E-Financial
TLcom Closes TIDE Africa Fund at $71M
TLcom, the Africa-focused Venture Capital firm, has announces it has secured an additional $31M for its TIDE Africa Fund, bringing its Sub Saharan Africa (SSA)-focused fund to $71mn. The latest investment round has attracted international interest, with TLcom confirming participation from the UK based CDC, IFC as well as South Africa’s Sango Capital and Belgium’s BIO.
The team now expects to make an additional five to six investments in pan-African companies over the coming 12 to 18 months from Seed to Later stage, as well as ensure capital resources for follow-on rounds for TLcom’s existing portfolio.
TIDE Africa is one of the most active funds operating in Sub Saharan Africa since its first close in 2017, with 6 companies in its portfolio, including Andela, Kobo360, Twiga Foods, Ajua, Terragon Group and uLesson. Over the last 12 months, rounds led or co-led by TIDE Africa have raised over $150mn for African startups. Last year TLcom Capital was named Africa Technology Investor of the Year at the PE Africa Awards.
Speaking on the new investments in its TIDE Africa Fund, Maurizio Caio, Nairobi based Founder and Managing Partner at TLcom says, “It is time for Africa VC to graduate into a world-class asset class that can generate massive returns. We are excited to bring on board new strategic institutional investors, such as CDC, IFC, Sango Capital and BIO into the fund that share this view.
Attracting international investment from such renowned backers into the African VC space reflects the recognition of the work the TLcom team has already achieved in connecting some of the continent’s strongest entrepreneurs with the capital they need to scale.”
Launched in 1999, the 20+-year old Venture Capital firm currently has in excess of $200M under management across primary and secondary funds.
The highly experienced team, with Senior Partner Dr. Omobola Johnson based in Nigeria, and Partners Andreata Muforo in Kenya, and Ido Sum in the UK, has consistently leveraged its on-the-ground presence in Africa to develop a broad portfolio ranging from agriculture to education, data analytics and logistics, focusing exclusively on technology-enabled services and innovation for SSA, across all stages of the venture capital cycle.
Nick O’Donohoe, Chief Executive of CDC, the UK’s publicly owned impact investor and largest investor in the Fund, said: “The investment in TLcom provides a critical foundation in our endeavour to plug the funding gap for early-stage companies and bolster entrepreneurship across Africa. CDC is excited to work with TLcom, leveraging technology and innovation to intervene in critical sectors such as education or agriculture and helping to address important consumer and business challenges.”
Omobola Johnson, TLcom’s Senior Partner and Nigeria’s former Minister of ICT concludes, “We are bullish on supporting and investing in tech-enabled African companies due to the opportunities for value generation that they provide. We are known for being an entrepreneur-led VC firm who values Africa-centric innovation, strong leadership teams and businesses who are solving real challenges in the market.”
E-Financial
Lagos State Appoints MoneyMaster as Payment Partner for “Ounje Eko” Programme
“Ounje Eko”, the food price discount initiative of the Lagos State Government, has appointed leading payment service bank, MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank Limited (MMPSB), as its collaborator in the bid to ensure ease of payments at the market.
MoneyMaster is one of the Central Bank of Nigeria-licensed Payment Service Banks (PSBs) to promote financial inclusion across Nigeria.
Under the partnership, MMPSB will apply its cutting-edge payment solution to engender easy payment and reconciliation in order to make the experiences of Lagosians who will be getting their food supplies from the markets pleasurable. Its payment solution is also all-encompassing and ensures real time value to payment destinations.
The mobile bank was appointed as the collection and payment partner for “Ounje Eko” Food Markets programme which is a government initiative serving the five divisions of Lagos State. Consequent on this, MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank will collect payments in 57 LCDAs in the state.
The partnership gives credence to the quality of payment solutions that MoneyMaster is reputed for in its services to its growing business clientele in private and public sectors.
E-Financial
CBN, EFCC Probe Banks, Firms over Alleged Forex Racketeering
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is investigating irregular foreign exchange transactions and forward contracts valued at approximately $2.4 billion.
The inquiry follows an extensive audit by Deloitte, which scrutinized $7 billion in dollar debts accumulated under the bank’s previous leadership.
In the aftermath of the 294th Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, Yemi Cardoso, governor of CBN, disclosed to journalists that the investigation, supported by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, among other security bodies, aims to clarify the legitimacy of these FX allocations identified as problematic by the audit.
“It was determined that a number of these transactions did not qualify…they were outright illegal. The law enforcement agencies are now looking into those transactions that as far as we are concerned, are not valid to be paid,” Cardoso detailed, emphasizing the unlawful nature of these forex deals.
The crux of the investigation lies in the audit findings that a significant portion of the scrutinized transactions lacked proper documentation and, in many instances, were deemed outright illegal.
However, the unfolding investigation has raised concerns within the organized private sector, with some entities contemplating legal action against commercial banks for unresolved forex bids.
Despite these tensions, Governor Cardoso reassures that the foreign exchange market remains open and transparent, inviting stakeholders to address their forex needs through the official channels.
Furthermore, Cardoso clarified the distribution of fertilizers to farmers as a one-off measure and not indicative of a shift back to direct interventions by the CBN, underscoring a commitment to strategic, regulatory governance rather than direct market involvement.
E-Financial
CBN Urges Banks to Expedite Action on Recapitalisation
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed deposit money banks in the country to expedite action to increase their capital base from the current ₦25bn.
Olayemi Cardoso, governor of CBN, stated this during the apex bank’s 294th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Tuesday in Abuja, when the MPC hiked the interest rate by 22.75% to 24.75%.
The apex bank chief said the MPC examined developments in the banking sector and expressed satisfaction that the industry remained stable. The committee, however, said to guard against risk, commercial banks in the country should accelerate their recapitalisation efforts.
Cardoso said, “The MPC also reviewed developments in the banking system and noted that the industry remains safe, sound, and stable. The committee thus called on the bank to sustain its surveillance and ensure compliance of banks with existing regulatory and macro-potential guidelines.
“The MPC also enjoined the banks to expedite actions on the recapitalisation of banks to strengthen the system against potential risks in an increasingly globalised world.”
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