Nigerian retail lending startup, Paylater is working on a plan to transition to a full service digital bank after securing a $5 million debt facility from Nairobi-based Lendable, technology-enabled funding provider to African consumer and small business lenders. Paylater is looking to deploy new products while transitioning to a digital bank. Since launching in 2016, the Paylater mobile app was downloaded by over 1 million users and disbursed loans of over 13 billion naira ($36 million). But...

In most Nigerian cultures, the news of the death a person; important or otherwise, usually sparks collective sorrow, sober reflection and then depending on the age and social class of the individual, lavish and colorful celebrations of their life and achievements. But right now, Nigerians are conflicted about the news of the death of Sergei Mavrodi, a convicted Russian fraudster, who died of a heart attack, aged 63, in a Moscow hospital on Mar. 25. That’s because Mavrodi is best known as the...