Safaricom CEO, Peter Ndegwa, credits the Kenyan government’s Hustler Fund for boosting M-Pesa users by 2 million, despite a decline in Fuliza revenue.
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa reportedly claims that the launch of the government’s flagship project Hustler Fund late last year had a significant impact on the company’s subscriber base on both its M-Pesa and Fuliza facilities.
Mr. Ndegwa revealed on Citizen TV’s Tonight Show on Thursday that President William Ruto’s pilot credit fund had increased M-Pesa users by a whopping two million.
Despite recognizing that the fund has resulted in lower overall Fuliza revenue due to its competitive advantage, he stated that since its implementation, more consumers have subscribed to the firm’s overdraft facility as an alternate means of receiving cheap loans.
“Of course, we’ve seen a decline in revenue value, but we’ve seen an increase in usage of Fuliza because it’s 50% cheaper; the first three days are free, which is very good for us in the long run because it’s affordable,” he explained.
“We have seen significant success with Huster Fund; over Ksh.24 billion has been borrowed by 15 million customers, with 6 to 7 million borrowing on a regular basis.” As a result, we’ve seen 2 million people who weren’t using M-Pesa before return and borrow.”
Mr. Ndegwa highlighted that, despite the Hustler Fund’s success, the telco giant may still maximize loan granting because there is still a market niche, as seen by its rising customer base.
“Accessible credit is a critical component of providing more value to our customers.” So we have actually put more emphasis on the Fuliza side,” said the Safaricom CEO.
“The fact that Hustler Fund has been successful demonstrates that there is still a very large opportunity and that the need for affordable credit has not been met.”
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