At the same time, households and businesses are still searching for reliable technicians, and we’re seeing calls, referrals, and a lack of assurance.

In this interview, Ikechi Adolphus, CEO of Fixr speaks about the gap he and his co-founder, Olamide Akingbe, set out to close, explaining how a largely informal system left both customers and technicians exposed, and why trust became the centre of their model. 

Pointing to a shift already underway, unreliable power supply and high prices, more Nigerians are turning to solar, and that demand is feeding directly into their growth.

Fixr says it processed over ₦3 billion in transactions in the past year and helped customers secure more than ₦1 billion in financing for solar systems. This has changed how people find and pay for engineering services.

In this discussion, we focus on what is broken in the system, what it takes to build structure in a fragmented market, and why the company believes Nigerian technicians can compete far beyond the country’s borders.

TE: What gap in the engineering services market first made you think there was room for a platform like Fixr?

Ikechi Adolphus (IA): In many ways, we built Fixr for ourselves. Like many Nigerians, we have witnessed the difficulties that come with trying to hire a technician in Nigeria. But we also looked at where the market was going. Today, it’s a bit tougher to get skilled technicians for jobs in Nigeria. 

Beyond Nigeria, the demand for blue-collar workers is also growing in most countries in the West. Here in Nigeria, there’s a large, young populace in need of work and we believe that not only can we help to fix the quality issue that comes with hiring technicians, but we can also help to provide jobs both in Nigeria and outside the continent.

TE: Before Fixr, how were most households and businesses in Nigeria finding and hiring engineers, and what problems did that system create?

IA: Finding and hiring engineers before Fixr has mostly been through referrals and personal networks. You move into a new location, and you ask people who already live there for recommendations, or you ask friends and family for recommendations. Considering that the industry is mostly informal, there is a lack of proper vetting of both the skills and work ethics of the engineer. 

As a result, the person paying for the services is left to vet and filter the bad from the good technicians, which is not efficient. Sometimes, you find someone who is a great fit, and other times, you don’t. Technicians are also limited by geography and their marketing skills, which could cause them to use substandard and low-quality materials in some cases in order to maximise earnings from each gig. 

There is also no structured personal development plan for these technicians, making growth difficult and near impossible.

TE: Fixr processed over ₦3 billion in GMV in the past year. What do you think is driving that level of demand?

IA: Market reorientation generally and trust. Solar and renewable energy were big drivers for the sales, and that is because customers are moving from complete dependence on the grid to a more sustainable and predictable source of electricity (solar). Even though it’s expensive, Fixr, through its partners, is making it affordable to access and acquire. 

This market reorientation makes it easy to close customers and drive growth. Given our standard, we have many customers trusting us for their other appliances and engineering needs, particularly in the HVAC category, surveillance and CCTV, fibre optics and home automation.

TE: Trust is a major concern when people hire technicians. How does Fixr ensure customers feel confident about the people coming into their homes or workplaces?

IA: Effective communication. People don’t really trust technicians; they trust us, Fixr. That is because, from when we establish communication to getting the job done, we maintain effective communication. We do this to ensure they trust that we will get the best technicians. They trust that we’ve done due diligence on the technicians; they trust our technicians are well-behaved and well-mannered. 

When there are delays or unexpected challenges, we communicate to the client. We also back that up with the Fixr trust and warranty to ensure customers are indemnified for any issues that come up. Customers know our technicians won’t fix their appliance with substandard materials or damage it further.

TE: You’ve helped customers access more than ₦1 billion in financing to switch to solar. What does that say about how quickly demand for alternative energy is growing?

IA: Over the past two years in Nigeria, the cost of grid electricity has risen sharply, alongside fuel and diesel prices. Despite these increases, power supply has not become more reliable, forcing individuals and businesses to seek alternatives.

For businesses in particular, where energy is a major cost centre, reducing that expense becomes critical.

Renewable energy is emerging as a credible option, not necessarily because it is cheaper upfront, but because it offers predictability. In an environment defined by uncertainty, that predictability is highly valuable.

TE: You’re expanding into other African markets. What differences have you noticed so far in how engineering services operate across the continent?

IA: Other African markets still suffer from the same inefficiency, and so the problems are identical. The difference is the purchasing power. In other markets, customers can pay 30% or 40% more than in the Nigerian market. Given that the skill set is the same and the opportunities are relatively similar, and given the cost of execution and potential opportunity, it makes sense to enter these other markets. 

The Nigerian market gives us the opportunity to iterate and build scalable solutions with minimal overhead cost. Applying the solutions to other markets gives us the opportunity to reduce our operational risk by diversifying revenue sources.

TE: Building reliable service infrastructure across several sectors isn’t simple. What has been the hardest part of scaling Fixr?

IA: The reality is that you have to build almost everything you need yourself or find a way to adapt what exists to fit your goals. The supporting infrastructure simply isn’t there. Markets, for instance, are largely driven by individuals and small businesses, while the manufacturing of key components often happens outside those markets. 

Technical skills development is mostly handled by government institutions that tend to be inefficient, and the responsibility for training frequently falls on individuals who may not have the capacity to do it effectively.

As a result, there’s no cohesive ecosystem, no network of builders, specialists, and institutions working toward shared goals in a way that compounds value and strengthens the market.

TE: You’ve said the long-term goal is to compete globally. What would a globally competitive engineering services platform built from Africa look like in practice?

IA: In a world where electrical technicians are as exceptional as LeBron James, Fixr becomes the NBA – the platform that unlocks their full potential. We want to enable technicians to work from anywhere in the world, with clear pathways for where and how they can operate, the skills they need, and the standards they must meet. 

Equipped with the right tools, training, and mindset, they are no longer limited by geography, access, or gaps in knowledge but empowered to perform at the highest level wherever they are.

Smartphone penetration has gone beyond 60%, digital payments have become a daily reflex, and the informal economy, long treated as invisible, now moves billions through phone screens never worth more than a mid-range Android.

And into this jumbled but opportunity-ripe market steps Credlock, a company working to change how Africans access credit by turning the smartphone into collateral. What looks like a small technological shift is, in truth, a structural challenge to decades of exclusion.

Credlock is solving this challenge by providing credit for people who have income, but no collateral. Nigerians who earn every single day but cannot afford a lot of necessities. Retail workers who never qualify for formal loans. POS agents who keep communities afloat but cannot borrow ₦20,000 without risking harassment. Traders who are forced to sell the very phone they use for business simply to raise short-term cash.

Speaking during an interview with Techeconomy, Temidayo Fabayo, the co-founder and CEO, explained, “The smartphone is now the most universal asset in Africa. It is valuable, it is portable, it is enforceable, and it is widespread.” 

And because of that, he argues, the continent finally has a form of collateral that ordinary people actually possess.

A Market Ripe for Reinvention

Fabayo elaborated that this moment did not arrive by accident. “There are basically a number of ingredients that are needed to make smartphone-backed credit work. Over the last few years, those ingredients have aligned,” he explained. 

Smartphones are now ubiquitous even among informal workers. Mobile devices have become identity tools, work devices, payment gateways and lifelines. Nigerians are accustomed to structured repayments; from airtime loans to Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). And, importantly, the device itself is enforceable.

It means a mechanic in Ibadan with no credit history can now walk into a Credlock merchant’s shop, value a device he already owns, and access three-to-six-month credit at rates far below the punitive 30-day digital-loan cycle.

The point, Fabayo says, is affordability.
In his words: “The cost of credit drops significantly… in many cases, customers pay up to three times less than what some of the cheapest digital lenders currently charge.”

From Used Phones to a Credit Infrastructure

Credlock did not begin as a lending business.
Years ago, the founders built Fairshop, a platform designed to digitise Nigeria’s used-mobile-phone market. What they observed changed everything.

People were not only selling old phones, they were also selling good phones simply to meet tiny cash needs.

Fabayo recalls it vividly: “We had people who… needed just ₦10,000 to pay a medical bill or ₦15,000 to get out of a last-mile emergency. They would offer to sell their phones because they had no other sources of cash.” 

From this came an idea: instead of letting people liquidate their phones, why not let the phones stand as collateral?

The decision unlocked an entire lending model.

With more than 1,500 merchants across 33 states, Credlock already had a nationwide distribution network from its device-finance operations. Those merchants became instant origination points for smartphone-backed microloans, an agentless model that removed the need for the expensive armies of field agents used by competitors.

“We are the first agentless model in Africa… We do not import devices or manage inventory. Our platform allows merchants to retail any phone using credit,” Fabayo broke it down.

This is one of Credlock’s biggest advantages: the company sits inside existing market behaviour rather than trying to replace it.

Who Borrows; and Why They Pay

Credlock’s typical customer is anyone the banks do not fully see: traders, artisans, junior civil servants, POS operators, delivery riders, and gig workers. People with cash flow but no formal collateral.

Loan sizes range from ₦10,000 to ₦50,000, increasing with repayment discipline.

Essentially, repayment behaviour has been strong.
“The smartphone is essential to daily life,” Fabayo says, explaining why borrowers are motivated to pay. 

Instead of punitive one-month cycles, Credlock offers longer tenures. Borrowers can restructure. Harassment is not part of the model.

And over time, repeat borrowing has surged, driven by word-of-mouth from satisfied customers who realise that cheaper credit is finally possible.

Fabayo says “In the 18 months that we’ve been in operation, we’ve seen our NPL rates at low single digits, less than 5%.” 

It is an outcome built from deterrence, fairness and the psychological weight of losing one’s smartphone, an asset far more important to life than many lenders appreciate.

The Technology Under the Innovation

Credlock’s system rests on three layers:

1. Collateral Scoring: AI-enabled evaluation of a device’s model, condition and diagnostics, including battery health.
2. Device Collateral System: a secure Android-based digital lien (a technology-based claim or lock placed on a device, usually a smartphone, that acts as collateral for a loan) that acts as a deterrent without intruding on private data.
   Fabayo stressed that “It’s not intrusive, and we combine it with the ability to manage the entire loan lifecycle.”
   Merchant & API Infrastructure: technology that links merchants, lenders, OEMs and financial institutions into a single credit-delivery engine.

The long-term vision is bigger than lending. “We are not a loan app with a feature. We are a credit infrastructure layer.” 

It is a goal to become the trust layer for Africa’s emerging collateralised-microcredit market.

Funding, CREDICORP/eFinance and the Growth

Smartphone-backed credit is capital-intensive, so Credlock’s growth has required debt partnerships. This includes a facility under CREDICORP/eFinance’s SCALE initiative, which supports borrowers needing between ₦10,000 and ₦120,000.

Fabayo explained, “We can’t do it by ourselves, what we are building is a trust layer for the lending ecosystem.” 

The company is also in conversations with additional lenders and has begun preliminary talks toward a seed round to strengthen infrastructure and expand across Africa.

The Coming Leap: Smartphone-Backed Credit Cards

Another commendable initiative is underway: a credit card secured by the user’s smartphone.

Why a card?
Because cards are used for everyday spending including food, emergencies, and working capital for micro-businesses, allowing differentiated pricing.

Fabayo explains the logic, “If you are extracting cash, it’s at a higher cost. If you are using your card to pay for food, it’s at a lower cost.” 

This is a product that completely enhances how the informal economy should interact with financial tools.

Credlock is strengthening its presence through merchants in urban and peri-urban centres while preparing entry into Ghana, whose smartphone and credit behaviours are similar to Nigeria’s. The company intends to expand to more African markets where the smartphone is emerging as both a tool and a financial identity.

A Future Where Credit Begins with a Phone

Fabayo sees a continental change already taking shape.
“We see a future where device collateralised credit becomes the on-ramp for people into the broader credit ecosystem.” 

If Credlock succeeds, millions of Africans will build their financial history through devices they use every hour of the day, not through collateral they do not own.

Credit will no longer be tied to land titles or other properties. In Africa, where people sell their phones to solve tomorrow’s problems, that might be exactly what we have been waiting for.