At Social Media Week Lagos in 2017, Segun Agbaje, CEO of Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank), described the bank that revolutionized USSD transaction with the now iconic *737#, as a technology company. With the unveiling of Habari a platform that does “everything”, the bank appears to be making true that mission.
By everything, users, irrespective of the banks they use, can directly access the largest catalogue of local and foreign music and videos online, lifestyle contents like books that cut across literally genres, a seamless shopping experience and be able to connect with friends on the Habari platform. The objective is to keep customers coming back as much as possible.
It is the first of its kind for a financial service organization not only in Nigeria but in Africa as a whole. Habari will also put major ecommerce players like Jumia, Konga and social media platforms like Facebook on high alert given that it is aiming for a share of their markets.
Segun Agbaje alluded to this ambition in his statement during the launch. The goal of Habari, he told the audience is to “create a platform and partner anybody who has a service to offer, so that if as a customer, one comes into our ecosystem, you can do just anything. You could do your banking business; buy tickets, insurance, travel. If you want a 10-day pay day loan, you can do it. So, really we want you to come into our ecosystem, maybe five times a day to do different things other than banking.”
Interestingly, Agbaje does not describe Habari as a banking application, rather he sees it as “a journey towards building a platform that connects” GTBank’s customers to everything they need, and which continues to evolve with their lifestyle.
Habari however did not get off to a smooth start on launch week as customers reported minor service interruptions. Although the interruption has been resolved, some experts worry that the platform is taking too much too soon.
