Numida: Helping entrepreneurs track their finances and access small loans
Numida Technologies in Uganda rapidly iterated on their business over the past year and is on an exciting trajectory. Numida initially provided the country’s 450,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with an app as a way to track their income, expenses, and debts in order to access financing and credit. As clients used Numida and demonstrated their creditworthiness, they were also able to apply for small uncollateralized loans from Numida, approved based on their business performance. Numida decided to loan the money directly without an intermediary financial services provider, and in 2017, they supported nearly 300 Ugandan MSMEs with small loans.
Numida is impacting the lives of their clients, like Caxton Matanda.
“Before Numida, I didn’t know how much I was earning and spending per day but now I am on track, and no more money lenders. With Numida, there’s no queuing in line and no guarantors. Numida is a class above. Numida saved me from the jaws of money lenders and that is why business is prospering these days. Numida forever!“
As Numida sees more success stories like Caxton, they are continuing to improve and redefine their impact. Numida plans to narrow in on a sector of businesses to best serve through their unsecured loans. Currently, their loan portfolio includes diverse companies such as hardware stores, small retail shops, and light manufacturers. Numida also goes out of its way to actively increase its female borrowers by focusing on sectors that include women. Currently 31 percent of Numida’s clients are women, close to the national ratio of 35 percent women entrepreneurs in Uganda.
Speaking of growth, Numida also invested in the growth of their team to support their business developments. In the past year, Numida hired a credit operations manager, two credit relationship officers, a client success manager, four client success specialists, two part-time developers and a user experience-user interface designer. These staffing investments are helping Numida build a strong foundation to create and grow their long-term impact.
Their business is growing and, like other ventures in EWB’s portfolio, are seeking follow-on investments to support that growth. Numida competed at a venture pitching competition in Uganda, Seedstars, which they won and were selected to compete at the international Seedstars Summit in Switzerland in 2018. They were also accepted into the Village Capital Fintech Africa accelerator, a series of workshops that support ventures using technology to increase financial inclusion in developing nations.
