Nigerian Fintech Mida Hits 1000 Days Solving Loan Defaults

Three colleagues at a Nigerian microfinance bank kept bumping into the same frustrating problem: lenders could approve loans in minutes, but getting borrowers to repay them was a nightmare.

Mayowa Anibaba, Okeroghene Egbi, and Adija Uzodinma worked in different departments at Renmoney, each unknowingly tackling identical challenges. When they finally compared notes, they realized this wasn't just their bank's headache, it was plaguing Nigeria's entire $2.1 billion digital lending industry.

In November 2023, the trio left their corporate jobs and launched Mida with $50,000 from family and friends. Their first product helped lenders track and collect overdue payments more effectively.

But customers wanted more than software. They needed actual help recovering billions in bad debt sitting on their books.

So Mida pivoted fast. Within months, they built recovery services alongside their technology, combining call centers, field agents, and portfolio analytics into one platform.

The shift worked. Less than a year after launching, Access Holdings' digital lending arm signed on as a customer. By July 2024, Mida raised $400,000 to expand further.

Today, Mida's platform handles everything from customer onboarding to AI-powered phone calls chasing late payments. The company built an autonomous AI system that can call borrowers, negotiate payment plans, and predict which accounts are most likely to default before it happens.

The Ripple Effect

Mida's growth reflects a healthier lending ecosystem taking shape in Nigeria. When lenders can better assess risk and recover loans responsibly, they can offer credit to more people who genuinely need it.

The number of licensed digital lenders in Nigeria jumped from 173 to 461 in just two years, creating massive demand for tools that protect both borrowers and lenders. Mida's technology helps lenders make smarter decisions upfront, reducing the aggressive collection tactics that have plagued the industry.

The company's evolution from pure software to full-service infrastructure shows how African startups are solving uniquely local problems. Western fintech solutions didn't address Nigeria's specific challenges around verification, communication, and relationship-based recovery.

As Mida weaves AI throughout its platform, the founders are building what they call "credit infrastructure" rather than just another collections tool. Their system now recommends personalized recovery strategies, enriches borrower data to improve lending decisions, and gives lenders real-time portfolio insights.

The shift to enterprise technology also stabilized Mida's own finances. Revenue became more predictable as subscription fees balanced out the variability of recovery commissions.

Three former bankers who started with a hunch about a broken system now help lenders across Nigeria make better decisions every day.