Halo Financial Services Limited, a fintech start-up has launched an innovative approach to help Nigerians manage and grow their money, through community-based services.
Speaking at a media round table to introduce the company, 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.
“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 squads. There’s strength in numbers. We are using technology to harness that strength to drive wealth creation for individuals through their communities,” she said.
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.
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“One key differentiator for us is that we hold two licenses. We have a microfinance 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 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), so our risk management and corporate governance is very rigorous,” Onyeokoro said.
Noting that the company is keen on serving as many people as possible, she explained that Halo offers 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.
She stated that the fintech space in Nigeria is extremely competitive, so to meet Halo’s very ambitious goals they have 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 reach their goals.
Other top management of the company at the media briefing included; the Chief Growth Officer and co-founder, Halo Financial Services, Nnenna Onyewuchi; Chief Investment Officer, Halo Financial Services Limited, which offers banking, investment, lending, and other financial services as a service to formal and informal communities to enable them to offer personalized savings and investment products to their members.
