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Technology | Fintech

Enabling Access to Finance is One of Carbon's Biggest Achievements - Founders

Sep 27, 2022   •   by   •   Source: Carbon Finance   •   eye-icon 353 views

The emergence of fintechs, otherwise known as digital banks, in recent years, has changed the dynamics of banking. Traditional banks had no option but to embrace technology and innovate because fintechs were disrupting the market. 

 

While traditional banks deserve some accolades for digitizing some of their operations, they are still trailing in the aspect of making finance (loans) accessible to customers. The processes involved in accessing a loan from deposit banks are time-consuming and almost impossible. 

 

However, leading digital bank - Carbon, which has been in operation for the past 10 years, has been on the front burner, disrupting and innovating its offerings to Nigerians. 

 

Accessing Loans from Carbon

Carbon's major goal is to empower all people with financial access. Its loan process is designed to fit customers' needs with a low-interest rate.

 

As a digital lender, it issues funds in an unsecured loan based solely on the borrower's creditworthiness and promises to repay.

 

"Access to finance is one of our biggest achievements in the last 10 years," Chijioke Dozie, Co-founder & CEO of Carbon, said.

 

"If you ask a 22-year-old on the street right now where she can get financing, she will probably know and rattle off a list of all the fintech companies that will give her a loan. Ten years ago, that was not the case

 

Chijioke argued that people who were gainfully employed couldn't get access to finance at the touch of a button 10 years ago. 

 

Deposit banks do not believe Nigerians are credit-worthy, but Carbon has assessed about 4 to 5 million people for loans, and Nigerians are paying back. 

 

"I think the fact that we've been lending for 10 years is a testimony that Nigerians do pay back if you have good credit processes in place.

 

We've shown other financial institutions, especially banks, that Nigerians are creditworthy because, you know, we just felt that the situation where banks will take your money, take your salary, keep it and won't even give you a basic loan is not right. 

 

"So they trust you enough to take your money, but they don't trust you enough to give you a loan. We thought that was unacceptable”.  

 

 

“When carbon started, we were giving money to people who had never banked with us. We were the ones giving them the money, not them," he said.

 

Other digital banks give loans to customers, but a striking difference is that Carbon does not send unsolicited messages to the contacts of defaulters—a phenomenon that has been described as an invasion of privacy. 

 

"One of our legacies is the ease with which people access funding todayThat is one of our legacies, we made it accessible

 

 

Focus & Value Propositions

Being customer-centric is a journey we are on, and we are making sure that all products and services are specifically tailored towards satisfying our customers, Chijioke said. 

 

"I think for us, you know, we want to distinguish ourselves by being customer-centric, and that's a long journey. I don't think any company can say that they have achieved customer centricity. So, for us, it's a focus."

 

Ngozi Dozie, Co-founder & Managing Director at Carbon, believes that there is no traditional bank that offers the types of customer-centric packages that Carbon Digital Bank provides to customers. 

 

"Every month, every account holder at Carbon gets an interest. With Carbon, there is no management fee; there is no fee for anything.

 

Unlike in other banks, where customers are debited at the end of the month, here every customer is getting their credit. 

 

According to Dozie, Carbon is doing several things in terms of innovation that put it ahead of its current banking competitors and is poised to do more. 

 

"When we started, they said customers were never going to pay back. We proved them wrong. They said we couldn't give loans to customers. They said we couldn't offer a free payment plan. We proved them wrong. Carbon is constantly looking to push the barriers and make sure that it's all about the customers”. 

 

If you've banked with any of our competitor banks for X years, and they can't give you an unsecured loan or a free account, then we think something's wrong."

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