Lipa Later, one of the first of its kind buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) company operating in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria, has appointed a new country manager for Rwanda. Louis Antoine Muhire, as the founding CEO of the newly established Rwanda Cooperation Initiative, is the new Country Manager Uganda effective 1st March 2022.
Louis Antoine Muhire is a serial-entrepreneur, award winning author of “Starting from the Bush”. Born in Rwanda in 1981, Antoine and his family moved to Canada in 1997 were he studied communications at Ottawa University and worked 4 years for the Montreal Police, Intelligence Unit before resigning in 2014 to come back to Rwanda where he launched Mergims, a financial technology startup. He was later on appointed to the Ministry of Trade and Industry as the Head of Made in Rwanda Secretariat.
Louis Antoine Muhire has received multiple awards including Young Global Leader Award in 2017 and the 2015 Seed Stars World Award recognizing the best startups in Africa.He is actively involved in the community and sit on several boards including the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA).
“Rwanda is a growing market with a population of nearly 13 million people with an increasingly growing middle class. With over 25% of the population residing in urban areas there is a growing need for credit to help the middle class to be able to enjoy the fruit of their labours. As Africa’s premier (BNPL) company, we are here to offer our customers and merchants an affordable payment option that allows customers to purchase items and make payments over a duration of up to 12 months. We see the huge potential in the Rwandan market helping our consumers be able to tide over the difficult times with the rising prices of every day commodities. As Lipa Late, we are on hand to help consumers be able to buy different items and pay in more manageable installments over a number of months” said Louis Muhire.
In January, Lipa Later raised US$12 million from a consortium of investors to help it increase coverage in existing markets and expand into new ones. Formed in 2016, Lipa Later leverages data analytics to provide consumers with access to convenient and affordable credit. Its proprietary credit-scoring and machine learning system enables a consumer to sign up and get a credit limit in seconds, without the need for bulky documentation and a lengthy approval process.
Eric Muli, the Co-Founder and CEO of Lipa Later said, “We are very excited to have Louis take over as country manager in Rwanda and it is part of our commitment to grow and double our presence in the existing markets, even as we open in three to five new markets in Africa.”
Lipa Later boasts a wide array of exclusive merchants and world renowned brands such as Hotpoint, Twyford, Danube, Best Gadgets, Infenix, Faruki just to mention a few.
