Kiva and Faulu Kenya have ended their partnership. This is due to Kiva increasing its focus on loans that would not be offered without subsidized capital from Kiva lenders. You can learn more about this strategy here. As a well-developed and reputable organization, Faulu Kenya is able to reach its target population and fulfill its social mission without Kiva's support. 

Over the course of the partnership, Faulu Kenya made payments on time and has been a strong and reliable Lending Partner. Faulu raised over $2.8m on the Kiva platform over the 5-year partnership. We thank them for their collaboration and hope to work with them again in the future.

September 11, 2011
 
As part of an ongoing effort to fully migrate risk ratings to our new and enhanced risk rating system, Kiva has conducted a re-assessment of the level of risk posed by this institution.
 
During this re-assessment, our analysts were able to gather updated operational and financial information about the institution, as well as speak with key members of the staff. 
 
The information gathered during this process, together with the Kiva's new risk rating system and half-star support, has led us to revise Faulu Kenya's risk rating from 4 to 3 stars. The analysts have found that Faulu Kenya's risk variables, reviewed in the new risk rating model, were most representative of a 3-Star rating.
 
We have prepared a blog post with more information on Kiva's new and enhanced risk rating system, along with a chart showing the relative magnitude of the overall changes for Kiva's portfolio.  To view that, please go here: http://www.kiva.org/updates/kiva/2011/09/07/kiva-risk-ratings-now-with-half-stars.html.
 
Faulu Kenya has been informed of our analysts’ findings and their corresponding change in rating.

Original Partner Description

Faulu Kenya is a Deposit Taking Micro-Finance Company, with a mission to listen and empower Kenyans by providing relevant financial solutions. Faulu was founded in 1992 as a pilot programme of Food for the Hungry International (FHI), offering micro-enterprise lending in Nairobi’s Mathare slum. With a wide range of services and products (including farming loans), Faulu is proving to be one of the most innovative and fast-growing micro finance institutions in Kenya. Today, Faulu serves over 230,000 clients, with over 90 outlets throughout the country. Over the years Faulu has been able to help over 500,000 Kenyans with financial solutions transforming some from poverty into formidable business people.

In May 2009, Faulu made history by becoming the first Deposit Taking Microfinance to be licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya to accept customer deposits, enabling the company to better serve its clients. Faulu aspires to reach 1 million clients by 2011.

Vision: Giving Kenyans hope and a future.

Giving: Proactively seeking to enrich others through service.
Kenyans: Belief in our people’s potential, home-grown solutions for Kenyans by Kenyans.
Hope: Motivation for optimism.
A Future: Facilitate the fulfillment of Kenyans’ aspirations and dreams.

Mission: To listen and empower Kenyans by providing relevant financial solutions.

To Listen: Actively engaging others with a view to know them better hence meet their needs.
To Empower: Going beyond financial services by equipping with knowledge, skills and reaching out through Vision of Community.
Relevant Financial Solutions: Financial products and services that respond to customer needs.

Repayment Performance on Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Start Date On Kiva Jul 18, 2009 Oct 12, 2005
Total Loans $2,892,775 $2,061,427,940
Amount of raised Inactive loans $0 $389,200
Number of raised Inactive loans 0 318
Amount of Paying Back Loans $0 $151,289,490
Number of Paying Back Loans 0 180,128
Amount of Ended Loans $2,892,775 $1,864,455,145
Number of Ended Loans 5,805 2,517,146
Delinquency Rate 0.00% 11.61%
Amount in Arrears $0 $10,584,537
Outstanding Portfolio $0 $91,136,425
Number of Loans Delinquent 0 34,410
Default Rate 0.62% 1.83%
Amount of Ended Loans Defaulted $17,911 $34,072,925
Number of Ended Loans Defaulted 94 91,307
Currency Exchange Loss Rate 0.02% 0.47%
Amount of Currency Exchange Loss $721 $12,915,654
Refund Rate 0.96% 0.55%
Amount of Refunded Loans $27,675 $11,263,070
Number of Refunded Loans 46 9,868

Loan Characteristics On Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Loans to Women Borrowers 47.44% 78.52%
Average Loan Size $499 $393
Average Individual Loan Size $499 $585
Average Group Loan Size $1,075 $1,914
Average number of borrowers per group 3 8.3
Average GDP per capita (PPP) in local country $1,800 $5,592
Average Loan Size / GDP per capita (PPP) 27.72% 7.03%
Average Time to Fund a Loan 6.73 days 9.14 days
Average Dollars Raised Per Day Per Loan $74.17 $43.02
  Average Loan Term 10.7 months 11.5 months

Journaling Performance on Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Total Journals 2,130 1,228,670
  Journaling Rate 34.30% 41.93%
  Average Number of Comments Per Journal 0.02 0.02
  Average Number of Recommendations Per Journal 0.02 0.55

Borrowing Cost Comparison (based on 2009 data)

    This Lending Partner Median for MFI's in Country All Kiva Partners
  Average Cost to Borrower N/A 36.00% PY 27.12% PY
  Profitability (return on assets) N/A 0.5% -1.71%
  Average Loan Size (% of per capita income) N/A 56.00% 0.00%

Country Fast Facts

Lending Partner Staff