MTN Uganda Mobile Money managing director and CEO Richard Yego revealed the operator is aiming to almost double its loans to UGX1 trillion (US$256,000) this year.
Yego told The Daily Monitor, the unit is expanding from personal loans that are used to pay for daily activities such as school fees and bill payments, by enabling agents and merchants to provide loans to businesses that focus on capital and stock refinancing.
“This year we are coming strong on loans. Last year we did lend over UGX550 billion. This year we are targeting over UGX1 trillion. We plan to boost our loan portfolio with business financing by rolling out agent and merchant loan products for business [working capital and stock financing]. We want to support our business growth,” said Yego
The executive did not provide a timeline for when these new loan products will launch. But he did reveal MTN had partnered with several financial institutions to loan the UGX1 trillion.
MTN reported at the end 2022 it had 945,185 mobile money subscribers that borrowed UGX401 billion, a 30% increase UGX261 billion in 2021.
