Asante Financial Services Group

Asante Financial Services Group (Asante), is an ecosystem based digital lending platform that leverages data analytics to lend to MSMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

In Sub-Saharan Africa, lending to Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) by traditional financial institutions in emerging markets and developing economies has been extremely limited. 

Yet, MSMEs have a significant impact on the economies of most countries, especially emerging markets, representing 90% of all businesses, 66% of all jobs created, and 50% of the world’s GDP. MSMEs are often neglected by lenders due to a combination of factors, including the high cost of customer acquisition and due diligence, insufficient data availability for accurate credit assessments, uncertain customer lifetime values, and the high costs of distribution and servicing. 

The company works directly with ecosystem channel partners—such as telecommunication companies, payment processors, and insurance companies—to collect conventional and non-conventional MSME data, in order to reduce the cost of customer acquisition and due diligence while providing sufficient alternative data for credit underwriting.