Kenya's economic sphere is undoubtedly as divergent as the financial situation of its populations.
While, for instance, some can pride in having one or a couple of bank accounts that never run dry of cash, many others do not even find any sense in owning one because of their limited financial capabilities.
It is this distinct divide between the haves and haves not, the banked and the unbanked, that the leading digital lender, OKash, sought to bridge when it launched into then and still Kenya's overcrowded digital lending market three years ago.
OKash transcendent aspiration to bring about financial inclusion for all; the young and the old, the urbanites and the villagers, smartphone owners and those without, has seen the fintech emerge among the top three lenders in the country.
Before the OKash digital lending transformation, borrowing a loan in Kenya anywhere was a preserve of a few 'privileged'. Yes, those who could afford to provide securities in form of among other things, title deeds, car logbooks and even house items to secure their loans. Those who could not provide such items, the borrowing sphere remained a no-go-zone.
Breaking the Norm
OKash never believed in such an arrangement where getting even a simple loan of say Sh1,000, had to be pegged to a sort of a security of an equivalent or higher monetary value. OKash came to the market with an elaborate strategy; to dismantle this centuries-old bureaucracy that had dictated local borrowing and lending since time immemorial.
Much aware of the versatile nature of financial needs of digital borrowers that range from emergencies to short-term and long-term fixes, OKash would have various loan limits tailor-made to address these varying needs.
To secure a loan from OKash is all based on mutual trust between the lender and the borrower. No securities, no paperwork, no guarantors, no monkey business! As you build a good credit profile with the lender through timely repayments, so does your credit score grow allowing you unlimited access to higher loan limits.
And such is the transformative story that is OKash today; making way where there wasn't. Exploring deep into the uncharted waters of artificial impossibilities.
OKash Mashinani & CSR Programmes
But OKash introduction of 'OKash Mashinani' early this year, to enable illiterate borrowers and those without smartphones to access its loan facilities, was perhaps the strongest expression of the lender's endless strive to bring financial inclusivity.
Additionally, empowerment of the communities where its borrowers come from, has also been a key tenet of OKash operations..
This year alone, save for the COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted the 2020 academic calendar, OKash had sponsored several high school students drawn from different regions across Kenya by paying their school fees amounting to hundreds of thousands of shillings.
Education, OKash believes, is instrumental in inculcating a responsible borrowing culture among its target populations.
COVID-19 Pandemic
In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic that has adversely affected many businesses, OKash would still give its borrowers a shoulder to lean on by offering waivers on penalties to all borrowers who had outstanding loans before the contagion hit the country on March.
OKash transformative lending journey is still on even as the prevailing cloud of economic uncertainties occasioned by the viral pandemic, continues to hang on.
Indeed a friend is known during the time of need, and that is exactly what the OKash brand is to you; a friend in need!