Pakistan is a country with a large, young, low-middle class unbanked population. The lending for this segment is largely catered by the informal lenders including friends, family, and traditional private loan sharks. All these informal lending institutions are undocumented and don't follow any ethical or regulatory standards.

In the last decade or so the microfinance institutions which are regulated either by SECP or SBP started formal lending to microbusinesses. But the off-take was slow and reliant on non-digital methods.

Lately, the sector potential has started to be tapped by digital nano-lenders. But within the segment, being in the nascent stage, good and bad lenders are tapping into the market.

A review of the market players reveals that SeedCred Financial Services Ltd is a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) licensed by SECP based out of Islamabad and is among the leading Fintechs in the Pakistani market to expand the nano lending business across the country. It was launched in 2021 at the time of the Covid pandemic when conventional lending platforms were discouraged due to policy constraints while the borrowers need was the highest due to the lack of economic opportunities owing to lockdowns.

SeedCred started offering hassle-free and paperless digital Nano loans through their Mobile application 'Barwaqt' committed to enabling the digitalisation of financial services to improve financial inclusion in Pakistan.

Barwaqt is the consumer interface through which the lending processes, fund disbursements, and repayments take place. Barwaqt is the front-face which at the back-end is powered by SeedCred’s sophisticated AI based software application which can process thousands of loan applications in a day. This is further supported by a very elaborate Call-Centre operation, which employs thousands of young Pakistanis coming from diverse backgrounds, who attend to customer’s queries, and at the same time provide guidance to borrowers.

The app is simple to use, and the borrower gets the money instantly once the loan is processed.

SeedCred partnerships with leading financial platforms for disbursement & collection of instant digital loans, not just make lending simpler, faster, and safer for the unbanked but also empowers customers to get financial freedom anytime anywhere.

Barwaqt is one of the safest Apps in the nano-lending market and keeps its customers datasecure and encrypted, maintaining data security as the utmost priority. The company’soperations are not only regulated by the SECP, but the company has to conform to its ethics andinternal standards to ensure data secrecy, while offering full disclosure of Terms, and to avoidany kind of customer’s harassment.

Barwaqt is easy to use, and the lender does not hide any lending information-interest rates and processing fees, from borrowers. Its lenders and agents’ teams are well trained and are scrutinised through systematic checks.

The data secrecy and privacy are the top priority and the system ensures that consumers and their data is protected from any misuse. The payment terms are clear and are market-driven. The company has a zero-tolerance policy for its employees about customer’s harassment during the lending or recovery process.

“Our mission is to alleviate poverty by providing Nano loans to people in Pakistan, to help low-income households to stabilise their cash flows and save for future needs. We, as SeedCred don't just do business but we help people financially, especially those who don't have access to conventional banking, just when they urgently need access to funds. Our goal is to make the People of Pakistan happy ＆ economically strong. We not only provide respectable employment to young Pakistanis, but also treat them with dignity and respect. It's our people who matter to us.” quotes the CEO, Mr. Abrar Ameen.

The objective of the Company is noble, and the execution of the lending process is done professionally. SeedCred looks all set to disrupt the market by providing safe and secure consumptive loan opportunities to borrowers who historically were hitherto ignored by the traditional lenders (or were unable to access them), by continuing to offer more innovative products in the future.

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By Ali Sherazi