SLMsoft.com bags $50 mn contract in West Africa

Rashida Bakait

Canada based SLMsoft.com, provider of e-financial solutions, has signed a $50 million, five-year contract with the Caisse D' Epargne Et Des Cheques Postaux (CECP, Post Office Bank of Ivory Coast ) to provide a smart card solution to support multiple banking applications.

Manu Agarwal, CEO of SLMsoft India who spoke to CNS said that SLMSoft India will be deploying the project. CECP is the largest financial institution in the Ivory Coast and plays a predominant role in the local retail-banking environment.


SLMsoft.com recently bought an all cash equity stake in Design Expo network which is now known as SLMsoft India.

"This is the largest ever project bagged by SLMsoft.com and also by SLMsoft India," he said. The contract terms include a fixed $10 million fee for licensing and implementation and an estimated $40 million in transaction fees to be earned over a five-year period.

Under the terms of the deal, SLMsoft India will provide the deployment of the smart card applications for debit and credit card processing, along with the software, hardware and installation services to establish a network of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and Point-of-sale (POS) devices throughout Ivory Coast. The project will be completed in three phases , wherein first phase would involve development of network for smart card solutions, second phase would involve installation of POS(point-of-sale devices) and establishing ATM network while third phase would see implementation of credit card solution.

Highlighting the benefit of the project for CECP, Agarwal said that the implementation of the project would help the traditional banks to retain customers which they are loosing to the foreign banks which are making their entry in the region. By the end of this year, Agarwal hopes first two phases to be completed while the full project to be finished within six to twelve months.


Of the total of 227 branches, 30 branches will be covered in the first three phases. The remaining branches will be covered in phases in the next twelve months.

Additionally, SLMsoft and the CECP will together seek out other opportunities to expand our services further into Western Africa.

As a part of growth strategy SLMsoft India would be focussing on their messaging solutions. "We will take our messaging solutions overseas," stated Agarwal. He expects around US $ 2 million to come from the messaging solutions. Presently in India they have key messaging customers like S Kumars, India-Today, P&G and others.

Overall Agarwal hopes to generate $4 million revenue this fiscal year.

(CNS)