Luxembourg fintech MyBucks will pay Opportunity International, a financial inclusion champion supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among other social enterprise funders, $5.2 million for the use of its name in banking operations across Africa.

The 15-year trademark licence agreement follows MyBucks’ acquisition of a 49 per cent stake in Opportunity Bank Uganda last week for an undisclosed sum as well as a stake in Banco Oportunidade de Mozambique in July.

The deal also covers the impact investor’s operations in Kenya and Tanzania. The deal allows MyBucks exclusive use of the brand name Opportunity Bank in other African countries where it secures banking licences, with Zambia next in line.

MyBucks CEO Dave van Niekerk said the fintech would pay the consideration in the form of equity, giving Opportunity International 250,000 shares at a swap rate of $21 per share. Opportunity International on the other hand will continue providing the banks with at least $30 million for promoting financial services to the unbanked.

Through the partnership, Frankfurt Stock Exchange-listed Mybucks hopes to start deposit-taking operations in select African countries and to leverage Opportunity International’s knowledge of the legal terrain.

“MyBucks now has greater access to capital and the compliance resources necessary to meet the increasing banking regulatory requirements,” said Mr van Niekerk.

The deal gives Opportunity International a technology platform to deliver its savings, small and micro enterprise, education and agricultural loans more profitably through MyBucks credit scoring.

“Our partnership allows us to focus on providing the innovative programmes and services our clients need to get access to basic financial services,” said the global chief executive officer of Opportunity International, Vicki Escarra.

He said the deal would enable the organisation to double the number of its customers to 28 million in three years.

Property investors flee Nigeria, eye neighbours

NIGERIA’S PAIN, West Africa’s gain. That appears to be the theme as rising debt and currency controls force investor flight from Nigeria’s property market.

Sun International, Tiger Brands and Truworths have chosen to take their business elsewhere and despite Novare, Old Mutual, Johnson & Johnson and Pick ‘n Pay opting to stay put, there is an oversupply of prime real estate, with tenants’ demand at a decade-low.

“Investors are still withholding from Nigeria as they wait for the storm to pass,” said Bolaji Edu, the chief executive Broll Nigeria, a commercial property firm.

Ghana, buoyed by reliable energy and economic stability, has been the main touch down point for the investor flight.

“A number of retailers are now coming back to request new opportunities outside Accra and we’ve seen a significant rise in the leasing target of our retail development in Kumasi,” said investment firm AttAfrica CEO Kevin Teeroovengadum.

Cote d'Ivoire is also attracting interest, followed by Senegal.

“European and South African firms lead the pack, though we are noting growing interest from Ghanaian and Nigerian firms and investors,” said Ivan Cornet, managing partner at Latitude Five, a London investment firm with offices in Abidjan.

Fanisi Capital to raise $30m to invest in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda

VENTURE FIRM Fanisi Capital plans to raise $30 million by the end of the year to invest in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The money will be the first tranche of Fanisi Capital Fund II which is targeting $100 million, 40 per cent of it from East African investors.

The rest of the close-ended fund will be raised from foreign investors who will have to wait 10 years before redeeming their stakes. However, they can sell them to other investors in the interim. If successful, Fanisi will be the first to close two funds focused on stimulating the growth of promising businesses across East Africa.

Fanisi intends to use the funds in expanding healthcare, agri-business, fast- moving consumer goods and education services.

So who owns Inyange Industries? Brookside denies taking 51pc stake

SPECULATION OVER the ownership of Rwanda’s Inyange Industries continues even after Kenya’s Brookside Dairies denied that it has taken a 51 per cent stake in the company. Talks on the deal were reported as early as 2013, and despite not responding publicly, Brookside intimated that there was nothing in the offing.

Word that an agreement had been reached assumed some credibility when the Indian Ocean Newspaper reported two weeks ago that the deal has been reached.

“We are not aware of any such developments,” Brookside Dairy’s director of milk procurement John Gethi told The EastAfrican. The two firms usually generate interest because of their ownership links: Inyange Dairies is owned by Crystal Ventures, the investment arm of the Rwanda Patriotic Front, Rwanda’s ruling party, while Brookside Dairies is one of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta’s family flagship businesses.

Uganda AG Byaruhanga, joins board of Kenya investment firm, Centum

UGANDA'S ATTORNEY-General William Byaruhanga has joined the board of Kenya investment firm Centum as a non-executive director.

Mr Byaruhanga joins the board together with Africa Union High Representative for the Peace Fund Donald Kaberuka, the managing director of AIG Kenya Insurance Company Catherine Igathe and management consultant Mary Ngige.

The non-executive directors are expected to bring in skills that will help the company “transition from a national to a continental champion” according to disclosures filed with the Nairobi Securities Exchange by Centum chief executive James Mworia.