The Chief Executive Officer of Cellulant Group, a pan-African fintech firm operating in 18 countries, Akshay Grover, has said the firm has concluded plans to launch its merchant lending solution, which will offer working capital to small businesses.
In a statement, Grover said that based on the profiles the company had created for business owners over time, the new solution would grant short-term working capital in partnership with banks and financial institutions.
Speaking with media on how the solution will work, the chief executive said while the firm had access to a lot of data, and it would apply artificial intelligence tools to the data to create accurate profiles of customers’ creditworthiness.
Each of the merchants would be assigned a score that would translate to their credit limit.
Grover said this would enable the firm to disburse funds to the merchants for a period of seven to 90 days.
He said the firm was already piloting the solution in one of its markets with high hope of getting into Nigeria in the next couple of months.
For businesses to achieve their maximum growth potential, Grover said, they must access more than just a robust payment solution but also value-added services along the entire value chain, such as access to credit.
He said, “Cellulant aims to enhance the capabilities of its payment infrastructure by leveraging embedded finance. By partnering with different financial institutions like banks, insurance companies among others, the company can offer its merchants a wider variety of options.
“Cellulant is particularly looking to introduce a merchant lending solution to offer working capital to businesses. The possibilities for Nigerian businesses are endless, with the cashless policy already transforming the country’s economy.
“Companies simply need to position themselves with a comprehensive payments partner to reap the vast benefits of a cashless economy.”
Speaking on Cellulant’s move into the Nigerian market, Grover said the country had been significant in the development of the firm’s products and corporate strategy over the years.
According to him, “Nigeria is one of our top two markets. It is a very important country for Cellulant as a business, and I think there are not too many fintech in Africa that can claim to be very large without being significant in Nigeria.”
