The search for money is a never-ending puzzle. On a daily, people are looking for money for all sorts of reasons; personal use, business, health, education and many others. Because money is a scarce resource yet it is continuously needed, many opt for credit services.
Unfortunately, traditional credit services are hard to access owing to several bureaucratic tendencies such as so much paperwork, long wait time, unfair interest rates and need for tangible collateral security.
But, with the aid of Technology, Innovators are rewriting this story. A valid example is Malawian FinTech start-up Credit Line Limited.
“We are a FinTech company that has developed a system that allows instant access to loans, buy now and pay later, insurance and investment. We partner with lenders and employers to enable employees access credit in a simple, quick and efficient manner. We have both a mobile APP and USSD platform accessed by all employees of the partnered lenders and employers,” Deborah Mijoso, Co-Founder Credit Line, Malawi explained.
She added: “Our instant loans are servicing the unbanked, and low-income earners. We are providing a solution that wasn’t there in Malawi thus allowing the unserved a chance to get credit from financial institutions without collateral. For as long as one is employed, that is enough security. You just have to log on to our platform and access credit from multiple lenders. For buy now, pay later; we are enabling people buy assets on credit and pay later. We have listed partners and merchants. The customer only needs to visit a store of our listed partners, get the product they want on credit, take it home and pay for it periodically until payment is complete.”
Mijoso noted that even though Credit Line was launched in 2024, a lot of progress has been made. This includes major partnerships with three lenders, two big employers, Centenary Bank – for the instant disbursement and collections, and TransUnion Credit Reference Bureau – for credit worthiness checks.
Nonetheless, she noted that this line of business is faced with several challenges such as Financial Literacy gaps, Limited Technology Adoption and Poor Infrastructure.
“Even amidst these challenges, we are very optimistic that with the coming of initiatives such as 40 Days 40 FinTechs, the industry will improve. We are optimistic that with this initiative, we are going to improve our product, find more partners across the continent and expand our market.”
Credit Line featured on Day 5 of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative; Zambia and Malawi edition. The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide. The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and start-ups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.