Ladda

40% of Nigeria’s population (about 82 Million Nigerians) live below the poverty line of $381 dollars per year. In addition to a flailing economy; making bad financial decisions, falling for Ponzi schemes and a lack of savings and investments also contribute to the endemic poverty in Nigeria.

Nigerian adults lack access to platforms that allow them to invest their savings in high-yielding opportunities that protect them from inflation. Ladda provides cheap and convenient access to high-yield assets in one place, giving users a platform to save in naira and dollars, and invest in dollar and naira mutual funds. If scaled globally, Ladda will be a bridge, reducing the barriers to wealth inequality as we currently have it, and connecting millions of low to middle income earners worldwide with the opportunity to grow their wealth.

With the Nigerian currency being further devalued (6-7% devaluation per year), the number of Nigerians who save yearly is reducing. In 2016, 68.0% of Nigerians saved compared with 54.7% in 2018. (source: EFINA). A higher cost of living has also discouraged Nigerians from putting money inside, leading to more poverty and inequality. Ladda presents Nigerians with secure savings with higher returns than traditional banks, and high-yield investment opportunities that protect them from inflation, currency devaluation, making them wealthier and improving their state of living. Backed by our sister company MoneyAfrica, Ladda also offers financial literacy in an elementary form, arming our users with the resources to make smarter financial decisions.

Ladda is a secure, fast and easy-to-use mobile app that allows users to save in naira and dollars, and invest in global stocks, mutual funds and alternative assets. Through our sister company MoneyAfrica, we also offer financial education, giving users the opportunity to make informed financial decisions that help them defeat poverty.

Ladda is designed with adult Nigerians (up to 82 million people) in mind. Our focus is on adult millennials and Gen Zs with financial assets. The entry barrier to retail investment is currently very high, with traditional channels demanding between $1000-$10,000 as entry fees, an amount which is about 4x the per capita income of Nigerians. Ladda reduces this barrier to entry, making it easier to invest. Our market research and marketing has engaged millennials and Gen Zs through the platforms they are most comfortable with, digital platforms. We have learned that you cannot save your way out of poverty, especially if the currency being held is classified as weak. Ladda democratizes access to investment for retail investors and offers them financial literacy services.

Ladda caters to a population that experiences the world digitally and is seeking ways to rise out of poverty. We have built a digital means of building wealth, circumventing the traditional brick and mortar financial institutions that have placed a high entry barrier to investment. With Ladda, users get a safe and secure digital product that increases their assets and contributes to their wealth portfolio, we offer all this in addition to financial education delivered in an elementary manner.

We have launched the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of Ladda, which offers users access to Naira and dollar savings and mutual funds. We are testing with the Money Africa community, a leading financial literacy platform in Nigeria. The community has over 10,000 paying members, from which we have gotten over 1,000 users since launch. 

Ladda is innovative because it allows users domiciled in Nigeria to save in a foreign, more stable currency and invest in high-yield investments all at the click of a button. Facilitated by technology, we provide young Nigerians familiar with tech to make sound financial decisions that will reduce the inequality gap. The conventional means of accessing services like this are traditional financial institutions that are often reluctant to source forex for their users, unlike Ladda which encourages users to save and invest in dollars. Ladda is going to be a game-changer in the digital financial space by combining savings, stock trading and investment in mutual funds and alternative assets in one platform. 

Ladda currently has 1,000+ active users. We are targeting 50,000+ users in a year and to reach 200,000+ users in the next 5 years. These users will be key contributors to their household, with the multiplier effect reaching over 1,000,000+ people given the average household size of 5 in Nigeria.

We measure the number of active users on our platform, average transaction value, and active saving and investment plans by unique users.

Full-time- 8

Part-time- 2

Contractors- 3

We understand the financial exclusion problem faced by Nigerian adults because we serve the exact demographic our team is made up of. We are trying to offer solutions that are also important to us and make our own lives better. Ladda is a team of Millennials and Gen Zs including working adults and undergraduates from diverse backgrounds, whose income and status would ordinarily deny them opportunities in a financial system designed to empower High Net-worth Individuals (HNI). We mostly grew up and went to school in Nigeria, and we all work in Nigeria, so we understand the frustrations and challenges we are trying to ease. 

We are well placed to deliver on this solution because members of our management team have a combined 3 decades of experience working in financial services and financial technology. Our CEO has over ten years of experience in financial services, our COO has over 6 years experience in consulting for financial services and investment management, our CTO has over 4 years experience in FinTech while our operations lead has over 6 years of experience working in FinTech. 

The Ladda team is led by a female CEO, and made up of 50% women represented in all departments from tech, to marketing to management. Our marketing targets women because they make up the backbone of Nigerian households.

I am applying to Solve to get financial support to scale Ladda further and to gain access to mentors and advisors with experience in emerging economies. With the support from MIT, I know that my team will receive the required mentorship and motivation to keep building a world-class product for Nigerian users and subsequently for users around the world.

Ladda caters to a population that experiences the world digitally and is seeking ways to rise out of poverty. We have built a digital means of building wealth, circumventing the traditional brick and mortar financial institutions that have placed a high entry barrier to investment. With Ladda, users get a safe and secure digital product that increases their assets and contributes to their wealth portfolio, we offer all this in addition to financial education delivered in an elementary manner.

By 2022, Ladda hopes to be directly impacting 250,000 Nigerians. In the next 5 years, we hope to be directly impacting 1,000,000 Nigerians. 

 We are building a solution that will aggregate multi-currency saving, mutual funds, stocks, alternative assets and insurance in one place. This means users can access all opportunities in one mobile application, rather than depending on the specialised solutions in the market currently.

The HP Prize for Advancing Digital Equity will benefit us greatly in this regard.

Ladda caters to a population that experiences the world digitally and is seeking ways to rise out of poverty. We have built a digital means of building wealth, circumventing the traditional brick and mortar financial institutions that have placed a high entry barrier to investment. With Ladda, users get a safe and secure digital product that increases their assets and contributes to their wealth portfolio, we offer all this in addition to financial education delivered in an elementary manner.

By 2022, Ladda hopes to be directly impacting 250,000 Nigerians. In the next 5 years, we hope to be directly impacting 1,000,000 Nigerians. 

 We are building a solution that will aggregate multi-currency saving, mutual funds, stocks, alternative assets and insurance in one place. This means users can access all opportunities in one mobile application, rather than depending on the specialised solutions in the market currently.

The GSR Prize will advance our mission in this regard greatly.