How Chams, CWG and eTranzact reversed ₦2.4bn in losses

This is Follow the Money, our weekly series that unpacks the earnings, business, and scaling strategies of African fintechs and financial institutions. A new edition drops every Monday. 

In 2020, Chams, CWG, and eTranzact were loss-making, posting a combined after-tax loss of ₦2.39 billion ($1.76 million).

Fast forward to 2025, and these companies recorded a combined profit after tax of ₦9.18 billion ($6.77 million), with a 209.09% jump in combined revenue. 

Their share prices have followed the same trajectory on the Nigerian Exchange, reflecting renewed investor confidence.

Their turnaround has not come from becoming more like consumer-facing products but from a shift in business models toward infrastructure-heavy segments of Nigeria’s digital economy: SIM manufacturing, banking software, and payments infrastructure.

So, how exactly did these companies turn their fortunes around?

Chams: From BVN to card production

In 2020, BVN sales and maintenance accounted for 38.17% of Chams revenue. That year, the company earned ₦2.11 billion ($1.56 million) in total revenue. However, in 2025, this product line only accounted for 0.07% of total revenue, with biometric-related sales accounting for 60.89% of revenue. The company earned ₦17.49 billion ($12.90 million) in 2025.

This pivot from BVN services was largely driven by the company cutting ties to the government and government-owned entities following a $100 million debt it incurred as a result of government shortcomings in 2023.

Since then, the company has prioritised other product lines, including switching and card production through its CardCentre subsidiary.

SIM card production in Nigeria has followed the upward trend of telecommunication subscriber growth in the country. An August 2022 ban on SIM card importation has propelled local players, including CardCentre, SecureID, Cardstel, and RYT SIM Cards, to dominate card manufacturing.

“The expansion into the production of SIM cards for telecommunications providers and initiatives in cross-border payments are key contributors to performance enhancement,” the company told in March 2025.

In 2020, Chams earned only ₦343.19 million ($253,198), 16.26% of revenue, from card products. In 2025, it made ₦5.90 billion ($4.35 million), 33.72% of revenue, from this product line. Growth in card sales has been driven by SIM card purchases from telecom operators and banks.

Since 2022, CardCentre has been supplying MTN Nigeria SIM cards. In 2022, the company delivered about 2.5 million SIM cards, and by 2024, it had scaled production to three million SIMs per month.

As of September 2025, CardCentre was producing about three million SIM cards monthly and 5,000 bank cards daily, with plans to lift card output to 100,000 daily by the end of 2025.

Chams’ new revenue strategy aligns the company with two of Nigeria’s busiest lanes: SIM distribution and payments infrastructure. 

While card production seems to be Chams future, biometrics-related revenue, including counting, phone, computer, and sorting machines, was its largest income line in 2025. The company’s clientele base includes the Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigerian Customs Service, National Health Insurance Scheme, and Nigerian Communications Commission.

This product mix also pushed the cost of sales up by 30.77%, contributing to a 13.06% decline in gross profit.

However, the bet on card production remains strong. On August 5, 2025, Chams announced plans to raise ₦7.65 billion ($5.64 million) through a rights issue and private placement.

This fund will enable it to invest in a card personalisation plant in the country, while allowing it to bet on its other growth engine: cross-border digital payment innovations.

CWG: Backend banking systems over hardware sales

In 2020, 55.05% of CWG’s revenue was dominated by managed and software services. According to the company, this segment of the business provides internal and external clients with managed and outsourced services, while offering related accessories for equipment and service maintenance.

IT infrastructure, which includes the supply, installation, and support of computer hardware and Automated Teller Machines, accounted for 27.13%.

Software only accounted for 12.69% of the company’s ₦11.85 billion ($8.74 million) in 2020. However, CWG has seen software and backend systems become core revenue drivers, supported by core banking upgrades across Nigeria’s banking sector in 2024.

In 2024, software became CWG’s biggest revenue driver, driven by its long-term partnership with Indian multinational financial company Infosys, through which it distributed the Finacle core banking application to top Nigerian banks, including First Bank, GTBank, UBA, Fidelity, Stanbic IBTC, FCMB, and Wema, which did major software upgrades in 2024.

Software accounted for 31.86% of CWG’s ₦65.66 billion ($48.44 million) revenue in 2025, reflecting its growth and importance to the company. However, unlike 2024, when software was the biggest revenue source, IT Infrastructure services dominated 2025, accounting for 36.60% of revenue, indicating the company’s attachment to its early hardware days.

However, CWG’s revenue has also been boosted from providing support to many of its clients, and thanks to the growth in the distribution of the Finacle software, it earned 28.67% of total revenue from this income source.

CWG continues to build backend infrastructure for banks, utility companies, and governments through its platform business, but it has not found much success on this front. In 2020, platform business contributed only 4.37% to total revenue. In 2025, it fell to 2.87% of total revenue.

CWG’s cost of sales, largely costs paid to original equipment manufacturers, has also gotten more efficient. In 2020, it accounted for 86.20% of total revenue. It is down to 75.47% in 2025.

An analysis of the company’s results for 2025 revealed that revenue growth could have been higher. CWG’s trade receivables, sales made on credit, stood at ₦23.94 billion ($17.66 million), although payables, payments to suppliers, totaled ₦21.27 billion ($15.69 million).

CWG’s future growth will depend on how it successfully expands its geographical presence and client base, with the company recently named as one of the system integrators for Nigeria’s mandatory electronic invoicing system under the monitoring, billing, and settlement (MBS) platform.

In May 2025, the company told that it was expanding into new markets in East Africa and the Middle East. However, CWG’s 2025 results show it retained operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, and Cameroon, unchanged from 2024.

eTranzact: moving away from airtime dependence

In 2020, airtime sales accounted for 93.63% of eTranzact’s revenue of ₦22.72 billion ($16.76 million). The company is in the process of weaning itself off this revenue line, saying it is not a growth product and has small margins. Airtime sales accounted for 56.29% of total revenue in 2024.

While the company is yet to give a breakdown of its ₦29.82 billion ($22 million) revenue of 2025, it told in an email, “The percentage of mobile airtime revenue to total gross revenue reduced in 2025. Further disclosures will be available in the 2025 audited financial statements.” 

In October 2025, eTranzact said its priorities include switching, which includes funds transfer, bill payments, payment gateway, and its financial inclusion business.

The company operates across switching, merchant acquiring, and consumer solutions, offering products including PocketMoni, a fintech app, Corporate Pay, for salary disbursements, PayOutlet, for merchant payments, SwitchIT, for transaction processing, and Credo, a social commerce payment gateway.

eTranzact’s revenue growth has lagged behind CWG and Chams since 2020. eTranzact’s revenue has only grown by 31.24% since then, compared to CWG and Chams that have grown by 454.13% and 728.75%, respectively.

eTranzact’s 2025 result shows a company in a transition phase. Its administrative expenses rose to ₦9.24 billion ($6.812 million), with the company attributing this to the rise in depreciation based on the acquisition of assets, and investment in the company’s manpower to meet business needs and drive business growth.

In Q1, 2026, eTranzact expects revenue to fall by 42.69%, and profit to fall by 18.98% drop but it remains bullish on its growth potential.

As airtime contribution to total revenue declines, the company is betting that growth from its recent approval to support Nigeria’s e-invoicing rollout, a government initiative to digitise tax and business processes.

The full-year results of Chams, eTranzact, and CWG show companies prioritising backend infrastructure and system-level services. Chams is in the middle of a card boom. CWG is riding a software wave, and after years of cashing in on airtime sales, eTranzact wants to be a payment company.

Regardless, their individual share prices reflect confidence in their growth potential, as they have proven to their investors that they can ride any wave and still come out profitable. 

Exchange rate used: ₦1,355.42/$