The Lagos-based startup has moved beyond its roots in community lending to build a regulated financial ecosystem that connects Africa’s informal savings culture with formal banking infrastructure.

The rebrand comes with two key acquisitions, AjoMoney, a digital group-savings platform, and Zazzau Microfinance Bank, which now operates as Rank Microfinance Bank. 

The dual acquisition makes Rank one of the first Nigerian fintechs to merge social trust networks with a regulated framework, enabling it to offer savings, payments, and investment services to communities rather than individuals.

With a Central Bank of Nigeria Tier 2 microfinance licence, Rank can now accept deposits, disburse loans, and offer treasury-backed savings. The company has also integrated with the NIBSS Instant Payment system (NIP), allowing users to send and receive money in real time. 

“We can now go beyond savings to payments,” said Femi Iromini, CEO of Rank. “We can go into investing. And we are seeing the interests already.”

Rank’s first product, a high-yield group savings plan, leverages the power of trusted networks such as traders’ associations and cooperatives. 

In a pilot involving 10,000 participants, the platform delivered over ₦16 billion ($11.25 million) in payouts, with funds invested in treasury bills and money markets generating up to 23% annual returns. 

Participants contributed a minimum of ₦150,000 ($100) each, pooling resources through a system rooted in the familiar “ajo” and “esusu” models of collective savings.

The company’s rebrand from Moni to Rank also aims to digitise Africa’s centuries-old community finance systems and transform them into scalable, wealth-building tools. 

According to Iromini, Rank intends to build beyond savings and loans by introducing payments and investment products that serve the collective strength of communities. 

“We have done the experiment, and we learned a lot,” he said. “There is still more we can do with communities. For instance, we can create products around people being able to make payments together.”

The leadership teams of AjoMoney and Zazzau MFB have now joined Rank, bringing product depth and regulatory experience under one structure.

For Ibrahim Adepoju, CEO of AjoMoney, the partnership represents a natural evolution: “We modernised one of Africa’s oldest financial traditions, rotating savings and credit associations, and brought it into the digital era. Passing this vision to the Rank team is a natural next step.”

Similarly, Mohammed Usman, director at Zazzau Microfinance Bank, said, “The vision of a money app for communities is something that really excites us. We are happy to be part of this journey.”

Rank’s approach distinguishes it from older fintechs like Piggyvest and Cowrywise, which focus on individuals. Instead, Rank is betting on the collective, people who already trust one another and have long practised shared finance. 

“In reality, they are entrusting us with their money,” Iromini said. “Having the right backing when it comes to a license actually helps a lot with that.”

With over ₦67 billion ($46.62 million) in previous loan disbursements and a 96% repayment rate, Rank’s foundation in community trust is solid.

The post YC-Backed Moni Rebrands as Rank, Targets Africa’s Informal Finance with Licensed Banking Power appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

EFInA is a financial sector development organisation committed to promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria, with the vision of becoming the leader in facilitating an all-inclusive, growth-promoting financial system.

New Board Member, Kola Aina has been instrumental in advancing financial inclusion across Nigeria and Africa.

His venture capital firm’s investments in fintech companies, such as PiggyVest, have provided financial services to over 5 million underserved individuals, contributing to a 13.5% increase in financial inclusion in Nigeria.

In addition to financial inclusion, Aina and his team at Ventures Platform foster entrepreneurship, create jobs, optimise supply chains, and empower founders to develop market-creating innovations that address Africa’s complex challenges while accelerating digital transformation across the continent’s startup ecosystem.

Commenting on Aina’s pivotal role in the enhancement of financial innovation and access in the Nigeria tech ecosystem, Dr. Agnes Olatokunbo Martins, former Director at the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Chairman of the Board, said that Aina’s venture capital firm – Ventures Platform strategically invests in fintech innovations that can deepen financial inclusion across the continent and his appointment to the board is pleasant and strategically beneficial decision that the African financial sector will forever be grateful for.

“We are delighted to welcome Kola Aina to the EFInA Board. Kola has been a pivotal figure in the African tech ecosystem, funding financial innovations that align with our mission to promote income growth for the bottom 40% of the population and foster social and economic inclusion, as outlined in SDG 10 on Reducing Inequalities. Kola’s experience in entrepreneurship, mentorship, and backing fintech giants that have significantly improved financial inclusion will be invaluable as we strive to create a more inclusive financial sector,” Dr Martins said.

On his appointment, Aina said,

“I am thrilled to join the EFInA board. EFInA is a critical market enabler that has been a key driver of financial inclusion and a champion of the unbanked. The organisation’s reports and research have been credible sources of information for key stakeholders of the economy, and I’m proud to be part of a gathering of intellectuals that are committed to steering the nation’s approach to financial inclusion in the right direction. I look forward to working closely with my fellow board members and contributing to the achievement of our goal in Nigeria and across Africa. I remain committed to our collective ambition of promoting an inclusive financial sector that serves the excluded and underserved in Africa.”

A significant portion of Aina’s venture fund (37.5%) is currently dedicated to fintech companies, aiming to increase access to financial services, credit, and digital banking solutions for underserved populations. Through these investments, Aina and his team at Ventures Platform are bridging the financial inclusion gap and reducing inequalities.

Portfolio companies like PiggyVest, Moni, Traction App, and Shekel Mobility, currently backed by Ventures Platform, serve over 4.5 million users, providing increased access to savings accounts, capital, credit histories, and financial management tools primarily for underserved, unbanked, and underbanked individuals and entrepreneurs across Africa.

Kola Aina joins other distinguished EFInA board members, including Dr. Agnes Olatokunbo Martins, former Director at the Central Bank of Nigeria; Olu Akanmu, former President and Co-CEO of OPay-Nigeria; Professor Janice Olawoye, Professor of Rural Sociology, University of Ibadan; and Saude Amina Atoyebi, former Deputy Chief of Staff (Administration) in Kaduna State Government.

EFInA continues to collaborate with experts across the public and private sectors to promote financial inclusion in Nigeria.

The organisation is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The post Kola Aina Joins Olu Akanmu, Olatokunbo Martins, others on EFInA Board appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Across Africa and other emerging markets, community groups and associations play an important role in providing various essential services and protecting the interests of the collective.

They also facilitate accountability and self-governance that enables communities to function as effectively as possible.

Moni is pioneering a community finance model that builds on the importance of this form of group responsibility in African communities to improve access to essential financial services for small business owners across the continent.

According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), SMEs account for more than 90 percent of businesses and almost 80 percent of employment in Africa.

However, insufficient data and ineffective credit decisioning by traditional financial institutions have led to a $421 billion credit gap, with business owners unable to access the working capital they need to scale.

Moni has built a risk engine that combines financial data and business performance with social intelligence to enable more effective credit decisions for African SMEs.

Starting with Nigeria, small business owners with a good social reputation simply need to join a lending cluster with an invite from an existing Moni user and once eligibility has been confirmed, they can access financing in 5 minutes or less.

Once the loan is disbursed, the cluster shares responsibility for the loan, and members can access funds from an automated savings pot to bail out members if needed.

The Y Combinator-backed startup launched the pilot of its commcommunity-poweredns in August 2021 with 3,000 mobile money agents (more than 5,000 on the waiting list).

In 2022 alone, Moni disbursed more than $22 million in loans to more than 11,000 SMEs, with a 99 percent repayment rate.

The company is now building on the success of its community-powered model to deliver game game-changing financial services to a wider range of African SMEs who have previously been underserved by the traditional financial system.

According to Femi Iromini, CEO and co-founder of Moni, “Our community-powered business loans product is just one of the ways we are innovating around our unique context in Africa to make the most of what is already in place to deliver the financial services business owners need to create long long-lasting for themselves and their communities.

We have ample evidence to show that this approach works and we are excited to be bringing more businesses on board to drive the economic development we all want to see on the continent.”

The post Moni Announces Plans to Drive Growth for African SMEs Through Loans appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.