Analyzing (a) FCOP
On elevating consumer lending in Nigeria
In America, you have FAANG: Facebook, Apple, Alphabet, Netflix, and Google.
In Nigeria, you have the legacy banks: FUGAZ—First Bank, UBA, Guaranty Trust, Access, Zenith.
And now, thanks to this TechCabal article, Nigeria has FCOP: FairMoney, Opay, Carbon, PalmPay. (Please, Branch and MoniePoint, it wasn’t me that wrote this. This is not demarketing, abeg.)
Here’s my problem: TechCabal used screenshots from Carbon dated 2023. Not 2024. Not even early 2025. 2023. Two years ago. In an article published November 2025 about the “best interest rate loan apps.”
As a former first-class physicist and a lover of the scientific method, let me be very clear that this article was not born from rigorous research.
This isn’t nitpicking. I opened a couple of the apps mentioned in that article this morning. The rates I’m seeing on my screen don’t match what TechCabal published. Was this an independent article or paid advert biko?
I’m not dropping screenshots of my competitors’ apps—I don’t want to be a tattle-tale, and even though I hate to use the phrase given the thrust of the article’s accusation, there must be honor amongst thieves! But the point is that if I can see the latest rates in 5 minutes, so could the journalist who wrote this.
Look, I appreciate what TechCabal was trying to do. High interest rates are a real problem. Affordability matters. False marketing & predatory lending are what we should all be working to destroy. This is a conversation worth having—loudly and repeatedly.
But you can’t have that conversation with bad data.
The good news is that Carbon’s customers (in 2025!)—are seeing competitive rates in their apps right now. Today. Not two years ago when we were dealing with a completely different economic reality. Go check. Open the app and see that the Lord truly is Good.
I’m not saying we’re perfect. I’m not even saying we have the lowest rates in Nigeria (but I believe we do 😀). What I’m saying is that if you’re going to put us in an article comparing lending rates in 2025, use our 2025 rates. Our weighted average loan rate right now is about 8.7% per month. Now there was a time, especially when speaking to investors, I’d mumble those numbers in shame because I could see how they were looking at me like I was a mass murderer. Even with my own mouth, I cannot say that is a low rate in absolute terms.
But it’s the best rate we can give given a macro economy where inflation has been in high double digits. Transport costs and power costs have gone up more than three times in the last year. The consumer is suffering. Devaluation is down about 300% over the last 2 years. The Nigerian risk-free rate (is anything in Nigeria risk free?) sits in the high teens.
The conversation I want to have is: what should the right rate be given all these costs? That’s the discussion I want to have internally and externally. Nigeria’s tech ecosystem needs rigorous reporting on lending practices to get the bad actors out. We need journalists asking hard questions about affordability and ethics and how the macroeconomy affects it all. We need data that helps borrowers make informed decisions and better journalism to get us to the promised land.
It’s not all bad news though. I’m actually going to put in my latest investment deck: “Carbon rated as one of Top 4 Loan Apps in Nigeria 2025.” When life gives you lemons...