Credit: The Bridge to Progress
3 mins read
How do we ensure progress for all and bridge the gap between those who need to grow their money and those who need money to grow?
It is an undeniable fact that money powers societies. Aside from being a crucial means of exchange and a store of value it has also become a yardstick and propeller of growth for many people across the world. Whether they’re taking an online course, furnishing an apartment, or building a business, access to money facilitates progress and gives individuals the wings to do and be more.
At Advancly, we like to believe that money is an infinite resource – albeit disproportionately distributed – with a bulk of it sitting in the reserves of people and corporations all over the world. But money cannot remain stagnant, else its value will depreciate over time; the owners of these reserves understand this and look to grow this money but often do not want to be involved in the daily operations of doing so.
The African economy is predominantly powered by MSMEs with these businesses accounting for 90% of businesses across the continent. These MSMEs grow money on a daily basis by turning passion into profit, but often require even more money to grow and scale – money they cannot access due to the $331 billion lending gap in Africa and emerging markets.
How do we ensure progress for all and bridge the gap between those who need to grow their money and those who need money to grow?
Our answer is simple: credit.
…when people and businesses grow, societies and economies grow.
For many entrepreneurs and gig hustlers, access to credit has been a strong factor in their business success. Chidi*, for example, who runs a food business, was able to increase daily customers served from 30 to 100 by utilizing credit to buy an industrial gas cooker. Fola*, a freelance social media manager and content can serve more customers and create content with better quality due to the new phone she bought using a BNPL service. James*, a partner driver with a rideshare service, can easily meet his family’s immediate needs because he can access loans before his weekly payout.
Advancly exists for people like Chidi, Fola and James. Although we do not deal directly with individual entrepreneurs, we partner with organizations to innovate access to money for credit-worthy businesses, who have proven to have a great track record, and a vision for growth worth supporting. With this access, they are empowered to scale forward and grow and this, in turn, powers growth for us and our partners. We are a B2B4Cs (Business-to-Business For Customers & Communities).
We have spent the last 2 years in stealth mode, validating our business model and recording tremendous levels of success with our partners. Now, confident in our successes, we call on aggregators looking to close the lending gap in Africa and emerging markets to partner with us and Power Progress not just for entrepreneurs, but for the African economy at large.
*Names have been changed for confidentiality purposes.