What is the name of your organization?
Trade Lenda
What is the name of your solution?
Tailored-Made Finance for SMEs
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Catalyzing sustainable development by unlocking capital for Africa’s growth engines (MSMEs)
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Nigeria
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
NGA
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Film your elevator pitch.
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What specific problem are you solving?
In Africa, over 65 million formal SMEs face a $330 billion financing gap, limiting their ability to grow, create jobs, and contribute to inclusive economic prosperity. In Nigeria, where SMEs represent over 90% of businesses, more than 80% struggle to access credit due to a lack of collateral, limited credit history, and informal financial operations. The exclusion is especially severe for women and youth entrepreneurs, who face systemic barriers in accessing traditional finance.
What is your solution?
Trade Lenda is bridging this gap by using AI-driven credit scoring and alternative data to provide fast, inclusive working capital to underserved SMEs. To date, we have supported over 260,000 small businesses across Nigeria, 65% of which are women-led, and enabled the creation of 10,000+ jobs in underserved communities.
By digitizing informal financial behavior and unlocking access to capital, we’re not just enabling business growth—we are advancing gender equity, empowering youth entrepreneurship, and driving inclusive development. Globally, solving the SME credit gap could add trillions to GDP and lift millions out of poverty. Trade Lenda is unlocking that opportunity—starting from the grassroots.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Our solution directly serves micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) across Nigeria, particularly women-led and youth-driven businesses in underserved communities (including farmers). These entrepreneurs are the lifeline of local economies but face systemic exclusion from formal finance due to lack of collateral, informal record-keeping, and biased credit systems.
Take Wealth, a 29-year-old bugging entrepreneur and single mother in Lagos, who supports her child through a thriving retail business. Despite steady income and growing customer demand, she was repeatedly denied loans by banks due to her informal operations. Through Trade Lenda, Amaka accessed working capital within 6 hours—using her mobile wallet transaction data, not paperwork or collateral. That financing allowed her to buy meet more demands request, stock inventories at good prices, hire two assistants, and triple her output.
Trade Lenda leverages alternative data and AI-driven credit scoring to unlock inclusive, instant financing for entrepreneurs like Amaka. We've already empowered over 260,000 MSMEs—65% women-led—to grow sustainably and create more than 10,000 jobs.
By turning informal potential into formal opportunity, we’re helping underserved entrepreneurs scale their dreams, build resilience, and drive inclusive economic growth.
