Time flies with great content! Renew in to keep enjoying all our premium content.
Prime
Slum boy whose heart was in football, head in tech sells his payments company to KCB
Former FKF president Nick Mwendwa surprises many people on social media following disclosure of deal between his fintech firm and one of Kenya's top-tier banks.
For many young people who grew up in the slums along the shores of Mathare River, education was not the safest escape route from penury, but a talent in football could easily open the doors of success.
However, Nick Mwendwa Kithuku, the new member of the billionaires’ club having inked a deal to sell a 75 percent stake in his Riverbank Solutions to KCB Group, knew better.
Like many other young boys in Kariobangi or Bangu as they call it, he enjoyed the beautiful game of football but was wise enough to hedge his bet on football by cultivating a different talent.
Mr Mwendwa’s talent, which would help him pay the bills, was in computers. However, his heart never left the beautiful game of football.
When he had his big break in the world of IT, he started his own team, Kariobangi Sharks, which had a stint in the Kenya Premier League.
In 2016, he was elected president of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF). He took over from strongman Sam Nyamweya.
Many Kenyans, who thought football had been mismanaged for far too long, welcomed his election.
An added advantage was that he was a ‘local boy’ having grown up in Kariobangi with youths whose love for football was being diminished by years of misrule.
Then things started going bad for Mr Mwendwa. He was accused of misappropriation of funds. His stint at FKF would finally end with the election of a new president last year.
Small wonder, many people in social media were surprised by the recent news that KCB Group was in the process of acquiring a 75 percent stake in a digital payment company that belongs to the former FKF president.
Last week, KCB Group and Mr Mwendwa’s Riverbank Solutions Limited signed a binding agreement that will see the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed lender acquire a majority stake in the fintech in a deal some insiders say is valued at Sh2 billion.
The acquisition, which awaits regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Kenya and the competition watchdog, will see Riverbank become KCB Group’s 13th subsidiary, as the listed lender pivots from traditional banking terrain into non-banking solutions.
Just like that, the slum boy with heavy baggage from his stint at the FKF is on the verge of joining the billionaires club.
Mr Mwendwa was born in Makueni County 46 years ago, but grew up in Nairobi’s Kariobangi or Bangu, as they call it.
He went to Makindu ‘A’ Primary School then joined Kiserian Junior Seminary and Thomeandu Secondary School after which he attended the Kenya College of Accountancy in 1997 from where he graduated with a Diploma in IT.
He later pursued and completed a Bachelor of Science in Business in Management/Leadership from Bottega University in February 2023.
In Kariobangi and Mathare, nearly every kid honed their soccer skills in the tournaments organised by Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA), a sports development aid organisation started by the late Bob Munroe.
The creme de la creme would then be selected to participate in a tournament in Norway.
However, Mr Mwendwa chose a different path. His talent, one that earned him a living, was in information communication technology.
After completing his IT course, Mr Mwendwa was among a young set of IT professionals hired to deploy robust retail payment solutions at Uchumi Supermarkets.
He then founded innovative payment and channel solutions firm Riverbank Solutions in 2009, before forming online shopping platform Swiggo Ltd in 2019, content hub Sweeton Limited in 2021, and DeFi platform Swerri, Zed Payments Ltd, a payments cloud service helping businesses to set up and accept mobile payments, all in 2022, among other businesses.
Riverbank Solutions, a digital payments provider, has carved a niche in revenue collection for counties since it was founded. He has worked with at least 10 counties.
Riverbank provides payment solutions for various sectors, including banking, micro-finance, manufacturing, retail, and the military. Their services include mobile payment innovations, point of sale (PoS) terminal applications, and card solutions.
KCB hopes to tap into Riverbank’s capabilities in payment ecosystems and non-banking offerings, including capability building, networks, and marketplace solutions.
Riverbank also has a footprint in banking agencies, social payments, and business solutions in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
“Across the region, payments are expected to have the fastest growth, suggesting an opportunity to innovate.
“That’s why we have made this strategic acquisition to enable us to offer a full stack of solutions,” said KCB Group CEO Paul Russo.
