Report - Afrikan Heroes

82 Startup Fundraising Operations In 2020: Here’s All You Need To Know About The Latest Report From Tunisia

August 12, 2021

A new report has been released by Smart Tunisia, a management company responsible for the implementation of the national Startup Tunisia initiative including the country’s Startup Act, about the performance of the Tunisian startup ecosystem in 2020.

“In 2020, regulated investment companies accounted for 46.3 percent of all investment transactions. In second place, Business Angels supplied 36.6 percent of investment operations in 2020,” the report reads in part.

Here Is What You Need To Know

Half of startups (49 percent) saw a decline in revenue as a result of the Coronavirus’s impact, says the report. In contrast, 14 percent of startups increased their income while 17 percent of startups noted that their current fundraising campaigns were halted. In summary, one in every five startups (21%) said they had not been touched by the crisis.

The report also noted that 247 labelled startups produced a total turnover of 71.9 million dinars ($26m) in 2020.

An analysis of turnover by business sector reveals that five industries accounted for 70% of the entire turnover of labelled startups. Marketplace ($4.2m), EdTech ($3.1m ), FinTech ($3.1m), AI ($2.5m), and Business Software ($2.5m) are among them. A more extensive analysis however reveals that the Retail sub-sector accounts for 86 percent of the turnover generated by Marketplaces.

According to Startup Tunisia, labelled startups over one year old earned a 47.6 percent increase in turnover in 2020, regardless of when the label was obtained. More than half of the labelled startups generated a turnover of less than 50 thousand dinars ($20k), while one in every four (25.1 percent) has a turnover of between 100 and 500 thousand dinars ($36-$180k).

Almost half of the labelled startups’ export revenue was generated in Europe (45.7 percent).

Again in 2020, Sub-Saharan Africa’s export turnover increased (+7 points) whereas Asia’s (-3 points) and North America’s (-3 points) fell (-3 points).

In terms of employment, the Covid-19 health issue has had a huge impact on startups. According to the startup report, relatively few new hires were recruited in 2020, and existing firms were forced to cut staff costs.

The proportion of women is the same as in 2019: 2 out of every 5 employees are female.

In terms of ticket funding, 44 companies raised 23.2 million ($8.3m) in Tunisia in 2020 through 82 fundraising operations.

Fundraising was mostly focused on startups in their early stages (91 percent of these operations were carried out for amounts less than 1 MD ($360k).

Despite the fact that this is the same observation as in 2019, it was noticed that the number of tickets priced between 200 and 600 thousand dinars ($72k-$216k) grew by 11 points in 2020.

The proportion of fundraising operations higher than 1 MD ($360K) (9%) grew by one point in comparison to 2019.

Lessons from Tunisia’s seeming success with its Startup Act

Tunisia’s Startup Act has largely succeeded because of a collaboration between the public and private sectors. For instance, Smart Capital, the company in charge of administering the Tunisian Startup Act is privately managed, although with public shareholding. The company was approved by the Tunisian Financial Markets Council, and works with the country’s Ministry of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy and the Ministry of Finance. Smart Capital’s mission is simple and straight-forward: design and implement the Startup Tunisia initiative (including among others, the Startup Act and the Fund of Funds ANAVA), in order to make Tunisia a country of startups at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, MENA region and Africa.

Thus, handing over the administration of the Act to a private entity has saved the Act from the bugs of bureaucracy and inefficiencies that eat up most government commissions and agencies in Africa. The company has been promoting Tunisian startups and recently launched several funds in support of startups.

Tunisia Startup report 2020 Tunisia Startup report 2020

Tunisia Launches A $75m Fund For Startups

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

Despite Its Population, Gabon Is The Ecommerce Leader In The Whole Of Central Africa

July 21, 2021

Gabon, a country in central Africa with a population of 2.1 million people, is making huge progress. The country is now the leader in ecommerce in the Economic Community of Central African States — CEEAC zone — (Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea), according to a report recently published by the GSMA (the body that brings together telecom operators around the world) and the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (Unctad).

“In terms of readiness to engage in and benefit from online shopping, CEEAC member states trail behind many of their regional peers. Kenya (88), Nigeria (79), South Africa (76), and Mauritius (76) are the top four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (58). The 11 CEEAC member states, however, are not in the top 100, with Gabon ranking first (106). In terms of index value, four CEEAC countries (Gabon, Cameroon, Rwanda, and Angola) outperform the average for Sub-Saharan Africa (29), although not by much,” the report noted.

Here Is What You Need To Know

Gabon is the top-ranked country in CEEAC, with 38.3 percent of the population prepared to shop online. The following is in chronological order: Cameroon (32%), Rwanda (30.9%), Angola (30.4%), and Congo (30.4%). (14 percent ).

The Unctad Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Electronic Commerce Index evaluates 152 countries’ readiness for online shopping based on four indicators: the number of adults with a financial or mobile money account, the number of people using the Internet, the reliability of postal services, and the number of secure servers per million people.

Several problems, according to the UN body, are affecting the state of e-commerce services in ECCAS, which may hinder their ability to flourish. These include the lack of access to and cost of mobile internet services for large segments of the population (especially low-income segments); limited use of digital payment services, payment systems, etc.; inadequate addressing in some urban and most rural areas; bottlenecks in customs clearance and international trade in general; and a difficult business and macroeconomic environment for young businesses (startups) to trade electronic.

To read the report, click here.

Central Africa ecommerce Gabon Central Africa ecommerce Gabon

Mauritius, South Africa And Tunisia Are Africa’s Top Three B2C Ecommerce Markets — UNCTAD

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

Orange Processes $1.4bn Mobile Money Transactions In Cameroon Monthly

July 8, 2021

On July 5, in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s mobile operator Orange drew out a report of its actions in front of the press to commemorate the ten-year history of its Mobile Money service in Cameroon. On the occasion, Emmanuel Tassembedo, the director of Orange Money Cameroon, stated that Orange’s Mobile Money service records monthly cumulative transactions of 800 billion FCFA in 2021, or 9600 billion FCFA ($16.8bn) each year. This is nearly double Cameroon’s budget for fiscal year 2021.

Emmanuel Tassembedo, the director of Orange Money Cameroon

“When I say cumulative transaction values, I mean deposits and withdrawals, money transfers, bill payments, salary payments, and all merchant payments, etc. We do about 3 million transactions per day. With interoperability with Gimac launched in July 2020, after a pilot phase that lasted more than six months, we can clearly see that the cumulative value of transactions, whether on the side of Cameroon or other countries in the sub-region where we can send or receive money, more than 70% of transactions go through Orange Money, ”said Emmanuel Tassembedo.

Orange mobile money Cameroon — *Image credits: Orange*

MTN’s Shares

In other words, other participants in the market, such as MTN Mobile Money, would only control 30% of transactions. According to the CEO of Orange Cameroon, Orange Money has positioned itself at the center of financial transactions for businesses and individuals in Cameroon. Orange Money, according to Frédéric Debord, has 7 million payment accounts and over 60,000 merchant and distribution partners.

MTN, Orange’s primary competitor in the Mobile Money service, takes this alleged market dominance with a lot of caution. MTN Mobile Money has 10 million customers and 168,000 points of presence around the country, (including 108,000 merchant points and 60,000 distribution points).

“We are the source of all revolutionary items (NFC, supermarkets, etc.). Even though they have more active customers than we do, they have always followed us,” a source inside the company said.

The Orange Money service was launched in 2011 in collaboration with the International Bank of Cameroon for Savings and Credit (Bicec), a current subsidiary of the Moroccan BCP that got authorisation to issue electronic money from the Bank of Central African States (Beac). Orange Money Cameroon, a firm founded in 2019, has filed a request for license to expand its activities “in complete autonomy” in areas such as microcredit.

On Track To Conquer African Fintech Market, MFS Africa Signs A New 100m Mobile Money Cards Partnership

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

Liquid Technologies Partners Facebook to Build Fibre Network in DRC

July 7, 2021

Nic Rudnick, Group Chief Executive Officer, Liquid Intelligent Technologies

The Democratic Republic of Congo stands to experience more robust internet connections with the new partnership agreement between Liquid Technologies and Facebook aimed at building an extensive long haul and metro fibre network in the country. The project is expected to improve internet access for more than 30 million people and help meet the growing demand for regional connectivity across Central Africa.

Facebook will invest in building the fibre infrastructure and support network planning. Liquid Technologies will own, build and operate the fibre network, and provide wholesale services to mobile network operators and internet service providers. The network will help create a digital corridor from the Atlantic Ocean through the Congo Rainforest, the second-largest rainforest after the Amazon, to East Africa, and onto the Indian Ocean.

Liquid Technologies has been working on the digital corridor for more than two years, which now reaches Central DRC. This corridor will connect DRC to its neighbouring countries including Angola, Congo Brazzaville, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

The new build will stretch from Central DRC to the Eastern border with Rwanda and extend the reach of 2Africa, a major undersea cable that will land along both the East and West African coasts, and better connect Africa to the Middle East and Europe. Additionally, Liquid will employ more than 5,000 people from local communities to build the fibre network.

“This is one of the most difficult fibre builds ever undertaken, crossing more than 2,000 kilometres of some of the most challenging terrain in the world,” said Nic Rudnick, Group CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies.

“Liquid Technologies and Facebook have a common mission to provide affordable infrastructure to bridge connectivity gaps, and we believe our work together will have a tremendous impact on internet accessibility across the region.”

“This fibre build with Liquid Technologies is one of the most exciting projects we have worked on,” said Ibrahima Ba, Director of Network Investments, Emerging Markets at Facebook.

“We know that deploying fibre in this region is not easy, but it is a crucial part of extending broadband access to under-connected areas. We look forward to seeing how our fibre build will help increase the availability and improve the affordability of high-quality internet in DRC.”

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

Cowrywise Secures Licence From Nigeria’s SEC

June 30, 2021

Cowrywise co-founder and CEO Razaq Ahmed

Nigeria-based wealth management startup Cowrywise has received a licence to operate as a Fund/Portfolio Manager from the country’s capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria.

The license means Cowrywise’s operations now fall directly under the regulatory scope of the SEC and should help improve trust with potential users. Before now, the startup used a trustee structure to offer investment opportunities, in partnership with regulated investment management companies like Meristem.

Founded by Edward Popoola and CEO Razaq Ahmed to democratise access to savings and investment products to the growing demography of underserved Nigerian millennials and the middle class, Cowrywise boasts a wide range of investment products. These include savings-related products backed by fixed income instruments like treasury bills, which Ahmed has often claimed at 10-15% yield better interests- than what banks offer.

Cowrywise also has about 21 different mutual funds and at least 20% of the total mutual funds in the country are listed on its platform, making it the largest aggregator in the country. These assets cut across five investment company partners – including United Capital Asset Management, Meristem Wealth Management, Afrinvest Wealth Management, ARM Investment Managers and Lotus Capital.

For Cowrywise’s clients, a license from the SEC means greater protection of their assets. “With our own license, the SEC now becomes your “guardian”. They’ll double down on our existing security structure to keep you even safer,” Cowrywise said in a mail to clients announcing its new license.

With the latest development, Cowrywise becomes the second fintech startup in Nigeria to secure a license from the SEC after the regulator granted the inaugural one to Chaka a few days ago.

However, Cowrywise is the first fintech to get a licence in the fund/portfolio management category. Chaka, on the other hand, got a Digital Sub-Broker licence. These developments point to an improving relationship between the Nigerian capital markets regulator and the several fintech players that provide investment services in the country.

Over the past few years, DIY-stock buying platforms such as Bamboo, Trove, Chaka, and Rise have emerged while startups like Piggyvest and Cowrywise, initially focused on providing digital banking services, have dabbled into investment management.

These startups offer Nigerians access to stocks, bonds, and other securities in both local and foreign markets. While they have gained popularity among the young middle class, as they provide a means to protect naira earnings from devaluations, the companies have been subject to a series of regulatory attacks. Regulation of the space has been mooted for some time now.

Efforts have been made to engage each other and, with the awarding of two licences within a week, those attempts are apparently yielding desirable results beneficial to not only both parties, but also the investing public.

With the new license, the startup plans to offer more for its partners (fund managers) and investors on its platform. Cowrywise also said it will be making its APIs public to help fund managers across the world access its services and open up more investment options to serve customers in Nigeria better.

“Digitizing the investment management infrastructure is an important next step in our vision to democratize access to investment products,” the startup said. “These APIs do not just apply to fintechs; any company can embed investment features in their products as our investment API simplifies regulatory, compliance, and technical hurdles.”

Cowrrywise commenced operations in 2017 and has since grown to have over 300,000 users on its platforms. It recently raised $3 million in a funding round led by Quona Capital. By 2025, the company aims to introduce 10 million first-time investors to regulated investments, according to Ahmed.

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

South African Startup Founders Troop To Canada, Top List Of Grantees Of Startup Visa

June 29, 2021

Would there be a shortage of startup founders in South Africa? That appears to be the current situation of things. This is because South Africans are having extraordinary success in obtaining permanent residency in Canada under the StartUp Visa program. According to Statistics Canada, an incredible 90% of South African applications to Canada’s Start-Up Visa program are accepted, significantly above the average overall acceptance rate of 38%.

South Africa is at the top of the list of nations whose applications are approved under this scheme, with a success percentage of 100%.

Last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a tour of the continent. During that tour, Trudeau expanded Canada’s ties with African countries, pledging to promote economic development, increase trade and investment, promote democracy, advance gender equality, and combat climate change.

StartUp Visa Canada African StartUp Visa Canada African

South Africa’s Central Bank Blocks Crypto Trading On Foreign Exchanges

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 write

Why Emirates Bans Flights to Nigeria and South Africa Routes

June 24, 2021

Emirates Airline has explained the reasons behind its recent suspension of flights to and from Nigeria (Lagos and Abuja) and South Africa. The Airline had announced that it will not be accepted for travel, and those who have been to – or connected through – Nigeria in the last 14 days are not permitted to board from any other point to the UAE.

“We regret the inconvenience caused, and affected customers should contact their booking agent or Emirates call centre for rebooking,” said the airline. “Emirates remain committed to Nigeria, and we look forward to resuming passenger services when conditions allow.”

Emirates’ also said that flights from South Africa will remain suspended until July 6, in line with government directives that restrict the entry of travellers originating from South Africa, into the UAE. Daily passenger flights to Johannesburg will operate as EK763, but outbound passenger services on EK 764 remain suspended. Customers who have been to or connected through South Africa in the last 14 days will not be permitted on any Emirates flights bound for Dubai.

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

“Yellow Card” Plans to Transform Kenya’s Crypto Market

June 17, 2021

Yellow Card has promised to change the way crypto is traded across Africa with its latest move into Kenya. Being one of Africa’s leading finance platforms for trading cryptocurrencies, Yellow Card has birthed in Kenya, making it the 10^th African country it has operations. Yellow Card allows customers from Nigeria, Botswana, Cameroon and South Africa, and others, to buy and sell crypto through its platform as it gives people the opportunity to buy or sell supported cryptocurrencies with their local currencies.

The company took off in 2016 in Lagos, Nigeria and has expanded through partnership with local merchants in other African countries to accelerate digital payments and e-commerce through crypto trading.

It also extends its partnership to local vendors, and convenience stores to sell their vouchers and once the customer purchases the voucher, they redeem it for cryptocurrency through a mobile platform and they can even send money to their family or buy whatever they may need online, allowing even bankless individuals to participate in e-commerce.

The company “offers a secure cryptocurrency wallet with which you send, receive, and store your cryptocurrencies. You gain access to your personal crypto wallets once you sign up for a Yellow Card account.”

The platform will automatically create users a virtual wallet for every type of crypto they wish to deal in.

“You can receive cryptocurrency into these wallets when other Yellow Card users send you tokens or from external wallets.”

For Kenyan users, there are 3 types of cryptocurrency that can be traded on Yellow Card. These are namely Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether. All of which can be traded without any hidden fees, the company says.

At the top of its list of priorities, Yellow Card is focused on the security of its customers’ funds and e-wallets. The platform uses a distributed security system built from the ground up that specialises in its particular trading scheme.

The system is streamlined for both customers and agencies, using multi-sig wallets to ensure user funds are airtight. Analysts say that Yellow Card’s platform is built to allow everyone access to finances and crypto. It runs on the mission “Financial inclusion for all.”

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

Another ‘Diamond Rush’ Grips South African Village

A South African village is experiencing a surge in the number of fortune seekers from around the world who flocked to KwaHlathi in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province in search of what they believed to be diamonds after a discovery of unidentified stones in the area.

Fortune seekers from across South Africa and beyond trooped to the village to join villagers who have been digging since Saturday, after a herd man who dug up the first stone on an open field, which some believe to be quartz crystals, put out the word.

The discovery was a life changer, said one digger Mendo Sabelo as he held a handful of tiny stones.

“This means our lives will change because no one has a proper job, I do odd jobs. When I returned home with them, (the family was) really overjoyed,” said the 27-year old father of two. Unemployed Skhumbuzo Mbhele concurred, adding: “I hadn’t seen or touched a diamond in my life. It’s my first time touching it here.”

The mines department said it was sending a team of geological and mining experts to the site to collect samples and conduct an analysis.A formal technical report will be issued in due course, the department said.

The lack of an analysis of the stones has not deterred the fortune seekers as long lines of parked cars on both sides of the gravel road could be seen just a few metres from the open field, where the young, old, female and male dug through the soil with picks, shovels and forks to find riches.

South Africa’s economy has long suffered from extremely high levels of unemployment, trapping millions in poverty and contributing to stark inequalities that persist nearly three decades after the end of apartheid in 1994. The coronavirus pandemic has made it worse.

Some people have started selling the stones, with the starting price ranging from 100 rand ($7.29) to 300 rand.

The provincial government has since requested all those involved to leave the site to allow authorities to conduct a proper inspection, amid fears the people digging at the site could potentially be spreading the coronavirus.

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

MTN Nigeria Warns of Service Disruption Due to Insecurity

June 16, 2021

There are indications of serious service disruptions across Nigeria as largest telecoms provider MTN warns that there will be service disruptions as a result of rising insecurity in different parts of the country. MTN Nigeria is the first company to acknowledge a possible disruption to its services due to insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation.

Nigeria faces increased insecurity across the country — ranging from mass abductions at schools, kidnappings for ransom, armed conflict between herdsmen and farmers, armed robberies, and various insurgencies — a drag on growth and job creation. With the rising insecurity in different parts of Nigeria, service delivery to your organisation may be impacted in the coming days

“Sadly, we must inform you that with the rising insecurity in different parts of Nigeria, service delivery to your organisation may be impacted in the coming days,” MTN wrote in a message to customers.

“This means that in some cases, our technical support team may not be able to get to your site and achieve optimum turnaround time in fault management as quickly as possible.”

Nigeria is MTN’s most lucrative market out of the 21 countries the company operates in across Africa, Asia and the Middle East but it is also one of the most problematic. MTN runs Nigeria’s largest mobile phone network, which generates around a third of the company’s revenue.

Growth in Nigeria resumed in the fourth quarter after a Covid-19-induced recession but it lags the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, with food inflation, heightened insecurity and stalled reforms slowing the economy and increasing poverty, the World Bank 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