Whistle-blower site Blacklock’s has exposed M-Kopa Solar for self dealing in shares breaking a lot of its source country regulations.
M-Kopa Holdings Limited which is funded by Canadian taxpayers does cellphone sales in Kenya mostly in the rural and urban slums. Preying on the vulnerable and the weak.
It is now the target of complaints to stock regulators after executives including the Canadian CEO Jesse Moore are accused of alleged self-dealing in shares.
Canada Govt through FinDev bought $15.4 million (Sh1.7 billion) worth of stock in the company as a promise of “creating good jobs in East Africa”.
FinDev later defended itself that it only learnt of the said stock dealings within the company in January 2020.
According to Blacklock’s, the chair of M-Kopa yesterday did not comment.
Complaints to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allege Moore and another executive sold US$1.5 million (Sh165 million) in M-Kopa shares in 2015 at the same time the company was promoting stock sales to African employees at $37 (Sh4000) apiece.
The investigating authority in Canada refused to comment on the matter too due to ‘work ethics’.
M-Kopa in Financial Statements wrote: “On December 4, 2015 the company granted awards of 787,000 shares of restricted voting common shares to the company founders.”
Shylock business
M-Kopa is nothing more than a ruthless money lender that doesn’t uplift people from poverty. It does the opposite.
The firm sells home loans, household appliances and cellphones on the installment plan door to door in Kenya. Losses totaled $51 million over two years. Moore would not comment on how much he is paid as chief executive.
In January FinDev was made aware of certain employee share purchases that took place in 2015 in a separate offering completed at that time, and the subsequent sale of some of those shares to other individuals,” said Shelley Maclean, spokesperson for FinDev.
This was reported to the USA Securities and Exchange Commission thats the regulator like the Capital Markets Authority in Kenya. In a “self deal” Jesse Moore [former child activist linked to We Charity] he sold Sh. 150 million of his shares to the company. This image is the first page of the SEC complaint.
The spokesperson also added that FinDev is not aware of complaints to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
M-Kopa declined comment on its business, however, records show the company does not disclose interest payments it charges Kenyan customers, which as per Blacklock’s is a breach of Canadian Cost Of Borrowing Regulations.
M-Kopa and FinDev also declined comment when asked to confirm the company’s interest charges exceed Canadian usury law.
Publicly-disclosed M-Kopa repayment plans suggest a 254 percent annual interest rate, according to a review by the University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics at Blacklock’s request.
Canada’s Criminal Code forbids payment of interest over sixty percent.
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), a federal regulator, yesterday said M-Kopa’s business practices are beyond its scope.
“FCAC would not have any information to provide on this subject,” said Joseph Rancourt, spokesperson for the agency.
