The Chief Executive Officer of VerifyMe Nigeria, Esigie Aguele, said that the lack of a trust infrastructure is hindering the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country. In a statement made available to The on Thursday, Aguele disclosed this while speaking as a special guest on the Fidelity SME Forum, a complementary SME‑banking platform by Fidelity Bank aimed at building capacity and driving growth for entrepreneurs across Nigeria.
He explained that “one of the biggest impediments to the growth of SMEs in the country has been the absence of a trust infrastructure that will stimulate sustainable growth within the space. This void not only hinders SME entrepreneurs from accessing financial and other services critical to their growth but also stifles their prospects of scaling due to the lack of credible consumer insights.” Aguele cited VerifyMe’s B2B platform, QoreID, as an example. QoreID connects businesses to trusted identities and consumer analytics, enabling financial institutions such as banks, fintechs, and credit lenders to provide loans to SMEs faster and more securely. Their “Know Your Business” verification platform supplies lenders with accurate reports on businesses, making assessment easier, and also provides customers with reports on those businesses.
Aguele added that VerifyMe can deploy a strong team of over 40,000 agents across the country to conduct Tier 3 account opening and business checks. This ensures SMEs can overcome compliance hurdles, improve eligibility, and access financial products. He emphasized that digital identity drives scale, compliance, and access to capital.
According to Aguele, a key deterrent to embracing “Know Your Customer” technology is the perception that the services are too pricey for most small businesses. He noted that digital technology—and particularly VerifyMe’s services—is at the forefront of reducing the cost of conducting KYC in Nigeria. “When we entered the market, it used to cost N25,000 to verify people for account opening. We dropped that to N600. In addition to this, it costs only about N200‑N300 for analytics on a loan of hundreds of thousands or even millions of naira. So, we have ensured that the price is affordable for anybody across the board to use VerifyMe services,” he said.
While proposing a solution to the impediment, the VerifyMe CEO highlighted that SMEs have been charged to embrace business growth opportunities offered by digital identity and consumer analytics, enabling them to scale operations and unlock growth within the ecosystem.
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