-commerce volumes overall, BNPL is expected to play a vital role, offering a flexible alternative […]
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Verdant Capital is pleased to announce a new investment advisory partnership with Invest in Visions GmbH (“IIV”) of Germany. Under the partnership Verdant Capital will, on a pan-African basis, originate, prepare for execution, and monitor investments for IIV’s funds investing in inclusive financial institutions (“IFIs”). These institutions include microfinance banks non-banking financial institutions, credit-only institutions, leasing businesses, innovative or technology-driven credit businesses, as well as commercial banks that credibly serve SMEs. The partnership with IIV is an important additional pool of capital for Verdant Capital’s Specialist Funds platform. Verdant Capital Specialist Fund’s principal aim is to alleviate the impediments to […]
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Verdant Capital has successfully completed its fourth major fintech transaction in the last 12 months. The debt and equity raise for leading challenger fintech, Zeepay, head-quartered in Ghana, follows a USD 20 million equity and debt capital raise for Tugende, an East African technology-enabled asset financing business, an USD 11 million debt capital raise for Retail Capital a technology-driven SME-lender in South Africa, and a USD 13 million equity and debt raise for Planet42 an innovative car subscription business in South Africa. Zeepay is a pioneer of digital remittances from the diaspora to mobile wallets, bank accounts and visa cards […]
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Zeepay, the leading African challenger fintech with operations in over 10 African countries, acquired a 51 percent stake in Mangwee Mobile Money Zambia. The stake was acquired through a new issuance of shares. Mangwee started operations in 2018, and was initially set up to operate as an alternative wallet targeting university students in Zambia with the aim of driving the cost of mobile money services downward. Zeepay is the leading African challenger fintech with active operations in over 10 African countries. The company specializes in paying remittances into mobile money wallets across Africa and is regulated by both the Bank […]
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Since launching its business in 2012, Tugende has consistently delivered strong growth while maintaining industry-leading portfolio quality. Tugende is a technology-driven innovative financial services company providing financing of productive assets and related services to its clients, including to family members. Although the business was originally focused on one product, motorcycle taxis, in one country, Uganda, the company launched its Kenyan operations 18 months ago and is successfully scaling its business in that market. To enhance its growth profile, Tugende conducts a diligent product development process that screens assets that have a latent demand for credit from MSMEs, runs a pilot […]
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Access to electricity across Africa is increasingly viewed as an impact “success story”. Testament to this claim: the number of people gaining access to electricity in Africa doubled from 9 million a year between 2000 and 2013 to 20 million people between 2014 and 2019, outpacing population growth. As a result, the number of people without access to electricity, which peaked at 610 million in 2013, declined progressively to around 580 million in 2019. Much of this recent dynamism comes from a small number of countries leading the progress, for example Kenya, Senegal, Rwanda, Ghana, and Ethiopia. However, the demonstration […]
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Tugende, a leading technology enabled MSME lender in East Africa, has closed an additional round of USD 3.6 million equity funding bringing the total amount raised in its Series A equity financing to USD 9.9 million. The latest round was led by Partech Africa, a member of the Partech Group and a leading global technology venture capital fund, and Enza Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund that focuses on partnering with founders and management teams that leverage technology in scaling their business while solving social issues. This round is complementary to the first round led by Mobility 54, the Africa-focused venture […]
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Verdant Capital hosted its second Video Africa virtual investor conference on March 2-4. Over the three days, more than 140 one-on-one meetings were held with 45 leading relevant investors from 22 countries, and 18 of our selected clients with operations in 13 countries across Africa, ranging from fintechs to inclusive financial institutions. Represented were microfinance banks, credit-only institutions, innovative credit businesses, technology-driven leasing businesses, payment companies and insurtechs who are currently raising debt or equity through Verdant Capital. The first Video Africa was held last year in the first weeks of the disruption caused by the pandemic. Given the success of the […]
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Verdant Capital won the award in a period of record deal volumes in Africa, with some USD 500 million of capital raising and M&A in the Fintech sector in 2020. Verdant Capital successfully completed transactions in the sector in 2020 with a total value of USD 40 million. The capital raises included businesses such as Tugende, a leading technology enabled MSME lender in East Africa, Retail Capital, South Africa’s Leading SME-credit tech player, and Planet42, the first mover in the South African socially-inclusive car-subscription market. The transactions were notable both for the commercial success of the businesses and their broad-based […]
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The Continent scored two firsts in the world of multi-lateral trade and finance in February. First, Nigerian-born Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was finally approved as Director General of the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) in Geneva, the first African to be named to the post (as well as the first female). Ms. Okonjo-Iweala had previously been a Vice President at the World Bank and served as Nigeria’s Finance Minister twice, from 2003-06 and 2011-15, and widely credited as bringing more transparency to Nigeria’s public finances as well as helping restructure the country’s debt position during her first term. Later in the month, Makhtar […]
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Verdant Capital is pleased to announce that two new members have joined the Investment Committee of the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund. Sari Nikka previously served as the CEO of Norsad Finance, the Development Finance Institution (“DFI”) for Southern Africa. Prior to working for Norsad, she held senior investment positions at Finnfund, the Finnish DFI. Ms Nikka has served on various Boards and Board Committees of companies and investment funds investing in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. She has a range of experience from project finance, senior debt instruments, mezzanine, and equity investments, as well as financing solutions for […]
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In February, Edmund Higenbottam discussed the increasingly broad opportunities for investors in Africa’s fintech sector with African Business. The podcast coincided with the UK-Africa Fintech Summit on February 3-4, 2021. The podcast discussed key recent developments driving investor interest, including the accelerated digitization of the financial services hierarchy, dating back to the launch of M-Pesa in Kenya in 2007. Payments is a natural starting point for digitization, given the lower risk and easier adoption as a platform. Even within payments, there has been layers of advancement; for example, Capricorn Digital of Nigeria has advanced its business model from payment of […]
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Africa is currently home to just under 500 Fintech firms¹, with South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya at the forefront of startup activity. So, what makes the continent so attractive? The African Fintech market is not only potentially very large, it is highly unpenetrated. Of the 1.1 billion people in sub-Sahara Africa, two-thirds of them are unbanked. Therefore, there is enormous scope for Fintechs to onboard these demographics into the financial sector. Furthermore, customers with access to credit is only a fraction of the proportion of the population with a bank account, so for innovative credit businesses, this is a huge […]
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Verdant Capital is pleased to announce its second annual Video Africa virtual investor conference this coming March. The event responds to continuing travel limitations globally due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the resultant impact on cross-border investment flows. Responding to the same challenges last year, Verdant Capital held its inaugural Video Africa event over three days last May, arranging more than 150 one-on-one meetings with over 50 leading investors for eight of our selected clients with operations in seven countries across Africa. This year’s event will be held from March 2nd to the 4th, and like last year will connect […]
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In the December 2020 issue of the Africa Global Funds magazine, Verdant Capital’s Edmund Higenbottam discussed the trends driving growth in the African fintech sector, including drivers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The well-documented themes for the success of African fintechs include the under-penetration of financial services, but also the nominally low income levels and low density of its populations. “Last-mile” fintech businesses such as Baxi in Nigeria, whereby tens of thousands of merchants and micro-entrepreneurs “double” as agents in Baxi’s national network as well as in its digital platform provide critical “last mile” solutions to these challenges. Furthermore, a well-trained and cost […]
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In the December 2020, Verdant Capital’s Patrick Ball was a panelist in a session focused on overcoming trade barriers for African SMEs at the MFW4A’s Annual General Assembly. The session focused on the initiatives to facilitate trade finance in Africa, as well as the enabling potential arising from the advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The discussions focused on the challenges and opportunities for African SMEs, notably new forms of finance building on supply chain links such as factoring that can increase their access to finance. Commenting on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on African trade […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Patrick Ball
Date: 11 December 2020
The negative economic repercussions of Covid-19 has not spared the capital structures of Inclusive Financial Institutions (“IFIs”) across Africa. Even top-quartile IFIs who have shown resiliency through Covid-19 with the benefit of sufficient capital and liquidity buffers will mostly either break-even or make losses in 2020, i.e. a one-time loss of retained earnings. There has been a global response to balance sheet strains faced by financial institutions in the form of deferred Basel III implementation. The Basel Committee’s Oversight body, the Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision endorsed in March a number of measures to provide banks […]
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Planet42 is an innovative car subscription company that helps individuals ignored by banks to get access to a personal vehicle. To date, Planet 42 has bought and delivered over 2 000 second-hand cars in South Africa, its primary market. The debt capital raise, which follows an equity capital raise of approx. USD 3 million earlier in the year will help the company get many more South African mobile. Its Rent-To-Buy product is a flexible alternative to traditional finance for individuals who do not have access to financing from banks as a result of stringent lending policies. Planet42 signs motor vehicle […]
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Verdant Capital’s 2020 IFI survey points to a year of transition ahead. Verdant Capital’s 2020 survey of Inclusive Financial Institutions points to a year of transition ahead, in terms of accessing capital markets, restructuring relationships with borrowers and changed business models. The survey also looks at steps taken by IFIs to weather the storm presented by Covid-19 and related economic dislocation and to support clients. The key takeaways are summarised in this report. 57% of respondents indicated that they expect to raise equity or equity-like capital in early 2021. This is consistent with Verdant Capital’s experience that IFI clients are […]
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Retail Capital is the leading and the first Merchant Cash Advance provider in the South African SME market. Retail Capital was incorporated in 2011 in Cape Town and has expanded geographically to Johannesburg and Durban; other cities are served by agents. In 2018, the company acquired First Asset Finance, an asset leasing business to bring an additional diversification into the credit book. The Asset Finance book which is mostly in the medical space has proved to be highly resistant during the covid-19 related lockdowns. The business is evolving into a broader technology- and channel-driven SME lender. As of March 2020, […]
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Nigeria now allows non-financial companies to apply for mobile banking licences — part of an effort via mobile banking aimed at transforming Africa’s biggest economy and unlocking the Continent’s largest unbanked population. According to Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) 2018 access survey estimates that 60 % of the 100 million adult population are “unbanked” or financially excluded. The move permits mobile telecoms providers, including larger operators like MTN and Airtel, to tap into the approximately 60 million adult Nigerians who do have and operate bank accounts, in a country where most transactions are still made using cash. In practice, […]
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In October 2020, Africa Banker arranged an ESG and Sustainable Finance Panel, “Building Back Better”. Verdant Capital’s Managing Director, Mr. Edmund Higenbottam highlighted how sustainability issues have filtered into the wider African continent and into capital markets. There has been considerable growth in sustainable finance over the last few years, essentially reaching a record high of about USD 415 billion dollars at the end of last year, said Nigel Beck, Head of Sustainable Finance at Standard Bank. We are starting to notice a diverse diversification of products into social bonds, sustainable bonds, green loans as well as a kind of […]
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Tugende has raised USD 10 million in debt and equity capital from a consortium of investors arranged by Verdant Capital. This capital raise includes a strategic equity investment by Mobility 54, the Africa-focused investment fund of Toyota Tsusho Corp. This adds further strength to Tugende’s balance sheet and pushes the total balance sheet size above USD 30 million. Additional details on the equity raise can be found here. Tugende’s business has rebounded robustly after the lockdowns imposed in Uganda to help stem the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Since the relaxation of the lockdowns, Tugende’s client payments have recovered to […]
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One of Africa’s leading mobile money and digital remittances services provider, Zeepay, extends Visa payment solutions and credentials to simplify cross border remittances. Zeepay, a fast-growing African fintech, on 28 September 2020 announced a partnership with Visa that will allow Africans in the diaspora to send money directly onto Visa debit and prepaid cards in Ghana. Through the partnership, Zeepay will integrate Visa’s real-time push payments solution Visa Direct, with INSTNTMNY its money transfer platform, to provide users of the Zeepay app a fast, convenient and secure way to receive money and remittances directly into their eligible card credentials. This […]
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The Continent’s new intra-continental free trade agreement provides significant opportunity for small businesses. Open borders, improved contracts, and better structured value chains are some of the key benefits to small businesses from the African Continental Free Trade Area (“AfCFTA”). The AfCFTA commits the majority of the participating countries to 90 percent tariff cuts within a five-year period. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (“UNECA”) estimates that the AfCFTA has the potential to boost intra-African trade by 52.3% by eliminating import duties and could double trade if non-tariff barriers (“NTBs”) are also reduced. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (“MSMEs”), informal […]
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Retail Capital, a leading and first Merchant Cash Advance provider in the South African SME market, has retained its national BB+ credit rating from the Global Credit Rating (“GCR”) agency. Despite a downgrade in the sovereign rating of the South African Economy, which was hit even harder by Covid-19, the local small and medium enterprise (SME) financier has retained its national BB+ credit rating while its international rating has dropped by one notch to B- in line with South Africa’s credit downgrade in March, both ratings have a stable outlook. Local and international investors remain confident to place more funding […]
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Ethiopia recently announced two measures that represent hopeful steps towards opening its financial system to greater investment and sophistication. These measures could have positive implications for financial inclusion in the country. First, the National Bank of Ethiopia’s (“NBE”) passing of a directive on 18 August to allowing local currency banks to borrow from foreign banks. Ethiopia is one of Africa’s largest countries: its population of 115 million ranks second and its GDP size of USD 105 billion ranking seventh. Annual GDP growth has been one of Africa’s most dynamic, averaging between 8-12% annually since 2010. Potentially fueling future growth is […]
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Like elsewhere in Africa, the worst-case health impacts of Covid-19 in the DR Congo have so far not materialized. But like elsewhere, the economic impacts of the crisis have been swift and widespread. In response, the government announced several economic stimulus programs and initiatives. To increase liquidity and funding, the Banque Centrale du Congo (“BCC”) granted a moratorium on the increase in commercial banks’ minimum capital requirements to USD 50 million until January 2022. The BCC also opened a long-term funding facility for banks for up to 24 months and relaxed requirements on the classification of non-performing loans (“NPLs”), while […]
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Many businesses have been facing new challenges as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic and related restrictions on ordinary life and commerce. While many businesses have enjoyed new opportunities, the net impact on most South African companies has been negative and many businesses have found themselves in financial distress. Verdant Capital is pleased to announce that it has partnered with the COBRA initiative – which stands for COVID Business Rescue Assistance. The COBRA initiative was established to provide assistance from professional advisors to South African businesses in need. Verdant Capital offers services both in respect of M&A advisory and restructuring […]
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Africa’s second-largest copper exporter was already burdened by high fiscal deficits and foreign debts heading into the crisis; Zambia’s budget balance was approx. a deficit of 17.6% of GDP with foreign exchange reserves representing import cover of only eleven weeks (Source: Fitch Solutions, June 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has further constrained the sovereign’s external liquidity. Reflecting this risk, both Fitch and Moody’s downgraded Zambia’s long-term issuer ratings in April (to CC and Ca, respectively), citing the increased likelihood of a default event. Since then, the country has hired Lazard’s as advisor on a formal ‘liability management’ mandate in negotiations with […]
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Late last year, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron jointly announced plans for the West African CFA Franc (the “XOF”) to be replaced by a new regional currency, the “Eco”, from mid-2020, reversing the decades-long currency regime in West Africa. The XOF is pegged to the EUR at 1 EUR to 655.957 CFA Francs. The critical tenant of the currency is that the French Treasury guarantees convertibility at this fixed-rate, in exchange for UEMOA-member countries depositing 50% of their respective reserves with the French Treasury. The timing of the December announcement was viewed with some surprise, […]
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Restricted access to finance for SMEs remains a roadblock to growth for economies worldwide. Africa remains no different, as SMEs typically provide 50% or more of the workforce in most countries, yet the SME “funding gap” perpetually totals in the billions of dollars. SMEs are continually frustrated by raising capital from traditional funding channels such as banks, who still typically require traditional (and expensive) information sources such as audited financial statements that few SMEs have a consistent need for or collateral security that few SMEs have access to. The current pandemic-induced economic crisis is accentuating this situation, with SME demand […]
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South Africa is poised to enter a phase of normality under “advanced” level 3 of the national lockdown as announced by the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa on the 17th of June 2020. South Africa entered level 3 on June 1, 2020. The “advanced” level 3 is a further relaxation of the lockdown. Most businesses will be returning to normal trading at this level. Following consultative discussions with scientists and industry leaders, the country is easing restrictions on certain business industries. Restrictions will be eased in South Africa for the following activities: Restaurants for ‘sit-down’ meals Personal care services, including […]
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Verdant Capital has signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on “Coordinating among MIVs in response to COVID-19”. Verdant Capital has long collaborated with other market participants on such initiatives and recognizes the constructive outcomes for the viability inclusive financial institution (IFIs) that can result from coordination and transparency at this critical juncture for the sector. Specific measures among lender groups to ease the burden on such institutions – such as consolidated reporting and liquidity forecasting templates and coordinated reconsideration of financial covenant thresholds and repayment schedules – can immediately alleviate liquidity pressures that provide these institutions with the ability to replicate […]
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Verdant Capital successfully held its inaugural Video Africa virtual investor conference on May 5-7. Over the three days, more than 150 one-on-one meetings were held with over 50 leading relevant investors and eight of our selected clients with operations in seven countries across Africa, ranging from microfinance banks to credit-only institutions and “fintechs”. For the foreseeable future, logistical challenges, especially around travel, will impact how cross-border investment flows are negotiated and diligenced. Video Africa plays an important role in stimulating access to finance for these types of institutions working within the parameters of the “new normal”. Such funding is important now […]
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A combination of factors in the current environment is challenging the economic sustainability of businesses and financial institutions large and small across Africa. Globally, the COVID-19 crisis and associated lockdowns had the effect of “calling the end of a long bull market” since the credit crisis in 2008. In most African markets, the bull market had already ended some years before the pandemic. In Africa, the pandemic has compounded the difficulties presented by weaker commodity prices, sovereign credit challenges, volatile exchanges rates and uncertain public policy regimes. From an investment perspective, there has been an increasingly “risk-off” investor approach to […]
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Ghana has been taking steps to sustain its economy amidst the coronavirus pandemic and related lock-downs and has started multiple initiatives. African countries, in general, have taken a hard knock from the impact of the pandemic and most countries remain in the early stages. The Ghanaian government’s quest to ease the pain of small businesses from the devastating consequences of the novel coronavirus is expected to reach at least 200,000 companies, as said by the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI). Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in March announced that as part of the Coronavirus Alleviation Program (CAP), an amount […]
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Zeepay Ghana has been awarded the Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) license to operate as a mobile financial services company by the Bank of Ghana, the regulator of banking and financial services. As a leading African fintech company with footprint in over 20 African markets, their service will now enable subscribers to utilise a complete set of mobile money services such as Cash In – Cash Out, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Transfers, Micro Insurance, Mortgage Remit, Airtime top up, Bill Payment and Pension Collections all in partnership with third parties such as Insurance Companies, Banks, and Pension Trustees amongst others extending its current […]
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Verdant Capital’s clients have proactively addressed the pandemic-induced economic crisis, on behalf of staff and clients, acting in cooperation with stakeholders. The companies are looking ahead at their strategic positioning for the period post crisis. Some examples of the steps taken are set out below. Tugende, the leading MSME asset finance firm in East Africa, quickly suspended all penalties for two months and allowed clients to retain their assets and keep working where possible under local lockdown rules. Tugende also provided a $6.50 unconditional cash transfer to its 23,000+ clients across Uganda and Kenya to help with household essentials during […]
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Following the successful closing of a 2.3-million-euro equity capital raise, Planet42 is seeking local and hard currency debt funding from specialist investors for the expansion of its second-hand vehicle long-term rental portfolio. Planet42 democratizes access to mobility by serving the financially excluded portion of the population – the people ignored by banks and other traditional financiers. The founding team of Planet42 has extensive experience in alternative vehicle finance and private equity in Africa. The CEO was previously a Country Manager in Mogo Finance while the CFO was the Head of African Investments for Trigon Capital. The customers of Planet42 are […]
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Verdant Capital’s clients continue to translate social intent into real-world impact. To ensure it properly supports their impact objectives – and meaningfully aligns and contributes to best practices – Verdant Capital is continually enhancing its industry collaboration: CERISE SPI4: The SPI4 social audit tool, overseen by French NGO CERISE, assists financial institutions to better evaluate their implementation of the Social Performance Task Force’s “Universal Standards for Social Performance Management”, including the Smart Campaign’s Client Protection Principles. The tool is now an industry standard. Verdant Capital participated in the SPI4 Steering Committee developing the new web-based tool, comprised of leading industry […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: MacDonald Gomo
Date: 24 March 2020
The Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”) has updated its Revised Supervisory and Regulatory Guidelines for Microfinance Banks (“MFBs”) in Nigeria to support their continued development and sustainability. A recent financial sector report published by the CBN concluded that the MFB sector is facing headwinds, including increased competition (for origination and deposits) and increasing credit risk. This is considered the case, especially for the smaller institutions. With these conclusions in mind, in early March the CBN announced a new minimum capital requirement for MFBs, while also splitting the categories of licences from three into four. The new minimum capital structure, states […]
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Given the increasing restrictions on travel in most countries, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some impact on cross-border flows of investment are inevitable. However, Verdant Capital is committed to maintaining its funding initiatives for its clients as pro-actively as possible. In fact, the work of specialist banks, microfinance banks, microfinance institutions, and fintechs in facilitating credit to the real economy in Africa is now more important than ever. Over the last five years, Verdant Capital has arranged for clients each year in early May one-one-one investors meetings in London. In 2020, May 5 to May 7, Verdant Capital is hosting […]
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Micro-, small- and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) remain the engines of Africa’s economies. They are the principal job creators, and thus critical sources of liquidity. Paradoxically, most entrepreneurs behind these ventures do not have land or real estate to use as collateral to access expansion capital such as bank loans. A 2006 World Bank study affirmed this observation, reporting that 50% of credit applications to banks were rejected because of “insufficient collateral.” Microfinance plays an integral role in fulfilling this liquidity gap in Africa, as elsewhere, but is often insufficient, keeping many MSMEs from realizing their potential. Furthermore, weak creditor rights, […]
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APA Insurance Ltd (“APA”) is a Kenyan insurance company, providing index-based agriculture insurance to cover yields and livestock, providing farmers with a safety net. Index-based insurance is an innovative approach to insurance whereby payments are linked to easily measured environmental conditions known as an “Index” (e.g. the level of rainfall, yields or vegetation levels as measured by satellite) directly connected to the loss of agricultural output. When the Index exceeds a particular threshold, farmers automatically receive compensation. In Kenya, over 75% of farmers are smallholders and are especially vulnerable to the economic impact of climate change. APA covers more than 350,000 families throughout Kenya […]
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The Nigerian payments space has the two biggest electronic payment rivals going toe-to-toe in the market. Visa and Mastercard, two of the largest companies in the world, each with market capitalisations of multiple hundred billions of dollars, have been making investments in Nigeria in an attempt to complement their core business and increase their exposure to Africa’s largest economy. Between the two companies they have made four investments in the payments sector in Nigeria, in-keeping with similar investments made in other large emerging markets operators. It is estimated that the number of cards issued in Nigeria by December 2019 […]
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The Ghanaian government intends on digitising its public services by 2020, with the aim of achieving 100% paperless and cashless transactions. The West African country also intends to tag every household electronically, including informal settlements, with the aim of eradicating corruption in the country’s public sector. This initiative comes at a very interesting time for the country, with meaningful adoption by the consumer services sector of digital services, which include mobile money, cashless payment solutions, digital remittances and cloud-based services amongst others. Using technology to enhance the transparency and accountability of administrative systems will, in turn, achieve in the short term […]
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Solutions 4 Africa (“S4A”), a member of the VinMart Group of Companies, is the leading provider of water infrastructure solutions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”). S4A’s two flagship projects shall impact close to 2 million people (roughly 2.5% of the country’s population) who will finally benefit from access to potable water as well as basic sanitation and hygiene facilities. The first project has been contracted by the state water utility, (REGIDESO), to provide potable water to approximately 500,000 residents of Kolwezi. The second, in a rural area close to Mbuji-Mayi, has been contracted by ENABEL (the Belgian Development Agency) […]
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The survey results support our assertion that growth in senior debt funding available for microfinance/inclusive finance institutions has positively contributed to their growth, but also to the rising leverage levels for the sector as a whole. The key takeaways from the survey: 70% of participants responded that the amount of MIV funding available is growing. This response was consistent for the last and next twelve months prospectively, as well as for funds available to invest globally and also those specifically allocated to Africa. 50% of respondents confirmed that capitalization ratios for their MFI investees are lower than 12-18 month ago […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 17 October 2019
In Cameroon, the opportunity in its mobile money sector is underpinned by high mobile penetration rates. More than 20 million Cameroonians out of an estimated population of 24 million are currently subscribing to the mobile phone and notwithstanding the reduction in subscriber numbers, significantly more Cameroonians have a mobile phone than a bank account! In Central Africa, Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) can only offer Mobile Money in partnership with banks. MMOs are doing what banks have not done i.e. serving informal or unbanked customers i.e. 85% of Cameroonians. Efforts remain to be made as so far only 5 out of 14 banks operating […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: MacDonald Gomo
Date: 16 October 2019
The JSE-listed financial services group Trustco Group Holdings reported a successful completion of its formal debt term-extension process with the lender group which reflects a positive outlook and provides clarity of funding for the business going forward. The successful term-extension unlocks potential new funding for Trustco Finance. Trustco Finance works in parallel with group company, Institution of Open Learning (IOL) an accredited tertiary learning institution leveraging technology to provide remote learning on a part-time basis. Trustco Finance is the largest part of the Trustco’s banking and finance segment. The other part of the segment is Trustco Bank which has an […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 16 October 2019
Tugende, founded in 2012 in Kampala is a leading technology-enabled productive asset financing company. It has achieved notable growth milestones including the financial and social aspects of the business. MicroFinanza completed a financial and social rating recently to support the capital raising programme arranged by Verdant Capital and was the first rating since inception. This rating produced impressive results for an institution of this size as indicated below. Its financial rating of BB Stable indicates that the institution has good risk management and financial performance. Other aspects include adequate governance and strong market position. Tugende has reached a critical scale […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 25 June 2019
Ethiopia expands access to its financial sector as it has approved Equity Group Holdings, Kenya’s biggest lender by market value to open a representative office in Addis Ababa. This will allow Equity Group to provide remittance services by partnering with an Ethiopian lender to target the three million Ethiopians living abroad. Equity Group’s entry into the country will give the lender access to a combined 500 million people in its six markets of operation including Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, Equity Group won’t be the first Kenyan bank to gain access into […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 25 June 2019
African Development Bank (AfDB) launched the African Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) in June which is designed to boost digital financial transactions as well as aiding safety in Africa. This facility is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Government of Luxembourg with the goal of financially including at least 320 million Africans, the majority being women by providing access to digital financial services. The fund aims to disburse a total of USD 400 M to up-scale digital financial services in rural and poverty-stricken areas by 2030. Focus will be […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 25 June 2019
Partnerships between financial institutions and technology firms allow financial institutions to utilise modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science to create advanced, technology driven products with a greater reach thus enhancing financial inclusion. Such institutions include Medina Islamic Finance, a digital microfinance platform focused on Africa, partnering with United Labs which is a data science venture studio based in New York that focuses on social impact enhancement in Africa. This partnership allows Medina to leverage machine learning and data science to improve its microfinance digital banking platform while United Lab’s AI technology and automated local language […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan ovender
Date: 7 June 2019
The importance of financially including underserved and low-income segments and expanding access to formal financial services has led to the development of advanced, technology driven products across developing countries. Digital Financial Services (DFS) recognises that although there are strong saving tendencies among adults in low-income countries, the usage of saving products at financial institutions is still low. Digital savings however, is still blossoming and identifying the market, product and policies is important as all these factors influence the usage of digital savings. The essential components of digital financial inclusion include: retail assets, digital transactional platforms, devices and additional […]
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La Regionale S.A. (“La Regionale”) and the National Social Security Fund of Cameroon (“CNPS”) have entered into partnership agreement. CNPS is the state agency in charge of social security. Social security started in Cameroon in 1946. The partnership agreement allows La Regionale, as part of its overall financial services activities, to remit social insurance and entitlement payments on behalf of CNPS. La Regionale is headquartered in Cameroon and it is one of the leading and profitable “2nd category” MFI – a licenced deposit-taking financial institution allowed to provide loans and advances to SMEs and individuals. La Regionale is planning to […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 7 June 2019
The majority of Africa depends heavily on cash for retail transactions and as a result, there has been an increase in innovative digital payment systems from leading technology companies such as Mastercard. Cash hinders growth in Africa as it places a strain on economies through production costs, crime, corruption and fraud prevention as well as the dangers associated with carrying cash. Small businesses are also negatively impacted due to the costs associated with accessing, securing, transporting and storing cash which further constrains growth if they don’t have the facilities to accept electronic payments. Mastercard believes that expanding access to […]
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Verdant Capital secures USD 6 million of debt funding for a leading Ugandan technology-driven leasing business. The funding is part of Verdant Capital’s overall funding programme for Tugende from international specialist investors for the expansion of Tugende’s productive asset finance portfolio, the bulk of which is leases for motorcycle taxis. This debt funding programme has strengthened Tugende’s diversification of its funding base and represents a strong platform for further successful raises from the international specialist market internationally. Part of the funding shall be drawn immediately, and part shall be drawn following the completion of the forthcoming equity round, on […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: MacDonald Gomo
Date: 25 April 2019
The Institute for Open Learning (IOL) has launched its fully-fledged Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme for skills training in various fields including bricklaying and plastering; plumbing and pipefitting. TVET was identified as an area where the most economic impact can be derived due to a high number of unskilled and unemployed Namibians. Exploiting synergies across the group, Trustco Bank intends to provide financing for Namibians who wish to start their own businesses in these fields, subject to the individuals enrolling for the programme. IOL is regulated by the Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA) and by the Ministry of Education […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Farai Masendeke
Date: 25 April 2019
La Regionale, a leading microfinance institution in Cameroon is the latest of a number of leading MFIs in the region to be planning to convert into a bank, and obtain a universal banking licence. Its current licence is as an MFI (2nd category) and it has been operating since 1993. The main objective of the conversion is to facilitate broader deposit products and therefore deposit mobilisation for the institution. The goal is principally to better serve the institution’s core customers with micro, SME and housing/education customers continuing to represent around 90% of the bank’s loan book, with larger SMEs […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 25 April 2019
Nigeria is currently formulating a new policy which will enable mobile network operators to transfer money, a measure targeted at softening the previous policy that protected the country’s commercial banks. The regulatory environment in Nigeria has generally been considered one of the least permissive in terms of mobile network operators participating in the financial services sector. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may have realised that a heavy reliance on financial institutions to extend their financial services to about 50 million adults out of total country population of about 200 million people would not achieve the best financially inclusive […]
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Verdant Capital advised OTI on the sale of MediSmart, a leading secure personal health informatics solution provider focused on the East African market. MediSmart provides a platform to manage information and claims submission for the medical sector by incorporating contactless smart card and biometric technologies. This enables efficient and secure access to medical information, transactions, claims and reporting. By enabling efficient patient identification and claims administration, MediSmart facilitates the broadest possible access to medical insurance. MediSmart is an example of the application of technology to further the goal of financial inclusion. OTI is listed on NASDAQ in New York. […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 24 January 2019
Tugende is Uganda’s leading provider of productive asset financing headquartered in Kampala, Uganda and has nine branches broadly covering the busiest towns and districts in the Central, Southern and Eastern Regions of Uganda. Tugende means “Let’s go”. Tugende’s products include lease to own financing packages for motorcycle taxis (locally known as “boda bodas”) and automobile taxis, which includes training, insurance and safety equipment. Tugende’s current target market includes the more than 1 million motorcycle taxi drivers across East Africa, and the USD 37 billion credit gap for SMEs in the region. Tugende is growing through a combination of domestic […]
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Verdant Capital acted as sole advisor and manager to Ferme Agro-Pastorale Jambo SARL (Ferme Jambo), the leading integrated maize flour producer in the DRC, in raising USD 7 million in debt financing. Verdant Capital’s expertise, combined with Ferme Jambo’s strong leadership, convinced investors of the management’s integrity and vision along with the viability of the business plan. Ferme Jambo was founded in 2014 by two leading DRC-based businessmen, who have built a reputed and diversified business group over the past 15 years. The company’s objective is to reduce the dependency on imported flour in the Greater Katanga region, where imports […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ara Barikyan
Date: 24 January 2019
The Institute of International Finance recently released a report on the size of “Big Tech China”, written by Dennis Ferenzy, which provides an insight into the scale, scope and ambition of Big Tech China. The world is witnessing a rise of an industry that is expected to control every aspect of our lives. Through technologies such as deep learning and AI, together with collaboration with the Chinese state for mass data collection of its citizens. Chinese Technology companies are able to make customized user experiences and predict future consumer behaviour. Two companies that are ruling the stage with this […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 17 January 2019
Interoperable payments are now possible across Africa as the continent’s largest mobile operators and mobile money providers, Orange Group and MTN group announced their joint venture, Mowali. Interoperability levels between digital financial service providers are now beyond the levels of which MTN’s and Orange’s operations and markets could individually achieve, enabling the support of 338 million mobile money accounts in Africa while connecting financial service providers and customers in one inclusive network. This has resulted in the ability to immediately transfer money between mobile money accounts at a low cost. Greater usage of mobile money by clients is the […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: MacDonald Gomo
Date: 17 January 2019
The 9th European Microfinance Award in 2018 titled “Financial Inclusion through Technology” intended to highlight how technology assists financial services providers in reaching unbanked and under-banked segments and essentially financially including those segments which do not have access to formal financial services. As published in September 2018, Advans Côte d’Ivoire, ESAF Small Finance Bank and KMF were selected as three finalists. During European Microfinance Week in Luxembourg – the winner of the award was announced. KMF, a microfinance institution in Kazakhstan, one of the most remote regions of the World, won the award. To reach clients and improve efficiencies […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 17 January 2019
Positive developments can be achieved through building a more financially inclusive financial sector which serves a vital purpose, offering savings, credit, and payment products allowing for broad access to financial services to benefit poor people and other disadvantaged groups. According to the Global Findex Database Report (2017) published earlier this year, the number of adults who have an account with a formal financial institution increased by 18% since 2011. However, a wide variation remains between gender, high and low-income economies, age differences and level of education. Globally, about 1.7 billion adults (56% women) remain unbanked. Developing economies account for […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa, Media, Opinion
Author: Edmund Higenbottam
Publication: MicroCapital Monitor, October 2018
Date: 17 November 2018
In recent years, the Inclusive Financial Institution sector has grown significantly in Africa and elsewhere, driven in part by growth in the global specialist investor base supporting the sector, and in part due to the growth of local debt markets. In Africa, this growth has stretched the equity capital bases of many institutions – and of the sector as a whole – due to the narrow range of equity and equity-like capital sources and instruments available to these institutions. One solution to this problem is hybrid capital, an intermediate capital type that sits between debt and equity while meeting the regulatory capital requirements of financial institutions. In Africa, […]
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Verdant Capital has raised approx. USD 10 million for Premier Credit from leading international specialist investors. Premier Credit is a microfinance arm of Platcorp Holdings and its loan products include MSME loans, loans to schools (education portfolio) and asset financing in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The funding will be used for the expansion of its loan book in Kenya and Uganda. A total of five investors have joined this funding round. This funding brings diversification benefits after the group has been historically supported mainly by shareholders, high net worth individuals (HNIs) and other local investors. Premier Credit was […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Kamil Prawlall
Date: 28 September 2018
Fintech continues to alter the way many services operate in the process tilting scales in favour of consumers. According to forecasts, Africa’s fintech space will be in the value of approx. USD 3 Bn by 2020. In Botswana, government-owned Botswana Innovation Hub has launched a USD 1.2 M innovation fund targeting fields such as information technology and business services. Africa has unceasingly faced technological and economic problems that Brastorne has been proactive in helping solve. Internet penetration of the African population is only 35.2%, which is significantly lower when compared to the rest of the world’s penetration of 58.4%. […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Edwin Siebani
Date: 28 September 2018
Africa’s fragmented markets and lack of legacy foreign exchange trading infrastructure means that the continent has become a melting pot of fintech activity and innovation. The emergence of fintech in Ghana has sparked a tremendous increase in domestic and cross-border payments. The mobile money industry within Ghana has witnessed stiff competition between Telcos, such as MTN Ghana and licensed service providers in the digital sector. One of the most prominent service providers is Zeepay, which facilitates mobile money payments, domestic transfers and international remittances. Despite the upsurge in the number of banks in Ghana, approx. 70% of the population […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 28 September 2018
The European Microfinance Award 2018 on “Financial Inclusion through Technology” has selected Advans Côte d’Ivoire, ESAF Small Finance Bank and KMF as the three finalists for this award. This award recognises how technology assists financial services providers in reaching unbanked and under-banked segments and essentially financially including those segments which did not have access to formal financial services. The benefits of financial technology include lower costs, provides a platform to exchange information and communication, faster and more reliable financial services and various other methods in which to innovatively provide financial services efficiently and effectively. These three finalists have been […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 31 July 2018
Naspers, one of the largest technology investors in the world and the largest company in Africa according to market value, has plans to bring its financial services to all of its PayU markets including Africa. South Africa will be the first country to benefit from Naspers’ lending services followed by other African markets. “Naspers has intention to support its lending activities using its own funds”, said the CEO, Bob van Dijk. This will be mainly initiated in countries where Naspers in confident about their customers’ capacity to repay their loans. Naspers will establish partnerships with several technology companies including […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Sadheshan Govender
Date: 31 July 2018
In 2018, Letshego has embarked on major additional loan portfolio improvements in Uganda and Botswana as part of its “financial inclusion or improving lives” agenda. In Uganda, Letshego has launched a ground-breaking partnership with D.Light Solar to provide home solar power financing to low income earners, the first of its kind in Uganda. D.Light Solar is a leading manufacturer and distributor of solar powered solutions mainly for homes and families with no access to reliable electricity. Access to electricity remains a challenge in Africa with half a billion people currently living without electricity and with many homes left in […]
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Finca Impact Finance’s (“FIF”) mission is to bring the financially “excluded” around the world into the financial system. As such, digital solutions have become increasingly important in order to achieve this objective. This is particularly important in FIF’s African markets (Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and the DRC) where income levels and transaction sizes are lower, and physical distances and poor infrastructure can make transactions more expensive. FIF’s other markets – such as those in markets Latin America, the Caribbean, Eurasia, the Middle East, and South Asia- are generally more developing. In 2017, FIF successfully launched its HaloYako mobile […]
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Verdant Capital has raised approx. BWP 256 million (approx. USD 25.6 million) for Letshego from leading European specialist and impact investors.
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In August 2014, the Nigerian Government launched a pilot programme to issue Nigerian National Electronic Identity (“e-ID”) cards to 70 million Nigerians who are 16 years old and above by the end of 2019. The e-ID card combines payment capability and breaks down most significant barriers to financial inclusion including proof of identity, while simultaneously enabling Nigerian to access state-of-the-art financial services. It will also allow users (including the unbanked population) to make payments for goods and services in any part of the world, deposit funds and withdraw cash at ATMs. The National Identity Management Commission (“NIMC”) is working in […]
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The Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) is a country with significant resources and the country has the true potential to be one of the richest countries on the African continent and a significant driver of Africa’s growth. Despite its vast expanse, the country remains virtually unconnected due to the lack of basic infrastructure, agricultural production and notable industrial base. The lack of depth in the domestic financial sector is perhaps the most important headwind to sustainable growth. The DRC is one of the larger economies in Africa that lacks a domestic stock exchange. More strikingly, aggregate domestic bank assets [of […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 9 May 2018
Verdant Capital has raised approx. ZAR 95 million (USD 7.5 million) equivalent in local currency debt financing for Retail Capital from the leading international specialist investors for the expansion of its loan book. This is the first of Retail Capital’s fund-raising programme with international investors. The company has been receiving funding support from specialist local investors, however the transaction arranged by Verdant Capital diversifies Retail Capital’s funding base and represents a foothold in the international specialist funding market. Retail Capital was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Cape Town with other offices in Johannesburg and Durban. It is the […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa, Media, Opinion
Author: Ed Higenbottam
Publication: MicroCapital Monitor, May 2018
Date: 5 May 2018
In 2009, India launched the world’s largest IT project, i.e. the Aadhaar biometric identification program. The program is intended to drive social and financial inclusion, reform public-sector service delivery, improve fiscal management, increase convenience, etc. An Aadhaar number can be viewed as a permanent financial address. Considering that almost the entire Indian population is now enrolled in Aadhaar – the underprivileged as well as the rich – it also can be viewed as a tool for justice and equality. The program consists of the following: A demographic database with a 12-digit number for each person, secured by fingerprint and retina […]
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Strong underlying fundamentals and high valuations make the cybersecurity sector extremely attractive...
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 4 April 2018
A core objective of Nigeria’s payments companies is to bring small businesses in the country’s informal economy onto the online platforms...
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 4 April 2018
Letshego announced its preliminary results for the financial year 2017 on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE). Verdant Capital is currently arranging a major private debt programme for Letshego...
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Edmund Higenbottam
Date: 26 February 2018
The number of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (“B-BBEE”) transactions has increased significantly since the promulgation of the B-BBEE Act in 2003 and its corresponding charters; a step further than the BEE, with the purpose of being more inclusive...
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Rainer Fitz
Date: 26 February 2018
At the third EIB Southern Africa SME & Microfinance Academy, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the bank of the European Union, honoured three leading inclusive financial institutions in Southern Africa for innovative solutions and social impact in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise finance...
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Mohamed Khan
Date: 2 February 2018
GHL Bank (formerly Ghana Home Loans), the largest mortgage finance institution in Ghana, has launched two key initiatives to broaden their social impact in Ghana...
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Mohamed Khan
Date: 2 February 2018
Botswana has taken significant steps towards diversifying its economy. These include diversification away from the historically diamond-heavy economy, reducing unemployment and the empowerment of women. Female entrepreneurs are on the rise in Botswana. The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (which tracks the percentage of female business ownership in 54 countries), ranked Botswana second in the world in 2017, with female business ownership at 34.6% (a close second to Uganda at 34.8% – Saudi Arabia scored the lowest at 1.5%). Not only are Botswanan women stepping out of the shadow of their male counterparts in terms of business ownership, but they […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Mohamed Khan
Date: 2 February 2018
BankservAfrica has recognised the need for significant improvement of South Africa’s payments infrastructure. The focus of BankservAfrica for 2018 will be keeping South Africa’s payments infrastructure in-line with the advancing of a digital economy and to promote financial inclusion. According to Emile Burger, the COO of BankservAfrica, “Design-phase talks were being held with bank executives and the Payments Association of South Africa on what the future payments architecture should look like.” The consensus is that it should be affordable and easily accessible if it is to promote financial inclusion. An open-source software released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation […]
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Download Presentations: Responsible Investor Challenge (PDF, 221KB) Buyer Selection in a Responsible Equity Exit (PDF, 215KB) Evolution of the Indian Microfinance Sector (PDF, 257KB)
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This article is a synopsis of some of the key take-away points from the “Scaling Up African MFIs” panel discussion at European Microfinance Week in Luxembourg on 1 December 2017. The panelists were Soulemane Djobo (Senior Projects, ADA), Gregoire Danel-Fedou (Group COO, Advans Group), Alexandre Nayme (Head of Social Business and Microfinance Africa, BNP Paribas), Eric Campos (CEO, Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation) and Edmund Higenbottam (MD, Verdant Capital). Edmund Higenbottam discussed the importance of the availability of funding for microfinance institutions (“MFIs”) in Africa is largely dependent on the size of the institution. Most investors prefer larger investment sizes and […]
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This article is a synopsis of some of the key take-away points from “The Future of Financial Services” panel discussion at SuperReturn Africa in Cape Town on 5 December 2017 with the following panelists: Chijioke Dozie (CEO, OneFi) and Edmund Higenbottam (MD, Verdant Capital). OneFi is an innovative consumer lender in Nigeria, using technology to underwrite, disburse and collect loans. Edmund and Chijioke expect technology to be the driving force that will shape the future of the financial services industry in Africa. Technology is expected to play a significant role on a strategic level, as well as on an operational […]
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Societe Generale (“Soc Gen”), a multinational French bank (in partnership with Tagpay, a French fintech firm), has launched a new mobile banking app called YUP. YUP has thus far been introduced in Ivory Coast and Senegal, and provides an alternative to traditional banking. The app offers transactional and other financial services, even to those who do not have a bank account. The functionalities of “banking” with YUP include basic transactional services like deposits, withdrawals and money transfer among others. The introduction of more advanced services through the app, like credit advances, is in the pipeline. YUP is already being used by […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Edmund Higenbottam
Date: 13 December 2017
Much has been written about Basel III and IFRS 9 and their impact on bank lending. It is important to remember that, especially outside South Africa, banks are large lenders to non-bank financial institutions and other financial intermediaries. We estimate that around one-quarter of borrowings by non-bank lenders in Africa, outside South Africa, is sourced from banks. Basel III, and especially higher minimum common equity tier 1 ratios mean the banks have to increase their lending rates (or cut staff costs) to stand still in terms of their return on equity. Equally, banks must either raise equity or reduce their […]
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Verdant Capital’s successful sale of afb Ghana on behalf of JUMO World has been awarded the accolade, best financial services transaction in Africa 2017. Full financial details were not disclosed but at the time of sale, afb Ghana had total assets of GHS 97 million (approx. USD 23 million). JUMO World is a leading Africa fintech business, which elected to sell the afb Ghana when it ceased to be core to its operations. The transaction was awarded the accolade in recognition of the breadth of interested generated in the transaction, including from local financial institutions, regional pan-African institutions and private […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Mohamed Khan
Date: 13 December 2017
In September 2015, Discovery announced its intention to launch a bank. Fast-forward two years, and Discovery has obtained a banking licence. Discovery has a track record of achieving success by taking an unconventional approach and differentiating themselves from competition. One can be reasonably certain that this will be the case for Discovery Bank as well. What we know for certain is that the bank will be branchless and target the higher end of the market, i.e. LSM 8 and above. In a similar way to how Discovery Health incentivises people to live a healthy life, it is expected that Discovery […]
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In September 2017, Futuregrowth Asset Management (a specialist investment company within the Old Mutual Investment Group) acquired through its Development Equity Fund, a minority shareholding (39.4%) in Retail Capital after receiving approval from the Competition Commission of South Africa. Development Equity Fund has a long and successful track-record of making investments with a social and developmental focus. Having previously invested in the education and healthcare sectors among others, the fund hopes to increase their exposure to SMEs. Retail Capital was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Cape Town with other offices in Johannesburg and Durban. Retail Capital funds SMEs […]
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A study by the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2012 revealed significant literacy gaps among Nigerian adults, and a positive correlation between literacy and income. The literacy gaps are more prominent with regards to money management, and a significant portion of the population do not possess the skills to manage their finances and make use of the available financial products. Many Nigerians who do make use of financial services are victims of unethical practices by financial institutions, which can be attributed to low financial literacy. A collaboration between the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”), the Nigeria Education Research and Development […]
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Botswana Building Society (“BBS”), headquartered in Gaborone is the leading provider of property finance in the country. BBS is in the process of demutualising as a Society to become a Company limited by shares. The decision to demutualise received support from the majority of shareholders (99.97%) at the Special General Meeting held on 24 August 2017 in Gaborone. BBS expects to acquire the Conversion Certificate from the Registrar of Building Societies and the Certificate of Incorporation from the Registrar of Companies by November 2017. BBS will apply for a banking licence in January 2018 and expects to become a fully-fledged […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ian Abrahams
Date: 7 September 2017
In 2015, Capricorn Digital Limited introduced a unique technology-driven Point of Sale (POS) device known as Baxi Box (pictured above), to help improve online business transactions on a real-time basis for the mass market consumers (people who do not use smartphones) through a network of agents. Capricorn is a digital solutions and distribution company that supports the growth of agents, merchants and MSMEs through the efficient and effective distribution of digital products and services utilising its extensive distribution network across Nigeria. RenMoney is providing loans to small retailers and other agents to fund purchases of a Baxi Box and associated […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 7 September 2017
The 2016 Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (“GSMA”) report “State of Mobile Money in Sub-Saharan Africa” revealed that the number of live mobile money services amounts to 140 across 39 countries in the Sub-Saharan region at the end of 2016 from its lowest level of 2 in 2006. This represents more than half of the 277 mobile money transactions across the globe. In the last ten years, the global mobile money adoption has been driven by the growth in the Sub-Saharan Africa where this comprises of East Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa and West Africa bringing the region at the forefront […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Mohamed Khan
Date: 7 September 2017
A study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) released in July 2017 revealed that just 26% of business loans from banks in South Africa are granted to SMEs, and that the number of microfinance providers has dropped. This is significantly lower than other wealthy emerging countries. For comparison, banks in South Africa’s BRICS counterparts China and Brazil lend 64% and 40% of their business loans to SMEs respectively. A study by the International Labour Organisation in 2016 revealed that microfinance ranked last out 11 possible ways to finance a start-up business. The high unemployment rate and unequal […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 7 July 2017
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, […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 7 July 2017
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 […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Edmund Higenbottam
Date: 7 July 2017
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 […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 15 June 2017
December 2016, Senegal, a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (“WAEMU”) became the second largest country in the world after Tunisia to launch a block-chain based national digital currency which could either provide big opportunities or competition in the banking sector. Known as the eCFA, it is designed to operate alongside the CFA Franc, the country’s and the region’s national currency, adopted by fourteen countries in the region. The new currency will be compatible with other digital cash systems like MPesa which have themselves been revolutionary for the millions of unbanked population in the African continent. eCFA […]
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A number of issues were raised on the East AfricaCom Mobile Money panel in May regarding the future of the USSD mobile money channel, the breadth of services offered through the channel and the potential threats to and opportunities for this business model. The panel was hosted in Nairobi, Kenya, the birthplace of mobile money. Ed Higenbottam, Managing Director of Verdant Capital identified two competing themes: (i) the ever-broadening product offering through the USSD channel: payments, micro-loans, micro-insurance, remittances, micro-investments (for example the recent M-Akiba bond); and (ii) the long-term potential threat to the USSD-business model as a result of […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 15 June 2017
Caisse Centrale de Garantie (“CCG”) based in Morocco won the “Financial Inclusion” trophy hosted at the African Banker Awards 2017, organized on the side-lines of the annual meetings of the African Development Bank (“AfDB”) held in Ahmedabad, India. Such an award recognizes CCG’s commitment and successful strategy in terms of financial inclusion with a demonstrated impact on improving access to financing for MSMEs and low-income individuals. Established in 1949, the CCG is a public financial institution, which is assimilated to a credit institution under the banking law. The CCG is administered by a Board of Directors chaired by the Minister […]
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Letshego has announced the completion of the acquisition of afb Ghana following final regulatory approvals. afb Ghana was launched in 2010 and has total assets of GHS 97 million (approx. USD 23 million), making it now one of the largest consumer and micro lending institutions in Ghana. JUMO World advised by Verdant Capital, has sold the business in order to focus on its core financial technology business. Letshego Holdings Limited, is a leading pan-African inclusive finance institution, listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange, with total assets of BWP 7.5 billion (approx. USD 710 million). The transaction is one of a series of successful transactions […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 24 April 2017
Tanzania has witnessed a significant increase in financial inclusion reaching 86% from its lowest level of 16% eight years ago. Mobile money revolution is the driver of such growth with TZS 43 trillion (equivalent to 47% of the country’s GDP) being transferred through mobile phones. Mobile money has helped many Tanzanians including the poor to transact in a fraction of seconds despite the vast distances between some of them. Mobile money services have become popular just in a decade with major players including Vodacom’s M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money and Ezy Pesa competing against each other for customers. This brings […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 24 April 2017
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will soon establish a collateral registry for movable property to enable the economy’s informal sector mostly made up of small businesses to use movable property including livestock and vehicles as security against loans from banks. Zimbabwe’s economy is now dominated by informal businesses following the contraction of the formal sector between 2000 and 2008. The Movable Property Security Interest Bill presented this month by the Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa aims to make it easy for the small businesses to access funding from local banks. Most small businesses are not in possession of the immovable property […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Edmund Higenbottam
Date: 24 April 2017
Letshego, a leading pan-African inclusive financial institution operating in eleven African markets spanning Southern, Eastern and Western African is expanding certain initiatives to further enhance its financial inclusion impact as well as its customers’ convenience. Letshego has an innovative mobile product which uses the USSD-system to allow customers to move money from their Letshego current accounts to their mobile money accounts to facilitate convenient mobile money payments. Convenient access to money is of course a key driver of customer behaviour in terms of choosing to participate in formal savings. Letshego has rolled out this product in markets where it has […]
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Technological advancements such as digital wallets, apps, increased connectivity, near field communication and Bluetooth have changed the way in which consumers interact with payment technology.
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Trustco Bank, formerly FIDES Bank, has started micro and SME-lending, following the first disbursement from the European Investment Bank (EIB) of its EUR 7.5 million (equivalent) facility. The facility from EIB was part of a ZAR 450 million group funding arranged by Trustco’s advisors, Verdant Capital, which was announced in November 2016. The overall ZAR 450 million of funding is being used to support, Trustco Bank, Trustco Finance (Trustco’s education lending business) and Trustco’s property development business, which is focused on affordable housing. In 2014, Trustco acquired FIDES Bank which had been known as the micro/SME bank in Namibia. The […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 4 April 2017
In Angola, more than 50% of the population do not own a personal bank account and approximately 60% of the country’s GDP circulates outside the banking system. The banking infrastructure is still underdeveloped in most African countries which is a major drawback for development. Maria Luisa Andrade who spoke at the official opening of Banco Postal this year said: “this is a significant loss to Angolan society, to the extent that these resources, as they are outside the financial system, do not generate taxes, they do not drive credit development and limit the growth of the country.” Banco Postal is […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Edmund Higenbottam
Date: 4 April 2017
Current challenges in raising funding for inclusive financial institutions in Nigeria from international markets include, the uncertainty around the foreign exchange policy and risk of central bank rationing of US Dollars when the time comes to service the debt. International investors who have invested over the last few years and have executed offshore currency hedges have been impacted by rationing of US Dollars. International investors today who are looking at the market, are exploring different hedging mechanisms, including back-to-back facilities with local banks, or even providing unfunded guarantees, but many specialist inclusive finance investors are maintaining a watching brief for […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 8 March 2017
Perhaps no other continent has witnessed the same excitement in terms of opportunities for renewable power, especially solar as Africa. In East Africa, innovators have used the technology to bring power to off grid locations. South Africa has been better known for utility scale renewable projects and several bid rounds dating back to 1988. However, South Africa has a growing grid-tie market for renewable energy and is making a significant impact on climate change abatement. This is where “on-grid” customers invest in solar technology to supplement grid power, e.g. roof top solar at shopping malls. GreenFin Financial Services, a Cape […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 8 March 2017
Access to education by students is a global challenge with a large number of students failing to settle their massive student loan debts after graduating. This has been a consistent problem of the US system. Climb Credit, a US based fintech startup provides small student loans to the American students for short programmes normally less than a year. It originates loans at an average size of USD 10 000. The programmes range from coding to web design, from underwater welding to programming robots for carmakers. Some students have scant formal education; others advanced degrees. The number of loan applications is […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 8 March 2017
MyBucks founded in 2011, is a Luxembourg-based fintech company primarily engaged in the consumer lending sector. Through its brands GetBucks, GetBanked and GetSure the company offers unsecured consumer loans, banking solutions as well as insurance products to customers. The company has experienced an exponential growth since its inception and has completed major milestones to date including the listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with an initial public offering that raised EUR 15.5 M (approx. USD 16.5 M) in 2016. The proceeds assisted the company to complete its Pan-African expansion strategy through the acquisition from Opportunity International (a US-based NGO) of […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 17 January 2017
Peach Payments, a South African fintech start-up recently announced their intention to expand into Kenya, Nigeria and Namibia. The company offers businesses esp SMEs a way to receive payments from customer across platforms without need for an online platform or integration. In 2016, the company launched a payments solution called “PaySafe” which has already processed over ZAR 1 Billion in transactions and will change how businesses receive payments from customers across the globe. “Our initial target for Peach Payments was online or mobile merchants wanting to monetise audiences in South Africa. Over 200 South African online merchants are using Peach […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 17 January 2017
Verdant Capital’s Managing Director, Ed Higenbottam spoke at the recent AfricaCom conference on the panel on mobile financial services, alongside Equity Bank’s John Staley (Chief Officer – Finance Innovation & Technology) and Letshego’s James Wainaina (Group Head of Customer Experience). John Staley explained Equity Bank’s strategy in entering the MVNO business as to try to break the operator dependency, which is an inevitable consequence of most mobile banking in Africa being conducted through the USSD channel. Equity Bank has introduced a film SIM technology to allow customers to switch network in order to perform banking. He explained that most telcos […]
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The Payments Industry in India has largely been driven by cash. Presently, cash transactions accounts for 78% of all transactions in the country...
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Verdant Capital has successfully arranged for First Allied Savings and Loans, a leading Ghanaian financial institution, a loan facility amount of GHS 13 million (approx. USD 3.2 million) from a leading international impact investor. This facility is the first tranche of a private placement debt deal of GHS 60 million (approx. USD 15 million), the balance will close early in the new year. The institution has total assets of around USD 90 million with about 63% of its loan book is represented by micro-enterprise loans and 34% by SME loans. SMEs and micro-enterprises are critical for the economic and social […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 7 November 2016
Trustco Group concluded a 100% acquisition of Fides Bank Namibia Limited, one of six licensed banks in Namibia in 2014. The financial institution was renamed “Trustco Bank Namibia” following the acquisition and recapitalization. SME lending continues to be a priority of the Bank: to offer financial assistance to Namibian entrepreneurs which will boost employment and profitability of the SMEs in the country. Part of the funding raised in this financing round will be used to restart this part of the loan book. Frankfurt School of Finance and Management is providing technical assistance to the Bank. The Bank also plans to […]
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Verdant Capital has arranged for leading Zambian non-bank financial institution, Pan African Building Society (PABS) a revolving credit facility to support its invoice discounting and supply chain financing activities. The initial facility amount is USD 3 million, with the opportunity to upsize, and the financing is supported by technical assistance. The intention is that the financing structure will provide a platform which other funders may ultimately join. PABS is a leading Zambian deposit-taking financial institution regulated by the Bank of Zambia under the Banking and Financial Services Act and the Building Society Act. The institution has a total balance sheet […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 13 October 2016
The adoption of mobile money and financial technologies has enhanced a rapid transition towards financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past few years. This has brought Sub-Saharan Africa’s population much more than just access to financial services. This has generated new and innovative services that are influential in achieving some of the key targets UN has laid under the “Sustainable Development Goals Initiative” In 2015, the UN adopted the 2030 Development Agenda titled “Transforming our World” with goals including no poverty, quality education, gender equality, affordable clean energy, decent work, and economic growth, reduced inequality. Irrational Innovations, a venture […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 13 October 2016
Verdant Capital has arranged for leading Zambian non-bank financial institution, Pan African Building Society (PABS) a revolving credit facility to support its invoice discounting and supply chain financing activities. The initial facility amount is USD 3 million, with the opportunity to upsize, and the financing is supported by technical assistance. The intention is that the financing structure will provide a platform which other funders may ultimately join. PABS is a leading Zambian deposit-taking financial institution regulated by the Bank of Zambia under the Banking and Financial Services Act and the Building Society Act. The institution has a total balance sheet […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 13 October 2016
Trustco Finance, a subsidiary company of Trustco Group Holdings Ltd submitted its application for the 7th European Microfinance Award 2016 on “Microfinance and Access to Education” in mid-2016. Trustco Finance was selected as one of the ten award semi-finalists. The 2016 award attracted a total of 30 applications from 19 countries. With the award being focused on “Microfinance and Access to Education”, it is intended to recognize the role of microfinance in enabling access to education for children and/or skill-training for youth and adults to enhance their employment and self-employment. Trustco Finance provides 100% of financing on all Institute for […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 7 September 2016
Orange, one of the largest operators of mobile and internet services in Europe and Africa has announced the launch of Orange Money to allow customers in France to transact with and make money transfers to customers in Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal. “We are delighted to offer the Orange Money solution to our customers living in Metropolitan France and particularly to those with a link to Africa,” said Patrick Roussel, Orange France Consumer Sales Director. The Orange Money service was launched in Cote d’Ivoire in 2008 and now has over 18 million customers in 14 African countries and also has […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 7 September 2016
Jumia, Nigeria’s No. 1 online retailer and Pan-African leading e-commerce announced in August 2016, the launch of Jumia Pay, a third-party payment solution aimed at providing a safer, faster and more convenient online payment solution across the 23 countries in which the company operates. “Jumia Pay has a very simple yet crucial objective: go even further in providing a safe, a secure and a convenient shopping experience to our customers, building trust along the way between us, our thousands of sellers and our millions of customers. We are very proud to be able to offer this new service to our […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 7 September 2016
While much attention was drawn to the recent presidential elections, the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) and the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) recently announced the launch of a collateral registry. The registry is intended to facilitate SMEs to access funding using other forms of movable property as collateral security. “The launch of collateral registry will increase access to funding, especially for SMEs, and lead to better terms for loan contracts. Currently many SMEs are excluded from the formal credit market largely because they lack assets that can serve as collateral, although they may generally have a wide array of […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 1 August 2016
RenMoney, a leading Nigerian inclusive lender, is launching a new education loan product, specifically tailored to fund school fees payments by their customers. The education loan product will deploy funding raised by Verdant Capital, as well as RenMoney’s existing resources. RenMoney, like many unsecured lenders in Africa, is aware that a significant part of its customer base use their loans for purposes of school fees, such is the importance placed on education by parents across the continent. The tailored school fees product will go one step further: the loans will be repayable by parents but will be disbursed directly to the schools who […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 1 August 2016
Uber’s recent arrival in Kenya has not only disrupted the traditional taxi industry but has also brought an incidental by-product which looks set to make inroads in the East African nation’s highly constrained credit market. Kenya’s consumer lending market has historically been severely limited by the lack of consumer data. Currently, only 4.4% of population have taken out a personal bank loan with most Kenyan’s facing an average interest rate of 18%. However, in this era of unprecedented connectivity, the transport company is now also helping to bridge this credit gap. Through the use of Uber driver data, Sidian Bank has […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 1 August 2016
In a recent report released by GSMA Intelligence titled, “The Mobile Economy: Africa 2016”, research suggests that the mobile ecosystem is fast becoming a major economic driver throughout the African continent with its services contributing more than USD 150 billion to the African economy. According to Mats Granryd, Director General of GSMA, “The transformational impact of mobile is being felt more profoundly in Africa than anywhere else in the world; Africa’s mobile industry is at the forefront of helping to deliver the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.” While Africa is the least penetrated mobile market globally, it still represents the […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 1 July 2016
Syrse Group has chosen IRIS as the next generation enterprise application suite to drive its multi-institution e-payments platform in Africa.
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 1 July 2016
The research project on Digital Financial Services (DFS) being done by Lagos Business School has revealed that adoption of DFS in Nigeria remains critically low among the under-banked and the unbanked population.
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 1 July 2016
First Allied Savings & Loans, one the of the largest savings and loans institutions in Ghana has made impressive strides in terms of the implementation of its agency business model in the first year of its operation. The agency business model, branded “AlliedAgent” which is an important part of their overall financial inclusion strategy, was launched in June 2015. Each “AlliedAgent” is a kiosk in a corner shop or fuel station. So far First Allied has 150 agents; in comparison First Allied has 25 branches, so the agency model has multiplied the total number of “outlets” their customers can utilise […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 17 May 2016
The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity awarded (1) APA Insurance, (2) FinserveAfrica/Equitel, (3) M-KOPA, (4) Musoni Kenya and (5) Olam Uganda more than USD10.6 million
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 17 May 2016
Millicom International Cellular, a Luxembourg-based telecommunications company also known as Tigo, recently introduced a cross-border mobile money transfer service between Rwanda and Tanzania that includes currency conversion.
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 17 May 2016
About 2 billion adults globally lack access to formal financial services. In Kenya and Tanzania, more adults have mobile money accounts than bank accounts.
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 21 March 2016
Former Chief Technology Officer at eBay subsidiary Magento, Ted Pietrzak (pictured right), joined South African fintech group Jumo in 2016 as Vice President of Engineering to help develop its systems to further financial inclusion in Africa.
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 21 March 2016
Visa Inc, a global payment company, announced its intention to open an office in Côte d’Ivoire early March to reinforce its position as a leading payments technology company
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 21 March 2016
Tanzania is ranked number 6th globally for providing the most conducive environment for financial inclusion
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Edmund Higenbottam
Date: 9 February 2016
One of South Africa’s leading banks, FNB said the country must use its high mobile penetration to sustain financial inclusion. FNB said the country needed to take advantage of its growing mobile penetration to protect current gains and further broaden access whilst reducing the cost of enablement. FNB Life’s Chief Executive Officer, Lee Bromfield said the country needs to ensure that the current state of the economy does not derail the progress made to date. South Africa’s commitment to broadening financial inclusion focuses on enabling citizens to transact, borrow (credit), invest and insure. Insurance, especially funeral insurance has been a […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 9 February 2016
Zagace is a custom built app store for small medium-size enterprise packages in called zag apps. The platform offers a full suite of enterprise management products from accounting, inventory, sales, manufacturing, storage, HR at a price that is affordable to African SMEs, and accessible via android. The platform, having operated to just over a year, has a customer base from a diverse range of sectors (mainly in Kenya to date) and is in the process of expanding its footprint and product offering into other African markets and already has a customer base in the US. ZAGACE is currently raising additional […]
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Category: Financial Inclusion Africa
Author: Ollen Machimbirike
Date: 9 February 2016
Trials for the Fair Pay smart-card payment system are under way in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The aim is to have 10 000 taxis converted from a cash-based transaction system to the smart-card system in 2016.
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Verdant Capital has raised c USD 10 million equivalent in local currency debt financing for leading Zambian micro-SME and consumer lender, Madison Finance. The transaction was successful notwithstanding the macro economic challenges facing Zambia, and demonstrates the depth and resilience of Verdant Capital’s investor franchise. European Investment Bank was the largest investor in the transaction, which was shared by a large private institution based in South Africa. The transaction represents the first internationally sourced senior debt financing raised by Madison Finance. The transaction was signed late in 2014, and closed in H1 2015 following the satisfaction of final conditions precedent. […]
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