Technology: Revolutionizing the Lending Sector the UbaPesa Way

Kenyans are always looking for an easier way to access loans. In simple terms, Kenyans are ever ‘borrowing’, not from charity organizations but from institutions where they will have to pay back.

Initially, Kenyans used to borrow money from commercial banks. Things have since changed. Very few Kenyans will approach a bank for a loan unless they have security or a big project that needs a lot of money.

Technology has completely revolutionized the lending sector in Kenya. The coming of mobile loan apps has really shifted the borrowing habits of people with many people keeping off traditional form of borrowing from banks.

Among the many mobile loan apps that exist, one UbaPesa stands out of the rest as a convenient app that can help Kenyans improve their lives through access to affordable loans.

Before I go deep into the loans, which most people love, allow me to first take you through the UbaPesa journey and how it works.

Different from other apps whereupon downloading you will log in and start processing for a loan, which, by the way, you may or may not get, UbaPesa gives you a wide range of choices of where and from who you should take your loan from.

In traditional banking, people walk into the bank and ‘store’ their money with the bank. The bank doesn’t sit with the money. It takes the same money and gives it to other people as loans. The money is thus always in circulation. The bank is just a channel that has enabled people to give and take money.

UbaPesa app, on the other hand, brings together lenders and borrowers under one platform. It is like a marketplace where people come to buy and sell money. When you come with your money to lend, you expect the person borrowing to give back plus the cost of money. It is a business, UbaPesa allows one to lend or borrow money for a period of either 10, 20 or 30 days with each period attracting a platform facilitation fee of 8%, 9%, and 10% respectively.

Upon downloading the app, one of the key features I noticed is that there is a category for lenders and borrowers. If you have come to lend money, you will go to the lenders’ side (which is on the left-hand side) and if you have come to borrow money, you will automatically go to the borrowers’ side (which is on the right-hand side.)

The app is that easy and very interactive to use. Think of it as an open-air market where traders come to interact with buyers. Here, lenders are those who h