Informal retailer-focused solution

Problem

Informal retailers lack the tools to grow their businesses: balancing scarce working capital between a range of products to be stocked results in losing customers when products are out of stock. As sole proprietors, they also need to be present in their shops and leaving the shop (e.g. to go to a bank branch) results in lost revenue.

Solution

Nomanini turns any mobile device into a retail point-of-sale solution for informal retailers that is connected to an interoperable business banking wallet. The wallet allows retailers to offer a broad range from digital banking, mobile, utility and entertainment services to their customers, boosting competitiveness. 

Scaling

Nomanini seeks to onboard tens of thousands of retailers across the continent in the short term. With each retailer reaching hundreds of consumers each month, this translates into a positive ripple effect for tens of millions of consumers.

Although informal retail MSMEs have been largely ignored within the sphere of formal banking, many banks across the continent are starting to realise the large opportunity available within this sector. The challenges Nomanini addresses in the fragmented and suboptimal informal retail ecosystem in Africa are centred around the needs of the retailer: 

• Reducing reliance on cash: Despite progress of mobile money, African markets are primarily cash-based. Cash restricts the ability to store value and invest in new products, reducing utility for consumers and inhibiting growth for retailers & distributors, whilst creating risk across the value chain.

• Working capital: Retailers need to invest in hardware/software and inventory in order to provide consumers with digital services and physical goods. Without access to working capital they cannot acquire these essential tools or ensure availability of product on shelves. 

• Generating actionable data: Paper-based transactions and processes across fragmented supply chains generate no actionable data. Retailers and distributors do not understand what services are working, what the best pricing is, and where goods are best dispensed to increase revenues.

• Defragmented supply chains: Domestic markets and their supply chains are deeply fragmented, strangling retail economy scale, restricting profitability, speed and reach of goods /services for all.

Nomanini is a pioneering fintech that connects retailers, distributors and service providers to overcome fragmentation, optimise digital distribution, and scale Africa’s informal retail ecosystem. In partnership with the largest bank in Africa, Nomanini's platform can provide informal retailers with the tools to grow their business, within the bank's footprint across the continent. Informal retailers are able to easily use the platform to attract customers by vending from a single wallet, conveniently pay suppliers electronically without having to leave their shop, and instantly access lines of credit for digital transactions and FMCG stock purchases.

Informal retailers, which are usually owner operated or single owner retailers, tend to lack a digital track record to allow them to access financing options so that they are able to grow their business. They generally sit outside the formal banking system (do not have bank accounts) and deal with their customers largely in cash (90% of transactions are cash-based even regions where mobile money is well advanced). Currently, the platform is not targeted towards roving street retailers. 

Please refer to the question above as to how the solution will address their needs.  

Nomanini’ solution is focused on supporting unbanked micro, small medium (older and newer) enterprises, in untapped, highly informal cash-based communities to weather economic shocks through provision of credit and ensuring their shelves remain stocked, prosper through enabling them to provide commodity digital services to attract more customers and the ability to pay suppliers electronically. 

Nomanini’s mission is to provide informal retailers the tools to improve their businesses by combining new digital financial services (including access to capital) with existing distribution networks.

Nomanini’s proposition is built retailer focused-first. By providing informal retailers with the digital tools and working capital required for success, Nomanini’s platform unlocks value all the way up the value chain, digitising and ultimately optimising the relationship between retailers, distributors and manufacturers.

Key to the success of our technology is keeping our end-users (informal retailers) at the centre of our design and developing our products with the end-user. We focus on making our devices and applications easy to use for all retailers, taking into account technological literacy, education levels, language and environment.

Through Nomanini’s platform, informal retailers are able to vend & attract additional customers by offering commodity digital services from a single wallet; make supplier payments conveniently without leaving the shop; and finance inventory with access to instant loans against FMCG supplier lines to grow their business. 

Nomanini’s solution will: 

• Improve the businesses of informal retail MSMEs and provide them tools for growth: With our current bank partner, we expect increases in sales of 5-15% on the average FMCG basket resulting in a ~$30m annual increase in sales revenue for informal retailers.

• Enable Banks to deliver innovative financial solutions in the underserved informal retail trade: With our current bank partner, we anticipate serving tens of thousands of unbanked informal retailer MSMEs, creating a new, cost-effective channel for serving customers. 

• Support Banks to responsibly deploy productive capital where it is needed, to stock shelves: Enable our existing bank partner to deploy a c. their loan book, provided to un-banked retailers in the form of stock advanced from FMCG suppliers.

• Highlight and evidence the potential to economically serve the informal sector, thereby encouraging other financial service providers to do so.

Over the next 5 years, Nomanini looks to create a strong impact with the existing bank partnership to support a ~$30m annual increase in sales revenue per tens of thousands of informal retailers. This impact is expected to grow as Nomanini secures further partnerships with top banks and global FMCGs. Nomanini is continuing to expand the capabilities of its platform to further enable retailers to access more lines of credit for electronic and physical goods financing in addition to their current account, as well as expanding the range of financial services MSMEs can access through the platform. 

Nomanini is a pioneering fintech that connects retailers, distributors and service providers to overcome fragmentation, optimise digital distribution, and scale Africa’s informal retail ecosystem. In partnership with the largest bank in Africa, Nomanini's platform can provide informal retailers with the tools to grow their business, within the bank's footprint across the continent. Informal retailers are able to easily use the platform to attract customers by vending from a single wallet, conveniently pay suppliers electronically without having to leave their shop, and instantly access lines of credit for digital transactions and FMCG stock purchases.

With regards to the travel restrictions, we have successfully executed a remote country implementation and will look to potentially replicate this for future launches. We will also consider; options for road-travel in some cases. With regards to remote working, we have equipped the team with tools to ensure effective communication and collaboration. We are currently pursuing fundraising rounds with active investors which would boost Nomanini’s growth within the continent as well as the international growth strategy.  With regards to securing additional partnerships with top banks in Africa and other global FMCGs, we are concurrently pursuing discussions with partners to collaborate with and looking to successfully execute on the existing bank partnership which will act as a reference case for these new partnerships. 

With nearly ten years’ experience working with retailers, distributors, service providers, FMCG companies, banks and regulators across the African continent, Nomanini has an unrivalled pedigree to overcome the nuanced challenges of the fragmented informal retail sector.

Nomanini is currently working in partnership with Africa’s largest bank. The partnership with the bank enables Nomanini to add retailer financing to its existing services and scale quickly into new markets with a trusted financial service provider. Additionally, Nomanini is working with one of the world’s largest FMCG manufacturer to accelerate access to retail MSMEs.

We would be happy to share this information at a later stage.

We would be happy to share this information at a later stage.

Nomanini is keen to become a Solver, to broaden our network and join Solve & MIT’s community of peers and experts to build and secure partnerships with top banks and global FMCGs, key to Nomanini’s growth with the continent and internationally. In addition to receiving mentorship and strategic advice from Solve and MIT networks, Nomanini would benefit from the funding support and access to the network of funders.

Nomanini is keen to partner with FMCG manufacturers / suppliers / distributors operating across the continent; as well as bank partners looking to access the unbanked, underserved communities. In addition, Nomanini is looking for access to networks of funders to support future capital raises. 

Nomanini’s mission is to provide informal retailers the tools to improve their businesses by combining new digital financial services with existing distribution networks. Our solution supports informal retailers to provide more digital services to attract more customers, pay suppliers electronically and access credit to grow their business in a fast changing underserved market.

Nomanini’s mission is to provide informal retailers the tools to improve their businesses by combining new digital financial services with existing distribution networks. Our solution supports informal retailers to provide more digital services to attract more customers, pay suppliers electronically and access credit to grow their business in a fast changing underserved market and our model has exponential growth potential to impact a large number of informal retailers.