GFA Spotlight: Regxta (GetFundedAfrica May/June Fundraising Cohort Edition)
About the Founder(s)
Rukayat Oluwaseun Bello and Afis Olalekan Bello are co-founders of Regxta, a financial company addressing the major challenges of financial exclusion in Africa by providing access to financial and social services, access to business support and advisory, and creating data in the informal sector.
Rukayat and Afis bring to bear, in the company, their collective professional experiences working in commercial and microfinance banks as well as their backgrounds in accounting and finance.
For Rukayat, her passion lies in financial inclusion and one unique trait she possesses is overcoming any challenge that may come her way. Afis, on the other hand, has a never-give-up attitude towards life.
When they are not working, Rukayat can be found cooking and reading while Afis is a football fan.
About Regxta
Regxta was born out of Rukayat’s mum’s experience in 2016. She was an unbanked micro-business owner in a rural-urban area who needed funds to operate. When she approached a microfinance bank in Lagos, Nigeria for a loan, her request was rejected due to a lack of credit history and geographical location. The result? Her business failed.
In 2018, Rukayat decided to create a digital credit platform for the unbanked and micro businesses to facilitate simple, quick and easy access to financial services. Beyond credit, there is also the provision of business support services.
Regxta aims to accelerate the growth of the informal micro business sector in Africa through innovative ideas and digital solutions; thus. reducing poverty and hunger.
Since its launch almost four years ago, the company has built a minimum viable product (MVP), and disbursed loans in two communities amounting to the tune of $400,000 to over 1,500 customers with an impressive 99.9% record collections. It has also created job opportunities for its 18-staff strength.
It is interesting to note that these milestones were reached despite the challenges it faced in building its technology team, raising funds to expand and securing growth partnerships. But overcoming obstacles is Rukayat’s superpower; even with known competitors in the likes of traditional micro finance banks and fintechs – LAPO MFB, Bankly, Imagine Lenders, Ruby, Opay etc. Regxta is the first company to provide digital credit solutions to the unbanked, and it is here to stay and compete.
Among future plans for Regxta are launching its mobile app this year, securing a significant amount of fund and obtaining a banking license from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
In five years, Rukayat aspires to expand the company into other African countries, generate a billion dollars’ worth of transactions and increase its customer base to more than the five million mark.
She would like Regxta to be known as most innovative digital bank focused on the underserved.
