SC Ventures has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Yabx BV to to expand access to financial services in Africa.
SC Ventures is Standard Chartered Bank’s innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm. Yabx BV is a company incubated by Comviva and part of the Mahindra Group.
The partnership between SC Ventures and Yabx intends to create unique, Africa-specific products that will increase access of credit to the underbanked across Africa. SC Ventures and Yabx have taken a collaborative approach to jointly address the challenge. Loans will be provided to customers for specific purposes like education and skill development using an innovative data-driven scoring and analytics engine. These loan products will be initially launched in Uganda and then subsequently expanded to other countries in Africa.
Jiten Arora, Member SC Ventures said “We are excited at the prospect of using a data-driven, technology-enabled partnership model to serve the underbanked through purpose-driven loans in Africa, a continent for which we have a deep understanding and a strong commitment towards.”
Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO Comviva, commented, “Yabx has seen exponential growth over the past one year, and we will continue to invest in its mission to serve millions of consumers and MSMEs in emerging markets who have limited traditional sources of funding available to them.”
Rajat Dayal, CEO Yabx, said, “We have a lot of synergy with SC Ventures in Africa and together we are uniquely positioned to create a seamless embedded finance experience. This partnership further bridges the gaps in the current market, driving digital innovations and bringing significant benefits to the underserved population of Africa”.