News - Afrikan Heroes

Nigeria Has A New Law For Companies. Here Is What It Means For Startups

August 10, 2020

After more than 30 years, companies in Nigeria now have a brand new law that will regulate how they operate. The law which repealed the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Cap C20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and enacted the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 provides, among many other things, for the incorporation of companies, limited liability partnerships, limited partnerships, registration of business names together with incorporation of trustees of certain communities, bodies, associations; and for related matters, 2020.

*Special Adviser to the Nigeria’s President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina*

“The President’s action on this important piece of legislation, therefore, repealed and replaced the extant Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990, introducing after 30 years, several corporate legal innovations geared toward enhancing ease of doing business in the country,’’ Special Adviser to the Nigeria’s President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina said in a statement.

Here Is What You Need To Know About The New Law

One Person Can Now Form A Company In Nigeria

Under the new law, although public companies are still required to have at least two members, a person can now form a private company. However, even though this is encouraged, the long-term prospects of the startup company should be considered, given that most startups are built for exit through IPOs or acquisitions etc., which makes a one-shareholder structure highly unsuitable for them in practice.

A Private Company May Now Transfer Its Shares

Unlike the old law where share transfer in a private company was restricted, this is not the case with with new law which gives all private companies in Nigeria the option to choose whether or not to transfer its shares in their articles of association. The implication of this is that in private companies, a structure in which most startups exist, shares can now be bought or sold at will. However, the company must obtain the consent of all its members before it sells more than 50% of the assets of the company. A shareholder in a private company is not also permitted to sell more than 50% of his shares to a non-shareholder unless he first offers to existing shareholders the shares meant for sale. He may then proceed to sell to a non-shareholder if the existing shareholders refuse. In the same way, that non-member willing to purchase the shares offered to him must also be ready to buy other shareholders’ interests in the shares offered.

No More Need For A Company Secretary

Under the new law, every public or private company still needs to have a secretary. The requirement of a company secretary is only exempted for private companies which are small companies.

Annual General Meetings No Longer Compulsory For Small Companies Or Single Shareholder Companies

By virtue of the provisions of the law, small companies will no longer be mandatorily required to hold Annual General Meetings.

Under the law, a company qualifies as a small company in a year if for that year the following conditions are satisfied —

It is a private company;
The amount of its turnover for that year is not more than ₦120 million or such amount as may be fixed by the Commission;
Its net assets value is not more than ₦60 million or such amount as may be fixed by the Commission;
None of its members is an alien (a foreigner)
None of its members is a Government or a Government corporation or agency or its nominee; and
The directors hold between themselves at least 51 per cent of its equity share capital.

Small Companies Exempted from Audit Requirement

Under the new law, a company (excluding banks and insurance companies) is exempt from the requirements relating to the audit of accounts in respect of a financial year if-

(a) it has not carried on any business since its incorporation ; or
(b) its turnover in that year is not more than ₦120 million and the balance sheet total is not more than ₦60 million. In other words, the company is a smalll company.

One Person Can Now Be A Director In A Small Company

The new law also made provisions concerning directors of a company. According to it, the minimum number of directors for every company (whether public or private) shall be two directors. However, in the case of a private company which is a small company, the minimum number of a director shall be one, unless otherwise provided by the company’s articles or any applicable industry specific legislation.

Other notable provisions include that a director of a public company shall not hold position of both the CEO and the Chairman at the same time. Again, a person cannot be a director in more than 5 public companies at a time.

For the first ever, the new company law is properly defining who an independent director is. Consequently, there must be 3 independent directors in every public company, who must not be employees in the company and who have not made or received any payment in excess of N20m from the company. They must also not own more than 30% direct or indirect equity in another company transacting with (transaction sum should not be more than N20m) the company. They should also not own more than 30% direct or indirect equity in the company.

ease of doing business world map — *Nigeria ‘s new law for companies is a game changer for the country and its ease of doing business. Click here to expand image. Source: Visual Capitalist*

Meetings Can Now Be Held On The Internet

The new law is also revolutionary in that it gives wider options to places where the meetings of a company may be held. Accordingly, it states that although all statutory and general meetings of companies may be held in Nigeria, small companies or companies with a single shareholder may hold its meetings anywhere in the world. Again, a private company (and not public companies) may hold all its meetings on the internet provided that it has created room for that in its articles of association.

Electronic Communications And Ease of Doing Business

The new law now make it possible for business to be run more easily. For instance, every member can now have a right to attend any general meeting of of a private company (either physically or electronically) and to speak and vote on any resolution (physically or through electronic means) before the meeting. The certified true copies of all such electronically filed documents are now admissible in evidence.

Struggling Companies In Distress Can Now Be Rescued From Total Collapse

Under the new law, the directors of the company may voluntarily arrange with those the company is owing for a way of satisfying all outstanding debts owed by the company.

No More Common Seal For Companies

The law has also put an end to the requirement for each company to have a common seal. In its place, it states that should any document be required by any law or otherwise to be under the common seal of the company, it is enough if the documents were signed by a director and a secretary; or by at least two directors of the company; or by a director in the presence of a witness who shall attest the signature.

Bottom Line:

Remarkable, especially with the introduction of new provisions that have taken care of the difficulties necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic. However, apart from these, in practice, the law remains substantially the same with the old version. While certain provisions may look attractive given their cost-saving implications, there are several provisions which are unsuitable for companies with long-term vision.

For more on the new law and how it may affect your startup company, click here. (PDF)

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

Marrakech Ranked Among World’s Top 25 Holiday Destinations

August 9, 2020

Beating established destinations such as Lisbon, Tokyo, Kyoto, and New York City, Marrakech has been listed among the world’s top 25 destinations in the recent rating by global travel platform TripAdvisor, which is the largest travel platform in the world featuring Morocco’s Marrakech as among the top 25 destinations across the globe. The US-based company lists thousands of activities to explore in the city and the surrounding region placing Marrakech in the 21st position, describing it as a “magical place” teeming with markets, palaces, mosques, and gardens.

London topped the list, followed by Paris, Crete (Greece), and Bali (Indonesia) Rome came fifth on the list followed by Phuket (Thailand), Sicily (Italy), and Majorca (Balearic Islands). Marrakech made it to 21st on the list trumping established destinations such as Lisbon, Tokyo, Kyoto (Japan), and New York City.

“Exploring the intimate courtyards and snaking alleyways of the historic Medina can easily eat up a day,” the agency wrote. The agency invited travelers to find inner peace with a visit to the “serene Jardin Majorelle” or by exploring the beauty of the city’s historic mosques unless you are Muslim, you are not allowed to enter,” the report clarified. This is not the first time TripAdvisor has promoted the city of Marrakech as a top travel destination. Several lists from the agency have promoted Marrakech as one of the best destinations for tourists in the world.

One of the latest lists was in March 2019, when TripAdvisor ranked Marrakech ninth in its top Traveler’s Choice Destinations in the world. In March 2020, the travel platform reaffirmed Marrakech’s position as a major tourist hub.The red city is surely a magical place to visit in Morocco, but not at the moment due to COVID-19.

Marrakech is among the destinations in Morocco that is now closed to domestic tourists due to the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.In July, Morocco suspended travel from and to Marrakech due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in the region. Morocco closed eight cities, most of which are major tourist destinations, including Tangier, Casablanca, Fez, and Meknes.

The total number of tourists visiting Morocco in 2019 reached 13 million. French tourists represented the largest group with a total number of 1.99 million. Marrakech alone attracted nearly three million visitors last year, making it the most popular destination in Morocco.

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

Capital Markets Access is Top Priority for American Investment in Africa

The need to improve Africa’s capital markets to help attract quality American investment to the continent especially in Africa’s energy sector is imperative and a key priority to increase the level of capital and technology flows and address the challenge of accessing US capital markets. This was made known by the US-Africa Committee of the African Energy Chamber after its first meeting within the week to discuss the future of energy cooperation and investments between the US and Africa post Covid-19. The US-Africa Committee which brings together top private and public industry experts and executives from both sides of the Atlantic, all committed to fully exploiting the potential of US-African energy cooperation. The meeting identified key areas and priorities to increase the level of capital and technology flows and address the challenge of accessing US capital markets.

Committee Members especially highlighted the challenge of raising capital for exploration and development projects in upstream oil & gas, coupled with a lack of understanding of Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) mechanisms and structures. This challenge is now set to increase further given current market dynamics and conditions, and increasing lack of appetite for fossil fuels from traditional investors or lenders. Beyond just upstream, participants agreed that Africa offers the most attractive energy investment opportunities for American investors, stakeholders and entrepreneurs but the issue around messaging and perceptions of the continent continues to hinder investment.

In addressing perceptions of Africa in the US, participants highlighted the significant lack of adequate and objective messaging on African opportunities and African markets in the US. Addressing such issues of perceptions has been identified as a major priority for the Chamber and the Committee in order to properly communicate the opportunities of doing business in Africa as opposed to focusing solely on often exaggerated security and safety issues.

To unlock future growth potential in the US-African energy cooperation, Committee Members highlighted several issues and solutions. A key one pertains to expanded partnerships, with the need to increase engagement with a broader range of stakeholders, including public and private institutions, energy investors in North America seeking an interventional venture, and universities. More importantly, all agreed that the future of US-African energy cooperation will need to open up to SMEs and entrepreneurs and not be limited only to large and traditional corporations. The need to encourage African investments into the US was also brought to the table as a way to further support a win-win relationship that would support further capital flows going both ways.

Similarly, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria and Know Your Customers (KYC) requirements were brought to the discussion as key factors African companies need to embrace to further attract US investment and technology. Such criteria and requirements should not be seen as obstacles for investments but as true enablers of successful joint-ventures and partnerships between US and African companies.

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

Nigerian Banks to Share Customer’s Data With FinTechs

August 8, 2020

Efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria to deepen access to funds to help in financial intermediation across the country has led to a new directive to commercial banks in the country to share customers data with Fintechs. This according to the apex bank will help to increase access to financial services and provide better services to customers.

Speaking on the importance of this measure, the Director, Payment System Management at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Musa Jimoh said this will hasten tech adoption and also ease bottlenecks in financial transactions within the system. He made this known during the virtual FirstBank FinTech Summit 4.0 held in Lagos with the theme: “How Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence will Disrupt FinTech in Nigeria” yesterday.
He said the directive was in line with the apex bank’s five- year vision and open banking regime policy that would require banks to open their account base to Fintechs to bring more people into the financial system.

He noted that the apex bank view Fintechs as technology-enabled innovation in financial services that could result in new business models, applications, processes or products with an associated material effect on the provision of financial services.
Fintech firms like Quick-teller, MoniDey, Baxi, PocketMoni, Unified Payments, Paga, Cellulant, to mention but a few are now part of the financial system, offering banking services to both the banked and unbanked within the population.
The companies are helping consumers in bill payments, retail payments, airtime purchases and use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transactions. They also collect payment from all spectrums of the population – whether banked or not. He concluded that the CBN is also boosting the use of artificial intelligence in banking, and promoting digital payment access all sectors of the economy.

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

A New Job Search Platform Debuts for Africa.

While the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy has negatively impacted employment opportunities as companies have been forced either to cut down on staff strength, or close shop, organisations hoping to add new recruits are finding it increasingly difficult. This is because with the army of jobless, selection becomes a tough process. To help organisations skirt through this is Sabiss, a new job platform dedicated to the African continent.

The platform is the new job search platform dedicated to candidates on the African continent. Its goal is, on the one hand, to allow companies to have easy access to the profiles and skills they are looking for and on the other hand, to facilitate the job search for African residents, by centralizing offers from countries in Africa, but also from other continents.

Sabiss is therefore aimed at talents in Africa looking for a job or an internship, but also at companies all over the world, wishing to strengthen their team with newly qualified recruits.

For applicants, access to the platform and its services is free. Once they have registered and completed their profile, they have access to all job offers, can apply for an unlimited period or can benefit from advice on finding a job via the blog.For businesses, access to the platform is chargeable once the 10 days of the welcome offer have elapsed. Two categories of “packages” are presented to them. The CV package, consisting of four offers allowing you to view a defined number of CVs, as well as to publish a job offer. The Job package, consisting of three offers making it possible to publish 1 to 3 job offers on the SABISS site, as well as on social networks.

In addition, on Sabiss the recruiter enjoys complete freedom regarding his research. When purchasing a package, no restrictions are placed on it, neither geographic nor sectoral. Sabiss gives him access to profiles from all fields of activity across the African continent.
So, if you want to be part of the adventure, register now and join us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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 Healthcare Startup Guidepost Raises Further Funding To Scale

South African diabetes health and insurtech startup Guidepost has secured an undisclosed amount of additional funding to help it scale.

*Professor David Segal, chief medical officer and co-founder of Guidepost*

“COVID-19 is far more serious for people with chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension,” said Professor David Segal, chief medical officer and co-founder of Guidepost. “As the risks related to chronic conditions are now more ‘real’, people are more aware of the risks and are taking the management of their chronic conditions seriously. They are looking to digital healthcare services such as telemedicine as safe, effective and efficient ways of managing their conditions.”

Here Is What You Need To Know

The startup, which also allows insurers to significantly better manage their diabetes risk, raised funding from Rand Merchant Investments (RMI) through AlphaCode in November of last year, and has now secured additional funding from the same company as well as from investment fund Endeavor.
Having grown rapidly into a national network serving health insurers, life insurers and pharmaceutical companies, Guidepost is now poised for further expansion as it looks to build on recent growth.

Why The Investor Invested

Managing director at Endeavor South Africa Alison Collier said her firm supported high-impact entrepreneurs that are scaling their business rapidly, and looking to grow to be the market leader in South Africa and expanding internationally.

“Guidepost’s service is particularly relevant given the COVID-19 crisis — offering diabetic patients improved healthcare while simultaneously reducing the total care cost for these patients as patients using Guidepost are healthier,” she said.

A Look At What The Startup Does

A technology platform that enables highly personalised, data-driven diabetes management at scale, Guidepost allows patients to better manage their illness, and during its six years of operation has achieved a 45 per cent reduction in diabetes complications across more than 8,000 patients.

Dominique Collett, senior investment executive at RMI and head of AlphaCode, said her company believed in the work being done by Guidepost and would continually invest in the technical tools that are enabling a technologically advanced future for South Africa.

“Guidepost has demonstrated its ability to reduce claims costs for clients and improve the lives of thousands of diabetics and we’re excited to support the growth and development of their services locally and internationally through this second-round investment. We also believe that the skilled leadership team could roll out this methodology for other diseases and chronic conditions,” she said.

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

Plentywaka Expands Business to Abuja With $300k Pre-Seed Funding

August 7, 2020

Johnny Enagwolor, co-founder and managing director PlentyWaka

In a move many say is over ambitious, a Nigerian bus-hailing startup, Plentywaka, has raised a pre-seed capital of $300,000 which company sources say it will deploy in its ongoing expansionist agenda focusing on the nation’s capital Abuja. Plentywaka which seems to fill the space left by the failed OBus launched last year by Opay was able to attract a pre-seed round investment in a funding drive led by Niche Capital, Microtraction and EMFATO Holdings. Plentywaka which until recently was a portfolio company under CrowdyVest Holdings but due to series of reshuffling the holding company is now operating under a new name of EMFATO Holdings. Plentywaka; crowdfunding agritech startup, Farmcrowdy; and investment platform, Crowdyvest are all subsidiaries of the newly-formed holding company.

Established in 2019 in Lagos, Plentywaka has gone on to do over 100,000 rides across 7 routes in the commercial city with over 40,000 customers in the process. After operating in Lagos for a year, the company is eyeing the capital city Abuja armed with the new capital raise. The choice of Abuja was informed by the fact that most professionals in the city rely on taxis to get to their destinations and this can be expensive. Plentywaka is positioning itself as a solution by identifying a significant gap in the city’s public transport space.

According to the company, it will launch with five routes and customers will get free travel for a week. Also, routes will include Lugbe, a suburban area in Abuja to Area 1, Garki, a popular commercial and administrative area in the city.

The pre-seed capital will not only be used for expansion to Abuja and other states. According to the company, part of the funding will be used to improve its mapping technology on both Android and iOS apps, its customer experience, and to introduce better payment options.

Johnny Enagwolor, co-founder and managing director of the company said that securing investment and expanding into Abuja in the midst of a pandemic speaks volumes of the demand for the service Plentywaka provides. “We are excited to have investment partners on board that see and believe in our vision. Plentywaka in Abuja brings us closer to transforming transport in Nigeria, one state at a time.”

Dayo Koleowo, a partner at Microtraction, one of the investors in the round, said the investment firm was impressed with Plentywaka’s progress since launching in the third quarter of last year. The aforementioned progress and the problem the startup is trying to solve in large cities are some of the reasons Microtraction is backing the one-year-old startup. “The distressful and uneasy experience by the majority of these commuters, especially in large cities is evident. We are backing the Plentywaka team to change that experience for commuters.”

On the company’s efforts during the pandemic, it launched its Staff Bus Solutions in May to ensure a safer commute for its staff customers. Then in June, the company expanded its offerings in Logistics by Plentywaka, a same-day delivery logistics service.

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

Scandal Rocks South Africa’s Bitcoin Company

Fresh allegations have been leveled against leading South African Bitcoin company, Mirror Trading International (MTI) by FX Choice, a forex and crypto trading company calling MTI a multi-level marketing scam that claims to have “118,027 members in 192 countries” and ostensibly sees “12,879.70 Bitcoin in trade daily.” FX Choice said that it uncovered a lot of unsavoury activities within MTI after it carried out a very thorough investigation and research into the Bitcoin firm saying that its findings prompted it to take action one month before the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) issued a cease and desist order which was issued in July.

FX Choice, an investment platform registered in Belize says it also uncovered evidence that MTI is presenting itself as FX Choice’s broker and based on this new information, FX Choice says it made the decision to “block MTI’s account on 10th June.” The company subsequently requested “additional documents from MTI to confirm the source of their funds.”

However, before MTI could provide the required documentation, FX Choice says its “concerns were later confirmed by a statement from the Texas Securities Commission on 7th July and the AMF of Canada a week later.” Meanwhile, the statement by FX Choice follows a request for clarification on MTI by discussants on Forex Peace Army forum, a scam reporting site. In the discussion thread, two members question MTI –a broker for FX Choice—claims of making “profits every day.”

In response, an individual claiming to be FX Choice representative put out a statement on the organization’s behalf. The statement “sets the record straight,” while also summarizing FX Choice’s research findings. The research findings also state the following: that “we would like everybody involved in MTI to understand the risks. Paying out such a consistent stream of profits, which is nearly a 100% return on investment in one year, to investors by trading Forex is hard to believe. Forex is not the same as owning a bond where you receive a percentage. It is about risk-reward where the larger the reward you received, the larger the risk you took. We note that there is no single proof of the efficiency of MTI’s operations.

In the same statement, FX Choice explains that MTI opened an account under the name of its current CEO, Johann Steynberg back in 2017. Before May 2020, FX Choice said it had not seen any suspicious activity with MTI’s trading volume while the deposits were still small.This changed, however, when the account got converted from personal to corporate status. MTI also began to handle large deposits, which raised red flags.

FX Choice also disputes MTI’s claim that it uses artificial intelligence software for trading. According to the statement, “MTI executed just a few trading operations, which were performed manually, large and incurred substantial losses.”

Despite the persistent scam allegations, MTI insists it is running a legitimate investment business. Reports in July quote Steynberg claiming that none of his organization’s 75,000 plus members worldwide has ever complained or failed to withdraw their bitcoins. Steynberg adds that MTI is now placing greater emphasis on engaging regulators.

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

Morocco’s Tourism is the 4th Hardest Hit by COVID-19 Globally

August 6, 2020

It is no more news that one sector that took the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic is the tourism and hospitality sector, not only because of its linkage to aviation sector, another orphan of the pandemic, but because tourism itself is a contact affair requiring people to be meeting at close quarters. One of the 10 countries whose tourism sector is most impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is Morocco. According to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest report, Morocco’s tourism sector is the fourth most impacted in the world by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With an estimated direct impact equating to 3.8% of GDP, Morocco ranks among the 10 countries calculating the greatest loss from tourism revenues since COVID-19 began its global spread. The North African country’s tourism sector is only better off than those of Portugal (4.3%), Greece (6%), and Thailand (6.1%). Other countries listed in the top 10 include Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand.

The IMF measures net tourism income by subtracting expenditures of residents who travel abroad. The report notes that Morocco’s tourism sector ranks number one in terms of countries most affected by the balance of payments. The report, released on August 4, states that “international tourism has been among the hardest hit sectors during the COVID-19 crisis.”

Between January and April, international tourism arrivals were down 50% compared to the same period in 2019. Hotel reservations saw even greater declines. Overall, at least 11% of Morocco’s GDP depends on tourism. Last month, Moroccan tourism expert Zouhir Bouhout told Morocco World News that the country risks losing a total of 10.5 million tourists and over 19.8 million overnight stays in 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis.

“The tourism sector is undoubtedly the sector most affected by the coronavirus crisis,” Bouhout said. He concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic “destroyed” all of Morocco’s efforts to establish its well-renowned tourism sector. According to a study he conducted, “it is very likely that the achievements of 2020 would be similar with the figures recorded at the beginning of the 1980s.”

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

eCommerce Startup Dresscode Secures Six-figure Seed Funding From Egypt Ventures

Dresscode, a Cairo-based e-commerce retail startup has secured USD six digits in seed funding from Egypt Ventures.

“We are confident that our products are well positioned to cater to our customer needs. We have managed to reach 9000 monthly recurring users without any funding, consumers are always seeking, a better offering and we worked hard to offer them what they are looking for. For many years consumers lackedaffordable, durable products to depend on rather than imported products, that are usually expensive and not the best quality,” said Ali Zakaria, Managing Partner and co-founder at Dresscode.

Here Is All You Need To Know

The funding came from Egypt Ventures and the startup intends to use it to maintain the startup’s growth, by expanding its team, the product offerings, and infrastructure to start offering next and same day deliveries to customers.

Why The Investor Invested

“We are excited to be part of Dresscode, as part of our mission to support talented Egyptian entrepreneurs contributing to the growth of local tailor workshops,” Egypt Ventures Managing Director, Ahmed Gomaa said.

A Look At What The Startup Does

Founded 2018 by Mohamed Abdel Dayem and Ali Zakaria, Dresscode is an e-commerce retail platform selling women wear, beauty and home products, with an aim to connect, Egyptian manufactures to the consumers directly. Dresscode is working to fill a gap in the market for affordable high fashion, aspirational and the reach to multi-brand product variety.
Dresscode provides a platform for local fashion brands and designers to market and sell their products, adding to their income streams and helping them grow their business. The company’s business model also depends on third party manufacturers which contributes to job creation across the entire fashion supply chain in the Egyptian market.
Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the co-founder and CEO of Dresscode comes from a family rooted in the textile industry since 1920’s, his family’s business has been an essential part of textile and garment manufacturing, where he experienced some of the pains facing the garment manufacturers and owners including lack of data, distribution and sales which inspired him to this platform.
The startup is offering experiential retail environments and a well-curated mix of on-trend women’s clothes, from boho dresses, denim, graphics, and evening gowns to shoes and home collection, catering to both young women and teens without breaking the bank.

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