Ghana’s Motito, a “buy now, pay later” platform, is allowing small businesses to offer interest-free credit to their customers at point of sale, and has seen impressive initial uptake.
One of three Ghanaian startups selected to receive equity-free grant funding and support from MEST and the Mastercard Foundation after the MEST Express accelerator programme, Motito is a value added service for merchants, and offers consumers increased affordability and convenience.
The startup, which launched in November of last year and also recently took part in the Pan-African Fintech Accelerator programme, has a simple platform – consumers download the app, sign up, go through an underwriting process tied to source of income, and are ready to buy now, and pay later.
“Access to credit is still relatively low on the continent, credit cards are practically ineffective and micro lenders have high interest rates,” said Tobi Martins, co-founder of Motito.
Motito looks to provide an alternative, and its “pay later” payment option is currently available in various electronics and furniture stores in Ghana. It has over 1,000 users signed up, and has so far processed over 250 transactions.
Bootstrapped thus far, the startup nonetheless has ambitious plans to expand to Egypt and Nigeria by 2020. Motito monetises by charging merchants up to 15 per cent commission, as a service charge, on the value of any item sold.
“For payment plans that go beyond four weeks, we charge a five per cent service charge to our customers as well,” Martins said.
“We also have plans to monetise our data. Our credit data is useful to financial institutions and credit bureaus.”
