Invested December 16, 2015
Baobab
Baobab is a financial inclusion group focusing on serving individuals, micro and small enterprises (MSMEs) on the African continent and in China. The company’s mission is to unleash the potential of its clients offering them simple and easy to use financial services. Today Baobab operates in Burkina Faso, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
Headquarters
Paris, France
Sector
Banks
Region
Africa & Asia
Sub-sector
Microfinance Bank
What was the motivation behind the creation of Microcred?
Baobab was created in 2005 under the name MicroCred to provide loans to micro, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs (MSMEs). In the African countries where Baobab operates, access to financing is a key challenge for MSMEs and with this support, entrepreneurs are able to increase their revenue but also diversify their activities. Since 2014, Baobab has begun a transformation process to harness data and digital technologies to better serve its clients and provide a broader range of financial solutions.
Which are the biggest opportunities for Baobab‘s business?
Baobab’s key strengths are its relationship with its clients and its dedication to providing simple and rapid services that help entrepreneurs grow their businesses and create jobs. Using this strength and leveraging the explosion of digital technologies and mobile phone usage in Africa, Baobab has identified opportunities to use data to support decision-making, develop new offers and reach new clients. Starting in 2018, Baobab has commercialized the use of client scoring and extended nano loan offers as well as automated loan renewals to clients in Africa and China.
Where do you see the Baobab Group in 5 years?
Having demonstrated that it can run profitable and strong financial institutions in Africa and Asia, Baobab is now in a position to dramatically expand its reach to MSME’s in frontier markets by leveraging data and digital technologies. As such, in the next 5 years Baobab Group will become one of the leading digital financial service providers for microentrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses in its countries of operation.