SmallSmall calls for flexible payment systems to ease Nigerians’ cost burden – Businessday NG

Nigeria needs to move beyond promotional discounts to flexible payment systems that enable consumers to access essential goods and services without the burden of making full upfront payments, Tunde Balogun, co-founder and chief executive officer of SmallSmall, has said.

Balogun said the country’s heavy reliance on upfront payments for essential needs, including housing, education, electronics and business equipment, was restricting purchasing power, limiting economic opportunities and preventing many Nigerians, particularly young people, from improving their quality of life.

Speaking on the need to rethink consumer spending during the launch of Bright Friday, a payment flexibility initiative by SmallSmall, he argued that price discounts alone would not address the underlying affordability challenges facing households.

According to him, the real constraint for many Nigerians is not the lack of demand or willingness to buy, but the inability to pay the full cost of essential products and services at once.

“In Nigeria, you pay everything at once or you get nothing at all. School fees, rent, a laptop for learning, a phone for hustle, a fridge for your small business. you must drop all the cash at once, or watch the opportunity pass you by,” Balogun said.

He described the upfront payment culture as a barrier to economic participation, arguing that it effectively excludes consumers who have the capacity to make payments over time but cannot afford the entire cost immediately.

Balogun said Nigeria’s growing financial inclusion had not translated into comparable access to credit, leaving millions of adults with bank accounts but limited opportunities to finance their needs through formal financial institutions.

Citing the EFInA 2026 Access to Financial Services survey, he said formal financial inclusion had risen to 73 percent, representing 87.2 million adults, while only about 12 million adults, or 10 percent, had access to formal credit.

“We have bank accounts. We do not have credit,” he said, describing the gap as a major constraint to improving household purchasing power and economic productivity.

He also pointed to Nigeria’s low private sector credit-to-GDP ratio of 13.1 percent, compared with higher levels in peer economies such as Kenya and South Africa, while consumer credit penetration remained below three percent of GDP, against about 40 percent in South Africa.

However, Balogun said expanding access to conventional cash loans or credit cards alone would not provide a sustainable solution, warning that poorly structured borrowing could deepen financial difficulties among households.

He noted that credit card ownership stood at just 3.2 percent of Nigerian adults, arguing that the model had yet to gain sufficient acceptance in the country’s financial environment.

“What the Nigerian masses need for sustainability is a flexible payment plan when buying the things we need. That is different. That teaches discipline. It teaches us to prioritise our needs, to plan, to commit, to finish what we started,” he said.

He argued that structured payment arrangements would allow consumers to acquire essential goods while spreading the financial commitment over an agreed period, rather than taking unrestricted cash loans that could be diverted from their original purpose.

Balogun further cited data indicating that 40.8 percent of formal borrowing in Nigeria in 2026 went towards coping or consumption rather than productive activities, highlighting the need for financing models that link payments directly to specific needs.

The growing interest in alternative consumer financing is also reflected in the buy-now-pay-later market, which Balogun said was valued at $1.62 billion in 2025 and projected to reach $2.61 billion by 2030.

He said the trend showed increasing demand for payment flexibility among consumers seeking to acquire essential products without exhausting their available cash.

Against this backdrop, SmallSmall introduced Bright Friday, an initiative designed to promote flexible payment options as an alternative to the conventional Black Friday discount model.

Balogun said the initiative was intended to shift attention from temporary price reductions to improving consumers’ ability to afford goods and services through structured payments.

He said the first edition, running on the SmallSmall app under the theme, ‘Keep Your Cash, Pay SmallSmall’, would encourage Nigerians to retain more of their cash while spreading payments for purchases.

According to him, the initiative reflects a broader need to change the perception that paying for everything upfront is a mark of financial strength, arguing that the practice often leaves households with little money for other essential expenses.

He said flexible payment arrangements could help students acquire learning equipment without sacrificing transport costs, enable small business owners to purchase work tools without relying on expensive informal loans, and allow families to furnish their homes without compromising their food budgets.

He said Bright Friday was intended to promote a culture of financial flexibility, planning and responsible consumption, adding that the initiative should extend beyond SmallSmall to encourage wider industry participation in making essential goods and services more accessible.

“Discount is good, but discount alone does not solve our real problem. We need more than discounts. We need flexibility, dignity and progress,” he said.

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