Finance technology company, Riby, has said it is poised to empower Nigeria’s unbanked population with an array of financial services available at its disposal.
The company, headquartered in Lagos, affirmed during a recent media conference, that it aimed to provide access to finance to about 1.5 million Nigerians who find it hard to access credits from commercial banks.
Adopts group-based banking model: To achieve its dream of lifting millions of Nigeria out of poverty, Riby has adopted group-based banking model to deliver financial services to customers through cooperatives, trade groups and associations. According to Salami Abolore, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the company, “one system that has delivered financial stability solutions to Nigeria and other nations in Africa is group-based banking through regimented economic models like, Isusu, Ajo, etc.”
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In the same vein, Riby’s value proposition leverages the power of mobile banking to provide many Nigerians access to financial services that commercial bank apps offer. Riby CoBanking has features that perform transactions ranging from sending money to requesting loan from cooperatives, which digitally savvy customers can use to meet their financial needs.
Benefits of microcredit scheme: Riby’s Head of Media and Marketing, at the meeting, gave the details of the opportunities and benefits that Nigerians will derive from its loan-to-savings programme. He identified poverty and financial inclusion as the problems the company is trying to solve in Nigeria.
He noted that the scheme would empower many small businesses by removing the cumbersome process of obtaining loans from commercial banks, including credit history check and the likes.
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Similarly, potential loan applicants will not have to go through the hassle of saving money with the bank before they are granted credit. Rather, they will be offered loans first after which they will make repayment and then save from the remaining fund.
Interestingly, customers, who are not digitally enabled can approach any of the company’s agents across Nigeria to access services which their technologically savvy counterparts enjoy.
How to attain financial stability: At the event, the CEO gave his recipe for achieving financial inclusion in Nigeria. The three steps he highlighted include:
- ensuring that people have a liveable income;
- saving for a lifetime as well as planning one’s wealth to solve the problem of financial stability; and
- the need to own a home.
He observed that, “Cooperatives are an important tool that Nigeria must put special focus on if we are to reduce the levels of poverty in our country. With over 83 million Nigerians reportedly living in poverty, there is a pressing need for intervention at several levels and Riby is strategically positioned to deliver services that contribute to the reduction of the level of poverty. For example, cooperatives have been used to solve housing and feeding problems in developed countries, and there’s no reason we can’t do the same here and even better.”
Mode of operation explained: Riby will first launch in 10 of the 36 states of the country. It particularly targets traders, farmers and artisans in some of these states, including Kano, Kogi, Benue and Oyo.
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