CEO’s Review

End Transformation…
Start Transition over the next Year

Over the last two years, through Integrated Thinking, we have successfully transformed our company from a traditional IT company to a diversified technology investment firm focused on long-term value creation. For the first time in our 10+ years of operations, our PAT as a % of Revenue increased from 5% in previous years to 7% in FY2018, despite higher expenditure relating to Fintech and Smart City platforms as well as international business development.

This has been possible through the conception and operation of a resilient business model that aims to create value for all stakeholders in the short- and long-term, considering the interconnectivity of our five capitals, alignment with UN SDGs, our purpose, vision, values, strategy, risk, governance and external environment in our subsidiaries, as follows:

  • InfoSystems: Continues to experience robust growth in Mauritius and Africa. In addition, the introduction of new lines of business such as Cloud Computing and Information Security are firming up InfoSystems’ position as a leader in the region.
  • NanoBNK: With its vision of becoming the largest digital bank in the world by footprint, NanoBNK is well on its way to achieving this objective with more than 9 countries signed in Africa. At the same time, the Digital Banking Platform as well as the Financial Inclusion Applications have already been developed or are live!
  • DigiConsult: We have strongly established our position in the Mechanical & Electrical Engineering & Technology [IIoT, ICT] Consultancy space. In addition, our Smart City platform “Enterprise Control and Command Centre” [EC3] has been launched in beta version and is being tested by Mall & Hotel Operators.
  • Ventures: In addition to High Value Learning in SDGs, Integrated Thinking and Other reporting frameworks, Ventures has also ensured that it sources projects for its incubator that aligned with the UN SDGs and is also STEM based.

Performance FY2018

Anglo African continues to run strong profitability, in addition to having one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry. Thus, Net Profit increased from MUR 18.4Mn in FY2017 to MUR 22.6Mn in FY2018, an overall increase of 23%. Group revenue increased from MUR 272.6Mn to MUR 324Mn, an increase of 19% during this period. This was mainly driven by a robust performance in InfoSytems as well as our new line of business generating a Profit after tax in their first full year of operations.

Profitability was impacted by the following:

  • Continued investments of high value in areas of Fintech and Smart City
  • Loss from our IT Consultancy business
  • Higher international business development costs

Our Nine UN SDGs mapping in our Strategy

Our Nine UN SDGs mapping in our Strategy
SDG-1
SDG-4
SDG-5
SDG-8
SDG-9
SDG10
SDG-11
SDG-12
SDG-17

Our Capitals

We discussed Our Capitals on pages 41-45 and the importance of each Capital in our subsidiary through Capitals Mix on pages 34- 37. The Capitals Mix is based on ‘Ranking’, which is forward looking and defined by the Management Team, and also on ‘Weight’ which is defined by specific KPIs during the year under review. Since last year, we have decided not to report on Natural and Manufactured Capitals as our operations do not have a material impact on them and vice versa, but have introduced ‘Technological Capital’ which is more relevant to us.

Our Social Responsibility

We continue to assist nongovernmental organisations working with orphans or disadvantaged children around the country. We have thus given our support to (i) Etoile du Berger which runs a shelter for children in difficulty; (ii) Child Evangelism Fellowship which provides academic and character building classes as well as organises music and sports activities for children at Karo Kaliptis and Cité Hibiscus; and (iii) ANFEN which promotes nonformal education for out-of-school adolescents.

Outlook

I am honoured to take the leadership, as CEO, of this amazing company since April 2018. I recall that when I joined as the first employee of Anglo African a decade ago, I was told that we did not know the destination, but were embarking on a journey that would be exceptional. While it is true that the achievements of this company are amazing, I believe the future is even more exciting… being a small company in a small country, we have the willingness and capability to create global positive impacts!

We remain very confident about the future:

  • We are very bullish on the capacity of our new subsidiaries to create value in the mediumand long-term while our IT Business continues to grow in the short-term.
  • While a number of offices have been closed down in FY2017, our new subsidiaries have aggressive plans to start operations in a number of African and Asian countries.
  • Regional expansion and investment in emerging technologies [such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Big Data Analytics] continue to be a priority.

At the same time, we continue to remain vigilant and monitor the KPIs very closely during our “Transition period” ending June 2019.

I would like to acknowledge the continued dedication and hard work of all our people. I also thank our customers for their support, including in our new businesses. Finally, I thank the Chairman for his wisdom and unfailing foresight, and members of the Board of Directors for their continued support, guidance and advice.

Ali Jamaloodeen
Chief Executive Officer
21st September 2018

“…For the first time in our 10+ years of operations, our PAT as a % of Revenue increased from 5% in previous years to 7% in FY2018, despite higher expenditure relating to Fintech and Smart City platforms as well as international business development.… ”