Africa's MSMEs empowered to access working capital to purchase stock

As companies across the globe ponder effective strategies to recover post-coronavirus, informal retail micro, small and medium-sized enterprises across eastern and southern Africa have an opportunity to access working capital to stock their businesses.

This follows a partnership between Nestlé, a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Switzerland, Nomanini, a South Africa based fintech firm that connects banks and distributors to informal merchants, and Standard Bank, Africa's biggest lender by assets.

The partnership announced on Wednesday will see Nestlé provide access to sufficient working capital through the Nomanini platform so retailers can stock a wide range of products. The capital will be offered in the form of physical stock rather than cash.

Nomanini's platform analyzes the sales history of a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise to create a credit score.

If approved, the retailer is offered an uncollateralized loan in the form of stock from Nestlé. The enterprises are given access to the working capital they need to grow their businesses without having to open a bank account or visit a branch.

Likewise, when it is time to repay the loan, they do not need to go to the bank or even have a bank account to make an electronic transfer.

Following the successful implementation of the concept in Zambia, Nestlé is set to expand the solution into other countries, benefitting thousands of micro, small and medium-sized enterprise across the region.

"Our solutions are designed with MSME retailers at the core so we can support rather than disrupt their businesses. We know while many of these enterprises are un-banked or under-banked, they would qualify for credit if they were. By using our technology and data, our partners can help MSMEs access credit responsibly," Vahid Monadjem, CEO and founder of Nomanini, said in a statement.

According to the International Finance Corporation, most retail transactions in Sub-Saharan Africa are cash-based and occur in informal channels.

Many retail MSMEs are therefore unable to create the digital footprint necessary to access the credit they need to keep their shelves stocked with high-quality items.

Additionally, many micro, small and medium-sized enterprises across Africa have been negatively affected by disrupted supply chains, inter-trade, as well as reduced consumer sales, which have resulted from coronavirus lockdown regulations.

"Being able to support the creation of wealthier and healthier communities by providing working capital to retail MSMEs is a real win for all," said Adrian Vermooten, chief innovation officer at the Standard Bank Group.

In August 2019, Standard Bank invested $4 million on Nomanini to use the platform to access informal retail data.

This made it possible for the bank to offer a mobile application which provides access to new lines of business, credit and savings services for millions of informal merchants across 14 African countries, all without having to set foot in a bank branch or leave their points of sale.