Ubapesa chief executive George Wasike (left) with technical officer
Ronald Mutuku during the interview at their Nairobi offices on April 23.
PHOTO | Salaton njau | NMG
A money-lending online platform launched in Kenya last month has attracted 3,000 loanees and 22,000 mobile app downloads.
Ubapesa,
founded by George Wasike, Gordon Ochieng, Ronald Mutuku and an
anonymous funder, has been offering online short-term loans mainly to
civil servants and owners of small businesses, who require urgent cash
to meet immediate needs.
Mr Wasike, who is the Ubapesa
chief executive, says they discovered a major opportunity for Kenyan
depositors to lend money on a reliable platform.
“Our
work is to hook up a lender to a borrower on the platform. Our
commission will be earned when repayments are made,” he said.
Ubapesa, which went live on Google Playstore on March 10, offers
its clientele 10-day, 20-day and 30-day loans ranging from Sh500 to
Sh7,000.
Mr Wasike, who studied a Bachelor of Arts
degree at Kenyatta University says clients will have an opportunity to
build their credit history with them as they service the loans.
Borrowers will enjoy higher loans at low interest rates when they garner
favourable ratings.
“We require one to register with
us using their mobile number (solely safaricom) where we check an
individual’s credit score with the Credit Reference Bureau to determine
their worth,” he says.
His major breakthrough came when
he met Mr Mutuku, a Jomo Kenyatta University of Science, Agriculture
and technology(JKUAT) IT graduate. Mr Mutuku then working at Craft
Silicon.
Together they launch their first product Gotta
App, an airtime buying service for all mobile operators in Kenya that
has been in the market for two and a half years.
Mr Wasike worked at Safaricom as a business solutions architect before moving to Airtel as a corporates product manager.
A
trained teacher, Mr Wasike shunned the classroom for the tech world
using self-taught online modules that earned him his first job at
Lantech.
To fund their operations while keeping loans affordable, Ubapesa charges a facilitation fee for every loan they give out.
“Lenders
on the platform specify who they would wish to loan money to and we
match them to borrowers. A 10-day loan attracts an eight per cent
interest charge, 20-day (9per cent) and 30-day loan attract a 10 per
cent interest,” he says.
Mr Mutuku adds that they had piloted the product among friends and relatives.
Mr Wasike says they will continue studying the market as they expand coverage to the rest of the country.
“Yes,
the competition on lending is rife but many firms relied on foreign
funders which made their loans very costly. We have a pool of local
investors that have given us financial backing worth Sh45 million as
startup capital,” he says.
Mr Mutuku notes that they would soon introduce other services for their app to include payment portal for goods and services.
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