A Tuk Tuk driver from Mombasa on Wednesday urged President William Ruto to include Asset Financing in the Hustler Fund.
According to Ruto, the driver, Harrison Karisa Kengai, who accessed Ksh714,000 from the Hustler Fund, would like to use his TukTuk to access credit in the near future.
Asset financing is a system where a borrower provides the lender with a security to access credit. Once the loan is fully repaid, the lender returns the property provided as security back to the borrower.
"I assured him (Harrison Karisa Kengai) that during my address today, I would ask the ministry responsible to respond to him. Consequently, I hereby direct the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs (Simon Chelugui) to expeditiously engage Mr Kengai," Ruto ordered, while addressing Parliament.
The President, however, did not clarify whether Kengai accessed the funds once or if his total transactions on Hustler Fund amounted to the said money.
Personal loan limits are currently set at a minimum of Ksh500 to a maximum of Ksh50,000 depending on the borrower’s credit score while group limits are set at Ksh20,000 to Ksh1 million. The repayment period of the group loans is six months from the disbursement date.
Ruto also narrated an analogous situation where a plumber in Kisii County managed to access Ksh1.7 million from the Fund after undertaking a series of transactions.
''The impact of the Hustler Fund is summarized by the story of Sospheter Ondiek from Kisii. The Kenyan film industry should look for him to tell his true life story.
"Mr. Ondiek has a plumbing and tiling business in Kisii county and has accessed a total of 1.7 million from the Hustler fund in the many transactions he has undertaken," the President stated, in his State of the Nation address.
He also highlighted that about 7.7 million people had borrowed from the Fund whose overall repayment rate is at 73 per cent.
On September 1, Cooperatives and MSMEs Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui lauded Kenyans who have taken full advantage of the Hustler Fund since its launch in November 2022.
Chelugui, who spoke during the launch of the National Organizing Committee for the 23rd EAC MSMEs Trade Fair, the CS gave the example of a Kenyan who had borrowed at least 1,039 times and received Ksh4.5 million over the said period.
The CS also shared the testimony of a Kenyan who had saved up to Ksh600,000 through the Fund.
