Credit Direct, the lending arm of FCMB Group, a Nigerian group offering financial services, is moving into embedded finance. The company aims to look past traditional lending so that credit and associated services become more accessible to both individuals and businesses.
Speaking at TechCabal's Moonshot event in Lagos, Victoria Arinze, head of product marketing at Credit Direct, said the company intends to partner with merchants and other firms so that credit is available nearer to where transactions take place.
Under embedded finance, financial products are built into the digital spaces in which people already shop or transact. A customer can thus obtain a loan, for instance, without separately going to a bank or another lender.
Credit Direct Plans
Credit Direct has outlined plans to help bridge a funding gap affecting roughly 50 million SMEs across Africa, a shortfall estimated at over $330 billion. The company says it will build on its record in lending and embed its financial products within the digital services that individuals and businesses already use.
“We are primarily a credit organisation, and that has not changed and will never change. Credit is still the core of what we do,” Arinze said “What we’ve realised, however, is that credit really is not the end of how a person’s finances are built. When you give them credit, they then need to live their life, and living their life means being able to pay for things when they want to or when they have to.”
Credit Direct started operating in 2007 and has served Nigerian customers for close to 20 years, among them people in segments that conventional banks have frequently shunned. Its 2025 Nigeria Credit Landscape Report used data covering over 300,000 people who took loans. According to the report, the typical loan on the platform grew by 23.5% to ₦449,178 ($326.75) in 2025, with the leading motives for borrowing being school fees, medical bills and rent.
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Expanding Focus Of Credit Direct: SME Loans
The company is also moving into SME lending through CreditDirect Business, among its recent offerings. It provides loans for general use, financing secured against invoices and funds linked to contracts for a local purchase order (LPO), and qualifying businesses can access as much as ₦50 million ($37,130). The sum a business gets depends on factors including its cash flow, its current debts and the kind of business it runs. Arinze observed that the product is relatively recent, and that the firm is leaning on feedback and engagement from its customers to steer how its offerings evolve.
“We’re not really looking to outbank the banks or out-fintech the fintechs. It’s really the people at the end of the day, and getting to that strength to partner with the persons that we have to when we need to,” she said.
Arinze disclosed that the firm is weighing a push into additional West African countries, and that talks are already under way. He named no countries and gave no timeline.
Behind our digital transformation is a people transformation,” noted Edwina Olanipekun, Chief People Officer at Credit Direct. We believe that technology is only as powerful as the people who drive it.
Our growth, efficiency, and success are not just about leveraging cutting-edge innovations; it’s about having the right minds, the right culture, and the right environment to bring these innovations to life. We’ve cultivated a workforce that embraces change, is equipped with digital tools, and harnesses data-driven insights to serve our customers more effectively.
This change in culture has been central to what the company has achieved, and it will keep driving expansion as the business spreads across Africa. Technology enables us, but our people make it possible.”
The launch arrives as competition grows fiercer in Nigeria's fintech sector, with startups and established banks all scrambling for customers in a country of more than 200 million people, where relatively few have bank accounts.
How Credit Direct Has Transformed Over The Years
The company has weathered three significant economic shocks (the 2008 global financial crisis, the 2016 recession and the recession triggered by the 2020 pandemic) and has stayed profitable and resilient throughout.
Nwanze went on to describe the company's transformation, saying: “We didn’t just build tech; we rewired the way we operate. We digitised our operations, embedded finance into ecosystems, payrolls, supply chains, and merchant platforms, deployed AI in our contact centre, built internal engines for fraud detection, credit decisioning, and automated collections." He also said: "While others pursued growth at any cost, we built with intention. While inflation soared, we raised the bar on efficiency. While others struggled to sustain profitability, we’ve posted profits for 17 years straight."
Background on Credit Direct
Credit Direct Finance Company Limited describes itself as a leading digital finance firm in Nigeria. Its aim is to become Africa's foremost embedded finance business by weaving credit into its partners' supply chains and payment flows, so that individuals and businesses can achieve financial success. The firm states that its mission is to make access to financial solutions a universal opportunity.
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