The post-merger integration of African B2B e-commerce giants Wasoko and MaxAB has entered a new phase. Following the departure of Wasoko founder Daniel Yu as CEO late last year, the combined entity is now aggressively reshuffling its regional leadership, moving away from “growth-at-all-costs” founders in favor of seasoned operators with deep experience in P&L management and fintech.
The restructuring comes at a critical time. Investor VNV Global recently marked down the value of its stake in Wasoko by 15% in 2025, reflecting broader skepticism regarding the low-margin nature of B2B e-commerce for informal retailers. To counter this, the group is pivoting toward high-margin financial services — a shift reflected in its newest executive appointments.
The New Guard: Kenya and Egypt
The group has appointed two General Managers to lead its most vital markets, both tasked with stabilizing operations and driving the transition to fintech.
- Mohamed Thabet (GM, Kenya): Thabet joins with a mandate to professionalize the Kenyan operation. His background is heavily weighted toward financial services and regional trade, having served as Chief Business Officer at Almasi Financial Services and Country Manager for Dsquares. His experience in Egypt’s Sarwa Capital and Etisalat Misr suggests a bridge between the group’s Egyptian headquarters and its East African footprint.
- Amr Nassar (GM, Egypt): A MaxAB veteran of over five years, Nassar has been promoted to lead the group’s home market. His recent track record includes leading MaxAB’s “Logistics as a Service” (LaaS) arm, where he held full P&L ownership. Crucially, Nassar’s background includes a six-year stint at Jumia, where he transitioned the business from a retail model to a marketplace — a transformation experience the merged entity now requires as it scales back its own heavy logistics.
From Moving Boxes to Moving Money
The leadership “rejig” is a direct response to the challenging unit economics of African logistics. While moving physical goods to informal kiosks is capital-intensive and plagued by thin margins, providing those same kiosks with credit and digital payment tools is proving far more lucrative.
In Egypt, the group’s fintech arm already generates over $180m in annual turnover. It has disbursed more than $20m in working capital loans, claiming a repayment rate of over 99%.
This success has dictated the roadmap for other markets:
- Morocco: The company has essentially abandoned traditional e-commerce to focus exclusively on fintech.
- Fatura Acquisition: The purchase of the Cairo-based fintech marketplace further cements the group’s identity as a financial services provider rather than a wholesaler.
The changes at MaxAB-Wasoko are not happening in a vacuum. Across the continent, the “first generation” of venture-backed founders are stepping aside as their companies reach a stage where operational discipline outweighs initial vision. In South Africa, Yoco co-founder Katlego Maphai stepped down after more than a decade, arguing that scaling requires different skills from starting. In Ghana, mPharma founder Gregory Rockson moved to board chair following layoffs and a strategic reset. In Egypt, food discovery platform Elmenus replaced founder Amir Allam with former Talabat executive Walid El‑Saadany.
The Reality Check
Despite the pivot, the group faces a steep climb. VNV Global’s markdown implies a total valuation of roughly $293m — a significant drop from the heights of the 2021–2022 venture boom.
The move to appoint leaders like Nassar and Thabet indicates that the board is no longer prioritizing “disruption” or “market share.” Instead, they are looking for executives who can navigate the “boring” but essential work of margin optimization, supply chain efficiency, and credit risk management.
For the African tech ecosystem, the MaxAB-Wasoko merger and subsequent leadership overhaul will serve as a bellwether. If this new team of operators can turn the high-volume, low-margin world of informal retail into a profitable fintech engine, it may provide a blueprint for the survival of the continent’s other B2B giants.