Kippa, a financial technology startup based in Nigeria, announced today that the Central Bank of Nigeria had granted it a Super-Agent banking license. This is a significant step toward the company’s goal of making it simple for anyone to launch and manage successful small businesses anywhere in Africa.
What does the term “super-agent” imply?
This corporately licenced entity empowered to conduct certain banking activities within the community is known as a “Super-Agent.” These activities include cash deposits and withdrawals, payment of bills (utilities, taxes, tenement rates, subscriptions, etc.); cash disbursement, cash repayment of loans, and other similar financial transactions. This licence was granted by the governing body in Nigeria so that more organisations that aren’t financial institutions can offer services that help people get into the financial system.
Kippa’s aim for carrying out this motive
It’s not too much of a stretch to think that Kippa’s purchase of this licence is a step toward becoming a neobank since several African fintech companies, like Fairmoney, Eversend, and Branch, have become neobanks in the past two years.
However, Ekezie does not believe that Kippa will take that path, at least not soon. According to Ekezie, “We most certainly would not use the word neobank to describe what we are attempting to do.” [citation needed] “In my experience, what companies are looking for is not a new investment opportunity,” the author says. Businesses are looking for opportunities, tools, and financial support when it comes to sustainable and profitable growth. With this in mind, we work hard to keep giving them solutions that will help them achieve their goals.
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Kippa provides services to merchants in all 36 states of Nigeria. Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Kano are some of the top five states with the most merchants.
This year, the company has also made some big changes, such as hiring Osagie Alonge as its Director of Marketing. Alonge formerly served as the marketing lead for both TeamApt and Opay.
Also, the company hired Toyin Albert, a former Chief Growth Officer at ITEX Integrated Services, to be the head of its Payment Services and Niyi Ajao, a former Deputy Managing Director of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), to be the chairman of the company’s board of directors.
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Enhancing Financial Innovation Access (EFInA) just put out a survey that says there are more than 50 million small businesses all over Nigeria. Kippa is one of several new companies that are in the process of developing tools and solutions for these smaller companies. Ekezie said that the company’s software-first approach makes it stand out in the market even though all other companies in the space seem to offer similar products and services.
“We believe that the company that works out, at the appropriate nanoscale scale, how to construct for and serve these enterprises in a way that is profitable over time is going to be the one that emerges victorious in this market.” That is the goal that we are aiming for, Ekezie explained.
The Foundation of Kippa
Kippa was first made as a financial management app, and it came out in June 2021. Small business owners can use the app to monitor how their businesses are doing over time, make invoices and receipts, manage their inventory, and keep track of their daily income and expenses.
“What this license does is that it allows us to truly empower all of our customers with tools and infrastructure, not just to accept payments but to start offering financial services to their end customers,” Ekezie said. “What this license does is that it allows us to empower all of our customers with tools and infrastructure, not just to accept payments.” “It provides us the opportunity to implement integration with the national switches and enables us to provide a business-to-business platform and services to other fintechs,” said the company.
About Kippa
For small African enterprises, Kippa is the one-stop shop for managing their finances. They made a simple accounting and banking service for small businesses, which gave African retailers their first chance to join the digital economy.