M-SHWARI CELEBRATES 7 YEARS OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN EAST AFRICA

M-SHWARI CELEBRATES 7 YEARS OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN EAST AFRICA

By Douglas Muriithi

The service has since disbursed over 430 billion Kenya shillings among customer base of 31 million subscribers.

As the mobile lending service M-Shwari celebrating its 7-year anniversary since it’s official launch on 27th November 2012.

With over 31 million customers in Kenya, M-Shwari has cemented its leading position as the reliable alternative source of credit and the most accessible financial service in East Africa.

Commenting on the success of M-Shwari in the last 7 years, NCBA Group Managing Director John Gachora said, “We are glad to witness the success and growth of M-Shwari.

The service has provided a convenient and secure solution to many, contributing to the economy by promoting inclusion planning and empowering our customers to effectively manage their cash flow.

Kenyan households that use M-Shwari are better savers, maintaining at least one week of their home expenditures on M-Shwari lock savings”.

M-Shwari Lock savings enables customers to save for a defined purpose and for a specified amount of time.

Notably, the lock saving feature on M-Shwari has attracted over 450,000 customers with the average lock savings being Ksh 8,981 for an average of 7.5 months, entrenching a savings culture among its customers.

“We are particularly proud of the transformation witnessed among our M-Shwari customers with 42 % of all our loan disbursements being invested in business ventures.

I reaffirm our commitment to continue playing a crucial role in providing life-changing financial support to all our customers”. Gachora added

As part of the celebrations, top M-Shwari customers were awarded with deposits of Ksh 1,000 into their M-Shwari accounts while customers with outstanding loans between day 31 and 60 had a chance to repay within seven days and get a credit of Ksh.700 into their M-Shwari accounts between 28th Nov to 4th Dec 2019.

“M-PESA aims to provide our customers will relevant financial solutions that create an impact in their daily lives.

Our partnership with NCBA has enabled us to deliver M-Shwari as a revolutionary innovation that provides millions of Kenyans with formal access to credit and savings, many of them for the first time ever, ” said Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom.

The last 7 years has seen M-Shwari disburse loans amounting to over Ksh 430.5 billion with customers’ deposits of over Ksh 18.7 billion.