Microloans: How local start-ups are taking the battle to investors

The demand for and opportunities that exist for loan sharks in Kenya are boundless. This has seen all sorts of lenders crop up in corner shops in estates and major town centres. Their advertisements are nearly as impossible to miss as the waganga ones.

Informal lenders once ruled the short-term lending sector, but in the last couple of years, the market has become skewed. Formal lenders have got involved and shifted the focus to mobile-based lending applications.