Fintech companies often launch with a core product – small lines of credit, savings, mobile wallets – and build on as they add customers.
Affinity launched in October with a full range of financial services for Ghana’s underbanked individuals, entrepreneurs and small businesses, including savings accounts, small business accounts, payment services, money transfers, credit, loans, investments and mobile money wallets.
The Accra-based company says it has enrolled 50,000 customers, two-thirds of whom have never had a formal bank account, through its hybrid online and agent-based model. More than 60% of its customers are women who work in the informal economy.
Affinity secured $8 million in a seed equity round, led by German VC firm Grazia Equity and London-based Backed VC, to develop its pan-African expansion strategy. Finca International, Renew Capital, Launch Africa, Enza Capital and Impact Assets also participated.
Moving the needle
A 2018 report from International Finance Corp. pegged Africa’s small business financing gap at about $330 billion.
“Numbers like Africa’s $331 billion credit gap are still being quoted today,” Affinity founder Tarek Mouganie told TechCrunch.
The fees for accounts and services charged by traditional banks have been a barrier for many individuals and small businesses.
“That made me obsessed with building a full-fledged retail bank for [micro and small businesses], similar to what Santander, Lloyds, or Chase Bank offer in Europe and the US, but tailored for Africa’s majority,” Mouganie said.
Affinity doesn’t charge fees on its accounts or on most transactions. The company secured a Savings and Loans license from the Bank of Ghana in 2022.
