In July 2024, we teamed up with Mastercard Strive to answer a big question: Can we build a credit product that works for MESHERS—young entrepreneurs in Kenya with no formal credit history—by using the power of community and smart data?
Spoiler: We’re on to something. 🚀 Here’s our lessons learned.
Our research and experiments
The first six months of our research were all about real-world testing—rolling out loan pilots and learning what works (and what doesn’t) for young entrepreneurs. Next, we used those insights to shape how we design financial services for MESHERS in the future.
Here’s what we explored:
- 🔍 How do MESHERS experience credit? How do they apply and get ready for a loan? What stops them from applying? What excites them about credit opportunities? (Yes, gender plays a big role.)
- 💬 Does credit meet MESHERS’ needs? Is a standalone loan really what MESHERS need, or is there more? Think: loans vs. asset financing, information on the best use of loans, or coaching on how to repay.
- 🧠 What repayment support do MESHERS need? What is the role of peers and nudges (subtle reminders to help MESHERS stay on track)?
- 🕹️ How can wrap-around content support MESHERS? What types and formats of our signature MESH content can support MESHERS on their loan journey?
What we learned about MESHERS
No surprise: MESHERS aren’t all the same
MESHERS’ views on credit depend on what they do and who they are. For example:
💡 Stock vs. service:
MESHERS running physical shops see loans differently than MESHERS doing gigs online. Someone with a physical shop is more likely to see a loan as a way to replenish stock to meet customer demand and boost sales. Someone working online is more interested in growing their customer base, and loans are seen as most helpful to buy equipment and to invest in marketing.
💡 Gender:
Female MESHERS (a diverse group, by the way!) tend to lean toward saving over borrowing. But they’re open to credit—if it’s built with them in mind. That means flexible repayment terms and a more tailored approach. For example, women prefer incremental loan amounts rather than bigger lump sums. They worry much more about loan repayment than men do, so clarity up front about the flexibility of repayment gives women the confidence they need to take a loan. Women look for social proof from other women before taking a loan from a particular financial service provider (FSP).
💡 One hustle or many?
Some MESHERS go all in on one craft. Others juggle a few different hustles. One loan can be applied to more than one business. Multiple hustles help MESHERS to spread risk: If their online writing isn’t going well, they can fall back on their cleaning biz. The existence of multiple hustles could be used as an indicator of stability, rather than a lack of dedication or business success.
MESHERS are ready to learn about using credit responsively, but we have to meet them where they are
Through our pilots, we learned that MESHERS who understand credit-scoring systems are better at making repayments. How do we get more MESHERS to that place?
Luckily, MESHERS are hungry for knowledge on loans. Our data on content consumption shows that they’re diving into financial literacy, leveling up their business skills, and actively getting “credit ready.” But skills training must be on demand, relatable, friendly for mobile data bundles, and in formats young entrepreneurs love.
We created short “snacky” financial literacy content in the shape of articles, reels, polls, quizzes, and challenges, created by and for MESHERS, which now get millions of views.
Nudges are a well-known method of encouraging repayment. Most lenders favor functional repayment nudges that create a high sense of urgency to repay, sometimes through intimidating language. Our nudges were created around content that supports MESHERS to make repayments. For instance, we share practical tips and tricks from MESHERS on how to stay on top of repayments, an article on how to renegotiate a loan with conversational prompts, or a video by a creator who shows you how to make a repayment plan.
Physical verification is a big stumbling block
As part of their loan verification processes, lenders like to verify if a business really exists, so they have a physical location to find loan defaulters, and the lender can assess whether the location has sufficient traffic and sales.
When a financial partner team started doing physical business checks as part of their credit application assessments, we spotted a pattern: Some MESHERS would reschedule, go offline, or just vanish when the visits happened. Why? Turns out, it’s not about dodging—it’s about dignity.
Some MESHERS felt uncomfortable being “verified” when they didn’t have a fully stocked shop to show off. But here’s the thing: not every business fits the classic duka model. Many MESHERS hustle with movable assets or work from home, and depending on the time of day, their setup might look different—or even invisible.
The lesson? We’ve got to rethink what proof of business really looks like in the informal economy. One size definitely doesn’t fit all.
The fear of debt and bad credit scores is real—and for many young people, it’s enough to stop them in their tracks
Credit reference bureaus (CRBs) track how borrowers get loans, help lenders decide who to trust, promote good borrowing habits, and cut down on bad loans. But when assessing loans and going through terms and conditions, simply hearing “CRB” is a dealbreaker for some MESHERS.
Why? Because they’ve seen debt mess up lives around them. Rogue lenders with predatory recovery practices give loans a bad name, and easily accessible loans can trap young people in debt cycles. With little clear, reliable info on credit scores out there, it's no wonder people are hesitant to apply.
Fear of blacklisting drives some to repay quickly—even borrowing more just to repay — and the cycle continues.
But fear isn’t a strategy. It’s time to shift from pressure-driven repayments to real financial education, enabling MESHERS to build credit discipline for the long haul.
With a repayment plan in place, we have seen the fear reduce. A MESHER told us: "If one has a strong plan they shouldn’t fear repayment. I fear debt, but still take it, I plan for it. Know what you want to do and how it will help you.” And they encourage each other to plan: “If you can project your returns, don’t fear, loans have built people.”
The MESH content approach makes it possible to encourage early credit checks, so MESHERS don’t get blindsided by their CRB status when it’s already shutting doors.
We broke down credit scoring in real, relatable ways: short videos, simple articles, and real-life interviews with MESHERS sharing their stories. We also launched a CRB Challenge, inviting people to open up and learn from one another on MESH, generating 76 stories about dealing with credit scores in the real world.
What we learned about partners
At first, we thought this experiment would mostly teach us about MESHERS. But it ended up revealing just as much about our financial partners, and about what it takes to build credit products for informal entrepreneurs that work.
As part of this project, we partnered with three FSPs to offer MESHERS three different loan products: a working capital loan (from 10K to 200K KES), asset finance (up to 90K KES) and a general business loan (from 10K to 200K KES).
To expand the pool of young entrepreneurs with access to credit, we must change lending criteria
Right now, lenders are fishing from a tiny pool of young entrepreneurs that matches traditional lending criteria.
Want to unlock credit for more people? We need to ditch the rigid rules and find fresh ways to measure trust and loan readiness.
From online hustlers to shop owners, young people deserve access. FSPs should be open to other channels that show business activity beyond having a physical shop, like WhatsApp orders, planned deliveries, Upwork work history, or submitting several M-PESA statements or financial channels in instances where businesses manage money through different wallets.
Make loan (pre)qualification an easier process for everyone
MESHERS have to put in quite a bit of effort just to prequalify. It’s a heavy lift for them, and not exactly smooth for us either. MESHERS must consume content, fill out an application form on MESH to prequalify, and then continue the qualification process with the partner.
A simpler, faster process—like starting with an M-PESA statement check before any other materials need to be submitted and reviewed—would make things easier on all sides.
Keeping it simple is hard, especially when it comes to loan products
When we launch a new loan from a partner on MESH, we put together a listing that outlines the basics about the loan, such as the amount you can borrow, the repayment terms, and who the loan is best suited for.
We had to go through an extensive editorial process to understand the materials provided to us by partners to keep things clear and to the point, while still giving MESHERS everything they need to make smart choices.
Financial services are full of jargon, fine print, and many moving parts. Even for our team, which understands financial services well, at times it was extremely difficult to understand the terms that FSPs use to communicate their offers, or even to calculate what a repayment plan would look like based on the terms provided.
We’re constantly working to find that sweet spot—just enough easy-to-understand information to help MESHERS confidently weigh their options, without overwhelming them to the point they just scroll past.
Financial service providers need a verified, trusted brand
Despite the proliferation of loan apps and loan providers in Kenya, FSPs don’t invest much in building brand credibility. This makes it easy for scammers to impersonate them. In one case, scammers created an app on the Google Play Store that used the name of a partner to scam applicants out of an “onboarding fee.”
Trusted brands with verified digital channels drive uptake and protect MESHERS from imposters.
The MESH world moves fast, so loans need a fast turnaround
In some cases, partners took weeks to get back to MESHERS after application, while MESHERS were eager to proceed because the timing was right. While awaiting news of their loan application, MESHERS would check in with us for updates. As the application process sits with the partner, we couldn’t access the status of an application and we were not able to help. This created frustration for MESHERS, and more work for us.
And last but not least:
It’s not the informal world that struggles to adapt to the formal one. More often, it is the other way around
If we take young entrepreneurs seriously as customers, we have to design for their needs. For instance, FSPs can solve the problems of physical location checks described in detail above. Simplify the language of the terms and conditions of loans. Or accommodate the working hours of MESHERS (who often operate early morning or evening), instead of expecting them to match the 9 to 5 office hours of the verification team.
What is next 🚀
As we further explore how we can make credit work for both MESHERS and lenders, we’re learning something big. To make it all click, our product must be the glue—connecting both worlds and adding real value on each side. We now understand better where to invest in our platform to make this happen, what we need to automate and build, and how we can make the process more intuitive on all sides.
Thanks to the research we’ve done over the past year, we’re now ready to level up. We’ve learned about prequalification. About gender. About repayment nudges. About content gaps. We’re digging deeper into what our community really needs.
Now it’s time to get more specific, for instance:
- How do peers motivate loan repayment? MESHERS look to MESH as a kind of chama (savings group)—what does that mean for the design of the loan product?
- Should we design for more specific demographics within MESH?
- What does the right credit product look like for a gig worker? For a market vendor? For a creative?
The data we are gathering on MESH allows us to get super niche, even on an individual level. Our pilots have clearly shown a demand from both MESHERS and FSPs to do business together. The better we understand MESHERS, the more useful we can be to our financial service partners—helping them build smarter, more effective credit products for the informal economy.
We’re not just testing credit. We’re reimagining how the informal sector can access it and use it with confidence. And we’re not doing it alone.
The Mastercard Strive research phase may be over, but this is just the beginning.
More experiments. More insights. More community-led design. We’ll share what we learn along the way.
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