Blog - Afrikan Heroes

MTN Nigeria Acquires Additional 800MHz Spectrum

March 13, 2021

As the quest for its broadband penetration gains traction, Africa’s leading telco, the Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) through its Nigerian subsidiary has acquired an additional 10MHz spectrum in the 800MHz band from Intercellular Nigeria Limited. This acquisition was completed with the final approval from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which assigned the frequency. MTN said this acquisition will significantly improve its customer experience.

“Through this acquisition, we will be better positioned to support the deepening of broadband penetration in the country,” says Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria.

“The added resources will also greatly impact our customers’ experience providing even better internet connectivity. It is our goal to keep finding ways to grant everyone access to modern connected life.”

It could be recalled that the MTN Group announced recently, the addition of 29 Million Subscribers Despite a Challenging 2020 to reach a total of 280 million across 21 markets. The group also reported a 52% increase in adjusted headline earnings per share, a four percentage point increase in return on equity to 17% and a more than doubling in operating cash flow to R28,3 billion.

“We continued to perform favourably against our medium-term targets,” says MTN President and CEO, Ralph Mupita. “In constant currency terms, service revenue grew 11,9% to R170 billion and EBITDA increased by 13,4%, maintaining our strong operating leverage. The Group’s EBITDA margin improved by 0,9pp to 42,7%, benefiting from the execution of our expense efficiency programme.”

The solid results were supported by growth in MTN’s larger operations as well as a broad-based improvement across all regions. As well as managing the risks of COVID-19, the telco is reportedly alive to the opportunities presented by the pandemic – particularly the accelerated need for digitalisation evidenced in the greater adoption and usage of MTN services.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Nigeria’s Ride-Sharing Service, Shuttlers Plans Abuja and Accra Expansion

Nigeria-based ride-sharing service Shuttlers is seeking to raise $1.5m by the end of the second quarter to expand to cities such as Abuja and Accra. The company, according to its CEO Damilola Olokesusi is also planning to start running school buses in Lagos when the school year starts in September. Shuttlers has run pilot school bus projects but implementation has been held up by Covid-19. This is buoyed by findings from the Danne Institute which states that in Lagos, eight million people struggle daily to move around in Lagos in five million vehicles on a tiny network of 9,204 roads. Households in Lagos on average spent 24% of their budget on transport, with the burden heaviest for low-income households, who spend 33%.

Damilola Olokesusi, CEO and co-founder Shuttlers

That doesn’t mean they get an efficient means of transport in return. An average of 264 cars per kilometre are on the roads in Lagos during rush hour, compared with the world average of 11 cars, the institute says.

Olokesusi co-founded the Shuttlers service in 2015 because as a young graduate she couldn’t afford a car but public transport was too uncomfortable to use. Larger companies were able to supply buses for their employees, but there was no practical solution for many people working at small or medium-sized companies, she says. The solution was for Shuttlers to rent buses from private bus owners.

Because the bus owners weren’t interested in smaller groups or individuals – the fastest way for them to fill the bus up was to rent it out to a large company. Shuttlers saw an opportunity to buy the seats at wholesale prices and then sell them at retail prices on its platform.

Shuttlers customers are a mixture of small and medium-sized companies and individuals. The company has sold more than 500m seats to date, and Olokesusi points to the impact in terms or reducing the number of cars on the road.

The fact that the founders are female made it harder to get early funding, she says. The logistical problems faced in Lagos were daunting. Those obstacles meant that it was critical to prove quickly that Shuttlers had a profitable business model, Olokesusi says. The company is making money, with revenue above $1m in 2020.

Corporate customers can subsidise or pay for their staff through a digital wallet system. Individuals also pay digitally and then scan a barcode with their mobile phones to show they have paid. The company has never accepted cash. In addition to the driver, the buses have stewards or “bus captains”, customers who have been given a discount to perform the role.

Though the Covi-19 pandemic adversely affected other businesses, it however led to increasing demand for the service as companies are looking to cut costs and outsource as much as possible. “People don’t want to use public transport” and private services are seen as “more reliable” in following anti-Covid rules, she says.

There are also plans to launch a women’s only bus service which will be equipped with learning apps that will enable customers to improve their digital and financial skills because the company believes that it will help people make the most of their time as they turn traffic time to learning time. Ride-sharing the company believe is part of the solution to beating traffic in congested West African cities.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Flutterwave Embarks on North Africa Expansion

Becoming Africa’s newest unicorn probably calls for more responsibilities which evidently captures the expansionary drive of the payments processing company Flutterwave into North African territory. Flutterwave which recently raised $170m in new funding will according to company sources achieve its objectives. To this end, the company will extend its payments network to Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia by the middle of the second quarter.

Aside from the North African countries, Flutterwave also plans to expand into francophone Africa as “our network needs to be everywhere” on the continent. With the new funding, Flutterwave aims to make it easier for Africans to build global businesses that can make and accept payments worldwide. Flutterwave will also use the money, raised from investors to accelerate customer acquisition and develop new products.

The need to venture into North Africa is informed by the fact that digital payments market in North Africa and the Middle East is set to grow at a compound annual rate of 13.3% until 2026, driven by mobile phone and Internet penetration, which is crucial for the region to have an underlying real-time infrastructure in place to enable these payments.

Among new products is the Flutterwave Mobile service, which allows small merchants to convert a mobile phone into a point of sale and this service goes live this month in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Rwanda.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

SA Fintech Startup, Nomanini, Raises $500k For International Expansion

Cape Town-based fintech startup, Nomanini, which facilitates financial service providers and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in reaching retail micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and their customers in South Africa, has secured US$500k from Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership.

“Nomanini continues to put the livelihoods of MSME retailers at the centre of our focus,” said Vahid Monadjem, CEO of Nomanini. “COVID-19 served to underscore the importance of these entrepreneurs for their communities as well as their lack of access to financial tools to provide resilience in this time of crisis. With FMO on board, we are looking forward to expanding our partnerships to include more like-minded financial service providers.”

Here Is What You Need To Know

FMO disbursed the funding by way of convertible loan from the government fund MASSIF, a fund it manages for the Dutch government.

Nomanini will use the funding to boost their pan-African expansion.

Why The Investor Invested

“Nomanini’s focus on informal and un(der)banked merchants, including vendors, kiosk- and shop holders across Africa, fit perfectly with the mandate of the financial inclusion fund”, said MASSIF fund manager Jeroen Harteveld. “Beyond Nomanini’s talented team, we believe its existing B2B partnerships are unprecedented for a FinTech. We are excited to support Nomanini to scale further by leveraging FMO’s knowledge and vast network of partners in the African financial services sector.”

FMO joins Goodwell Investments and Standard Bank Group in backing the South African-based fintech company in a recent joint funding round.

MASSIF supports access to financial services such as savings and loans for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises. Set up in 2006, the fund is active mostly in low-income countries,supporting MSMEs, agricultural value chains, access to basic goods, andenterprises owned by women and youth. MASSIF has a portfolio of EUR 545 million (USD 647 million) as of December 2019.

Established in 1970, FMO is 51-percent held by the Dutch government and 49-percent by private sector institutions. The development finance institution works toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by funding capacity development as well as placing debt and equity investments in sectors such as agribusiness, financial institutions, and energy. During the six months ending June 2020, FMO lost EUR 280 million (USD 330 million) on a total portfolio of EUR 12.7 billion (USD 14.9 billion).

A Look At What The Startup Does

Founded in 2011, Nomanini focuses on unbanked vendors, kiosk- and shop holders, while its strategic partnerships allow the FinTech platform to be one of the ‘winning’ models. Nomanini connects merchants and distributors to each other and global service providers, integrating payments, working capital, and data analytics to unlock the latent potential of Africa’s economy. This fits with MASSIF’s objective to support end-beneficiaries through financing local financial intermediaries and institutions.

Over the past year, Nomanini has more than doubled the number of merchants on its platform as well as increased the number of loans fourfold, underpinning the large need for financial services and supply chain financing in this traditionally underserved sector. The company is now focusing on cultivating more partnerships and further developing its solutions for both financial service and FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) providers.

The startup has offices in Kenya as well as in South Africa. Its investors include Goodwell Investments, which has offices in Kenya, the Netherlands, and South Africa, and Standard Chartered, a UK-based bank that is mainly active in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Financial data for Nomanini are unavailable.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

Nomanini fintech

Africa-focused Investor, SunFunder, Raises $70m To Invest In Off-grid Startups

SunFunder, the investment company specializing in solar energy has just completed the mobilization of capital for its Solar Energy Transformation (SET) fund which it intends to invest in solar energy firms in Africa and Asia. SunFunder closed SET at $70m with investment from Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (OeEB), the Austrian government’s development bank.

*Sabine Gaber, member of the Administrative Council of the OeEB*

“Off-grid solutions have played a critical role in providing clean, affordable and reliable energy, especially to rural populations. We are therefore proud to team up with SunFunder — an experienced partner concerned with impact in this area — and to support this innovative fund which improves access to energy for millions of people,” states Sabine Gaber, member of the Administrative Council of the OeEB.

The SET fund was started by SunFunder with the aim of accelerating the electrification process in Africa. This funding mechanism has attracted many other investors such as Swedfund which injected $12 million into it in September 2020. The fund was also funded by the American Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Calvert Impact Capital, Ceniarth, the IKEA Bank of America Foundation, Mercy Investment Services, Schmidt Family Foundation, as well as several individual investors through the Toniic Impact network.

A Look At What SunFunder Does And How Off-grid Companies May Apply For Loans From It

SunFunder provides innovative debt financing for solar enterprises working in emerging and frontier markets. It collaborates with major debt fund investors around the world to unlock capital for solar energy projects. Find out more below.

It invests in solar enterprises across Africa and other regions that need debt financing to scale. The company helps companies that are active in the off-grid, residential, productive use, mini-grid and commercial and industrial solar sectors. These companies range from established global players to early-stage pioneers. In Nigeria, for example, SunFunder invested $ 4 million in Daystar Power to provide solar power to industrial and commercial customers. The investment company has also participated in several fundraisers, including that of solar irrigation system supplier SunFunder and solar home system supplier PEG Africa.

To know more about SunFunder’s loan application process, click here.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

Sunfunder invest Sunfunder invest

$2m Jua Fund Backs African Tech Startups

March 12, 2021

About Seven African tech startups have secured backing from the US$2 million Jua Fund which will also provide them with mentorship and advisory support. It could be recalled that industrialist Adam Molai had launched the US$1 million Jua Kickstarter Fund late last year to provide successful applicants with funds to launch or grow their businesses, as well as mentoring and guidance, with the fund then doubling in size by the end of January. Three enterprises from Kenya, two from Nigeria and one each from Madagascar and Zimbabwe have now been selected as the recipients of the inaugural fund, with all having agreed to deals following a week-long “Kickstarter Olympics” during which they pitched their ideas to a high-profile panel of judges.

The final deal closure and disbursement will be contingent on the enterprises passing due diligence and other agreed terms and conditions, with the fund also providing mentorship and advisory support as well as putting them in touch with other investors.

Kenya’s three selected startups were GrowAgric, a crowd-farming platform that connects farmers to much-needed working capital; Side, an e-commerce distribution channel that leverages the power of “community” or “group buying” to provide goods to end customers more cheaply; and Xetova, a technology solutions provider to the procurement ecosystem.

Nigeria was represented by Powerstove Energy, which uses advanced technology to deliver a superior smokeless, IoT-enabled cookstove that generates electricity, and Whispa Health, a mobile app that provides young people with non-judgmental access to Sexual and Reproductive Health information, products and services.

Zimbabwe’s Bryt-Knowledge, a multifaceted online educational platform that connects students with subject matter experts using technology, and Madagascar’s Jirogasy, which manufactures, assembles and designs solar home systems and communication systems for solar, were the other two companies backed.

According to Molai, the exercise had over-delivered on his expectations. Adding that the Jua Fund is a tiny drop in the ocean, “in our effort to unite African grey hairs with our bright young future through funding and mentorship support, after listening to the pitches and presentations during the Kickstarter Olympics, my faith and hope has more than been repaid. We have brilliant entrepreneurs on this continent. I and my fellow judges were immensely impressed by all our finalists, even those that fell away during the week.”

Molai says he was especially delighted that the recipients would deliver the impact that he wanted Jua Fund to have.

“We targeted enterprises that are scalable across the continent and actually address the challenges that are hobbling Africa’s development, and the selected enterprises all do that. Jirogasy and Bryt will be furthering education, one through hardware the other through software; Side and GrowAgric are disrupting the value chain of goods from farm to table; Powerstove Energy is saving the environment with their cooking stove innovation, Whispa Health is taking care of wellbeing, and Xetova is adding African flair to procurement. We look forward to a long and productive future for all of them,” he said.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

IFC Extends $15 million to South Africa’s Fintech, Adumo

The International Financial Corporation (IFC) a member of the World Bank Group, and the IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund have put mechanisms into place to expand access to electronic payment solutions, especially for underserved small and medium-sized businesses with $15 million funding. The funding to Adumo, South Africa’s largest independent payments processor that offers a range of smart payment solutions to large multinational and independent retailers as well as entrepreneurs and informal traders. Its group companies include Sureswipe, iKhokha, Humble, Innervation Pan African Payment Solutions and Innervation Rewards.

Paul Kent, chief executive officer (CEO) at Adumo.

With presence in 14 African countries, and IFC’s investments will support Adumo to make digital payments systems more affordable and accessible to smaller businesses in Africa, many of which currently rely on cash transactions.

The investment by IFC and the IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund, a fund managed by IFC’s Asset Management Company, consists of US$15 million in preferred shares to fund the growth of the company.

“The pandemic and associated impact on consumers and businesses are transforming the face of the payments industry with interest in cashless payment services at an all-time high. The funds we have raised from our new equity partners will help us roll out new payment innovations and purpose-based lending services to support consumers and retailers as they navigate an uncertain 2021,” said Paul Kent, chief executive officer (CEO) at Adumo.

“Through this investment in Adumo, we will be helping small businesses tap into the digital economy, which is more important now than ever before. Digital payments are often the first step for a small business to build a credit history, which opens the way to access further financial services such as financing to grow the business,” said Sérgio Pimenta, IFC’s vice president for the Middle East and Africa.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Savannah Fund Launches $25m Africa Tech Seed Fund in Kenya

A US$25 million fund that will be invested in early-stage startups across Sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on supporting women entrepreneurs and disruptive companies in high-growth sectors has been launched by the Kenya-based Savannah Fund. Led by Mbwana Alliy and Paul Bragiel, Savannah Fund is one of the earliest Sub-Saharan Africa-focused tech venture capital firms, starting its investment activities in 2012 when it launched its first accelerator programme in Kenya. In 2016, it transitioned completely to seed and Series A investments, and has to date invested in 31 companies across seven countries on the continent.

Savannah’s second fund, which has closed at US$25 million, is led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, which invested US$3 million, while the Women’s Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) invested US$500,000. Other notable investors include Tim Draper of Draper Associates and Visa Forsten, co-founder of Supercell. Senegal-based venture studio UMA also participated. The fund will focus on seed to Series A investments in core markets Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, with an eye on expansion to emerging hubs across Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ivory Coast and Ghana. Key investment sectors include fintech, ed-tech, logistics, e-commerce, SaaS, e-health, agri-tech, and innovation at the bottom of the pyramid.

To achieve set objectives towards this second fund formation, Alliy and Bragiel warehoused seven startups into this latest fund’s portfolio, including South Africa’s Aerobotics, Kenya’s Moringa School, and South Africa’s FlexClub. More recently, it backed pre-seed rounds for Orbit Health in Ethiopia and cloud kitchen company Ando Foods in Kenya.

“Savannah Fund II will continue its long-term mission to partner with ambitious founders, building startups that will scale across Africa,” said Alliy.

“We’re incredibly bullish on startups that have the potential to scale beyond the continent that can expand into Silicon Valley and emerging markets like South East Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America,” said Bragiel.

“Early-stage funding is vital to enable more of Africa’s emerging and growing tech founders to grow their business and fuel the transformation of Africa’s Internet economy. By partnering with Savannah Fund, we can help more entrepreneurs to access funding,” said Kevin Njiraini, IFC regional director for Southern Africa and Nigeria.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Tanzania To Increase Data Rates For WhatsApp Callers

To compensate for the financial losses induced by the drop in international telecom voice traffic caused by the massive adoption of the Over-The-Top (OTT) WhatsApp application, the government of Tanzania is currently considering various solutions, including the introduction new data rates. Information and Communication Technology Minister Faustine Ndugulile (pictured) revealed this on Wednesday (March 10) in an interview with mwananchi.co.tz.

Information and Communication Technology Minister Faustine Ndugulile

Acknowledging that banning WhatsApp calls is not a viable option, Emmanuel Manase, the director of sector issues at the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), said a price adjustment could instead help the country to stabilize its revenues. He argued that the first step will first be to identify the phones that make and receive calls through the OTTs. Through their call data, the regulator will be able to estimate the total value of calls made and received in order to determine by how much to adjust the price of the data.

Over the years, OTTs have been preferred by consumers of telecom services in view of the affordable costs they offer. As a result, the number of international mobile calls increased from 107.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 27.27 million in the last quarter of 2020, according to the TCRA. That is to say a decline of 81.09% in ten years.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

South African Car-Rental Startup, FlexClub, Lands Additional $5m Seed

Flexclub, a South African startup that links customers seeking convenient access to long-term cars with partners that sell car subscriptions, has received an additional $5 million in funding to boost drivers’ experiences in these markets.

“When we first started, we were focused on phase one of our strategy, which came from our knowledge about ride-hailing drivers because of our careers at Uber,” Tinashe Ruzane said. “We wanted to help a community of ride-hailing drivers that had been excluded from accessing cars. But right now, we’ve built the product to work for anyone and not just ride-hailing drivers.”

Here Is What You Need To Know

Investors in this round include Kindred Ventures — its lead investor — which had previously invested in mobility-first companies like Postmates, Uber and Virgin Hyperloop. CRE Venture Capital and Endeavor are two other venture capital firms. The round included angel investors such as Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress; Federico Ranero, the COO of KAVAK; Tariq Zaid, formerly of Shopify and Getaround; and Ron Pragides, formerly of Twitter and Salesforce.

In 2019, CRE Venture Capital led a $1.2 million seed round for the company.

This $5 million (in equity and debt) is a seed extension round, according to Ruzane, the company’s CEO, taking FlexClub’s overall investment to over $6 million.

The money will be used to develop the company’s infrastructure, which prevents and reduces partners’ risk exposure, according to the company.

A Look At What The Startup Does

Founded in 2019, by Marlon Gallardo, Rudolf Vavruch and Tinashe Ruzane, FlexClub connects customers seeking convenient access to long-term cars with partners that sell car subscriptions.

The startup has operations in South Africa and Mexico. It maintains partnership with with Uber in both countries, where it helps Uber’s drivers to subscribe for cars.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

Flexclub startup Flexclub startup