The project

NB: high risk product. Local partner Umati is now focussing more on providing working capital loans to online sales companies in Kenya. Typical customers look to Umati to provide customised and collateral-free working capital using historical transaction data and a lien on their cashflows. Default risk and currency exchange risk still covered.

Penny is a sole business owner who has been able to use e-commerce to break into the construction business which is a typically male-dominated industry, by operating efficiently, making data-driven decisions in her supply chain and in marketing. Penny is making opportunity where there was none.

Penny like many of our clients uses online sales channels as a supplementary income to her already established brick and mortar stores. She cites the ease of use and the opportunity to raise revenue without going through the hassle of setting up physical stores as the primary motivator to selling online.

95% of the registered vendors are small businesses operating as sole proprietorships and registered small businesses. 

Products sold on the platform are legally tradable goods sold in Kenya with the most popular categories being Mobile Phones and Accessories, Apparel and Home-Living (fixed) goods.

The purpose of this loan is to provide short-term working capital loans valued at USD 300 to 400 vendors on this e-commerce platform.

From the data, the loans will specifically be filling a 3-4 week working capital gap that on average is experienced by the borrowers. From another perspective, the average borrower's order size is valued at USD 30 and so the USD 300 loan, represents an opportunity to fund growth in 10 new orders per month.

Despite being properly legally registered businesses and operating in an accountable way as transactions occur online, this loan is the only line of credit small-scale businesses operating online have at the moment in Kenya. Typically, the borrowers take personal micro-loans that have no analysis on the online business