By Moses Nosike

Considering the role of MSME in any economy, a subsidiary of Access Holdings, Oxygen X established to provide digital, innovative consumer and MSME credit solutions in Nigeria, at the recently concluded Africa Credit expo 2025 powered by CreditRegistry called for more flexible lending scheme to promote the activities of MSME, startups and other aspect of credit innovation, buy now and pay later, and support business growth at the grassroots.

Speaking during the event held in Landmark, Lagos, the Head, Products, Oxygen X Finance Company, Ayobamigbe Ibalajobi, said, “We’re licensed by the CBN to give consumer, MSME loans and by extension we do buy-now pay-later solutions. We also take investments from individuals and corporates”.

According to Ibalajobi, Africa Credit expo opens the door for financial inclusion, credit innovation, and transformative growth across Africa, and we have created a relationship with CreditRegistry where we use its built solution, Smart Score like other financial lenders use to make decisions on loan performance. It helps us to see how well borrowers performed on their previous loans.

“We came to tell people that we give loans and we expect that you pay on time so that subsequently you can get better offers and terms. For those that previously performed well, our interest rates range from 3.5 to 5.5 for SMEs every month”.

Explaining further on other product offerings of the company, Ibalajobi said, “Apart from loans, we also take investments and minimum is 50,000 Naira but we can take as much as you’re willing to invest with us for 30 days, 60 days, even up to 365 days, and customers can get as high as 24% to 25% returns per annum on their investments, for startups and SMEs to be precise. Also, we have products specifically targeted towards women, young people”.

Continuing he said, “We’re Oxygen, Oxygen gives life. We let you breathe easier. That’s one of the taglines that we use in the office. In every product built, we consider our customers, so we don’t give loans that will choke them. We give you loans that you’re able to pay at very affordable interest rates. 

If you compare us with the average bank in the industry, we’re almost competing neck-on-neck with the banks which means that our rates are really affordable compared to some of our other competitors that are also playing the same market”.

Ibalajobi said also that Oxygen X carries out its business in line with stipulated regulations of the CBN is that we are one of those lenders who reports our loans as expected by regulation. We send all our loans that we book for the month so the credit brews in Nigeria and Credit Registry is one of them”.

Discussing on the challenges, he said, “Every business has competition, we will not say we’re the only players in the industry, and we’re not the only ones who use technology but we have our secret source that helps us to stay ahead of competition and we will not be disclosing it here, but we know how to get our customers and when any customer takes a loan or invests with us, they always come back because we give them the very best service”.