Kevin Nyango
Back in 2016, it was seen as the time when Africa was to make a breakthrough by producing its first big technology IPO on major stock exchange markets. But that is still an idea that has failed to come to pass. TechCrunch which is a Nigerian’s digital banking and payments infrastructure provider reported that it was on the road to dual listing on both Lagos and London stock exchanges at a value of $1billion. The Nigerian company has already secured investment bankers and gained the backing of a first hacker, and things seemed to be rolling. However, almost two years later there is no any African tech startup that has gone public.
What might be the course of the delays? That is the questions that most of the tech investors are asking themselves. The Interswich spokesman said that they were not able to comment on the pending Initial Public Offering (IPO). The Interswitch’s CEO lamented on the poor economic situations in Nigeria as the main factor behind the dragging of the project. The CEO cited the country’s recession and currency slump which have largely subsided and have led to the delay of the whole plan.
The Interswitch Divisional Chief Executive Officer Akeem Lawal highlighted the unfavorable equity markets and reassured an IPO promising that the project will happen before the end of 2019.
Nigeria’s former Minister of Communication Technology and Senior Partner Omobola Johnson said that Interswitch is still profitable and has huge market both in Nigerian and the African market. The market command still gives the company an opportunity of becoming the best startup in Africa. Johnson later went ahead and stated that apart from Intertech, there are other promising and upcoming African companies which will grace the African market in the coming 3 to 5 years. He named companies like Andela in Nigeria, Twiga Foods in Kenya and Flutterwave in Nigeria as the upcoming IPO companies.
