Growth strategy for investors in a mobile money company

Ascent Africa (Ascent), a SME-focused private equity investor, was looking to invest US$ 1 – 5 million into Chims Africa, an MTN mobile money agent operator that provides an electronic wallet service.

We helped Ascent with investment strategy implementation to deploy its capital. The post-investment roadmap identified three areas for expansion around agency banking, micro-insurance and bill payments.

The investment helped optimize cash requirements for existing agents, expand the agent network to new regions and invest in new customer services. This has directly led to increased income and profitability for these agents with documented examples of 50% income growth.

This engagement was executed through USAID’s East Africa Trade & Investment Hub

The investment was profiled in the EAVCA Private Equity Case Study Compendium  publication, which showcases the positive contribution of private equity to sustainable economic growth and development in the East Africa region