The Inspiring Journey of Nayla Finance: From Vision to Revolution
Microlending a quiet yet powerful force that extends beyond balance sheets. It sits at the crossroads of finance and human potential, more than just credit. For countless lowincome individuals, entrepreneurs, and small businesses who exist outside the reach of traditional banking systems, microlending becomes a bridge to connect ambition to opportunity. As businesses or individuals unlock small amounts of capital, it enables livelihoods to take root, ideas to flourish, and communities to rise. In essence, it’s not merely a financial service but a social equalizer, one that fuels economic participation, fosters resilience, and redefines what inclusion means in the modern economy.
Since its inception,Nayla Finance is proving that lending can still have a human touch, one where the lender listens, understands, and builds trust with its client. Founded by Khalid Naili and Shaqran AlYahya in 2024, the company stands as a new-age financial institution born from decades of experience and a deeply personal observation: that micro businesses which serve as the very backbone of economies, remain underserved. After acknowledging this gap in the lending space, Khalid decided to embark upon his amazing entrepreneurial journey to revamp the lending ecosystem. In a virtual discourse with our team, he walked us through the overall portfolio of the company, his corporate journey, the future outlook and many more lesser-known aspects.
THE GENESIS OF AN EMPOWERING VISION
If you look at any market,” Khalid begins, “You’ll see that banks and lenders prefer the retail segment. It’s safer, predictable, and easy to manage. But when it comes to small and micro businesses, they hesitate. Yet these are the ones who carry the real weight of the economy. The inspiration behind Nayla Finance was to support SMEs with minimal paperwork to help them grow and upgrade their business operations.
Khalid’s story begins nearly two decades ago at GE Capital in Italy. “That’s where I learned risk management the hard way,” he recalls. “I saw how the world of credit worked, retail versus corporate, east versus west, and realized that lending, at its heart, is about understanding people.”
When he moved to Saudi Arabia 14 years ago, he noticed a paradox: a rapidly growing economy but a massive funding gap for small enterprises. “Micro businesses make up about 85% of the private sector here,” he explains, “yet their access to financing is limited. Banks find them risky, onboarding is expensive, and their returns are unpredictable.
But I saw a green field, an opportunity everyone noticed but few dared to enter.” That was the spark to where he is today. With his business partner and support from Sanabil, the investment arm of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Khalid decided to build a financial platform that could reach the heart of this challenge, a platform that would not just lend, but empower people to chase their dreams with no hassle to seek funds from banks to build their business.
you take the first move,” he says with quiet determination, “you
get the benefit of the first mover advantage. Once you prove the model
works, others follow. That’s how Nayla was born.
A PLATFORM THAT WELCOMES EVERYONE
Nayla’s business model is as straightforward as it is revolutionary with a keen focus on access for all. “We don’t restrict by sector or payment tool,” Khalid explains. “Whether you’re a tailor, a construction worker, or a grocery shop owner, as long as you have an active commercial registration and one year of bank statements, you can apply for a loan. We don’t judge any of our clients based on their financial status. We put our trust on them after ticking certain criteria we have set based on our policies.”
He leans in, emphasizing the inclusivity at the platform’s core, “Even if your cash flow comes in the form of cash deposits, we can study that. We look at your reality, not just what fits into the conventional boxes.” Fully digital, paperless, and Sharia-compliant, Nayla has built an ecosystem that feels surprisingly personal for a fintech company.
“We don’t ask for endless paperwork,” he says. “We just want to know the reason why you need the money? You can use it for salaries, marketing, paying invoices, or replenishing inventory, as long as it makes sense, we’re happy to finance you in the best possible way.”
TECH ENABLED YET HUMAN DRIVEN OPERATIONS
Behind Nayla’s simple yet efficient approach lies an intricate technology backbone. “Our product is 100% digital,” Khalid says, “but it didn’t come overnight. We built it from scratch, brick by brick. Many hurdles were crossed to go totally digital, but we made the best use of the top-class technology that exists in the world today.”
What makes Nayla’s model stand out is its AI-driven internal rating system which reads alternative data, not just traditional credit history of a business or individual. “We know there’s power in data,” he says. “We learn every day, feed that learning back into our models, and make lending smarter, faster, and fairer. The goal is simple for my dedicated team i.e. a lending experience that’s 100% digital, 100% AI-based, and still stands out as 100% human.”
THE TEAM THAT NEVER SLEEPS
Nayla’s culture reflects its founder’s philosophy which is youthful, relentless, and deeply connected. “We’re a young team,” Khalid says, as a spark of pride lit up his eyes every time he mentioned his team. “An army that doesn’t sleep. We share our challenges before our successes. Startup life isn’t easy as it demands energy, sacrifice, and teamwork. But when you see the value you’re adding, you don’t count the hours.
You just keep going.” For Khalid, leadership begins with empathy. We asked to share his leadership philosophy with us,to which he replied, “Before being a leader, I’m a human. Everyone who walks through my door, be it an employee, a partner, even the teaboy, gets the same respect. Once you build trust, people give you 110%, sometimes 120%.”
THE MAKING OF A LEADER
Khalid’s worldview as an inspiring leader wasn’t formed overnight. Born in Tunisia, Khalid left home at the age of 12 to study at a special school for gifted students. “That’s when I learned independence,” he reflects. “It taught me responsibility, resilience, and the value of family.”
During his growing years, books became his constant companions where
his preferred genre was philosophy and psychology. “I learned early that
it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it,” he smiles. “Even criticism
can be kind if spoken with empathy.”
What sets Khalid’s approach apart is his commitment to cultivating a risk-aware culture across the organization. He emphasizes that even the most advanced models and frameworks are only as strong as the people and processes supporting them. In his view, true organizational resilience is achieved when every team member—from product development to sales—understands and actively contributes to managing risk. This mindset shifts risk management from a periodic compliance exercise to a continuous, embedded discipline that strengthens operational efficiency and ensures business continuity.
Khalid expertise extends far beyond theory. Through the use of sophisticated data analytics and risk modeling, he consistently demonstrates how quantitative insights can refine risk exposure and drive superior business performance. In the fast-paced world of fintech and crowdfunding—where traditional risks intersect with emerging ones—his credit-rating and scoring methodologies have become indispensable. They enable precise calibration of risk, allowing companies to scale confidently without compromising innovation. This equilibrium between growth and control embodies the essence of modern financial leadership.
That balance between intellect and heart defines his leadership today. With a master’s in econometrics and a career that spans GE Capital, Toyota Finance, EMKAN Finance, and Hala Group, Khalid brings both the technical mastery of a banker and the humanity of a mentor. “You never stop learning,” he says. “Every day teaches you something new, from your customers, your team, your failures.”
FUNDING THE FUTURE
Today, Nayla Finance stands at a defining point in its journey. Having secured its license from the Saudi Central Bank and completed its seed round, the company is now raising its Series A to accelerate growth. “We’re looking for strategic investors,” Khalid opened up. “Not just for money, but for people who can add real value, those who bring expertise, technology, and networks that help us grow smarter.”
His current focus is firmly on Saudi Arabia, but expansion is inevitable. “Once we’ve built a strong reference here,” he says, “we’ll look toward the GCC, North Africa, and beyond. But growth must be responsible, we build deep before we build wide.”
NOT LENDING BUT ENABLING
As Nayla Finance scales in its corporate journey, its vision is expanding too. “Lending is just the beginning,” Khalid says. “We want to evolve into a full ecosystem that supports businesses at every stage. If our clients need an HR system or an e-commerce platform, we’ll help them get it. Our job is to listen, to understand what they need next and grow with them.” This adaptability, he believes, is what will keep Nayla ahead. “When your customer fixes one problem, another appears, and that’s not a challenge, that’s an opportunity for any venture to come up with diverse solutions under a single roof. We are aiming to do the same!”
LISTENING AS A LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
Before we closed the conversation, we asked Khalid for a message he’d like to share with readers, something that sums up his journey and philosophy. He pauses for a moment and smiles. “If you’re disconnected from your customer’s reality,” he says, “you won’t go anywhere. Listen to your customers, adjust, and leave your ego at the door. The customer is the one who will take you up or pull you down. So, always respect your customers!”
