Thread by @yinkanubi

What is this #GEEP program really about?

GEEP is a microcredit prog that provides much-needed capital to traders, artisans, farmers, petty traders. It's one of the social intervention progs of the FG and comprises of 3 products: MarketMoni, FarmerMoni, and TraderMoni. @uzonwagba

"GEEP was initiated in 2016 by the FG; with an understanding that there are over 30m Nigerians at the base of the pyramid who are in active commercial activity but never have an opportunity to access credit. In 2017, only 0.04% of bank loans went to this micro segment" @uzonwagba

"These hardworking Nigerians are not “interesting” to the traditional lenders: they've little to no financial track record, they've no collateral, some barely have formal identities. However, they're actively trading and in dire need of capital." - @uzonwagba

"They're sellers of the food stuff you cook, the beverages you drink, the airtime you use, and kiosk items you buy. And there are tens of millions of them, across the 36 states and FCT. GEEP is an opportunity to properly identify and capture these Nigerians, provide them with...

...capital, and in the process onboard them into the formal financial system of bank accounts and mobile wallets – in a way that they can be sustainable recipients of credit. Our goal is to advance financial inclusion from its current mythical state into actualization. @uzonwagba

"GEEP grants interest-free loans of N10k - N300k in a graduating scale of N10k; N20k; N50k; N100k; & N300k. Traders start at N10k (#TraderMoni) or N50k (#MarketMoni) or N300k (#FarmerMoni). It all depends on scale of current trade and preparedness to meet criteria at each level"

The N10k #TraderMoni component of the GEEP scheme has come under huge criticism for the loan value: some Nigerians do not think it is barely anything to help a trader. Was there intelligence that suggested otherwise for which the TraderMoni team settled on N10k as the 1st level?

Recall that loans go from N10k -N300k. You start at N10k if you're a petty trader – and u quickly graduate to N300k by simply repaying your loans. More importantly, you'ld be surprised to know that the GEEP prog didn't start with N10k loans. We started with N50k loans. @uzonwagba

In the process of executing a programme N50, 000 and above, we found something quite startling: the vast majority, I mean up to 90 percent, of our targets did not have inventories of more than N10,000. You would more than double their capacity with a N10,000 loan. @uzonwagba

We wld've missed the scope & scale of this if we had not spent the last 2yrs giving loans, learning more. Besides the fact that this population not only needs small amt for a start, they also don't have – BVNs, KYCs, bank accts, collaterals – requirements of traditional lending.

So we had to create a product specifically for them, driven by agents, equipped with tablet & disbursed thru mobile wallets which only require trader to have a Cellphone. We believe this can be truly transformative to this sector & to d lending ecosystem. The results are showing.

"In the past 2 years, we have given over 1.5 million loans across the three programs, 1.2 million of which are TraderMoni beneficiaries. The loans are driven strictly by scale of demand." - @uzonwagba

Where is the money coming from and how sustainable is the program given the time value of money (for which interests are usually charged), and Nigeria’s unique political system where continuity is always an issue? - @BusinessDayNg

"From Day1 of GEEP, we instituted BVN as a non-negotiable requirement. The 1st application of the BVN was to serve as a unique identifier which checkmates fraud. However, the 2nd application of BVN is even more powerful: for the 1st time, we've an effective (digital) collateral"

"People who took #MarketMoni loans, our first GEEP product, accept agreements that BOI had the right to block their BVNs if they were in severe default. A blocked BVN means the candidate is unable to operate any of their accounts or perform any financial transactions" @uzonwagba

Obviously, we had to balance this carefully with d overarching goal of financial inclusion. This means that u don’t want to hve people included in d system, only to block them out of it soon after. So, 1st we establish the usage & habit of finance/accountability by giving d loans

Next, we communicate aggressively on repayment and defaults, warning severe defaulters of an imminent blocking of their BVN. And then, we select cohorts of defaulters who inevitably get the BVN blocking. We do this while aggressively learning and improving the process. @uzonwagba

The journey is still an evolving one, but we're absolutely committed to more innovation around d collateral problem that has excluded this grp from credit for decades. With d advent of tech & innovation, we must thk outside d box, seeking for digital collaterals that're effective

"You wldn't believe that d regulation that allows for what we've done has been in existence since 1970s. However, without d right advancement in tech there'ld be no way to execute that regulation. The future is now & it's our goal to continue pushing boundaries on what's possible

"For the #TraderMoni scheme we are taking a slightly different approach of not requiring BVNs or bank accounts as our targets are significantly less educated or sophisticated. We need to first solve their problem of access and reduce the barriers to that." @uzonwagba

"So, we use what they have: their mobile phones. It's only on the 2nd loan that the BVN & bank acct requirements kick in & therefore the digital collateral. As a result, we make a conscious effort with their 1st #TraderMoni loan to make the carrot more attractive than the stick"

"You literally receive a disbursement in minutes when you dial a USSD code after paying your 1st loan. We're using #TraderMoni to test this model and we're studying the effect cos it’s also an opportunity to build knowledge for the ecosystem." @uzonwagba

businessday.ng/amp/enterprene…

Given such a large-scale programme (#TraderMoni and #MarketMoni) with a target market that has limited education, how are you able to deliver the numbers you report?

"The operation of the prog doesn't mirror its target demographics. What I mean is: the more illiterate or unsophisticated our beneficiaries are, the more sophisticated our operation has to be. All the complexity has to be absorbed by us and taken out of the trader’s experience"

"We have a highly technology-driven program. Everybody who has a #TraderMoni, #MarketMoni or #FarmerMoni loan is enumerated at their point of trade. What this means is that one of our over 4,000 agents across the country, walks up to them and registers them on a tablet device."

"I'm talking full registration of biodata, GPS location of the trader’s point of trade, information on what the trader does or sells, pictures of them and their trade, address, phone number, BVN which is validated against the national BVN database, background and risk profiles"

"We have a sophisticated digital base that connects these tablets of our over 4,000 agents across the country to central systems at BOI, as well as third-party connections to banks and mobile wallets for disbursements and repayment." - @uzonwagba

"The most surprising thing you'ld find out about the prog is how obsessive we are with its operation. Some members of my team joke that we're a tech company that happens to give loans. With more experience and learning, we'll continue to innovate & set the standards." @uzonwagba

What sort of impact does the GEEP program hope to make, how is it being measured/tracked today?

Tremendous impact. For most of our beneficiaries, it starts out like a dream. An agent walks up to you in your market ass, at your kiosk, sometimes on the street while you hawk...

"They speak abt a govt benefit & interest-free loan to enable your trade. You're not asked for a collateral, and not asked to vote for anyone. They'ld capture your details on their tablet, you'ld get an SMS in days on your qualification & you'ld get a disbursement shortly after."

"Even playing this back to myself now, it sounds crazy, too good to be true. But this is exactly what happens. So you can imagine traders’ skepticism at first, which our agents have to overcome, until disbursements start happening." - @uzonwagba

"For most of our over 1.5m beneficiaries today, this is the first time they've successfully accessed credit in their entire lives. I interact with traders, from Bauchi to Yenegoa, who tell me they have been doing the same trade in the same spot for 30 years.....

....and this is their first time ever experiencing something like this. They're able to invest in their trade, or deal with issues that have been historically disruptive to their trade. They keep their businesses alive, enabling them to pay back in tiny instalments over 6 months.

"They are empowered. Most of this is silent; you don’t hear it buzzed around. But this has been the reality of GEEP, every single day, since May 2016." - @uzonwagba

"When a lot of people hear about the GEEP programme (either #TraderMoni, #MarketMoni, #FarmerMoni), they think about how transformative it is for the beneficiaries, but in a lot of ways it’s also life-changing for those of us implementing the programme." - @uzonwagba

"Nothing would have prepared us for this scope and scale of impact. Nothing could have connected us better to the realities of the everyday Nigerian. We literally spend the day with them in the markets, get in their heads, support their trade." - @uzonwagba

For some beneficiaries, like tomato sellers in Mile 12, #TraderMoni represents negotiating power with their suppliers. The traders can now pool more funds together, sometimes up to 15 people pooling N150k using #TraderMoni, and negotiating for bulk-buying of tomatoes in baskets..

...bringing their individual costs down by 40% for the same quantities they sell. For others, like keke riders or cart pushers in the North, it's investing in more petrol & maintenance upfront, enabling much less interruptions during the day to enable them earn more." @uzonwagba

"For the tailor or plank seller on #MarketMoni, it's inputs, or light machinery (like a sewing machine or electric saw). For the farmer, we're talking stock feed or fertilizer. The stories are so diverse, and so beautiful." - @uzonwagba

"What weaves this all together is a common thread of industrious low-income Nigerians in productive commerce that require credit, and now this requirement has gone from a wish to a reality." - @uzonwagba

Even when genuine, transparency and accountability have often been the bane of most govt intervention projects. How is GEEP any different?

The GEEP prog has a strict governance structure which emanates from the Federal Government through the office of the VP. @uzonwagba

"The money is placed in the Bank of Industry (BOI) which has been asked to execute the program. There are signed agreements between the Federal Government and BOI on how the funds will be used, and how the usage must be reported." - @uzonwagba #TraderMoni #MarketMoni

"In the process of our data capture, we go the full length to ensure that we"re compliant with the data points required, and that there are no “ghost” beneficiaries. The project works with a number of private-sector partners whose job it is to enumerate candidates for the loans"

"We use the private sector to greatly minimize any political interpretation or undertone. After the verification, disbursement and repayment mgt is done by BOI. Every beneficiary is essentially a loan obligor to BOI. The FG made an explicit decision to run the prog through BOI.."

...and to ensure direct engagement with every single beneficiary. This is the reason over 4,000 agents wake up every morning & go to d field to have a personal interaction with the traders, capture their information, and sync the data back to BOI so we can verify & make payments.

"So we end up with a system where we can tell you everybody who has benefited from the project, their exact location, their picture with the trade, the specific loan amount, when they are scheduled to pay back, how much paid so far, and so on. " - @uzonwagba

"We also went through several series of scrutiny from the National Assembly before the program budget was approved – and our reporting of the programme has also been held to the highest of standards." - @uzonwagba #TraderMoni #MarketMoni

TO BE CONTINUED!

businessday.ng/amp/enterprene…

There have been rumors in the news about the GEEP initiatives, especially #TraderMoni, being a Vote-Buying scheme of the FG; how do you respond to that?

First the GEEP started in 2016, so this is our third year of operation. Our first loan registration was in May 2016 @uzonwagba

"Since then we have been running the GEEP nonstop across the country. Also we must note that it is the direct field learning while implementing #MarketMoni that led to the introduction of the #TraderMoni which started as a mobile-based loan product and kicked off in Sept 2017"

"The point is that GEEP program did not start in election season. Very far from it. As at November 2017, over a year ago, even before the country cared who was running for office or not, we had disbursed over 300,000 loans." - @uzonwagba

"Moreover, for those who still push the vote-buying narrative, I always ask: is GEEP (#MarketMoni, #FarmerMoni, #TraderMoni) a wrong prog? In other words, is it impacting millions of Nigerians or not? If it is, then why wld there be a wrong time to do the right thing?" @uzonwagba

"Think about this even more deeply, the vote-buying narrative could even be another patronizing expression of our middle-class privilege and we must always check this. As a middle-class entrepreneur, or business mogul, you can walk into BOI to borrow funds to grow your business"

"You walk out with your dignity intact, and possibly with a loan. Sometimes these loans run into tens of millions of Naira, and billons of Naira. Yet, nobody accuses you of being vote-bought, even when you are borrowing the money of a government institution or project" @uzonwagba

"On what basis therefore do we assume that those at the bottom of the pyramid are also not intelligent economic actors who can make rational decisions to better their lives? These are human beings with goals, aspirations, and dignity like you and I." - @uzonwagba #TraderMoni

"They are not genetically predisposed to bad decisions, or so vulnerable that they would just be bought. Nothing could be further from the truth. If they have a better life, our job is done." - @uzonwagba #TraderMoni #MarketMoni

"Since I resumed this job 3 years ago, until now, I've never set my eyes on a PVC of any beneficiary. Not one. I wld know. There is no such. As a matter of fact, some of the states with our largest beneficiaries are not even states that politically align with the party in power"

"As long as you are a Nigerian petty trader, you are eligible!" - @uzonwagba #TraderMoni #MarketMoni

Still on rumors, some #TraderMoni beneficiaries have complained of getting less than the N10,000 promised; and reports have suggested the deducted sums were taken out by Iya-Lojas and other value chain players. How is the GEEP team responding to this? @BusinessDayNg

"We are aware of those instances and are taking the necessary actions. With a prog of this scale, targeting a segment of the population that is highly uneducated, we know that some people wld try to exploit the process and take advantage of unsuspecting beneficiaries" @uzonwagba

"We have even seen instances of people who do not work for the programme, walking into a market with mobile phone tablets and posing as #TraderMoni agents. They charge N200 per person who comes to have their data and picture “captured,” whereas this is all just a show" @uzonwagba

"This's one of those issues where our first reaction has to been to over-communicate, to make it clear to the public and our beneficiaries that #TraderMoni is FREE! We do this above the line but also below the line (individually via SMS & automated voice call in local languages)"

"They shd never pay to get registered, and certainly never pay to access the funds from their mobile wallet. We also prosecute and make a public show of any of our agents who engage in any fraudulent activity, and we will be doing much more of this – including blocking their BVN"

"As we continue to do more and more of these, we know that, at a point, the public would become our own police. They will report, apprehend, and even prosecute anyone caught in sharp practices. This is already happening." - @uzonwagba

"We've a responsibility to stay ahead of the fraud by not only dealing decisively with it but by also spreading information. If there is one thing I like to get out of this interview, it's that readers shd report ANY suspected exploitation of Nigerians trying to access this loan"

TO BE CONTINUED!

businessday.ng/amp/enterprene…