President William Ruto is expected to launch another Hustler fund product in February 2023.
Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and SME Development Simon Chelugui said on Friday that the product will be better and bigger.
“The President will launch another Hustler Foundation product in February. This means Kenyans can borrow more from Sh100,000 to Sh2.5 million,” he said.
Chelugui said Micro Businesses, SMEs and Start-up loans are expected to enable the group to access affordable credit.
Further, CS said major steps were taken a month after the Hustler Foundation was established.
He said Sh12 billion has been paid up to December 30, 2022.
“From Sh12 billion, the borrowers repaid Sh4.7 billion, translating to about 40 percent,” said Chelugui.
With a month’s turnover of funds, CS said a proper analysis will now be done to review the credit limit.
“The government is going to show restrictions. We are making good progress, Hustler will be strong, but we are calling on them to pay back because that is the only way to improve their credit score,” said Chelugui.
“If you can’t pay back 0.02 percent a day on a low-interest loan, it’s not fair to yourself. Let’s all pay together and move forward,” he said.
According to the latest figures, Kenyans saved over Sh600 million from 20.6 million transactions in 30 days. The government takes a 5 percent deduction from each loan that goes toward the borrower’s savings.
So far, 17.5 million Kenyans have registered and accessed funds through their phones. Of these, 4.3 million people received more than one loan, which shows that the funding continues to grow.
A person must be at least 18 years old, have a valid ID card, a registered SIM card and a mobile money account with Safaricom, Airtel or Telkom.
This fund is specifically designed to support small traders in the country.
Hustler Fund consists of four products: personal, micro business, SME and start-up loans.
To access the fund, Kenyans can dial *254# on their mobile phones.
At the launch, borrowers were warned that the government would not take drastic action to address the problem.
Defaulters will see interest rates rise from 8 percent to 9.5 percent.
If the customer does not pay the loan within the required period, an additional 15 days will be added before the interest rate increases.
Borrowers will have their Hustler Foundation account frozen.