Grace Ashiru
Chari, a Business to business electronic-commerce ( e-commerce )and financial technology (fintech) startup in Morocco, announced its purchase of 100% shares in Diago.
Diago is an Ivorian app that links local shops to importers and producers of Fast-moving consumer goods importers and producers.
The deal was made possible by RBB international and AF Legal, who represented Chari, as well as lawyers from Houda Law Firm, who represented the Ivorian startup.
This purchase came three months after Chari bought Axa Credit for $22 million. Axa Credit is Axa Assurance Maroc credit wing. With the purchase of the bookkeeping app Karny in August of last year, Chari has secured and officially confirmed three successful purchases in just 10 months.
The key to a successful increment is building a team that knows how the market works, said Chari’s Chief Executive officer Ismail Belkhayat. He jointly founded the company with his spouse Sophia Alj, the Chief Operating officer in 2020. Charis’ main problem is getting local business owners to work with them so that it can expand more quickly.
Last year during an interview session with TechCabal, Belkhayat said that the primary objective is to lead the market in all French-speaking countries in Africa. It makes its first big move and promises to “continually be surrounded by ambitious and young entrepreneurs from French-speaking countries in Africa to jointly build a pan-African giant of Fast-moving consumer Goods and financial services distribution.”.”
Ali Ouattara with Amidou Diarra formed Diago in 2021. They had previously worked as managers in Glovo and PepsiCo firms. Charis only works in Abidjan, the capital city of Côte d’Ivoire, one of Africa’s largest Francophone cities.
Chari said that both of them will stay on as CEO and COO. At first, Ouattara and Diarra were looking for funding, market, also tech advice, but then they decided to leave the company and work for the Moroccan. The two will be in charge of the growth of local businesses before expanding to several Sub-Saharan countries, which is Chari’s main goal.
“Diago’s whole team will get complete support from Chari,” said Cyrille Jacques, international expansion VP for Chari. “The back office of Charis in Casablanca will help with IT, tools, set up operations, as well as customer service for the Diago team.”
African startups are increasingly engaging in domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, particularly across regional borders. Auto check, a Nigerian Autotech startup, recently travelled to Morocco to buy KIFAL Auto, a Moroccan automotive technology company. Chari has just purchased a startup in West Africa.
Belkhayat said the firm is in the process of raising a significant series A. Belkhayat’s two-year-old startup has made three purchases which are operational in 3 different countries—Tunisia, Morocco, and Cote d’Ivoire currently —Who can speculate as to what he will do with the enormous series A” once it has been completed?
