Hustler Fund’s Personal Loan Product has attracted a customer base 23.6 million Kenyans since establishment.
The fund that was inception idea of President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza regime, has seen disbursements amounting to Ksh 54.5 billion and accrued savings of 3.1 billion.
According to update on the Fund in a speech delivered on Tuesday July 9, 2024 by Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives Simon Chelugui, the group loan product has at July 8, 2024 served a total of 23,534 groups with Ksh 182.7 million so far.
Chelugui added that, the government through his docket is planning to graduate over 2 million Hustler Fund beneficiaries who have good credit rating to the main stream Financial market.
“This is in line with hustler fund product intention to help build the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid to access affordable credit,” he said.
Meanwhile, an audit carried out on the Fund by Auditor General for the last Financial Year has revealed several issues that border on data reconciliation.
“The Ministry and partners responded to the queries raised by Auditor General with proper data, even though we submitted when the Auditor General’s report had already been tabled in Parliament as per the timelines,” stated Chelugui.
According to Chelugui, the ongoing discussion in the public on the operation of the fund emanating from the audit report are issues that the Ministry had attended to and clarified accordingly.
On the issue of client identification and registration, the CS noted that the Fund rides on Telecoms and infrastructure and that one has to have a sim card and ID.
The CS further clarified that loan limit enhancement has taken place twice as per the Fund requirements.
The first review was carried out in February, 2023 and the second review was in December 2023 which introduced a savings-led limit increase.
It should be noted that the Hustler Fund operates at 8% interest rate within 14 days with a roll-over interest of 9.5% from the 15th day with no penalties charged.
The Ministry revealed that it is ready to carry out a live environment audit for this Financial Year by the Office of Auditor General to verify all operational process around the fund and address any outstanding issues promptly.
Chelugui once again has assured Kenyans that the Ministry is committed to ensure the Hustler Fund operates with the highest standards of integrity, accountability and efficiency.
Author: Pristone Mambili
A trained Journalist with passion for Radio and online Writing.