African Rivers Fund backs Telcare Uganda

The African Rivers Fund, managed by XSML, has made its fourth investment in Uganda in Telcare, an operator of mobile money kiosks in Uganda.

Jarl Heijstee, Managing Partner at XSML, said: “Telcare is one of the leading operators of mobile money kiosks in Uganda. With the increased use of mobile money, these kiosks are becoming a central point in each community, where small businesses and individuals gather to make or receive payments. With our financing of Telcare, the company will be able to reach out further into the country and serve more customers.”

Telcare has 39 kiosks and four shops located in Kampala through which it provides mobile money transfer services on the mobile platforms of both MTN Uganda and Airtel.

In addition the company sells airtime for all mobile network operators as well as mobile phones and phone accessories.

In Uganda, there are a total of 21.1 million mobile money users transacting over $9.5bn in value with currently 693.6 million transactions per annum.

There are around 30,000 mobile money agents spread across Uganda.

Telcare was started in 2005 by Paul Tumwesigye as a re-seller of airtime for the mobile networks.

As mobile money was introduced in Uganda in 2009, Telcare was one of the first companies to promote its use.

The company’s kiosks are placed at strategic locations in Kampala to enable easy access for its customers.

The African Rivers Fund (ARF) targets growing, well-managed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Central & East African region covering Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Republic of Congo as well as – over time – Burundi.

Paul Tumwesigye, CEO of Telcare: “With the financing from XSML we are able to increase our volumes significantly and expand further our network of kiosks. Through this long-term financing we are able to serve thousands of additional new customers. We are excited to have a new long-term partner as the mobile money market is growing fast, not only in Uganda but also in the region.” Source: Africa Global Funds