As part of its collaborative steps to bridge the financial inclusion gap in Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, in partnership with Solo Phone Limited and RenMoney, has introduced an offering that allows customers own a smartphone on an upfront payment basis.
The collaboration, according to the companies, is to ensure that customers have value for money, offer flexibility, but also give them access to good quality products all in one go.
To get the smartphone, customers will have to first make an initial cash deposit of N4,150 and then pay same amount monthly for 11 months.
Wale Abu, head of indirect sale, Airtel Nigeria, while speaking at the unveiling of the solution in Lagos yesterday, said “Airtel prides itself as an innovative company because ahead of time the company anticipates customers’ needs and endeavour to meet them.”
Abu said with the offering, the companies are presenting to Nigerians financial re-engineering, adding that they would continue to supply consumers with top notch services “because consumers are the ultimate beneficiaries of such innovation.”
Tayo Ogundipe, chief executive officer, Solophone Nigeria Limited, said the launch was about finding solution to the challenge of smartphone penetration in emerging markets, observing that to solve the problem of smartphone penetration, there was the need to bring technology and finance to bridge the gap.
“So that is what RenMoney, Solo and Airtel have come together to deliver. We are happy about the ecosystem we have built, it is highly scalable. We see significant growth opportunity in Nigeria. We see ourselves as a group doing a lot of things together,” he said.
Ian Abrahams, executive director, RenMoney said that the mission statement of the company is to be the leading financial inclusive consumer finance suppliers with simple solutions.
According to him, RenMoney is getting involved with Solo and Airtel to improve financial inclusion. “We want to change the lives of the unbanked and under-banked Nigerians. A smartphone is the vehicle that allows every individual to communicate, entertain and to transact business,” he said.
Abrahams further said that the company wants to make life easy for citizens of Nigeria, adding that “this is new; it is something that has not been done in Nigeria. It is time for us to stand up and deliver.”
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