Hadi finance boosts financial inclusion in informal markets

Despite being the main contributor to GDP on the African continent, the informal sector remains financially underserved due to a lack of transparency in its transaction activities.

Though the sheer size of the market (14 million – 100 million traders on the continent as of 2022) remains attractive to investors and start-ups alike, not many companies have chosen to address pain points for this segment of the economy largely due to fragmentation and a severe lack of trust

Hadi finance is disrupting supply chains within the informal market by providing a tech-enabled end-to-end system that disintermediates the FMCG value chain, optimizes logistics for efficient service delivery and makes business seamless for informal retailers across Africa, starting with Northern Nigeria.

Informal retailers play a huge role in ensuring that everyday products reach consumers, particularly at the last mile. They provide goods and services to customers who may not have access to conventional retail outlets. Despite their importance, they often lack access to conventional banking services, like loans and other means of credit. This presents a challenge when scaling their business leading to a fragmented industry living beneath its potential.

Founded by Saeed Seghosime, a six-year emerging market-focused investment professional and Bidemi Adebayo, a seasoned supply chain operator within informal markets.

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Hadi Finance is a B2B tech-enabled platform that connects informal retailers directly with manufacturers to access the products they need for their business while providing financial services to the ecosystem including credit and insurance services.

The Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Hadi Finance, Saeed Seghosime said the platform is aimed to help buyers with a flexible retail experience.

“Hadi is the best solution for a retailer who wants to restock with ease, that helps buyers select your preferred items including funding options like Buy Now Pay Later,” Seghosime said.

“Making payments is easy and secure. You can either pre-pay before delivery or pay upon delivery either via cash or transfer into our accounts. Once your payment is confirmed, your products will be handed to you, or you can pick them up from any of our hubs closest to you.”

Bidemi Adebayo is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer. She is an excellent strategist and project manager. Bidemi managed 3,000 agents under Trader Moni with 3m+ informal retailers enumerated and grew up in a family of informal retailers with a deep understanding of retailers’ pain points.

The Chief Technical Officer is Efiong Efi-Mbukpa. Efiong is a six-year software engineering professional with experience working with Airtel, Venture Garden Group and others. He developed mytrail.io, a data collection tool for monitoring and evaluation with over 3,500 live agents and over 100k data points collected.