Why Cash Velocity is the New Backbone of Global Supply Chains

The landscape of business finance is undergoing a significant transformation. This shift focuses on building a more reliable global financial infrastructure that serves businesses of all sizes. At the center of this change is the concept of financial equity. This principle ensures that working capital is available to every company in the supply chain exactly when it is needed.

A Global Milestone for Working Capital

Recent industry developments reflect a clear move toward this more inclusive model. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently recognized C2FO as the Best Supply Chain Trade Partner. This recognition highlights the success of a system that has directed over 500 billion dollars into the global economy with zero credit loss since its founding.

The launch of CycleFlow, powered by C2FO, is a major part of this expansion into Nigeria. Nigeria has approximately 40 million micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that often face a significant credit gap. CycleFlow provides these businesses with a way to access liquidity without traditional collateral. This initiative helps stabilize the broader supply chain by ensuring that cash continues to flow even during periods of market volatility.

Why This Shift Creates a More Resilient Supply Chain

When a financial network is designed for equity, it creates a more efficient environment for every participant. This shift provides practical advantages for your daily operations:

• Lower costs and reduced debt: Accessing earned revenue through early payment allows you to fund your operations without relying on high-interest bank loans.
• Greater transparency and better planning: A clear view of invoice status across a global network allows for more accurate forecasting and strategic decision-making.
• Increased resilience against market shifts: A well-funded supplier base creates a buffer against local economic changes and unexpected disruptions.

Discussing the Impact with Nigerian Leaders

Those leading the country’s economic future best understand the significance of the Nigerian launch. Our latest video features high-ranking Nigerian officials and prominent business leaders discussing how CycleFlow is bridging the credit gap. They share insights on how increased cash velocity creates a more balanced and sustainable future for the nation.

Voices of Impact: The Future of Financial Equity

“Your participation in CycleFlow is not merely a commercial decision, though it is emphatically a sound commercial decision. It is an act of economic nation-building. Every naira of any payment you make to an MSME supplier through this platform is injected directly into the productive economy.” — Dr. Emomotimi Agama, Director-General, SEC

Dr. Emomotimi Agama

Director-General, SEC (Representing Finance Minister Wale Edun)

“Nigeria is home to approximately 40 million micro, small, and medium enterprises. These enterprises are not peripheral to our economy; they are its backbone. They account for roughly 50% of our GDP today and employ the overwhelming majority of our working-age population. They are the primary vehicles through which our people translate ambition and hard work into economic advancement. They are the human face of the Nigerian economy.

This is the paradox at the heart of MSME financing in Nigeria: businesses that have delivered goods and services to large, creditworthy anchor buyers cannot access the cash that is rightfully theirs, while their buyers sit on approved payables that take 30, 60, or 90 days to settle. CycleFlow is designed to break this paradox.”

Dr. Jumoke Oduwole

Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment

“It’s not every day that we gather to launch something that speaks directly to the daily reality of the Nigerian entrepreneur. The supplier who has delivered and who is still waiting to be paid is in a precarious position; many of us cannot fully appreciate the pain and the sense of desperation of an entrepreneur that is squeezed.

By the time this scales and settles into our financial ecosystem, it’s going to plug an important gap with credibility and sustainability. This also puts another consequence into the ecosystem: discipline for performance, time, and transparency. This gives me a lot of hope and confidence that we are stronger together. We are solving for over 200 million Nigerians, many of whom are the MSMEs we’re talking about who do not have the voice or the privilege to be here with us today.”

Segun Ogunsanya

Chairman, CycleFlow Limited

“SMEs are the engine of Nigeria’s economy and of Africa’s at large. Across the continent, they account for up to 80% of all businesses and are responsible for 80% of all employment. Our platform directly addresses the credit gap. Rather than relying on the creditworthiness of the MSME itself, the platform leverages the stronger credit profile of the buyer—typically a large multinational or established local enterprise—to unlock receivable financing for suppliers.

From research done by IFC, for every $1 million in financing put to SMEs, about 16 jobs are created. When this platform is fully scaled up, we are going to create over 400,000 jobs directly, not counting the multiplier impact. We are not here to compete with banks; on the contrary, we have built this platform for banks to extend financing to SMEs more effectively by leveraging the strength and reach of large companies.”

Boye Olusanya

GMD & CEO, Flour Mills of Nigeria

“From our perspective, the biggest constraint we continue to see in our business is not demand, but capital or liquidity. It has been the biggest driver—the biggest constraint—for our ability to drive real growth. This is why this platform is important; it addresses a very big structural gap simply by converting approved receivables into immediate liquidity. At FMN, our commitment is to support this platform to the benefit of our multitude of smaller suppliers. We believe it will remove the biggest bottleneck we face today.”

Karl Toriola

CEO, MTN Nigeria

“It is a fact that the greatest redistributors of wealth in the world today are actually SMEs and corporations. The challenges facing Nigerian SMEs are huge—including very high interest rates. If you struggle to raise working capital and have an extended period to pay interest on that capital, and you don’t have a means to trade off financiers against each other as this platform does, you can easily pay costs that are twice as high. CycleFlow and C2FO solve these problems. We are very proud as MTN to stand behind this.”

Dalia Khalifa

Regional Director, Central Africa & Nigeria, IFC

“Today marks a milestone for Nigeria’s private sector and the millions of MSMEs that form the backbone of the economy. An estimated $25 billion in working capital is currently locked in payment cycles between large enterprises and their smaller suppliers. Suppliers often wait 90 days or more to be paid for goods already delivered. That is capital that cannot be reinvested and productivity that is lost.

What we’re launching is a national supply chain finance platform—a digital, data-driven solution that connects Nigeria’s largest corporations with their MSME suppliers. A key milestone is that Stanbic IBTC is the first Nigerian financial institution to integrate with the platform, enabling naira-denominated financing. It is so rare to find a financing solution that is denominated in local currency.”

Sandy Kemper

Founder & CEO, C2FO

“It’s a wonderful thing when you can work with people who have the same compass that points north in the direction of job creation, prosperity, and peace. The fact that we create an intermediary in the provisioning of working capital is a flaw in the system; the system isn’t built today to optimize for the opportunity.

Today the world’s total economic output is around $240 trillion. With 60-day payment terms, that means there’s $40 trillion of accounts receivable on those suppliers’ books. Despite the efforts of banks, only four or five trillion of total liquidity is trying to address that $40 trillion opportunity. If you create a marketplace globally at scale, that gap alone would create over a billion jobs globally.”

Dawid Sanderberg

Operations Director, C2FO Africa

“The legacy conversation is about impact: 16.1 jobs for every $1 million of capital deployed—that’s an easy, attainable opportunity. The second point is national GDP improvement. Imagine having your name to a direct contribution of GDP improvement and direct job creation.”