Banking

As far as ambition goes, Nigeria’s largest commercial bank by asset, Access Bank, is one to be reckoned with. The bank in recent times has been deepening its roots across the continent and beyond. 

Now, the bank is making a bold move to solidify its East African presence.

The news: Yesterday, Access HoldCo signed an agreement to acquire Kenya’s National bank. The acquisition, touted to cement Access’ East African presence is the company’s second acquisition in the Kenya. The Nigerian lender bought Transnational Bank Ltd. in 2019.

Why Kenya? When compared with Nigeria, Kenya has a more developed lending sector, and its economy is expected to grow at a quicker rate than Nigeria’s, making it an appropriate location for the lender to extend its footprint.

Before the acquisition of NBK, the company has demonstrated its voracious appetite for acquiring banks within the continent. 

In July 2023, Access HoldCo, its parent company, reached an agreement with Standard Chartered Bank for the acquisition of Standard Chartered’s shareholding in its subsidiaries in Angola, Cameroon, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone, and its consumer, private and business banking business in Tanzania. The bank received regulatory approval to conduct business in Asia, in December 2023, joining the ranks of South Africa’s TymeBank on the continent. In February,, the bank acquired Megatech Insurance Brokers Ltd, an insurance brokerage company licensed and regulated by the National Insurance Commission. 

The bank says is sticking to its ambitions of doubling its assets outside NIgeria by 2027.

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Acquisition

Founded in 2016, DocFox carved a niche for itself by tackling the bane of banker’s existence: the account opening process. The company provided automated onboarding solutions for commercial and business banks, reportedly boasting over 450 customers across three continents.

DocFox’s ambition, however, isn’t limited to regional dominance. 

The news: In a move to enhance its cloud banking suite, nCino, a US-based cloud banking solution has acquired DocFox for $75 million. The acquisition is expected to close in March 2024.

nCino helps financial institutions modernise their operations, making it easier for businesses and individuals to onboard, secure loans, manage accounts, and navigate the loan lifecycle. Merging with DocFox will create a single platform for banks to manage the entire client lifecycle, from information gathering to due diligence.

For DocFox, the $75 million price tag will propel its solutions onto a global stage, giving it the resources and reach to empower banks worldwide.

Legal tech

Many justice systems around the world have traditionally been bogged down by mountains of paper—case files stacked high, endless reams for printing documents, and a complex process for navigating legal battles. This reliance on physical records can lead to inefficiency, delays, and difficulty for citizens seeking justice. 

In Kenya, a new chapter is about to begin. The East African country is using tech to improve how justice is delivered in the country.

On March 11, 2024, Chief Justice Martha Koome launched a Nationwide E-Filing, Data Tracking Dashboard, and Causelist Portal dubbed “All Courts Go Digital,” to revolutionise the Kenyan legal system.

All Courts Go Digital: Starting July 1, 2024, the new system will streamline case management with e-filing, eliminating the need for physical documents. This not only reduces paper waste but also allows for efficient tracking through an e-filing data tracking dashboard that will monitor case progress, identify reasons for delays across courts, and help with strategic planning by highlighting trends in caseloads. The Causelist portal will also allow lawyers and anyone involved in a court case to easily see which cases are being heard each day. 

The new initiative will improve transparency and accessibility by offering a central location to find daily court schedules.

E-filing is gaining traction: South Africa’s court system also utilises an online case management system, which includes some e-filing capabilities including access to upcoming hearings, filed and served documents, and court notifications. Additionally, the platform allows secure document exchange and sharing with other parties in the case.

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Telecom

Telkom Kenya has hit a rough patch in the last couple of months.

Between March 2022 and June 2023, the telecom lost 1.62 million subscribers due to a crackdown on irregularly registered SIM cards. To worsen matters, it lost another 800,000 subscribers due to unpaid leasing fees—$51.7 million—to American Towers Corporation (ATC), which forced the shutdown of 246 Telkom towers. 

A bid to recover financial ground: Now facing a dwindling subscriber base of 1.3 million, Telkom is in discussions to sell its Kenyan mast and tower business, Swiftnet—reportedly valued at $332 million— to private equity firm Actis LLP.

The potential deal could provide much-needed financial relief for Telkom Kenya, grappling with a shrinking subscriber base and network issues. The deal would also include a smaller, local partner which, at this point, remains unnamed. 

This development follows Telkom’s announcement in November 2023, that it was in exclusive negotiations with a “reputable private equity firm” to sell Swiftnet. The unnamed firm was leading a consortium that included a Black economic empowerment partner.

Tower spin-offs: Many mobile network operators (MNOs) follow a similar path by divesting their tower infrastructure and entering into “sale-and-leaseback” agreements. One such example is MTNs deal with IHS Holding Ltd. In 2022, MTN sold over 5,700 of its tower sites in South Africa to IHS Holding Ltd, a telecommunications infrastructure company, in a sale-and-leaseback deal.

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Fintech

Africa’s remittance market is estimated to grow to about $2.68bn in 2028, and many fintech startups on the continent are riding the wave and tapping into that potential. 

LemFi, a Nigerian fintech which allows people to receive and send money to 12 countries globally, expanded into Tanzania and China this year. Similarly, Pryme received a European banking licence to allow it offer its services to the 12 million Africans living in Europe. 

Onafriq and Safaricom are teaming up to be the latest players in that space

News: Ethiopia’s National Bank has approved Safaricom’s Payment Instrument Issuer Licence that would allow it to receive foreign income via M-PESA, its mobile money platform. 

Ethiopians abroad sent $4.2 billion in remittances home in 2022, accounting for roughly 5% of GDP. The country aims to double that figure within five years, and the new Safaricom-Onafriq partnership is seen as a key driver. Safaricom boasts a vast mobile money network, M-Pesa, widely used in East Africa. This extensive network could simplify receiving remittances for Ethiopians, eliminating the need for traditional bank accounts.

The move is the latest in the cards of Onafriq which recently rebranded as MFS AFrica. The fintech obtained three licenses from the Bank of Uganda (BoU) one year after it acquired Beyonic, a Ugandan-based digital payments services provider for enterprises operating in Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda.

Crypto Tracker

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$67,719	+ 5.83%	+ 30.01%
Ether	$3,498	+ 6.16%	+ 16.92%
Tether USDt	$1.00	+ 0.10%	+ 0.05%
Solana	$189.68	+ 9.40%	+ 76.28%

* Data as of 10:55 PM WAT, March 20, 2024.

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Opportunities

• Ride-hailing platform, Bolt has launched an Accelerator Program for its drivers and riders in Kenya. The program will see the company invest €20,000 (about Ksh2.92million) in seed fund to support business plans developed by Bolt drivers and couriers or their family members that link to sustainable transport. Apply by April 4.
• The Corporate Social Responsibility arm of MTN Nigeria, MTN Foundation has opened applications for phase two of its “Yellopreneur” initiative, through which it intends to offer 150 female entrepreneurs with ₦3 million ($1,900) each as loans to boost their businesses. Apply by March 30. 
• Applications are open for the Access Bank Youthrive Program for Nigerian MSMEs. The program is a collaboration between the bank and the Vice President’s office, dedicated to empowering individuals and MSMEs. With a focus on capacity development, financial empowerment, and business exchange, the program aims to impact 4 million youths over the next four years. Apply here.

Here’s what you should be looking at

• DOB Equity shakeup: Co-CEOs step down in leadership overhaul 
• TechStars-backed GetEquity is raising $1 million to add bonds and fixed-income assets
• tappi partners MTN to help Ivorian businesses create online presence
• Nigeria’s 8 subsea cables spur new investment in hyperscale data centres

Written by: Mariam Muhammad & Faith Omoniyi

Edited by: Timi Odueso

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M&As

The African tech ecosystem continues to witness significant M&A activities—one of the trends we highlighted in our State of Tech in Africa report. In 2023, 30 acquisitions took place, including Bitmama’s acquisition of PayDay. Commercial banks are however way ahead of startups in this M&A game.

Take Nigeria’s Access HoldCo, for example. Over the weekend, the bank completed its third acquisition of the month. It acquired Nigeria’s second-largest independent pension fund manager, ARM Pensions.

Over the past two years, the company has made six significant acquisitions ranging from its 2021 acquisitions of the Mozambiquan and Botswana arms of BancABC to the 2022 acquisition of Finibanco Angola. These strategic acquisitions have helped the bank expand into new countries.

More than traditional banking: ARM will be Access’ third acquisition this month—with Zambia’s Atlas Mara and Megatech Insurance as the first two—and the third overall that showcases the bank’s strong venture into other plays like insurance and pension. 

In 2022, Access HoldCo solidified its position in the $34.9 billion pension market with the acquisitions of Sigma Pensions and First Guarantee Pensions. Over the weekend, the company also revealed that it had received all regulatory approvals from the Nigerian Pension Commission and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to acquire ARM Pensions.

Now, ARM’s four million customers will move to join the one million customers registered under Access’s pension plan. 

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Cybersecurity

Last Friday, a cybercriminal known as “Tanaka” leaked a database which allegedly contains the personal information of over 200,000 users of Egyptian consumer retailer B.TECH. The database, which is about 20MB in size and contains over 200,000 lines of data, includes emails, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, genders, and city of residence. 

According to cybersecurity tracker HackManac, the hack actually occurred over a year ago, in February 2023.

It never happened? B.TECH says a data breach never happened. In a statement it shared with The Enterprise yesterday, the company said it “firmly denies all circulated allegations of a recent data breach”.

Millions at risk: The allegations are concerning as B.TECH is one of Egypt’s leading consumer retailers with over 50 million customers across 130 cities. While the company has reassured its users, stating that their HackManac says they should apply caution moving forward.

The big bucks in data: While South Africa still records some of the highest cyberattacks on the continent, Egypt has received its fair share of hackers with Lockbit, an infamous cybercriminal group, hacking Fawry last year. These hackers make money: by demanding a ransom from the company which costs an average of $1.82 million and by selling the data to other phishing groups which attack and defraud the users by pretending to be legitimate companies. 

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Startups

The News: Livestock Wealth, a South African agritech platform which allows investors to buy cattle and farmland, faces accusations of operating without a financial service provider (FSP) licence from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). 

Despite the allegations, the startup’s lead investor, Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC), claims it conducted thorough due diligence.

The startup is also disputing the FSCA’s allegations, and claims to have the necessary credit provider licence.

Background: Livestock Wealth gained traction through AlphaCode Incubate, a programme supporting black-owned financial and tech startups. They received initial funding in 2016 and an additional R2 million ($106,000) grant in 2019 after pivoting their model to become the cattle farm operator and supplier to a major retailer. AlphaCode, in a statement to TechCabal, also claims it investigated Livestock Wealth in 2019. 

Why it matters: The licensing issue raises concerns about investor protection and transparency in Africa’s fledgling tech ecosystem which has seen a fair bit of scrutiny in the past year. MIC’s stance of following due diligence could reassure potential investors, but the FSCA’s investigation casts a shadow on the company’s compliance.

 The accusations come at a critical juncture for Livestock Wealth’s expansion into farmland investing. The outcome of the FSCA investigation and potential penalties could significantly impact their trajectory.

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Funding

The year 2022 saw an estimated 17 million Nigerians grappling with critical food insecurity, and an estimated 25 million Nigerians were likely to be food insecure between June and August of 2023, according to October Cadre Harmonise, a government-led and UN-supported food and nutrition analysis.

Nigeria’s recognises the critical threat of food insecurity and has prioritised cultivating 500,000 hectares of land across Nigeria. In line with this vision, the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, last year, launched the Fourth Industrial Revolution Technology Application (4IRTA) in Agriculture program, awarding ₦10 million ($11,000) in grants to 10 promising startups. 

What’s the 4IRTA about? The 4IRTA is a platform under the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) used to run specific projects using 4IR technologies–Blockchain, Artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, drones and sensors–in different sectors of the economy. 

The selected startups will focus on using these 4IR technologies to improve various agricultural sub-sectors including forestry, crop production, fishery and livestock. Over the weekend, the ministry announced the 10 startups who placed in the programme.

The selected agritech startups are: Agri-Wing Project, Ranch.ID LivestockPro, Precision Farm Management, Automated loT-Based Irrigation System, Geospatial Intelligence model for enhanced prediction of crop yield and crop stress assessment, AgriTrust Solutions by Ledger Labs Ltd., Alfor Livestock diseases and health reporting, loT Climate-Smart Device, Smart Pond (SP) and Future Fish Farms.

Of these 10 selected startups, five leverage drones and sensors, two utilise blockchain to ensure transparency, one automates irrigation with sensors, and two employ AI for fish farm optimisation.

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Stat of the week

$10.62 million: That’s how much the proptech space in Africa raised in 2023. It was the sector with the least funding for the year.

Source: State of Africa in Tech Report