Flick, a Nigerian fintech platform, aims to make payments quicker and easier for Africans by enabling users to connect multiple bank accounts and pay directly from one source. The firm, which has only been around for a year, was a participant in the first ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator Program and just last week, at its demo day, informed Technext of what it had to offer to the world in general and Nigerians in particular.
So this is how Flick works. If you have multiple bank accounts, Flick is a platform where you can control and monitor all the accounts. But it’s not just bank accounts. It’s also financial accounts with fintech startups. Thereby, solving the problem of delayed transactions in Nigeria.
The Issue At Hand
“In Nigeria and other parts of Africa, two out of every five payments either fail, are significantly delayed, or give rise to conflicts. Seven hundred million out of the two billion dollars that are traded every day, according to the CEO Ruth Olojede.
And as a result, clients squander a total of 3,000 hours per day trying to settle payment problems. Either POS declines or bank transactions take longer than expected. All of us have had frustrating payments. Hence, we decided to make it simpler for individuals to pay by establishing Flick,” she continued.
And this waste resulting from unsuccessful transactions does not only occur in Nigeria or from lost transactions. Due to the lack of rapid and simple transactions, businesses are losing clients.
“That is why Nigerians like you and me have three to eight different bank accounts, mainly to reduce the chances of payment failures or delays. People simply need a simpler and easier way to pay from these bank accounts,” she continued.
What Part Does Flick Play In Solving The Problem?
“Typically we like to say we’re building Paypal for Africa.”Normally, we like to claim that we are developing Paypal for Africa. We are developing a system to make payments for consumers quicker and easier. At Flick, we’ve integrated the banks through open banking and given consumers the option to consolidate their accounts to expedite payments.
In contrast to the 23-second industry average, users can make payments using Flick in just seven seconds. Moreover, Flick payments are 99% trustworthy and a lot more practical, she added.
As a result of the platform’s ability to combine customer accounts into a single channel, the “company can get immediate settlement into any bank account.”
The best aspect is that it goes beyond payments. Because Flick is data-driven, users may access faster credit through our partner banks and fintech because they can view all of their financial information, credit history, spending patterns, and earnings on a single platform, Olojede continued.
The challenges that Flick might encounter
According to this approach, Flick would need to collaborate with numerous financial institutions to offer its solution to customers. It has proven difficult to reach agreements with these partner universities.
Because we are essentially collecting the entire disjointed system and bringing it together in one place, our solution depends on the number of partnerships we can form. It has been a learning experience to enter that ecosystem, network, and close this partnership.
Conclusion
Yet Flick isn’t letting the requirements of this kind of business model stop it from progressing. According to Olojede, the business has ambitious intentions to grow internationally over the next five years.
“We see Flick as being used by over five million users as a payment platform. We see ourselves extending beyond Nigeria, to like nine other countries,” she said.
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