Stanbic Bank Kenya has announced a new initiative that will provide short-term loans to distributors and suppliers.
This new initiative was launched after the inauguration of M-Jeki, a new automated supply chain finance platform by the bank. The new platform aims to facilitate timely and personalized short-term loans to distributors and suppliers.
The bespoke financing platform, dubbed M-Jeki, offers short-term loans based on the needs of clients across all sectors and industries. It is an end-to-end solution, backed by a robust technology platform that enables convenient delivery of finance through mobile money.
The launch follows a successful pilot project with Safaricom dealers and agents. During the pilot, dealers and agents received automated short-term business loans to finance the M-PESA float, airtime and devices. Over the past 12 months, 314 agents and dealers have accessed short term loans up to Ksh. 10.3 billion.
Speaking at the launch of M-Jeki, Stanbic Bank Kenya Head of Corporate Banking, Thomas Bisonga said, “This new proposal demonstrates our goal as a bank to facilitate the growth of Kenyan businesses through tailor-made solutions aligned with needs. of our customers and their value chains. At the heart of this proposition is a robust technology platform to facilitate the practical delivery of the solution.”
Bisonga said the launch of the solution was inspired by feedback from distributors and suppliers, whose constant pain points have to wait the required period of 30 to 90 days before invoices are due for payments to be made. made and retailers who find it difficult to buy products. due to working capital constraints. With M-Jeki, payment is accessible without waiting, provided that suppliers and distributors have commercial documents in the form of LPOs and invoices, which serve as collateral.
The bank has also partnered with Virtual City, a Kenyan fintech, to build a more robust and scalable platform to support multiple value chains across multiple industries. The platform will run on Microsoft technology and enable efficient loan and rate processing of borrowers based on their transactional account behavior, through a behavioral scoring index. The solution will be accessible through the app, web channels, and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD).
The company recently launched an initiative to help Taxify drivers buy their own car and receive 100% financing in partnership with Renault Kenya.
