Sidebrief’s Register Now Pay Later culminated from the reality that a significant portion of Small and Medium scale Entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Nigeria are not engaged in the formal economy.
In Nigeria, the majority of SMEs are unregistered companies. The informality is related to a number of obstacles to the expansion of SME. One major issue is lack of access to financial resources.
Although small businesses provide over 80 percent of Nigeria’s jobs, a recent World Bank survey found that only 15 percent of SMEs in the country reported having a bank loan or line of credit. In Nigeria, formal financial institutions provide loans mainly to registered business entities. In many cases, official business registration is a prerequisite for opening bank accounts and loan applications.
Faced with this challenge, informal SMEs have to frequently look for alternative financing sources, including personal savings, family borrowings, remittance and microfinancing to grow their business. Sidebrief has partnered with Lendha to play a role in plugging the $136 million financing gap on the continent by allowing business owners to formalize their businesses and pay later.
Official business registration would bring several benefits to Nigerian SMEs, including:
Expansion of access to financial resources: as registered businesses, MSMEs would be able to open bank accounts, improve creditability and enhance access to financial resources from banks and financial institutions.
Expansion of access to the market: business registration would support MSMEs to obtain export permits and licenses necessary for their integration in the global value chain.
Access to procurement opportunities: as a registered business, small business owners are able to bid on both government and private sector opportunities.
Sidebrief offers Register Now Pay Later to Nigerian Businesses
Lendha’s partnership with Sidebrief will see business owners have a credit facility to register their business and repay in 4-6 monthly installment thus providing flexibility to entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Tunji (Co-Founder) at Lendha also noted that the Register Now Pay Later facility is not limited to business registration in Nigeria. Startup founders can also use this product to expand their business outside of Nigeria to other African countries and also the United States. In addition, entrepreneurs and business owners in Nigeria also have an opportunity to obtain short term financing from Lendha.
Sidebrief
Sidebrief is a RegTech startup that makes business registration and compliance easy for founders, entrepreneurs, and business owners across Africa by removing lengthy paperwork, complexity, and hidden fees. We provide the tools for founders to start and scale businesses across borders from a single interface. Simply sign up to get started. For further information on the Register now Pay Later for Businesses, email [email protected] or [email protected]
For more information, visit the official website.
