Speaking at the Press Conference, Akan Nelson, Founder and CEO of Evolve Credit, stated that Evolve Credit’s vision has always been the same: to make access to credit and financial products more inclusive, accessible and transparent for millions of individuals and small businesses. “We want to power thousands of new loan providers over the next 5 years, we want to make billions of dollars in credit available to millions of people and SMEs”, he said.
With rising income and a projected population of 1.7 billion by 2030, annual spending by African consumers and businesses is expected to reach $6.66 trillion by 2030, up from $4 trillion in 2015. These trends are spurring growing markets in a range of sectors where Africans have unmet needs, including food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, financial services, healthcare, technology, housing, and education.
There’s an estimated $300 billion credit gap in Africa. Accessible banking and credit is needed now more than ever to close this gap. Evolve Credit, through Configure cloud lending software, is providing the technology to enable this to happen at scale.
Configure will make it easier and faster for microfinance players, upstart lenders, and non-bank providers (like telcos) to deploy credit products in days instead of months. Existing lenders can digitise their current processes in 1-3 weeks, as opposed to the 6-10 weeks required by local and foreign providers. Built to be flexible and configurable, this cloud-based lending platform is able to support lending end-to-end — frontend web forms, backend dashboards, and third-party integrations. In summary, Configure provides all the technology a microfinance institution or an upstart lender needs to operate like a big bank or a large online lender like Carbon.
Evolve Credit is betting that Microfinance institutions will win the marketplace for the unbanked and bridge the massive credit gap in Africa. The team believes that their unique blend of deep local community expertise, personalized hands-on service and accessible financial products will give them an advantage over other players.
According to Evolve Credit, Configure is already live with lenders in Nigeria and Zimbabwe who have originated and disbursed over $500,000 in loans since the private beta launch in August. As part of their early adopter program, Evolve Credit is offering a 20% discount to all new subscribers. To access this discount, simply email Joseph Andrews at j@evolvecredit.co or visit their website.
A new era in lending is already upon us, accelerated by the recent pandemic, and Evolve Credit is leading the way.
