Kenya’s digital lending market welcomes Nigeria’s Carbon company. Will Carbon disrupt or simply play?

Nigeria’s digital lending platform, Carbon (formerly operating as Paylater) has announced its entry into the Kenyan fintech space as a new player.

The fintech company, which launched operations in Nigeria 4 years ago, made the new market entry announcement on Thursday, December 19, in a press release, expressing its excitement as it crosses the border to invest in East Africa.

Carbon will operate, in Kenya, its business model as its Nigerian footprint, lending, selling airtime and serving as a payment channel.

According to Carbon, the comapny will offer Kenyans instant loans from Ksh 500 to 50,000 which is equivalent to N1,800/$5 to N180,000/$496 in naira and dollars.

Read also: Seplat completes acquisition of Eland Oil

Perhaps, Carbon has been strategic enough to choose to launch around the festive period as more people tend to need finance to fund expenses.

Analysts are worried, however, as market review of the Kenyan fintech ecosystem reveals that Carbon is launching into a space where 49 other players are actively doing business. Critics are, therefore, asking: Is Carbon playing to risk or riches?

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