Barclays Bank of Kenya has cast its net wider into the growing mobile money business with with Timiza, a service targeting SMEs. Offering a maximum of sh150, 000, an SME will need to repay the loan within 30 days
“Our focus is to use innovation and technology to develop products that are more relevant to the emerging needs of our customers,” Jeremy Awori Barclays Bank Group CEO said.
Jeremy added that while typically banks are not there to fund start-ups, the company is interested in being part of the journey to have the next big brands like Safaricom. Barclays will take a keen interest in monitoring the growth which could upgrade some of them to normal credit offered by the bank.
Barclays intends to be using cash transactions to determine credit worthiness to potential borrowers.
Timiza is developed by Craft Silicon, the company that is also behind e-taxi service, Little.
To join, all one needs to do is dial *848# which will provide you an interface to register, open an account and fill necessary details. If you have been listed on Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) for loan defaulting, you will not be able to get it, until you clear yourself from the list.
Timiza is not only an instant loans service but also purchase insurance cover and savings. One can also pay for KPLC/ZUKU/DSTV/GOTV bills and buy airtime.
Those who qualify for a loan will be charged a 5 percent processing fee and monthly interest of 1.7 percent. In total, users will pay 106.7 percent of the cash borrowed.
Timiza joins the mobile money market that includes Mshwari, KCB Mpesa, Tala, Cooperative Mcop cash and Equitel.
