IWD: Pocketfuel finance looks to promote inclusivity and gender equality

The CEO of Pocketfuel, Fome Amaye, has come out to state that he is ready to make life and business easy for women in Nigeria. With almost 50% of its population being women, majority have been turning to small businesses, to protect their families and survive.

Despite the challenges projected in the finance sector with regards to these women accessing credit facility or loans in Nigeria, the demand is still growing. Many microfinance banks and online lending companies have been launched to support and lesson the burden. Although each has its significant purposes, some of them might come with outrageous rates or hidden charges.

Pocketfuel founder, Fome Amaye is a great example of how the youth of Nigeria are innovating and finding new ways to tackle these issues. Pocketfuel Finance Ltd, stands in as a buffer to ease financial stress in times of related urgencies. Put simply, they are the vehicle that seeks to drive financial inclusion among regular individuals, businesses and associations as well as the market segment that would typically be identified as underbanked.

According to him, the decision was made due to his experience during COVID 2020; “Before establishing Pocketfuel, I had applied for loans at one or two instances, which I didn’t get the best of experiences. From paper work to wait time, and hidden charges, the process was discouraging. It became my passion to float a service that would address the concerns I had with credit facility management. It was also less tasking to ease into this aspect of financial services when I began thinking of a career progression”.

The Founder and CEO Fome Amaye’s vision is to make sure credit facilities and transactions are carried out with speed and ease while reflecting their core value of respect. In line with its core value, he guarantees that customers would experience transparency, respect and consistency. “On socio-economic impact, small businesses are given the opportunity to stay afloat as our credit facility helps to manage their cash conversion cycle. The underbanked who may not have full documentation for loan processing, are given a chance to prove their credibility by way of a verified guarantor. All of which improves the quality of life”, he says.

Known to shares a company culture that reflects a work life balance, equal opportunity, inclusivity and diversity, Pocketfuel Finance Ltd is very particular about their staff. Pocketfuel has also worked on various projects including Venture Capital and Advisory. According to Amaye, “Pocketfuel was founded in September 2020. Starting out more as a sole proprietorship, we started from giving out loans to friends and family (after the requisite onboarding procedure with regulators), currently the company has grown to instituting a Board of Advisors, increasing staff strength and outsourcing some of its operations to contractors. We have also been privileged to have the interest of investors who now share in the company’s holdings” he concludes.