Through our Agency Banking product – Moniepoint, we process roughly $3.339 billion in transactions monthly. By virtue of our extended agency network of over 100,000 agents across the nation, we serve 14 million unique customers monthly, well above the numbers of other industry players. .”– Tosin Eniolorunda, CEO and Founder, TeamApt

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 350 million individuals do not have direct access to basic financial services such as bill payments, lending, and savings. In Nigeria, a country with a population of 200 million, only 40 million Nigerians have a bank account. The unbanked Nigerians who live primarily in rural areas although economically active do not have bank accounts, and typically live far from bank branches or ATMs. Statistics show that there are 17 ATMs per 100,000 adults and when an ATM is eventually accessible, they are not quick to dispense, they are often out of cash, and in other cases, the machines do not work for a few days. These individuals, therefore, resort to using informal, riskier, and expensive service providers to conduct basic financial services such as P2P digital payment, savings, and bill payments.

This is where TeamApt comes in. Founded by Tosin Eniolorunda in 2015, TeamApt provides digital, financial, and banking services to underserved consumers and entrepreneurs using an offline distribution network of agents. Although late entrants into the Fintech space, TeamApt has recorded impressive gains in the use of agency banking business model. With an extensive network of 100,000 agents across the nation. This expansive network has allowed them to effectively contribute to reaching the unbanked, further driving the CBN’s vision for financial inclusion. Readily identified by their signature Blue POS terminals and applauded for remarkable service, the firm has recorded massive adoption in the Northern region of Nigeria where most banks have poor branch penetration. Customers often insist on using the blue terminals when they want to process their POS transactions. 

It is remarkable to mention that Team Apt provides services to other financial technology companies, making it an integral part of the success story of other financial institutions or companies. The company’s business operations have led to an uptick in the patronage of agency services and have resulted in traditional banking institutions recognizing the latent value in the agency banking model. One major convenience the agency banking model affords is a reduced overhead cost as opposed to owning landed property and other operational costs. What is even more remarkable is that the brand has achieved all these in just two years.

In this exclusive interview, Mr. Tosin Eniolorunda, speaks on the choice of the agency banking model, financial inclusion, and the firm’s plans for expansion across Africa.

Tosin Eniolorunda, CEO, TeamApt

Ventures Africa (VA): What unique features do your products offer that you believe has led to the growth of your business?

Tosin: Our history as a company is in building financial services for banks. Between 2015 and 2019, we were a premier software house, essentially, a digital banking software house for most financial institutions. In that time, we gained a deep understanding of the market and the ecosystem. We could then tailor solutions to the needs and wants of the market, in terms of functionality, relevance, and in terms of features that solve everyday problems. It is this same knowledge that enabled us to build a reliable infrastructure that our clients and agents have come to trust. Our infrastructure is thus a major feature that has led to business growth. We equally understand how important it is to give customers a satisfying experience and we designed our systems and services to provide that functionality and satisfaction. Another feature would be the switching license which we acquired, it has caused us to serve our customers better and sets us apart from competitors. Again, we leverage resources in the formal and informal sectors to ensure that our clients, agents, and customers get the best digital banking experience. 

VA: You started out building the enterprise structure of banks. How has the strong tech skills of your team influenced your growth so far?

Tosin: We are a technology company and it’s only natural that we have a strong tech team. Again, you can get some insight from our background. We have built software and systems that commercials banks rely on. A couple of tier-one banks use the infrastructure that we designed for their settlements and reconciliations. This tech team come from an experienced background and are led by a CTO that not only has the technical skills but also understands the industry. This industry experience allows us to build scalable, secure, and reliable software. We also leverage our knowledge in identifying fraud patterns, product development and software engineering that keep us a step ahead of other players. 

As an organization, be it the Tech team, Growth and Operations, Marketing, HR, or Customer Services, we understand the importance of providing a functional and reliable product and this is what we focus on, this is what drives customer interest and by extension the growth of TeamApt.

L-R: Chinaza Emenike(HR Mgr), Felix Ike (CTO), Tobi Amira (COO)

VA: You mentioned fraud points earlier, can you tell us about one of such fraud points?

Tosin: A common fraud point in other countries is that cards are cloned quite often. Our cards in Nigeria are chip and pin enabled. As such, they cannot be cloned. The only way to access a person’s funds is to get physical access to the card. The most common pattern is when friends make withdrawals without approval or forced withdrawals.

VA: With a focus on agency banking, what is your share of the market? How are you performing in comparison to competitors?

Tosin: According to Shared Network Expansion Facilities, an initiative of the CBN (SANEF), Moniepoint, our agency banking solution owns roughly 74 per cent of the market. We process roughly $3.339 billion in transactions monthly. We also do better than our competitors by virtue of our extended agency network, with 100,000 agents distributed across the nation, allowing us to serve 14 million unique customers monthly. We have complete coverage and an even distribution across the country. Generally, agency clusters around where we trade is a natural concentration. We are also present in every local government in the country, hence the massive reach that we have.

VA: In the fintech space, people speak extensively about the value and volume of transactions processed. Do you mind sharing major company figures, and explain how it compares to others in the market?

Tosin: Moniepoint processes over 60 million transactions monthly.  In the year 2020, we processed a monthly average of $3.1b worth of transactions, over 30 percent higher than other key market players.  In the last twelve months, we have processed over $19.6b worth of transactions. If we include another aspect of our business, Monnify which is our payment gateway, we process an average of $1.6 trillion transactions. Comparing that with key players in the Fintech space, our competitors have recorded transactions less than half our transaction values in total.

VA: Moniepoint is a household name in Nigeria’s agency banking industry. We are aware that the product was launched in 2019, how did it rapidly scale up in such a short period? 

Tosin: Since June 2019 when Moniepoint was launched, we have had a month on month growth. 

Moniepoint terminal

VA: According to data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), in 2020, Nigerian merchants and mobile money operators processed over 655 million POS (Point of Sale) transactions valued at ₦4.7 trillion ($13 billion). What are your thoughts projecting the growth of terminal transactions in Nigeria?

Tosin: I think Point of Sale (POS) transactions have a good lifespan in the country. Nigeria has gained momentum in the use of cards (POS) for transactions. The average way a Nigerian thinks of getting cash is from an ATM or POS terminal. We also send money to people through transfers. There are other means of making and accepting payments such as QR codes, but the average Nigerian is quite comfortable using their cards. There are challenges such as debits and reversals, the expense of card transactions and management for the operators. But ultimately, it is what the customers want that we provide. Customers are generally choosing to use cards, so we are leveraging technology to provide just that, seamless options for using cards whether in the urban areas or underserved communities. I can imagine that terminal transaction will remain a big part of Nigeria’s market until we develop better technology. 

VA: 36.1 percent of Nigerian adults are still unbanked, according to EFINA. How does Moniepoint plan to include these adults into the financial system?

Tosin: We are aggressively trying to expand the nature of financial services. We think that with the traction Moniepoint has had, we are positioned to bridge this gap. We expect that in the future, our agents will be able to offer full banking services directly to customers, not just deposits and withdrawals, but also issue cards in addition to other financial services. We recently concluded a tour of francophone countries (Cameroun, Senegal, and Ivory Coast) and we realised that they have similar problems, despite having established players in these countries. We have plans to expand across Africa. We want to be seen as a neo bank that is changing and improving financial access to customers.

The two biggest reasons why people are financially excluded are access and poverty. Poverty simply means I don’t have enough money to afford the cost of service. If you have a system where people can deposit and withdraw freely, you have solved some problem. Poverty makes people believe that they do not have any business with the banks. In terms of access, I am referring to the proximity of a financial institution to the customer. Access is a major problem for the bulk of people. There are many places in the north and the southwest that have poor bank penetration. It is still important for the average Nigerian to have a physical location where the customer can “seek redress” if something goes wrong. For us at Moniepoint, we want to increase access to the banking system by providing fast and simple resolutions, easy access to agent centres where basic financial transactions and services can be carried out including account opening and ATM card collection, deposits and withdrawals too. When we make these available, we are confident that banking will become not only attractive to these unbanked adults but will become a way of life.

TeamApt staff

VA: Do you agree that trust is still a major reason why many individuals lack bank accounts and cannot enjoy financial usage? How is Moniepoint overcoming this challenge?

Tosin: I agree that trust is a major impediment. The way we drive this is by using locals to facilitate access to potential customers. It is easier to trust a person that looks like you and lives with you. It is easier to trust when you know where to meet the agent if anything goes wrong. Our financial products are generally distributed in the environment by locals. This also serves to reduce the barrier to entry. People are usually reluctant to go to bank branches because they would feel intimidated and required to speak English. These people are now included because they can talk to people who look like them, agents who understand their norms, their language and can carry the world of formal finance to them using digital technology. That is how you build trust, especially at the grassroots. Moniepoint is poised to do this across Africa.

VA: Can you share some insight into your activities in extending credit to your customers?

Tosin: In an informal economy like Nigeria, Moniepoint is poised to distribute credit. A lot of consumers, from what we have noticed in the field, are financially excluded, especially from credit mostly because they are unable to meet the requirements of digital lenders.  One is often generally required to have a smartphone and many of them do not have smartphones. With our grassroot approach, you don’t need to have a financial history for us to get an initial credit appraisal of you. Essentially, a social reputation system is what we adopt. Some of these consumers are viable and creditworthy. We provide them with access, and they can grow to access formal credit and that’s one of the main tenets of Moniepoint. Moniepoint is poised to drive financial services through automation to these locations where people have been excluded. We are present and driving this in all Local Government Areas (LGA’s) in the country.

About TeamApt

TeamApt was established in 2015 to address technology infrastructure needs in the financial services sector. The firm evolved to provide both products and a platform effectively allowing it to partner with other banking and financial institutions (BFIs) to provide support services. Their platform allows customers to effect deposits, withdrawals and same-day real-time settlement of transactions cutting down on transaction times and improving efficiency for their customers.

By being a partner to other financial technology companies, they are an integral part of the success story of other financial technology companies, a vital member of the fintech ecosystem while driving their own business. Their business operations have led to an amazing uptick in the patronage of agency services and have resulted in traditional banking institutions recognizing the latent value in the agency banking model. One major convenience this business model affords is the reduced overhead cost as opposed to owning landed property and other operational costs. What is even more remarkable is that the brand has done this all within the last two years.

Growing as a largely bootstrapped organisation, this approach focused on efficient management of resources has been critical in scaling their business operations. This has transformed their operations remarkably. They have also been at the forefront of consumer education, one of their success attributing factors. The fintech has also maintained a focus on refining the performance of its agents, providing incentives and consistently retaining active agents, thereby optimizing their service delivery and inspiring the confidence of their ever-growing customer base.

Interview by Ogodilieze Osaji-Ugo

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