A little bit of history

After years of being influential figures in Africa’s Fintech sector, Bfree’s founders Julian Flosbach and Chukwudi Enyi grew discontent with the prevalent credit collection methods that often humiliated customers. They sought to transform this narrative by adopting a more customer-centric approach, focusing on ethics and leveraging technology. Their aim was to sustainably guide customers out of debt and onto the path of financial freedom. With that idea BFREE was born. 

BFREE is a credit management company dedicated to transforming the debt recovery process in emerging markets.  Following its launch in 2020, Bfree introduced scalable debt recovery methods, including a self-service platform that enables borrowers to set up new payment plans and conversational AI tools such as chatbots and callbots. These innovations are part of their collections-as-a-service offering, ensuring ethical after-sales services. The tools leverage behavioral and financial data to guide actions, enhancing recovery while maintaining a humane approach.

They focus on ethical, customer-centric methods, using innovative tools and technology to help individuals achieve financial freedom. Bfree offers services such as distressed asset purchase, a SaaS workflow for internal collections teams, and customized credit recovery solutions. They leverage machine learning for data-driven insights and ensure transparent reporting and optimized processes. Their approach emphasizes ethical standards and result-based fees, making them a trusted partner in debt recovery.

The BFREE business model

BFREE operates a comprehensive and ethical credit management system focused on customer-centric debt recovery in emerging markets. Over the years, its customer base has grown to include some major banks in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Their business model includes:

Customer self-servicing collections 

A platform enabling customers to manage multiple loan repayments efficiently, reducing documentation and communication overload.

AI automated collections

Leveraging AI to create personalized repayment plans and optimize communication channels, ensuring ethical compliance.

Contact Centre Collections 

Providing specialized assistance through dedicated account managers for customers needing personalized support.

Data-driven insights

Utilizing machine learning to predict consumer behavior and customize collection strategies.

Result-based fees

Implementing a commission-based structure, minimizing financial risk for clients.

Transparent reporting

Offering detailed and timely reports to improve client credit scoring processes.

But what was hampering BFREE’s customer reach and trust in the African market?

BFREE’s 92% interactions with customers are fully automated but has maintained a call center, manned by a small team, for when customers call or for follow-ups that require phone calls.

Since embarking on a mission to transform credit collection in Africa, BFree has faced its share of challenges.

By leveraging innovative strategies, BFree has developed a scalable recovery process for lenders and a flexible, convenient repayment process for borrowers. Trust and reachability are essential for these method’s success, as they are interdependent. BFREE’s three most effective collection channels are AI-driven collections, automated calls and messaging, and call center collections—all of which rely on phone calls and messages to engage customers.

For these efforts to result in successful loan repayments, BFREE needed to establish trust and authenticity in the borrower’s mind even before the borrower answered a call.

How did Truecaller Verified Business Caller ID enhance BFREE’s customer confidence, reach, and trust?

BFREE understood to crack this problem, they needed to build trust around their communication and:  

• Create a positive brand experience for customers.

• Invoke a sense of trust in the customer's minds beforehand to have purposeful and engaging conversations.

• Enhance the reach of their customer calling campaigns.

• Enable ROI by convincing the customer to take action and repay a portion of the loan owed, if not the total amount.

BFREE started working with the Truecaller team and onboarded the Truecaller Verified Business Caller ID solution to deliver a seamless communication experience to its customers. 

They now have a professional, authentic, and trusted business caller ID with a green screen, verified tick, category tag, and non-editable brand name and logo. This creates a positive brand experience whenever their customer support team calls customers.

The results

Now, after using the Truecaller Verified Business Caller ID solution, the team considers this solution indispensable for startups and SMEs aiming to build trust and strengthen customer relationships. Furthermore, they plan to leverage this solution to engage more customers across Africa in a meaningful and non-intrusive manner.

Key highlights from the BFree experience include:

• A 30% improvement in customer reach and calling efficiency and significant improvements in conversion rates. 

• Additionally, the Truecaller Verified Business Caller ID solution effectively prevents scammers and spammers from tampering with the verified business identity, as it does not allow the user community to edit names, logos, and tags.

Here’s what Chukwudiebele Enyi, Chief Operations Officer at BFREE, had to say about our successful partnership: