Numida
Working capital for African micro businesses
Numida provides working capital loans to African micro businesses. Instead of borrowing from informal lenders or family, micro business owners download the Numida app, apply in minutes, and receive capital within a day. We have figured out how to score and disburse unsecured loans to cash-based businesses that have no digital transaction history, while maintaining excellent collection rates. Since 2021 we have provided $23M in working capital to 32,000 businesses in East Africa.
Active Founders
Mina Shahid
Co-Founder and CEO of Numida. I'm a two time founder and along with Numida's CTO I previously worked on another lending company in Ghana that failed. I'm Egyptian and Canadian and have lived and worked in Uganda, Ghana, Zambia and Colombia. I fundamentally believe that the growth of micro and small businesses in Africa is the key to economic prosperity for hundreds of millions of people!
Catherine Denis
Co-founder and COO of Numida. I have lived and worked in Uganda, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Mali, Haiti and Colombia for 8+ years figuring out how to build teams, build robust processes, and get things done in challenging environments. I hold an MPA/ID from the Harvard Kennedy School and graduated in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo. As a French Canadian, I always welcome the opportunity to work or connect in my mother tongue.
Ben Best
Co-founder and CTO of Numida Technologies. I'm responsible for product and development at Numida from our client-facing app to our loan management tools to our credit scoring model. Previously led the tablets team at FiveStars (W11) and before that spent three years falling out of love with international development in Tamale, Ghana. Graduated from the University of Waterloo. Ask me about how Steve Blank's "Four Steps to Epiphany" convinced me that aid for development is destined to fail.
