Nigerian Startup Launches Mobile App To Allow Users Own Appliances And Pay In Installments At Zero Interest

Two Nigerians, Ayodeji Farohun and Oluwatobi Odukoya have launched CDcare, a mobile marketplace that allows people to shop for their household needs and electronic gadgets.

The innovation comes off as their way to combat the growth of second-hand marketplaces and assist Nigerians to own appliances by paying in monthly or weekly installments at zero interest.

A World Bank report crowned Nigeria as the largest market for second-hand clothing and other products in Africa. It is easier to get the necessary commodity at a second-hand market but they come with issues.

They either have no warranty or it is severely damaged even before it is sold. A way to navigate this problem is to pay in installments and get the needed appliance midway.

“What exists are loan platforms that are either difficult to access or have very high interest rates that people cannot usually afford to pay back. Many Africans have had to either settle for less or buy substandard products because they can’t afford to pay one lump sum for things that they want” Odukoya stated.

CDcare’s solution, a payment plan that lets buyers save half and get the remaining half as a zero-interest loan, is entirely new. Odukoya believes people in the past have resorted to high-interest buying schemes, interest-charging loans, or simply waiting until they have saved the full price of the item.

“I built our MVP within two weeks,” he said. “Having sold gadgets and appliances for many years in Nigeria, it wasn’t hard to get the major distributors of appliances in Nigeria to partner with us.”

“We make a profit of at least 10 percent of the total cost of every item delivered on CDcare. Since we only loan our users half of the item’s value, we make an interest of 20 percent on our capital,” Odukoya said.

The startup has plans to launch operations in Ghana and Kenya in early 2022.