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By Angel James
Fintechs are gradually challenging the banking industry for space in e-payments and especially with the ability to grant credit at a speed the traditional banking is finding difficult to keep up with. One of the drivers of this innovation that has kept the banking industry gaping is Sabastine Enechi, the Chief Executive Officer of Shago Payments Limited.
“Shago” which means “Kiosk” in Hausa language is an effort by Sabastine with great understanding of payments, technology, e-commerce, agent network acquisition and management to bring quality financial services to individual and businesses. By deploying our full strength, we will also cut down on poverty in the country, said Sabastine, a graduate of Electrical Electronics Engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Yola who was emboldened to set up Shago having garnered experience at Capricorn Digital Limited, one of Nigerian’s leading super agent. The success story of Capricorn Digital created the urge in Sabastine to step out and birth a new Start-up to compliment the Fintech ecosystem.
“Shago is an e-commerce and on-demand platform that leverages on people, technology and merchants to also drive payments and collections”, he explained and noted that it is effort that is being driven by the urge to bridge the gap between merchants and agents, creating an enabling business ecosystem that seamlessly transit e-commerce activities into financial transactions, collections and completing bills’ payments services.
In this business, merchants are converted to agents thereby further bringing financial Inclusion nearer to the people in line with the CBN’s efforts to drive financial inclusion to the masses. “We are working with the banks and have also started processes to get CBN’s license” he explained to InsideBusiness.
The idea of Shago was conceived mid-2019 and thus started the technology design, the service architecture, as well as the portal and application. The pilot stage was launched in November, test-running it to December using close relatives who are agents and merchants.
With positive feedback, the commercial mobile app was deployed to Android Playstore on January 1 2020 and the process to acquire agents started.
Between November and now, about 300 are already on Shago’s network and this has helped Sabastine to move closer to realising one of his aims which is creating jobs through technology and helping to reduce poverty.
“So far we have about 300 active agents and merchants using our solution. By the end of March, the e-commerce and on-demand part of the solution should be ready for commercial roll-out as well to complement the existing collections and payments features of the solution”.
Passion to create solutions that humanity can relate with for a good use was the inspiration for Sebastine, who noted that “Tech is all about inventing and the fact that one can invent without any physical machinery gets me going. I love anything digital”, he said
When the urge to move on came, Sabatine lacked the capital but this was not a hindrance in the pursuits of his passion. “I have been trying to attract investors because capital goes a long way when building a tech business but the major driver is passion and the ability to be hungry to create. With little savings and assistance from friends and family, the seed capital came handy and Shago came to live. When you are passionate you keep going regardless and in no time investors will see how far you have gone and how passionate you are to scale after which they come supporting
The prospects in Tech are enormous.”During my CCNA class days, we have this slogan “Mind Wide Open”. If you keep an open mind to innovation you will see that tech is yet to start. We are yet to explore the robotics AI, APIs are the tools for the now but I bet you in no time even APIs will be outdated. Agrotech and Medtech are still stuff we are yet to fully explore”.
Like other businesses, funding and market acceptance were also challenges but we are on the right track, says Sabastine.
Shago definitely is already helping the society curb unemployment because being an agent or merchant give access to the app which provides commission on every transaction. There will be more money when the e-commerce part of the App that will help showcase merchants goods and services for free to everyone begins to work .
we are bringing technology that speaks to the ordinary Nigerian and with the name it comes with that sense of truly Nigerian product
The investment opportunities in the fintech space are huge ranging from agency banking. Over 50% of Nigerians are unbanked. We need to do retail banking and take it to the people same as building digital banking services. Micro lending is just getting attractive however this needs to be brought to our people in the hinterlands, Finhealth is a slang I formed, imagine gaining access to HMO or medical insurance as a result of the number of financial transactions you did. Our people needs such and am so sure it will help drive both the literate and illiterate to financial services. Such and many more of such ideas needs to be invested into, noted Sabastine who said businesses must continue to innovate and evolve products that suit specific needs to remain relevant.
He lauded the government for creating an enabling environment for Shago’s kind of business with schemes like Sanef which is the shared agent network facility, and CIFI, the Creative Industries Finance Initiatives etc. However, more is expected from the government to assist young start ups to access such funds due to stringent guidelines either from the banks.
“The challenge so far has been funds, we have passed the incubation stage and ready to hit the market fully but we need capital to drive marketing awareness and grow our manpower This challenge can be address by allowing both small and larger businesses access to same opportunities like ease of licensing, ability to secure tele infrastructure such as short-codes etc
Sabastine is very ambitious, planning to expend Shago’s operation into every state in Nigeria having discovered that its services is needed nationwide. However, Funding will be the key determinant in Shago’s plan to be on everyone’s lips.
The business is, however, devising several strategies to make this happen. It is working on an on-demand service and also looking to collaborate with the government as its divestment from oil-dependent is advancing and the citizens are cuing into the many untapped opportunities. Shago, with the experience of Sabastine is well prepared to be the vehicle for disbursement for agrotech services collections among other growing opportunities the new realities are offering…
Sabastine has a word for other entrepreneurs and that is, creating room for collaboration, to cut down on reliance on government. “With collaboration and shared infrastructure and services, we all can build a solution that will better affect our nation for good without spending so much”.
“If firm a has an infrastructure that form B needs we can collaborate and share resources thereby reducing our cost and also sharing the margin and invariably depending less on the government and at the end, our people will have a solution or service that better our economy”. he advised.
BADEJO ADEMUYIWA has 23 years experience as a Finance Writer, specialising in Insurance and Investigative Reporting.
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