Microlender Maisha gets 2,000 mobile loan applications daily in trial phase

FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By JAMES KARIUKI

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Summary

• Microfinance institution receives 2,000 loan applications daily during the 45-day pilot period.
• The M-Fanisi platform enables users to save money as well as qualify for a seven-day loan that attracts a 3.3per cent interest inclusive of excise duty.
• Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) Chief Executive Habil Olaka welcomes the new product, saying it could drive financial inclusion

Maisha Microfinance has enrolled 50,000 new members and disbursed 20,000 loans helped by the rapid adoption of mobile-based payment technologies in the Kenyan market.

Ireneus Gichana, the Maisha Microfinance chief executive, said that the lender’s newly-launched mobile loans platform had received 2,000 loan applications daily during the 45-day pilot period.

“During the 45-day pilot period, we realised that our partnership with Airtel Money and Bluesky Consultants helped us reach more people than before,” Mr Gichana said, adding that M-Fanisi’s launch was a major milestone for Maisha Microfinance Bank, which was among the first microfinance institutions to start a mobile phone-based savings and loans facility.

READ: Maisha first microlender to roll out mobile loans

Applicants for M-Fanisi phone account must be Airtel network users.

The M-Fanisi platform enables users to save money as well as qualify for a seven-day loan that attracts a 3.3per cent interest inclusive of excise duty.

A 14-day loan from the same platform comes as a cost of 5.5 per cent interest while a 30-day loan is available at 8.25 per cent interest.

Financial inclusion

Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) Chief Executive Habil Olaka welcomed the new product, saying it could drive financial inclusion enabling small traders to comfortably access small loans to fund their operations and pay via mobile phones.

Central Bank of Kenya statistics show that consumers transferred Sh2.1 trillion through mobile phone-based platforms between January and July 2017, up from Sh1.8 trillion transacted over the same period last year.

Airtel Kenya Managing Director Prasanta Das Sarma welcomed the partnership saying this was a worthy value added service to their subscribers adding they had since upgraded Airtel Money system and increased their active agent base from 10,000 to 22,000.