FUEL TO ENTERPRISES
Quick and efficient access to funds helps enterprises start over
With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, small and medium enterprises face dwindling customers and diminished earnings. A poll by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed a 0.8 per cent shrink in the nation’s economy by the first quarter of 2020, says Mr. Nima Karimi, co-founder and CEO of loan-broker platform Lendela.
To cope with the disruption and help cash-flow problems, businesses have to obtain short-term loans. Financial institutions are stepping forward with relief packages and funds. Online marketplace lending platform Minterest has set up an S$8 milliondollar private fund, Mr. Karimi points out, while the SME Working Capital Loan was enhanced from S$300k to S$600k, and is set to last till Mar 2021. However, such facilities are reported to be oversubscribed, with close to 40 per cent of Minterest loan applicants failing to meet the eligibility criteria.
Coupled with the complicated and time-consuming loan application processes, SMEs must find alternative sources of cheaper short-term funding.
Singapore-based loan broker platform Lendela matches borrowers to lenders, increasing the efficiency of a process that is known to be long and tedious. Leveraging on digital technology, the one-stop platform promises to empower end-user customers while delivering high quality leads to their bank and credit partners.
Borrowers only need to apply once on Lendela’s platform, which automatically assesses their eligibility and connects them to the right lenders and banks. The final assessment of the loan applicant and the disbursement of the loan is managed by the respective lender – not by Lendela. “Our role is to help borrowers find the best possible personal loan deals and ensure they get the full view of what the market is offering before committing to an offer.”
Lendela is fully online, giving customers a seamless, easy-to-navigate platform where they can apply for a loan, receive multiple loan offers, compare said offers, and choose the best one. This is made possible with Lendela’s model, which uses a combination of the customer details and information from different sources, including credit partners, to filter customers to lenders.
Borrowers often need weeks to complete a loan application offline and, if rejected, repeat the process with a different lender. Lendela offers a system where the entire process, from application to loan disbursement, can be completed within 24 hours.
Lendela’s algorithm speeds up the loan application process by allowing borrowers to apply for a loan to multiple lenders with a single application. They can view relevant offers tailored to their specific demographic and financial situation.
While the platform is popular among SMEs that require loans that they cannot typically get from banks, Lendela caters to all segments of the market, including personal loans that are used to fund business ventures. Last year, the company expanded its operations in Malaysia, Thailand, and Hong Kong.