MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nigeria’s Grooming Centre to Issue Microloans on MasterCard Pre-Paid Cards

The Grooming Centre, a nonprofit provider of loans and deposit services to women in Nigeria for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), has partnered with MasterCard, a US-based payments company, to replace the NGO’s cash- and check-based loan disbursals with prepaid MasterCard-branded payment cards. The change is intended to reduce the microfinance institution’s transaction costs. MasterCard and the Grooming Centre have also committed to working with additional financial institutions to increase the use of mobile point-of-sale devices by small-scale merchants [1].

As of December 31, 2013 it has total assets of USD 67.6 million, a gross loan portfolio of USD 56.4 million, received USD 20 million from 308,948 depositors, 302,139 active borrowers, return on assets (ROA) of 12.39 percent, and return on equity (ROE) of 42.96 percent.

By Jeff Pierce, Research Associate

About Grooming Centre

The Grooming Centre is a Nigerian microfinance institution that was established in November 2006 to increase financial services for poor people engaged in small-small trading and production. As of September 2013, Grooming Centre had 248 branches and 300,000 active clients in Nigeria, and offers loans as small as NGN 30,000 (USD 200). As of December 31, 2013, the Grooming Centre has total assets of USD 67.6 million, a gross loan portfolio of USD 56.4 million, received USD 20 million from 308,948 depositors, 302,139 active borrowers, return on assets (ROA) of 12.39 percent, and return on equity (ROE) of 42.96 percent.

About MasterCard

Headquartered in the US city of Purchase, New York, MasterCard is a payments and technology company that connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants and governments in approximately 210 countries and territories. As of December 2013, MasterCard reported total assets of USD 14.2 billion and 1.2 billion payment cards in circulation.

Sources and Additional Resources

[1] MasterCard Press Release: “MasterCard and Grooming Centreto Extend Electronic Payments to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria,” http://newsroom.mastercard.com/mea/press-releases/mastercard-and-grooming-centre-to-extend-electronic-payments-to-micro-small-and-medium-enterprises-in-nigeria/

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Grooming Centre

https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Grooming+Centre

MicroCapital Universe Profile: MasterCard

https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=MasterCard

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