Through Herconomy, women can now increase their access to finance, capacity, and opportunities.
The startup’s funding story rocked the tech industry in 2019 after Ife Durosimi-Instagram posted her SaaS solution, which gave women access to career prospects and discounts from retailers. As a result, the community-based startup raised $600,000 within 24 hours.
The startup is currently making another significant move by changing its business model and product to become a fintech startup. Well, this is not new because we know that the inventor of Herconomy, Durosimi-Etti, is accustomed to changing. She moved from running a furniture business to raising a startup promoting women’s success.
Durosimi-Etti has bigger plans for the company than just connecting women to opportunities. She has always hoped that Herconomy will serve as a catalyst for women’s socioeconomic independence by actively assisting them in increasing their wealth, managing their money, and gaining access to capital for their enterprises.
Only 33% of women in Nigeria have bank accounts, which keeps them out of the realm of digital services and wealth-generating potential. Durosimi-Etti believes Herconomy has what it takes to meet the great task of banking the unbanked. A mobile savings software that enables women to save and earn up to 10% yearly interest has been released by the community-turned-fintech Herconomy.
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Objectives Of Herconomy
Speaking on the purpose and impact of Herconomy, Lasisi, who serves as Herconomy’s CTO, said: “Our mission is to empower women in Nigeria and beyond to be financially independent, thereby contributing to the socioeconomic development of their ecosystem. This is in line with our vision to empower one million women by the year 2025.”
To make women more financially dependent, the company has launched the Each Woman Bring One campaign to help realize this goal. Through the campaign, women are financially rewarded for convincing at least one person in their social network to download the Herconomy mobile app and begin saving.
When users download the app by Herconomy, they can choose either of the two savings plans: Vault and Float. These two saving plans offer different interest rates but are very reliable. Another fascinating thing about this app is that it offers a Save as You Spend function that allows users to place orders and receive discounts of roughly 30% on a selection of goods and services.
In the future, Herconomy intends to push past its cooperative license in the coming months to obtain a microfinance bank (MFB) license, allowing it to further its primary financial inclusion mission. Moreover, it intends to open tier 1 accounts for women without bank verification numbers and assist them in gaining access to all the benefits of the Herconomy app.
One of the company’s main goals is to offer credit to customers. According to the company’s associate product manager, Opral Ogbuigwe, Herconomy will begin offering credit in 2023.
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Challenges Faced By Herconomy
When discussing the difficulties the business encountered while developing this product, Durosimi-Etti emphasized the difficulty in hiring qualified personnel. Finding the right talent turned out to be a challenge in and of itself, as thousands of Nigerian talent took remote jobs or moved to the diaspora to work. Nevertheless, she has assembled a team of 31, and more than half are women.
However, the company has risen above such challenges and is focused on building a future in which women are given and enjoy the same opportunities given to men. The business takes pride in how the gender balance of its personnel represents the society for which Herconomy strives.
Herconomy is putting its money on women with this venture and demonstrating that, even in Nigeria’s most crowded digital industry, startups with social capital can stand out and have an impact with their revolutionary technology.
It has partnered with Providus Bank and also with AXA Mansard insurance company which secures its clients’ money.
It is good to note that Herconomy is community- and women-driven. Men are not prohibited from participating in these activities or from using the savings app; it is just that the startup prioritizes women when making decisions.