SC Ventures, the fintech investment and ventures arm of Standard Chartered, is joining forces with Netherlands-based digital lending platform Yabx Technologies to jointly invest into Furaha, a purpose-driven lending platform aiming to make finance accessible across sub-Saharan Africa.
SC Ventures has committed to investing $7million, while Yabx will contribute through technology transfer – resulting in a total investment of $10million into Furaha. Incubated by SC Ventures, Furaha is headquartered in UAE’s Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and is extending its offerings to local operating markets in Africa, starting with Uganda as its first market.
Furaha plans to leverage Yabx’s platform with AI-driven alternate lending capabilities, alongside SC Ventures’ understanding of banking and risk management to reduce the cost of delivering purpose-driven lending products and widen financial inclusion across underserved segments in Africa.
“We are glad to partner with like-minded innovators like Yabx and Tech Mahindra who share our vision of increasing financial inclusion and access,” said Alex Manson, CEO of SC Ventures. “The partnership will help enhance purpose-driven financing in Africa and supports our work to rewire the DNA in banking.”
Furaha co-founders Yustus Aribariho and Ian Fernandes
Furaha’s education financing platform aims to positively impact families across Africa, which has the youngest demographics globally with over 600 million children under the age of 18.
Among the biggest expenses families have to account for is the cost of good quality education for their children. Most parents lack adequate liquidity or access to short-term borrowing instruments — like credit cards or affordable, digital loans — and regularly face challenges paying school fees on time.
Delayed or unpaid school fees often result in children being unable to continue or complete their education, harming their future prospects as well as the community and country’s development. Furaha says this challenge is especially acute for parents with monthly incomes under $500.
Fortifying young African futures
Furaha aims to address this problem by creating a rich ecosystem of data for credit scoring and enabling commercial banks to channel affordable credit towards education financing. Furaha has already begun offering loan products in Uganda with partners including Opportunity Bank, SchPay, as well as MTN MoMo and plans are underway to expand to other countries in Africa.
“The transformative power of purpose-driven financing lies in its ability to bridge gaps in access and opportunity, particularly in regions like Africa,” explained Mohit Joshi, CEO and managing director at Tech Mahindra. “This strategic partnership aims to make financial solutions more inclusive and impactful. It’s indeed an exciting beginning, and we look forward to collaborating with SC Ventures on many such initiatives that redefine financial empowerment and drive innovation globally.”
Rajat Dayal, CEO of Yabx, also commented on its partnership with SC Ventures: “The long-term impact of a partnership like this is huge, and we’re excited to work with Furaha as they positively impact education outcomes in Uganda and other African countries in the coming months.”
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