Emma Okonji
Halo Financial Services Limited, a fintech start-up that offers banking, investment, lending, and other financial services to formal and informal communities, has launched with an innovative approach to help Nigerians manage and grow their money.
Speaking at a media round table the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Chidimma Onyeokoro, disclosed that Halo enables communities to provide financial services to their members. Halo defines a community as any group of people with defined membership and identifiable leadership. This includes professional or trade associations, cooperatives, social clubs, unions, even old boys and girls associations and more. Community members are able to leverage the strength of their union for better financial returns. By focusing on communities, Halo will be able to scale faster.
She said: “Nigerians, have always understood that we progress faster when we do things together. From traditional groups savings schemes like ‘ajo’, to communities putting money together for community development projects, even friends pooling resources to help one of their squad. There’s strength in numbers. We are using technology to harness that strength to drive wealth creation for individuals through their communities.”
According to her, trust is the bedrock of all financial services. By leveraging existing trust networks, Halo will be able to reach more people with the products, tools and knowledge to meet their wealth creation goals.
“One key differentiator for us is that we hold two licenses. We have a micro finance bank license and an asset management license. This allows us to offer a full spectrum of financial services from basic banking to sophisticated investments. It also means we are regulated by both SEC and CBN, so our risk management and corporate governance is very rigorous,” Onyeokoro said.
She notes that the company was keen on serving as many people as possible, and explained that Halo would offer multi-channel access. For those comfortable with technology, there is an app, mass market customers can transact with Halo via a nationwide network of agents, and high net worth communities can access a managed service, Onyeokoro said.
She stated that the fintech space in Nigeria remained extremely competitive, adding that Halo has built a team of dynamic, knowledgeable, and committed professionals with a deep understanding of market realities, and more importantly, possess the right skills and experience to help communities and their members navigate the financial landscape and reachtheir goals.
