The collective efforts of these esteemed partners underscore SAIS25’s mission: to transform Africa’s sports sector through strategic investments, infrastructure development, and policies that foster long-term sustainability

LAGOS, Nigeria, January 30, 2025/APO Group/ — 

The Sports Africa Investment Summit (SAIS25) is more than an event—it’s a movement to unlock Africa’s potential by investing in sports infrastructure for a sustainable future. This mission wouldn’t be possible without the support of visionary partners committed to driving innovation, policy development, and investment in Africa’s sports industry.

Meet the Partners

Afreximbank – A leading financial institution fostering trade and development across Africa, Afreximbank brings its expertise in funding large-scale projects, making it a key player in sports infrastructure financing.

Bank of Industry (BOI) – As Nigeria’s leading development finance institution, BOI plays a critical role in driving local economic growth. Through strategic financing, BOI is supporting the expansion of Nigeria’s sports sector, creating opportunities for businesses and communities to thrive.

International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) – A global leader in sport integrity, ICSS works across continents to promote safety, transparency, and governance in sports. Their partnership with SAIS25 reinforces the need for robust security frameworks that protect investments and ensure the long-term sustainability of Africa’s sports ecosystem.

UN Global Compact Network Nigeria – Championing responsible business practices, this network is instrumental in promoting sustainability within sports investments, ensuring that SAIS25 initiatives align with global environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.

NESH Foundation – With a focus on Nigerian entrepreneurship, NESH plays a vital role in connecting sports investment with local economic empowerment, creating opportunities for homegrown businesses to thrive.

Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) – As a Nigerian policy think tank, NESG drives economic transformation by shaping investment-friendly policies across multiple sectors, including sports. Their expertise in fostering collaboration between governments, private sector players, and investors positions them as a key advocate for a sustainable and profitable sports industry across Africa.

Why This Matters

The collective efforts of these esteemed partners underscore SAIS25’s mission: to transform Africa’s sports sector through strategic investments, infrastructure development, and policies that foster long-term sustainability.

As SAIS25 approaches on February 17-18, 2025, in Lagos, we invite investors, policymakers, industry leaders, athletes, sports talent managers, sports merchandisers, fans and enthusiasts to join us in shaping the future of African sports.

Register now at https://apo-opa.co/4gjbCZg and be part of the conversation.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Sport Nigeria Ltd.

The investment will support UsPlus’ expansion of working capital solutions tailored to Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operating across various critical sectors in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, January 30, 2025/APO Group/ — 

Verdant Capital (www.Verdant-Cap.com) is pleased to announce that its Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund (the “Fund”) has completed its fifth investment of USD 2 million, structured as junior convertible debentures in UsPlus Limited (“UsPlus”) incorporated in South Africa. UsPlus has greatly impacted the financial landscape of SMEs in South Africa by using working capital to support sectors and projects that are essential to the sustainability of the country’s society and environment. This investment will enable UsPlus to expand its invoice factoring services across key sectors in South Africa, reinforcing the company’s role as a pivotal player in the South African invoice factoring vertical. 

Since its inception in 2015, UsPlus continues to offer essential working capital solutions to businesses across the country, that have historically been unable to access traditional forms of financing. While the company supports a wide range of sectors, it has a current emphasis on funding women and sustainably led ventures. 

UsPlus’ service offering is guided by a developmental agenda which is mainly focused on supporting local manufacturers, logistics providers, local farmers, renewable energy players and service providers, among others, to improve the competitiveness of such entities by enhancing their ability to (i) meet the procurement requirements of large multinational corporations and (ii) promote financial inclusion for SMEs that historically have been unable to access traditional forms of working capital solutions.  

The Fund’s investment will strengthen UsPlus’ capital position and help “crowd-in” more senior debt funding into the business to further grow its balance sheet. The Fund is attracted by UsPlus’ business model as it aligns with the Fund’s mission to use its funding to provide financial solutions that have the broadest possible impact on society, while benefiting from fundamental credit risk mitigants. 

This investment will yield a return which is aligned with the Fund’s return target. 

The Fund is investing in inclusive financial institutions on a pan-African basis, with a focus on digitally enabled financial institutions providing services to Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs). The Fund invests in hybrid capital instruments including subordinated debt, mezzanine, preference shares and stapled investment structures. The Fund has a size of USD 38 million (target of USD 100 million at Final Close in H1 2025).  

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Verdant Capital.

2024 was a good year for payroll services in Africa, giving 2025 the momentum to achieve even greater things

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, January 30, 2025/APO Group/ — 

“Extremely bullish on Africa – can’t wait to see the continent evolve over the next decade. So much talent.”

These sentiments are from a social media message by Alex Bouaziz (https://apo-opa.co/4jA3xCe), co-founder and CEO of Deel, the most successful technology startup in history that reached a US$12 billion value in just 5 years. Reaching more than 16,000 followers on Twitter, his post sparked a flurry of similar comments, expressing how they saw opportunity emerge across the continent.

The post also carries significant relevance because 2024 was a landmark year for Deel’s relationship with Africa. Specifically, Deel acquired PaySpace, the African-developed payroll platform that is challenging traditional payroll and HR software to bring much faster, smarter, and more affordable services to multiple regions.

Digital is part of Africa’s story

Cloud-native payroll and HR software is driving a US$16 billion market growing 12% annually (https://apo-opa.co/3PY313s). Organisations worldwide are replacing legacy systems with integrated cloud solutions, reaping major competitive and cost advantages by leveraging data, integration, and agile software.

This transformation is especially impactful in Africa, where developing nations benefit from the speed and affordability of cloud-native platforms across their diverse regions. African companies are leapfrogging ahead to get the most from these new technologies. They are adopting cloud solutions faster to help staff focus their energy smartly and not on repetitive tasks and data collection that could be automated.

Serving over 16,000 customers in 46 countries

Organisations of all sizes are embracing digitisation and seeing remarkable results

The continent has enormous potential to become a massive internal market. According to the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, inter-African trade reached over US$192 billion during 2023 (https://apo-opa.co/42B9Lf0).

Yet, with that figure only representing 15% of total African trade, there is still considerable room for growth. Furthermore, Africa’s companies are increasingly exporting business services to the rest of the world.

PaySpace is a perfect example of this export opportunity. It serves over 16,000 customers with its cloud-native, multi-tenant payroll and HR software platform, including leading ESS features such as Pacey, the WhatsApp chatbot that helps employees directly access services such as payslips and leave applications through the popular chat client.

During 2024, the PaySpace platform helped companies pay 8.5 million employees in 46 countries, now including Brazil and the UK, and several other milestones:

• 233,988,871: Number of payslip calculations on the PaySpace platform.
• 1.01: The number of seconds PaySpace by Deel took to calculate a payslip on average.
• 64,997: Hours saved by customers using the PaySpace platform during 2024.
• 170,000: Visits to the PaySpace Knowledge hub during 2024.

“Organisations of all sizes are embracing digitisation and seeing remarkable results,” says Sandra Crous, Managing Director of PaySpace. “PaySpace started twenty-four years ago because the founders saw the same future for the payroll and HR space, and it’s been amazing to experience how our customers keep gaining when they leverage cloud-native software.”

Bullish about Africa

The notion of an African Renaissance is not new, and it has encountered challenges. Yet, digitisation is undeniably enabling African organisations in transforming their operations. The flexibility of modern software helps them accomplish more and compete internationally, offering great benefits to customers globally.

Alex Bouaziz’s comment shows that the world is waking up to Africa’s potential. Deel’s acquisition of PaySpace shows that African technologies not only compete successfully against international brands, but can lead the way forward. It’s time to be bullish about Africa!

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of PaySpace.