E-Business
Bridging the ‘Access to Loan Gap’ for Nigerian SMEs
By Adeniyi Ogunfowoke,
One of the biggest challenges that many Small and Medium Scale Enterprises encounter in emerging economies like Nigeria is access to funding and capital. Majority of them either bootstrap or rely heavily on friends and family members for funding. For the latter, it usually leads to disagreement or dispute, especially when parties involved are not on the same page, and this might eventually lead to the liquidation of the business.
Meanwhile, for SMEs that approach banks for the so-called ‘soft loan’, they may not be able to meet the demands and the many paper works required to successfully secure the loan. Banks generally charge between 5-9 per cent interest rate (and more), for 1-5 years short-to-long term business loans. In Nigeria, you can obtain bank loans as small as N50, 000 and as big as N100 million depending on the scope of your business.
If you eventually get the loan, it may arrive too late and you might need collateral. Interestingly, if you survive the aforementioned, you should be ready for the neck-deep monitoring of your bank to ensure that you deploy the loan judiciously.
Despite this, the government and the private sector are making painstaking efforts to support SMEs. The present government’s TraderMoni through the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) is helping a lot of small businesses in the country by providing them with as little as N10, 000.
Jumia, Nigeria’s No 1 shopping destination is also at the forefront of supporting SMEs. through the Jumia Lending initiative that gives businesses the opportunity to grow and expand by granting them fast and quick working capital. Some of the advantages of Jumia Lending are easy access to working capital, quick registration process, flexible repayment plan within 1-6 months, low-interest rate, no collateral, no hidden or extra charges and free training and support services to help achieve your business goals.
An important caveat to note to qualify for the loan are (1) You must have been selling on Jumia for at least 6 months, (2) Your 6-months average sales revenue on Jumia must be greater than 100,000.00 and (3) 6-months average items sold on Jumia must be greater than 25 items.
What makes Jumia lending and other digital credit companies quite attractive and the cynosure of SMEs is their flexibility. The paper works are not as taxing as that of the banks and you can get a significant amount between 24 and 48 hours. No bank in Nigeria will grant you a loan within this stipulated period without carrying out exhaustive due diligence.
In fact, some banks have taken a cue from the online quick service loan companies as they now offer non-collateral loans. But, not as quick as the digital credit companies. The indisputable truth is that the new wave of digital credit is good for SMEs.
Visa, global payment services giant, has announced plans to establish a data centre infrastructure in Nigeria.
Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe and Vice-President Kashim Shettima
According to a statement by Stanley Nkwocha, senior special assistant to the president on media and communications (office of the vice-president) on Friday, Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, spoke during a courtesy visit to Vice-President Kashim Shettima at the presidential villa in Abuja.
“This is in addition to its investments of over $1 billion in the country, including a substantial technological partnership with @moniepoint to foster digital payment solutions, a $200 million investment in Interswitch, and a partnership with @thriveagric to empower smallholder farmers and enhance food security in Nigeria,” the statement reads.
During the meeting, Torre said the plan to establish the data centre infrastructure aims to bring new technologies into the Nigerian market that would bolster the nation’s growing digital economy.
“Visa has been making investments and will continue to make these investments in Nigeria,” he said.
Responding, Shettima welcomed Visa’s expansion efforts, assuring the delegation that the partnership between Visa and the Nigerian government would continue to flourish.
The vice-president commended the company for investing in ThriveAgric, noting that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is deeply committed to repositioning the agriculture sector, which remains a top priority in its 8-point agenda.
“Nigeria is where the action is. Of the 10 fintechs in Africa, about eight are in Nigeria, with moniepoint as the newest addition,” Shettima said.
“Agriculture is key to the 8-point agenda of the present administration. President @officialABAT is really keen on repositioning the agriculture industry here, and we have to invest in technology, we have to invest in modernisation.”
On January 23, Moniepoint, a Nigerian fintech company, announced it secured investment from Visa to support the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe and Vice-President Kashim Shettima
Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has approved N242.8m for the procurement of a Microsoft 365 licence for its Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) as part of efforts to digitise the service’s operations.
Mr Michael Ango, acting executive chairman of FCT-IRS, disclosed this after the FCT Executive Committee meeting chaired by Mr Nyesom Wike, the minister of FCTA, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Ango said that the FCTA was making significant investments in technology to enhance revenue generation and collection.
“So, this is also one of those investments in technology that the FCT is undertaking.
“The licence, if procured, will enhance our ability to move most of our manual processes into automated processes.
“It will enhance our ability to communicate within our offices,” he said.
The executive chairman added that the move would also reduce the use of paper and ensure better record-keeping through the storage of information and documents in the cloud.
According to him, “The licence will essentially enhance our operations and assist us in generating revenue for the development of the FCT under Wike’s leadership.”
Rack Centre, West Africa’s Tier III Carrier and Cloud neutral data centre, has welcomed Olla Cloud Service, a new private cloud service by Olla Systems Limited, a leading provider of innovative technology solutions, to its facility.
Hosting at Rack Centre, Olla Cloud Service runs on a state-of-the-art, cloud-enabled infrastructure for enterprise applications across diverse platforms, including mission critical application, web applications as well as containerised applications using Kubernetes.
Lars Johannisson, CEO, Rack Centre, welcoming Olla Systems, noted that the partnership with Olla Systems Limited would reflect the company’s commitment to providing African businesses with high- quality cloud computing services.
He noted that Olla Systems would enjoy Rack Centre’s 13.5MW data centre campus facility, designed to meet the highest international standards and offering scalable solutions to Hyperscalers, Enterprises, and Cloud service providers.
As part of its commitment to sustainability, the facility is equipped with energy-efficient systems, advanced cooling technologies to mitigate environmental impact and an optimally-designed feature to handle high-density workloads with precision.
According to Johannisson, “With Olla Cloud Service hosting at Rack Centre, clients will experience fast performance and low latency, enabling businesses in Africa to access world-class cloud computing services within a secure and compliant local infrastructure.”
Also speaking, Olusola Adenuga, chief executive officer, Olla Systems Limited, expressed enthusiasm about hosting at Rack Centre, noting that Olla Cloud remains a groundbreaking private cloud solution for businesses.
While highlighting the benefits of the partnership between Rack Centre and Olla Systems, Adenuga disclosed that “subscribing to Olla Cloud Service is cost-effective to customers because of its local currency payment advantage.”
She also noted that the partnership between the duo, provides businesses the opportunity to meet regulatory requirements of data residency, while enjoying world-class infrastructure as a service (IaaS) locally.
“Other benefits of hosting with Olla Cloud include: 24/7 support, unparalleled performance, scalability and agility.” she added.
Nigeria to Launch $40 Million Fund for Tech Startups
NAFDAC Destroys over N1 Trillion Fake Drugs in Anambra
Visa to Establish Data Centre in Nigeria to ‘Boost Digital Economy’
Nigeria, Kenya among Nations Running out of HIV Drugs – WHO
Nigeria Still Open Crypto Business despite $80Bn Lawsuit against Binance – FG
E-Financial3 days agoUBA Launches Afrigo Card to Revolutionise Domestic Payments
Broadcasting2 days agoPublic Outrage, Legal Threats as Abuja Council Demands N500, 000 as TV Levy
E-Financial2 days agoFIRS Partners Flutterwave for Digital Payment Collection
E-Business3 days agoFirm Offers Steps to Prevent a WhatsApp Account from being Hacked
E-Financial3 days agoCourt Slams Zenith Bank with N30m Damages over Fraudulent Debits in Customer’s Account
News3 days agoEmpowering Women in STEM: Tosin Eniolorunda Foundation Hosts Financial Literacy Workshop @OAU
Telecom2 days agoNigeria Charts New Course to Bridge Gender Digital Divide at UN’s CSW69
Telecom3 days agoSamsung Unleashes AI, Introduces New Galaxy A56 5G, Galaxy A36 5G and Galaxy A26 5G