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 accelerates its pan-African
rollout.
Having already achieved a substantial user base
in West Africa, which is expected to expand considerably in the
coming months, Tingo Mobile’s move into Malawi is an important
development for a number of reasons. While Malawi is itself a
sizeable 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 Africa
territories, such as the neighbouring countries of Tanzania,
Zambia, and Mozambique.
With farming and agriculture representing
Malawi’s biggest contributor to Gross Domestic Product, maize,
cassava, bananas, sugar cane and ground nuts the most widely grown
crops, this new market is expected to make a material contribution
to the Group’s revenues and profitability from 2023 and beyond.
Through the adoption of its proven model in West Africa, Tingo
Mobile is at an advanced stage of negotiating trade deals with a
number of Malawi’s largest co-operatives and agricultural
associations, representing several million 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, sugar cane,
maize, and rice. With the ability to trade in such produce, which
markedly broadens Tingo Mobile’s product range, the company has
already identified significant sales demand through its commodity
trading and export business and Tingo DMCC.
Darren Mercer, Chief Executive Officer
of MICT, commented: “We welcome Malawi into our growing
portfolio of geographical markets, as part of our pan-African and
global rollout strategy. I could not be more thrilled at the pace
of our progress as we continue to internationalize the business and
prosper from the benefits we share with Tingo Mobile’s customer
base.
“I am particularly proud of our rapidly
broadening market reach, and today’s expansion into East Africa, as
we significantly increase our supply chain and expand the product
range for 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 considerable difference we believed we could
make to the speed of its rollout and its dollarization. Today’s
launch into Malawi, within only a few days of launching in Dubai
and the Middle East, and only a month since launching in Ghana, is
compelling validation of our belief and optimism regarding the huge
growth potential of the Group.”
Dozy Mmobuosi, Tingo Mobile Founder and
Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are delighted to
launch our business into Malawi, which marks our first move into
East Africa and is further progression of our pan-African
expansion. Our rollout into Malawi and other countries clearly
demonstrates the transferability of our Agri-Fintech platform and
its benefits into new markets, and as such we look forward to
having a long-term relationship with numerous 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
evident, including through our ability to facilitate their direct
access to international markets, which in turn is expected to allow
us to rapidly grow our recently launched commodity platform and
export business. As a result of the increased opportunities
afforded to us 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
principally focused on the growth and development of a suite of
consumer fintech services across approximately 130 cities in China,
with planned expansion into additional markets. MICT has developed
highly scalable proprietary platforms for insurance products (B2B,
B2B2C and B2C) and financial services/products (B2C), the
technology for which is highly adaptable for other applications and
markets. MICT has acquired and holds the requisite 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 memberships/registrations with
the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the requisite Hong Kong and China
Direct clearing companies. 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, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange.
About Tingo
Mobile
Tingo Mobile, which is a wholly owned subsidiary
of MICT, 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 novel “device as a service” model allows it to
add market leading applications to enable customers to trade, 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 select markets in Africa. Tingo Mobile’s
strategic plan is to become the eminent Pan-African Agri-Fintech
business delivering social upliftment and financial inclusion to
millions of SME farmers and women-led businesses.
Tingo Mobile offers its comprehensive platform
service through use of smartphones – ‘device as a service’ (using
GSM technology) -- to empower a marketplace to enable
subscribers/farmers within and outside of the agricultural sector
to manage their commercial activities of growing and selling their
production to market participants both domestically and
internationally. The ecosystem provides a ‘one stop shop’ solution
to enable such subscribers to manage everything from airtime top
ups, bill pay services for utilities and other service providers,
access to insurance services and micro finance to support their
value chain from ‘seed to sale’.
As of June 30, 2022, Tingo Mobile had
approximately 9.3 million subscribers using its mobile phones and
Nwassa platform. Nwassa is Africa’s leading digital agriculture
ecosystem that empowers rural farmers and agri-businesses by using
proprietary technology to enable access to markets in which they
operate. Farm produce can be shipped from farms across Africa to
any part of the world, in both retail and wholesale quantities.
Nwassa’s payment gateway also has an escrow structure that creates
trust between buyers and sellers. Tingo Mobile’s system provides
real-time pricing, straight from the farms, eliminating middlemen.
Tingo Mobile’s users pay for produce bought using available pricing
on its platform.
Cautionary Note Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements made herein contain, and
certain oral statements made by representatives of MICT and its
affiliates, from time to time may 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 its expectations, estimates and projections
and consequently, 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,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “believes,”
“predicts,” “potential,” “might” 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 anticipated financial impacts of the Business Combination, the
satisfaction of the closing conditions to 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 outside of the
control of MICT 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 circumstances that could
give rise to the termination of the Merger Agreement (as defined
below); (2) the inability to complete the Business Combination,
including due to the failure to obtain approval of the stockholders
of MICT or other conditions to closing in the Merger Agreement; (3)
the inability 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 current plans and operations
of MICT as a result of the announcement and consummation of the
Business Combination; (5) the ability to recognize the anticipated
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 economically and hire and retain
key employees; (7) the inability to complete the Business
Combination due to 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 the
SEC made by MICT. The foregoing 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 upon any
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made.
MICT undertake 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
any securities or in respect of the Business Combination.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
MICT intends to file with the SEC a preliminary
proxy statement of MICT in connection with Business Combination.
The definitive proxy statement and other relevant documents will be
mailed to stockholders of MICT as of a record date to be
established for voting on the Business Combination. Stockholders of
MICT and other interested persons are advised to read, when
available, the preliminary proxy statement, and amendments thereto,
and the definitive 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 the Business
Combination. Stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of the
proxy statement, without charge, once available, on the SEC’s
website at www.sec.gov.
Participants in the
Solicitation
MICT and certain of its directors, executive
officers, other members of management and employees, under SEC
rules, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of
proxies from the stockholders of MICT in favor of the approval of
the Business Combination.
Additional information regarding 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 may be obtained as described in
the preceding paragraph.
Investor Relations ContactChris Tyson/Larry
Holub949-491-8235MICT@mzgroup.uswww.mzgroup.us
MICT Inc. Contact InformationEmail:
info@mict-inc.com Phone: (201) 225-0190
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