Sycamore introduces "Loan Friends" to enable Friends give loans without worrying about repayment.

The use of technology has accelerated the expansion of Nigeria's loan industry. The lending industry is benefiting from the value created by fintech and agritech companies, which expands its potential customer base and increases the sector's product range. Sycamore is one such company; it entered the market, conducted the necessary research, and developed a minimum viable product (MVP) to improve the worth of the financing it provides.

Sycamore is a P2P lending platform that links lenders and borrowers through its smartphone app. It was started in 2019 by three friends who met while attending Lagos Business School (LBS). Since its beginning, the firm has lent more than $15 million to more than 40,000 different people. Sycamore saw a need in the market, especially in the consumer-to-consumer lending space, and it is aiming to fill that void while still maintaining a sizable portion of its platform that serves small companies that use it for access to timely loans.
 
Sycamore's mobile app has a product called Loan Friends that helps deal with this problem in a rather ingenious way. On closer inspection, three primary points leap out. The first issue with making a monetary arrangement on the sly is the establishment of loan conditions. The software eliminates the usual uncertainty of informal lending by requiring both parties to indicate a loan amount and a due date. Second, the borrower is sometimes sent automated reminders, which is a clever workaround to the loan provider having to contact the debtor repeatedly to remind them of their obligations. And last (everyone's favorite), is a system that automatically deducts payments from the borrower's bank account on the due date.

"We believe that people will recognize the fact that Loan Friends is at least 10 times better than the alternatives when it comes to handling lending specifically. There are indeed several options for payments. But Loan Friends handles the process end-to-end, from loan documentation to payment, reminders, and collection. That’s the value we offer, and we believe the market will recognize this in due time," Onyinye Okonji, Chief Marketing Officer, said. "We also have other stripes, like being the first digital lending platform in Nigeria to obtain approval from the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), which further goes to cement our credibility and reinforce our belief in customer obsession," she added.

Mayowa Adeosun, the company's COO, also said that the company will not be relying on the strength of its product alone. He noted that Sycamore is building a community of people who are passionate about the product because of how useful it has been to them. He added that the company has also leveraged influencer marketing and a very effective social media strategy. "Our approach to growth and marketing can be viewed as unorthodox, but that does not diminish its effectiveness." For example, we recently hosted an inter-company PS5 gaming event for Fintech industry players in Nigeria (probably the first of its kind), which we dubbed FINFA (Fintech + FIFA), and it was a huge success. "Not only because it helped bring the industry together, but it also helped us generate some much-needed awareness."

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