One Africa Media (OAM) has landed in Mauritius through the acquisition of a stake in Property Finder Ltd, a subsidiary of La Sentinelle Ltd who operates the leading property portal on the island, Lexpressproperty.com, as well as other publications including home decor website, lacase.mu.
OAM is Africa’s largest online classifieds group and operates brands including Buyrentkenya.com, Privateproperty.ng, Cheki.com, Brightermonday.com, Jobberman.com and Safarinow.com. The group now employs 600 people spread across its offices in South Africa (in Durban, Cape Town), Nigeria (Lagos), Kenya (Nairobi), Tanzania (Da es salaam), Uganda (Kampala), Ghana (Accra) and now, an office in Mauritius. The company also owns the leading property portal in South Africa, Privateproperty.co.za. and so it has a lot to share with Property Finder Ltd, to expand and improve its service to its customers.
“We own, manage and invest in leading companies and we value local entrepreneurs who are already successful within their local markets. This explains our interest in Property Finder Ltd, a great business whose product lines are already developed, and whose reputation amongst its customers is extraordinary. ” states Justin Clarke, CEO of OAM.
“We are really pleased to welcome this giant in the classified ads market within our shareholding. The experience of such a prominent team will definitely leverage our company. This represents a real opportunity for our business to expand and better develop itself using the expertise and technical support of the group.” says Delphine Taylor, General Manager of Property Finder Ltd who also adds, she is very impatient to start working with OAM’s team.
Mr. Philippe Forget, Chairman of La Sentinelle Ltd further adds: “This partnership is the result of a reasoned choice which we hope will be fruitful and valuable. When concluding an alliance, one should always choose the best teammate. This is what OAM did with Property Finder Ltd, and it is precisely what we have done with OAM!”
OAM’s company in Mauritius, Hippo Limited will be headed up by internet entrepreneur Garth Drummond, previously the CEO of Webdev in Zimbabwe. “One of the first new offerings that Lexpressproperty.com’s will offer its customers is access to Property portal Propertycloud.mu and its cutting edge real estate software. Mauritian real estate agencies will be able to access a panel of 140 000 monthly visits and publish their ads on the two leading property portals of Mauritius: lexpressproperty.com and propertycloud.mu. There will be an immediate tangible benefit to Lexpressproperty of more leads to its clients and real estate cloud software.” Garth explains.
