CELLULANT

CELLUL ANT

Creating technological innovations that bring mobile payment services to Africans www.cellulant.com

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LEADING PAYMENT ECOSYSTEM FOR THE INCREASINGLY

MOBILE AFRICA

Leveraging the hugely impactful success of the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme in Nigeria, Cellulant continues to shape its business in pursuit of its goal to become the number one mobile ecommerce Company on the continent Writer: Emily Jarvis • Project Manager: Donovan Smith fter 13 years of connecting consumers in Africa to digital mobile payment services, Cellulant has been able to unlock unprecedented growth and continues to shape the business in pursuit of its goal to connect more than 100 million consumers in Africa, while building a $1 billion Pan-African Company.

Formed as a result of blue-sky thinking between two likeminded individuals, Ken Njoroge and Bolaji Akinboro, Cellulant has a history full of awardwinning industry firsts, known for its intuitive mobile content applications and services across Africa since the launch of its first platform in 2004.

“Cellulant’s original business model was drawn up on a table napkin. Right from the beginning, we knew that

CELLULANT’S

OPERATIONS BOTSWANA GHANA KENYA NIGERIA MALAWI MOZAMBIQUE UGANDA TANZANI ZAMBIA ZIMBABWE

we wanted to build a Company that provides services at the intersection of government, financial services, consumers, mobile telephone companies and content providers, creating real technological solutions for African consumers and businesses,” recalls Njoroge, the Company’s CoFounder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

After testing mobile banking platforms in focus regions across Africa, in 2009, Cellulant deployed the first mobile banking solution using US currency for one of the first multinational banks; becoming the third Company globally to deploy this solution. From here, the Company’s success began to manifest itself in mobile payment and financial inclusion solutions to create a seamless experience for operators and the consumer across mobile commerce.

“Cellulant’s digital payment solutions have been the catalyst for the penetration of mobile commerce across the countries in which we operate our mobile banking and mobile payment solutions. By digitising the value chain across various industry sectors, we are transforming economies and people’s lives,” adds Faizal Mirza, Cellulant’s Chief Technological Officer.

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GES Scheme

The Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme in Nigeria is just one of the local solutions Cellulant has

provided in recent years. Using a digital e-wallet system, Cellulant has simplified the disbursement of fertiliser subsidies to smallholder farmers – those who needed government subsidies the most - while increasing their average income.

Having obtained a license from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate a mobile payments’ scheme, Cellulant took to market one of the largest-scale uses of mobile commerce to drive transformation in the agricultural sector. GES has since powered $1 billion in subsidy payments to more than 10 million farmers.

INPUTS

90% REACHED 7.1m CUSTOMERS BY 2014

INCOME

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ECONOMY OVER

Njoroge continues: “We have created a converged ecosystem that better connects banks, merchants and mobile networks with the customer.

Partnering with leading banking institutions and merchants across the continent not only requires a holistic approach, but a local focus that engages the consumer and improves our overall value chain; this is something we excel at.”

$30

BILLION

CONTRIBUTED TO THE NIGERIAN GDP

FINANCING

$1800

$600

FOR EVERY FARMER, FROM $700

CREATED IN LENDING & MICROFINANCING OPPORTUNITIES

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MILLION

SAFARICOM INNOVATION: THE ONLY CONSTANT IN MOBILE MONEY Mobile money has proven to the biggest disruption to the financial sector over the last decade. It has not only introduced new paths in the movement of funds, but continues to be a hotbed of innovation.

Take for instance the thousands of customers who have mapped their bank accounts to their mobile wallets.

They in turn make payments for goods and services from their mobile phones, without having come into contact with cash. This has given life to the Cash-Lite and Cashless Economy Concepts that seemed unrealistic not too long ago.

In tandem, at Safaricom have actively been growing the number of business outlets which accept payment using mobile money. The Lipa Na M-PESA tills now stand at over 35,000 and the number keeps growing by the day, as more people appreciate the benefits that come with it.

More recently, we started partnering with financial institutions to introduce Real Time Settlement, which is a technological advancement that ensures that funds sent between Lipa Na M-PESA tills and bank accounts are recognized in real time.

This means that the downtime that discouraged many businesses from adopting Lipa Na M-PESA has been done away with, thereby entrenching the mobile money in the transaction space in Kenya.

With all these developments we illustrate that mobile money is indeed a safer and more convenient way to transact, whether you are a consumer or a business.

www.safaricom.co.ke

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Co-Founder and CEO of Cellulant the average farmer’s income, from Nigeria, Akinboro explains: “There was $700 to $1,800, opening $600 million a time when agriculture contributed worth of opportunities in lending and 60 percent of the GDP in Nigeria. For microfinance. a population of 170 million people, As a consequence of the success of this was significant. However, by 2013, the Scheme, Cellulant is amplifying its agriculture contributed only 20 percent local impact in a new partnership with of the GDP. With 84 the Nigeria Agriculture million hectares of arable Payments Initiative land, there was a definite (NAPI). problem to address. This is Akinboro highlights: where Cellulant came in.

“This is the next step for “Farmers began us that will create further getting the fertiliser they opportunities for the needed, empowering the Nigerian farmer and the agricultural industry to country as a whole by contribute a much larger increasing their financial amount to the GDP.” independence and Between March 2012 turning the agricultural MILLION and 2014, more than $30 industry on its head to billion was contributed to drive economic growth in Nigeria’s GDP, with food Nigeria once more.”

REGISTERED imports dropping by 75 He summarises: “Our SINCE 2012 percent. Additionally, the ‘make possible’ spirit has project almost tripled driven us to great heights;

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changing lives of Nigerians for years to come. It became our strong belief that if we could make any solution work in Nigeria, it would be one that could be adopted and scaled throughout Africa.”

Make Possible Academy

Since its inception, Cellulant has been able to achieve extraordinary results under challenging economic circumstances; showcasing the same ‘make possible’ spirit through its incredibly talented staff to drive the business forward. This spirit is closely intertwined with the Company’s training initiatives, dedicated to continuous improvement for the betterment of the business.

Njoroge says: “The Make Possible Academy is Cellulant’s internal talent learning and development programme that aims to provide staff with different training opportunities at various stages of their employment.

In some cases, we leverage our wider market reach to expose staff to different opportunities and ensure we have strong management teams with a full understanding of our Company’s mission and goals across Africa.”

Furthermore, the Group has a vested interest in youth development and training, mentoring individuals at high school and undergraduate students who embody the Cellulant ‘Make Possible’ spirit. Recently, the Company partnered with the African Leadership University (ALU) to sponsor students who will get a chance to intern at the company during their schooling BILLION and eventually have the opportunity to work at Cellulant at the end of ACCESSED their education. “This THROUGH THE goes hand-in-hand with SCHEME SINCE 2012 our continued pursuit to

SUBSIDIES

$1

Nigerian farmers will have greater financial independence

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The Problem

The Solution The Group has a vested interest in youth development and training

grow the workforce in Africa, investing in young people who exemplify the ‘make possible’ and can-do attitude in pursuing excellence. Our partnership with ALU ensures that these students get the best possible education,” he adds.

Replicating its success

With the aim of more than doubling its market presence in the next three years, Cellulant will continue to invest in its payment ecosystem;

with a concerted focus on innovation, growth and advancement in order to provide the most relevant services to the consumer, subsequently providing a competitive advantage to banks, multinational companies and merchants.

“Using the GES model, we will continue to extend our payment gateway and scale it for other sectors, enabling us to continue to tackle some of the continent’s biggest challenges;

providing solutions across sectors including travel and hospitality, education, water and power,” comments Mirza.

Njoroge concludes: “By 2018, we expect to be present in 23 countries, serving approximately 150 banks comprising around 600 customers across the continent. In line with this expansion, we will continue to upscale our applications including the e-wallet; replicating and amplifying the successes we have seen in Nigeria to continue on our path to become the leading mobile payments ecosystem in Africa.

“Above all, our services are comparable to none. We aim to connect 100 million consumers with our world-class yet localised one-stop digital payments ecosystem that remains relevant to their everyday usage.”

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CELLULANT 5th Floor, Cavendish 14 Riverside, Riverside Drive Nairobi, Kenya T: +254 20 260 6696 E: info@cellulant.com www.cellulant.com