A new partnership between Yabx, the digital lender, and Clickatell, the chat commerce platform, is expanding WhatsApp lending services in Africa.
In Africa, the growing demand for loans is extremely high, especially for small ticket sizes. Yabx’s move aims to provide a customer-centric interface on WhatsApp removing the barriers to securing a loan. In turn, this will democratise access to financial services and enable customers to get credit in real-time.
Yabx leverages digital footprints to analyse the data of each customer, providing them with a credit score and a loan limit. It chose WhatsApp for its lending service amid a landscape where WhatsApp Banking has been steadily increasing in other markets. Not to mention an increase in WhatsApp use in Africa overall.
African WhatsApp usage penetration varies by country but averages at 70 per cent. The widespread adoption of WhatsApp extends beyond individual users. It includes retailers, wholesalers, and consumers, positioning the platform as an integral part of everyday life.
Expanding lending platforms in Africa
Yabx has a record of making financial services accessible through various channels, including web, app, and USSD, making it inclusive for mobile phone users. This helps banks to responsibly serve a huge customer base, at scale, due to its cloud-based infrastructure, meaning it has no upper cap on the number of people it can serve. The integration of WhatsApp lending is set to expand the avenues for individuals to access financial services, promoting frictionless yet responsible financial inclusion.
Yabx has significant experience in Africa and understands the pulse of the market. The performance of their portfolios stands as a testimony to their confidence. In 2020, they rolled out embedded solution products in multiple African markets which witnessed widespread adoption.
This initiative itself saw a 16x growth within just 12 months. The product itself stood to be an interesting case study of Africa as it leveraged data science and tech to effectively assess risk, scale banks to newer customers and promote a cashless economy through mobile wallets.
Reasons for collaborating
Yabx chose to collaborate with Clickatell for its WhatsApp product, because it has built a reliable and high-performing messaging platform with the necessary features to run high-volume services and campaigns. While adhering to strict security and compliance requirements, it enables large consumer brands to deliver billions of messages to customers all over the planet.
Krishna Chaitanya, chief product officer of Yabx commented: “We’ve been reimagining innovative methods to democratize credit in emerging markets thereby, transforming the way underserved individuals and businesses perceive finance today. Conversational Banking is our key to further solidifying this narrative in Africa, making it more personal and interactive. Our technology is rooted in the belief that everyone seeks honest ways to improve their lives. The mission is to make that aspiration a reality.”
Werner Lindemann, senior vice president of global sales at Clickatell said: “This collaboration between Yabx and Clickatell marks a significant moment in enhancing accessibility to financial services across Africa. By using the power of WhatsApp for lending, we’re not just breaking barriers. We’re also fostering financial inclusion in a way that empowers individuals. This move aligns with our collective vision of having a sustainable impact. We want to improve the landscape of financial services in Africa.”
The expansion into WhatsApp lending underlines Yabx’s commitment to revolutionising the credit infrastructure of the African ecosystem. Thereby, it brings a sustainable positive impact to the lives of people throughout Africa.
