Tugende, a Kampala-based leading provider of finance leasing for motorcycle taxis and other income generating assets
Tugende is Uganda’s leading provider of productive asset financing headquartered in Kampala, Uganda and has nine branches broadly covering the busiest towns and districts in the Central, Southern and Eastern Regions of Uganda. Tugende means “Let’s go”.
Tugende’s products include lease to own financing packages for motorcycle taxis (locally known as “boda bodas”) and automobile taxis, which includes training, insurance and safety equipment. Tugende’s current target market includes the more than 1 million motorcycle taxi drivers across East Africa, and the USD 37 billion credit gap for SMEs in the region. Tugende is growing through a combination of domestic expansion and regional expansion into Tanzania and Kenya. Tugende has just accomplished the milestone of 16 000 motorcycles financed.
Tugende’s support to buy a boda boda creates a significant upliftment to clients who are completing the lease, giving them financial independence as a full owner, and on average doubling daily profits. A survey of their clients in July 2018 revealed that 55% used these gains to invest in business, land, agriculture, or new houses and 48% had used savings towards education or healthcare. Tugende’s technology-driven management optimises client engagement and reduces defaults, and Tugende is building an immense internal database of credit and transaction performance to drive future opportunities. Tugende maintains a strong, asset-backed portfolio using a defensible model driven by technology and high-touch client support. Tugende’s on time payments, arrears, defaults and write-offs outperform commercial and MFI lenders in the region.
As of December 2018, the total balance sheet size amounted to UGX 37.2 billion (approx. USD 10.0 million). Tugende secured debt funding from OPIC in June 2018.
Verdant Capital is currently arranging for Tugende, debt and equity funding.