Already active in four countries, the company is on track to hitting their target of making life easy for one million customers by 2025.

 Unifi’s mission is to give access to simple, affordable credit in underserved markets. With around half a billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa lacking access to various financial services, Unifi’s services potentially bring a lifeline for many in the region who lack access to traditional banking and credit facilities.

 "We're excited to bring our innovative lending solutions to Africa's growing market in 2023 and beyond,” said Michiel le Roux, CEO of Unifi.

 With a focus on easy, fast, and intelligent lending solutions, Unifi is among the tech-powered financial pioneers, serving previously overlooked areas and populations with rapidly scalable, digitally enabled credit solutions.

 As it continues to scale, Unifi is expanding its innovative approach to personal credit across Africa. Last year marked significant milestones for the group, as they doubled their customer base in South Africa and achieved major growth in Zambia, where there are currently 38 Unifi branches. Unifi also established its second startup, Unifi Kenya, after launching Unifi Uganda in 2021.

 “Currently, we’re looking forward to the imminent launch of our 50^th brick-and-mortar branch," says Le Roux.

 With features like the ability to use a USSD app to get a loan, real-time pay-outs, and quick, paperless applications at their branches, Unifi's prime differentiator is speed and simplicity. This, together with a unique touch-and-tech approach that combines personalised customer service with fast, convenient online and mobile lending platforms, is what sets Unifi apart from similar products out there.

 “We constantly update and improve our tech solutions through iterative refinement. We’ve started with one core product – small, short-term personal loans – and have been focusing on delivering it well by combining tech, data analytics and outstanding customer service. We’re excited to see that we’re onto something, that our customers are really responding to it,” says Le Roux.

 “Clients love the convenience of our loans. We’ve managed to put down smart technologies in tech-poor, rural areas, and gain data insights in data-poor markets – those are achievements I’m immensely proud of,” he says.