For the first three and half months of this year, Letshego Holdings was the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE)’s biggest gainer, its share price putting on an incredible 40 thebe, or about 29%. Besides rosy earnings in recent financial periods, the homegrown pan-African microlender appeared to have put its 2019 troubles behind it, with the new consolidated management team, put together by the board from 2020 onwards, apparently settling the nerves that had caused investor jitters in previous years.
The executive management, led by Andrew Okai, was riding the crest of the wave, having sailed resiliently over COVID-19’s impact in the financial sector. In fact, at the time, the CEO and his lieutenants’ focus was on transforming Letshego into a major digital financial services retailer in Africa, building up a registry of five million customers over the next three years to become one of the continent’s biggest players in fintech.
