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Sparkle Nigeria

“Can a fully-licensed Nigerian microfinance bank become the financial and operational OS for the country's SMEs?”

Founded2019
HQLagos, Nigeria
FoundersUzoma Dozie
Total raised$5.4M
Latest roundSeed (2020)
IndustryFintech / Neobank
The story

Founded 2019 by former Diamond Bank CEO Uzoma Dozie as a digital-first microfinance bank targeting Nigerian SMEs, retailers and upwardly mobile unbanked consumers. Received a CBN microfinance banking license in 2020, allowing it to hold deposits (insured by NDIC) — a stronger regulatory footing than typical Nigerian neobanks that operate via partner-bank rails. The product wedge has broadened over time from payments and savings into a full 'lifestyle + business' stack: debit cards (via Visa + Network International), SME tools (invoicing, inventory, payroll, tax), virtual accounts for collections, and consumer/SME lending. Positioning itself as the operating system for Nigerian small businesses rather than a consumer neobank.

Last 12 months
2025-02
Product timeline
2019
Sparkle founded by former Diamond Bank CEO Uzoma Dozie· founding
2020
Received Microfinance Bank license from Central Bank of Nigeria· banking
2020
Partnered with Visa to issue Visa cards· card
2021
Partnered with Network International for virtual and physical debit card issuing· card
2021
Launched consumer and SME lending (Sparkle Loans)· lending
2024
Launched Sparkle Virtual Accounts (Sparkleplus) for business payment collections· banking
2025
Expanding lending operations as digital bank matures· lending
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Sparkle Nigeria
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
Same company
Sparkle Nigeria was analysed under more than one name on the same domain, so its stack is split across these dossiers. Each was analysed independently and may name providers the others do not.
Sparkle5 layers →
The stack
6 layers disclosed in Sparkle Nigeria’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
SparklePay (self-operated)Sparkle Virtual Accounts (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Payroll
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
7 more providers across 5 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.