SC Ventures and Yabx invest $10 Million to setup Furaha and expand access to purpose-driven financing in Africa 

• Furaha combines SC Ventures’ global expertise and risk management capability with Yabx’s future-ready tech and alternate lending platform
• Furaha offers purpose-driven loans centred around education, gender and other responsible lending pillars for African markets

SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm, and Yabx Technologies (Netherlands) B.V. (), a company of Tech Mahindra () (NSE: TECHM) group, a leading global provider of technology consulting and digital solutions to enterprises across industries, have signed a set of shareholder and technology collaboration agreements to formalise their joint investment in Furaha. SC Ventures has invested $ 7 million, while Yabx BV has contributed through technology transfer, resulting in a combined investment of $10 million in Furaha. Incubated by SC Ventures, and co-founded by Yustus Aribariho and Ian Fernandes, Furaha is a purpose-driven lending platform aiming to make finance accessible across sub-Saharan Africa, with its first offering being in the education financing space. Furaha is headquartered in UAE’s Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and has extended its offerings to local operating markets in Africa, starting with Uganda as its first market.

“We are glad to partner with like-minded innovators like Yabx and Tech Mahindra who share our vision of increasing financial inclusion and access. The partnership will help enhance purpose-driven financing in Africa and supports our work to rewire the DNA in banking,” said Alex Manson, CEO, SC Ventures.

“The transformative power of purpose-driven financing lies in its ability to bridge gaps in access and opportunity, particularly in regions like Africa. This strategic partnership aims to make financial solutions more inclusive and impactful. It's indeed an exciting beginning, and we look forward to collaborating with SC Ventures on many such initiatives that redefine financial empowerment and drive innovation globally," said Mohit Joshi, CEO and Managing Director, Tech Mahindra.

Africa has the youngest demographics globally with over 600 million children under the age of 18. An education financing platform like Furaha could positively impact families across the continent. Furaha leverages Yabx’s nimble future-ready platform with AI driven alternate lending capabilities, with SC Ventures’ deep understanding of banking and risk management to reduce the cost of delivering purpose-driven lending products and widen financial inclusion across underserved segments in Africa.

“This partnership with SC Ventures is a big moment for Yabx. It marks our first step into the education financing space. The long-term impact of a partnership like this is huge, and we’re excited to work with Furaha as they positively impact education outcomes in Uganda and other African countries  in the coming months,” said Rajat Dayal, CEO, Yabx.

Among the biggest expenses families have to account for is the cost for good quality education for their children. Most parents lack adequate liquidity or access to short-term borrowing instruments — like credit cards or affordable, digital loans — and regularly face challenges paying school fees on time. Delayed or unpaid school fees often results in children unable to continue or complete their education, which impacts their future prospects and importantly the community and country’s development. The challenge is especially acute for parents with monthly incomes under $500. 

Furaha offers a much-needed solution for parents and schools by creating a rich ecosystem of data for credit scoring and enabling commercial banks to channel affordable credit towards education financing. Furaha has started offering loan products in Uganda with partners including Opportunity Bank, SchPay and MTN MoMo and plans are underway to expand to other countries in Africa.  

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Yabx.

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Image Caption: On the left: Mohit Joshi, CEO, Tech Mahindra | On the right: Alex Manson, CEO, Standard Chartered Ventures

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About SC Ventures:
SC Ventures is a business unit that provides a platform and catalyst for Standard Chartered to promote innovation, invest in disruptive financial technology and explore alternative business models.

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About Yabx:

Yabx is the fastest growing alternate credit infrastructure in Africa, rapidly scaling across the Middle East, South East Asia and Latin America through its state-of-the-art lending platform. By leveraging digital footprints, AI and diverse data partnerships, Yabx provides personalized credit scores and limits to underserved individuals and businesses to help them borrow responsibly on digital channels at affordable costs.

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About Tech Mahindra:

Tech Mahindra (NSE: TECHM) () offers technology consulting and digital solutions to global enterprises across industries, enabling transformative scale at unparalleled speed. With 150,000+ professionals across 90+ countries helping 1100+ clients, Tech Mahindra provides a full spectrum of services including consulting, information technology, enterprise applications, business process services, engineering services, network services, customer experience & design, AI & analytics, and cloud & infrastructure services. It is the first Indian company in the world to have been awarded the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Terra Carta Seal, which recognizes global companies that are actively leading the charge to create a climate and nature-positive future. Tech Mahindra is part of the Mahindra Group, founded in 1945, one of the largest and most admired multinational federation of companies. For more information on how TechM can partner with you to meet your Scale at Speed™ imperatives, please visit ().