Exclusive: John Alamu’s integrated fintech group, CapitalSage, is poised to change the fintech game in Africa
John Alamu, founder and Group Managing Director of CapitalSage Holdings
Meet John Alamu, the Founder and Group Managing Director of Africa-focused fintech group CapitalSage Holdings.
The company was established in 2014 and currently has operations in Kenya, Benin Republic, The Gambia, Cameroon, and Togo.
Last year, CapitalSage announced a $4 million Series A round. Alamu now tells us what has been going on since then, as well as his company’s drive to re-define fintech in Africa.
Business Insider Africa recently spoke to John Alamu, a tech entrepreneur and Founder/Group Managing Director of CapitalSage Holdings, to learn more about his company’s fintech drive across the continent. Established in 2014, CapitalSage initially started out as a microfinance bank in Nigeria but soon metamorphosed into an integrated fintech group. The company also now has subsidiaries in other key sectors such as agribusiness and healthtech.
In 2021, CapitalSage raised a $4 million Series A for the purpose scaling its fintech subsidiary. Since then, the company has intensified its expansion drive across Africa. John said there is more to come. Enjoy the conversation.
BI Africa: Kindly introduce yourself to our readers.
John Alamu: name is John Alamu, the founder and Group Managing Director of CapitalSage Holdings. I am an entrepreneur and visionary. I am driven by the dream of an enabled Nigeria where individuals can achieve their financial quest. This vision propelled my diversification in fintech, agriculture, and healthcare.
BI Africa: Tell us about CapitalSage Holdings. What are the services you offer?
John Alamu: CapitalSage Holdings is an indigenous conglomerate with 4 subsidiaries. We operate across the Financial/fintech, Agribusiness, and Healthcare sectors. We started as a small-time microfinance institution and have since morphed into a group of companies with an interest in key sectors that will drive the future of Africa.
The company started operations in 2014 as a business that gave loans to market women. But we wanted to do more than that, which why we evolved. Of the services we offer, the first company we have under the holding structure is the fintech group, CapitalSage Technology. CapitalSage Technology owns products like Kolomoni by CinTrust MFB which allows certified individuals to perform full banking services like savings, investment, top-up, instant loans and so much more. CapitalSage also has the Kolomoni Agent Banking Network with over 50,000 agents providing basic cashout and deposits across Nigeria and beyond. Both products are housed under our microfinance bank and regulated by the central bank of Nigeria. The other product under fintech is CapiFlex, a payment solution for businesses.
We launched CapiFlex in mid-2021 to provide flexible payments solutions for businesses and the government. Since launch, we have onboarded over 10,000 merchants and processed over 20 billion naira in transaction volume. We just launched one of our CapiFlex products with an escrow feature in Kenya last month to allow businesses not only collect payments but also to help them build customers’ trust.
The second subsidiary is the agribusiness called Johnvents Industries Limited. Johnvents for a while focused on food crops trading – millet, sorghum, rice amongst others. Aggregating from farmers and selling to big off-takers. However, in 2020, we saw an opportunity in the cocoa industry through post-harvest value addition, to not only help increase the non-oil source of forex but also to increase Nigeria’s value from the global cocoa market, thus we acquired one of the biggest cocoa processing factory in Nigeria – 15,000MT/Y automated factory; revamped it and kickstart operations.
A third subsidiary, Johnvents Trading Services Limited was recently launched due to demand in the agricultural commodities market. The Last subsidiary is Best Western Hospitals, a group of hospitals in Ibadan providing state-of-the-art medical care around Ibadan, Nigeria.
Across our business interests, the goal everyday is to unlock boundless value and better ways to live for Africans.
BI Africa: When did you first come up with the idea for an integrated fintech group in Africa? And are there any particular problems you identified and set out to provide solutions to?
John Alamu: The idea for an integrated financial fintech group was one born out of passion. Passion to drive financial inclusion, entrepreneurial development and prosperity, not just in Nigeria but across Africa. We wanted to reach millions of Nigerians including the unbanked and underserved through our vast business areas. And we have been able to do this through the continuous optimization of our business to meet the deep financial concerns of the African market. We saw that people can actualize their life goals and live quality lives if they have access to funding and opportunities and that is what we have done with all of our subsidiaries.
BI Africa: Who is your company’s primary target audience?
John Alamu: We are a people’s company with attention to individuals and businesses. We have strategically built products that both individuals and businesses can use. For instance, Individuals use Kolomoni as a tool to build wealth through savings and investments and we have businesses use CapiFlex to ease payment processes and scale their businesses. The same applies to Johnvents, we have the cocoa butter and cake for exports to manufacturers and the powder in different SKUs addressing the retail market in Nigeria. Like I said, it’s a singular goal; to see a society that is truly inclusive, entrepreneurial developed, and prosperous.
BI Africa: Last year, CapitalSage Technology raised $4 million Series A for expansion. What are some of the major developments that have taken place since then?
John Alamu: The funding was raised by and for our fintech business. Since the raise, we have expanded our coverage into some African countries, providing a sustainable and inclusive digital financial infrastructure that continually empowers individuals and businesses and facilitates wealth creation. We now operate in Kenya, Benin Republic, The Gambia, Cameroon, and Togo.
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BI Africa: Tell us about your growth projections. Are you hoping to expand into more African countries soon?