Meet Nonisa
MEET THE FOUNDER
Sabelo Mwisi is the founder of Nonisa Credit, an alternative data reporting platform that focuses on rental data. Nonisa ensures that tenants’ full-file rental payment history is submitted to the credit bureaus.
Sabelo was born in Durban, but later on, moved to Johannesburg. Prior to being bitten by the entrepreneurship bug, Sabelo worked in the financial markets for nine years, primarily in derivatives sales and structuring.
THE PROBLEM BEING SOLVED
Millions of South Africans are excluded from the formal economy due to having a thin profile. A thin profile is a consumer’s credit report with little or no credit history. Lenders are therefore unable to assess the consumer’s risk profile to provide them with credit products.
This makes the current form of credit scoring, based primarily on traditional data inadequate in the local market. By using alternative data, such as rent, lenders will be able to extend credit to thin-file consumers.
Nonisa is helping to solve this problem by promoting financial inclusion, by sharing alternative consumer data with credit bureaus to help consumers develop credit profiles. Today, in the wake of Covid-19, the use of alternative data for credit scoring is imperative.
THE IMPORTANCE OF WHY THE PROBLEM NEEDS TO BE SOLVED
Millions of consumers are excluded from financial services due to non-existent or poor credit history based on traditional models and therefore cannot obtain credit to acquire productive assets.
The use of alternative data improves the accuracy of existing models but also enables invincible consumers to establish a credit history. These consumers will then be eligible for affordable and appropriate credit.
OPPORTUNITIES COVID-19 PROVIDED
Personally, I am spending more time with my family. As a company, we were able to identify a need for our services within a market segment that we had not initially identified. This enables us to diversify our customer base.
ASPIRATIONS FOR INCUBATION PERIOD AT FSAT LABS
We are looking to launch our business as well as refine the business model.
MORE FROM NONISA
Follow Sabelo’s journey on Twitter.
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