25 million Kenyans have borrowed Ksh.70B from Hustler Fund: Oparanya

Some Ksh.70 billion has to date been disbursed through the Financial Inclusion Fund, the government-run credit facility commonly known as the Hustler Fund, Cooperatives and MSMEs Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya said on Wednesday.

The fund launched in November 2022 targets Kenyans who could not access credit, having been blacklisted by various credit rating agencies.

It has been offering loans of between Ksh.500 and Ksh.50,000 at an eight per cent pro-rated basis or a daily rate of 0.002 per cent 

Oparanya told senators during a plenary session at Parliament buildings in Nairobi that the fund has to date reached over 25 million Kenyans, 48 per cent of whom are women.

During the Hustler Fund’s second-anniversary celebrations in December, President William Ruto announced a 'loan bridge' targeting ‘good borrowers’ who could access enhanced credit limits of up to Ksh.150,000, based on how good their credit history is.

Oparanya on Wednesday said out of the fund’s borrowers, two million have since been promoted to the bridging band and qualify for bigger loans.

Under the Hustler Fund, five per cent of every loan is directed towards savings; 70 per cent to long-term and 30 per cent to short-term savings.

But the program has cited limited funding and borrower defaulting as some of its major challenges.

In February, Oparanya said the Hustler Fund was among the government’s key initiatives he deems underfunded in the 2025/26 financial year budget.

He pointed out that the MSMEs State Department requires Ksh.25,997,000,000 in the new fiscal year beginning June but has only been allocated Ksh.6,353,300,000, leaving a Ksh.19,643,990,000 deficit.

Oparanya said they required an additional Ksh.8 billion for credit disbursement and Ksh.400 million for recurrent expenditure to run the Hustler Fund.

And last October, the fund’s officials said they were considering forceful recovery of the over Ksh.12 billion owed at the time. Oparanya on Wednesday did not indicate how much of the Ksh.70 billion current borrowing Kenyans still owe.