Carbon Extends its Offerings to East Africa as it Launches in Kenya

Carbon, formerly Paylater, has now expanded to its third market, the Eastern African country of Kenya, as it looks to offer citizens loans and other digital financial services.

Earlier in September, Carbon’s CEO Chijoke Dozie, tweeted that the company was on the lookout for a country manager to help them kickstart operations in Kenya. This sparked speculations that the East African country could be the next to play host to Carbon and it just happened to be true.

Now with its launch in Kenya, Carbon will be looking to provide Kenyans with instant loans from Ksh 500 (about N1800) to Ksh 50,000 (N180,000) with strategic partnerships with various Kenyan partners, including Transunion CRB, payment platforms and MPesa.

Carbon will also provide payment services like utility bills and airtime purchase as it also plans to add more features to its app in the coming year all in a bid to edge out local competition.

On why Kenya was its choice site, Carbon highlighted the country’s regulatory environment and high levels of financial inclusion. These two makes the country a beacon for African Fintech.

More than 60 percent of Kenyans own a smartphone and more than one in four (27 percent) has taken a digital loan. This makes Carbon’s solution a not too alien one. And with a valued mobile payment sector expected to reach $125billion by 2025, Carbon has an opportunity to plug in early.

“This expansion presents an opportunity to bring some learnings from other African successful Fintech markets to Kenya. It also enables us to explore what has made the Kenyan financial services industry so successful and how this success can be replicated in other markets.”

Chijioke Dozie, CEO and co-founder of Carbon

Beyond payments and lending, Carbon will also provide services for SMEs and provide free credit reports to Kenyan customers to promote financial education in the market.

Carbon also aims to create a Kenyan hub that will tap into Kenya’s vibrant Fintech ecosystem and talent pool as it continues to expand and launch digital services in other African countries.