Credit, telecom, and digital assets have traditionally been three separate industries serving customers through three separate companies. That is starting to change, with one company now building all three under one roof for the same underserved customer. Joining me is Laurent Dhaeyer, COO of Ezra and Chairman of Ezra Virtual Assets. Laurent, welcome to Capital Markets. What is the connected thread between all of these sectors?
Thank you. I think the connecting thread is effectively what I would call innovation with purpose. We are looking at pockets of inefficiencies — aspects that are difficult for people to reach. Underserved people, unbanked people, and increasingly digital nomads — those that are constantly on the move. They are not inactive. Some of them are extremely active. But it makes it difficult to document a credit score or access even a small corporate bank account. That is really the niche where we play. It is part of a group called Transfer To, where we provide people different ways of sorting their needs — from telecommunications and network access, to credit access and digital value movement including money movement in one of our sister companies.
You rebranded DENT as TUNZ to build a global eSIM platform. Why did a payments and credit company want to own telecom infrastructure?
We started from a telco background in the world of prepaid — always a little at the border between telco and finance. We follow our clients' needs. And because we work in a B2B2C model, we also follow our clients' clients' needs. These needs are evolving. The world is globalising, people are moving around more, and adding eSIM infrastructure into an existing marketplace for digital goods was a natural evolution serving what our clients need.
Ezra also builds credit products — loans, overdrafts, BNPL — specifically for underserved markets. What is different about underwriting credit there versus in a developed market?
It is an entirely different ballgame. You need to rethink everything. The data that is accessible is very different. The economics are very different. We issue literally millions of loans with a single value of $3 to $20. You cannot do a credit check that costs you $2. So you need to reinvent your scoring and adapt far more data points. That is where our telco background also comes in — because we start by analysing telco behaviour to form views on the financial credit side. We go in with what is called airtime credit first. Then from a view of the understanding of the client and their propensity to repay, we move from airtime credit into nano loans and credit lines.
Where do digital assets fit into this? Is it a payment rail, a store of value, or something else?
A little bit of all of the above. It is obviously a new way of moving digital value more quickly — that is very important for us. Our sister company now moves money through these rails. In terms of credit, what we like is to place next to credit a micro-saving proposition. Many countries, especially in Africa and sometimes in Asia, have currencies that move quite a bit. Offering a more stable savings environment is very interesting for those customers. We promote responsible savings that also inform credit decisions if they have short-term capital needs.
You have also worked with a large bank in Saudi Arabia for years. How has that experience shaped your work now?
The way I like to present it — it is the same football match. You can be a player on the field, but if you are playing in the front or as a goalkeeper, you do not see the same match. If you are the referee, you certainly do not see the same match either. And as a spectator, it is yet another view. I have been looking at the same market from different lenses. You think payment is payment everywhere. You think credit is credit everywhere. But credit for the underserved is very different from traditional credit. And credit for the underserved in Botswana is very different from credit for the underserved in Kenya. It just teaches you to rethink the reality and adapt — change your scoring, change your risk appetite.
What does the next billion users actually mean in practice?
It tends to refer to the underserved and the unbanked. But what you see now is that a lot of people might be mobile-included before they are actually financially included. And you also have new generations coming in with completely different behaviours. They might not see the bank as the most trusted partner anymore — they might prefer their telco provider. They might not like their telco anymore but now trust an electronic brand. That is also the next billion — these upcoming generations that change the way they interact with financial and telco services.
What do they still need that they are not getting?
A deep understanding of their needs. We have tens of millions of customers in Latin America and Africa who want to watch Netflix. But if they have to borrow $3 to $5 for their phone, they certainly cannot pay $20 for a monthly subscription. What about paying for Netflix for a day or for a week? These models that adapt to the reality of these people make it an interesting world.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
