The untold story of Africa's newest unicorn, MNT-Halan
The untold story of Africa's newest unicorn, MNT-Halan
A study of the company's twists and turns reveals important lessons for builders in Africa and beyond.
Afridigest provides ideas & analysis for startup founders, operators, and investors across Africa and beyond.
This Saturday essay covers the origins and evolution of Africa’s newest unicorn, Egypt’s MNT-Halan.
If you’re new: welcome — original essays like this go out on Saturdays occasionally, the Fintech Review goes out on Sundays, and the Week in Review is sent every Monday. For past essays and digests, visit the archive. And you can also become a paid subscriber today.
How do you build a tech unicorn in Africa today?
Here are five lessons founders and builders can learn from MNT-Halan's story:
• 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. The major components of MNT-Halan today — Mashroey, Tasaheel, Raseedy, and Halan — were all pioneers in their respective verticals and gained ground by offering unique value in the marketplace.
• 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵. Early on in their journey, MNT-Halan's main constituent companies leveraged capabilities and assets of GB Auto, a publicly traded automotive market leader.
• 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 — 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀. While its ride-hailing operations experienced a lot of initial traction, MNT-Halan shuttered the effort and doubled down on lending as a growth lever with positive unit economics.
• 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗽𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀. MNT-Halan's founder Mounir Nakhla repeatedly said yes where others might have said no. He agreed to launch Mashroey and Tasaheel as subsidiaries of GB Auto in which he held just a small minority share, he agreed to launch a new tech-focused Halan venture instead of simply riding out his previous microfinance successes, and he agreed to the formation of MNT and the acquisition of Halan.
• 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Many of the opportunities that came Nakhla's way came as a result of his reputation. He was approached to launch Mashroey, trusted to co-found Tasaheel, and sought out regarding Halan. Burnishing your reputation by executing competently pays dividends over the long run.
In 331 BC, Alexander the Great, then the most powerful man in the known world, paid a visit to the Oracle of Amun Ra in Egypt.
The oracle, located at Siwa, a desert oasis roughly 350 miles west of Cairo, was said to have confirmed him not only as the legitimate Pharaoh of Egypt, but also as a descendant of the gods.
Alexander III of Macedon thus became an Egyptian unicorn in a sense: he was a foreigner pronounced son of Amun, chief god of the Egyptian pantheon.
The two Mounirs: Another visit to Siwa
More than two thousand years later, in 1996 or thereabout, Cairo-based Egyptian businessman Mounir Neamatalla made his own pilgrimage 500km west of the Nile to the Siwa oasis.
Fifteen years or so earlier, he had founded Environmental Quality International (EQI), a renowned consulting firm focused on sustainable development & microfinance, and was now in search of new opportunities.
Taking in Siwa’s lush palm groves, majestic rock formations, and sparkling salt lakes, he decided to put his sustainable development theories into practice at the oasis.
He went on to purchase over 70 acres of land from the Egyptian government and established a number of environmentally friendly ‘eco-lodges,’ including the Adrère Amellal — a property whose name (“White Mountain” in Berber) refers to the massive limestone cliff that towers over it.
Neamatalla’s nephew, Mounir Nakhla, joined EQI in 2000 after completing his studies in London. As an EQI board member, and later as managing partner of the firm, he developed an appreciation for businesses with low levels of competition, low fixed costs that facilitated profitability, and an outsized positive impact on local communities.
Here's what the two Mounirs told a Wharton business journal at the time:
“In the Four Seasons in Cairo, you might be at 30% occupancy and you’d be losing money. Its fixed costs are huge... We don’t have high fixed costs… [We also don’t have a lot of competition, but] I am not against competition. In fact, I welcome it.” — Mounir Nakhla, Managing Partner, EQI.
“[The Adrère Amellal is] very profitable… [Moreover] in Siwa, we were one of the very few companies … to work with the locals and not recruit employees from Cairo... We trained the Siwans… It’s not just a professional relationship; it’s more a mentorship.” — Mounir Neamatalla, Founder, EQI.
Those themes — serving underserved communities, identifying and exploiting opportunities ahead of the competition, and prioritizing profitability — would follow the younger Mounir throughout his professional journey.
The Mashro'ey project
By 2009, there was another opportunity that would prove irresistible to Mounir Nakhla.
Tuk-tuks, three-wheeled motorized rickshaws, which were virtually nonexistent in the country when he joined EQI almost a decade earlier, had become commonplace on Egyptian streets as urban and peri-urban taxis.
And by then, EGX-listed Ghabbour Auto (GB Auto), a leading player in the MENA region’s automotive sector, was at the helm with a 90+% share of the country’s fast-growing tuk-tuk market.
As the exclusive assembler and distributor of Bajaj, the most popular tuk-tuk brand in the country, GB Auto was well-positioned to capitalize on this new opportunity.
But there was one main obstacle: the lack of financing in the country.
Tuk-tuk operators were largely seen as irresponsible at the time, and commercial lenders across Egypt generally avoided the sector.
But GB Auto was confident that credit would unlock significant consumer demand for tuk-tuks, so it took direct action. It approached EQI and Nakhla about forming an asset financing joint venture to be called Mashro’ey (“my project” in Arabic).
Nakhla was in.
Sensing a lack of competition and the opportunity to address an underserved market, he co-founded Mashroey as a GB Auto subsidiary in 2009, serving as its Managing Director.
And because the project would rely upon GB Auto’s network of dealers, distributorships, and lending partners, ownership of Mashroey was split 90% in GB Auto’s favor, with EQI owning 10%.
It was an overnight success.
Just three months after launching operations, Mashroey was driving over 10% of sales for GB Auto’s motorcycles and three-wheelers segment, while reporting almost no defaults.
GB Auto noted in its 2010 annual report:
“Still only in its first year of operations, … Mashro’ey has outperformed expectations significantly, closing with a profit in the fourth quarter and only turning a slight loss since inception of operations… In the coming year, Management expects to see Mashro’ey continue with this outstanding performance, driving sales of motorcycles and three-wheelers, and perhaps branching out into other areas of microfinance.”
Mashroey remained an important sales driver for GB Auto over the next five years, riding a wave that saw close to a million tuk-tuk taxis in Egypt by 2015. And it was proof that providing financial services to unbanked & underbanked segments made sense not only socially, but commercially too.
Nakhla told UAE’s The National in 2010: “I had general managers of banks calling me up and telling me, ‘Mounir, you're going to lose a lot of money [lending to tuk-tuk drivers]. These are all criminals.’ But I find them to all be honest men. They're just normal people. This stigma, this stereotype, is very unfair.”
The Tasaheel opportunity
In June 2015, given the success of Mashroey, Nakhla founded a new microfinance venture, Tasaheel, that leveraged GB Auto’s existing capabilities. It was again incorporated as a GB Auto subsidiary 90% owned by the firm and 10% owned by EQI.
Targeting a new underserved Egyptian segment, women, it offered short-term group lending to female micro-entrepreneurs.
Nakhla said at the time:
“I am very excited to take on this challenge. Not only do I believe that we will achieve impressive returns, but we will be doing so while empowering a new generation of entrepreneurs who will help shape the face of our new Egypt. Tasaheel aims to establish over 100 branches nationwide, and plans to employ more than 2,000 people over the next five years.”
Two years later, by the end of 2017, the company was well ahead of its five-year target. It had over 100 operational branches, served ~250,000 customers, and employed over 2,500 people.
And today, as you read this, Tasaheel is the largest microfinance company in Egypt.
The making of MNT (Mashroey and Tasaheel)
By the end of 2018, Mashroey and Tasaheel were not only the fastest-growing units in GB Auto’s high-margin financing business (GB Capital), they also generated 40% of its revenue, jointly taking in over 2 billion Egyptian pounds (roughly $116 million at 2018 exchange rates).
With an eye toward unlocking value for shareholders, GB Auto bundled the two firms together in 2018. It formed MNT Investment as a holding company for Mashroey and Tasaheel under the stewardship of Nakhla who would serve as the new company’s Founder, Chairman, and CEO.
GB Auto transferred 75% of its stake in both companies to the new holdco, while holding its remaining stake directly (via GB Capital).
And later in 2018, it coordinated the sale of a 33% stake in MNT Investment to private equity firm Development Partners International (DPI) for $45 million, valuing the new holding company at ~$135 million.
The Halan proposal
The year before MNT Investment was officially formed, however, Nakhla was approached during a trip to Asia by veteran emerging markets fund manager David Halpert.
In a 2017 meeting that was reminiscent of GB Auto’s approach eight years earlier, Halpert made a proposal to Nakhla: given his experience within Egypt’s mobility and microfinance sectors, why not build out a super app for the region?
While Nakhla’s success with Mashroey and Tasaheel was undeniable, Halpert suggested that he could create more value and impact by infusing technology into his efforts.
And having previously invested in Bangladesh’s Pathao, India’s Rapido, and Indonesia’s Gojek via Battery Road Digital, Halpert was well-connected within the sector and secured a meeting for Nakhla with Gojek’s Founder & CEO Nadiem Makarim.
“I was amazed at how the company was using technology to scale and grow its customer base so quickly, and add multiple services into one consumer-facing app… On the plane on the way back I made the decision to found Halan. The growth possibilities with technology were just eye-opening.” — Mounir Nakhla
Nakhla was in. Again.
He recognized the opportunity to leverage technology to achieve greater scale and impact. So, he co-founded Halan in April 2017 alongside serial entrepreneur Ahmed Mohsen to “be the app of underserved communities,” as he told CNN.
“I'm very grateful for the conversation [David and I] had. It changed my perspective on the world, and by consequence the strategy of the business. Technology is how I can take this mission and scale it very rapidly.” — Mounir Nakhla
After raising roughly half a million dollars from Battery Road, GB Auto’s CEO Raouf Ghabbour, and Nakhla himself, Halan officially launched in November 2017 as the first mobility app in Egypt to focus on motorcycles and tuk-tuks.
The app initially offered just ride-hailing services but expanded five months later to include food delivery and on-demand courier/logistics services shortly afterward.
But while the team focused on growing Halan’s transport offerings, Nakhla saw mobility primarily as a means to an end; he saw it as a catalyst for rapid growth and efficient customer acquisition.
He told Entrepreneur Middle East in 2019:
“Transportation is one of the fastest ways of acquiring customers by solving a real need, and we wanted to be the app of choice for the underserved. Egypt has north of 700,000 tuk-tuks already operating as taxis, and just over 1.5 million two-wheeler vehicles, used for both personal transportation and for delivery services, and this is where Halan comes in.”
One year after its launch, Halan had completed over 3 million trips and announced a ~$4.3M Series A co-led by Battery Road and Algebra Ventures.
And by the end of Q1 2019, it had completed over 10 million rides and deliveries, crossed the milestone of 1 million app downloads, and had over 100,000 customers.
By September 2019, Halan was completing “a few million rides per month,” according to Nakhla.
By most external measures it was a success.
But despite the company’s significant top-line growth, Nakhla had profitability on his mind.
And the examples of Lyft and Uber only helped to bolster his thinking. Both ride-hailing platforms had gone public earlier in 2019 but were trading 25-40% down from their IPO prices as investors questioned their unit economics.
Nakhla assessed the reality of Halan objectively.
“Ride-hailing gives you a huge base of frequent users, but the unit economics don’t make sense… The biggest trick that startups fall into, and I have to admit we fell into, is not calculating [unit economics] right.” — Mounir Nakhla
So he and Mohsen decided to change tack. They reduced the company’s investment in ride-hailing and delivery and refocused the team on financial services with Mashroey and Tasaheel in mind.
“We pivoted our tech team to start work on what would become Neuron, our in-house distributed core banking software, with the possibility of potentially capitalizing on the original lending companies I had established to digitally bank the unbanked and underbanked.” — Mounir Nakhla
Halan was no longer a ride-hailing business, it was to become a platform offering digital financial services to Egyptians, enabled by proprietary software.
“Egypt [has] over 100 million inhabitants, but only a fraction of adults have a bank account. Yet over 90 million of the population have a mobile phone … The easiest way to bank the unbanked population is via digital services.” — Mounir Nakhla
MNT-Halan: The fintech ecosystem
As Halan ramped up its focus on financial services, launching new BNPL, microfinance, and payments solutions, GB Auto was also taking action as MNT Investment’s majority shareholder.
In April 2021, it sold a 5% (indirect) stake in MNT Investment at an implied valuation of ~$450M (at 2021 exchange rates). Then it acquired Raseedy, the first independent and interoperable digital wallet licensed by the Central Bank of Egypt.
And in June 2021, MNT-Halan was born.
MNT Investment officially acquired Halan, creating the MNT-Halan entity in a share swap transaction that brought together lending units Mashroey and Tasaheel, digital wallet Raseedy, and Halan, the former ride-hailing platform turned lending, payments, and e-commerce provider.
Months later in September 2021, MNT-Halan announced raising $120 million in a round led by Development Partners International, Apis, and Lorax Capital Partners.
And the company’s new identity was clear. It began describing itself as a ‘fintech ecosystem’ rather than a super app and as ‘Egypt’s largest non-bank lender to the unbanked.’
According to GB Auto financial disclosures, MNT-Halan generated ~$255 million in revenue in 2021 (at 2021 exchange rates), up 30% y/y from the ~$196 million it generated in 2020.
And the company no longer offers ride-hailing. The vast majority of the revenue MNT-Halan generates today comes from lending of various types — vehicle financing, microfinance, business lending, BNPL, payroll lending, & more — and an increasing amount is generated directly from its consumer-facing app.
“If you need a loan for your business, we’re going to give you one; you need a loan for consumption, we’re going to give you one; you need … to buy a mobile phone… we’ll deliver it to you [and] give [you] the credit … to make [the] purchase within the ecosystem.” — Mounir Nakhla
At the same time, the company continues to build out an ecosystem of digital financial services including e-commerce, payments, and more, that supports its lending efforts.
In June 2022, for example, it acquired Egyptian B2B inventory restocking e-commerce platform Talabeyah, bringing new merchants and vendors needing credit onto its platform and “increas[ing] the stickiness [of] its ecosystem.”
And while MNT-Halan seems to no longer position itself publicly as a ‘super app,’ it’s still guided by the super app model.
“We offer payments, we offer loans, we offer buy-now-pay-later, we offer an e-commerce platform, we offer delivery, cards, wallets, you name it…
From a business point of view you want to engage the customer on multiple fronts through one interface and provide multiple services…
We started off [as] Halan [doing] ride-hailing for two and three wheelers [then] we combined with MNT and we created probably the largest fintech play in the region, where we're banking the unbanked through one interface.
Financial services, although [they] have fantastic unit economics, don't have a lot of engagement so this is where the super app [playbook] comes in — you add on multiple services to engage the customer and be able to have multiple touch points with different profiles of customers, and that's what we're doing now.” — Mounir Nakhla, Nov. 2022
Africa’s newest unicorn
In October 2022, GB Auto disclosed that MNT signed a definitive agreement “for the sale of a 21.7% stake” to UAE-based investment firm Chimera at an implied minimum valuation of $800 million (up to $950 million with earnouts).
And a few weeks ago, according to MNT-Halan’s press release and Apis disclosures, Chimera acquired “over 20%” (presumably 21.7%) of MNT-Halan for “more than $200 million,” all (or the vast majority) of which was in secondary sales from existing investors.
And the company is currently in talks with the IFC and other investors to raise another $60 million in primary capital, after which “MNT-Halan’s valuation will exceed $1 billion.”
Today, MNT-Halan has 1.3 million monthly active users, serves more than 5 million customers in Egypt (2 million of which are borrowers), and takes pride in having “the largest tech team in the region,” with over 120 engineers.
And it says it generated over $300 million in revenue in 2022.
What’s next for the firm?
“We're looking at international expansion. We have two, three moves that we're making mostly through M&A… We have very, very solid technology that has been very successful in Egypt so it makes sense to penetrate other markets with the same strategy: … start with one vertical and add multiple verticals… We’re looking at several [markets], in Africa and elsewhere, where there are large unbanked populations that need serving.” — Mounir Nakhla
Two hundred years before Alexander the Great visited the Oracle at Siwa, Persian king Cambyses II sent 50,000 soldiers to destroy the temple of Amun Ra there.
According to Greek historian Herodotus, the men were swallowed up by the desert and the entire army was lost.
Alexander the Great, according to legend, avoided this fate thanks to divine aid — he was said to be guided through Egypt’s unforgiving Western Desert by two ravens.
Mounir Nakhla had ravens of his own in building MNT-Halan into what it is today. And chief among them is GB Auto, the publicly traded firm that lent its heft to his efforts.
And while it's perhaps not widely known or appreciated, many of Africa's unicorns and soonicorns have enjoyed similar support from larger organizations, at least in gaining an initial foothold. Strong parallels exist with Access Bank's initial support of Flutterwave, Interswitch's bank consortium approach, Opera's backing of OPay, Transsion's pre-install support of PalmPay, and more.
While that’s sometimes glossed over, it’s an important aspect to note. And it doesn’t diminish the efforts and industriousness of intrepid innovators in the arena.
“Nature hath placed nothing so high that it is out of the reach of industry and valor.” — Alexander the Great
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
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Hello Emeka,
Great content, deep and insightful as usual.
The link to Q1 Presentation is not working :(