7 startups in Kenya that offer quick loans with just the click of a mouse

There are currently 49 loan apps in Kenya with M-Shwari, Kenya's first savings and loans product introduced in 2012, leading the pack.
35 per cent of Kenyan digital borrowers use digital credit to meet day-to-day household needs while 37 per cent borrow for business reasons.

Thanks to its tech savvy population, a liberal financial market coupled with a large pool of youths hungry for capital, financial lenders have found a fertile ground in Kenya to set up their base and extend credit to the banked and unbanked alike.

From having had little or no access to credit, many Kenyans now find themselves surrounded by money lending apps which can lend them thousands of shillings with just a few taps on their phones.

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There are currently 49 loan apps in Kenya with M-Shwari, Kenya's first savings and loans product introduced by Safaricom and Commercial Bank of Africa in 2012, leading the pack followed by KCB M-Pesa at twelve per cent, Equity Eazzy at four per cent, Tala at 1.8 per cent, and MCo-op Cash at 1.3 per cent.

Meeting day-to-day household needs and business reasons are the two main reasons that push mobile owners to take out mobile loans.

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Here are the top 7 startups in Kenya that offer quick loans with just a click of a mouse.

M-Shwari

Coined from a Swahili word that means smoothen or make something better or good, M-Shwari is the revolutionary new banking product for M-PESA customers that allows users to save and borrow money through their phone while earning you interest on money saved. A one-time fee of 7.5% is levied for each loan.

In order to qualify for a loan all you need is to be an M-PESA subscriber for 6 months.

Tala

Formerly known as Mkopo Rahisi, Tala app is a product of Inventure which was founded by Shivani Siroya who is also the current CEO.

The company says it has granted more than 6 million loans worth more than $300 million, mainly in Kenya, since it launched in Kenya in 2014.

The service gives loans of upto Ksh. 50,000.

Branch

Branch is a Facebook-linked service that allows users to borrow and repay small loans through Safaricom's mobile payments service M-Pesa.

The lender disburses loans instantly from as low as 250 shillings to as high as 50,000 shillings.

The San Francisco based lender foundered by Matt Flannery who is the CEO says it expects to grant about 10 million loans worth a total of $250 million this year in Kenya and its other markets, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Utunzi

Utunzi Ventures, a micro lender in Kenya provids quick and affordable loans through an android mobile app dubbed 'Utunzi Loan App'.

Clients are able to apply for loans ranging from Sh500 to Sh100,000.

Timiza

Timiza is the latest entrant to Kenya’s growing mobile banking space.

Timiza, a loan application recently launched by Barclays Bank, is meant to target young professionals ‘hustlers’ who are seeking to acquire capital to either start or grow their businesses.

Depending on your credit rating, one can be able to access funds up to 150,000 with the loan repayment period being 30 days.

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Coined from the Swahili word meaning ‘quickly’ Haraka is one of the quickest ways to access loans in an instant.

Haraka is a micro-loan service owned by GetBucks, a South African registered lender, that gives loans to users via an Android app.

Loans range from as low as Sh500 ($5) to as high as Sh5,000 ($50).

The Haraka app is active in Kenya and 4 other countries i.e. Uganda, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Tanzania.

Saida

Saida checks how you have been using your phone to make call/SMS, data and how you use mobile money services such as M-Pesa to evaluate the amount of loan you qualify for.

It takes around 10 minutes for your loan to be processed.