Nigerian fintech Moni will leverage social trust and group responsibility to provide SME owners in Africa with working capital.
Moni, a Nigerian fintech startup, has launched a range of business loans that leverage social trust and group responsibility to provide small business owners in Africa with working capital. With a risk engine that combines financial data and social intelligence, Moni’s community-powered model has enabled more than 11,000 SMEs to access financing in five minutes or less, with a 99 per cent repayment rate. SMEs in Africa often find themselves excluded from the traditional finance system.
Community finance: A game changer for African SMEs
Moni is addressing difficulties in accessing essential financial services for African SMEs through its community finance model. This innovative approach builds on the importance of group responsibility in African communities to create a social credit score that complements financial data and business performance. By joining a local lending cluster through an invitation from an existing member, small business owners with a good local reputation can access financing in five minutes or less, enabling them to grow their businesses and create long-lasting wealth for themselves and their communities.
Moni’s risk engine: Effective credit decisioning for SMEs
Moni’s risk engine combines financial data and social intelligence to provide more effective credit decisioning for African SMEs. By leveraging the power of social trust and group responsibility, Moni is able to offer loans with a 99 per cent repayment rate. The risk engine considers both financial data and social factors, such as the reputation of the lending cluster and the social credit score of its members, to determine loan eligibility. This approach provides a more complete picture of a borrower’s creditworthiness and helps to reduce the risk of default.
Disbursing over USD 22 million in loans in 2022
Since launching its community-powered model in August 2021, Moni has disbursed over USD 22 million in loans to more than 11,000 SMEs in Nigeria alone. With a 99 per cent repayment rate, Moni’s community-powered loans are providing small business owners with access to financing and addressing a longstanding challenge faced by SMEs.
“Our community-powered business loans product is just one of the ways we are innovating around our unique context in Africa to make the most of what is already in place to deliver the financial services business owners need to create long lasting wealth for themselves and their communities. We have ample evidence to show that this approach works and we are excited to be bringing more businesses on board to drive the economic development we all want to see on the continent,” said Femi Iromini, CEO and co-founder of Moni.
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