Stanbic Bank Uganda and JUMO join forces to bridge the funding gap in sub-Saharan Africa

JUMO offers savings and credit products to entrepreneurs in emerging markets, as well as financial services infrastructure to partners such as eMoney operators, mobile fintech platforms and banks, enabling real-time access to funds at the lowest possible operating cost. Integrating into JUMO’s platform enables partners to offer loans, savings and a wide range of financial choices to a new group of customers. The company has disbursed more than $6 billion of credit to over 25 million customers through over 186 million loans, establishing themselves as one of the leaders in the lendtech space in Africa.

The bank acted in its capacity as sole arranger and senior debt facility provider. The asset-backed SPV structure developed for this transaction is the first of its kind to be implemented by the bank in Sub Saharan Africa. It was established with the intention of crowding in other local currency funding partners, further multiplying the positive impact of our financing. The bank intends to replicate this solution in other African regions where we overlap with JUMO, thereby contributing to the development of local financial markets, mobilising local currency financing and enabling JUMO to achieve greater economies of scale in a shorter time scale. 

With this transaction, the bank has unlocked a supply of local currency for JUMO, enabling the company to grow their lending presence in Uganda on more sustainable terms. The funding will provide finance for over 750 000 clients in Uganda, including unbanked micro businesses and individuals, a portion of which will be first-time borrowers. 

As Africa’s largest bank, we are excited to have an opportunity to develop a strategic partnership with JUMO as the company’s sub-Saharan footprint region largely matches that of the Standard Bank Group. The Standard Bank Group is the ideal partner for transactions of this nature, given our reach and unparalleled capabilities to develop non-traditional funding solutions to enable continued growth in this sector. We look forward to further opportunities to strengthen our relationship with JUMO, as well as contribute towards promoting financial inclusion across the continent.