Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa now says the Hustler Fund, which was launched by Government last year, has impacted the giant telco in a positive way.
Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV on Thursday, May 18, Ndegwa said the platform had brought back two million customers on Mpesa just to access credit.
"On Hustler Fund we have seen a significant success, more than 24 billion borrowed by 15 million customers, and 6 to 7 million are borrowing on a regular basis. We have seen 2 million people who were not interacting with Mpesa coming back into Mpesa and actually borrowing," he stated.
On the other hand, the Safaricom CEO noted that they had seen a decline in value in terms of revenue on Fuliza but an increase in usage of the platform.
"We have seen a decline in value in terms of revenue on Fuliza but we have seen an increase in usage of Fuliza because it is 50% cheaper. The first three days are free," Ndgewa said.
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Mr. Ndegwa addressed a wide variety of issues including the prices of data where he mentioned the prices had dropped over the last few years.
"We have reduced data prices since 2020 by 70%. We have significantly improved the quality of our network. We have 4G everywhere. We have really improved experience. Our prices are lower now than they were 2-3 years ago," he said.
According to the government, as of Thursday, March 2023, Kenyans had taken up Sh24 billion from the Hustler Fund since it was launched by President William Ruto.
As of the same date, the Ministry of Cooperatives and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises said that sh14.2 billion had been repaid.
