Kenyan-based startup, Kibanda Topup, which aims to digitise the supply chain for micro, small and medium restaurants in Africa, has partnered African digital bank, Carbon, to grant restaurant owners access to credit.

The startup noted how restaurant owners on the continent find it difficult to access loan facility – because traditional lenders do not have the infrastructure to provide short-term loans to these businesses.

Speaking on the Kibanda TopUp’s vision, Co-founder and COO of Kibanda TopUp, Emilie Blauwhoff, said:

“We are looking beyond changing the logistics for restaurants. Our goal is to create an all-encompassing solution to help restaurants grow, and financial services are an integral part of that.”

With the partnership between Carbon and Kibanda, the former would be able to assess a restaurant’s creditworthiness by leveraging the restaurant’s transactional data from the Kibanda TopUp platform.

Thereafter, if the restaurant passes the necessary assessment, it would be granted the loan.

“We’re always looking to partner with initiatives that enable us to deliver low-cost and high-value credit to SMEs who are otherwise left out of the traditional financial system. By leveraging digital models to determine creditworthiness, we’re helping small businesses to grow. It’s exciting to help restaurants with the working capital they need, and to build financial services based on their needs,” Eliud Mungai, Carbon’s country manager Kenya said.

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Kibanda TopUp was founded in 2021 by former chief executive officer (CEO) of Musanga Logistics, Njavwa Mutambo, and Emilie Blauwhoff, a former management consultant.

Kibanda TopUp allows restaurant owners to order inventory such as grains, beverages, poultry, and beef via app or SMS and receive their orders the next day.

Kibanda Topup intends to eventually expand its facility to allow restaurants access to long-term loans.

Kibanda Topup has recently raised US$460,000 in Pre-seed funding, with the aim to digitise the supply chain, and increase its capacity to serve more customers.