Socium, founded in 2021 by Samba Lo and Serigne Seye, provides payroll, recruitment and workforce management software to businesses across 21 Francophone African countries.
MIC, together with Grindstone — a business accelerator co-owned by Knife Capital and Thinkroom — has designed the programme to accelerate high-growth, Black female-owned businesses with scalable models.
Since its 2022 launch, the company — owned by Chinese conglomerate PDD Holdings — has rapidly expanded into 90+ markets, luring shoppers with $5 wireless earbuds, $10 sneakers, and $3 T-shirts.
Globally, develoPPP Ventures has allocated over $160 million across five continents in just one year, targeting businesses that drive inclusive economic growth.
The back-to-back funding rounds signal rising investor interest in Egypt’s fintech sector, particularly in startups digitising traditional financial practices.
The company aims to formalize Egypt’s highly fragmented used car market — estimated at $10 billion — by introducing standardized pricing, digital financing, and secure ownership transfers.
Socium, founded in 2021 by Samba Lo and Serigne Seye, provides payroll, recruitment and workforce management software to businesses across 21 Francophone African countries.
Sixteen months later, on a hot July day in 2026, Egypt's finance minister, Ahmed Kouchouk, returned to a company whose public frustration had once laid bare the country's industrial bureaucracy.
