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  Connectnigeria.com sits with Joseph Ezekwem, founder and CEO of Ruuby as he shares what inspired him to launch Ruuby a platform that actively encourages users to build their credit scores. He further speaks on funding, business model and new ventures. 
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Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Joseph Ezekwem, I’m the founder/CEO of Ruubby. I am from Abia state Nigeria. I am firstly a nurse and then an entrepreneur. I have combined these two passions for about 12 years. I currently manage Roland Health (www.rolandhealth.com) a caregiver marketplace that allows you to hire a caregiver at your convenience and flexibility. Have lived in America for about 9 years now, and one of the blessings of America that set me free financially is the American credit system. With my credits score, I can have access to funds, car loans, and student loans even when I am broke. I do not have to go to friends to lend me money and expose my family and personal affairs to them. I do not have to beg a brother to cosign for me as far as I have a good credit score. I could not help but imagine how much could set us free financially in Africa. After extensive research with my team, most of them are from the banking industry, we realize one of the reasons for the lack of credit access is poor, vague or incomplete credit scores which are due to a lack of sufficient data on people.
What does Ruubby do, who are your customers, and what problems do you solve for them?
Ruubby is a platform that actively encourages users to build their credit score while they shop for their favourite items online. More than 80% of Africans are excluded by financial institutions from credit access. They are unable to successfully get a loan, get a house mortgage, or get car loans or student loans. Those who exclusively benefit from credit and other financial products are those with collateral or the elites in society. No economy in the world can grow when the majority of its citizens are financially excluded from access to credit. Financial institutions are reluctant to give credit due to the lack of financial data needed to make the right decisions to offer loans. Ruubby is here to bridge that gap and help citizens build and improve their credit scores through alternate financial data. When you transact on Ruubby, with your approval, we submit the data that is needed by the credit bureaus to build your credit score. Ruubby also provides a platform for business owners in Nigeria to have a store online to sell to both their current and new customers with the best business management tool provided. Ruubby is CreditKarma and Esusu (Plus) of Africa. We offer what these American companies offer with added features. Our target customers are every Nigerian adult that intends to improve their financial profile while shopping for their everyday favorite items online. We all need financial independence and access to loans when needed. Our goal is to make it possible for you to achieve that, either by giving you immediate access to financial products through our buy now pay later (BNPL) program or through our credit builder program. Be rest assured that your financial health is our priority.
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What’s Ruubby’s business model? How does Ruubby make money?
Ruubby allows business owners to build an online store, have access to customer service support and provide businesses with business management tools that allow them to easily manage their business. Registering and having your store on our platform is free, Ruubby only charges merchants when a sale is made. Creating and having a profile on our platform is also completely free for users. Ruubby charges a little processing fee when you make a purchase, this is to allow us to maintain the platform and keep up with overhead.
What are the key opportunities and key risks for Ruubby going forward?
Ruubby is an African project, we just launched on February 1, 2023, in Nigeria and we intend to scale to other African countries in the next five years. Our first goal is to onboard as many as possible businesses on our platform. We want to provide that opportunity for local stores to have their stores on our platform and be able to sell to anyone in any state in Nigeria. The main concern for us is to build the infrastructure and seek the right partnership to make this business a success. Our teams are working tirelessly to address this, and I am very proud of them.
Have you received any funds recently and what are your thoughts on the current global market downturn and the impact on Africa’s startup ecosystem?
As I stated earlier, we just launched on February 1, 2023. We have not received any funding at this time but we seek to do so in no distant time. Our focus though is to offer services to our customers and businesses. We believe the best investment we can receive is providing a satisfactory service to our customers. The world economy is at a rough patch and has been so since the start of the Covid pandemic. Like every other thing in life, I am certain it will soon be a thing of the past. Investors are more reluctant in investing currently and many big companies are laying off staff as well. This is affecting Africa a hard way as many investments in the country come from abroad. Some investors are still investing in many African startups as they see a road map that will survive the economic downturn.
What’s next for Ruubby? What are you most excited about?
Our goal is to be the financial go-to platform for Africans, we also want to be your favourite online shopping place. We at Ruubby are very excited about this project as we believe it will have a positive impact on users. For poverty to be a thing of the past, everyone must have financial independence, and this can be achieved through access to credit and financial products.
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We currently only have a website, we are currently developing our app. Our app will be out this summer of 2023. We have many features that are also being developed that are going to help users save as they shop. Thanks to everyone for stopping by to know about us and our project, kindly visit us at www.ruubby.com and enjoy all the services that we are here to offer. We can be reached through email; info@ruubby.com Featured Image Source: Ruubby
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This article was first published on 8th February 2023

nnaemeka-emmanuel

Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.

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