SmallSmall taps Nigeria’s growing retail space to bridge N64mn credit gap with new offering

SmallSmall, a proptech company is tapping into Nigeria’s growing retail ecosystem by offering an alternate marketplace for retailers in a bid to bridge the over N64 million credit gap with its newly developed Fair App.

“We’ve done it in the homeownership space. Now, we have a new product called the Fair App. And with this product, we’ve taken all the lessons we’ve learned all these years, building rentals, building buy small-small, all into this Fair App,” Tunde Balogun, CEO, SmallSmall, said during the maiden edition of the SmallSmall Fair held at the Pistis Conference Centre, Lekki, Lagos.

According to him, the initiative was based on the need to create a safe marketplace for businesses to engage with Nigerians. He said that the platform allows merchants an opportunity to have their products and services on the platform, with an added advantage that allows people to pay monthly.

He said further that the company introduced a monthly payment plan on its fair app so as to deepen credit culture among users. According to him, the company has been engaging merchants across its platform on the need to strengthen instalment payments solutions.

According to Balogun, the introduction of the fair and an effective instalment system would bridge the credit gap, currently at N64 million by RiskSeal on one hand and also boost the financial performance of businesses. “Instalment payments are one of the ways to grow your customer base, grow your revenue. We’ve done it in the rental space.”

Balogun also disclosed that the company started in the housing space as one of the pioneers for property technology in Nigeria, with rent-small-small, which has allowed people to pay for rent monthly in the last six years.

Kikelomo Fola-Ogunniya, co-founder, Cargoplug, said that the fair offers opportunities for businesses to interact and explore areas of collaboration. She said further that being able to pay for goods and services in instalments help to manage limited finance.

“I am excited about the fact that people can pay small-small for services and products that you buy because sometimes you might not have the bulk money or you might have bulk money but you have different needs.”