Nairobi — Solv Kenya, a B2B marketplace for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and a venture build of Standard Chartered PLC, has surpassed Sh1 billions of invoices funded to Kenyan SMEs in its first full year of business.
The firm also seeks to lend to over 50,000 SMEs in the next three years by expanding supply chain funding lines and introducing new products in the market.
Solv will be partnering with other financial institutions to offer SMEs a wider pool of credit through its platform while on-boarding more supply chains including construction, manufacturing, retail, electronics, food and beverage and pharmaceutical industries among others.
"We're completely committed to helping businesses grow through access to finance and expansion to new markets. Our figures and projections over the next few years speak for themselves," said Solv CEO Sheila Kimani.
"Reaching this momentous milestone in just 12 months shows that we have the appetite to help SMEs access competitive financing in a convenient manner," she added.
The company said it will deepen partnerships to promote value added products covering insurance, payments and government services as it also makes an entry into e-commerce and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) space.
Solv Kenya Chief Executive officer, Sheila Kimani said the company is keen on bridging a huge finance gap that's limiting growth of most SMEs in the country.
Importantly, Solv is championing access to sustainable and responsible finance which has been a huge barrier to growth and stability of SMEs.
"With no access to finance, SMEs are unable to stock enough for their customers or provide desired services and thus face tough competition from their much-established competitors. Additionally, they cannot expand to new markets thus curtailing their growth" said Kimani.
International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimates that about 43 percent of formal SMEs in developing countries like Kenya have an unmet financing need of nearly $4.1 trillion.
Stringent credit evaluation processes including the requirement of audited accounts, security, guarantees and business registration compliance have made it difficult for small businesses to access finance from mainstream financial institutions.
With these challenges, Kimani said, SMEs are unable to create desired economic impact like employment creation and driving last mile access to goods and services.
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"SOLV partners with financial institutions to fund the SMEs by directly paying to the seller of goods/services and thus ensure financing leverage goes into the intended purpose," said Kimani.
She adds, "Availability of multiple financial institutions on the SOLV platform gives SMEs options as opposed to being forced to fit into one entity's requirements. The acceptance rate of SMEs is higher on the SOLV platform as different financiers have different risk acceptance criteria."
Since its launch, the program has gained enviable acceptance in the market enabling SMEs to stock more and expand their customer base while suppliers are able to push more volumes while getting paid instantly through Solv loans.
"We have revolutionized the way SMEs access credit with digital convenience and without shackles of traditional banking conditions. SMEs are now able to obtain stock finance in 3 minutes with no paperwork," said Kimani.
As the company races to hit Sh5 billion mark in loans extended to SMEs in Kenya, the platform prides itself in bringing a secure, trusted and bank-rated marketplace that allows traders to compare financing terms and pricing on offer on the Solv Platform whilst easily accessing stock financing.
SOLV offers SMEs an array of options that closely suits their business requirements from various aspects such as tenure of product, pricing and amount of limit given by partner financial institutions, - thus promoting sustainable SMEs growth in Kenya.
