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MICRO-FINANCE
Michael Monari, CEO LONGITUDE FINANCE
Giving a Financial Lifeline to Micro Entrepreneurs Words Oroni Tendera
Longitude Finance focuses on making a positive impact in the society by providing micro loans.
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ne of the persistent challenges facing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), micro entrepreneurs and organized groups is lack of access to credit to meet their varied needs. The statistics are scary. Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that 52 per cent of all loan applications made by SMEs were rejected by banks and other financial institutions. To change this narrative, Michael Monari set up a micro lending institution, Longitude Finance, which focuses on making a positive impact in the society by providing micro loans. Startupmagazine.co.ke August 2019
“Majority of SMEs and organized groups need two things to grow; access to affordable credit and structures. With this hindsight, we are partnering with like-minded companies and organizations to transform people’s livelihoods,” says Mr. Monari, adding that they don’t just provide finance to start-ups but also train them to manage their business circle and risks. “I have worked as a banker across over 10 countries in Africa and I have realized that many small to medium enterprises lack the very basic and simple financial management skills which is key for their growth and sustainability,” explains the CEO.
Strategic partnerships One of the key partnerships is with Copia, an American online store that targets women. “Before the partnership, women would organize themselves into groups to save and buy products. With our entry this has changed. Copia now delivers these products to their doorstep and they repay later via Longitude Finance,” he says. The partnerships has made it possible for these women to access farming and household items like water tanks, water pumps, chuff cutters, furniture, cooking stoves, wire mesh, iron sheets and other domestic items. The items have been instrumental in improving the quality of their lives, says Mr. Monari. The firm is also working with M-PAYG Solar, a Danish company that supplies Solar Home Systems to off-grid communities in rural Kenya and SMEs in peri-urban areas. The solar systems are given to households that make repayments in instalments while using the solar gadget. “We are also negotiating a new partnership with Water.org to support targeted communities across the country to access clean water and live in a clean environment,” explains Mr. Monari. Besides, the firm is further working with Monarch Insurance to help riders buy insurance products for their bodabodas, a facility which the CEO says has been widely embraced. “The law requires bodabodas to have insurance which many of them lack. With our intervention, they are able to acquire the insurance and pay a daily fee of Sh 50 to cover them against unforeseen risks,” he says. It recently partnered with Afya Poa a provider of affordable inpatient medical cover underwritten by Sanlam to provide the cover to their clients to ensure mini-
