Victor Olojo: Entrepreneur driving Nigeria’s financial inclusion

Victor Tobi Olojo is the founder of Credit Me, a start-up mobile money payment system that facilitates financial inclusion across the country. Victor is also the national president of the Association of Mobile Agents in Nigeria (AMMAN).
He was inspired to establish Credit Me in 2012 out of his quest to deepen financial inclusion in rural communities.
“The inspiration to establish started from wanting to deepen financial inclusion rate in the country. Then, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had newly introduced mobile money, and we wanted to be part of it,” Victor said.

The International Relations graduate told Start-up Digest that the goal of his business is to help drive the financial inclusion targets of the country, stating that with it, 80 percent of the country’s population will be financially included.
“It is expected that in year 2020, 80 percent of the Nigerian population will be financially included in the formal financial sector and that is what Credit Me is trying to plug into,” the entrepreneur said.
“Currently, the formal financial system, as we have now, is unable to cater for all strata of the Nigerian population. We have people who are at the bottom of the pyramid. This set of people generally has no interest in formal banking system due to a number of reasons.
“To ensure that this set of people is included in the country’s financial system, mobile money and agency banking come in place,” he added.
Apart from deepening the country’s financial inclusion, Victor told Start-Up Digest that mobile money and agency banking also help in addressing the issue of congestion and delays in the banking system.
“An average bank’s Automated Teller Machine (ATM) point is so clogged by long queues and this really is not the idea behind the ATM. Ordinarily, ATM centres are supposed to be quick-stops for cash needs. With the advent of mobile money and agency banking channels, banking is brought closer to the people,” he said.
Victor was able to raise his initial start-up capital for his business from personal savings. The business, which was initially involved in telecoms/IT marketing, has grown massively since starting.
Answering questions on the challenges the business is facing, the International Relations graduate said that lack of trust from the public remains the major problem confronting his business.

“The core issue we experienced was the issue of trust, because mobile money and agency banking are relatively new in Nigeria and Nigerians are yet to fully understand the concept and how it works,” he said.
He stated that the business is addressing the issue of lack of trust by ensuring that all their transactions are done timely with effective and efficient customer care service delivery to guarantee customer satisfaction.
“All these are very important and doing them has helped us thrive in our business over the years,” he said.
He further stated that huge infrastructural gap in the country is another major problem confronting his business. He told Start-Up Digest that multiple taxes levelled on the business are also impacting negatively on it.

He urged the government to create more awareness about mobile money and its operation, stressing that Nigerians are yet to fully embrace it.
He also called on the government to bridge the huge infrastructural deficits in the country, stating that businesses can only survive when critical infrastructures are within their reach.
He stated that despite over 154 million mobile subscribers in the country, mobile money penetration in the country is still at a very slow rate due partly to infrastructural gaps in the system.
In his words: “Key infrastructures are important. The world is moving so fast. In other climes, there are higher bandwidths in terms of internet connectivity. As regards telecommunications, we are yet to get it right in Nigeria; we have dead spots, drop calls, poor data connection, all of these hamper the development of sub-sectors. More needs to be done about resolving these.”

“More banks operating in the country need to embrace mobile money and they also need to put a support structure in place to help small businesses that are willing to diversify into mobile money and agency banking,” Victor added.
Talking about business expansion, Victor said plans are underway to spread the business of ‘nano-finance’ product through the launch of the CreditMe Mobile app in couple of weeks.
According to him, the new app will help businesses spread their frontiers and break barriers.
Asked about his advice to other entrepreneurs, he said, “Put God first in everything. Then these three important things are essential for entrepreneurs to achieve success: character, competence and capacity.”
“These three things are very important and without them, you may not go far in business. Learn to equip yourself with the right and requisite knowledge,” she stated.

Josephine Okojie