Micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the economy. However, cash flow issues largely cause more than half to fail during their first five years in business, and it’s very obvious that many require a lifeline. But what exactly is the cause of these cash flow issues?
Ask any SME and they’re likely to blame late payments.
“Seventy-five percent of small businesses experienced delayed payment of at least 60 days after delivering product/services to private sector clients in Nigeria,” a PwC survey on MSMEs indicates.
Sometimes referred to as “the assassins of small businesses,” late payments cost SMEs as much as $3 trillion globally, with 1 in 10 invoices failing to be paid on time.
US and Nigerian company, Bridger, launched 4 months ago, to solve this particular challenge affecting African B2B businesses and 72 mid-sized businesses have had their unpaid invoices financed so far.
Bridger enables MSMEs to finance their unpaid invoices for cash within 48 hours.
In Nigeria, finding working capital to sustain a business is challenging. The lack of funds, debt, and delayed transaction fulfillment between business owners and customers contribute to this trend.
While beneficial for larger corporations in terms of maximizing capital, these unreasonably long payment cycles cause an unnecessary and costly burden that is especially cogent for SMEs, who don’t have the additional funds lying around to support their business operations or pay their employees.
Add in the inflation and increasing prices, and businesses don’t have the luxury to wait months and months to receive their payment. So, what is the solution?
Invoice financing!!.
A dedicated low-interest invoice financing solution is an option that helps SMEs avoid cash-flow bottlenecks.
That’s to say that a large chunk of an SME’s working cash flow is locked up in invoices that may take up to 90 days to pay out. Bridger tackles that issue by companies by financing 80-95 percent of the value of the invoice, within 24-48 hours.
Signing up for Bridger is equally simple: You go to the website and create an account, complete your profile. Then you can access a dashboard, and upload any of your invoices to receive funding.
You have options to choose which invoices you want to be financed and how much you need.
You – rather than your customer – repay Bridger. “Bridger is not a factoring company”.
Jeremiah Babasanmi, Bridger founder and CEO says “We do not purchase the invoice. We don’t go after your customers. We don’t require you to create a new bank account.”
About Bridger
Bridger is an African-founded startup whose mission is to bring B2B Trade Online. Our first product line is the Invoice financing product, solving the cash flow crisis for African businesses; Our goal is to help businesses grow by building a modern B2B supply chain network and digitizing trade.
Bridger was officially launched in 2022 and has currently financed about 120m Naira so far in Invoices.
Social Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bridgerafrica
Facebook: https://facebook.com/Bridger
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bridgerafrica/
