Letshego eyes three more African countries in 2017
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday January 20, 2017 14:37
It recently acquired a 100% shareholding in afb Ghana, a non-bank financial institution, expanding their footprint to 11 countries across Southern, East and West African countries that include Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda.
The Ghana acquisition was the second in the West African countries following another 100% acquisition of Letshego Nigeria MFB, formerly known as FBN Microfinance Bank in 2015.
Letshego managing director, Chris Low said the planned expansion for this year is underpinned by continued investment in their people, systems and capabilities. He said they have secured a US$20 million funding from a French funder Cyrano and are also expecting a massive local debt financing deal.
“Letshego’s strategic intent is to build a leading African inclusive finance group hence the reason why we keep on eyeing other potential countries to start our operations,” he said.
Low added that Letshego continues to grow in its existing territories and diversify into new African markets.
He said identifying the next potential country to invest in usually depends on the various factors and qualitative criteria to see if the candidates can fit in their profile as well as if they have potential for stable regulatory and growth potential.
“We constantly see opportunities all the time and review their growth potential that exists in various countries and you would be surprised that we say no to most of them and accept a few after assessment,” he said.
In addition, he said whichever country they invest in they usually find local partners and align with the local talent that exists there thus creating employment.
Low said their strategic delivery is centred around embracing financial inclusion, growing the franchise by investing and diversifying, enhancing the customer experience by delivering simple appropriate and affordable solutions.
“I know there has been an outcry about the level of indebtness amongst the locals, but this has not in any way affected us as we have an appropriate business model, the deduction methodology that protects us,” he said.
He further said they have partnered with the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) where they run a workshop on financial inclusion in an endeavour to sensetise the civil servants free of charge.
He said they have been sensetising their clients on financial inclusion and borrowing for the right reasons.
Low noted that Letshego continues to progress its inclusive finance agenda through engaging with stakeholders including advocating for enabling financial inclusion policies as well as piloting agricultural, educational and affordable housing lending projects. It supplements this with a financial literacy programme across key customer segments.
Letshego employs over 3,100 workers representing more than 20 nationalities. It services a customer base of over 380,000 borrowers and 100,000 depositors through its 315 customer access points.
The group’s inclusive finance agenda is focused on providing underserved customers with access to simple, appropriate and affordable financial solutions.
Letshego Holdings, which started from humble beginnings about 19 years ago, currently has a market capitalisation in excess of U$500 million, and continues to show resilience.