5 Fintech Apps For SMEs 

Written by Onyinye Okonkwo 

Fintech, which is short for financial technology, is a sector in the financial industry that employs  the use of technology in proffering financial solutions and services to businesses and customers  alike.

The emergence of fintech and the importance of the services they render to startups are  numerous as before the advent of fintech, startups and small businesses found it very difficult  to meet the many criteria and demands traditional financial institutions made on businesses.

The fintech space in Nigeria is very vibrant and doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon as  more fintech companies keep springing up every day. So far, Nigeria currently has over 144  fintech companies operating in the country mostly in the payments and lending solutions, a  number many have argued may be too much or not providing enough solutions commensurate to  their number. 

Fintechs with business as their niche are very important to the ecosystem as they provide  businesses with extra services, more attainable requirements, and greater convenience as  everything is mobile and can be done from any location all at a lower cost thereby saving this  new business a ton of money while giving them more value than traditional financial institutions  can.  

Keeping the above in view, we will be looking at 5 fintech apps with a business niche helping  startups structure their businesses rightly. We will be looking at the fintech, their unique  features and products they offer and the benefits to both the business and the business owner.  

Check them out below: 

1. Nomba (formerly Kudi):

Nomba formerly known as Kudi recently rebranded due to brand

proximity to another fintech brand Kuda. Nomba is a fintech company that aims to simplify the  way businesses run their payments and operations systems. They provide tools that help willing  businesses thrive and even operate in more than one place. they recently added giving out POS  to their customers which is one sure way to help simplify payments in their business. some of the  services offered by Nomba includes; savings, loan services, bill payments, and other relevant  business tool and payment solutions for businesses to use both online and offline. 

ALSO READ: OPay, PalmPay, Kuda Excluded In FG’s Newly Approved Loan Apps (See Full List)

Nomba was Founded by Yinka Adewale and Pelumi Aboluwarin in 2017, to enable unbanked and  underbanked Nigerians to access basic financial services such as money transfers, bill payments  and cash withdrawals through its agent network. 

What users are saying about Nomba 

Emeka, March 29, 2022: Nice…I had issues with accessibility and I was able to reach their  customer care with one of the numbers in their welcome emails. They gave me a call back to  direct me on how to get the cashout option in some hidden place though. Kudos to the quick  response. It’s a nice app… I don’t give 5 stars normally. 

A Google User January 2, 2019: Great app but it is very disappointing that customer care support  response time is extremely poor when you have failed or pending transactions. AI cant be  everything, you need a human element once in a while. In a situation ever as great as you there is  no single phone number to call when issues arise, and when you send mail you get no response.  it is very very bad and this need to be improved as a matter of urgency.

2. Brass Business Banking:

Even though Brass is currently a seed company, it makes some bold  promises and has great offers that young businesses should take advantage of. Brass believes in  making economic prosperity possible for everyone and they intend to achieve this by providing  services, and solutions that “enable commerce and economic prosperity for African local  businesses.”

They do this by providing products that can help boost business activity by removing  inefficiencies and providing better performance and growth. some of the products they offer are: 

*fast financing when you need it 

* Elimination of needless charges 

* a team that cares about your business 

* A full-stack commercial account with the education and partnership needed to run your  business. 

Brass was founded by Emmanuel Okeke and Sola Akindolu in 2020. 

What users are saying:

Gbade Onaja, February 13, 2022: No complaints, all I can tell people is to get to know how to use  the app before they complain. You can’t buy a new product and not read the manual before use,  and expect not to have complaints? In short, try to work your way around the app before you  discourage others. 

Qudusayo, September 21, 2021: It’s fine, but a little glitch I got is to log in every time I come to  the app. It’ll be fine if the app caches my info and login always, but can only require a pin or Auth  code anytime I come for it. That’s the general feature going on nowadays. Fix this and I’ll  complete the 

3. OZÉ:

“Oze means business and the growth of it”. if you are a business owner then you may  want to look into OZÉ, a business app which helps you with your data and information needs and  much more.

They help small businesses with the data they need to make decisions, improving  readiness for investment and a chance for small businesses to operate on a global stage.

OZÉ offers some nice products that business owners will find very useful such as : 

* They provide a mobile ledger book where you can enter each sale, transaction or expense the  business makes. real-time access to the health and performance of your business and even your  cash balance. 

* keeps track of credits and debtors’ records and even sends reminders when payment is due. 

* one of their best features is the business coach feature which grants you access to ask  questions and receive answers from the coach in real-time. 

OZÉ was founded by Meaghan McCormick and Dave Emmet in 2017. 

What users are saying: 

Shalom Magboma: Just downloaded the application and it has been fun for the first 4 minutes on  receipt transactions and great business tips for increasing sales and uniquely marketing my  business. I like the application and am going to give it a try. 

Kofi Tandoh: This app is very powerful and helpful, now I can track all my finances both In and  Out, and it alerts me when I’m spending too much. Thank you very much.

4. Egoras:

Egoras is a fintech loan company which aims to help small and medium businesses  access loans by addressing issues like high-interest rates facing the microfinance sector. The  company issues loans directly to borrowers, making funds to run their business available to  business owners who are unable to secure loans from financial institutions due to high-interest  rates or numerous requirements that small and medium enterprises often are unable to meet.

The Egoras system is unique because according to Crunchbase, “it is a decentralized  cryptocurrency stabilized against the value of the US dollar. It uses Egoras loan governance to  respond to changing market conditions. Unlike other popular stable coins whose value is backed 

directly by USD, it’s backed by crypto collaterals.” 

Small business owners who are unable to secure a loan from traditional banks can always  consider this option in securing funding for their business. 

Egoras was founded by Ugorji Harry and Isdore Ozuo in 2019.

5. KIPPA:

Kippa is a bookkeeping and accounting software specifically built for Nigerian small  businesses to use in accounting, record keeping, sending receipts and invoices online, and many  more. Kippa aims to empower small businesses with easy-to-use accounting software on the go, right in the palm of their hands. 

with Kippa, you can do away with the time-wasting exercise of manually recording in a book and  make use of this software which is 100% free and very easy to use. This is especially useful for  online vendors and those who run mobile businesses, as you can automatically generate receipts  and invoices anywhere you are just by using the software. 

kippa app brings local businesses into the modern way of doing business and keeping records  dispensing with the use of heavy old ledgers that can record errors or even be destroyed by  natural disasters such as rain, fire, or flood. 

Kippa offers some products small businesses will find useful such as: 

* Payments: receive money from anywhere, pay necessary bills and send money. * invoices: save time and get paid easily by providing invoices to your customers on the go. 

* Bookkeeping: manage your expenses and track your sales using Kippa. It also allows you to  accurately monitor your inventory. 

kippa was founded by Joseph Ekezie, Duke Ekezie and Jephthah Uche in 2021. What are users saying: 

Abubakr Aishat: appreciate the work the team that built this app has done. For someone with  zero knowledge of bookkeeping or accounting, the Kippa app has made keeping records and  business transactions so clear and easy for me. The only thing is that maybe due to the network, I  won’t be able to record a transaction except after a few minutes which I may forget to record  later. Otherwise, it’s a 5-star from me. 

SOREX NIGERIA: This is a very good app for small businesses. I appreciate the thoughts that went  into its design and development. Please I will like to see the following improvements on the app:  1. In addition to the current units for measuring ‘services’, also include other units such as those  used for ‘goods’ (bags, kg, etc). Some services involve the processing of goods, and these units  will be very useful for their measurements. 2. There is a need for users to be able to record and  retrieve customer details at will without necessarily entering a transaction. 3. There is also a need 

for users to be able to exclusively view the transaction history of specific customers as well as  disaggregate such history for different timeframes or calendar periods. 4. Finally, it appears that  transactions recorded under ‘debt’ cannot be retrieved and updated. If so, this should be looked  into. 

Verdict 

The five apps listed above are apps we believe that small business owners can make use of other  products offered by these apps to improve their business operation and make the day-to-day  running of their business seamless and generally more productive. 

We suggest that business owners carry out their research and decide which of the apps best  provides a solution for the current need of their business. Most of these apps have a list of  products they offer, it is then up to the business owner, who knows the unique needs of the  business to choose the app which best provides the solution they need. 

We however recommend the OZÉ business coach feature available on the OZE app to every small  business owner as they would need to get expert business advice from time to time. Although  this feature is pay-to-access, we believe it is affordable and the coaching available is something  most small business owners do not ordinarily have access to. Getting this coaching which can  come daily or weekly, with the option of asking the coach questions whenever you have any, may  give small business owners a much-needed edge in keeping their business afloat in these  economic uncertain times.