Thebe Magugu came to international limelight when he became the first African to win the LVMH prize worth €300,000. The Fashion Talent Prize which came with a cash reward of €300,000 includes a year of “technical and financial support” from the luxury giant. Thebe dusted 1,700 applicants from 100 countries who applied for the LVMH prize to win the coveted Prize. Until now, many outside South Africa have not heard about Thebe Magugu’s exploits but he has had a deep impact on South Africa’s fashion industry because he has shown extensively that he has a drive to create original couture. Prior to winning the LVMH award in Paris, France, Magugu had won an award for curation and fashion content at the International Fashion Showcase, supported by the British Fashion Council.
There Magugu
Born and raised in Kimberley, South Africa, Thebe said that he was inspired by the women who played important roles in his life. And he has contributed his views on modern fashion and the South African youth culture. His work has been described by fashion critics as being unified by themes of juxtaposition. Thebe who studied Fashion & Apparel Design at Lisof Fashion School in Johannesburg says that he is interested in exploring the disparity between masculinity and femininity, tradition and experiment, overlarge and abridged and other differences in the design of his garments.
His newest collections which debuted at the South Africa Fashion Week was dubbed “Geology SS17” took place four months ago, and was inspired by a rejection of the anxieties that are coupled with urban life and a return to the open fields of remote South African landscapes instead. Critics have described his works as deep and expressional in that it tends to capture the South African society. He was quoted as saying that it is an awareness of the socio-political climate of South Africa that moved him to imagine a contemporary woman who chooses to escape its pressures for a simpler life in the wild. She breaks away from the buzz of city living to recenter and reinvigorate herself.
Expressing his desire to positively project his country’s creative abilities to the world, he noted that it is important that he use his work to show the world that from South Africa you can get the entire cycle of production. He pointed out that there are challenges that should not be denied especially in terms of infrastructure and system but the promise is there. “There’s so much talent in the country” he quipped.
Describing some of the topical issues that influence his works, he said “we are in a state of socio-political flux. Among all the beauty in this country, there are some very stressful and damaging events coming into light almost every day,” adding that he started to imagine a woman taking to the great outdoors, to escape the burdens and noise of urban living. She takes time to recover by hiking, fishing, camping and, by pure virtue of those three acts, thinking, breathing and regrouping.
While Magugu’s designs are not entirely derivative of outdoor camping gear, they bear signs of it reimagined in a stylish way. His show features details such as mountain climbing rope repurposed as a fastened collar, perforated fabrics for breathability, a deconstruction of cargo pants with many pockets and vibrant Koi fish patterns as a nod to fishing. The collection reflects the rich colours of the Gauteng province with warm shades of red, brown and orange foremost. He said his work often reflects his country’s many dualities, both very beautiful and violent. Like many challenges facing the continent, Magugu is facing distribution problems. The LVMH prize started in 2014, with its first three winners being designers who were based in London. LVMH is a French multinational luxury goods conglomerate.
Speaking on his country, he said that he loves South Africa so much and that his overarching mission is to create a global fashion brand that can hang anywhere in the world but based in South Africa, thus putting paid to concerns that he might follow the footsteps of some other celebrated fashion icons from the continent who after making big names, left the continent to Europe and North America to ply their trade. He however complained that government should do something concerning the challenges entrepreneurs face in the continent such as excess red tape and flaws across various systems, “as if everything is working hard at discouraging entrepreneurship in creative industries. I start to see more and more why we are losing our talents to Europe at such an alarming rate”, he said. It is like I want to be here to join my fellow peers in developing our industry – but at what cost? I posed this question to my personal Instagram and a concerning amount of people we all know in love in South African culture also said they are gearing up to leave. What can be done about this, he asked?
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.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has highlighted the importance and strength of sports in nation building and international development by “changing perceptions and altering attitudes”. She made this known today at the Commonwealth Games Federation General Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda, saying that the “wide appeal and reach” of sport can be used to “accelerate progress” in areas such as gender equality and political inclusivity. In her words, with the spirit of goodwill and through the respect and understanding which are signature characteristics of the Commonwealth Sport Movement, mutual encouragement flourishes across boundaries of regional and national affiliation or other allegiances of culture or identity.
She added that she is strongly committed personally in her determination to mobilise additional resources to ensure more communities throughout the Commonwealth can benefit from the positive contribution the most popular of our Commonwealth sports can make. The Secretary-General’s speech came as the General Assembly and Strategic Forum demonstrate the Commonwealth sports movement’s vision and commitment to creating peaceful, sustainable and prosperous communities through sport. This vision is in line with the Commonwealth Secretariat’s strategic objective to enhance sports contribution to sustainable development, health, and building peaceful and just societies.
Also the event saw a refresh of Transformation 2022, the Commonwealth Games Federation Strategic Plan. This plan sets out the strategic priorities for CGF through to 2022. The refresh has an enhanced focus on releasing the collective impact of sport in the Commonwealth on creating peaceful, sustainable and prosperous communities.
Speaking on the development, the President of the Commonwealth Games Federation, Louise Martin, said that “all of us across the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth Sports Movement must work hard to shift the dial on human rights and mega sporting events”. Adding that “put simply, we are 100 per cent committed to upholding the ideals and principles that underpin our respect and protection of human rights in all that we do. It starts with our vision – to create peaceful, sustainable and prosperous communities through sport”. She described it as a mantra that guides the joined-up vision of Commonwealth sport. “Indeed, it is a vision that underpins the Commonwealth itself – a voluntary association of 71 nations and territories. Among our membership are some of the world’s largest and smallest countries, from India, with over 1.2 billion people to Nauru with a population of 10,000”. The combined population of 2.4 billion represents a third of the world’s total population. More than 60 per cent of Commonwealth citizens are young people aged under 30.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games was singled out by delegates as an example of how sport can contribute towards the Commonwealth’s values and principles. The Games in Birmingham, UK, will feature more women’s medals events than men’s and will see the largest para-sport programme in Games history
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.
Donkeys have joined the list of animals that have become endangered no thanks to Chinese Traditional Medicine, and this has led to many countries in Africa adopting various means aimed at curbing the illegal and unbridled trading in Donkeys across the continent . Until recently, focus has been on animals such as tigers, rhinos and elephants all on the endangered species list due to their uses in different sorts of Chinese traditional medicines, but now, the industry’s demand for the humble donkey is drawing international scrutiny According to experts who have been tracking developments in this illegal trade, more than four-million donkey hides are boiled to make the 5,000 tonnes of ejiao, a gooey substance billed as ‘blood-enriching’ which is sold in China each year. With rising protectionism and calls for stringent measures to curb the Donkey poaching, Chinese farmers have resorted to breeding the animal locally to curb Africa imports.
A donkey
Donkey slaughter has surged across Africa as demand for ejiao has jumped tenfold to about 6,000 tons a year in China whose donkey population has plummeted to 4.5-million from 11-million in 1990 started sourcing for supplies elsewhere and Africa was the natural source. Once a luxury for the elite, ejiao — that comes as a tablet to dissolve in water or in anti-ageing cream — is now widely used by China’s wealthy middle class and diaspora. Prices have surged to more than $780/kg from about $30/kg in 2000, according to sources from the Chinese government.
China’s donkey population started dwindling as farmers who once relied on them as beast of burden either moved to more mechanized farming or left farming all together and migrated to the cities. This led to a drastic drop in their population while demand surged. To bridge that gap, Chinese companies dealing in donkey hides refocused on Africa where the donkey population is still on the rise in the last decade leading to what conservationists describe as unsustainable and indiscriminate trading on donkeys. This led to an outcry from many Africans putting pressures on governments to respond in curbing the donkey trading. This forced the company at the centre of the global trade in donkey skins to start work on ending reliance on imports within three years by boosting domestic breeding in China.
However, this development led to soaring prices for the hides creating an opening for criminals to start stealing donkeys in countries across East Africa, leading to governments in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Botswana to take measures aimed at stemming this tide. Reports say that of all the countries affected by this ugly development, Kenya is the most hit. Reports add that in the last three years, Kenya has become the epicentre of a fast-growing industry in Africa to supply donkey skins to China which are boiled to produce a gelatin called ejiao used in traditional medicine believed to stop ageing and boost libido. This led to the opening of four licensed donkey abattoirs since in the country where over a thousand donkeys are slaughtered and skinned daily. The Star Brilliant Donkey Export Abattoir first donkey abattoir to be opened in Kenya backed by Chinese investors opened in Naivasha opened in 2016, and within months its suppliers started buying hordes of donkeys across the area, leading to shortages and driving up prices. Then donkeys began to disappear as criminal gangs moved in.
However, this rising demand from China has led to a black market with gangs hired by skin-smuggling networks to steal donkeys, inciting anger in communities who depend on the animals for livelihoods, farming, or transport. More than 300,000 donkeys — 15% of Kenya’s donkey population — have been slaughtered for skin and meat export in less than three years, according to a June survey by the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organisation. And more than 4,000 donkeys were reported stolen more than the same period from April 2016 to December 2018 alone, government sources say.
According to local reports, most Kenyan families have been reporting of losing hundred of donkeys to thieves who steal and slaughter thousands of donkeys which are sold in the black markets by criminal networks supplying skins for Chinese buyers. To curb this, many communities have formed armed vigilantes who protect the donkeys and stave off the thieves. The report warned that donkeys were being slaughtered at a rate five times higher than their population was growing which could wipe out Kenya’s donkey population by as early as 2023.
This development has led activists to call on government to ban the trade in donkey skins and close down slaughterhouses, in line with similar action in more than a dozen other African nations, from Nigeria and Senegal to Burkina Faso and Mali. If nothing is done urgently, Africa’s donkey population might get to the level of extinction.
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.
Logistics and supply chain startups in Africa have a chance to pitch to Reefknot Investments for their funding. Reefknot Investments, a joint venture between Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign fund, and global logistics company Kuehne + Nagel, has announced the launch of a $50 million fund for logistics and supply chain startups. The firm is based in Singapore, but will look for companies around the world that are raising their Series A or B rounds.
Marc Dragon, managing director Reefknot.
Here Is All You Need To Know
Reefknot Investments is especially interested in companies that are using AI or deep mind tech, digital logistics and trade finance to solve problems that range from analyzing supply chain data and making forecasts to managing the risk of financing trade transactions.
Managing director Marc Dragon said Reefknot will serve as a strategic investor in its portfolio companies, providing them with connections to partners that include EDBI, SGInnovate, Atlantic Bridge, Vertex Ventures, PSA unBoXed, Unilever Foundry and NUS Enterprise, in addition to Temasek and Kuehne + Nagel .
Dragon, a veteran of the supply chain and logistics industry, says Reefknot plans to invest in about six to eight startups. Data from Gartner shows that about half of global supply chain companies will use AI, advanced analytics or the Internet of Things in their operations by 2023.
“There is a high level of expectation from vendors that because of technology, there will be new methods to do analytics and planning, and greater visibility in terms of information and product, materials and goods flowing throughout the supply chain,” says Dragon.
Reefknot will also establish a think tank that will work with industry experts and government organizations on forums, research and exploring new logistics and supply chain business models that startups can bring into fruition.
To get in touch with managers of the fund visit Reefknot Investments website
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
The International Finance Corporation, IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, recently announced a 200 million Zambian kwacha (approximately $15 million) loan to Stanbic Bank Zambia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Bank Group, to help Stanbic Bank expand its lending to small and medium enterprises, with at least 25% of the loan earmarked for women-owned businesses in Zambia.
Zambia’s entrepreneurs have difficulty in accessing the finance they need to grow due to informality in the market, high collateral requirements, and poor bank lending tools, according to a recent study by the World Bank Group.
Here Is The Deal
The loan will particularly be targeted at Zambia’s women-owned enterprises who face a financing gap of about $474 million, equivalent to 16% of the total SME finance gap funding shortfall (The Global Findex Database 2017).
The funding from IFC is timely and fits with our SME strategy, which is aimed at leveraging our corporate banking ecosystem to identify new SMEs for funding.
Leina Gabaraane, chief executive officer — Stanbic Bank Zambia.
By 2022, we plan to quadruple the number of women-owned SME borrowers from 50 to about 200, representing an outstanding portfolio of 80 million Zambian kwacha, up from 16 million Zambian kwacha.
Leina Gabaraane, chief executive officer — Stanbic Bank Zambia.
Along with the financing, IFC will help Stanbic Bank enhance its environmental and social risk management system. This includes formulating detailed procedures for identifying, assessing, and managing risks and their impacts during the credit approval and monitoring process.
Zambia GDP Annual Growth Rate | 2019
IFC’s partnership with Stanbic Bank Zambia will expand access to finance for the country’s SMEs, enabling them to grow and create jobs.
Kevin Njiraini, regional director for IFC — Southern Africa
The project also marks a new frontier in IFC’s relationship with the Standard Bank Group, and we look forward to future engagement with the group’s other subsidiaries.
Kevin Njiraini, regional director for IFC — Southern Africa
IFC estimates that SMEs that receive financing through Stanbic Bank’s new line could create close to 3,000 local jobs over the next five years.
Stanbic Bank Zambia is a leader in the Zambian banking sector and has a market share of about 15% by total assets and 21% by loans. It will leverage its recently launched banking proposition for women, called Anakazi Banking, to attract women-owned enterprises.
This will be IFC’s second investment with Stanbic Bank Zambia after a $11 million subordinated loan in 2006.
There are different channels established by Stanbic Bank Zambia through which startups and SMEs in Zambia can access the loan. One of such is Anakadzi Banking.
Anakadzi Banking is designed for women, by women and aims to reward the discerning woman who reaches for the stars and has the drive to turn her dreams into a reality.
Stanbic Bank Zambia’s Business Term Loan supports businesses in achieving their long-term financial goals. To make repayments suitable for your business, monthly instalments are matched to your business’ cash flow. The term of your loan can be structured for between 3 and 5 years.
What does it offer?
A Business Term Loan may be used to buy or upgrade fixed property, finance fixed assets, capital expenditure or for the set-up of venture costs
A term loan may, however not be used for the consolidation of debt or as a substitute for vehicle and asset finance.
Who can apply? Business clients with an existing transactional account with Stanbic Bank Zambia.
To know more, contact any Stanbic Bank in Zambia nearest to you.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
As sources of foreign exchange and official development assistance (ODA’s) dry up, many African countries are becoming innovative in exploring other avenues of keeping afloat. And they are turning to medical marijuana as the global market for the crop is now estimated at $150bn and could reach $272bn in 2028 and one of such countries the Kingdom of Lesotho where cannabis is grown legally by the Lesotho-based company Medigrow and is regulated by the government of Lesotho.
A marijuana farm
Lesotho is one of Africa’s poorest countries ranking 159 out of 189 in the latest UN human development index. High unemployment has been rife while opportunities are scant and almost a quarter of the population is infected with HIV. This presents a very hopeless scenario thus the need to search for opportunities outside the traditional avenues of economic activities.
Government sources say that as at two years ago, the country took the step of exploring the business end of marijuana so as to tap into the booming medical marijuana industry, becoming the first country in Africa to allow the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes. However, there was a stumbling block to Lesotho’s plan. This is because to meet legal standards, most traces of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the main psychoactive constituent responsible for marijuana’s intoxicating effects — is removed from the seeds. The remaining medical version is primarily made of the non-psychoactive substance, cannabidiol (CBD), and can only be 0.03% THC, thus starting a journey towards turning Marijuana into a money minting machine for the Kingdom of Lesotho.
To meet expected international standards for export, the company, Medigrow invested $19.3m in cannabis-growing facilities around the capital, Maseru. A heliport is also being built to ensure the cannabis — commonly referred to as “green gold” — is shipped safely and swiftly. The investment is spurred by the industry’s positive outlook. Sources at the company say that at the moment they have almost 2,000kg of biomass and are going to produce more than 1,000 litres of CBD oil and from market outlook cannabis oil is sold at between $6,000 and $21,000 per litre. The legalisation of cannabis presented a huge opportunity for the country which enjoys 300 days of sunshine per year. Year-long sunshine and fertile soils make Lesotho ideal for cannabis plants. Known as “matekoane” in Sesotho, the country’s national language, it has been grown for centuries in rural areas.
There are about have about 10 businesses operating on the industry already and the government has raised the cost of the license to a level many small holder farmers complain is out of reach. The government charges €30,000 for a one-year renewable license to grow cannabis. But the cost is too steep for most locals, and the market is dominated by foreign companies, mainly from Canada and the US. Inspite of the revenues from Marijuana, the dark side is becoming equally worrisome to authorities. The UN office on drugs and crime estimates that 70% of marijuana consumed in South Africa is grown in Lesotho, making cannabis the country’s third source of revenue.
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.
Naspers, Africa’s largest company is investing in blockchain technology, and it has chosen DappRadar, the leading US-based global platform for discovering and analysing blockchain-based decentralised applications (“dapps”). With $2.33 million in seed funding, DappRadar will be looking to commit more into Research & Development (R&D), developing new functionality that will help the business expand its service and reach the next stage in its growth.
Here Is The Deal
The investment was led by Naspers, a global internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world, through its Naspers Ventures division, with participation from Blockchain.com Ventures and Angel Invest Berlin.
DappRadar will use the investment primarily for R&D, developing new functionality to help the business expand its service and reach the next stage in its growth.
Naspers is a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. The group operates and partners a number of leading internet businesses across Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe in sectors including online classifieds, payments and fintech, food delivery, travel, education, health, and social and internet platforms. Naspers has invested in, acquired or built startups, including Avito, Brainly, BYJU’S, Codecademy, eMAG, Honor, ibibo, iFood, letgo, Media24, Movile, OLX, PayU, SimilarWeb, Swiggy, Takealot, and Udemy.
Blockchain Ventures is a venture capital fund and a subsidiary of Blockchain, the leading provider of cryptocurrency products and creator of the world’s most popular crypto wallet. The fund supports and invests in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology projects that advance the industry and provide positive societal impact.
“In the short time since we founded DappRadar, we’ve seen the technology mature quickly and its commercial prospects are clearer,” says Skirmantas Januskas, DappRadar CEO and co-founder. “With Naspers Ventures’ international consumer expertise and Blockchain.com’s industry knowledge, we are in an excellent position to harness this momentum to expand our business further.”
Why Naspers Invested
The investment is led by Naspers Ventures, offering further validation of the space as the company joins a portfolio that includes other leading global internet companies. Banafsheh Fathieh, Principal and Early Stage Investment Lead at Naspers Ventures, will join the DappRadar board.
‘‘Naspers Ventures’ strategy is to invest in companies and sectors with high, long-term growth potential. Blockchain is beginning to disrupt and revolutionise a number of key industries and DappRadar has succeeded in creating a strong commercial brand and product in the space. We are excited for our partnership and the opportunity that lies ahead for the company,” says Fathieh.
Blockchain.com Ventures makes long-term venture investments in businesses using blockchain technology to provide product differentiation or enhanced utility, rather than leveraging crypto as a tool for financial speculation.
“DappRadar is playing a vital role in bringing trust, transparency and discovery to the fragmented world of dapps,” says Samuel Harrison, Managing Partner at Blockchain.com Ventures. “We hope to play a role in accelerating their impact on the ecosystem.”
Dapps are applications that run on peer-to-peer computer networks, rather than on centralised machines or servers. Their code is typically open source and the core function is handled by open source smart contracts deployed on a blockchain. Due to the nature of blockchain technology, a decentralised application’s data is transparent and cannot be tampered with, enabling the community to build on top of it without requiring permission. DappRadar tracks over 2,500 dapps across six blockchains, including Ethereum, EOS and TRON, with plans to expand to others. DappRadar filters through dapp data, removes fake and irrelevant activity and provides actionable market intelligence. Dapps are tracked in terms of their active users, token volume and transaction activity to provide insight into the trends in the dapp ecosystem. DappRadar has become the starting point for dapp discovery and acts as a distribution channel for dapp developers that are looking to reach new consumers.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
End of the road for Kenyan government-owned National Bank of Kenya which has been in existence for the past 51 years. Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority, an independent government financial regulatory agency responsible for supervising, licensing and monitoring the activities of market intermediaries, including the stock exchange has approved the papers for Kenya Commercial Bank to acquire 100 percent of the assets and liabilities of NBK.
Here Is The Deal
After Kenya’s Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) first approved the acquisition, the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya has gone ahead to put the final seal on the acquisition, making Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) the largest lender in the whole of the East African region in terms of numbers as well as assets.
KCB confirmed that it had received consent to acquire National Bank from shareholders holding 297,130,033 issued ordinary shares out of 338,781,200 issued ordinary shares, representing 87.7 percent by the offer closure date on August 30, 2019.
“We will take several integration decisions including rationalization of our branch network in order to enhance service delivery to our customers. Additionally, we will examine the overall human resource needs to enable efficient business organization” said Oigara, KCB Group CEO who says the next move will be to fully integrate NBK into KCB within the next 24 months.
KCB is now proceeding to complete the transaction as all conditions of the offer have been satisfied (or waived, where legally capable of waiver).
The condition for the conversion of the non-cumulative preference shares in the share capital of NBK has been met and the conversion and swap of the said shares will occur.
On completion of these processes, KCB will hold 1,432,130,033 ordinary shares comprising 97.17 percent of the total issued share capital of NBK.
KCB will further apply the provisions of the Capital Markets (Take-overs and Mergers) Regulations, 2002 and Part XXIV, Division 4 of the Companies Act to compulsorily acquire the remaining 41,651,167 issued ordinary shares of NBK. Requisite notices in this regard will be sent to all concerned shareholders.
KCB first pursued NBK earlier this year after the later registered a 98 percent drop in profits from Sh400 million to Sh7 million for the year ended December 2018 as the lender struggled with bad loans.
The Implication of This Acquisition
This acquisition does one thing in the Kenyan banking sector: it has brought the last vestiges of government ownership stakes in banks to an end. It is now therefore safe to say that Kenya’s government ownership stakes in banks in Kenya may have been completely eliminated. National Bank of Kenya was was established in 1968 as a 100 percent government-owned financial institution. In 1994, the Kenyan Government reduced its shareholding to 68 percent by selling 32 percent shareholding to the public. The government further divested from NBK over the years, until its present shareholding of 22.5 percent, as of April 2019. Following 12 years of poor financial performance, the bank became profitable again in 2010, paying out an annual dividend ever since.
Apart from its banking business, National Bank is bringing to the table National Insurance Agency, Natbank Trustees and Investment Service Limited. These are all what Kenya Commercial Bank has now acquired.
Obviously, this will comfortably make KCB that largest commercial lender in the whole of East Africa.
The implication of this acquisition would also extend to the shareholders of both banks. Since both banks are all listed on Kenya’s stock exchange, with effect from next week, the NBK shareholders who swapped their shares for those of KCB will be able to freely trade the new stocks at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
KCB owns banking subsidiaries in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
“We are thankful and excited for the goodwill and support we have received from the shareholders, our regulators and all the other stakeholders. This is a good start as we get into full transition,” said Oigara.
What Will Change
Expect a bit of readjustment in the workforce, even if it means retrenchment of workers. This first wave of that has already come earlier this week when KCB announced the appointment of Paul Russo as the designate Managing Director of National Bank of Kenya for the transactional 2-year period of integration into KCB. Russo, who was serving as the Group’s Director of Regional Businesses, has been tasked with leading the transition team that will directly report to the KCB Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Joshua Oigara.
According to a statement from KCB, KCB will also particularly work towards streamlining human resources, systems, processes and procedures to fully realize the value of the envisioned combined efficiencies and productivity synergies post the acquisition.
It is also expected that the NBK Board will, of course, be reorganized.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
When Egyptian financial technology (fintech) company Fawry went public on 8 August, it was a fantastic moment for the tech ecosystem, not just for Egypt, but the Arab world, and Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.
Preferring IPO to Private Placement
The technology startup sector has, over the past few years focused too much on fundraising with an aim to exit via acquisitions to companies abroad. This has become the ultimate sign of success for startups, but while it has been the dominant way investors make money and entrepreneurs and their employees realise financial value, it leaves the regional ecosystem wanting.
When I was raising funding for Aramex back in 1996, we were trying to do a private placement which did not get much appeal in the region. People questioned whether Aramex could survive in the face of formidable competition from the giants of the industry even at a mere valuation of $30 million, so we decided to take the company public.
“Great idea, but where do we do that?” I told my partner Bill Kingson. Certainly not on any of the regional exchanges! Why? Because of all sorts of restrictions, from foreign investor restrictions, to small illiquid exchanges, to a restricted process of fund raising and book building, and interference by the regulator in company valuations rather than the market/investors.
“Oh well, let us then go to Nasdaq!”
We listed on Nasdaq in New York and stayed listed on it for five years, then we took the company private in 2002 and listed it again on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) in 2005. Eleven years later, Aramex continues to be a public company in Dubai, 37 years after its founding.
Why IPO, And Not Acquisition?
While acquisitions can provide a boost for the ecosystem and can bring global investors to the region, initial public offerings (IPO) allow for a deepening of the ecosystem and gives more options to regional startups.
So why is it that companies that could IPO in the region do not even have it in their thinking to go public and why would a company like Jumia, which has its corporate office in Dubai lists in New York rather than on one of the Middle East regional exchanges?
Laying Foundation For Many More Startup IPO
There are several challenges currently in place and the following will need to change if we are to see more companies going public:
Foreign ownership laws: a lot of companies have registered themselves outside of the region to allow for foreign ownership, like the Cayman Islands or the British Virgin Islands. Why is that? The writing is on the wall, a lot of these investors are here, but they invest in entities that are offshore that allow for anyone to be an investor.
Track record of profitability: most of these exchanges require three years’ of profitability before they allow a company to IPO. This is not a restriction visible in most developed markets, Uber went public despite stating it may never make a profit. Investors should be given a choice of whether they invest or not, rather than have the regulator decide what will be a good investment.
Engage these scale-ups: engage the hundreds of companies that are scaling up in the region, talk to their investors, their founders and see what the regional exchanges need to do to get them to list in the region. Changing these laws and regulations will not hurt anyone, they have been tried and tested in the most developed exchanges in the world. Learn from them and make it happen here.
This will be a win-win for everyone. Someone needs to take the first step. Watch Fawry and learn from their experience.
Listing more companies creates deeper liquidity for our exchanges, which they all need. It is also the best way to democratise and to trickle down the benefits of companies like Aramex and Fawry, making liquidity available on the public market — where most of the region’s investors are based.
The bigger the exchange, the more funds there are, the greater the possibility to get investors and give their listed companies their fair value.
How Startups That Went Through The IPO Route Have Fared
Fawry managed to do very well in Egypt, it listed on the Egyptian Exchange at a share price of EGP6.46. After the first day of trading, its share price soared by 31 per cent to EGP8.48, valuing the company at $366 million. It seems regional exchanges can and will give you the valuation that you want.
IPOs give companies the ability to stay independent, keep the brand that they have worked so hard to build, generate liquidity and exits for their investors, create a liquidity option for their founders and employees while giving the general investor public a chance to participate in the success of these companies. It also encourages and widens the base for regional and even global institutional investors to invest in the region and generate healthy foreign direct investments (FDI).
This is exactly what happened with Aramex since it went public on the DFM. Employees enjoyed their stock options, founders were able to find their exits, regional investors had huge appetite for the share, and global investors waited in line to gain access to the share. The company stayed independent, continues to thrive, and retained its talented people and created a great platform to access funding from various financial institutions in the region.
Having the region’s tech and non-tech scale-ups IPO, means the stock exchanges become less dependent on traditional businesses like real estate, banks and insurance companies and can attain the diversity that reflects the new businesses of the 21st century, generating new wealth for a new generation that is currently building the businesses of the future.
Fadi Ghandouris the chairman of Wamda and founder of Aramex, one of the leading logistics and transportation companies in the Middle East and South Asia.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
Leaping from your daily job to starting up a business could be one of the most dangerous career decisions you could ever make, mostly because it would seem like suddenly quenching the source of your livelihood, and starting a journey of uncertainty. Not many people, of course, would have such certainty of purpose as the world’s richest man, the billionaire owner of Amazom.com Jeff Bezos, who in 1994 was already so sure and secure that one of the world’s most valuable hedge funds, D.E Shaw & Co, where he was already a highly successful employee, with fat pay packages and bonuses, held no further future for him.
As a matter of fact, David Shaw, partner at D. E Shaw & Co (then) could not understand why Jeff would want to gamble his life away, to ‘do this crazy thing’ which was supposed to be a better idea for somebody who didn’t have a job or any financial security.
So David Shaw was quick to suggest that Jeff joined him for a walk down Central Park. But after two hours of such walk along Central Park, Jeff had never been more convinced that he was ready to resign from his role at D.E Shaw &Co.
For startup founders, this obviously would remain in the past because they have already crossed the Rubicon, and would probably have to confront whatever they are faced with currently. But for regular work goers, this is a very long leap yet to be made.
Nevertheless, there remains the stories of certain yet-to-be founders who are still skirting the boundary of indecision and the thought of quitting their daily jobs to start up a business. Below, we consider how a few African founders came to this point in their lives.
Mostafa Kandil — Co-founder Swvl
Swvl is the Egypt’s startup that competes with Uber, Careem and other internet-enabled bus sharing services. In 2018, Swvl was the top Egyptian startup to raise the most funding, raising more than US$30 million at a valuation of approximately US$100 million. Mostafa Kandil was just below 30 years of age when he co-founded SWVL. Leaving Careem where he had always worked would appear to be a bit less tough a decision to make.
“I had graduated in Petroleum engineering, but as I started working I hated it; I felt it was too stiff for me,’’ he said. ‘‘I was also part of something called the Growth Team, which directly reports to the CEO [Mudassir Sheikha]. I remember it was my first week and he came to me and said: “when I quit McKinsey [& Company], I knew I could come back. The same goes for you; if you leave Careem now to start something and fail, you can always come back.”
That support to ‘‘always come back’’ would seem like an insurance against the adventure he would later take at Swvl.
‘‘That was on my first week,’’he said. ‘‘I kept meeting him every day. We used to check something at the Growth Group: the average trip fare, which in Egypt was about 3–4 dollars. I knew that was a lot for an average Egyptian; so in February I decided I would leave to create something new.’’
However, the crucial point for Kandil would be learning that ‘‘around the world, public transportation is a loss-making machine. If you can take this load off the government and privatise it in a way that is super cheap and create job opportunities, you are revitalising a sector.’’
With that confidence, albeit naivety about the sector he was about to disrupt, and still backed by the guarantee of always coming back, he left Careem.
‘‘We now have a huge fleet,’’ he said. ‘‘We have 40 routes and 300 buses on the road, but we don’t own any assets, so it’s super scalable”
Of the total amount of about $686.4 million raised by African tech startups last year, Egypt got a share of $68 million. SWVL got about $38 million out of Egypt’s share, making the startup the most-funded Egyptian startup. The startup has expanded to Nairobi, Kenya, with plans for Manila, Jakarta, and Dakar
Obi Ozor — Co-founder Kobo360
JP Morgan Chase is one of America’s largest banking institutions, with reported 2018 revenue at 109 billion USD. If Obi Ozor, co-founder of Nigeria’s Kobo360, was still at the bank’s headquarters at New York , his average salary per year should have been in excess of $100,000 (converting to Nigerian naira, his home country’s currency, at the current exchange rate, would be close to NGN40 million). To complicate matters, Obi Ozor had no background in technology, except a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Michigan, USA and further studies in international Relations with focus on trade and finance at The Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania, USA. Abandoning his well-paying job in a country 53 times richer than Nigeria, and in preference for a space — technology — he was no master at would appear like throwing caution to the wind.
‘‘In 2014, while at JP Morgan, I played a role in a team that was negotiating on a $5 billion project with Dangote group,’’ he said. ‘‘By 2015, I had developed strong relationships with key members of the Dangote group. On the team, I saw a lot of smart people who went to top schools in the States and had great careers but had moved back to Nigeria. They seemed to be doing better financially and appeared to be more fulfilled than me, this reality was another nudge in my gut to consider moving back.’’
Ozor said by March 2015 with a team from Dangote at the Wharton Africa conference, he heard that a lot of the issues with businesses in Nigeria seemed to center around electricity and logistics.
‘‘I asked Dangote’s chief strategists if they were open to outsourcing their logistics and surprisingly he gave me a nod. I came back to J.P. Morgan, and after months of strategising with my future Kobo co-founder, I decided that I needed more logistics technology experience, and so when Uber came along I hopped on it,’’ he said.
However, it does not appear that Ozor was ready to launch himself from frying pan to fire. He was obviously grooming himself for what he wanted. One more job stint as the director of operations at UBER Nigeria prepared him roundly for quitting job in the future.
‘‘My mandate was to grow Uber’s supply in Nigeria,’’ he said. ‘‘This involved getting thousands of cars on the road so anyone in Lagos metropolis can get a ride within 5 minutes. Onboarding 50 cars is one thing, but securing hundreds and thousands for of cars required some serious business development with banks and wealthy individuals. Of course, you can’t forget the issue of smartphone penetration and millions of people who want to use Uber while paying with cash.’’
After Bezmo (his first startup), Ozor said he had learned how to build a company, how to say ‘no’ to lots of funding in the first year of a startup, how to be a CEO and not second guess himself all the time or be too democratic.
‘‘With Kobo,’’ he said. ‘‘I see what we are doing as a career, so hardly make rash decisions or get depressed by normal business fluctuations like the recession we are in now. In fact, I like the recession; it’s giving us the time to build capacity and has been instrumental in re-routing capital back to hardworking entrepreneurs instead of oil deals or trade finance which doesn’t create job or add real value to the economy.’’
In August, 2019 Kobo360 raised a US$30 million debt and equity Series A funding led by the American multinational investment bank and financial services company Goldman Sachs. The startup is set to scale its operations in more African countries.
‘‘Kobo is in the first phase of that mission to provide logistics solution to more than 200 million SMEs across Africa,’’ Ozor said. ‘‘The journey has not been easy but there seems to be light at the end of this tunnel. 5 months from launching beta operations in August 2016, Kobo ended 2016 with close to N1 billion naira in revenue, helping create and retain 156 jobs, and looking forward to a prosperous 2017.’’
Aretha Gonyora was already a senior business analyst at Ernst & Young, Zimbabwe when she started Payitup Technologies, a Zimbabwean fintech startup. As difficult as the economic situation could be in Zimbabwe, where inflation reached as high as 89.7 sextillion percent year-on-year in mid-November 2008, quitting job has to be the toughest decision Aretha Gonyora, who was already reaching the peak of her career at Ernst and Young, could ever make in her entire life.
Payitup has since raised US$13 million in funding from the UK-based Thawer Fund Management. The new round of funding is the largest ever by any startup in Zimbabwe. This would put the startup’s value at US$20 million . Although Payitup has secured seed funding in the past, it has faced challenges securing this larger round.
“We had been engaging our investor for over a year. The startup ecosystem in Zimbabwe is not that vibrant at the moment, and the current economic condition makes it difficult to get funding. There is still hope. What saw us through in the back and forth of the last 15 months was a combination of having a strong vision and finding people that believed in us,” she said
“Our goal is to build a more connected financial life for the African people and beyond. Through our mobile and web applications our customers will be able to pay for various goods and services, access loans, investments, insurance and a wide range of financial products. We will be working towards financial inclusion for all and maximising on technology. A lot of people still do not have access to basic financial services, while the people with access to banking services are not fully capitalising on the power of technology,” she added.
Although facts largely remain sketchy, it does appear that Aretha Gonyora started her journey to building a startup while still at EY, before fully transitioning to Payitup.
From the above, Aretha Gonyora would probably fall into Richard Brandson’s school of thought, that “some of the world’s most successful companies began as side projects, with their founders working evenings or weekends to turn their ideas into realities.’’
‘‘ Virgin is a prime example of this — all of our Virgin businesses started while we were working on something else,” Branson writes. “Virgin Records was originally a side project as part of Student magazine,” while Virgin Atlantic started “as a side project while we were running Virgin Records.”
“We’ve found that those who apply and plan to grow their idea while still working their day jobs are more confident in their ability to manage their money and time. Not having to be reliant on their new business to provide them with a full-time income, they are given a bit of breathing space and time for their idea to gain traction,” says Branson of a startup loan scheme he’s involved in.
“If you have an idea for a business that is keeping you up at night, it would be such a shame to waste it.” So go ahead and get started even if you can’t afford to quit yet. Some in the startup world will sniff at your efforts, but not the Virgin boss,’’ Brandson concludes.
Jason Njoku — Founder IrokoTv
In 2010, the Nigerian Jason Njoku and the German Bastian Gotter launched irokotv, a web platform that provides paid-for Nigerian films on-demand, which is usually dubbed ‘the Netflix of Africa’ and which is believed to be one of Africa’s first mainstream online movie streaming websites. With its headquaters in Lagos, Nigeria and offices in London and New York. iROKOtv brand was so valuable that Jason said in less than a year old at the time, investors paid $80,000 for 10% of the iROKOtv but sold to other existing investors, for $2.4 million. In some of his posts, he made the following points about starting out.
‘‘When people ask me about when I started or how I started I always think back to those summer days of 2004, when I was only 23 years old with the world as my oyster,’’Jason said.
Njoku grew up in South-east London, launching his first startup — a student magazine called Brash which failed afterwards.
‘‘I blew almost £5,000 over that fateful summer. As an ordinarily working class, poor student approaching his third and final year in a Chemistry degree I had no business doing anything like that,’’ he said.
4 years later in the corporate world, Njoku quit his job, a decision he said he had made in his ‘youthful gusto’.
Njoku thereafter proceeded to make a failed attempt at a T-shirt business, which failed again. He also had a stint at web designing and still failed.
‘I spent three years making every mistake there was to make about how to run a business,’ Njoku said. ‘But that taught me about hard work and focusing on the right things.’
In 2008, Jason decided to come back to Nigeria and that journey sparked the vision of his company — iROKO Partners.
In a blog post Njoku explained, in 2016, his journey with investors:
$80k for 10% of iROKO. That’s an $800k valuation. At the time it was crazy for a less than one year old company, which had generated $200, $1k and $6k in the previous 3 months. I was a terrible negotiator then, so was pretty desperate. I actually offered an old university friend of mine 35% for about $50k. Thank God Bastian [iRoko co-founder] did the negotiation and was a less generous than I. In the end? He passed.
Earlier this year, after 5.2 years, the same investors sold their entire stake for which they paid $80k for in 2011. For $2.4m.$2,400,000.00. With Naira at N300, that’s N720m. Thats a x30 ROI. 3,000%. It took 5 years.
Five years after launch, iROKOtv remains a leading player in the video-on demand space. In January, only weeks after Netflix announced its Africa launch, iROKOtv raised $19 million from French cable service Canal+ and the Swedish-based media company Kinnevik AB. The money, the company said, will be invested in producing 300 hours of original content this year and double that by 2018. iROKOtv has grown popular, particularly outside the continent where 55% of its subscribers are located.
Bottom Line
Finding yourself at crossroads on your way to building the startup of your dream could be one of the hardest situations you could find yourself in. The above founders have made out their own paths, and it has been successful for them in different ways. The key points to draw out from their experience are that to effectively transition from jobs to startups:
You need to leverage your job experience to learn more about the startup sector you would want to venture into.
Starting a hustle viz a viz your regular job could eventually transition into a full-blown startup that may finally lead to quitting your job, without having to feel the discomfort of suddenly quitting job.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
