- June 9 2023
Striking ride-hailing drivers in Nigeria say Bolt’s new N6,000 daily bonus is unimpressive
As the nationwide strike by ride-hailing drivers lingers, Bolt has introduced new incentives to drivers operating on its app, but they aren’t impressed. This week, ride-hailing drivers began a strike to ask for an increase in the base fares charged by Uber and Bolt in Nigeria. Bolt has now offered a bonus of N6,000 to the striking drivers. The bonus comes with conditions like completing between 9 to 11 trips, working at least 7 hours and accepting up to 90% of orders. The ride-hailing company also increased its surge pricing—a strategy used to motivate drivers to work during periods of high demand—–by 5%. Despite these new offers by Bolt, drivers who spoke to TechCabal say they’re unimpressed. “Do the right thing” For the Amalgamated Union of App-based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWON), Bolt’s move still falls short. “The N6000 bonus is not bad in itself, it’s just an approach to justify their error,” Comrade Idris Shonuga, a national trustee of the union, told TechCabal. “The operating costs of drivers have increased. It’s a simple mathematics, you don’t need to dash anybody money. Do the right thing.” Shonuga also pointed out that Bolt is yet to recognise the AUATWON as a representative of ride-hailing drivers in Nigeria. He believes Bolt should organise a dialogue with the ride-hailing union to address the price dispute. “Bolt is just a moderator, they can’t determine the price of the service without carrying the stakeholders along. The price being dished out by them in response to the fuel hike does not reflect on the profit of the drivers and partners (car rentals),” he said. “The position of the union is to have a round table discussion with all the stakeholders of ride hailing platforms.” Celestine Finbar, a Bolt driver, told TechCabal that if Bolt truly wants to help drivers with incentives, they should eliminate the conditions. “Don’t give me conditions on what you claim to be a bonus,” he says. “Is the N6000 even free? You have to do a lot of trips to get that money, with what fuel? “ Finbar believes that Bolt could enhance their approach by reducing their commission. “Since they [Bolt] have N6000 to give, why don’t they reduce their commission? Everybody will be pumped to hit the road. The lower the commission, the more drivers will be willing to drive,” he said. Finbar has stopped working till Bolt reviews its prices. Felix, another driver who asked to be identified by his first name, says the conditions to be met for the bonus are ridiculous. “All we are saying is that Bolt increase the base fare. Setting conditions for that small bonus is funny when you consider the fact that they will still collect their own commission after the many trips. So I don’t see the point,” he told TechCabal. Struggling Ride-hailing drivers in Nigeria reject Bolt’s revised pricing For Bolt, the incentives aren’t about the protests Bolt claims the incentives were unconnected to the ride-hailing drivers’ strike. “Drivers are well within their human rights to engage in peaceful demonstrations, and Bolt respects this,” Yahaya Mohammed, Country Manager, told TechCabal in an email. “We offer recurring bonuses to our drivers, completely independent of the current circumstances. On the other hand, surge pricing is determined by market factors such as supply and demand.” Bolt maintains its position of being wary of decreased patronage if fare prices are too high, but the ride-hailing company adds that it is open to review the situation in the best interest of both passengers and drivers. “The welfare of our drivers is at the forefront of Bolt’s decision. We adjusted the fares taking into account the issue of demand and supply. Excessively high prices will discourage passengers from ordering rides, thus negatively impacting drivers’ earnings. Therefore, our revised fares aim to strike a balance between better compensation for drivers and manageable prices for passengers,” Mohammed said. “Bolt is committed to analysing and conducting extensive reviews to ensure that we continue to provide the best earnings for drivers on our platform and remain the most affordable and preferred platform for passengers.” What do you think about our stories? Tell us how you feel by taking this quick 3-minute survey.
Read More- June 9 2023
Cellulant bullish on Zambia’s payments ecosystem, according to GM
Having entered the Zambian market in 2011, Cellulant is bullish on the country’s payments ecosystem, a sector the company pivoted to after dabbling in banking. TechCabal talked to Gilbert Lungu, general manager of Cellulant Zambia, to find out more about the fintech startup’s motivation for pivoting, the overall state of payments in the country, challenges they have come across in their operation, and more. Please give us a brief overview of Cellulant’s operations since it entered the Zambia market. Gilbert Lungu: Cellulant has been in Zambia since 2011. Primarily, at the time, the business was in a phase where the focus was on banking and providing mobile banking platforms, and then also doing what we call merchant aggregation, which is essentially just layering the mobile banking platforms with the actual merchants to enable payments to happen. In terms of that phase of the business, I think it went fairly well. We acquired 15 out of 18 banks, providing services in one form or the other for them. Around 2017 and 2018, there was a view that there were other opportunities in the market that spoke to payment collections and there were hypotheses around it. The main one was that there was no dominant mobile network operator in the market. The second one was that the primary product that the mobile network operators were pushing was peer-to-peer payments. Number three was that there was a clear cut case in terms of being able to do merchant acquisition, and provide digital payments for them based on the ecosystem that existed, either with the mobile network operators, as well as the banks. The fourth one was the view that there was general fragmentation in the market as a result of hypothesis number two. So the market was fragmented, because there was no one operator that was ahead of the other, and we realised that the fragmentation provided an opportunity to get into payment collections. After considering all those hypotheses, we then decided to pivot to payments. The banking business kind of took a back seat and we pushed the payments business more. Since that pivot, Zambia continues to be quite exciting as a market and we continue to experience growth month on month. Where do you think the payments landscape in the country is headed in the next 2-3 years? GL: The way I see it, Zambia is definitely poised to be a significant tech hub. There’s a lot of innovations that are going on with respect to young startups in ecommerce which I think will be big in the coming years. I think with the additional interest in terms of potential prospective investors looking for all sorts of opportunities, including in tech, when some of that money starts landing in terms of fundraising, we are going to see significant growth of the ecosystem. For a lot of these startups, I think what will then happen is that scale will begin to show. From a macro environment point of view, stability will see the economy start to take shape in terms of the growth plans that the government has put in place. I see that also being an accelerant to many sectors, including tech. There is significant consultation between the government and the ecosystem which is well needed. We are having quarterly engagements with the minister and presenting ideas and papers to him about how we can accelerate digitization in our country. In short, we are putting across ideas and he’s driving it from a policy point of view, to ensure that some of those ideas become a reality. For instance, there is an idea from a payments point of view that if the government takes a decision to start compelling some of the government departments to do payments via digital platforms and then puts the relevant policy framework to guide that, it will guide customer behaviour towards using digital means for transactions. I think over the next two to three years, opportunity size is also going to grow in terms of what else the tech startups can actually do. From a product point of view, I think payments is the thing right now. I see payouts, disbursements being the next big thing, as well as remittances, inward remittances, and then the relevant rails to be able to receive those remittances, and make sure that they’re flowing in the economy. So I see a positive picture overall. Which challenges would you say have been prominent in the Zambian tech ecosystem? GL: I think for Zambian startups, capital is still pretty much a challenge. I mean I’ve seen that there is activity now with angel investors trying to invest in these young tech startups but there is still some way to go because raising money is very difficult because of the nature of the places from which you can obtain that money. If you go into the banking sector, the cost of money is extremely high especially for startups. Challenge number two is in terms of incubation. People have a lot of ideas. I meet all sorts of youngsters that walk in here or find me on LinkedIn, and they’re telling me about very, very nice ideas, that if they got the right level of attention and training, they would become really grand ideas. The incubation to move from ideation to a point where they implement the ideas into scalable businesses is still relatively lacking in my opinion. We don’t have a lot of incubation hubs where these youngsters can take the ideas to be stress-tested. The third challenge, in my opinion, is the fact that tech businesses typically thrive and scale in the context of an ecosystem. They don’t work in isolation. Unfortunately, the ecosystem in Zambia has not developed to a point where there is sufficient trust between each of the ecosystem players in terms of who should play in what space. The bigger guys are always suspecting the smaller guys of trying to sabotage what they are doing and vice
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- June 9 2023
TechCabal Daily – Twiga prunes its staff
Lire en français Read this email in French. 9 JUNE, 2023 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TGIF TC Daily will not be in your inboxes on Monday. We’re taking the long weekend—with June 12 being Nigeria’s Democracy Day—to squash some bugs. We’ll be back in your inbox by 7AM WAT on Tuesday, June 13, with a brand-new look and our referral system. In today’s edition Twiga prunes its staff MTN SA turns to alternative energy Ride-hailing drivers banned from Soweto malls TC Insights: Funding tracker The World Wide Web3 Event: The Moonshot Conversations Job openings TWIGA PRUNES ITS STAFF Twiga Foods has done a lot of pruning in the last year, and it doesn’t look like it’s stopping anytime soon. In a cost-cutting move last year, the B2B agritech startup laid off its entire internal sales team—about 211 people. Now, instead of full-time salespersons, it works with several independent agents. That’s a lot of firing, but Twiga defended it saying that it is converting the salespeople to “free agents”. Are they really free? It depends on who you ask, but what is apparent is that Twiga is free to immediately fire an agent that isn’t performing as well as the company would like. So are the free agents truly free? Well, they are free to work for other employers while working for Twiga Foods, as long as they are able to juggle it with the agritech’s expectations. It recently laid off some of these free agents for underperformance. Another layoff? Yes. Twiga assesses the agents monthly. If they do not serve the clients Twiga assigns to them satisfactorily, they are replaced by another agent on Twiga’s waiting list of new applicants. Currently, there are 2,000 people on that waiting list. MONIEPOINT RANKED 2ND FASTEST-GROWING AFRICAN COMPANY Moniepoint is Africa’s second-fastest growing company, as shown in FTs latest report. We also processed 1 billion transactions worth $43 billion in Q1 alone. Read all about it here. This is partner content. MTN SA TURNS TO ALTERNATIVE ENERGY TO ESCAPE LOAD-SHEDDING MTN has stated that it is actively investigating off-grid renewable energy alternatives to Eskom as it continues to battle the impact of load shedding on its operations. The launch forms part of a six-month plan, with completion targeted for the third quarter of 2023. It will involve a small-scale field trial in the Western Cape, to be followed by another one in the Eastern Cape. The company estimates that load-shedding cost its South African operations R695 million (~$37 million) in 2022 alone. Towards zero grid reliance: According to MTN, the project will allow seamless integration with MTN South Africa’s telecommunications equipment to provide hybrid renewable energy generation for [base stations] and other asset classes with low workloads. “It [will] also increase power security per site, mitigating the effects of load shedding in line with MTN’s plans to bolster network resilience,” the company said in a statement. Zoom out: Load shedding is forecasted to worsen this winter, with stage 8 expected. There is even some chatter about a total grid collapse. MORE FROM TECHCABAL Sudan’s war is crippling its budding tech ecosystem. Unity Bank’s Q1 2023 results raise questions about the bank’s financial health. SOWETO RIDE HAILING AND TAXI DRIVERS REACH TRUCE E-hailing drivers, including Uber and Bolt, have been banned from dropping off or picking up passengers inside malls in Soweto for a period of three months. This ban follows violent activities over the past few days which saw some Bolt and Uber vehicles burnt by taxi drivers who accused the operators of stealing their customers in the malls. The ban was introduced as a form of a ceasefire agreement between the taxi operators and ride-hailing drivers. A fair compromise: The discussions between the e-hailing association and the Soweto Taxi Services (STS) were facilitated by the City of Joburg. The ban will be in place until a permanent solution is found. The city of Johannesburg states that discussions for a more permanent solution will take place this Friday to plot a way forward. TC INSIGHTS: FUNDING TRACKER This week, Helium Health, a Nigeria-based health tech company, received $30 million in Series B funding in a round led by AXA IM Alts. Other participating investors included Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and CEO of 23andMe, Capria Ventures, Angaza Capital, Flat World Partners, Global Ventures, Tencent, Ohara Pharmaceutical Co, LCY Group, WTI, and AAIC. There’s only one more deal this week: Nigerian logistics company Haul247 raised $3 million in seed funding. The round was led by Alitheia Capital, with participation from Investment One. That’s it for this week! Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker. EXPERIENCE VIVA TECHNOLOGY Book your pass to Europe’s biggest Startup and Business event here. This is partner content. THE WORLD WIDE WEB3 Bitcoin $26,663 + 1.02% Ether $1,852 + 0.66% BNB $264 + 1.58% USD Coin $1.00 + 0.01% Name of the coin Price of the coin 24-hour percentage change Source: CoinMarketCap * Data as of 22:10 PM WAT, June 8, 2023. EVENT: THE MOONSHOT CONVERSATIONS Moonshot Conversations is a mini-series of discussions about some of the most critical problems in African tech, and what radical solutions exist. This is part of the programs preceding and heralding our new flagship conference, Moonshot by TechCabal. The conference holds in October and will gather the most audacious players in the African tech industry. Check it out here. In the first episode of this series, we’ll be discussing AI in Africa, its impact and use cases, as well as the challenges faced in building an AI tool for the African continent. Our world is constantly evolving, and it is crucial for us to stay ahead of the curve. With this event, we aspire to create an environment where innovative ideas are shared, collaborations are fostered, and powerful insights are gained. Signup here to join the conversation. JOB OPENINGS Project Growth – Digital Marketing Associate – Africa (Remote) Bridge Talent Management – Human
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- June 8 2023
After winning a $1 million prize, here is what’s next for Tanzanian agritech startup NovFeed
Tanzanian agritech startup NovFeed co-founders Diana Orembe and Otaigo Elisha speak on NovFeed’s victory in the Milken Institute and Motsepe Foundation Innovation Prize. Last month, Tanzanian biotech startup NovFeed won the Milken Institute and Motsepe Foundation competition’s $1 million grant prize money for agritech innovation. NovFeed’s product offering involves the use of biomass to produce fish feed. The feed is cheaper to produce and offers more nutritional value compared to current products in the market, the company claims. TechCabal spoke to Diana Orembe and Otaigo Elisha, co-founders of the startups, to learn more about the product, their success in the competition, as well as their thoughts on the state of agritech in Africa. Please tell us more about NovFeed and the problem you are trying to solve through your solution. Diana Orembe: NovFeed was born back in 2019 with the goal to help to promote sustainable aquaculture by producing alternative protein to replace the unsustainable fish meal and soybean in the aquafeed. The aim of this was to produce an affordable feed that can help the farmers increase their profitability. The scale of the problem is in the fact that currently, aquafeed globally is produced by using fish meal. Fish meal is unsustainable but it still accounts for over 70% of production costs as it is mostly exported from Vietnam and Netherlands. So we saw this challenge and we researched it. We then decided to apply science as a tool to help overcome this challenge and find a way to help the farmers.Our biotechnology solution involves collecting the organic waste that was supposed to end up in the landfills and then using bacteria to turn this organic waste into a renewable protein ingredient with a very high protein profile of around 70% and other valuable and important nutrients. Along the process, we also identified that the byproduct that we had after harvesting the protein ingredient is a liquid biofertilizer with a lot of probiotic bacteria that has huge potential in regenerating the soil and supporting the organic farming of fruits and vegetables. What challenges would you say you have faced in trying to scale up the solution? Otaigo Elisha: To start with, our solution is very novel and has high-tech aspects. This makes accessing the equipment we need to scale to an industrial scale, both in terms of production and research and development, rather expensive. Remember that we are continually trying to discover other products like enzymes and additives which can be produced through the system and that requires constant research and development. DO: In addition, scaling biotech companies in Africa is also another challenge that we faced because it’s an industry that has not yet grown extensively. So sometimes you need inspiration, mentorship, etc, but that’s not available. Also, talent is also hard to come by too in the form of scientists. Most of these would rather work with established companies than a startup. In terms of traction, how much would you say you have attained so far? DO: We have been able to continue to do R&D and discover a consortium of microbes that can convert this organic waste into protein biomass. Secondly, we have tested the solution on real customers, the farmers and we have collected a lot of metrics in terms of the growth performance, survival rate and in terms of digestibility of the product. Additionally, we have also increased economic value for farmers in terms of reducing cost and also reducing the maturation period of the fish. We have attracted several other partners that are working with us in different capacities, from coaching to mentorship training and other areas. How was your experience with the competition from deciding to enter to eventually winning the $1 million prize money? OE: The Milken competition runs for almost one year. So we started by submitting our idea on the platform which also has resources to improve it. This also came with the Stanford course that we attended for two weeks. We also got a mentor with a background in biotechnology which was key for us to utilise in developing our business model. We then made it to the top 25 and submitted the research protocols and proceeded to conduct our field trials. We collected a lot of valuable information from the animal feed manufacturers, farmers, and consumers of fish. Those insights helped us to develop a final report that showed how this type of alternative feed helped farmers cut costs, increase the performance at the farm level in terms of the fish growth rate, and also in terms of cutting the maturation period from eight to seven or six months. Once we were done in that phase, we submitted all the documents plus the data that we collected and other information that helped the judges to decide the top five and eventually the grand prize. NovFeed intends to use the prize money to expand production capacity. (Image source: Provided) What will you use the $1 million prize money for? OE: We are planning to use the prize money to pilot NovFeed and make sure that we are producing the final product at a bigger capacity so that we can reach more farmers and increase our impact across Tanzania and beyond. But also, we plan on investing in continuous R&D so that we can continue to improve the efficiency of our product and also innovate new products. DO: We also plan on using the prize money to build out our own lab. So far, we have been utilising the university lab for the production of the biomass and also trialling it. In that way, we can greatly accelerate our turnaround time. What role do you think biotech innovations like NovFeed’s can play in growing agriculture in Africa? DO: Speaking on a broader scale, agriculture in Africa employs a significant portion of the population. For example, in Tanzania, it employs almost 70% of the population. We see currently that the same sector is facing a lot of challenges including
Read More- June 8 2023
Taxi drivers ban Uber, Bolt from Soweto malls for three months
A compromise agreement has been reached between ride hailing drivers and taxi drivers following violence over customers in the last few days. E-hailing drivers, including Uber and Bolt, have been banned from dropping off or picking up passengers inside malls in Soweto for a period of three months. This ban follows violent activities over the past few days which saw some Bolt and Uber vehicles burnt by taxi drivers who accused the operators of stealing their customers in the malls. The ban was introduced as a form of a ceasefire agreement between the taxi operators and ride-hailing drivers. “Whether the solution is the best now is uncertain, but it is a solution nonetheless. At the end of the day, we must try something to ensure the safety of the community and us,” said Vhatuka Mbelengwa, national spokesperson for the South African E-hailing Association. The discussions between the e-hailing association and the Soweto Taxi Services (STS) were facilitated by the City of Joburg. The ban will be in place until a permanent solution is found. For the taxi drivers, chairperson Myekeleni Madlala also welcomed the agreement. “This is an agreement and not a final one. We are doing this for the safety of everyone and to ensure everyone is protected. We have agreed they will not enter the malls and will only stop at the gates of the malls. A permanent solution will still be discussed at a later stage,” he added. The city of Johannesburg, on the other hand, states that discussions for a more permanent solution will take place this Friday to plot a way forward. “We will meet again on Friday to finalise the last solutions. However, for now, we have agreed that all the e-hailing services/cars must do their drop off at the gates of the malls but when they are carrying elderly people or people with disabilities, they can then drop them off inside the mall and leave,” said Kenny Kunene, a member of the mayoral committee.
Read More- June 8 2023
Sudan’s war is crippling its budding tech ecosystem
Sudan’s tech ecosystem is caught in a crossfire between militants. But operators are daring to hope. The streets of Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, now feel like a graveyard. Made quieter by the thousands of people escaping its latest war, which broke out on April 15, Sudan’s commercial centre is no more the hotbed for innovation, technology, and a forceful tech ecosystem. Today, Khartoum is an arena for shellings that have forced several tech operators out of their offices. Tech operators are fleeing to other regions and neighbouring countries while holding out hope for the country’s future. Even banks have joined startups in their flight, leaving thousands of individuals and businesses stranded. “We abandoned everything in Khartoum, all of our inventory, everything,” says Awab Habiballa, CEO of Tolivery, a fleet management SaaS startup that operates in the war-torn capital city. Habiballa spoke to me from Dubai, where he now lives with his family. He recounts that Tolivery’s business operations came to a standstill as the war escalated. “It was especially bad for us because a lot of our products are hardware components, and we had to abandon them.” As part of its services, Tolivery provides telematic devices for startups and enterprises to track and manage their mobility operations. The startup will now operate from Port Sudan, a tranquil city in the eastern part of the country. Tolivery’s business troubles are compounded by the failing connectivity infrastructure in Sudan. Telecom operators struggle with electricity and maintenance while fintechs that process payments for internet-dependent services are unreliable. “We completely shut down in the first month,” says Ahmed Elmurtada, managing partner at 249Startups, Sudan’s leading accelerator for idea to early-stage companies. “The goal at that point was to be alive and safe. So the majority of our team found ways to leave Khartoum and Sudan. Now, we are distributed across neighbouring countries like Ethiopia, Egypt, and UAE,” he said. Elmurtada, whose accelerator has incubated more than 150 startups in Sudan, expressed painfully how many of these startups have lost almost all they’ve struggled to build within the past few years. “Inventory gone, offices deserted, digital infrastructure down, and bank accounts inoperative. That’s the story of Sudan’s tech ecosystem.” A familiar quip in the tech world is: “Software will eat up the world.” Sudan’s story proves that war is the more ravenous carnivore. Troubled, but not destroyed Sudan is the third largest country in Africa by land size with a population of over 45 million people—68% of which are under the age of 30. Judging from this only, one might conclude Sudan is a prosperous pro-technology market—which, of course, it should have been, if not for the consistent civil wars and militant uprisings that have bedevilled the country since its independence in 1956. Since independence from Britain, Sudan has witnessed two civil wars and over 15 military coups, including the 1989 coup that ushered in Omar al-Bashir, an extremist that ruled the country for 30 years, before he was forced to resign in 2019. After this, the move to transition to civilian rule was busted by another coup by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo. The duo are now at the centre of Sudan’s present conflict, raging at each other for control of the country and recording thousands of casualties. Al-Bashir’s time as prime minister attracted punitive measures from the US. The Bill Clinton-led administration unleashed sanctions that prohibited US investments in Sudan. And the UN security council followed suit. These sanctions would later starve the tech ecosystem of capital and blacklist Sudanese entrepreneurs from global investment opportunities. In 2020, the sanctions were lifted, marking what seemed to be a rebirth for the Sudanese business ecosystem. Funds began to flow in, with alsoug’s $5 million and Bloom’s $6.5 million among the notable ones. Accelerators like 249Startups and Impact Hub were also actively churning out cohorts. Business in Sudan was beginning to look attractive to investors—until the current war erupted in April. As at the end of May, the war has killed about 1,800 civilians and injured over 5,000 others. “We’re sort of used to the ups and downs of the Sudanese market,” Habiballa explains. “Before the war, we had to deal with a government that showed almost zero support for our businesses. Building in such an environment makes you tough. That’s why founders in the region somehow manage to push things forward. And this war will not be an exception.” Building from the diaspora Founders who have fled Sudan may have lost their startups, but not the spirit that forged those businesses. For many of them, the countries they are fleeing to will provide not only safety but also market opportunities for their ideas. Elmurtada told TechCabal that 249 Startups have continued to connect its portfolio companies to tech networks in countries like the UAE and Egypt, where many founders have now moved to. “In our five years of operating in Sudan, we built connections with tech ecosystems across these countries, including accelerators like Flat6labs and Plug and Play. Now, we’re pushing for support for Sudanese entrepreneurs. I believe that Sudanese entrepreneurs will flourish in these new markets if given the opportunity. They have made things work in one of the toughest economies globally. Think of what could happen in a more stable market,” he said. For Elmurtada, the sentiment is that these founders will build stable businesses in these countries that could eventually expand into Sudan. Having a stable Sudan-in-diaspora tech community does a lot of good for the country. It opens accessibility to funding for these entrepreneurs, creating a pathway for funding to Sudan as the diaspora ecosystem matures. For context, the African diaspora contributes over $95 billion yearly to the African economy. Awab Habiballa, whose startup has struggled to raise institutional funding, told TechCabal that raising money for Sudanese startups mostly involved registering the business in other countries to reassure investors. “It will naturally be hard for
Read More- June 8 2023
Unity Bank’s Q1 2023 results raise questions about the bank’s financial health
On paper, everything seems well at Unity Bank, but a worrying note from independent auditors, KPMG, on the financial health of Unity Bank should bother investors. A note from independent auditors, KPMG, has raised questions over the financial health of Nigeria’s Unity Bank. These questions became pertinent after the lender’s total liabilities exceeded its total assets by ₦274.9 billion for the full-year ended December 31, 2022. Per its financial statements, the bank recorded total assets of ₦510 billion in full-year 2022, compared to ₦538 billion in 2021. On the part of its total liabilities, the bank recorded ₦785 billion in 2022, as against ₦815 billion recorded in 2021. Analysts from KPMG wrote a note regarding this situation in its books, highlighted it as a “growing concern.” “We draw attention to Note 35 of the financial statements, which indicates that the bank made a profit of ₦941.4million for the year ended 31 December 2022. As at same date, the bank’s total liabilities exceeded its total assets by ₦274.9billion and the bank did not meet the required minimum Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 10% and the minimum capital requirement of ₦25.00 billion for a national bank as required by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). As stated in Note 35, these events or conditions, along with other matters as set forth in Note 35, indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt about the bank’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the note in the financials read. What Unity Bank’s 2022 financials say For the year 2022, the bank’s interest income grew by 13% to ₦48.9 billion in 2022 from ₦43.1 billion in 2021 but its profit after tax (PAT) fell by 70% to ₦941.3 million in 2022. Directors of the bank admitted in their notes to the financial statements that the bank is nearing a recapitalisation and there is uncertainty regarding the process. Nonetheless, they said that they have reached an advanced stage with both local and multinational investors in the fund mobilisation for the bank. “The directors are confident that they would be able to recapitalise the bank upon the upturn of economic activities within the next one year. Based on this, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the bank will continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and as such realise its assets and settle its liabilities in the normal course of business,” the notes to its 2022 financial statement read. Managing Director, Unity Bank Plc, Mrs Tomi Somefun in a quote attributed to her said the bank is trying to build momentum while reflecting key performance indicators despite economic headwinds and volatilities that characterized the operating environment in the 2022 financial year. “There are highs and lows as we look at the gross earnings, with 13.7% growth, increase in liquid assets by 7.5% and deposits recording moderate growth of 1.6%, while maintaining steady growth in profitability,” the statement said. More worries in Q1 2023 results Despite those unimpressive 2022 results, the bank managed to make a comeback in its first quarter 2023 results. It recorded ₦1.04 billion profit in the first quarter of 2023, compared to ₦869.2 million in the corresponding period of 2022. Its gross income went up by 17% to ₦15.9 billion in Q1 2023. Despite these improvements, its total liabilities still surpass its total assets in Q1 2023, sustaining the questions over the bank’s financial health. The bank recorded total assets of ₦440 billion in Q1 2023, as against ₦510 billion in the corresponding period of 2022. Also, it recorded ₦580 billion as total liabilities in the first quarter of 2023, as compared to ₦785 billion recorded in Q1 2022. However, it forecast a profit after tax of ₦230 million for the second quarter of 2023 and gross earnings of ₦23.4 billion for the same period. In 2020, TechCabal reported that Unity Bank alongside TeamApt and Access Bank were victims of a data hack, which they all refused to admit.
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- June 8 2023
TechCabal Daily – More telecoms for Nigeria
Lire en français Read this email in French. 8 JUNE, 2023 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Happy pre-Friday In more AI news, Microsoft has launched a new AI aid for Windows 11 called Windows Copilot. Copilot is a personal assistant that will empower its users by enabling swift action, customisable settings, and seamless interaction with preferred applications. If you’re on Windows 11, you should be able to test it out. In today’s edition NCC grants 25 firms telecom licences Nigerian banks to pay less for transfer Safaricom’s smart water Samsung is starting e-waste collection in Kenya The World Wide Web3 Event: The Moonshot Conference Opportunities NCC GRANTS 25 FIRMS TELECOM LICENCES The Nigerians Communications Commission (NCC) has granted licences to 25 companies to offer telecom services under the Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) framework. What is an MVNO? A Mobile Virtual Network Operator is a company that provides wireless communication services without owning the underlying network infrastructure used to serve its customers. The newly licensed companies will offer services similar to other telecommunications providers like MTN, 9mobile, Airtel, and Globacom, despite not having their own infrastructure. Instead, they will use the existing infrastructure of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the country. So far, seven companies have been licensed under tier 2 and 3, three companies under tier 4, and eight companies under tier 5. See the names of all companies here. Cost of each licence: The MNVO licence, which is a 5-tier classification, has different services required of players in each tier. Per The Guardian Nigeria, all 25 companies acquired licences in tier 2 to 5, and none obtained a tier 1 licence. The tier 5 licence costs ₦500 million ($1.1 million), tier 4 costs ₦200 million ($432,900). Both the tier 3 and tier 4 licences cost ₦130 million ($ 281,385) and ₦60 million ($131,063) respectively, while the tier 1 licence cost ₦35 million($75,757). The NCC has collected licensing fees totalling around ₦5.9 billion ($12.7 million) by granting MVNO licences to these 25 companies. MONIEPOINT RANKED 2ND FASTEST-GROWING AFRICAN COMPANY Moniepoint is Africa’s second-fastest growing company, as shown in FTs latest report. We also processed 1 billion transactions worth $43 billion in Q1 alone. Read all about it here. This is partner content. NIGERIAN BANKS TO PAY LESS FOR TRANSFERS Nigerian banks asked and they have received. Upon the request of commercial banks, Nigeria’s Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has reduced the cost of transactions from ₦5 ($0.011) to ₦3.75 ($0.0081). The new prices will take effect on July 1, 2023, but insiders and experts say that this doesn’t mean that banks will be charging their customers less transaction fees. Why won’t they? Every single kobo matters and banks know it all too well. Fees and commissions play a major role in their non-interest income, making them one of the biggest contributors. Just take a look at the numbers from 2022: Access Bank raked in ₦145.7 billion ($315.5 million), Zenith Bank secured ₦132.8 billion ($287 million), Ecobank pocketed ₦200.9 billion ($434.8 million), and UBA snagged ₦128.2 billion ($277.4 million), all from those charges and commissions. Let’s face it, these banks won’t give up a single kobo unless someone really means business. And by that, we mean the big boss: the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Has that happened before? Yes. In December 2019, the CBN made banks reduce their fees to increase access to banking services to more Nigerians. The banks that hesitated were fined. If the CBN makes the same move again they may have to comply. MORE FROM TECHCABAL One year after its launch, MTN’s MoMo still needs to reach more Nigerians. Entering Tech #33: How Data Community Africa helps data professionals. Twiga confirms that it laid off its sales team in 2022 as it adjusts its commercial model. SAFARICOM INTRODUCES SMART WATER SYSTEM IN CAMPUSES Kenyan telecom Safaricom and the Kenya Water Institute (KEWI) are partnering to introduce a smart water system that could make a real splash at the Nairobi and Kitui campuses. Side bar: Smart water management uses real-time data to detect loss & leakage, ensure accurate billing, enhance revenue collection, improve operational efficiency, and as a result save costs. It isn’t just about the H2O; Per TechtrendsKe, the smart water system will be used to facilitate, create, and run a practical smart water management curriculum for students at the institutions. Through this partnership, Safaricom seeks to paddle Kenya towards a future where clean water and sustainable management flow freely. This aligns perfectly with Sustainable Development Goal 6, which seeks to ensure the availability and sustainable management of clean water and sanitation for all. SAMSUNG LAUNCHES E-WASTE PROGRAMME IN NAIROBI Samsung Electronics East Africa has partnered with home appliances store, Housewife’s Paradise, to collect e-waste for recycling in Kenya. As part of a joint effort on environmental conservation, the e-waste collection will commence in Nairobi, and then expand nationwide by the end of the year. The process: Housewife’s Paradise will collect Samsung brand-only e-waste from customers at their desired time and date. Subsequently, the collected waste will be transported to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Centre (WEEE), Kenya’s official Samsung recycling partner, and disposed of according to established global standards. According to the head of division at Samsung, Ronald Mitei, Samsung has been actively committed to a responsible e-waste management system and they aim to expand and enhance their efforts to reduce any adverse environmental effects caused by their products. “We have been dedicated to responsible e-waste management for the last few years and we now want to scale it up to ensure that we minimise any negative environmental impact of our products. This includes taking responsibility for the end-of-life phase of our products to prevent environmental harm. Our e-waste programme and recycling programme are an important part of this commitment,” he said. This programme comes as the world celebrates United Nations World Environment Day, and it aims to raise awareness and encourage action to protect the environment by collecting e-waste. EXPERIENCE VIVA TECHNOLOGY Book your
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- June 8 2023
Sweden’s Medius to acquire Tunisian-born Expensya in a 9-figure deal
Medius, the Swedish business expense management company, plans to acquire Tunisian-born but Paris-headquartered Expensya for an undisclosed sum. A source with knowledge of the deal says Medius could pay several hundred million for Expensya. A press statement seen by TechCabal describes the acquisition as “ one of the largest in the MENA region.” Expensya was founded in 2014 by Karim Jouini (CEO) and Jihed Othmani (CTO) to provide automated expense management tools for European businesses. Expensya’s software allows businesses to offer autonomous spending (within specified rules and limits) freeing up time and streamlining employee expensing. Integrations with popular ERP applications like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics allow financial comptrollers to maintain control and visibility across all business spending and simplify staff reimbursement. Initially built in Tunis, Expensya is headquartered in Paris but still maintains the bulk of its back office operation in Africa. Per TechCabal reporting last year, only 50 of 160 employees were based outside Africa with the rest working out from an office in the Tunisian capital. Expensya cofounders, Karim Jouini (CEO) and Jihed Othmani (CTO). Photo source: JeuneAfrique | © Expensya Before this acquisition, Expensya had raised a total of $25.6 million, with the latest being a $20 million Series B that was announced in April 2021. Press statements announcing the pending acquisition say Expensya more than doubled its recurring revenue in two years (from 2021) and grew its customer base to 6000 businesses (700,000 active individual users) spread across 100 countries. Expensya now employs more than 200 employees, mainly based in Tunisia, France, and Germany. Read also: How this Tunisian startup won big in Europe “Mid-size organizations and their CFOs are clearly looking for one common platform to efficiently manage all their spend,” said Karim Jouini, CEO of Expensya. “By combining our employee spend management solution and payment cards, with Medius’s AP automation platform, we now cover the whole indirect spend of companies.” Founded in 2001, Medius is a cloud-based spend management technology provider based in Stockholm, the Swedish capital. In 2017, California-based private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners acquired Medius for an undisclosed sum. In March, Marlin sold a minority stake in Medius to Advent International, another private equity firm, for an undisclosed sum. Industry watchers reported that the minority single-asset stake sale was close to $500 million after Marlin revalued Medius downwards, suggesting that Medius retained a value substantially above the billion-dollar mark. “Expensya has developed a leading employee spend management solution in Europe,” Jim Lucier, Medius CEO said in a published press statement “Its founders, Karim and Jihed, and its leadership team share our ambition to transform the spend management category,” he added. Medius is especially keen to leverage Expensya’s technology to boost its spend management automation platform for travel businesses. According to Kevin Permenter, research director for Financial Applications at International Data Corporation, “Medius’s planned acquisition of Expensya will help financial leaders get a holistic view of their organization’s travel performance and financial position by enabling data from travel and expense activities to flow between the relevant finance functions.” Medius has sought to grow its business suite by acquiring emerging firms operating in the same or, adjacent space. In 2019 it acquired Wax Digital, a UK Procurement payment provider. And in 2022, it bought OnPay Solutions, a US-based Accounts Payable and cloud-based invoice processing company. The acquisition, when completed, will be the second 9-figure acquisition of a startup of Tunisian origin. In January this year, Oxford University spinoff, BioNTech, acquired InstaDeep, another Tunisian-born startup for $680 million. The deal represented the largest startup exit to date for an African-born startup.
Read More- June 7 2023
With its share price down 55%, Tingo Group will address Hinderburg research allegations today
Nigerian fintech, Tingo Group, says it will make a formal statement concerning the allegations by Hindenburg today and appoint a legal firm to manage the situation. Tingo Group, a NASDAQ-listed agri-fintech company accused of being an “exceptionally obvious scam” by the Hindenburg research group, has said it will publicly address such allegations today. The group shared this in its 2023 special meeting of shareholders today. The company’s response is critical, given that its share price dipped by -55% on NASDAQ after Hindenburg’s lengthy expose. TechCabal listened in on Tingo’s shareholder meeting, which lasted only eight minutes. Tingo’s Group senior chief financial officer Ben Trippier was on the call. However, it was unclear if Dozy Mmobuosi, the Group’s Founder and CEO, was on the call. Nevertheless, Tingo said it would “make a formal statement concerning the allegations by Hindenburg later today” but didn’t disclose any specific time. Tingo told shareholders on the call, “Most of you are aware of certain allegations which were published yesterday regarding the company. We intend to make a formal statement concerning certain of these claims later today.” Tingo further said it will appoint a “well-known International legal firm” to help address the current claims. “In addition, as is required for good corporate governance, we are in the process of appointing a well-known international legal firm as special legal counsel to assist the board in examining these allegations and producing a report to address the same,” the company concluded. Another issue discussed during the meeting was a proposal to increase the number of authorized shares and common stock from 425 million to 750 million. The company’s board approved the proposal. *This is a developing story
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