IFC invested $5 million in equity to finance AwanTunai with the goal to bolster growth opportunities for micro-retailers -- many of them women – who are part of an industry made up of some 30,000 wholesalers and three million merchants.

Logiq also recently partnered with Yabx, a fintech venture of Comviva to offer credit-based financial services such as cash advance for merchants and "buy now, pay later" options for consumers.

If approved by country’s financial regulator, it would be among the first such service under the social media giant’s Facebook Pay application.