Having analyzed the pros and cons to loanees in this article some few weeks ago, we take time to also look at the investor account of the story and the strategies they employ so as to attract more customers to their respective platforms as the niche proves to be a competitive one by the dawn of each day. According to a survey done by the Financial Sector Deepening (FSD Kenya) which is a financial inclusion agency, close to 35% of adults in the country have used digital credit while about 65% of these had an outstanding digital loan or hadn’t completed 3 months since clearing of their last digital loan.
The research reveals that the employed are the most active on the digital loans platforms and borrow the most from the platforms. Their numbers are up to a factor of three compared against those inactive on the platforms. This research shows that consumers continuously look for the best loan applications hence a high demand for loan services. The constantly innovative and convenient lending applications therefore have an edge to command a big market share.
Credit Info, a financial credit research company also released a report last year on the market overview of digital mobile loans in Kenya. The report showed that at least 16% of Kenyans borrowed from a number of digital mobile lenders in the last half of the year 2017 and the first quarter of 2018. From the report, 74.5% of the borrowers had outstanding loans on two to six different applications at a time, a very worrying revelation as many of these loans had been used to fund fancy lifestyles.
A new entrant into the digital lenders space, Okolea announced the possibility of clients receiving their loans into their bank accounts and not only onto their mobile money wallets. This, seen as a product in the menu that is aimed at edging out their competitors in the same space bearing in mind the expensive mobile money rates that their loanees have been enduring due to unavailability of options.