Powered by Mifos – Advancly
This regular blog series will showcase partners and the innovative solutions they’ve built that are powered by the Apache Fineract and Mifos X platforms. These case studies will demonstrate your solution to end users who are seeking to use them as well as show other partners in the community how they too can leverage the Apache Fineract platform to build their own solutions powered by an open source core banking infrastructure.
Advancly: Powering Progress
According to the World Bank, formal MSMEs in sub-Saharan Africa face a huge finance gap of $331 billion (USD). This is largely because they are unable to provide key information about their businesses to traditional/corporate lenders. But financing is key to the survival of these businesses who, beyond accounting for 60% of jobs in Africa, are representative of the dreams and aspirations of entrepreneurs and many times key to the survival of them and their families.
For the most part, MSME financial requirements are too large for microfinance banks but too small to be effectively served by corporate bank models. This leaves a “missing middle” in the need of the right financing options, with financial need that stands at over 1.6 trillion USD (formal and informal SMEs).
Advancly exists to bridge the lending gap for the missing middle. We provide businesses across Africa and emerging markets with debt capital and embedded finance services, enabling them to utilise credit to grow and scale. Through technology, we harness data that provides a backdrop for intelligent and automated credit risk assessment. By adopting machine learning and artificial intelligence that allows for a robust credit-scoring, we work to ensure that our non-performing loans remain lower than industry realities.
Overview of the Team/Company
Advancly is powered by a team of analytic, strategic and creative thinkers who work daily to build human-centred credit solutions. We are enabling entrepreneurs and founders to succeed at building their economies by building their dreams.
Our ethos is backed by our belief that, when businesses progress, society progresses. For us, progress simply means “better”. It is the daily efforts put in to create a positively different reality. It is when a business can serve one more customer and sell one more product. It is when an entrepreneur moves one step closer to building the business of their dreams.
CEO Profile
Lotanna Julian is the CEO and co-founder of Advancly. With an astute background in finance, strategy, operations and investment portfolio management, Lotanna leads Advancly’s skilled team in their mission to Power Progress for MSME’s across Africa and emerging markets by innovating access to credit through capital, data and technology.
Lotanna has a vast experience in global business operations and investment portfolio management, which have proven invaluable in the Advancly journey and grown the company in record time. Lotanna and the Advancly team are looking to take the business to 10 countries by 2026 – with the goal of injecting $500m into MSMEs across Africa and emerging markets.
