Accion Microfinance Bank and Justrite, a retail chain outlet have signed a partnership agreement worth N2 billion to help Nigerian shoppers cope with the rising cost of living.

The agreement will allow customers of both companies to access the ‘Buy now, Pay later’ package that is powered by Accion wallet, which offers each customer a N100,000 credit facility for 30 days.

“Customers of Justrite and our customers in Accion Microfinance Bank to be able to buy goods, products and different kinds of products from Justrite and pay later. So, it is a platform that we have tagged “buy now, pay later,” Taiwo Joda, MD/CEO, of Accion Microfinance Bank, said while signing the agreement in Lagos.

According to Joda, the new agreement offers convenience and financial capacity to customers to walk into any Justrite store to buy what they want, starting with groceries. He said that the agreement is backed up by data provided by the risk analysis of the microfinance bank.

“So, it’s a credit wallet. It’s a loan if you put it that way for ease of understanding. And we are going to carefully select who qualifies. This is driven by technology – the technology we have developed, which is our risk algorithm, will look at the individual customers, will look at their financial history; will look at their financial capabilities, and their willingness to pay and put all this together to form what we call a credit score,” Joda disclosed.

He said further that the bank will evaluate customers’ creditworthiness, while individual customers’ credit scores will determine the level to which they can benefit after accepting the offer. “We are taking the industry by storm, and this is not just a lending platform, it’s not just a supermarket; this is a social impact program, feeling the pain of our people,” he said.

Ayodele Aderinwale, chairman, Justrite Nigeria Limited, said the partnership agreement is an affirmation of the fact that Nigerians can bridge the current socio-economic challenges. “Our core value proposition is to facilitate the ability of our numerous clients to meet their aspirations, and that is why we seek credible partners”.

According to him, the buy now, pay later initiative is just one step in the partnership agreement with Accion MfB. The retail supermarket also disclosed that two new outlets will be added to its chain of retail outlets by year-end.