Buying things on credit to pay later? Then shop with Fintech Bank’Up if you are in Cameroon. The startup founded by a cameroonian Noé Bakouba Kaljop has added the central African country to its expansion cart, after Rwanda. Following its launch in the country, Fintech Bank’Up will make deferred debit service or consumer goods supply credit cards available to the public.

“Many Cameroonians between the ends of months face many difficulties linked to certain current needs. In this kind of situation, the only alternatives that remain informal are resorting to relatives, loan sharks or even the neighborhood grocer, with what this sometimes entails in terms of humiliation or additional costs,” said Noé Bakouba Kaljop, founder of Fintech Bank’Up. 

Here Is What You Need To Know

• The startup specifically allows any of its users acquire various goods, payable later, after it has debited the customer’s account. 

• Partner businesses are paid as soon as the purchase is made.

• The customer has the choice to repay their credit purchase over several months. 

• Money used to fund the arrangement comes from credit institutions such as banks. 

“We offer our users the ability to purchase products and services from some of our partners and to pay back in 1, 2 or 3 monthly installments. We offer the possibility for our users (individuals or micro-businesses) to solve urgent problems by allowing them to benefit from small cash loans,” said the team at Fintech Bank’Up. 

• Bank’Up already maintains partnerships with several microfinance banks but is also in talks with several more local credit institutions for the purpose of executing the startup’s vision. 

• The maximum credit amount each buyer has access to is 100,000 FCFA ($185), although this further depends on the debt capacity of each client.

• For its second phase, Bank’Up plans to extend its offerings to unbanked customers without any account in a credit institution. 

• The startup plans to reach more than 250,000 transactions per month and to bank in 3 years more than 5,000 small merchants using the Bank’Up solution.

 “With this innovation, partner businesses can target new customers, increase their sales, retain their customers, reduce the risk of non-payment for those businesses that informally provided purchase credit to their customers,” Kaljop said. 

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How Does Fintech Bank’Up Make Its Profit? 

Fintech Bank’Up which is already a huge success in Rwanda where it was first launched, according to Kaljop is out to make profit too. To make profit therefore, each user of the startup’s app is requested to have a regularly maintained bank account. And it is from this bank account that the startup automatically deduct its fees.

“We apply an interest rate of 2% monthly. For example, for every 50,000 FCFA ($92) paid on a monthly payment, the applicant will pay 51,420 francs, that is to say 1000 francs CFA of interest rate and 350 francs CFA (fees) excluding VAT,” Fintech Bank’Up’s team said. 

According to Kaljop, only 3% of the Cameroonian population has access to formal credit by a report from FinScope in 2018. 

“Bank’Up has decided to develop this innovative solution that can not only help both individuals in difficulty but also shops,” added the Cameroonian founder of the loan2cash (SAS 2 Cash) startup registered in France.

Kaljop has up to 17 years of professional experience in corporate finance in structures as diverse as SMEs, parapublic and multinationals.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer