Ekechi Nwokah, CEO of Migo, a micro-credit platform for the underserved consumers, has been selected into Endeavor Network of entrepreneurs.
The move will see the Migo CEO access local and international business mentors, investors, and volunteers from Fortune 500 consulting firms who will help them address key needs.
Endeavor Entrepreneurs have had a significant track record of impact. Endeavor Entrepreneurs have created 3 million jobs, generated $20 billion in revenue in 2018, and help build sustainable growth models in their home countries.
Migo partners with banks, mobile operators, retailers and payment processors in emerging markets to provide credit to its end users.
The firm leverages the data sets of its partners to originate, underwrite and distribute loans to their customers, significantly reducing the cost of delivering liquidity to lower income segments. The customers can use this credit line to make purchases from a merchant or withdraw cash without the need for point-of-sale hardware or plastic cards.
Migo (formerly Mines.io), recently completed a Series B equity round of $20 million led by Valor Capital Group, a Brazil-focused venture capital firm.
The firm said it will use the financing to support talent acquisition, launch into the Brazilian market and fuel its continued growth in Nigeria.
In August, Migo closed a $13 million Series A round led by The Rise Fund, TPG, Velocity Capital among others for its cloud-based platform that enables companies to offer credit to their customers, augmenting traditional bank and payment card infrastructure.
“Our mission is to drive commerce around the world by injecting liquidity into the last-mile retail sector,” explains Migo CEO, Ekechi Nwokah. “We believe the best way to achieve this goal is to build digital infrastructure to empower local enterprises that already serve millions of consumers and small businesses.”
Companies like banks, telecommunications operators and merchants integrate Migo in their apps and Migo underwrites customers to provide them with a digital account and credit line.
The customers can use this credit line to make purchases from a merchant or withdraw cash without the need for point-of-sale hardware or plastic cards. Migo serves underbanked customers who are not typically covered by credit bureaus, having underwritten more than seven million of these customers to date. An estimated 90 million adults in Nigeria and 100 million adults in Brazil have no access to credit, and this is a massive area of untapped growth for emerging market banking ecosystems.
Migo offers a simple API so its partners can offer co-branded credit services in their own apps and websites, increasing customer engagement and serving customer segments they were not previously able to serve. Migo is particularly attractive for merchants and payment gateways since it can grow merchant revenue due to increased customer purchasing power and transaction completion rate.
