Yehu Microfinance Trust
Approved to post Kiva loans from: Kenya
Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.
Status update — March, 2020
Kiva and Yehu Microfinance Trust have agreed to end their partnership after close to 10 years and over $8.4m in loans raised. This Lending Partner has repaid all its outstanding balance to Kiva in full, and these funds have been distributed to lenders. We thank Yehu Microfinance Trust for the years of collaboration and wish them success in their future endeavors.
Status update — November 3, 2017
Kiva recently re-assessed the level of risk associated with loans from this Lending Partner. During this process, our analysts gathered updated operational and financial information about the institution, spoke with key members of staff and analyzed the Lending Partner’s loan products. As a result, YEHU's risk rating is now listed as 2.0 stars instead of 3.5 stars. The primary reasons for this change in rating are weaknesses in their MIS, data reliability as well as lack of substantive Heads of Departments/senior managers. While the organization is working to improve their MIS, senior management staffing still remains a major challenge, Kiva feels a 2.0 rating is more accurate to their current level of organizational risk.
Partner Description:
Status update — March, 2020
Kiva and Yehu Microfinance Trust have agreed to end their partnership after close to 10 years and over $8.4m in loans raised. This Lending Partner has repaid all its outstanding balance to Kiva in full, and these funds have been distributed to lenders. We thank Yehu Microfinance Trust for the years of collaboration and wish them success in their future endeavors.
Status update — November 3, 2017
Kiva recently re-assessed the level of risk associated with loans from this Lending Partner. During this process, our analysts gathered updated operational and financial information about the institution, spoke with key members of staff and analyzed the Lending Partner’s loan products. As a result, YEHU's risk rating is now listed as 2.0 stars instead of 3.5 stars. The primary reasons for this change in rating are weaknesses in their MIS, data reliability as well as lack of substantive Heads of Departments/senior managers. While the organization is working to improve their MIS, senior management staffing still remains a major challenge, Kiva feels a 2.0 rating is more accurate to their current level of organizational risk.
Partner Description:
Yehu Microfinance Trust was founded in 1998 as a project of CHOICE Humanitarian Kenya, a U.S.-based NGO. The program began by mobilizing member savings, and in 2000 started issuing loans.
In July 2007, Yehu became a separate entity from CHOICE and was registered as a trust. Since then, Yehu has expanded to eight branches, covering Kilifi, Mombasa, Kwale and Taita Taveta County.
Yehu targets rural entrepreneurs in Kenya’s coastal province, with a keen focus on women. Yehu offers eleven existing “responsive” credit products through the Grameen group lending methodology. Yehu is developing three more loan products for those working in the bio-gas and dairy sectors, as well as an individual loan product.
To provide responsive financial services to clients in Kenya’s uncertain agriculture environment is an integral part of Yehu’s mission. The flexible features of these products help to mitigate particular challenges faced by the clients’ agricultural-based activities.
Yehu operates based on an innovative sub-branch organizational model. A sub-branch is defined by both geographical area and number of clients. In sub-branches, all planning and cost allocations are scaled down to the most basic levels. This allows for greater focus, control and tracking of the portfolio and financial indicators at the source of value creation.
Going forward, Yehu intends to develop a portfolio of renewable energy loans, adding solar panel loans to its bio-gas loan offerings. Yehu also seeks to to expand into Lamu County by next year, establishing new branches and sub-branches to meet the needs of clients in these areas.
Status Update - 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 Yehu's risk rating from 2 to 3 stars. The analysts have found that Yehu'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.
Yehu has been informed of our analysts’ findings and their corresponding change in rating.
Repayment Performance on Kiva
| This Lending Partner | All Kiva Partners | ||
| Start Date On Kiva | Mar 30, 2010 | Oct 12, 2005 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Loans | $8,388,525 | $2,060,115,930 | |
| Amount of raised Inactive loans | $0 | $299,975 | |
| Number of raised Inactive loans | 0 | 329 | |
| Amount of Paying Back Loans | $0 | $151,125,520 | |
| Number of Paying Back Loans | 0 | 178,826 | |
| Amount of Ended Loans | $8,388,525 | $1,863,396,330 | |
| Number of Ended Loans | 23,503 | 2,516,664 | |
| Delinquency Rate | 0.00% | 11.66% | |
| Amount in Arrears | $0 | $10,619,673 | |
| Outstanding Portfolio | $0 | $91,107,381 | |
| Number of Loans Delinquent | 0 | 34,759 | |
| Default Rate | 0.16% | 1.83% | |
| Amount of Ended Loans Defaulted | $13,665 | $34,066,795 | |
| Number of Ended Loans Defaulted | 136 | 91,292 | |
| Currency Exchange Loss Rate | 0.15% | 0.47% | |
| Amount of Currency Exchange Loss | $12,680 | $12,915,654 | |
| Refund Rate | 0.07% | 0.55% | |
| Amount of Refunded Loans | $6,100 | $11,263,070 | |
| Number of Refunded Loans | 12 | 9,868 |
Loan Characteristics On Kiva
| This Lending Partner | All Kiva Partners | ||
| Loans to Women Borrowers | 90.63% | 78.51% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Loan Size | $357 | $393 | |
| Average Individual Loan Size | $357 | $585 | |
| Average Group Loan Size | $0 | $1,913 | |
| Average number of borrowers per group | 0 | 8.3 | |
| Average GDP per capita (PPP) in local country | $1,800 | $5,592 | |
| Average Loan Size / GDP per capita (PPP) | 19.83% | 7.03% | |
| Average Time to Fund a Loan | 7.26 days | 9.13 days | |
| Average Dollars Raised Per Day Per Loan | $49.16 | $43.03 | |
| Average Loan Term | 11.31 months | 11.5 months |
Journaling Performance on Kiva
| This Lending Partner | All Kiva Partners | ||
| Total Journals | 5,244 | 1,228,233 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journaling Rate | 20.40% | 41.93% | |
| Average Number of Comments Per Journal | 0.01 | 0.02 | |
| Average Number of Recommendations Per Journal | 0.01 | 0.55 |
Borrowing Cost Comparison (based on 2016 data)
| This Lending Partner | Median for MFI's in Country | All Kiva Partners | ||
| Average Cost to Borrower | 30% PY | 36.00% PY | 27.12% PY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profitability (return on assets) | 1.5% | 0.5% | -1.71% | |
| Average Loan Size (% of per capita income) | N/A | 56.00% | 0.00% |
Country Fast Facts
- Country:
- Kenya
- Capital:
- Nairobi
- Official Language:
- English (official), Kiswahili (official)
- Population:
- 45,010,056
- Avg Annual Income:
- $1,800
- Labor Force:
- agriculture: 75%, industry and services: 25%
- Population Below Poverty Line:
- 43.40%
- Literacy Rate:
- 87.40%
- Infant Mortality Rate (per 1000):
- 40.71 deaths
- Life Expectancy:
- 63.52 years