Mobile Money lending firm Tala has not yet resumed lending despite the partial opening up of the economy.
In March, the firm left most of its clients who had paid loans expecting to take another one, high and dry.
“The loans stopped suddenly and I didn’t know what to do,” said a client of Tala who spoke to Kenyanbusinessfeed.com
The firm having stopped the loans to mass market, instead launched a Sh650 million loan product to support Small and Medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
“We want to give those businesses the ability to get a head start in helping communities recover and rebound,” said Ivan Mbowa, General Manager, Tala Kenya.
Tala continues on this product that was tailored to support businesses that provide the necessities a community needs to cope with a crisis, such as food, water, health & medical services, critical household supplies, education, and logistics related to these services.
The abrupt ending of loan service to the mass market was very disruptive. It will take the Los Angeles startup sometime to come back noting that the government had also banned the enlisting of loan defaulters to Credit Reference Bureaus (CRB).
It remains to be seen what Tala’s business strategy will be in the coming months.
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