4G Capital Grabs $2M to Supercharge East African Micro Enterprises

🇰🇪 Meet 4G Capital

• 4G Capital is a Kenya-based fintech providing unsecured working capital and business training to micro-enterprises.

• Now, they've secured a $2M investment from GIF Growth, the growth-stage vehicle of the Global Innovation Fund, a non-profit investment fund.

---

💼 Banking on Small Business

• Micro-businesses provide and create majority of jobs in East Africa, but most can’t get formal credit because they lack collateral.

• 4G Capital uses a "touch-tech" model that combines a digital platform with local field officers for in-person support.

• By the numbers. The team has disbursed $800M through 6.8 million individual loans to 755,000 entrepreneurs. They currently maintain a 92% on-time repayment rate.

---

⚙️ The Tech Behind the Loans

• The platform uses a proprietary decision engine called Evaluation Algorithm (EVA) to manage risk without traditional financial records.

• As a B Corp, the company focuses on getting capital to underserved groups, including women-led businesses.

---

📈 Scaling Up

• The $2M will go toward building out their digital infrastructure and improving data analytics. It will also help expand partnerships to reach more business owners across the region.

• What's expected? The team is working toward a future Series D round with a big lending goal.