MFS Africa Has Completed Its Purchase Of Nigeria’s Baxi

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MFS Africa
MFS Africa

MFS Africa, a digital payment firm, announced on March 28 the completion of the process to acquire Baxi, a Nigerian electronic payment network focused on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The transaction was approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria, completing the process successfully.

“MFS Africa will build Baxi into a key node on its digital payment network, enabling customers to make regional and global payments to and from Nigeria,” MFS Africa stated when the acquisition process was launched in October 2021.

It also stated that it would “expand Baxi’s offline SMEs proposition to select markets within MFS Africa’s footprint of 320 million mobile wallets across more than 35 African countries.”

The transaction, which was completed five months after the initial steps, was the second most significant acquisition in Nigeria’s fintech sector during the period. MFS Africa has made a full entry into the Nigerian payment industry.

Nigeria, as Africa’s largest economy, has one of the most dynamic markets on the continent. According to MFS Africa, it has the most SMEs and the largest remittance market, accounting for one-third of all intra-African remittance flows.

Baxi is one of Nigeria’s largest SME-focused electronic payment networks. Baxi, founded by Degbola Abudu and Folu Majekodunmi, claims to have processed more than US$1 billion in transactions between its inception (in 2014) and 2021, with a network of 90,000 agents.

The activities of Baxi and MFS Africa are complementary. Baxi’s services (payment, account opening, money transfer, bill payment, etc.) will provide access to basic financial services to more than 67 million unbanked Nigerians and informal SMEs. MFS Africa’s network will help Baxi’s services reach a wider audience.