Grace Ashiru
ShEquity, an investment company, focused on women, gave funds to the Nigerian fintech startup Owoafara.
Owoafara offers digital banking to help people who don’t have bank accounts get access to financial product sand services.
Tale Alimi started Owoafara, which lets users access a wide range of financial services on a single platform. These services include payments, credit, savings, health insurance, pensions, and more.
When a business joins Owoafara, it is checked out and given access to various financial services, including credit that banks don’t always offer, through its digital platform and card services.
We at Owoafara are excited to work with ShEquity to help us grow faster, have a more significant impact, and scale up in West Africa competitively.
Eighty percent of the micro-business loans we give out now are to women who don’t have bank accounts.
We’re proud that our products help create an inclusive FinTech sector where hardworking informal women entrepreneurs can increase their ability to make money and improve their financial flexibility to avoid economic instability. This gives them a long-term way to support themselves and their families.
By 2023, the funding from ShEquity will enable us to serve one million underserved small enterprises and microentrepreneurs.
In September 2021, the ShEquity Business Accelerator (SHEBAfirst )’s group of 16 companies, which included Owoafara, graduated. The USAID Trade Hub-backed program aims to close the funding gap between men and women by lowering the risks African women-led businesses face and getting them ready for investment.
Pauline Koelbl, the equity founder and managing partner, said that the investment in Owoafara shows that the company’s only goal is to help African women entrepreneurs and innovators.
