MPesa launches first digital loans in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Ezra

Snapshot

MPesa subscribers lacked credit access, limiting their use of the company’s mobile services
The company partnered with Ezra to seamlessly integrate its credit scoring and loan management platform
MPesa’s digital loans have gone on to become a top revenue generator for the company

1m+

Customers who used Ezra-powered digital loans

90%

Customers accessing cash loan for the first time

< 30 sec

Time to receive funds from loan application

Introduction

MPesa launched the first ever digital loan product in its Sub-Saharan African market by partnering with Ezra, helping to significantly increase financial inclusion.

The company is a pan-African mobile wallet operator that provides financial services to over 30 million customers in 9 countries.

Credit access was a big issue for MPesa’s customers, limiting their ability to complete purchases or transfer money to family.

The company saw an opportunity to grow its market share in Sub-Saharan Africa by implementing Ezra’s intelligent credit scoring and digital financial services platform, which would help it to launch the first instant digital loan product in the country.

The challenge of poor bank lending services in Sub-Saharan Africa before MPesa launched cash loans.

Although MPesa already offered mobile wallet services to consumers in Sub-Saharan Africa, the lack of access to credit limited the ability of consumers to complete purchases or transfer money to family.

Financial access was hampered by manual and strict banking checks that required a lot of physical documentation proof, locking most people out of access to credit and slowing down the process for those that could access lending.

However, by offering instant digital loans without the paperwork or high barriers to access, MPesa could tap into a significant market, one that is unmatched by banks or other financial providers, whilst stimulating demand for its existing wallet products.

Ezra leverages the existing compliance procedures of our partners, thereby ensuring a seamless and convenient customer experience for the existing MPesa customer base.

"MPesa has been able to deliver an unrivalled online customer experience with users receiving funds less than 30 seconds after they start an application."

Case Study Highlight

Why MPesa chose Ezra

MPesa selected Ezra’s platform due to its innovative credit scoring service and financial product expertise that had already been implemented by clients in comparative markets.

Ezra’s unique credit scoring platform and banking partnerships enabled MPesa to offer instant, digital cash loans to consumers, even in markets where a similar service had not been available.

This helped MPesa to de-risk the introduction of the service with higher credit checking performance standards compared to the industry average.

How Ezra helped MPesa

Ezra engaged the client on three streams: technical integration, credit scoring and product design.

Leveraging Ezra’s API, we enabled an integration between our credit check platform and MPesa’s customer-facing mobile wallet, enabling the company to deliver a quality, on-brand digital loan experience to consumers at scale. Our team also delivered technical expertise and support on development and testing for the integration with MPesa.

Our data scientists worked with MPesa to analyse transaction data and use Ezra’s proprietary scoring algorithms to create a bespoke customer scorecard. This was tailored both to their risk appetite and the characteristics of the market, so MPesa could safely achieve a high eligibility rate for their instant loans.

Finally, our expert product team worked with MPesa to design a digital loan experience with a world-class UI and UX. From designing the application process to a customer care and support interface, Ezra also delivered tools for campaign management and reporting to ensure MPesa could track performance and make enhancements.

Ezra adopted an agile delivery approach to implementation and deployment, working in collaboration with MPesa to ensure the solution was ready for a faster launch to market.

Direct integration with MPesa’s mobile wallet

Bespoke credit scoring to manage client risk

Local bank partnership for credit provision

"Ezra's solution has enhanced the monetization of our base by extending credit to out of balance customers. I have no hesitation in recommending Ezra to any mobile operator."

CMO | Major pan-African mobile operator

The results!

MPesa’s mobile loan product has seen huge success in Sub-Saharan Africa since adopting Ezra’s credit platform. Over a million customers have accessed instant loans with over 90% of these customers accessing credit for the very first time, helping to significantly increase financial inclusion.

Thanks to Ezra’s innovative credit checking service, MPesa has been able to deliver an unrivalled online customer experience with users receiving funds less than 30 seconds after they start an application, with no physical paperwork or stringent guarantees required.

Digital cash loans has since become one of the top revenue generators for MPesa whilst increasing customer adoption of their existing digital wallet products thanks to increased customer access to credit.