EdFin MFB’s collaboration with Opportunity International EduFinance to enhance education sector

EdFin Microfinance Bank, Nigeria’s foremost education-focused microfinance bank and Opportunity International EduFinance are collaborating with a mutual focus on product design, staff training and business intelligence reporting in a bid to improve the quality of education and learning outcomes in Nigeria.

Through this alliance, Opportunity EduFinance, who are currently conducting market research in Nigeria, will inform the design of EdFin’s education loan products as well as provide in-depth training to ensure that the financial institution’s staff are equipped with the most up-to-date knowledge of the unique needs of the clients they serve. The overall goal of this coalition is to enhance and expand the scope of EdFin’s suite of targeted financial products/services offered to the entire education ecosystem in Nigeria — including schools, parents, teachers, school contractors/vendors — ensuring that all stakeholders charged with the responsibility of improving the quality of education in Nigeria have the financial resources necessary to succeed.

“By collaborating with Opportunity International and having Gray Matters Capital as our major shareholder with dedicated share capital of over $3m, we have positioned ourselves as the leader in enabling the transformation of Nigeria’s education system”, says Bunmi Lawson, managing director/CEO, EdFin MfB. “We believe this new alliance will help us actualize our goal of enabling at least 3500 schools and 1 million pupils/students in Nigeria by the end of 2021”.

Andrew McCusker, head of Opportunity EduFinance, explained why the alliance is unique for EduFinance. “We are excited about the opportunity to work with EdFin Nigeria as our only current lending partner in Africa specializing in school financing. Following the significant growth achieved by our specialized education lending partners in South Asia, we are excited to work with EdFin to support similar growth in Nigeria, Africa’s largest low-cost school market.”