Connect with us

Business

Access Bank Novare Partnership Unveils Unforgettable Retail Banking Revolution

Access Bank Novare partnership transforms African retail with digital-first banking, offering microloans, wallets, and financial tools to millions of underserved shoppers.

Published

on

Access Bank Novare partnership

Access Bank Novare partnership transforms African retail with digital-first banking, offering microloans, wallets, and financial tools to millions of underserved shoppers

adron lemon friday

Access Bank Novare partnership is poised to reshape Africa’s retail experience by combining real estate and financial technology in a groundbreaking initiative.

Also readAccess Bank’s $500m Eurobond Oversubscribed By 200%

In a joint announcement, Novare, a top pan-African real estate developer, and Access Bank Plc, one of Africa’s leading financial institutions, revealed plans to roll out a digital-first platform across Novare’s malls.

This partnership will seamlessly blend retail and finance, allowing millions of African shoppers to access microloans, digital wallets, insurance, and buy-now-pay-later services directly through the Novare shopping app. The goal is simple: to make shopping smarter, easier, and more inclusive.

The digital platform will serve both online and offline retail environments. By embedding advanced banking services into everyday commerce, the partners are bridging a crucial gap. Many consumers across the continent remain outside formal financial systems, and this effort could bring them in.

“This partnership aligns with our mission to create real, inclusive value for communities across Africa,” said Rosevelt Ogbonna, Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc.

“By embedding banking services within the retail ecosystem, we are removing barriers for both merchants and shoppers, helping them to grow, thrive, and participate meaningfully in the formal economy.”

One of the standout features of this initiative is the microloan function. It aims to provide credit access to up to 13 million individuals.

These small loans will be integrated directly into the Novare app, making it easier than ever for people to access funds responsibly. It targets populations historically excluded by traditional banking.

“We are giving millions of people across Africa a chance to access credit safely and conveniently, all through a retail app,” said Iyabo Soji–Okunsanya, Executive Director of Corporate and Investment Banking at Access Bank.

“This is not just financial innovation, it’s social impact at scale. We’re proud to help bridge the gap between commerce and capital.”

In addition to lending, the new digital platform will support instant account and wallet creation. The app will include a robust loyalty system known as Novas Cash.

Shoppers will also benefit from flexible payment options, including debit and credit cards, wallet-to-wallet transfers, and other convenient features.

Merchants, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises operating within Novare malls, will gain access to digital payment tools and financing solutions. Thousands of SMEs will now be empowered to grow in a market that is becoming increasingly digitised.

Derick Roper, Managing Director of Novare Equity Partners, emphasised the transformative nature of the partnership. “This collaboration with Access Bank is a strategic leap forward—not just for Novare, but for the future of retail in Africa.

Together, we are redefining the shopping experience by fusing world-class real estate with cutting-edge financial services. It’s a win-win for customers, merchants, and the broader economy.”

The initiative does not stop at payments and loans. Shoppers will be offered tailored insurance products such as electronics protection and extended warranties. This addition ensures a complete ecosystem of financial services built around the retail journey.

Although the platform is still in its early stages, expectations are high. By marrying banking and retail at scale, Access Bank and Novare are setting a new standard for what African consumers can expect from their shopping experiences.

With the Access Bank Novare partnership, the goal is not just to boost convenience, but to drive inclusive economic growth. Millions stand to benefit from this digital revolution, from small shop owners to shoppers seeking affordable financing.

Also read: ACCESS BANK’S FIRST POST-MERGER H1PBT HITS N74.1BN, DECLARES 25K INTERIM DIVIDEND

As Africa’s economies grow, initiatives like this one will play a key role in ensuring no one is left behind.

8 / 100 SEO Score

Business

Heirs Life Names Pastor Jerry Eze Independent Non-Executive Director

Published

on

Heirs

Heirs Life appoints Jerry Eze as an Independent Non-Executive Director to strengthen financial inclusion, consumer trust and insurance adoption (more…)

75 / 100 SEO Score
Continue Reading

Business

Shoreline Group secures US$200 million Afreximbank Facility

Published

on

By

Shoreline Group today announced that African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has approved a US$200 million facility in favour of Shoreline Power Company Limited and co-borrowers including Arkad S.p.A., Shoreline’s majority-owned engineering and construction platform.
Approved in June 2026, the facility was arranged and provided by Afreximbank as sole mandated lead arranger and lender. It provides bonding and working-capital capacity for Arkad’s delivery of the Hassi Bir Rekaiz project and supports Shoreline and its affiliates in developing further pipeline and infrastructure
projects in Nigeria and other permitted jurisdictions.
“This is a defining transaction for Shoreline and Arkad. We built Arkad as an African- sponsored engineering platform capable of competing at the highest level, and it is now delivering against a billion-dollar energy contract. Afreximbank’s US$200 million commitment gives the platform the financial strength to match its engineering capability and pursue further major infrastructure mandates. It demonstrates that African enterprises can assemble the capital, capability and partnerships required to compete for infrastructure at international scale.”
Hassi Bir Rekaiz Phase 2a Arkad holds 44 per cent of the approximately US$1 billion EPCCS-1 contract awarded by Groupement
Hassi Bir Rekaiz (GHBR) to an unincorporated consortium led by Egypt’s Petrojet, which holds 56 percent. EPCCS-1 covers engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up for the Phase 2a central processing facility and related infrastructure at the Hassi Bir Rekaiz field in Algeria’s Berkine
Basin.
GHBR is the joint operating entity for the licence, held by Sonatrach with 51 per cent and Thailand’s PTTEP with 49 per cent. The project includes a new crude oil processing facility with capacity of 31,500 barrels per day, facilities for associated gas and produced-water treatment, approximately 217 kilometres
of pipelines and the brownfield modifications required to integrate existing Phase 1 infrastructure.
The facilities are designed to support later expansion to 63,000 barrels per day under Phase 2b.
“This financing addresses the instruments that determine whether an EPC contractor can execute at scale: performance guarantees, advance payment guarantees and working capital through the project cycle. Hassi Bir Rekaiz is a demanding scope, combining a new central processing facility, associated treatment systems, pipelines and brownfield integration. With Petrojet, and with the support of Shoreline and Afreximbank, Arkad is focused on disciplined delivery against the project’s safety, quality and schedule requirements.”
The transaction was structured under Afreximbank’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction Initiative, which supports African engineering and construction firms with the financial instruments required to compete for and execute large infrastructure contracts. Afreximbank also supported the Arkad-Petrojet partnership through its EPC twinning work at the Intra-African Trade Fair held in Algiers
in 2025.
According to Afreximbank, the transaction is its first support for a Sub-Saharan African contractor undertaking a major infrastructure project in North Africa. For Shoreline, it demonstrates a practical model for combining African ownership and capital with established international engineering andindustrial capability.

adron lemon friday

41 / 100 SEO Score
Continue Reading

Business

BUSINESSWOMAN AISHA ACHIMUGU SPEAKS OUT, CALLS FOR PROTECTION OF LIFE AND RESPECT FOR RULE OF LAW

Published

on

By

Court

Nigerian businesswoman and investor Aisha Achimugu has made a public appeal for the protection of her life, her family, and her business interests while alleging a sustained campaign of intimidation, media trial, and asset seizures.

adron lemon friday

Achimugu, in a statement Tuesday, said she is facing actions that she described as an affront to the rule of law and natural justice.
She then called for the respect for court orders and for an end to what she termed misleading media coverage about her person and companies.
According to Achimugu, the widow of the late Engr. Sulaiman Achimugu, former Managing Director of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, PPMC, she has over the last three decades built businesses in the oil and gas and other sectors, and runs the SAM Empowerment Foundation, SEF, which she said has implemented health, education, and community projects across Nigeria.
The businesswoman, however, alleged that since 2023 she has been the subject of investigations and actions by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Narrating her ordeals, Achimugu noted that in 2023, the EFCC’s Port Harcourt zonal office froze her personal accounts, her children’s accounts, and company accounts linked to the Felak Group, based on an interim forfeiture order.
She said this was connected to a mistaken association with MBA Forex and Capital Investment.
Achimugu stated that in January 2024 she honoured an EFCC invitation with her counsel, clarified her company’s single transaction with MBA Forex, and refunded N58 million by bank draft to the EFCC recovery account.
In March 2025, the businesswoman said she received WhatsApp messages inviting her to the EFCC Port Harcourt office. Her lawyer responded in writing, proposing dates in April 2025. Despite this, she alleged a media campaign began on March 10, 2025 linking her to wrongdoing.
On March 28, 2025, the same day her company, Oceangate Oil & Gas Limited, submitted proof of $20 million payment to NUPRC for oil blocks PPL 302-DO and PPL 3007, subsequently, she claimed the EFCC declared her a “Wanted Person” for “conspiracy and money laundering.” She also alleged that EFCC operatives searched her home that day.
In April 2025, Achimugu said she filed a fundamental rights suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja. But upon returning to Nigeria on April 28, 2025 from a foreign trip, she alleged she was taken into EFCC custody, granted bail by a judge, but released five days later. She also said her international passport was collected.
She alleged further asset actions, including freezing of bank accounts, and the seizure of vehicles from her home in January 2026. She said matters relating to these actions are the subject of ongoing litigation and appeals.
Achimugu also alleged that her United States visa was revoked in April 2025, and that she encountered issues with visa processing related to her Grenadian citizenship, which she linked to media reports citing the EFCC’s declaration.
Achimugu stated that she has invested nearly $90 million in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector in the last five years and has attracted over $100 million in investments into the economy while directly employs close to 200 Nigerians.
However, she said the actions of the anti-graft agency have affected her business operations, international partnerships, and family, including her elderly parents and young children.
Achimugu then called on the National Assembly, the Judiciary, security services, and local and international human rights organizations to examine her case.
She also asked for the protection of her life and properties, respect for court orders, and an end to what she described as a “media trial”.
“I believe that justice delayed is justice denied, and I am not afraid to face the law provided due process is followed. My lawyers are pursuing all legal remedies locally and internationally,” she said.
Achimugu added that she remains committed to Nigeria and to supporting private sector growth.

42 / 100 SEO Score
Continue Reading

Trending News