The South African Reserve Bank has given its regulatory approval for a new partnership between Lulalend and Access Bank South Africa, to serve the small and medium sized business sector.
In 2020, SMEs comprised 98.5 percent of all businesses in South Africa according to a McKinsey study, and employed up to 60 percent of the private sector workforce, while generating approximately 40 percent of the country’s GDP.
The new platform, called Lula, is designed to address the most common challenges SMEs face when managing their finances.
Despite being a vital cog in the economic development of the country, SMEs remain underserved by traditional banking institutions. Frequently cited frustrations from small business owners include high and hidden costs, impersonal or slow service, and difficulty accessing funding.
Lulalend CEO Trevor Gosling, said this next step in the company’s evolution was a transformative one: “Lula’s banking offering will allow us to reach more SMEs and empower them to succeed. We have seen a need to broaden our offering beyond providing access to working capital, and we will now be able to remove the hassles of cash flow management, allowing business owners to focus on growth.”
Through its partnership with Access Bank, Lulalend’s new business banking platform will offer SMEs the ability to open an account online in minutes, tools to simplify cash flow management and improve decision making, instant customer support and even faster access to business funding.
Established in 2014 by Gosling and co-founder Neil Welman, Lulalend has enabled business owners to access working capital within 24 hours via it’s AI driven online platform. Since its inception, it has disbursed billions of rand in business funding to thousands of SMEs.
Access Bank is one of Africa’s largest commercial banks. The Lulalend partnership was grown through Access Bank’s Alliance Banking strategy.
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