LOLC next stop Congo

After wrapping up acquiring 28 per cent of the shares of Rwanda’s Unguka Bank from Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management, the LOLC Group in its latest plans is looking to enter the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ghana in the financial industry in line with its African region expansion underscored by the rapidly expanding global footprint, officials said.

“DRC will be our next target and we will be involved in the micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs),” an official told the Business Times.

LOLC Africa Singapore Ltd (Pvt) Ltd (LOLC Africa) through Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund a few months ago completed a US$9 million investment, structured as a holding company loan in LOLC Africa which will be invested in the lending subsidiaries in its African operations, officials added.

LOLC Group is already present in Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, and Egypt with its robust

MSMEs business model. In 2018 with Fina Trust Microfinance Bank in Nigeria, LOLC entered Africa.

In 2021 it made three parallel investments in Tajikistan, Malawi, and Tanzania marking its entry into Central Asia and East Africa.

Building on its plantation management expertise, the group operates sugarcane plantations in Sierra Leone through Sunbird Sierra Leone Limited (SBSL), a large agro-based company with 23,500 hectares of land, with the option to increase it to 50,000 Ha, along with a sophisticated production facility which produces Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA).

The group recently acquired a luxury leisure property in Mauritius, the Radisson Blue with 100 keys, and will soon be the largest leisure operator in the Maldives, expecting to add 1,077 keys to the market soon. The property developments nearing completion in Maldives are the Nasandhura Palace Hotel with 135 keys and 118 apartments will be opened in the first quarter of next year, making it the biggest city hotel in the Maldives.