Alternative Financing

Johannesburg, 6 February 2024 – MTN’s Mobile Money Platform, MoMo, and banking technology company JUMO have partnered to launch Qwikloan, which offers affordable, short-term loans in South Africa and will drive financial inclusion across the country.

Qwikloan enables MoMo users to obtain small, short-term loans on their mobile phones, ranging from R250 to R10,000 depending on eligibility, through a seamless application process available via the MTN MoMo App or USSD (*151#). Qwikloan is able to reduce the cost of lending to a customer by leveraging MTN MoMo’s payment infrastructure and JUMO’s core banking infrastructure with AI prediction capabilities.

Bradwin Roper, Chief Financial Services Officer at MTN South Africa said: “MoMo’s Qwikloan offering is a testament to our dedication to providing financial solutions that prioritise accessibility and affordability. In these challenging economic times, our goal is to empower South African consumers by offering a reliable alternative with significantly lower interest rates compared to banks.”

Qwikloan has been available to smartphone users in South Africa via the MTN Mobile Money app since December 2023. Now, opening up access to include users of feature phones via USSD will enable all South African individuals and informal traders to fund productive and sustainable ventures, without the need for costly data or smart mobile devices.

Joe Mucheru, JUMO President said: “Our work with MTN will support entrepreneurs who need simple, quick access to working capital to grow their businesses. This work demonstrates how partnerships between financial technology companies such as JUMO, and mobile money providers are essential to driving financial inclusion and creating more opportunities for customers to borrow and save conveniently. There is even greater potential to grow eligibility and accessibility by introducing bank partners to the initiative. Working with partners to build the infrastructure they need to achieve their goals is what we do.”

The collaboration targets South Africa’s entrepreneurs and the informal sector while JUMO’s intelligent banking technology aims to reduce unit economics, making high-value products accessible at low prices. This partnership aligns with both MoMo and JUMO’s missions to foster financial inclusivity, ensuring that all South Africans, whether on the MTN network or not, can benefit from this financial service.

Qwikloan is available to both prepaid and postpaid MoMo registered customers. To apply for a loan, users simply need a registered South African ID number and must undergo a credit affordability check. Upon approval, funds are deposited directly into the user’s MoMo wallet, with repayments collected from the same wallet. Consumers can register and apply through the MTN MoMo App or USSD (*151#).

ENDS

About the MTN South Africa

Launched in 1994, MTN South Africa is a subsidiary of MTN Group, a leading emerging market operator with a clear vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to our customers. We are inspired by our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of modern connected life. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code ‘MTN’. Our strategy is Ambition 2025: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress.

About JUMO

JUMO was founded in 2015 and is the market leading Banking as a Service platform that uses AI to power financial services in emerging markets.

JUMO offers savings and credit products to entrepreneurs in emerging markets, as well as financial services infrastructure to partners such as eMoney operators, mobile fintech platforms and banks.

The platform has two foundational capabilities:

●  Core – which provides end-to-end, next generation banking infrastructure;

●  Unify – the Artificial Intelligence processor that transforms data to reduce the cost and risk of lending.

In just over nine years of operation, JUMO has enabled the disbursement of more than US$5billion in loans and reached over 26 million customers and small businesses. They are active in seven markets including Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa.

JUMO earned B Corporation certification in September 2022, joining an international movement of 5,787 purpose-led businesses that meet B Corp’s high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.

www.jumo.world

For media enquiries, please contact:

JUMO@brunswickgroup.com

+44 20 7404 5959

Uplinq Financial Technologies, the first global credit decisioning support platform for small business lenders, announced the publication of “Fair and Accessible Credit for Small Businesses: A Guidebook for Financial Institutions,” a white paper that blueprints how banks and credit unions can leverage AI technology and alternative data to expand lending opportunities for small businesses.

The white paper, commissioned by Uplinq, was developed by Cornerstone Advisors, a leading management and technology consultancy for banks, credit unions and fintechs. It draws on expert insights from senior executives at Visa, the SME Finance Forum (part of The World Bank group), EY, Scotiabank and more to pinpoint the key barriers preventing small business owners, particularly in underserved communities, from accessing fair and affordable loans. The paper also reveals the macro and microeconomic impact of a lack of access to credit and offers practical steps to bridge this gap through technological and cultural shifts.

“Uplinq was founded to democratize access to working capital for small businesses through the use of non-traditional and alternative data sets. The findings in this paper reveal that our mission is very much needed,” said Patrick Reily, co-founder of Uplinq. “Today, by broadening the data sets and data sources we use in loan underwriting, we can empower financial institutions to extend more affordable credit to small business owners – particularly among minority and protected classes – who have been grossly underserved under traditional benchmarks. Expanding and improving small business lending not only strengthens communities and stimulates economies, but also helps financial institutions boost their bottom lines.”

Access to reasonably priced credit from trusted financial institutions is critical for economic expansion and small business formation, which directly affects wealth creation, business equity and financial inclusion – especially among underserved groups. The median net worth of Black women entrepreneurs, for example, is 10 times greater than that of those who do not own equity. However, as the paper illustrates, studies show that women and small business owners of color are often considered “higher risk” and therefore struggle to access credit from traditional lenders based on conventional underwriting criteria. This can force budding entrepreneurs to abandon their dreams or push small business owners to resort to less advantageous funding sources, such as loans at higher rates from non-bank sources.

Small businesses and financial institutions alike stand to benefit from further leveraging AI technology like machine learning to revamp their underwriting and automate decisioning in lending. As the white paper outlines, expanding the use of alternative data and adopting these technologies offers advantages like improved credit assessment and more efficient collections and loss mitigation. In fact, research shows that financial institutions deploying Uplinq-based underwriting more than doubled small business loan approvals among protected classes, from 38 to 82%.

To download the white paper and discover the roadmap to fair, accessible, and more profitable small business lending, visit bit.ly/Uplinq-FairandAccessibleCredit_SMEFF

About Uplinq

As the first global credit & scoring assessment platform for small business lenders, Uplinq is a purpose driven company with a mission to help small business owners gain access to fair and ethical credit, while enhancing SMB lending practices for all lenders globally. Uplinq's breakthrough technology empowers lenders to approve and manage risks on loans they would have otherwise declined based on traditional loan underwriting criteria, while incorporating environmental, market & community data to better understand the specific loan applicant. Its technology has served as a foundation for more than $1.4 Trillion in underwritten loans. Learn more about Uplinq at uplinq.co and connect with them on LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.

The “SME Finance Virtual Marketplace” is an online match-making platform that promotes partnership and collaboration between financial institutions, fintech companies and development finance institutions/ investors.

The virtual Marketplace is powered by GlobalLinker, an AI powered ‘Digital Ecosystem’ offering SMEs a range of services to build digital presence including e-commerce. 

How does the Marketplace operate?

To participate in the marketplace session, your institution must have an institutional profile (company profile) and personal profiles (individuals representing the companies) set up on the marketplace. Institutional profile shall also include products/services being offered.
Representatives of your institution can explore offerings available in the platform, such as investment products, advisory services, technology solutions...etc.
The virtual platform enables individuals to reach out to one another to discuss potential collaboration and partnership at their own convenience.  

 
Marketplace Pitch Sessions

The marketplace sessions are scheduled monthly and feature institutions (DFIs, fintechs, investors, etc.) who present their products/services during a 7-minute pitch.
Following the presentations, participants can reach out directly to the presenting institutions to make inquiries or explore partnership opportunities.