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Latest From our blog

  • February 14 2025
  • BM

Carbin Africa takes on the ‘messy middle’ in Lagos’ car market

Despite soaring inflation and a crumbling local currency, car dealer Precious Okoedion says no week goes by without a car sale at any one of his three dealerships across Lagos State, Nigeria. Okoedion says many of these sales—over 30 since 2023—have been facilitated through the auto tech platform, Carbin Africa.  Launched in 2023 by two ex-Cars45 employees, Femi Oriowo and Fawaz Abdul, Carbin Africa is digitising car inventory and sales processes for car merchants and dealerships in Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest car market.  Before joining Carbin Africa, Okoedion says he was just a “street trader working with Cars45,” where he first met and established a relationship with the Carbin Africa co-founders. Since joining the platform, a wide variety of merchants, dealers and their inventory have since opened up to him. “A client will walk in here and say, okay, he wants [a Lexus] RS350, I don’t have it. I can quickly log into Carbin Africa and get what I want,” says Okoedion, in the Yaba outlet of his business, Okopi Auto Limited. Beginnings Oriowo’s path to founding Carbin Africa began when he was an OLX merchant serving as a middleman between Computer Village vendors and end buyers. He recalls passing by several car dealerships to and from the popular computer hardware market on the Lagos mainland, and thinking that selling cars on an online marketplace was not too far-fetched.  Once, buoyed by youthful courage, he entered into one of the dealerships and asked the owner if he could list the inventory on OLX and earn a commission.  “I was really confident in those days,” Oriowo says in his office in the heart of Yaba, Lagos’ famed tech cluster. The dealer agreed to the arrangement, providing him with photos and specifications of the inventory.  Within a week, he’d sold his first car, he said.   In a complete move towards car sales, Oriowo joined Cars45 after it launched in 2016 and built a merchant network with classmates from the University of Lagos where he was studying to become a geophysicist. He says they spread out at Cars45’s five retail centres across Lagos and he set up a corporate bank to process their sales centrally. Then they “started to sell cars aggressively,” he says, at least 25 per month.  Eventually, because of the traction they had, Oriowo says he secured a 30-car monthly consignment deal from Cars45 management at the time. The deal was contracted on condition that he could find a physical lot for the consignment.  Fawaz Abdul and Femi Oriowo launched Carbin Africa after participating in 54Collective’s Gen F Venture Studio program Together with his crew, the dealership initially operated from Abdul’s grandmother’s backyard before Cars45 offered to co-fund a proper car showroom. But before business could fully kick off there, COVID-19 lockdowns happened, followed closely by management changes at Cars45, summarily ending the agreement. Oriowo says they adapted by reducing inventory with the capital they had and partnering with dealers to sell their inventory for commissions—₦50,000 per car. “They (dealers) really loved it because they only had to worry about buying the cars; they did not have to worry about selling,” Oriowo says.  It was this collaboration with dealers combined with previous experience working as merchants on Cars45 that revealed challenges and market gaps which ultimately led to Carbin’s founding, Oriowo says. Unique selling point Carbin Africa is one of several online platforms that have launched since 2010 to ease the buying and selling of cars in Nigeria.  To buy a car in Nigeria prior to 2010, you needed to visit any of several small and medium sized dealerships, or find listings in a newspaper, or attend a car auction, or know someone who had a car they were looking to sell. Marketplaces like Cheki—whose Ugandan and Kenyan operation Cars45 acquired in 2021, OLX, and  Jiji facilitated the move online connecting anyone who wanted to buy or sell a car. Later startups like Cars45—which launched in 2016 and was acquired by Jiji in 2021—introduced, as its standout feature, verification and inspection services which were sorely needed in a low-trust market prone to fraud. In Lagos, the car market relies heavily on middlemen, according to Richard Odoboh, one such middleman who has been using Carbin Africa since it launched. These middlemen, or auto merchants as Carbin refers to them, know where you can find a good Nigerian-used Toyota Camry or who deals in good UK-used vehicles—used vehicles, valued at an estimated $1.24 billion, comprise about 90% of the car market in Nigeria. In the best case scenario, they know how to verify the authenticity of car vehicles or where to avoid buying a car. In 2018, five West African countries made up the top 10 importers of used light duty vehicles from Europe in 2018. Source: Compiled by UNEP based on data from the European Commission- Eurostat Comext Database, 2019 Their operations though, like your neighborhood tuck shops, are highly fragmented. It is unclear, for instance, how many of such middlemen there are exactly in Lagos. Oriowo says there’s likely around 10,000 across the country with a large percentage stationed most of the time in Lagos.  These middlemen or auto merchants are Carbin Africa’s prime target customers. Oriowo argues that while end users might make a purchase, on average, once every few years, a middleman might sell two or three cars per month.  By bringing together car dealers—which Carbin Africa defines as established brick and mortar dealership with at least five cars in their inventory and a dedicated staff to interface with the startup—Carbin Africa makes available to the them a large variety of cars to trade in.  “I get cars from Carbin and then clients from Jiji,” Odoboh says, adding that he’s sold about 15-20 since joining the platform in 2023. He says he’s made as little as ₦50,000 and as high as ₦1 million in individual commissions. The platform is also solving for what Oriowo says remains a challenge for middlemen or auto merchants who use existing marketplaces: obsolete listings

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  • February 14 2025
  • BM

“Success speaks louder than stereotypes”–Norrsken22’s Lexi Novitske and Precious John-Adeyemi on bridging funding gap for female founders

Scaling a startup requires capital to invest in technology, hire talent, and achieve product-market fit. Many entrepreneurs rely on investors to fund this vision, but female founders find it more difficult to secure capital compared to men due to systemic challenges including biases in venture capital decision-making and the limited number of female founders pursuing high-growth opportunities.   In 2024, female CEOs raised just $48 million—four times less than the previous year, according to the Big Deal. This is the lowest figure since 2019. In contrast, their male counterparts raised $2.2 billion. Norrsken22, a growth fund that invests in African startups, has backed female-led companies across Africa including Credrails, a fintech company, led by Pauline Wanjiku Githugu, and Sabi, a Nigerian B2B e-commerce platform led by Anu Adasolum.  TechCabal spoke with Lexi Novitske, General Partner at Norrsken22, and Precious John-Adeyemi, Investment Analyst at Norrsken22, about the challenges of female entrepreneurs and bridging the funding gap. This interview has been slightly edited for length and clarity.  What are the barriers female founders face in accessing funding? Lexi: Networking. Everyone struggles with it but female founders often connect more within their circles, while the investment world is still very male-dominated.  Precious:  Women start businesses in sectors that VCs often perceive as less scalable or less profitable. Even though these businesses leverage technology, they frequently operate in legacy industries such as consumer goods, education, or healthcare—sectors that, despite their economic significance, do not always fit the high-growth profiles favoured by VCs. Additionally, limited access to networks makes it more challenging for women to establish relationships necessary for business growth. This is why we must be intentional and proactive in supporting female-founder-focused communities and programs. By fostering more inclusive networks and ensuring greater representation in funding and decision-making, we can help bridge this gap. How would you say these challenges have evolved over the past five years? Lexi: More women are leading funds and joining investment teams, which helps. The bigger shift? Investors have seen enough female-led companies scale and deliver serious returns, so the bias is tilting in a more positive direction. Success speaks louder than stereotypes.   Precious: Well, there has been progress in addressing these challenges. Gradually, we are seeing more recognition of the funding gap, leading to the rise of female-focused VC funds, accelerators, and grant programs. More investors are now tracking gender diversity metrics in their portfolios and making conscious efforts to back female-led companies. Norrsken22 is very proactive about it; we track the number of female-led startups that come in through our pipeline. And it’s hopeful to see a lot of VCs picking up on that as well.  What values do venture capital firms typically look for when evaluating startups and do you think it’s missing in female-led startups? Lexi: VCs care about the fundamentals—unit economics, traction, market size, and scalability. Beyond that, we look for a team that can retain top talent, build strong governance systems (key for scaling big), and even sometimes the kind of ambition that makes profitability a later problem, not a new problem.  Precious: VCs evaluate startups based on several core factors, with the most essential being market size, execution capabilities, and exit opportunities. Another critical consideration is monetisation strategy, as investors seek clear and scalable revenue models. These factors are not inherently missing in female-led startups but may be perceived differently due to biases in the investment process. Addressing these biases is crucial for creating a more equitable investment landscape that fully recognises and unlocks the potential of female founders. Are there specific financial or operational milestones that female founders should prioritise to increase their chances of securing funding? Lexi: Same as for any founder—black, white, male, female, Ivy League, or self-taught. Show strong traction, repeat customer engagement, attractive unit economics, and predictable growth. No special playbook—just execute well.   Precious: Prioritise strong revenue growth, healthy unit economics, and a clear path to scalability. VCs look for businesses with consistent traction, high gross margins, and efficient customer acquisition & retention strategies. A clear path to exit (profitable exit) increases investor confidence, positioning the business as a high-potential investment opportunity. What trends should female founders focus on to increase their chances of securing funding? Lexi: We don’t chase hype, but real opportunities are out there—stablecoins making cross-border payments seamless, fixing fragmented supply chains, Pan-African banking, and the like.   Precious: AI is indubitably a major focus in the investment landscape right now. But beyond the LLMs, generative AI, and other headline-grabbing innovations, I believe the real opportunity lies in leveraging AI to drive efficiency, automation, and transformation in legacy industries. For example, in healthcare, AI can enhance diagnostics, personalise treatments, and streamline administrative processes, making healthcare delivery more accessible and cost-effective. That is something I would like to see.  What common mistakes should female entrepreneurs avoid when pitching to investors?  Lexi: One: Not being concise. Learn from existing pitch templates and nail a clear, compelling story. Two: Not knowing exactly how much money you need, what you’ll use it for, and the KPIs that will prove its worth.   Precious: Female founders should not be afraid to sell—not just their product, but their vision, their market opportunity, and their ability to scale. Too often, women pitch with a focus on operational excellence, risk mitigation, and sustainable growth, while male founders tend to emphasise bold ambitions, market dominance, and high-reward potential. Investors want to back businesses that can generate significant returns, and that requires founders to confidently articulate a big vision and the path to achieving it. Selling isn’t just about revenue, it’s about convincing investors that the business has the potential to become an industry leader. This means owning the numbers, confidently projecting future growth, and making a strong case for why the company is the right bet. Women should embrace the same level of conviction, storytelling, and scale-driven thinking that often defines the most successful fundraising pitches. The ability to sell is not just a skill; it’s a necessity for securing capital and building high-growth businesses.

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  • February 14 2025
  • BM

Kenyan banks race to cut lending rates as Central Bank threatens daily fines

Kenyan commercial banks are racing to cut lending rates in response to a directive from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), which has threatened financial institutions with daily fines for non-compliance. The regulator is cracking down on lenders that have been slow to adjust their rates following successive Central Bank rate cuts to ease the cost of credit for businesses. According to Kenya’s Banking Act, the CBK can impose fines of KES 20 million ($154,619) or three times the monetary gain on banks that fail to comply with industry regulations. Lenders also face a daily penalty of KES 100,000 ($773) per violation, while bank officials may be fined up to KES 1 million ($7,730). Leading banks, including KCB Group, Equity Group, Cooperative Bank, I&M, and DTB, have cut interest rates by one to four percentage points. CBK wants to stimulate economic activity and support struggling households and businesses. Equity Bank’s latest rate cut this week marks its third reduction in six months, making it the only major lender to have consistently lowered borrowing rates in response to CBK’s monetary policy adjustments. “The regulator wants recent monetary policy decisions to be passed down to borrowers, which the banks have not,” said a senior CBK official who asked not to be named to speak freely. “If banks don’t comply, they will be penalized.” The CBK has increased surveillance of banks with an onsite inspection to ensure lenders price their loans pegged on their risk-based models and the falling central bank rate. Other banks that have not complied are expected to cut their rates to avoid unnecessary financial penalties. “All we are asking is for banks to be fair and to act in the same way that they were quick to raise lending rates when the policy rate was increasing and the treasury rates were increasing,” CBK Governor Kamau Thugge said on December 6. “I think it’s in banks’ interest to lower their lending rates. If they continue on this path it will be a no-win for anyone and the economy will not be able to perform,” Thugge said. Between November and December 2024, Thugge summoned bank executives and urged them to lower borrowing costs to support the economy. Only a handful of lenders, like Equity, complied with the directive. Despite three successive rate cuts, the gap between the central bank rate and lending rates has widened to a near three-year high, raising questions about the low transmission of monetary policy changes to customers. The average interest rate hit 17.22%, an eight-year high, cutting private sector credit growth by 1.4%. Since August 2024, CBK has cut the benchmark rate by 2.25 basis points to 10.75, with the latest being February 5, 2025.

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