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TeamCatalystOverview

Team Catalyst

Trust Based Credit Profiling for Invisible Merchants

Team Catalyst participated in the CATS Hackathon at NexTrend Hub, Lagos, where we built a platform addressing the 32.2 billion naira financing gap facing Nigeria’s micro, small, and medium enterprises.

The Problem We Address

Forty million micro merchants across Nigeria contribute fifty eight percent of the nation’s GDP yet remain completely invisible to banks, investors, and formal financial institutions. These entrepreneurs operate productive businesses in markets, motor parks, and streets across Lagos and beyond. They handle thousands of naira in daily transactions. They maintain customer relationships spanning years. They demonstrate consistent business execution through seasonal cycles and market fluctuations. Yet when they approach formal lenders for growth capital, they’re told they don’t exist.

The problem isn’t lack of creditworthiness. The problem is lack of visibility. Traditional financial institutions require physical collateral, audited financial statements, and formal credit histories, all designed for large corporations with accounting departments and property ownership. This framework systematically excludes the real economy where most Nigerians work and transact.

The result is a documented thirty two point two billion naira financing gap according to World Bank assessments. Capital that could fuel economic growth instead sits idle or flows into safer investments like government bonds. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs desperate for working capital turn to predatory lenders charging fifty to one hundred percent annual interest, trapping businesses in survival mode rather than enabling growth.

Our Solution

Catalyst creates trust infrastructure that makes invisible economic activity visible and verifiable. We built a platform where micro merchants can transform their daily business operations into digital trust profiles that investors can assess and fund.

The platform operates through two parallel trust building pathways. Performance Trust serves SMEs with existing marketplace presence by capturing sales data, customer reviews, fulfillment rates, and transaction patterns. Human Trust enables aspiring entrepreneurs without transaction history to access capital through Agent sponsorship, where established community members vouch for individuals with viable business plans.

Both pathways feed into a unified investment marketplace where capital providers can deploy funds across multiple currencies with complete transparency. When funded businesses generate profits, our four way split mechanism distributes value fairly: investors receive proportional returns, SMEs retain earnings for growth, Agents earn commissions on sponsored businesses, and the platform sustains operations while building risk mitigation reserves.

Regenerative Impact

Catalyst doesn’t extract wealth from vulnerable communities. We build infrastructure that creates sustainable value loops. Every successful investment strengthens three parties: the investor earns returns, the SME gains capital for growth, and the broader community benefits from expanded economic activity and job creation.

By replacing physical collateral requirements with verifiable digital trust metrics, we enable youth entrepreneurs to access capital based on capability rather than inherited assets. By operating transparently on blockchain infrastructure, we eliminate opacity that enables predatory lending. By implementing profit sharing rather than fixed interest, we align investor returns with SME success.

Explore Our Journey

Navigate through our action learning process during the CATS Hackathon:

Finalist Team: Ranked 1st with score 9.50 in community driven AI evaluation

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JourneyDefine Opportunity