HerVest
“Can a women-focused inclusive fintech close Africa's gender finance gap by channeling urban women's savings into credit for rural smallholder women farmers and SMEs?”
Founded2020
HQYaba, Lagos, Nigeria
FoundersSolape Akinpelu, Yomi Ogunleye
Total raised$750K
IndustryFintech / Consumer banking
The story
Founded 2020 in Lagos by Solape Akinpelu and Yomi Ogunleye to close the $42bn African gender finance gap. Started with target savings and impact investing that channeled retail capital to smallholder women farmers, then extended into consumer credit and, in 2024, into working-capital loans for women-led SMEs. Operates as a customer-facing consumer fintech built on top of a licensed Nigerian microfinance bank (VFD MFB) rather than holding its own banking licence.
Product timeline
2020
HerVest founded in Lagos as an inclusive fintech for African women focused on savings and impact investing in agriculture.· pivot
2021
Presented at TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield 2021.· pivot
2024
Launched HerVest Loan product for Women-led Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (WSMEs), extending credit beyond smallholder farmers.· lending
2024
Product update introduced Safe PIN, Public Cliq group savings, and Bills & Airtime Payments features.· banking
The stack
5 layers disclosed in HerVest’s embedded-finance stack
Banking / BaaS
Lending
in the full report
Insurance
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Investing
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
7 more providers across 4 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.