Eyowo – Smart Money Africa

Yep, you read that right, “Eyowo”, this is Yoruba for “come and take money”.  Eyowo Integrated payments Limited is a payment service provider founded in 2018 and headquartered in Lagos.  It was set up by Softcom in 2019 as a Banking platform that would change online banking and how people, save, spend, and invest their monies.  Eyowo, headed by its CEO Tomi Amao said, “Eyowo was created in an attempt to solve the financial inclusion problem in Nigeria. Today, we are launching a bank for all… Our target market is everyone who has a payment need and has a phone number. This includes people and businesses who want to make or receive payments for goods and services online and offline.” 

Eyowo is the Bank without walls, it is the payment platform that allows you to save, spend, receive and take out zero-interest loans for your needs,  the fun part? All you’d need is a phone number and you’re good to go.  Eyowo allows you to have access to payments options and to receive funds without the hassle of a Bank account and all the red tape involved in actually opening an account.  Eyowo is such a future-forward platform that it creates access to a bouquet of devices that can be used to access your personal account with Eyowo.  You can access it with your mobile phone, on a desktop, with their USSD –“#4255”, and an Interactive voice response service has been set up and you can call – 01-7001511 to get started.  Eyowo uses Bank-level encryption to protect your funds against fraud and compromised information; it uses Two-factor authentication, 256-bit encryption, and PCI DSS.  Currently, Eyowo has over 3,000,000 users of the platform.

Eyowo, is currently running a micro-credit initiative the “grow with Eyowo” which started in mid-April and is set to give out 5 million naira loans and industry-specific growth tips from seasoned experts, master classes, and a budget for online advertising and campaigns to SMEs, selected entrepreneurs will get a state-of-the-art studio to shoot photos and videos for promotional content for their Businesses.

Eyowo being a Microfinance bank is under the supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria and has statutory obligations to protect the deposits of their customers, investors, stakeholders, and the Economy.  In Nigeria, for example, Microfinance banks have a minimum capital requirement of 200,000,000 million naira (two hundred million naira).  Although it is not a publicly quoted company, the details and financial health doesn’t have to be made known to the public by the Bank.