M-Shwari Celebrates 7-Years of Financial Inclusion In East Africa

Mobile lending service M-Shwari is this week celebrating its 7-year anniversary since it’s official launch on 27^th November 2012.

With over 31 million customers in Kenya, M-Shwari has cemented its leading position as a 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”.

READ: Disruption: How M-Shwari Has Saliently Disrupted Our Saving Culture

 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 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 28^th Nov to 4^th Dec 2019.

READ: Saving To See The World: The M-Shwari Story of 52-Week Challenge

“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 have seen M-Shwari disburse loans amounting to over Ksh 430.5 billion with customers’ deposits of over 18.7 billion shillings.