BCX Acquires 30% stake In Nigerian AppZone

are3  VENTURES AFRICA – Months after acquiring document management firm, Panabiz Nigeria, JSE-listed Business Connexion Group (BCX) has strengthened its hold in Nigeria by acquiring 30 percent of financial IT service provider, AppZone Limited to enable it provide cloud-based solutions to the monetary sector.
This deal was announced a day before the death of Business Connexion CEO, Leetile Benjamin Mophatlane, due to a heart attack on Wednesday afternoon prior to a meeting on the company’s $260 million takeover by Telkom.
Although the financial details of the AppZone deal was not revealed, the transaction will enable Business Connexion expands its reach in Africa’s largest economy as well as expand its cloud strategy across the African market.
The purchase of a major stake in AppZone will enable the company “seize the financial services opportunities within Nigeria and ultimately across Africa,” says Matthew Blewett, Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Business Connexion.
BCX hopes to dominate the African online payments market. It has identified Kenya and Nigeria –two regional economic giant – as key growth markets. It is also expecting to rake in more acquisition in Ghana whose capital city, Accra was ranked the highest inclusive growth city on the MasterCard African Cities Growth Index (ACGI).
These acquisitions and expansion projects are expected to boost the company’s global revenues by 30 percent in the coming years.
AppZone, a company established to promote financial inclusion among the masses, installs technology solutions to financial institution which enables end-users to access financial services through a wide range of connected electronic devices.
One of its notable products is the BankOne, a cloud-based service which caters for financial and transaction processing for Microfinance banks.