A credit score professional and President of the Cash Lenders Affiliation (MLA), Gbemi Adelekan, has mentioned that many Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria are increase unfavourable credit score profiles that might bar them from accessing the capital they desperately have to develop.
Adelekan, who said this in an interview with the Information Company of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday, described credit score well being as not only a {financial} document however as a enterprise passport that may unlock doorways or hold them firmly shut.
“It’s now not nearly borrowing cash; it’s about what your credit score story says about your online business. Many MSMEs don’t realise that their borrowing behaviour right now will decide whether or not they can scale tomorrow,” Adelekan mentioned.
In accordance with him, one alarming development amongst digital cash lenders in Nigeria is the revolving-door sample the place people, typically already indebted, transfer from one mortgage app to a different searching for fast funds.
This behaviour, he mentioned, leaves a path of unpaid money owed and tarnishes the borrower’s credit score status—one thing lenders are now not ignoring.
“Most licensed lenders within the nation now examine your credit score report with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-approved bureaus earlier than making a mortgage determination. And when you’re flagged for defaults, your possibilities of accessing future loans, particularly with first rate phrases, drop considerably,” he defined.
“MSMEs typically function with tight money flows and restricted capital, so sustaining a superb credit score profile just isn’t a luxurious; it’s a necessity. Poor compensation behaviour limits your skill to lift funding, broaden operations, and even negotiate beneficial rates of interest,” he mentioned.
He defined that lenders starting from conventional banks to fintech companies and cooperatives are more and more leveraging expertise and information to evaluate threat.
