SweepSouth, the Naspers-backed venture which operates an online cleaning services platform, has acquired an Egyptian home services online strategy to create operating hubs to service Africa and the Middle East, also marking an entry into the beauty industry.
SweepSouth, cofounded in 2014 by Aisha Pandor and Alen Ribic, is said to have created jobs for more than 25,000 people. The platform connects clients to pre-vetted cleaners.
While companies like DStv operator MultiChoice have focused on international expansion and have offices in almost every African country, SweepSouth is opting for a regional approach.
“We’ve seen SA is a great base for Sub-Saharan Africa, obviously having smaller local teams in market as well,” said Pandor, SweepSouth’s CEO.
“Egypt was really attractive for us because it’s the hub for North Africa and the Middle East. And then we’ll look at setting up similar regional bases in other geographies.
“The idea is certainly not to have big headquarters set up in every single market. We’ve proven that model is effective and efficient by what we’ve done in Kenya and doing at the moment in Nigeria,” she said in an interview with Business Day.
On Friday, the Naspers-backed company said it had acquired 100% of Egyptian start-up Filkhedma for an undisclosed sum.
Established in 2014, Filkhedma is a home services marketplace operating across three cities and serving tens of thousands of customers with cleaning, maintenance and beauty services through a network of more than 2,000 service providers.
This move is part of a plan by SweepSouth, regarded as Africa’s largest online home services platform, to have operations in Africa’s four key tech ecosystems — SA, Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria.
The company, which started operating in Nigeria in September after opening its Kenyan business last year, says all its markets will have access to “new services almost immediately”, while SweepSouth positions itself for further expansion into other parts of Africa and the Middle East.
The deal marks the second major one in the last month between an SA company and an Egyptian business. Mobile operator Vodacom recently took control of parent company Vodafone’s operations in Egypt.
“This acquisition will see us extend our reach into Egypt, a huge market with millions of households, and combine with the Filkhedma team as a global platform looking to expand our services not only on the continent but further abroad as well,” said Pandor.
The tie-up means the start-up will be rolling out beauty services in SA for the first time, including manicures and pedicures, hair care and makeup services that can be done at home. This also means SweepSouth will be moving to get entrepreneurs in the field to list on the platform, giving it access to a larger pool of potential customers.
For the Egyptian operation, SweepSouth brings its technology platform as well as the home cleaning services already available in SA, Kenya and Nigeria.
Pandor said Omar Ramadan, CEO and founder of Filkhedma, will play a key role in the executive team of the combined entity and that all employees of the Egyptian start-up will stay on.
Back in 2019, Naspers’s R1.4bn start-up fund, Naspers Foundry, invested R30m in SweepSouth. This was the fund’s first investment since Naspers announced its formation in October 2018.
Since then, SweepSouth has received backing from investors that include FutureGrowth, Smollan, Vumela, CRE VC, musician Black Coffee, together with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
Much of the funding received had been earmarked for SweepSouth’s expansion into other markets.
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