The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) inked an MoU with Bloc, a banking service and fintech infrastructure firm, to offer fintech to SMEs in Nigeria.
Ibrahim Mohammed, director of the agency's Corporate Affairs Division, stated, "Bloc, a FinTech infrastructure business with a PSSP license from the Central Bank of Nigeria, is well positioned to fulfill the duties of the collaboration." According to the statement, SMEDAN and Bloc created an automatic referral mechanism that enables SMEs to quickly access FinTech services that are favourable to their business model.
The system gives SMEs access to digital financial tools, social commerce platforms, financing services, digital banking services, and industry-specific supply chain solutions.
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What are they saying?
Mr Wale Fasanya, director-general and chief executive officer of SMEDAN, said the agency is committed to fostering the progress of SMEs in Nigeria with multiple interventions.
Additionally, he said FinTech can help in this mission by diversifying and extending their marketing and sales from purely digital channels to SMEDAN's confirmed database of diverse SMEs operating across multiple sectors and geographies in Nigeria.
He said, "We know that this partnership with Bloc and the platforms that will come after it will help the SMEs that work with us by making it easier for them to use the specialized services made by Nigeria's innovative fintech sector."
The CEO of SMEDAN continued, "We have over 4,000,000 registered FinTechs, and we are always thinking of ways to improve their existence." "Our success is measured by how much we can do for them, and we believe we have shown our own level of innovation by developing this platform with Bloc."
Furthermore, the platform created by SMEDAN and Bloc will enable some of these FinTechs to offer their excellent services to SMEs who would not have otherwise been aware of what they do, according to the business development officer of Bloc, Mr. Kingsley Ikart.
Also, he said the collaboration between his company and SMEDAN was advantageous for both parties because the SMEs can now take advantage of these innovations without exerting themselves or sacrificing the time they need to devote to running their companies.
Ikart said his company's relationship with SMEDAN was a win-win since SMEs can now benefit from innovations without sacrificing business time. Bloc provides bill payment, virtual accounts, and transfer APIs, with physical and virtual cards coming soon.
About Bloc and SMEDAN
Bloc is a FinTech infrastructure startup that offers APIs and tools to organizations that wish to implement digital financial services.
SMEDAN, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, is responsible for MSME development in Nigeria. It aims to establish a structured and efficient MSME sector to boost Nigeria's economic development.
Their objective is to help micro, small, and medium businesses and investors get the resources they need.
