Renew Capital, an Africa-focused impact investment firm, is making significant strides in supporting promising growth-oriented small and medium enterprises. Two of their latest investments are in Wazi Vision and Xente, both based in Uganda.
Wazi Vision is a women-founded Ugandan eyewear startup seeking to change the eyewear industry in Africa. Brenda Katwesigye Baganzi and Geogette Ochieng Ndabukiye launched Wazi in response to a gap in Uganda’s eyewear market. “Accessing high-quality eyewear in Africa is often prohibitively expensive and unattainable for the majority of the population. However, available alternatives are of subpar quality and fail to offer adequate value to customers,” says Baganzi, noting that they sought to address these pain points for the African eyewear consumer.
Wazi glasses are made by a skilled African team who consider various facial features to ensure each pair of frames is fashionable and comfortable. Wazi also allows customers to design frames that capture their individual personality and choice of material including acetate and sustainable eco-materials like cow horn, bamboo, and denim. The company is becoming popular with the youth for its wide selection of chic styles and unique and trendy brand persona. Wazi plans to open a new store in one of the busiest suburbs in Kampala to cater to demand.
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With the help of an investment from Renew Capital Angels, Wazi plans to expand its product line and enhance its distribution capacity in Kampala and beyond. “Innovation within the eyewear sector is at a nascent stage in sub-Saharan Africa. We like the fact that Wazi is a homegrown technology-driven business looking to improve the accessibility of unique and affordable eyewear. We look forward to working with Geogette and team in creating an eyewear brand by Africans, for Africans, in Africa,” said Diana Njuguna, Renew Capital Senior Investment Manager.
Wazi Vision conducts many eye test camps in hard-to-reach areas around Uganda. The free services cater to those who ordinarily wouldn’t afford to see an ophthalmologist, yet vision problems are common in the country. With a cross-subsidization model, those who are diagnosed with refractive errors get eyewear they manufacture, at affordable prices.
On the other hand, Xente is a digital payment platform that makes it easier for businesses to make payments and track and manage their finances in a single easy-to-use digital platform. Xente, a business neo-bank, is helping to drive the agenda of digital transformation in the region where the majority of payments are done manually. Only 5%–7% of all payment transactions in Africa were made via electronic or digital channels. In addition, banks reported the proportion of SMEs that use digital banking to be less than that of retail customers.
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“The scale of the problem Xente is solving and the market opportunity that exists for their offering is impressive. We are proud to be on this journey with Xente as it expands its business across the region,” says Renew Capital Senior Investment Manager Diana Njuguna.
Businesses can use Xente to make payments using cards, mobile money, domestic and international bank transfers, as well as to pay bills and send airtime and data. Furthermore, the platform allows them to efficiently manage their petty cash expenses to ease the complexity of accounting and finance. In 2022, Xente acquired a license from the Bank of Uganda and also partnered with Visa to launch one of the first physical and virtual corporate cards by a fintech in East and Central Africa. Xente hopes to expand its user base with the investment from the Renew Capital Angels and continue enhancing its product offering.
Renew Capital is a pioneer in backing innovative companies with high-growth potential, and their investments in Wazi Vision and Xente are testaments to this.
Renew Capital Wazi Vision Xente Renew Capital Wazi Vision Xente
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard