You’ve probably seen images of poverty in Africa leading to a lack of education and trouble starting a business or growing a business.
What you haven’t seen are markets across the continent where millions of retailers flock daily to contribute to the economy according to IFC reports, they contribute more than 60% of GDP and receive little support from traditional institutions. They are the engine room of the economy but they lack support. That’s not fair! This is big due to the lack of openness to innovation, rigid structures, and overreliance on existing frameworks.
There are more than 18 million MSMEs in Nigeria alone and more than 100 million in emerging markets with a financing gap of more than $5 trillion (more than 60% of these numbers are women), said Shina Arogundade, COO of Trade lenda.
Shina Arogundade – Director of Operations
Trade Lenda is helping these companies, especially those in the supply value chain, to grow their businesses through technology. Leveraging technology such as machine learning, they are behind a smart algorithm to digitize access for millions of MSMEs in Nigeria and soon across Africa.
According to Shina Arogundade, so far, they have extended credit to more than 1,500 companies with more than $2 million in disbursements with an average disbursement time of less than 6 hours. “Our technology allows us to underwrite our users’ requests quickly and efficiently, while limiting our risk exposure with non-performing loans to less than 1%. Our goal is to help be that bridge for MSMEs to become big brands like Spar, ShopRite or even Walmart. In the end, they could add economic value to society, create millions of jobs, and better support their families.
The fintech startup, which is led by Adeshina Adewumi as CEO, Shina Arogundade as COO and Oluwatosin Ayodele as CTO, all from the finance, retail and banking sectors, are strong in their strategy and approach to address this global challenge faced by MSMEs in Africa.
Entering the market in 2021, they decided to use their experience to meet this challenge. “My mother was a retailer and growing up I had firsthand experience of how small businesses can be instrumental in shaping the future I am a part of today. This is one of the things that motivates us, knowing full well that we can support today with our collective experience millions of women like my mother who would continue to support their families at home,” said the CEO of Adeshina.
Adeshina Adewunmi – Executive Director / Co-Founder
Oluwatosin Ayodele – Chief Technology Officer
The startup has now raised $520,000 from Africa-focused investors like Sovereign Capital, ARM Labs, Expert Dojo, and a couple of angel investors in Nigeria.
Speaking about their projections for the year, Adeshina stated that they grew 5x from 2021 to 2022 and are on track to achieve 10x growth in revenue and impact from what they delivered in 2022.
To get access to financial services tailored to your business needs, visit Trade Lenda here.
