Mambu core banking tech underpins new African bank, Carbon Finance

Carbon Finance, a Nigeria-based microfinance entity, has become a full-service bank, underpinned by core banking software from Mambu.

Carbon becomes a full-service bank, underpinned by Mambu’s tech. Image source: Carbon Finance

Among its new products is Carbon Zero, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) offering.

Carbon has been working with Mambu for a decade, having started life as a lender under the name of One Credit in 2012. It rebranded as PayLater in 2016 and as Carbon Finance in 2019. The following year it received a banking licence.

Today, Carbon operates in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, employs 150+ people, and has pan-African aspirations.

It offers a zero-fee account, instant loans, free money transfers, savings and investment options, and payments like airtime and bills.

Mambu says its technology was selected for its “ability to scale and flexibility to disburse instant loans in minutes, helping the lender build credibility in the market”.

“We engaged Mambu a decade ago because it ticked all the boxes as a cloud banking platform,” says Chijioke Dozie, CEO of Carbon.

“We were looking for great customer service and a robust cloud-native platform. Combining Mambu with our architecture allows us to continue scaling and make a real difference to the lives of our customers.”

Ikenna Okwukaogu, VP engineering of Carbon, adds: “Our initial implementation of Mambu was quick and took only a month to fully integrate the cloud platform into our processes.

“Since then, we have extended our use of Mambu, and rolling out new products and services typically is just a matter of a few hours at most.”