Washington, D.C., March 5th, 2020 –Lidya became the newest member of the SME Finance Forum, a global membership network that brings together financial institutions, technology companies, and development finance institutions to share knowledge, spur innovation, and promote the growth of SMEs.
“40 percent of small and medium businesses worldwide struggle to get access to the credit and capital that they need to grow their enterprises. We are delighted to welcome Lidya to our network of more than 180 members who are working to eliminate the finance gap for SMEs,” said Matthew Gamser, CEO of the Forum.
Lidya the future of finance for small businesses in fast-growing economies. Through its digital platform, Lidya analyzes over 100 data points to help great business owners access financing and build a credit score through an easy and inspiring lending process. “Our team is spread across 3 continents and 5 countries: USA, Portugal, Nigeria, Poland and the Czech Republic. The SME Finance Forum offered great support to Lidya when we expanded our offices to Poland and the Czech Republic. We are excited to contribute to the community as we continue to grow and enable fast, affordable financing to SMEs around the world,” said Tunde Kehinde, co-founder of Lidya.
To see all SME Finance Forum members, please visit: https://www.smefinanceforum.org/members/member-list
About SME Finance Forum
The SME Finance Forum was established by the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) in 2012 as a knowledge center for data, research and best practice in promoting SME finance. As an implementing partner for the GPFI, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) was tasked with managing the initiative.
About Lidya
Lidya is the future of finance for small businesses in fast-growing economies. Lidya helps great business owners access financing and build a credit score through an easy and inspiring lending process. Lidya currently lends in Nigeria, Poland, and the Czech Republic and has disbursed over 15,000 loans to small businesses. Lidya is backed by Omidyar Network, Accion, Newid Capital, Bamboo Capital, and Alitheia Capital. The Company has raised close to $10m USD in venture capital and has teams across Lagos (Nigeria), Porto (Portugal), Warsaw (Poland), Prague (Czech Republic) and New York (USA).
Lidya is founded by Tunde Kehinde, the former Managing Director of Jumia Nigeria, the largest eCommerce platform in West Africa and Ercin Eksin, the former Chief Operating Officer of Jumia Africa responsible for operations in 6 of the largest economies in Africa. Tunde and Ercin attended Harvard Business School and the University of Chicago-Booth, respectively for their MBAs.
Media Contact
Carina Carrasco
ccarrasco@worldbank.org
info@lidya.co
