The government is making arrangements to launch its first ever mobile loan app in April 2019.
The Y-Mobile app is a brainchild of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and will be used to disburse its loans to Kenyans.
According to The Star, Youth Fund Chairman Ronald Osumba revealed that the state corporation was seeking Ksh300 million from the National Treasury as part of efforts to provide more loans.
“The demand is high and it is expensive to devolve officers to county and sub-county levels. I would rather have a platform which is accessible to somebody in a remote village,” stated Osumba.
The fund noted that 80 per cent of the requests received were for short-term loans which could be effectively disbursed through the app.
The Y-Mobile will join the numerous mobile loan apps that are already operating in the country.
In 2018, the government also announced a plan to merge affirmative action funds into one organisation.
The institutions that will be consolidated include Kenya Industrial Estates, Development Bank of Kenya, Industrial Bank of Kenya, Women Enterprise Development Fund, Youth Enterprise Fund and Uwezo Fund.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Osumba stated that upon the merger, the loan app will be expanded to serve the larger population targeted by the new entity.
In January 2019, the government suspended Uwezo Funds disbursement in Tana River County over mass defaulting by residents.
Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs Principal Secretary, Safina Kwekwe, lamented that of the Ksh58 million that the fund had loaned out in five years, only Ksh1 million had been paid back.
