By Sonia Odita
Tingo Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TIO) a fast growing fintech, agri-fintech, food and commodity trading company, in an iconic move today announced that it has executed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board (“KPITB”) to launch and roll out the Company’s business and service offerings into Pakistan.
KPITB is a governmental body established in the Province of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, for the promotion of information technology for the public and private sector.
Founder of Tingo Inc. and billionaire, Mr Dozy Mmobuosi is said to be excited over the history-making event.
The MOU, which was signed in Peshawar by representatives of each of the parties, defines how KPITB intends to assist Tingo to revolutionize Pakistan’s agriculture sector, empower farmers, improve food production levels, increase food processing capacity, and enhance food security in Pakistan.
It was gathered that under the terms of the MOU, KPITB has agreed to assist Tingo by facilitating various initiatives in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as well as throughout Pakistan, including the following:
■ Implementation of Tingo’s technology applications and platforms in the agricultural sector with the goal of increasing crop yields and reducing post-harvest losses;
Utilization of Tingo’s platforms to improve farmers’ access to agricultural finance, farming knowledge, techniques and know-how, and farming inputs such as high-quality seeds and fertilizers;
Promotion of sustainable farming practices and resource conservation, as well as collaboration with educational institutions to build a stronger agricultural ecosystem;
Introduction and promotion of Tingo’s online agri-marketplace platform to enable farmers to more easily sell their products directly to end customers and consumers to help reduce reliance on intermediaries and improve farmers’ profit margins;
Facilitate the construction and operation of food processing facilities to process locally- grown produce, increase domestic food processing capabilities, and connect the country’s farmers to broader international markets; and
The designation of Special Agricultural Processing Zones (SAPZ) in partnership withprovincial governments and the national government, to be located in proximity to railways and major ports and facilitate more efficient in-flow and out-flow of raw and processed produce throughout the country and for export.
The non-binding MOU establishes the framework upon which Tingo and KPITB are expected to develop a binding definitive agreement in the coming weeks consistent with the terms described above.
Dozy Mmobuosi, Interim Co-Chief Executive Officer of Tingo Group, Inc. commented: “As we look to introduce and replicate our successful business model in new geographical markets and accelerate growth, we are delighted to have this opportunity to establish a dominant position in the fifth most populous country in the world and one of the largest agricultural markets. Moreover, we are honored to have the KPITB and Government of Pakistan as a strategic partner in this remarkable opportunity.
“The MOU allows us to roll out all of the main areas of our existing ecosystem in Pakistan including our fintech, agri-fintech and marketplace platforms such as Nwassa and TingoPay. as well as our food processing business and commodity trading and export business. Similar to Nigeria when we launched Nwassa there in 2020, Pakistan’s productivity levels in agriculture are relatively low and post-harvest losses are high despite the large percentage of its sizeable population being employed in the sector. These conditions, combined with the superior communications and logistics infrastructures compared to Nigeria, provide us with considerable scope to further deliver upon our mission goals and objectives of increasing food production levels and tackling the world’s food security crisis.
“The launch of Tingo’s business into Asia is another major milestone for the Company. Furthermore, our partnership with the KPITB and the Government of Pakistan is additional testament to our strong credentials and reputation in the agricultural and agri-fintech space. This gives us great hope as we increase our focus on the markets that welcome us as we continue to take decisive action to improve shareholder value and address the ever apparent disconnect between our share price and the Company’s true value.”
About Tingo Group
Tingo Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: TIO) is a global Fintech, Agri-Fintech, food processing and commodity trading group of companies with operations in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Tingo Group’s wholly owned subsidiary. Tingo Mobile, is a leading Agri-Fintech company operating in Africa, with a comprehensive portfolio of innovative products, including a ‘device as a service’ smartphone and a value-added service platform, the cornerstone of which is the Nwassa ‘seed-to-sale’ marketplace platform, as well as insurance, micro- finance, and mobile phone and data top-up. Tingo Group’s other Tingo business verticals include: TingoPay, a SuperApp in partnership with Visa, offering a wide range of B2C and B2B services including payment services, an e-wallet, foreign exchange and merchant services; Tingo Foods, a food processing business that processes raw foods into finished products such as rice, groundnut oil, nut products, wheat, millet and maize; and Tingo DMCC, a commodity trading platform and agricultural commodities export business based out of the Dubai Multi Commodities Center. In addition to its Tingo business verticals, Tingo Group also holds and operates an insurance brokerage platform business in China; and Magpie Securities, a regulated finance services Fintech business operating out of Hong Kong and Singapore, which, as relatively small businesses within the Company, are