Launch to Facilitate Accelerated Rollout across East Africa Region and Access to Key New Agriculture Products for it is Merchandise and export Business
MONTVALE, NJ, Dec. 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MICT, Inc. (NASDAQ: MICT) (“MICT”) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Tingo Mobile Limited (“Tingo Mobile” and together with MICT, the “Group”), has today launched in Malawi, as it establishes a strategic presence in East Africa and is accelerating its pan-African rollout.
Having already achieved a significant user base in West Africa, which is expected to expand significantly in the coming months, Tingo Mobile’s move to Malawi is an important development for several reasons. While Malawi itself is a significant target market for Tingo Mobile’s Agri-Fintech and FinTech platforms and products, its strategic location is also expected to facilitate accelerated expansion into other key East African territories, such as neighboring Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique.
With agriculture and farming representing Malawi’s largest contributor to the gross domestic product, maize, cassava, bananas, sugarcane and groundnuts being the most cultivated crops, this new market is expected to make a significant contribution to the group’s revenue and profitability from 2023 onwards. . Adopting its proven model in West Africa, Tingo Mobile is in an advanced stage of negotiating trade agreements with a number of Malawi’s largest cooperatives and agricultural associations, representing millions of farmers.
Tingo Mobile’s expansion into Malawi and East Africa is expected to facilitate access to significant volumes of the region’s key crops, including coffee, tea, cotton, sugarcane, maize and rice. With the opportunity to trade in such products, which significantly expands Tingo Mobile’s product range, the company has already identified significant sales demand through its merchandising and export operations and Tingo DMCC.
Darren Mercer, Chief Executive of MICT, commented: “We welcome Malawi to our growing portfolio of geographic markets as part of our pan-African and global rollout strategy. I could not be more excited about the pace of our progress as we continue to internationalize our business and prosper from the benefits we share with Tingo Mobile’s customer base.
“I am particularly proud of our rapidly expanding market reach, and today’s expansion into East Africa, as we significantly increase our supply chain and expand the product range of our recently launched commodity platform and export business.
“When we first considered the acquisition of Tingo Mobile, a key attraction was the international scalability of the business, and the significant difference we believed we could make to the speed of rollout and dollarization. Today’s launch in Malawi, within just a few days of launching in Dubai and The Middle East, and only a month since its launch in Ghana, is a convincing confirmation of our belief and optimism regarding the enormous growth potential of the group.”
Dozy Mmobuosi, founder and CEO of Tingo Mobilecommented: “We are delighted to launch our operations in Malawi, which marks our first move into East Africa and is a further development of our pan-African expansion. Our rollout to Malawi and other countries clearly demonstrates the transferability of our Agri-Fintech- platform and its benefits to new markets and as such we look forward to having a long term relationship with a number of soon to be announced partners in the East Africa region.
“As our business continues to internationalize and expand across Africa, the value we bring to the farmer is clear, including through our ability to facilitate their direct access to international markets, which in turn is expected to allow us to rapidly grow our newly launched product platform and export business As a result of the increased opportunities we gain as part of a Nasdaq-listed company, we look forward to further accelerating our globalization and deepening Tingo Mobile’s integration and synergistic collaboration with MICT.
About MICT
MICT is a financial technology business primarily focused on the growth and development of a suite of consumer fintech services across approximately 130 cities in China, with planned expansion into more markets. MICT has developed highly scalable proprietary platforms for insurance products (B2B, B2B2C and B2C) and financial services/products (B2C), the technology of which is highly adaptable for other applications and markets. MICT has acquired and holds the necessary license and approvals with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to deal in securities and provide securities advisory and asset management services. MICT also has membership/registrations with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the necessary clearing companies in Hong Kong and China Direct. MICT’s financial services business and first financial services product, the Magpie Invest app, is able to trade securities on NASDAQ, NYSE, TMX, HKSE, China Stock Connect, LSE, Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Paris Stock Exchange.
About Tingo Mobile
A wholly owned subsidiary of MICT, Tingo Mobile is the leading Agri-Fintech company operating in Africa, with a marketplace platform that empowers social upliftment through mobile, technology and financial access for rural farming communities. Tingo’s new “device as a service” model allows it to add market-leading applications to enable customers to shop, buy top-ups, pay bills, access insurance and lending services. With 9.3 million existing customers, Tingo Mobile is seeking to expand its operations across selected markets in Africa. Tingo Mobile’s strategic plan is to become the pre-eminent Pan-African Agri-Fintech business delivering social upliftment and financial inclusion to millions of small and medium farmers and women-led businesses.
Tingo Mobile offers its comprehensive platform service through the use of smartphones – “device as a service” (using GSM technology) – to strengthen a marketplace that enables subscribers/farmers within and outside the agricultural sector to manage their commercial activities by grow and sell their production to market players both nationally and internationally. The ecosystem provides a ‘one stop shop’ solution to enable such subscribers to manage everything from airtime top-up, bill payment services for utilities and other service providers, access to insurance services and micro-finance to support their ‘seed to sale’ value chain.
As of June 30, 2022, Tingo Mobile had approximately 9.3 million subscribers using the mobile phones and the Nwassa platform. Nwassa is Africa’s leading digital agriculture ecosystem that empowers agricultural farmers and agribusinesses by using proprietary technology to provide access to the markets they operate in. Farm products can be shipped from farms across Africa to any part of the world, both retail and wholesale. Nwassa’s payment gateway also has an escrow structure that creates trust between buyers and sellers. Tingo Mobile’s system provides real-time prices, straight from the farms, and eliminates middlemen. Tingo Mobile’s users pay for products purchased using prices available on the platform.
Warning regarding forward-looking statements
Certain statements contained herein, and certain oral statements made by representatives of MICT and its affiliates, may from time to time contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. MICT’s Actual Results may differ from their expectations, estimates and projections, and therefore you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as “expect”, “estimate”, “project”, “budget”, “forecast”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “plan”, “can”, “will”, “could”, “should , ” “believes”, “predicts”, “potential”, “may” and “continues” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, MICT’s expectations with respect to future performance and expected financial consequences of the Business Combination, the satisfaction of the closing conditions for the Business Combination and the timing of the completion of the Business Combination. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results. Most of these factors are beyond MICT’s control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that may g in the event of termination of the Merger Agreement (as defined below); (2) the inability to consummate the Business Combination, including due to the failure of stockholder approval of MICT or other closing conditions in the Merger Agreement; (3) failure to obtain or maintain the listing of MICT’s common stock on Nasdaq following the business combination; (4) the risk that the Business Combination disrupts the current plans and operations of MICT as a result of the announcement and completion of the Business Combination; (5) the ability to recognize the expected benefits of the business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of the combined company to grow and manage growth financially and hire and retain key employees; (7) the inability to complete the business combination due to the inability to obtain regulatory approval; (8) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (10) the possibility that MICT may be adversely affected by other economic, business and/or competitive factors; and (11) the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on any of the foregoing risks and other risks and uncertainties to be identified in the proxy statement/prospectus (when available) relating to the business combination, including those under “Risk Factors” therein, and in other filings with SEC made by MICT. The list of factors is not exclusive. Readers are referred to the most recent reports filed with the SEC by MICT. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. MICT undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, subject to applicable law.
No solicitation
This press release does not constitute a solicitation of a proxy, consent or authorization with respect to securities or with respect to the business combination.
FURTHER INFORMATION
MICT intends to file a preliminary proxy statement from MICT with the SEC in connection with the Business Combination. The final proxy statement and other relevant documents will be sent to the shareholders of MICT from a registration date to be determined for voting at the Business Association. Shareholders of MICT and other interested persons are encouraged to read, when available, the preliminary proxy statement, and amendments thereto, and the final proxy statement in connection with MICT’s solicitation of proxies for the special meeting to be held to approve the business combination because these documents will contain important information about MICT, Tingo and Business Combination. Stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of the proxy statement, without charge, when available, on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Participants in the call
MICT and certain of it is directors, executive officers, other members of management and employees, pursuant to SEC rules, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of MICT in favor of approving the business combination.
Additional information about the interests of such potential participants will also be included in the proxy statement and other relevant documents when they are filed with the SEC. Free copies of these documents can be obtained as described in the previous paragraph.
Investor Relations Contact
Chris Tyson/Larry Holub
949-491-8235
[email protected]
www.mzgroup.us
MICT Inc. Contact Information
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (201) 225-0190
