Africa-Press – Botswana. Letshego Botswana has shown signs of gradual recovery in 2024 following financial setbacks linked to its Non-Deduction at Source (DAS) individual loan portfolio in the previous year.
This is according to Brighton Banda, Letshego Group’s Interim CEO, outlining the developments in the company’s 2024 Integrated Annual Report.
The Botswana operation wrote off a significant portion of the DAS loan book in line with the Group’s revised write-off policy and its cautious approach to Expected Credit Losses (ECL).
Improved regional performance
Banda noted that the Southern African subsidiaries, particularly Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique, recorded improved performances, with profit after tax rising by 123 percent, 32 percent and 12 percent respectively.
Southern African markets collectively achieved 4 percent year-on-year growth in the net loan book, attributed to improved credit management and lending strategies.
Meanwhile, East and West African markets showed moderate recovery. Ghana and Tanzania posted strong results in the Short-Term Loans segment, with Ghana’s disbursements tripling during the period. Ghana’s deposit mobilisation strategy also paid off, with institutional deposits increasing by 17 percent and retail deposits rising 25 percent.
LetsGo Digital Mall
Banda said that in other African markets such as Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria, disbursement levels for Micro and Small Enterprise (MSE) products were maintained in countries meeting performance thresholds.
Letshego Holdings Limited invested P27 million in its digital transformation in 2024, primarily in the development of its LetsGo Digital Mall platform – significantly lower than the P120 million spent in 2023. During the same period, customer deposits grew to P2.15 billion, up from P1.54 billion in the prior year.
Southern Africa remained the strongest contributor to Group performance in 2024, bolstered by revenue growth and profitability, particularly in Namibia and Mozambique. Banda attributed the gains to improved risk management, product focus, and cost controls introduced in the latter half of the year.
Efficiencies in collections
Looking ahead, Banda said the Group’s Credit Risk Management Framework continues to evolve in response to changing market conditions. Key strategic efforts have been directed at strengthening credit assessment tools and increasing efficiencies in collections and recoveries to improve asset quality.
“The Group has intensified its collections and recoveries efforts and strategies to accelerate improvement in asset quality and optimise recoveries in 2025,” Banda stated.
Future strategic priorities include scaling the DAS portfolio, growing the reach of short-term lending, and driving further deposit mobilisation. The Group also plans to pursue cost discipline, tax optimisation, and enhanced operational efficiencies across its markets.
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