Bitpesa partners with Bitbond to financially assist SMEs

Blockchain remittance service Bitpesa has partnered with Germany’s Bitbond, a company aimed at connecting investors to SME owners.

The partnership aims to improve financial access to SMEs in Africa through cross-border lending by way of blockchain payment processing.

By working with Bitpesa, selected applicants who receive funding through Bitbond will now be able to have their loans paid out directly to a mobile money account or a standard banking account. The advantage of this is that loans would be paid out in their local currency to the borrower’s preferred payment option.

The payment integration service has already gone live in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and the DRC.

“10% of our global user base comes from Sub-Saharan Africa. We are excited to work with BitPesa in this region because there is a huge unmet demand for small business financing,” said the founder and CEO of Bitbond, Radoslav Albrecht in a press release.

Bitpesa and Bitbond team up to tackle underfunded SME entrepreneurs in Africa

“This means that a small business owner from Kenya can receive loan funding from investors from all over the world via Bitbond and have the funds paid out to his mobile money account in 20 minutes. This is an unprecedented level of innovation and convenience in the entire online lending space,” Albrecht continued.

The partnership will continue to open up better payment corridors which will serve the growing number of businesses within Africa.

“We are always excited to partner with companies that make doing business in Africa easier and more efficient. Our customers are businesses looking to grow across the continent and beyond. Better access to efficient financing is a tremendous way to boost their growth,” said the founder and CEO of Bitpesa, Elizabeth Rossiello.

“Together with BitPesa, we can significantly improve our service,” concluded Albrecht.

Featured image: Antana via Flickr