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INSTANT DIGITAL LOANS
Tala’s Five Years of Expanding Financial Access in Kenya
T
ala is a mobile technology and data science company that delivers instant credit via smartphone to underserved people in emerging markets. It has a mission is to expand financial access, choice and control for 3 billion people globally. The app that uses alternative data to score customers in real-time, without a need for formal credit history. Anyone with an Android smartphone in the market can apply for a loan and receive an instant decision. It provides fast, personalized loans to approved borrowers and help customers establish their financial identities over time. In the following interview with StartUp Magazine, Ivan Mbowa, Tala’s Regional Growth Manager talks of its progresses, successes, innovations and an oversight of what to expect in the years ahead. What was your mission at the outset? Our mission is to expand financial access, choice and control for 3+ billion people globally. How can your solutions be accessed? When a customer downloads our Android app from google play store, he or she fills out a simple application while our models analyze their phone data to determine creditworthiness. If approved, the customer receives their loan offer in Startupmagazine.co.ke September 2019
Ivan Mbowa, Regional Growth Manager ing, or email. TALA just a few minutes. The offer is customized based on their score. Once a customer accepts our credit offer, the loan is disbursed to their mobile wallet in under five minutes in markets like Kenya where mobile rails are prevalent. In cash-based markets like the Philippines, customers typically receive their loan within 1 business day and have a choice of disbursement channel including a cash payout. Customer service is handled digitally, through social media, in-app messag-
What areas of interest do you target with your financial solutions? We're focused on helping the emerging middle class – largely underserved populations that are nonetheless leading creditworthy lives outside of the formal economic sector. Often they are small business owners or salaried workers who, despite some financial stability, still don't have access to quality credit, savings, insurance, or payments products. Why do you think you are best suited to serve the regional market? Being Pioneers as non-bank lenders,
