Optasia celebrating its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Photos: Standard Bank
Artificial intelligence-powered fintech company Optasia’s mission to enable financial inclusion for the next billion customers worldwide is fast taking shape, accelerated by its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) this week.
Nigerian-born serial entrepreneur and Optasia founder Bassim Haidar attributes Optasia’s model’s success to its roots in social justice, particularly in the financial inclusion of the unbanked in the mainstream economy.
The platform enables mobile operators and banks to provide microloans, airtime advances, and small-business credit to financially excluded communities.
“Out of the ventures I have started, Optasia remains very special because it brings social and financial impact into one life form,” Haidar said.
“From humble beginnings, as a single country airtime credit services provider, Optasia has scaled into an emerging market fintech powerhouse, enabling financial access for millions, through an internally developed financial technology platform covering scoring, financial decisioning, disbursement, and collection,” he said.
“We are optimistic about the future of Optasia and look forward to its next exciting phase of growth as a listed company on the JSE.”
With an eye on the future as a listed company, Haidar stressed that the business’s objective remains financial inclusion, even as it has achieved success, evidenced by partnerships with 49 distribution networks and major telcos, and 13 financial institutions.
Founded in 2012 as Channel VAS, Optasia has spent over a decade driving financial inclusion in emerging markets across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and
Latin America. The fintech’s AI-led platform supports credit scoring, financial decisioning, disbursement and collections.
From humble beginnings in Nigeria at its formation to today, serving more than 120 million active users across 38 countries, mainly in Africa, the history-making company’s evolution has been remarkable.
The high-profile list includes major African mobile operators MTN, Vodacom, and Airtel, which have partnered with the fintech giant’s mission to deliver microloans, airtime credit, and other financial services to the underbanked population.
The Optasia founder further revealed that the Africa-born fintech currently operates in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Egypt, and Côte d’Ivoire. It is now targeting new markets in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines as it aims to secure a billion customers worldwide.
“We are expanding into Asia while strengthening our partnerships across Africa. Through AI-driven financial decisioning, we aim to empower more individuals and SMEs to access fair credit and fully participate in the digital economy,” Haidar said.
Optasia plans to accelerate efforts to provide investors with greater access to a high-growth, emerging-market platform underpinned by cutting-edge AI technology.
Backed by its financial technology platform, which enables financial institutions and mobile network operators to drive financial inclusion through microfinancing and airtime credit services, Optasia is poised to capture a significant share of the continent’s lucrative fintech market.
This market, led by South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya, is projected to reach $65 billion by 2030.
The historic Initial Public Offering (IPO) that made the firm, valued at R23.5 billion, the most extensive fintech listing was primarily made possible with support from Standard Bank.
As the JSE’s triumphant blast of the exchange horn reverberated through the room, celebrating Optasia’s debut, Yusuf Noorbhai, the head of structured capital at Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking, hailed the listing as a giant step toward the ultimate journey of financially including a billion emerging-market customers.
“Optasia’s IPO represents a massive vote of confidence in the JSE as a listing venue for African companies, including high-growth technology-enabled businesses,” he said.
Standard Bank was instrumental in Optasia’s progression from start-up to public listing, acting as the joint global coordinator, stabilisation manager, and transaction sponsor.
“I am immensely proud to firstly honour the entrepreneurial spirit of Africa. We are deeply privileged to have been partners to Optasia, its founder and shareholders, not only as an advisor and funding partner, but importantly as an equity investor catalysing private equity capital at multiple stages of the Optasia growth journey,” said Noorbhai.
“This is a testament to our unmatched expertise in delivering a market-leading value proposition in public and private markets across Africa.”