FirstCred mulls expansion
Pan African financial services group, FirstCred has announced intentions to grow operational footprint across the continent.
According to FirstCred Chief Executive Officer, Dudu Garekwe, the expansion will be done alongside the introduction of various innovative online platforms and products to further increase the company’s capability to provide accessible financial services for the financially excluded and marginalised. “We will launch additional exciting products, such as our SMME product in countries where it’s not currently available,” said Garekwe. She said despite resurgences of various COVID- 19 variants, which bring about uncertainty, FirstCred has established a solid base for growth. “The consolidation of competing businesses, such as TU Employee Benefits under the FirstCred brand is progressing well and we expect to update the market on this in due course,” said Garekwe.
She said the company has made progress in upgrading systems and ensuring employees are provided with a state- ofthe- art workplace environment.
“Last year we spent a considerable amount of time entrenching a corporate culture we can be proud of, focused on the highest corporate governance processes and standards, providing our stakeholders and regulators with assurance that we are a safe, reliable, and ethical financier.” She said having the right structures in place allowed the company to rebrand and reposition FirstCred.
With indications that inflation is ticking up in many economies which will be followed by increasing interest rates, Garekwe said the development will have an impact on demand for the company’s products. “Therefore, we are cautiously optimistic in reopening our branches which were closed because of the pandemic and software upgrades,” Garekwe said.