Chari, a Moroccan FMCG and financial services digital distributor focusing on small retailers in Francophone Africa, has announced the acquisition of a 100 percent stake in Diago, an Ivory Coast-based startup that connects neighborhood shops to FMCG producers and importers.

Amidou Diarra and Ali Ouattara, two former managers at Glovo and PepsiCo, founded diagoapp.net in 2021. The startup operates solely in Abidjan. 

With the acquisition, Ali and Amidou will continue to serve as CEO and COO, respectively, and will manage local business growth before expanding into other Sub-Saharan African countries.

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Chari purchased Diago mainly through an all-stock transaction.

Why The Acquisition

Diago’s acquisition will be critical to Chari’s expansion plans. After a successful proof of concept in Morocco, Chari intends to become the leader of its business model in Francophone Africa, according to the company.

“The secret of a successful expansion is to build a local team that masters local market dynamics. The real challenge is to convince local entrepreneurs to join forces with Chari to grow faster. We continue to surround ourselves with young and ambitious entrepreneurs from Francophone Africa to build together a pan-African giant of FMCG and financial services distribution,” Ismael Belkhayat, co-founder and CEO of Chari, said. 

Also commenting on the acquisition, Cyrille Jacques, Vice-President of Chari in charge of leading international expansion said: “Diago’s entire team will receive Chari’s full support functions. Chari’s Casablanca back office will help Diago team in setting up operations, IT tools and customer service,” said

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A Look At What Chari Does

Chari is a FMCG and financial services digital distributor targeting small retailers in Francophone Africa. The startup launched its operations in Morocco before expanding to Tunisia in early 2022. It was launched in January 2020 by husband and wife Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj. Before joining the ranks of STATION F in Paris, Chari was incubated within the family-owned H&S Invest Holding.

Chari Diago Ivory Coast Chari Diago Ivory Coast

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh