From time immemorial, the need for shelter features among the top 5 psychological needs of man, sharing a similar level of significance with feeding, clothing and safety.
Naturally, solving the challenge of shelter, for most people, is synonymous to footing bills in form of annual house rents, which vary from person to person depending on economic class, Social status and family background.
Globally, solving this challenge can be very difficult, especailly because climate change, natural disaster and terrorism have continued to render many homeless.
In Nigeria, the story is not any different. Currently, going by stats obtained from world homelessness authority, approximately 24.4 million people are homeless in Nigeria, accounting for 13% of the overall population.
In Lagos alone, about 70 percent reside in informal residence as a result of unfavourable economic situation, inflated house rents, and unreasonable tenacity terms and conditions.
Introducing Kwaba:
Kwaba is a Nigerian digital rent financing platform, helping renters especially low and middle income earners to ease the financial burden associated with rent payments.
With the mission to ease payment for its signed users, the startup splits bulk rents into convenient monthly installments.
The management team makes rent payment less stressful, while also offering further services such as apartment search, quick funds at affordable rates, and further credit facilities for the purchase of properties.
Kwaba timeline:
- The Nigerian Fintech startup was launched in January, 2020.
- Although, it launched a year later, the startup was earlier founded in 2019.
What stands Kwaba out:
Kwaba’s emergence was as a result of the non-flexible rent payment method that currently operates in Nigeria, where landlords request a whole year rent or two years in advance before a prospective tenant can secure an apartment.
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Before Kwaba, old renters usually find it difficult/struggle to pay up their annual rent at a stretch in the new year, considering other expenses that comes with the new year.
The startup provides a flexible platform that allows renters pay up their rents annually in a more convenient manner by making monthly contributions, hence saving renters the stress of being choked by finances or borrowing in the beginning of the year to pay their rents.
What you should know:
Kwaba was co-founded by Obinna Molokwu and Jadesola Opawunmi.
The Fintech last year took part in the LABS by ARM accelerator, raising US$20,000 in funding and additional growth support.
Later in 2020, the startup raised funding from Ingressive Capital, a US$10 million VC fund targeting early-stage startups across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Kwaba offers further services such as apartment search, quick funds at affordable rates, and further credit facilities for the purchase of properties.
The startup, according to the founder is using the investment to expand its reach and give more people access to its solution, especially during trying times post-COVID-19.
Remarks:
Kwaba seems to be the solution to house renting hassles, especially when more people find it difficult to meet their annual savings target.
Should the startup continue to deploy solutions and features to help more renters get more value from their rent payments, soon it would expand to other African countries, where its chances of success is, also, given.
[…] ALSO: Meet Kwaba: A Fintech startup helping Nigerians pay their house rents conveniently […]