Shaka Sisulu acquires ROi Africa

Terence Gregory, CEO of Ecsponent and entrepreneur and businessman, Shaka Sisulu. Image supplied.

The transaction is the precursor to Sisulu’s own media monitoring business, iKGB, merging with ROi Africa to form an entity well positioned to claim a sizeable slice of the media monitoring and trend analysis market in South Africa and the rest of the continent.

The transaction furthermore sees Ecsponent acquiring a 49% share in Truth Digital, 100% owned by Sisulu. As Truth Digital owns the full shareholding of iKGB, the acquisition allows Ecsponent continued exposure to the ROi business.

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Expanding the frontiers of traditional media monitoring

“ROi is an exciting business that is expanding the frontiers of traditional media monitoring and trends analysis,” says Sisulu. “It draws on the expertise of a number of worldwide sources to build a media monitoring solution that promises to be the first of its kind in the world. Together we will ensure that South Africa’s marketing and PR industry can have monitoring work for them.”

ROi Africa is a smart technology media monitoring and intelligence provider that identifies media and monitoring trends across millions of platforms. Its reach includes almost 200 million global social networks, 60,000 global online newspapers, thousands of printed publications and 70 radio and TV stations.

Widely regarded as a technological leader in the media monitoring intelligence field, ROi is owned by Ecsponent Limited, a company listed on the JSE’s main board under the Financial Services ‒ Specialty Finance sector. It has multiple subsidiaries and a footprint across South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Zambia.

Taking ROi to the next level

Says Terence Gregory, CEO of Ecsponent about the transaction, “Ecsponent invested in ROi because we believed in its commercial viability and potential to generate shareholder returns over the medium to long-term. This has not changed. Shaka’s expertise and industry knowledge are exactly what is needed to take ROi to the next level.”

Ecsponent invests in a range of listed and private equity investments that have a long-term investment horizon. It helps investee companies develop and profitably commercialise technology that has global applications and offers cost-effective market solutions.

iKGB is a boutique media monitoring agency that has been successful in a niche market. Following the intended merger, the brand will be incorporated into the ROi business.