The ₦1 Trillion club: Nigeria’s five biggest banks are now valued at ₦6.1 trillion
Nigeria’s five biggest banks—First Bank, Access Bank, UBA, Guaranty Trust Bank and Zenith Bank—have achieved a market capitalisation of at least N1 Trillion each on NGX, Nigeria’s stock exchange. All five banks are reaping the rewards of a strong market performance that caused a ₦1.6 trillion gain yesterday. At the end of Tuesday, the banking index gained 8.2% or ₦6.1 trillion, welcoming the trio of Access Bank, UBA and First Bank to the trillion naira club, joining old timers like GTCO and Zenith that closed trading at a market cap of ₦1.42 trillion and ₦1.49 trillion respectively. The trillion naira gang The three new bank stocks all appreciated an average of 10% to attain their new status this week. Some analysts have previously expressed worries the NGX has been primarily driven by seven trillion naira firms, which represent 66% of the market capitalization of the NGX. Some of those fears may abate now that more banking stocks have attained the trillion naira mark. Nigeria’s stock market is riding a new wave like never before, giving credence to tech startups to consider listing their stocks on the market. The All Share Index, a metric that tracks the movement of share prices on an exchange, hit a 7-month high of 83,191.84 at the end of yesterday’s trading, leaving more to be desired as trading could close today at another all-time high. Yet, other analysts warned that the bullish trend of the stock exchange will not last forever, predicting a possible dip later this month. “Investors may begin to take profit towards the later part of the month,” Oyekanmi warned. Investors may want to take their chances as trading commences today. In 2024 alone, the NGX has grown by 11.26%, as it looks to surpass last year’s growth of 45.90%.
Read MoreTech and investment fuel Africa’s green cement revolution
This article was contributed to TechCabal by Seth Onyango via bird story agency. Africa’s green cement market is poised for rapid growth as new technologies and investors seek to tap the continent’s vast potential sustainable construction market. Africa’s green cement and concrete market, valued at $485.1 million in 2022, is expected to grow at compound annual growth of over ten per cent, to reach $867.9 million by 2028, according to recent Research and Markets forecasts. A surge in large-scale infrastructure projects across African nations is driving this demand. Key projects like hydropower plants, oil refineries, port expansions, and residential and commercial building initiatives in countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya are expected to further bolster the market for green cement and concrete during the forecast period. In October last year, the IFC agreed to shell out a €45 million green loan to four OIP subsidiaries, including Morocco’s CIMAT and West Africa’s CIMAF, to enhance low-carbon cement supply in Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mali. Of this, €32.4 million was allocated to constructing a calcined clay production facility at CIMAF Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, aimed at reducing clinker use, boosting energy efficiency, and slashing greenhouse gas emissions. The facility was designed to produce LC3, a cost-effective, high-quality, low-carbon cement. Now, Bton, a German in-situ and climate-positive concrete firm announced it is making a foray into Africa with an initial offering in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Morocco. Its proprietary tech reduces the baseline of the CO2 emissions from cement by roughly 80% and then sinks carbon into the concrete, allowing Bton to claim that the product is actually carbon-negative. “It’s first of all enabling the use of low-emitting cement substitutes at scale and in addition the use (of) carbon sinking materials. So first we reduce the baseline by 70% and then we overcompensate the remaining CO2 footprint by sinking carbon into the concrete – so we are overall climate positive,” explained Bton chief executive, Thomas Demmel “This comes along with the use of abundant, local materials such as desert sand as well as affordable lightweight aggregates. Demmel asserts that incorporating locally sourced materials like desert sand into their concrete production aligns well with the resources available in Africa. “We are bringing this technology to the continent to not only accommodate the need, especially of affordable housing, which roughly is 100 million over the next years in Africa,” he said. UN figures also note a significant challenge in affordable housing across Africa, with its projections suggesting the current deficit could rise to about 200 million by 2030. With the staggering demand for housing, Demmel emphasises the need to decarbonise the construction industry. He also revealed that he has started to discuss with some countries and projects in Africa, such as Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, but stated that Bton is open to exploring more opportunities with the local industry. “We started to discuss briefly on some countries and some projects, something in Kenya, we discuss a little bit in Ghana on the road as a light level and Morocco is something we start to look at South Africa and also Nigeria,” he said. “But that doesn’t exclude any other nations, we have been approached by a couple of other countries, Zambia, for example, and we’re more than happy to seriously look at opportunities, work with the local industry, combined that with our technology, and give a new new circular and climate positive way of solving the housing needs.” Bton plans to partner with the precast industry in Africa, providing them with concrete that meets their criteria on climate, abundance, and cost. “There’s a project in, for example, in Kenya, a new smart city (Konza city) that is planned, we talk to them, and they’re very open, and we think that we find a way, especially in the higher density areas for constructive concrete,” he said. The rising trend of green building construction, which facilitates the reduction of water waste, energy consumption, and air pollution, is also boosting the demand for green cement in Africa. Green buildings also offer an improved indoor environment by enhancing lighting sources, thermal conditions, ergonomic features, and air quality. The report also highlights the increasing initiatives to construct smart cities, which aim to restrict the over-expenditure of natural resources and encourage citizens to live life sustainably, as another catalyst for the market. Smart cities leverage digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and big data, to optimize urban planning, transportation, energy, and waste management.
Read MoreExclusive: Woven Finance, a fintech startup backed by Coronation Group, is shutting down
Woven Finance, the fintech startup founded by Trium, a venture group by Coronation Group, is discontinuing its service, according to an email shared with customers on Wednesday morning. The fintech, which was fully licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2022, and has a Payment Solutions Service Provider (PSSP) licence, will transfer its services to Hydrogen, a fintech company owned and run by Access Bank. Becoming part of Hydrogen will help Access Bank compete with GTCO’s fintech, Squad. Kemi Okusanya, a former General Manager at Visa West Africa, leads hydrogen. “After a thorough analysis of the current market dynamics and their impact on our business model, Woven Finance has resolved to cease its payment services operations in the first quarter of 2024,” Woven Finance said in an email to customers. Woven Finance Origin story Woven Finance, which set out to “demystify digital payments,” was founded in 2020 by Adedeji Olowe. It sold itself to business owners by offering a virtual account with which they could collect payments, eliminating common problems like reconciliation and settlements. The company’s founder, Olowe, also ran Trium, the technology venture fund for the Coronation Group. The Coronation Group, which includes companies like Coronation Merchant Bank and Coronation Insurance (formerly WAPIC), became part of Access Bank after the acquisition of Intercontinental Bank. But in 2011, a directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) forced banks to divest their non-banking businesses or restructure into holding companies. At the time, Access Bank–which adopted a holding company structure in 2022–chose to spin off the Coronation Group. While it remains unclear the exact dynamics that led Woven Finance to discontinue operations, one theory is that increasing competition from established fintechs and other bank-led fintechs like Squad, Zest and Hydrogen may have prompted the decision. *This is a developing story
Read More
👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily – Is Starlink shooting for Kenya?
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning Apple is winning the durability war with free publicity from the averted Boeing air mishap. A new generation iPhone survived a 16,000-foot fall from the Alaska Airlines ASA 1282 flight, and was found with no visible damage except for a broken-off power cable. And no, it’s not because of any of those super strong screen protectors marketed on TikTok, it’s air bending resistance. In today’s edition Ride-hailing drivers to demand health insurance M-Pesa downtime leaves millions in East Africa stranded Is Kenya Starlink’s choice for its first Africa office? Court dismisses rand-dollar fixing case MTN and Ericsson partner again The World Wide Web3 Opportunities Mobility LagRide driver’s death spotlights health insurance needs After the death of one of their own, drivers of the Lagos state-owned ride-hailing platform, LagRide, are now demanding health insurance. ICYMI: On Monday morning, Adebayo Padmore collapsed while preparing for a shift that requires LagRide drivers to work 10 hours or 150 kilometres per day. Padmore’s death led over 20 of the platform’s drivers to speak up on the health hazards of LagRide’s practices. According to the drivers, LagRide does not offer health insurance to its drivers. In fact, only Bolt—of all the major ride-hailing companies—offers health insurance, and even then, drivers say Bolt’s health insurance is doled out as an “incentive to overwork”. Now, the leaders of Nigeria’s union of app-based transport workers want ride-hailing platforms to offer health insurance to all drivers. Read more on this. Access payments with Moniepoint Moniepoint has made it simple for your business to access payments while providing access to credit and other business tools. Open an account today here. Telecom M-Pesa outage leaves millions stranded GIF Source: Tenor Safaricom’s mobile money platform M-Pesa took a three-hour coffee break yesterday From 10 AM to 1 PM, M-Pesa was unavailable to the 51 million monthly active users who rely on the platform to make digital payments. The outage was due to scheduled maintenance, Safaricom said in an announcement. Users initially took to social media to speculate on the cause of the downtime, with some hinting that the Kenyan government had shut down the network to implement a new tax system. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), however, quickly dispelled the rumours. This is not M-Pesa’s first outage in Kenya. The telecom experienced outages in January and June 2021, and in March and May last year. However, the latest outage seems to be the longest in the platform’s history. It also appears Safaricom failed to inform users about the “scheduled maintenance” which brings to question the veracity of its claims. Internet Is Kenya Starlink’s choice for its first Africa office? GIF Source: Twine The race is not for the swift. While Nigeria snagged the first position in Starlink’s launch on the continent, Kenya might have emerged as the company’s choice for its first Africa office. Quiet? There isn’t an official fanfare announcement, but a recent job posting has brought Starlink’s moves to the forefront. The company recently advertised a Global Licensing Activation Manager position in sub-Saharan Africa. Per TechMoran, “The role will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, reporting to the team at our MacGregor, TX location.” The chosen candidate will spearhead the firm’s effort to obtain ISP licences in more African countries like Ghana and South Africa where it is illegal to use Starlink. In others like Zimbabwe, the government is still reviewing Starlink’s licence application. Currently, Starlink is live in Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Nigeria, and more recently eSwatini. The big picture: The choice of Kenya does not come as a surprise. Big tech companies like Google and Amazon launched their first development centres in the country. Microsoft launched its first African headquarters in the country too. The East African country also emerged as the top destination for investors in 2023, bearing Nigeria and Egypt. Secure payment gateway for your business Fincra payment gateway enables you to easily collect Naira payments as a business; you can collect payments in minutes through cards, bank transfers and PayAttitude. Create a free account and start collecting NGN payments with Fincra. News Court dismisses Rand manipulation case A South African appeal court has dismissed the cases brought against 28 foreign banks accused of engaging in rand-dollar price fixing. Zoom in: The banks—including Standard Bank, FirstRand, Nedbank—were accused of manipulating the value of the rand in the New York foreign exchange market in 2015. South Africa’s competition commission began the currency manipulation probe investigation across the US and UK. Five years after the case initially cooled, South Africa’s antitrust watchdog returned to the fray in 2020, wielding a fresh indictment against 20+ banks. Now, the cases have been dismissed for lack of evidence and jurisdiction. The commission’s major evidence against the banks was a series of chats between traders in private online chat rooms. In those conversations, the traders allegedly connived to make profits and avoid losses by reducing risk when trading the ZAR/USD currency pair. A new twist: Of the 28 banks involved in the case, South Africa’s appeal court dismissed all except 5 banks—JPMorgan Chase & Co., BNP Paribas SA, HSBC Holdings Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG and Investec Plc. According to MyBroadBand, traders from these banks pleaded guilty to charges brought by the US Department of Justice in 2015. Details of the new trial against the five banks are yet to be seen. Sell with Paystack Storefront Increase your online sales with a Paystack Storefront – a free, beautiful seller page that helps you bring creative ideas to life. Learn more at paystack.com/storefront Fintech MTN and Ericsson partner again Image source: MTN Ericsson and MTN are renewing their vows. Well, sort of. Both telecommunications giants, Ericsson and MTN, are strengthening their ties with a partnership that will see MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) service integrated with the Ericsson Wallet Platform. This will allow Ericsson wallet users to manage funds, pay merchants and utility providers, and access loans and insurance services
Read MoreNigeria’s stock exchange sets new all-time high to continue strong start to 2024
Nigerian equities have opened the year strong for the second week, driving high returns For the second consecutive week, the Nigerian stock market began on a positive note, as investors continued to take advantage of the market’s strong performance to trade more stocks. The All Share Index, a metric that tracks the movement of share prices on an exchange, hit a 7-month high of 83,191.84 at the end of Tuesday’s trading. The NGX grew by nearly 4% today, driving the banking stocks of some tier-1 banks like First Bank Holdings into a trillion naira market capitalisation. Other stocks in the manufacturing, agriculture and insurance sectors also drove today’s strong results. “The market is expected to remain bullish in the short run,” said Samuel Oyekanmi, a Lagos-based financial analyst. With the market’s positive results, it resumed where it dropped off in 2023. Yet, other analysts warned that the bullish trend of the stock exchange will not last forever, predicting a possible dip later this month. “Investors may begin to take profit towards the later part of the month,” Oyekanmi warned. Another analyst, Mayowa Badejo told TechCabal that the current strong performance could be a move to attract more people into the market and take profits later on. “It’s also possible that some traders are intentionally driving the prices up to attract newbies in the hope of dumping after the bandwagon effect,” he added.
Read MoreDrivers demand health insurance from ride-hailing firms after LagRide driver’s death
Ride-hailing drivers in Nigeria will demand health insurance packages from e-hailing companies operating in Nigeria after Adebayo Padmore, a driver for LagRide, passed away yesterday. Of the major ride-hailing companies in Nigeria, only Bolt offers health insurance to drivers, contingent on them meeting certain targets. LagRide and Uber do not offer those benefits, three drivers told TechCabal. “Our focus is to make sure all the ride-hailing companies put our members on Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) plans,” Ibrahim Ayoade, the general secretary of the App-Based Transporters of Nigeria (AUATON), told TechCabal on a phone call today. The drivers are pushing for health insurance benefits that are not tied to performance. “We have been providing health insurance for three years,” said Femi Adeyemo, Bolt’s Local Communication manager, in a text message. But drivers disagreed, stating the feature only applied as an incentive. “Bolt has one they use as an incentive when you overwork yourself to make about 300 trips. Many people have accidents trying to win the healthcare bonus,” national treasurer for the Union, Jolaiya Moses, said on a separate call. Another driver who did not wish to be named said LagRide asked drivers to pay for their health insurance. Although Uber’s head of communications for East and West Africa, Lorraine Onduru, did not respond to TechCabal’s questions at the time of this report, this article says Uber only provides injury protection for drivers on active trips, as the mobility firm sees drivers as independent contractors, not employees. TechCabal earlier reported that Padmore died Monday morning as he prepared his routine of picking up passengers. A medical report obtained from Louis Med Hospital in Lekki showed he was pronounced dead at 5:45 am. His corpse was taken to Ibadan in his LagRide vehicle—which he was still financing, some drivers told TechCabal. Ayoade had previously condemned the LagRide’s financing model last month. He claimed the model encouraged driver partners to demand unrealistic returns from drivers. “Lack of money makes some of our members sleep in their cars on the highways. The asset financing model of some app firms does not enable drivers to save any money for themselves,” he added. Many drivers operating the e-hailing sector are like Padmore, who have made their cars home. Some of them sleep on highways to meet targets set by ride-hailing companies or personal targets they made for themselves. Padmore’s death has come with an awakening among drivers who have now united to press home health insurance demands. “We are trying to evaluate everything that happened, but further actions will be taken when we bury our colleague this weekend,” Ayoade said.
Read More
Next Wave: Should Nigeria’s startups consider listing on its stock exchange?
Cet article est aussi disponible en français <!– In partnership with –> <!–TopBanner Join us for TechCabal Battlefield, Moonshot’s startup competition where you can showcase your startup idea to a global audience and an esteemed panel of judges and stand a chance to win up to 2.5 million naira in funding for your business! Click to register for TC Battlefield First published 7 January, 2024 The Nigerian Stock Market has overperformed its target since 2020 till date. Nigerian startups can take advantage of last year’s bull run to list on the Nigerian Tech Board in 2024. Ever since the Nigerian Stock Exchange Group (NGX) secured regulatory approval for the NGX tech board from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2022, it has been very serious about getting tech startups in the country to list. Temi Popoola, the new group managing director/CEO of the NGX, has been the key man in front of that campaign. At the end of 2023, Popoola was appointed group managing director/CEO, replacing a retiring Oscar Onyema , the former GMD of the demutualised Nigerian Stock Exchange Group (NGX). The rightness of this appointment may have been cemented by the moves Popoola made in 2023 while he was acting CEO. Popoola’s mission at the Nigerian bourse is driven primarily by two main goals. The first is to secure tech stocks on the NGX Tech Board, and the second is to open the market to institutional and retail investors. Popoola came close to these goals in 2023, securing three listings last year—Mecure Industries; Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF); and VFD Group, a Lagos-based investment firm. All three listings contributed about ₦179 billion to the exchange’s market cap in 2023. One of the three listings, VFD Group, represented a milestone because in 2021 it invested a total of $35.6 million into three firms , including Piggytech (Nigeria’s leading savings platform). Securing this listing means that 2024 could see more tech firms cosy up to the exchange. A deadlock on first try In a country that has produced over 400 tech startups, the NGX tech board is eyeing the likes of major players or tech unicorns like Jumia, OPay, Interswitch, Flutterwave and Andela to lead the way in listing on the stock exchange. In September 2023, Popoola flew to New York to have a sit-down with Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, Bosun Tijani; Flutterwave CEO, Olugbenga Agboola; and the CEO of Chapel Hill Denham, Bolaji Balogun to discuss the possibility of Flutterwave listing on the stock exchange. The meeting was not widely publicised, but there is a viewing link to it. Top of the agenda at that meeting was a plea made by Popoola to Flutterwave to list. He even offered a naira listing to get the tech firm to list. Flutterwave has yet to make any commitments to the bourse. To list or not? It is easy to get worried about the many things that could go wrong if a tech firm goes to the IPO market. Whether a listing happens on the NASDAQ or NGX, stock prices can tank. Jumia’s shares plummeted in 2019 and it is still chasing a comeback on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to the initial price of $14.50 apiece it listed with. Egyptian-born and UAE-based mobility startup, Swvl, endured a similar rocky start when it listed on the NASDAQ; its stock price fell by 99% after listing at $9.95 per share. Its recent good fortunes have seen the stock price rebound to $3, after it posted its first profit in its H1 2023 results. At the same time,tech firms are often eager to remain private companies, as it protects them from being publicly-listed and easily investigated. But there is much to gain from listing on the Nigerian Tech Board. Partner Content: Web Summit Qatar is partnering with The FutureList to invite top African tech startups to exhibit in Doha in February 2024. Read all about it here. Since 2020, Nigerian equities have supercharged the investment ecosystem. In that same year, Bloomberg named the exchange as the best-performing stock market from 93 global indexes. The trend has continued upward since then. Publicly available data reported by TechCabal on Friday showed that the stock market has consecutively opened the New Year since 2021 on a high. All through last year, the Nigerian stock exchange recorded a 45.9% growth, driven by oil, gas, banking and tech stocks. Around September last year, popular conversations in private spaces were that if you put ₦1 million in any tech stock, you would get at least ₦5 million, if not more. Last year, the share prices of three publicly-listed Nigerian tech companies—Chams, eTranzact and CWG—were up over 700%, according to another TechCabal report. This new year week alone, the Nigerian stock market grew 6.54% to close at a new all-time high of 79,664.66 points. Although the stock exchange experienced delistings last year, it still doesn’t diminish all the positive evidence showing that a bull run has been on for the last three years; there will always be up and down times in the stock market. Partner Content: WeTech, the community for women in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem hosted their first conference earlier this month. Here’s what it was all about. Since tech is often touted as the “new oil”, a listing by tech firms on the NGX Tech Board could be a win-win that many tech unicorns in Nigeria need. More importantly, with Popoola at the helm, there is renewed hope for the tech board which can bring more foreign, institutional, and retail participants to the market. Only 1 week is left for startups to apply to join the second cohort of the develoPPP Ventures Program and receive €100,000 in matching funds and technical assistance. Applications close on the 31st of December 2023. If you have any questions. Please email: support@theventurespark.com Click here to learn more or start your application Joseph Olaoluwa, Senior Reporter, TechCabal. Feel free to email joseph.olaoluwa[at]bigcabal.com, with your thoughts about this
Read More
👨🏿🚀TechCabal Daily: The mathematics of mergers
In partnership with Share this newsletter: Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Good morning If you think glasses are pricey, brace yourself for the cost of Apple’s. The company’s first VR headset, the Vision Pro, will finally be available for preorders by January 19 at a whopping $3,499. At that size price, you’re getting 256GB of storage, Apple’s latest M2 chip, a 4K display in each eye and probably a headache too. In today’s edition LagRide driver’s death raises concerns A Wasoko MaxAB merger brings layoffs In Nigeria, MTN might disconnect Glo users Twiga’s legal chief follows CEO footsteps Nigeria’s ATM usage drops by 30% The World Wide Web3 Opportunities Mobility LagRide driver’s death raises concerns over daily targets Over 20 drivers of the Lagos state-backed ride-hailing platform LagRide, yesterday, echoed the company’s duty of care to its contractors after one driver, Adebayo Padmore died. Padmore tragically collapsed and died yesterday morning while preparing for his shift. A cause of death is yet to be ascertained, but Tumi Adeyemi, the head of the solutions for LagRide, told TechCabal that the company would launch an investigation into the matter. To its contractors though, Padmore’s cause of death is certain: a high-pressure environment and unrealistic goals. LagRide’s model: LagRide’s lease-to-own model appears generous, offering drivers brand-new GACs (SUVs and Sedans) for a ₦700,000 ($793) downpayment and daily ₦8,900 ($10.08) payments over four years. A LagRide dashboard showing daily targets. Image source: TechCabal But a leaked dashboard reveals potentially problematic terms: drivers must clock 10 hours and 150 kilometres daily which would earn the average driver ₦43,000 ($48.72)—and a mere ₦10,000 ($11.33) take home after expenses. Failing to meet these targets doesn’t result in penalties, but it drops their dashboard into a “negative daily percentage,” according to one driver. This raises questions about the feasibility of meeting such demands while managing financial pressures, potentially compromising safety and driver well-being. Access payments with Moniepoint Moniepoint has made it simple for your business to access payments while providing access to credit and other business tools. Open an account today here. E-commerce At Wasoko and MaxAB, employees are learning about post-merger maths When Wasoko and MaxAB announced their merger in late December, the CEOs of both companies told TechCabal that the new entity would become the “clear B2B e-commerce leader in Africa.” In a sector with well-funded players like Alerzo and TradeDepot, the idea of a category king would have appealed to investors. “Shareholders on all sides are extremely excited about what is happening,” said Daniel Yu, Wasoko’s CEO. “This is a 1 plus 1 equals 3.” While investors may be grinning from ear to ear, employees are learning how disruptive mergers can be. Per the Harvard Business Review, “roughly 30% of employees are deemed redundant after a merger in the same industry.” The Scoop: Today TechCabal reported that around 400 people, or 10% of the combined workforce of Wasoko and MaxAB, will leave the company because a post-merger reality means that many roles are now overlapping. Most of the employees affected are on the product and engineering teams. Employees were told about the job cuts on a Google Meet call, and no recording was allowed, one person present at those meetings told TechCabal. There’s much more to know, like the severance package offered to employees and the state of employee stock options. Read more here. Telecoms MTN to disconnect Globacom partially GIF Source: Tenor Nigeria’s telecoms regulator today approved the partial disconnection of Globacom from MTN Nigeria today because Globacom owes about ₦6 billion ($6.7 million) in interconnect fees. The disconnection will be implemented in 10 days if Glo does not make good on its payments. The technical jargon: “If a call originates from MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, for instance, and ends on Glo Mobile network, what MTN pays Glo Mobile for terminating the call is the interconnect rate.” The standard interconnect fee for local calls in Nigeria is ₦4.30k per minute, but it adds up pretty quickly. In 2018, for instance, the total interconnect fee owed by Nigerian network operators was ₦165 billion ($186.9 million). Where does this leave customers? If a partial disconnection eventually happens, Glo’s 61.39 million subscribers will be unable to call MTN users. However, MTN users will still be able to reach Glo users. Glo now has 10 days, starting from January 8, to make good on those payments. The telco will also need to pay up on its annual operating levy, which it reportedly owes to the NCC. Secure payment gateway for your business Fincra payment gateway enables you to easily collect Naira payments as a business; you can collect payments in minutes through cards, bank transfers and PayAttitude. Create a free account and start collecting NGN payments with Fincra. Companies Twiga’s legal chief follows CEO’s footsteps Executives are breaking off from Kenyan startup Twiga Foods, and Daniel Ngungi, head of legal and administration, is the latest to go. In a LinkedIn post yesterday, Ngungi announced his departure from the startup. “The 4th of January 2024 marked my last day at Twiga Foods, an organization that was my home for a decade, eight years of which were on a full-time basis,” the post read. Ngungi’s exit comes days after CEO Peter Njonjo resigned from the company’s board. Yebeltal Getachew, who led Twiga’s East Africa business, also left the company in December. The legal head’s departure reinforces speculations that ex-CEO Njonjo was forced out of the company by an investor takeover. At the heart of this is a rocky 2022 which led to a $450,000 lawsuit from one of its vendors. Read more. Sell with Paystack Storefront Increase your online sales with a Paystack Storefront – a free, beautiful seller page that helps you bring creative ideas to life. Learn more at paystack.com/storefront Economy Nigeria’s ATM usage drops by 30% Image source: NIBSS Nigeria banks are seeing reduced queues at the ATM stand. Figures from a recently released KPMG report suggest that only 4 in 10 bank customers get money from an
Read MoreExclusive: Twiga legal chief departs company days after founder’s resignation
Daniel Ngungi, head of legal and administration at Twiga Foods, left the company days after TechCabal reported that Peter Njonjo, the founder and CEO, resigned from Twiga’s board. Ngungi confirmed his departure in a LinkedIn post on Monday. “The 4th of January 2024 marked my last day at Twiga Foods, an organization that was my home for a decade, eight years of which were on a full-time basis,” the post read. Ngungi’s departure comes amid what appears to be a takeover of Twiga by its investors, leading to the eventual exit of Peter Njonjo, its former CEO, confirming speculation that he was forced out of the company. Yebeltal Getachew, who led Twiga’s East Africa business, also left the company in December. TechCabal reported that cash-strapped Twiga raised $35 million in convertible bonds from Creadev and Juven, two of its existing investors, to pay 100 vendors it owed. But TechCabal learned that at least one vendor said they were not paid or notified of a payment plan despite the company’s claim that it notified around 100 vendors. Last December, a Kenyan court in Nairobi gave Twiga Foods four months to resolve its debts with Incentro, a Google Cloud reseller. At the heart of the lawsuit lies a $3 million cloud service contract Twiga signed with Incentro, back when the departing Head of Legal was still with the company. Twiga allegedly fell behind on monthly payments, leading Incentro to demand over $450,000, including accrued interest and what they claim to be missed bonus payments from Google due to Twiga’s delayed sign-offs. Twiga disputes the amount owed, questioning the contract details and claiming Incentro’s lawsuit is motivated by ulterior motives. They’ve also engaged in talks with Google Ireland directly regarding the cloud service bill. As of December 5, 2023, both parties missed a court deadline to reconcile their invoices, and the next hearing is scheduled for March 13, 2024.
Read MoreExclusive: Wasoko and MaxAB to cut overlapping workforce as merger talks advance
Wasoko, the Tiger Global-backed Kenyan e-commerce startup and MaxAB, its Egyptian counterpart, will trim roughly 10% of the combined workforce of both companies, TechCabal has learned. Both firms are in the early stages of integrating their operations ahead of the completion of a merger, which was announced in December 2023. Both companies employ around 4,000 people in Egypt and East Africa. Daniel Yu, Wasoko’s CEO, confirmed that affected employees have been notified and offered severance packages “in line with local laws.” Yu and Belal El Merghabel, MaxAB’s CEO, will remain leaders in the new entity. Wasoko and MaxAB will also allow affected employees to keep their stock options after leaving the company. Employee stock options, which allow employees to own equity shares in their employer company over a certain period, are a common incentive startups use to attract and retain top talent. Wasoko and MaxAB say merger will create a clear e-commerce leader with tens of millions of runway Yu said part of the severance package it is offering affected employees will allow them to keep their stock options. Employee stock options are commonly forfeited when employees are fired for cause. When employees terminate for other reasons, companies usually buy back shares. Over the lifetime of Wasoko, which has raised $143.6 million per Crunchbase data, has allowed employees with vested shares to sell stock three times. In December, Wasoko and MaxAB announced they were in preliminary negotiations to form a single company in a “merger of equals.” According to an early MaxAB investor, a merger would create a unicorn with a combined gross merchandise value of roughly $50 million. The CEOs of MaxAB and Wasoko declined to comment on the expected valuation of the new firm. Venture capital investors have poured money into entrepreneurs building tech companies that focused on bringing Africa’s informal wholesale market for consumer goods online. Got a Tip?We’d like to hear from you. With a nonwork phone or computer, contact the author of this article at abraham@bigcabal.com. TechCabal protects the confidentiality of its sources.
Read More