The recent report by the Kenya Human Rights Commission’s (KHRC) describing the Hustler Fund as a politically expedient but economically disastrous initiative that has failed to deliver on its promises of financial empowerment for low-income Kenyans lacks facts. The report, ‘Failing the Hustlers’, claims the Hustler Fund is structurally unsound, economically unsustainable, and politically manipulated, and recommends that the government scrap it entirely.
Launched in November 2022 with a startup capital of Sh50 billion, the Hustler Fund has proved to be a game-changer for the Kenya Kwanza regime’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda. It has boosted investments in agriculture, MSMEs, healthcare and housing, among others, by offering affordable credit to Kenyans locked out of the formal financial system.
The fund has disbursed over Sh72 billion to 26 million Kenyans in less than three years. It has further mobilised more than Sh5 billion in savings, and provided working capital to entrepreneurs, a proof that even the smallest of businesses can thrive with the right support.
The KHRC report misleads Kenyans to believe that the Hustler Fund is a failure, yet it has transformed the lives of millions of Kenyans. For the organisation to claim that loan amounts, ranging from Sh500 to Sh1,000 for first-time borrowers were too little to start or grow any meaningful business indicates that it has lost touch with the reality.
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The critics of the Hustler Fund either do not understand or refuse to acknowledge the fact that it was designed to empower low-cadre Kenyans. KHRC officials are perhaps ignorant of the fact that the fund is changing lives in rural areas. They may never have experienced the despair of being locked out of the financial system, having no credit history, no collateral, and no chance at life.
The organisation and critics of the Hustler Fund mislead Kenyans, instill fear and despondency by falsely claiming that the Hustler Fund has a 60 per cent default rate. Available data indicate that the Hustler Fund has a recovery rate of 83.3 per cent rivaling the formal banking sector, whose repayment rate is 83.6 per cent.
According to KHRC critics of Hustler Fund – mama mboga, boda boda riders and Jua Kali artisans – are serial defaulters, who deserve no better living standards. For the record, KHRC should know that the Hustler Fund has enabled 26 million Kenyans with good credit ratings to access bank loans without strict regulations.
The beneficiaries of NGO funds seem to talk from posh hotels and fail to appreciate that even Sh500 to someone in the village is of great value. Several beneficiaries of the Hustler Fund have demonstrated how it has transformed their lives through an initial capital of Sh500.
It is disingenuous for KHRC to claim that the Hustler Fund is a political tool rather than a financial solution and that it was rolled out after the last general elections to fulfill campaign promises instead of addressing fundamental economic needs. It is “merchants of doom and negativity” who, when facts do not serve their agenda, resort to fabricating narratives to prop up their falsehoods.
Two million people borrow from the Hustler Fund daily, thus benefiting from this kitty that is focused on ensuring that Kenyans at the bottom of the pyramid grow their businesses. It is unfortunate that KHRC and other critics say the Hustler Fund is not working. It’s time Kenyans stopped politicising initiatives aimed at transforming livelihoods and supporting such programmes.
Mr Kaino works at the Presidential Communication Service
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By Bethuel Kaino