Author: Akin Naphtal

Airtel Africa has added banking services to its portfolio of Smartcash Payment Service Bank services in Nigeria, building on a domestic remittance-based set-up launched in May as it seeks to enhance financial inclusion in the country. At a launch event in Lagos, Airtel detailed the bank will now provide services including international remittance alongside issuing debit and prepaid cards. It stated Smartcash Payment Service Bank aims to bridge the urban-rural financial divide in Nigeria, the operator’s largest market in Africa. Airtel Africa CEO Segun Ogunsanya remarked the launch will bring “millions of people” into the “financial community”, along with delivering…

Ghana’s Finance Ministry has disclosed that government will not terminate the 1.5% levy on electronic transactions, despite its application to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for economic assistance. This was contained in a statement from the Ministry on Tuesday, addressing key questions regarding government’s ongoing engagement with the Fund. Regarding the controversial levy, the Ministry explained that government will add the proceeds from the levy to the support from the IMF to salvage the economy. Addressing the question of whether the levy will be scrapped, the Ministry said, “NO. The IMF lending to Ghana will be for balance of payments…

Pan-African e-commerce platform Jumia has entered into a partnership with smartphone brand realme to roll out new devices and increase competition within Africa’s high-growth smartphone adoption market. The two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) according to which realme will have an official store on Jumia’s platform that would connect it with online consumers across 11 African countries. In a statement the companies add that the agreement covers Nigeria initially, but is expected to gradually expand to Ghana, Kenya, Ghana and Ivory Coast, and thereafter to the remaining African countries where Jumia operates. Sandeep Narayanan, VP, Consumer Electronics,…

KongaPay, a frontline mobile money platform and a member of the Konga Group, Nigeria’s leading composite e-commerce giant, has signed a landmark deal with Bibimoney, a UK-based industry leader to expand access to financial inclusion for many in Nigeria, while also raising standards in the Fintech ecosystem in Nigeria and beyond. The iconic partnership was signed at the prestigious House of Lords, London last week by Mr. Shiraz Jassa, Founder & CEO of Bibimoney and Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman of Konga Group witnessed by Lord Anthony St. John of Bletso, Chairman of Bibimoney, and many other distinguished guests. In…

Nigerian startup Xend Finance has passed the 100,000 user mark, while announcing launches in Ghana and Kenya. Xend Finance, which in 2019 took part in the Google Launchpad Africa accelerator and the Binance Incubation Programme, has developed a platform that gives everyone access to the global money market so members can save and invest in stable currencies. The Xend Finance platform also allows users to create their own credit unions and cooperatives, eliminating traditional middle men, while earning up to 15 per cent annual percentage yield on their savings. The startup launched its platform publicly late in 2020 after raising…

MTN Nigeria has appointed Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka as General Manager for its Fixed Broadband Business. Onyinye is a business leader with over 23 years of experience in the telecommunications, logistics and education sectors. Her expertise includes sales, marketing and customer management, conceptualising go-to-market models and nurturing new products into mature revenue-generating engines. Before her appointment, she was at the Enterprise Business Division, MTN Nigeria, where she worked as the General Manager, Enterprise Marketing. In her previous position, she played a key role in the establishment of the Enterprise Business division, leading nationwide sales efforts and driving expansion into new markets. She…

As part of its Ambition 2025 strategy, MTN Group has announced the appointment of new CEOs for its operations in Cameroon, Rwanda and Uganda. As outlined in a statement released by the operator, MTN Rwanda CEO Mitwa Ng’ambi becomes CEO of MTN Cameroon, replacing Stephen Blewett, who is leaving the Group. According to MTN, Ng’ambi oversaw the listing of MTN Rwanda as well as the establishment of its Fintech subsidiary. “She was instrumental in strengthening the business’s stakeholder engagement and has also worked in MTN’s Benin and Zambian operations,” the company added. MTN South Africa Chief Consumer Officer Mapula Bodibe…

Nigeria-based mobility fintech startup Moove has raised US$20 million in funding from the UK government’s development finance institution (DFI) British International Investment (BII), formerly known as CDC Group. Founded in 2019 by British-born Nigerians Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, Moove is democratising vehicle ownership in Africa by providing revenue-based vehicle financing to mobility entrepreneurs. By embedding its alternative credit scoring technology onto ride-hailing, e-logistics and instant delivery platforms, Moove can use proprietary performance and revenue analytics to underwrite loans to drivers that have previously been excluded from financial services. Over three million rides have been completed in Moove-financed vehicles across…

South African fintech startup Nomanini has launched StockNow, a digital retailer solution that aims to bring affordable working capital to Africa’s informal retail markets. Founded in 2010, Nomanini has developed a platform that enables informal merchants and micro-entrepreneurs in emerging markets to distribute digital goods such as airtime and prepaid electricity. The startup, which also offers micro-loans to merchants and operates in markets such as Ghana and Mozambique, raised a US$4 million funding round led by Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank, and completed by Goodwell Investments, an Amsterdam-based investment firm, in 2019. It also banked funding worth US$1.5 million in…

Egyptian fintech super app MNT-Halan has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Tasaheel has securitised around US$150 million of its loan book in the first issuance of a US$600 million programme with Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt’s largest private sector bank. Having begun life as a ride-hailing app for two- and three-wheeler vehicles back in 2018, MNT-Halan has morphed into a super app of sorts, and in the process become Egypt’s largest and fastest-growing lender to the unbanked. The startup’s proprietary fintech ecosystem connects customers, vendors and micro-enterprises through its consumer facing app, merchant app, distributed lending and payment processing software,…