SoLo Funds is a community lending platform established to provide credit to the underbanked and to American consumers who have long been shut out of the financial services sector due to widespread discrimination in the loan process. We are expanding into Nigeria.
Founded in 2018 by Rodney Williams and Travis Holloway (CEO), SoLo Funds has grown to over 1 million users, the majority (82%) of whom are in underserved ZIP Codes in the US is a user of The company has issued over $200 million in loans and recorded $400 million in total transaction volume through fintech products that serve historically economically disenfranchised communities.
Williams said the expansion into Nigeria is the first step on the road to further international growth.
“It’s a test case, it’s a template, it’s a first,” Williams said in an interview with CNBC after revealing Nigeria’s plans during sessions at the Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this week. . “We don’t just stay in Nigeria, we look at Nigeria as the gateway to the continent,” he said.
Nigeria has both largest economy Africa and the rapidly growing middle class. The country’s economic profile was an important factor in Solo’s decision. Solo sees its products as key tools for empowering the middle class, giving them the opportunity to make ends meet during tough economic times and profit when the economy recovers. A little more reliable cash flow.
The existing fintech ecosystem in Nigeria was also a plus. “We need partnerships to do what we do,” Williams said. “To deliver our solution, we need to leverage a lot of partners, and those partners need to enter the market and be successful in the market. And we have seen many examples of that in Nigeria.”
Opay and Flutterwave, named to the CNBC Disruptors 50 list for 2021, are just a few examples of a wide range of fintech unicorns that have achieved great success in the country.
SoLo Funds ranked #50 on CNBC’s Disruptors 50 list for 2023.
Williams is one of only two founders (the other being Elon Musk) to have two companies on the annual list. A former Procter & Gamble executive, Williams first founded Listener, whose investors include Visa, Intel and Synchrony Financial, and has invested in eight countries for its secure digital data transfer technology. have a contract with
Rodney Williams, co-founder of SoLo Funds
Siobhan Webb
In Nigeria, the SoLo Funds are already working together. foolmobile payment companies, platform capitalan African investment company based in Nigeria, and effortEntrepreneur Community Network.
Williams said the lack of investment opportunities that currently exist in Nigeria is part of the market opportunity for the company. Nigerian bank savings rates are well below inflation levels.
“The average Nigerian consumer with savings is not growing at all. And this is a feature of many developing countries, not just Nigeria. “There’s a very attractive group of people who want to make more money,” Williams said.
SoLo Funds users have the opportunity to lend small sums of money ranging from $50 to $1,000 to their peers on the platform. The borrower presents the terms of the loan, including whether or not to tip the lender. Through these tips lenders can generate revenue. About 99% of users choose to tip their lenders, according to the company.
“We believe SoLo is the evolution of microfinance and community finance,” Williams said. “We are building financial products for the masses, not just those with money.”
The mission has been controversial, with suspicions that the SoLo Funds are creating a new form of predatory short-term lending. During a speech in Aspen, Williams referred to the controversy involving the company itself, telling attendees to “go to Google search.”
Following the recent settlement of a lawsuit filed by a banking regulator in Connecticut and the settlement of lawsuits in California and Washington, DC Solo Funds will bring on staff several attorneys with banking, fintech and regulatory experience. added. Throughout his controversy, Williams has argued that policymakers do not consider the needs of “everyday Americans” when making decisions.
“Every day I wake up and see a single mother or single father laying out food on the table. can pay for,” he said. “I’m going to see their kids at the movies this weekend. It costs me as much as keeping someone’s lights on. That’s how I know I’m doing the right thing. And what excites me about Nigeria, and the rest of the world we live in, is, come on, do it in more places and for more people than we ever thought possible. It means doing
Many startups that have expanded their operations internationally, especially as venture capital has dried up and the grow-at-all-costs startup strategy that has been the norm for the decade has taken a turn for the quicker path to profit. After being replaced, he was forced to withdraw.
According to Williams, the risks of expanding into the middle-class market on an international scale are very similar to those in the United States.
“I was just looking at a Twitter post and it said that the bank was not providing the service. [the middle class] Because it says it’s too expensive to offer. And they argue that banks won’t develop products for them because this consumer is untrustworthy. Well, that’s the risk of building a product for the mass market,” Williams said. A billion dollar company?” he added.
Williams said he intends to address international risks in the same way he addressed U.S. risks, using data, testing and partnerships with ecosystem leaders. Lending regulations in the United States are complex state-by-state, so SoLo Funds was prepared for an equally complex international launch. “International expansion sounds like a big undertaking, but when you analyze it, it’s a lot like introducing a new product state by state in the United States,” he said.
The company plans additional international markets across multiple continents over the next 12 to 18 months, starting with key countries of entry.
“We’ve identified the country in Latin America. We’ve identified the country in Southeast Asia,” Williams said.
NBCUniversal News Group, of which CNBC participates, is the media partner of the Aspen Festival of Ideas.