Microfinance institutions, microfinance banks and Cooperative Societies in West Africa using Oradian’s cloud-based toolset have the potential to grow by more than 30 percent annually by becoming more efficient, Antonio Separovic, CEO, Oradian has said.
Oradian, the core microfinance system that enables easy to use microfinance management and is built in the cloud to allow for easy accessibility has focused on growing financial institutions in Nigeria and West Africa since its establishment in 2012.
Speaking to BusinessDay, Antonio Separovic, Co-founder/ CEO, Oradian, said that customers of Oradian continue to attest to cost benefits, ability to grow, know and control portfolio and serve more end customers with Oradian’s software solution.
Separovic said “the core banking system solution includes integrated accounting, real time reporting, as well as an administrative console, so you don’t have to rely on IT services, you can actually have business analysts who will manage the software, as it can be accessed anywhere since its a cloud solution, even with low bandwidth.”
During the networking dinner event organised by the company in Lagos on April 10, 2018, leaders of financial institutions, regulatory groups, financial inclusion experts and fintech providers networked to form strategic partnerships that will boost financial inclusion in Nigeria and West Africa at large.
The event connected the private sector, public sector and financial services regulator.
Attesting to the positive impact of Instafin utilisation in rural microfinance institutions, Florence Omofonmwam, head, LAPO Rural Development Initiative, said that through Oradian and its CBS Instafin, LAPO has been enabled to continuously open new branches, reach new clients and boost financial inclusion in Nigeria.
“Oradian has helped us eradicate the cumbersome process of monitoring packs and client data management is now simpler and less stressful. With digitization, my team has less administrative work to do and they can spend more time in the field out of the office, finding new clients,’ Omofonmwam said.
Antonio Separovic affirmed that their CBS Instafin enables financial institutions to eliminate manual, pen and paper processes and move to digitised operations.
By reducing the time spent on administration through digitisation, financial institutions have more time to focus on their core competency: delivering financial services to clients in their communities.
He added that as part of the process to minimise inefficiencies, Instafin reduces high operational costs through automatic reporting that replaces time-consuming month end reporting processes.
The CEO highlighted several other tools for such digital transformation such as instafin messaging, automatic updates, Maximum Data Security, training and implementation – including data migration from their previous CBS or from spreadsheets.
Onyeka Adibeli, Co-founder and Program Director for Africa, Oradian, said that financial institutions on the Instafin platform can offer time-based loans on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis.
He added that the system is not customised but parameterised in a bid to ensure that every entity can configure their products to suit their clients.
“Providing loans is the main service for many microfinance institutions and microfinance banks in West Africa. Clients don’t just come to the institution because they want to save, they are saving because they need a loan. And in anticipation and understanding this demand, we create the tools that financial institutions need to service their clients in the most efficient way”, he detailed.
Oradian builds a cloud-based toolset that smart financial institutions plug into to access best practice and efficiency. Today, the company has over 60 financial institutions across seven countries including 20 in Nigeria using its toolset.
Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson
