Every fortnight we compile a list of important news updates and events covering the East African FINTECH, MFGTECH, CLNTECH, and AGRTECH sectors.

For a downloadable copy of Africa’s Issue #49

FINTECH

MTN Uganda IPO is a worthwhile investment
MTN Uganda early this week announced the opening of its Initial Public Offer for 20 percent of its company’s shares, an opportunity for the public to apply for stake in the company. Stanbic Bank is MTN’s Transactional advisor for MTN’s Initial Public Offer.
Susan Erem is the Managing Director at MTN Uganda

Zofi Cash launches salary Advance App
Zofi Cash is a new financial digital platform that advances money to salaried employees, thus enabling them to take care of financial emergencies that can’t wait for payday. The App aims to bridge the gap between payday and needs that can’t wait as the company is partnering with employees who will be able to request for Salary advances once the need arises.
Paul Kirungi is the Founder & CEO at Zofi cash

UMB formulates banking products to support BoG Sandbox Project
Universal Merchant Bank (UMB), a leading indigenous Ghanaian bank has announced its intention to develop specific banking products for start-up fintechs in the Bank of Ghana Sandbox Project.
Nana Dwemoh Benneh is the CEO at Universal Merchant bank

Kenyan fintech Asante announces $7.5m Series A funding for pan-African expansion
Asante has developed a digital lending platform that uses alternative data and a proprietary AI loan decisioning management system to approve loans to micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Chidi Okpala is the CEO at Asante Financial Services Group

TNM Mpamba Launches Mastercard Debit Card in Malawi
In a country-first for Malawi, mobile money service
provider TNM Mpamba has launched a Mastercard debit card, enabling its customers – even those without bank accounts – to make safe and seamless in-person and online digital payments on the Mastercard network.
Arnold Mbwana is the CEO at TNM

MTN Rwanda records Rwf19bn profit in first 9 months of 2021
MTN Rwanda has reported an after-tax profit of Rwf19.4 billion in the first 9 months of September of 2021 compared to Rwf17.8 billion in the same period last year. All the telco’s revenue streams, data, voice, Mobile Money and enterprise registered positive growth in the first 6 months of the year.
Mitwa Ng’ambi is the CEO at MTN Rwanda.

Favour Ori’s Payday becomes first Rwandan startup to join Techstars Toronto
Payday, a Pan-African Fintech startup founded by Favour Ori, has become the first Rwandan company in history to join the prestigious Techstars Toronto Accelerator program. Payday is a platform that was created to provide fast payments for Africans across the globe.
Favour Ori is the Founder & CEO at Payday

Nigerian API fintech Mono raises $15m in series A funding round led by Tiger Global
Mono, an Africa-focused fintech startup that lets users easily connect their bank accounts to financial apps, has secured $15 million in a Series A round of investment. The funding round was led by Tiger Global and supported by new investors like Target Global (an investor in neobank Kuda), General Catalyst, and SBI Investment.

Airtel Uganda Partners with Ankole Coffee Producers
Airtel Uganda, Uganda’s largest 4G network has today partnered with Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union(ACPCU) to provide convenient Airtel Money payments platform services to ACPCU enhance payments of member farmer’s in a simple and secure way across the Ankole region.
Andrew Rugamba is the AG Director at Airtel money Uganda

African Development Bank Partners (AfDB) With YDFS to Pioneer Nigerian Women in Fintech
To overcome the economic, religious, and social factors that prevent the women of northern Nigeria from accessing finance, the African Development Bank has signed a grant agreement for $500,000 with Y’ello Digital Financial Services (YDFS), a fintech subsidiary of MTN Nigeria.
Stefan Nalletamby is the Director of Financial Sector Development at AfDB

MFS Africa announces expansion into Nigeria with agreement to acquire leading super-agent network Baxi
MFS Africa, the largest pan-African digital payments hub, announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire Baxi, one of Nigeria’s leading super-agent networks. The deal, which is subject to approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria, will be the second highest fintech
acquisition in Nigeria to date.
Dare Okoudjou is the CEO at MFS Africa Limited

Appzone Launches Next Generation Payment Infrastructure for Africa on Blockchain
Appzone Group, sub-Saharan Africa’s leading fintech software company has announced the launch of Zone, the continent’s first blockchain platform for payment processing that facilitates local and Intra-African payments in fiat and digital currencies.
Uche Elendu is the CEO at AppZone

China’s Reach Into Africa’s Digital Sector Worries Experts
Chinese companies like Huawei and the Transsion group are responsible for much of the digital infrastructure and smartphones used in Africa. Chinese phones built in Africa come with already installed apps for mobile money transfer services that increase the reach of Chinese tech companies. 

M-PESA Foundation partners CBM Kenya, CURE Kenya for inclusive education project
M-PESA Foundation has partnered with CBM Kenya and CURE Kenya hospital to address
factors that limit children with disabilities from access, retention, and transition in schools. The Kshs.74 million ‘Wezesha Elimu’ project will see children with disabilities undergo surgeries, rehabilitation and eventually be placed in learning institutions.
Les Baillie is the Executive Director at M-Pesa Foundation

BoG making progress in supporting Fintechs to increase access to finance for PWDs
The Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, has said that the Central Bank is committed to ensuring that persons with disabilities have easy access to financial aid.
Elsie Addo Awadzi is the Second Deputy Governor at Bank of Ghana.

Ghana wants to allow offline payments for its e-cedi CBDC
Ghana is working towards offering its central bank digital
currency to citizens without an Internet connection. An official with the Bank of Ghana revealed that the bank is working on a pilot to test the viability of offline payments as it seeks to target the masses.
Kwame Oppong is the Head of Fintech Innovation at Bank of Ghana

Zambia’s Fintech Lupiya gets funding from Google
INSTANT loan application Lupiya has been selected for Google’s first ‘Black Founders Fund’, an initiative started by the US $2 trillion company in order to promote African founders. Lupiya became famous as the first female-led start-up to raise over $1million in investment last year.
Evelyn Chilomo Kaingu is the Founder & CEO at Lupiya
Muchu Kaingu is the Co-founder at Lupiya