On today's podcast, we have a special guest join us in the studio — metaphorically. Chijioke Dozie, CEO and Co-founder of Nigerian fintech, Carbon, discusses Nigeria's credit scene and what it would take to give loans at scale in Nigeria.
But first, we touch on some of the juiciest news stories from the week:
- Flutterwave's Disha to suspend operations temporarily on March 31, 2024
- Fairmoney to acquire Umba in a $20 million all-stock deal
- CBN allegedly planning to shut down all crypto websites in Nigeria
- FG to provide Internet access to 774 local governments and create over 300 jobs in Nigeria
And now to the meat of the discussion.
Founded by brother duo, Chijioke and Ngozi Dozie, Carbon was launched in 2012 as PayLater to solve Nigeria's credit scene issues: low applications, high fees, bad customer support.
In this episode, Chijioke expounds on several topics and we'll talk about some here.
On whether Nigerians are credit averse or not, Chijioke believes Nigerians are in fact not disinclined to taking loans. They just want "free money."
"When I say free money, it's interest free money. And there isn't a strict timeline to pay back. I think that's why you're seeing them still use friends and family as an option."
However, he believes that there's not much to be learned here when it comes to applying that to the lending space. Maybe just one lesson, though: speed and convenience.
"When we created what was then called the Paylater app, you could borrow money anytime of the day, anywhere in Nigeria, 24/7. So you didn't have to wait to go the bank branch and see your manager. You could just do it at your convenience anywhere in the country.
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"That's what we've taken from that whole why people are borrowing from friends and family."
He talks about a whole lot more, including why collaboration between fintechs is a myth, why credit bureaus are important, among other things.
You can catch up on the conversation on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere you get your podcasts. You can also send your questions and observations to podcast@techpoint.africa or share your thoughts using the hashtag #TechpointAfricaPodcast.
