The leading African Challenger Fintech, Zeepay, has acquired Mangwee Mobile Money in Zambia.
In a deal that was completed on Friday, April 16, 2021, Zeepay acquired a 51 per cent stake in Mangwee Mobile Money.
Zeepay is the fastest growing fintech focusing on digital rails to connect digital assets such as mobile money Wallets, Cards, ATMs, Bank Account and Digital Tokens to International Money Transfer Operators, Payments, Subscriptions, International Airtime and Refugee payments.
It is a Mobile Financial Services Company with Offices around the World including the United Kingdom and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and other Regulators across Africa.
In a private placement, Zeepay and Mangwee agreed to a sale of 51 per cent of Mangwee shares to Zeepay.
The deal makes Zeepay Ghana the majority shareholder of the entity.
According to Zeepay, the move to invest in Mangwee is part of their global strategy to expand their footprint across Africa, in an effort to better serve their global clients and reduce the cost of remittance into Africa.
What Mangwee offers
Mangwee has been in operations since 2018, and was initially set up to operate as an alternative wallet targeting university students in Zambia with the aim of assisting to drive the cost of mobile money services downward.
Mangwee’s wallet serves as a secure savings account for those without access to banks or those who want to avoid high banking fees.
Users can quickly and easily transfer money from their mobile wallets to other users, pay bills and subscriptions and purchase airtime.
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The company also digitises the saving Box and make Saving Groups operations secure, efficient and transparent for all participating members.
What Zeepay offers
Zeepay specializes in paying remittances into mobile money wallets across Africa and is regulated by both Bank of Ghana as an EMI issuer and in the UK as a Money Transfer Operator, by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Merger
The merger is the first of its kind; that two Indigenous African fintechs into Mobile Money operations have come together to grow, representing a wind of change ongoing on the African continent.
Zeepay’s financial advisor Verdant Capital, acted as Zeepay’s M&A advisor on the acquisition.
Speaking during an interview with a local daily, Zeepay’s Managing Director Andrew Takyi-Appiah said that the company processed 2.4million transactions in 2020, valued at $400million across 10 markets.
Accoring to him, the acquisition of Mangwee is strategic and opens up the Southern African corridor for Zeepay.
He noted that the merger will give Zeepay access to Mozambique, Malawi, Angola and Namibia amongst others in its efforts to capture Africa’s $70billion remittance market.
This, according to Andrew Takyi-Appiah will also provide Zeepay with an opportunity to deploy its award-winning products.
According to Paa Kwasi Yankey, the Chairman of Zeepay, the move to invest in Mangwee is also part of their global strategy to expand their footprint across Africa, in an effort to better serve their global clients and reduce the cost of remittance into Africa.
Aston Njovu, one of the co-founders of Mangwee noted that the acquisition of Mangwee by Zeepay marks the opening of Southern Africa to the world of conveniently affordable IMT services.
His comments were echoed by Bwalya Kampamba who is also a co-founder of Mangwee, who mentioned that the partnership with Zeepay is good for Africa and Zambia.
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According to Kampamba, they will be able to leverage their award winning mobile money products such as Remit Insurance, Payments, and Visa-direct through the merger with Zeepay, to deepen financial inclusion and open up the markets.
