Autochek launches new business to facilitate car financing in Africa

Headquartered in Johannesburg, the new arm of Autochek will be led by Johan van der Merwe, who has 20 years of experience in risk, credit and asset finance👇

Automotive technology company, Autochek, has launched a financial services arm that will provide a range of vehicle financing solutions for consumers and businesses across Africa. 

Autochek Financial Services will support the Market Platform, which partners car dealers and other service providers to facilitate car financing. It operates in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, the Ivory Coast and Uganda.  

It will also provide technology and products to car dealers and financial institutions in Africa’s motor industry, supporting them in numerous ways, including with credit decisions, pricing and product development.    

Headquartered in Johannesburg, the new arm of the business will be led by new appointment Johan van der Merwe, who has 20 years of experience in risk, credit and asset finance. 

On his new role, van der Merwe said: “There is a great opportunity to drive shared value for consumers, manufacturers, financial institutions, and other stakeholders by unlocking financing and I strongly believe that we can build the infrastructure to make this happen.” 

Speaking on the new hire, Etop Ikpe, group chief executive officer and co-founder of Autochek, said: “Johan brings a wealth of experience to Autochek Financial Services and we are excited to have him on board as we build the infrastructure to transform automotive commerce across Africa.” 

Van der Merwe added: “Etop and the team have done a lot of outstanding work to deliver the success Autochek has seen to date and I am looking forward to working with them to deliver more success and more growth across the continent’s automotive sector.” 

Launched in 2020, Autochek has worked with more than 70 financial institutions, over 2,000 dealerships and processed in excess of 80,000 car loan applications. 

Speaking on the future of the business, Ikpe said: “We want to empower more Africans with seamless access to vehicle financing and we are looking forward to delivering more solutions to bridge the affordability gap and make it easier for more Africans to purchase the vehicles they want.” 

Image: Autochek  

Josh Poyser Josh Poyser is an editor at FinTech Intel. He has written about fintech for several years and appeared at FinTech Connect 2023 on the 'Unlocking Success: The Art of Fintech PR' panel.