At least 21 million borrowers have so far benefited from the government's Hustler Fund initiative, with Sh49.5 billion distributed since inception.
The information is contained in Safaricom's financial results for the year ended March 31, 2024, released on Thursday in Nairobi.
According to the firm, whose mobile money product M-Pesa supports the government's overdraft facility, the repayment rate for the amount is 77 per cent, meaning that at least 11.4 billion is in default.
Launched in late 2022, the fund is part of President William Ruto's campaign promise to help small business owners scale up, liberate ordinary Kenyans from shylocks and help establish a culture of saving.
The fund, worth Sh50 billion a year over the next five years, is expected to liberate more than 15 million people from predatory lenders by offering loans of up to Sh50,000.
Lending at an annual rate of eight, the fund is many times cheaper than the average lender in the market.
Embedded on Safaricom's M-Pesa platform, financial experts have often viewed Hustler Fund as a direct competition to the telco's Fuliza, an aspect denied by Safaricom.
Safaricom's CEO Peter Ndegwa has often insisted that there is a huge difference between the two products, saying that Fuliza is here to stay despite Hustkler Fund's inroads.
"Our customers pay Fuliza overdraft at a limited time of five days, as Hustler Fund is a personal term loan to be paid after 14 days," he said.
Apart from the Hustler Fund, Safaricom hosts other government products including the Women Groups Empowerment Fund where at least Sh900 million have been disbursed to at least two million members.
Others are government Cash Transfer Walle which was launched early this year and expects to benefit two million individuals by September this year. At least Sh1.23 billion has been disbursed via the platform.
