Today, every digital business poised for growth and scale understands the need to build credible products and smooth customer interactions. Hence most tech products and other businesses leveraging technology to disrupt their sector deploy identity verification solutions to achieve KYC, curb fraud and comply with regulators.

While it is key to implement automated identity verification services, it is much more important to know what makes a good identity verification solution and how to match KYC services with your business needs. The first and most crucial step to mitigating digital fraud is choosing the right identity verification provider. There are numerous identity verification providers in Africa to choose from, so how can you know the right provider for the job? What verification providers even exist to choose from? What metrics, guides, and best practices should inform your decision-making process?

This guide will cover best practices to follow when choosing an identity verification service and a list of great providers worth checking out.

Here’s a rundown of some great identity verification software services you should know.

• Dojah
• Smile Identity
• IdentityPass by Prembly
• Verified.africa

Best Practices When Choosing an Identity Verification Provider

Before we go into detail to see how these identity verification services can cater to your identity verification needs, here are some best practices to follow and factors to consider when picking a provider.

• Curate a Shortlist of Verification Providers

The shortlist of providers should be identity verification companies that are certified by the relevant regulatory bodies and active in your target market. For example, a fintech business operating in Nigeria will need a list of providers with coverage in the Nigerian market and the proper certifications.

• Confirm the providers support your identity verification method

Regulatory compliance and the market you operate in can determine how you decide to verify your customers. For example, an e-commerce business can handle verification with OTP checks, while fintech operators require BVNs and virtual NINs. Choosing a provider whose services support your chosen identity verification method(s) is important.

• Choosing providers with fast verification times

Customer expectations are high, and only some are patient enough to endure slow verification processes. Picking an identity verification provider with fast verification response times is one of the best ways to improve the verification process for your customer and reduce the drop-off rate.

• The integration options available

What integration options do the services provide to help you get started quickly? A benchmark of a great identity verification company is having multiple integration points like APIs, SDKs, no-code tools, and widgets that cater to different forms of software engineering and product development processes and needs. Dojah gives you access to these integration options, enabling you to build without restrictions.

Digital Identity Verification Solutions

Identity verification providers don’t only help businesses navigate KYC and AML regulatory compliance, but they also provide an enriched customer experience with safe and frictionless identity verification solutions. These are some verification providers to watch closely in 2023.

Smile Identity

Smile Identity is an identity management solution focused on helping African businesses confirm the identities of their users no matter the device they are on, whether a smartphone or a PC.

Smile Identity’s mission is to make the modern digital lifestyle universally accessible to Africans in underserved markets by expanding trust. They are backed by Costanoa Ventures, Future Africa, PTB Ventures, Khosla Impact, 500 Startups, CRE Venture Capital, and more.

Smile Identity’s Services

• Biometric authentication
• Document verification
• User verification
• Business Verification
• Customer onboarding
• Fraud prevention
• KYC compliance

Integration Options

Smile Identity offers the following integration options to help you get started quickly:

• APIs
• SDKs

IdentityPass by Prembly

Identitypass provides identity verification services for businesses across Africa. With Identitypass, businesses can protect themselves from ID theft and improve their customer onboarding processes.

Identitypass was founded in 2021 and is currently active in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa.

IdentityPass’s Services

• Data lookup/verification
• Document verification
• Biometrics authentication
• Ongoing monitoring
• Transaction monitoring

Integration Options

IdentityPass offers the following integration options to help you get started quickly:

• APIs
• SDKs
• No-code tools

Verified.Africa

Verified.africa is a provider of ID verification, document verification, and digital KYC compliance solutions. Their operations are active in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya. Verified.africa uses machine learning and facial recognition technologies to help businesses mitigate fraud, onboard customers faster digitally, and meet KYC compliance regulations in minutes.

Since its inception, Verified Africa has performed over 300,000 identity verifications for over 1000 businesses, enabling startups, banks, and SMEs to confirm people’s identities safely.

Verified.Africa’s Services

• International passport validation
• Verify RC number and TIN for Nigeria
• Driver’s license authentication
• Voter’s card verification
• Proof of residence
• Bank account confirmation
• NIN and BVN verification

Integration Options

Verified.africa offers the following integration options to help you get started quickly:

• APIs
• SDKs
• Code-free integration

Dojah

Dojah is Africa’s first and leading end-to-end platform for all your compliance, identity verification, fraud mitigation, and identity verification needs.

Dojah provides you with the necessary identity verification and onboarding services you need to build trust and safety into your products and securely onboard and verify users. Our products are easy to integrate because we provide you with APIs, SDKs, widgets, and no-code tools — EasyLookup and EasyOnboard — meaning you can integrate the functionalities you need in a manner that meets your needs.

With Dojah, you get access to an infrastructure that enables you to verify, identify, store and manage user data fast and seamlessly, all while automating cumbersome and repetitive processes.

Dojah is present and active in over 10 African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa. Hundreds of businesses leverage our services to seamlessly onboard customers, stay compliant, and mitigate digital fraud.

Dojah’s Services

• Government ID verification
• Document verification
• Biometric verification
• Address verification
• Financial connection
• IP and device check
• Email check
• Phone number check
• Liveness check
• AML watchlist screening

Integration Options

Dojah offers the following integration options to help you get started quickly:

• APIs
• SDKs
• Widgets
• No-code tools

Why You Should Build With Dojah

Dojah allows you present your users with all possible verification options necessary for them to get onboarded. With Dojah, you can easily access your customer’s Financial data, Biometric data, Government data, Telco data, AML data, and more for seamless verification and onboarding. You can also explore multiple integration options via our APIs, widgets, and no-code tools to build custom onboarding flows for all stages of your customer journey.

Start verifying your users with ease today. Contact us if you have any questions or schedule a demo session.

Explore our website and documentation to learn more about our product offerings.