The financial services industry is experiencing a paradigm shift. Dependence on manual services within the industry is rapidly declining and this trend will continue as technology continues to evolve and infiltrate every aspect of our lives. The challenge that many established financial services companies face is how to leverage these new technologies to grow their business whilst pivoting from traditional business models to achieve improved accuracy, increased efficiency and superior client experience.
The Emerging Africa Group is one of the forward-thinking financial service firms constantly reinventing itself in order to participate on the front row of the current digital technology revolution.
This is reflected and aptly demonstrated in its acquisition of a majority equity stake in Fundall – one of Nigeria’s most innovative Fintech startups poised to become the “Revolut for Africans”. Fundall is building Africa’s first financial super app, to help individuals and businesses spend smartly, manage money and grow money – from living their best lives every day to planning for the future.
This investment follows Fundall’s prior capital raise in October 2020, which was directed largely into the acquisition of a microfinance bank, as part of steps to further strengthen its operational framework and license to surpass both regulations and customer service expectations.
Fundall plans to deploy the new funds primarily to grow its product and service offerings and to increase its online and offline visibility; this will imply a significant growth in digital transaction processing on its platform and provide instant service delivery.
According to Taiwo Obasan, CEO Fundall: “Fundall is currently leading the innovation in bundling financial services into a single and central platform for people to access personal & business finance in Africa, we are changing the status quo. With one single sign-up to Fundall, customers are able to spend, get credit, use money management tools and invest in mutual funds or stocks from one app. We have seen a similar reflection in the Emerging Africa Group’s strategy via its existing subsidiaries and we believe that this investment will leapfrog growth for both brands.”
A statement from the founder of Fundall, Kolapo Joseph, reads: “Our goal from day one has been to enable every African to spend smartly and to manage and grow wealth from a single app that is simple, smart and easier to use than its competitors and to create a truly digital bank for Africans. We are proud of the successes and traction achieved so far via organic channels with less than US$7,000 marketing spend since our launch in October 2020, having acquired over 22,000 retail customers and 200 small businesses who have successfully processed 100,000 transactions valued in excess of US$3 million. Our success to date represents our first growth phase which was to build a Minimum Viable Product and create traction whilst being capital efficient. For our second growth phase, we were very intentional about attracting an investor that would provide not just capital but synergies and capabilities that will enable Fundall to leapfrog its huge potential. We have no doubt that the Emerging Africa Group brings these and other intangibles to the table, bringing us closer to our vision.”
Explaining the rationale for its acquisition decision, Toyin F. Sanni, founder and group chief executive officer at Emerging Africa released the following statement:
“We are excited by how digital technology can readily provide scale in terms of processes, distribution and access to financial services and we believe our investment in Fundall will enable us to provide everyday Africans with easy access to powerful and flexible banking and wealth management services typically reserved for the wealthy and ultrarich.
“We are confident that our world-class expertise, innovative products and unique knowledge of the African financial services and business landscape will, combined with cutting edge technology, birth the future of finance in Africa which we believe will revolutionise financial services by giving individuals and businesses accessible control over their financial affairs.
“This acquisition supports our aspiration to be the leading catalyst to Africa’s emergence as a key global investment origin and destination. This we are doing by providing superior financing and investing solutions, leveraging talent, innovation and collaboration. Welcoming Fundall into the Emerging Africa group enables us to bring onboard the critical talent, innovation and collaboration required for the fulfilment of our corporate mission.”
