Asset financing company Mogo Kenya has doubled its borrowing from local banks to Sh1.6 billion, deepening its reliance on domestic lenders and institutional investors to finance its rapidly expanding consumer loans portfolio.
Mogo increased its credit facilities at I&M Bank and Ecobank Kenya, raising loans from local lenders from the previous Sh800 million as total local funding crossed Sh9 billion, including inflows from private credit investors.
The expanded funding base gives Mogo more Kenyan-shilling resources to finance customers buying motorcycles, cars, tuk-tuks (three-wheelers) and smartphones, while reducing exposure to foreign exchange movements on its borrowing.
“Mogo Kenya has doubled its local bank funding to Sh1.6 billion, up from Sh800 million, following expanded credit facilities from Ecobank Kenya and I&M Bank,” said the firm.
“The company’s total local funding now stands at more than Sh9 billion, the majority raised through one- to three-year private placement programmes arranged by Dry Associates Investment Bank, which have drawn a growing number of Kenyan institutional investors into Mogo Kenya’s investor base.”
The expanded funding comes as the company disbursed an additional Sh9.2 billion in the six months to June 2026, taking its loan book to Sh15.9 billion.
Motorcycle and tuk-tuk financing accounted for Sh5.7 billion of the disbursements in the review period when car financing contributed about Sh900 million, according to figures released by the company.
Smartphone financing, reintroduced in June 2025, generated Sh2.5 billion in disbursements during the six months to June 2026, compared with Sh1.4 million in the whole of 2024.
The rapid expansion of the smartphone portfolio has, however, introduced a weaker-performing category into the lending business, raising questions about the quality of Mogo's growing loan book.
Smartphone financing was cited for higher defaults with the product having a non-performing loans (NPL) ratio of 31.5 percent compared to an NPL ratio of 5.8 percent for loans issued for boda-boda purchase, according to a GCR Ratings credit report on Mogo.
The company said greater local-currency funding would help finance loans issued in shillings, limiting currency mismatches that can arise when foreign-currency borrowing supports domestic lending operations over time.
The funding push also comes amid rapid growth in Kenya's digital credit market, where licensed providers' outstanding loans reached Sh153.8 billion in June 2026, according to Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data.
The digital credit portfolio doubled from Sh76.8 billion in June 2025, while loan accounts rose to 8.9 million from 5.5 million.
The number of licensed digital credit providers reached 281 by September 2026, underlining intensifying competition for borrowers across mobile, online and asset-financing products in Kenya's growing credit market.
CBK began licensing digital lenders after complaints about high borrowing costs, aggressive debt collection and misuse of customers' personal information by unregulated operators in Kenya before tighter oversight commenced.
Mogo operates in this wider market through asset-backed financing, where borrowers acquire equipment or devices and repay the loans in instalments while continuing to use those assets.
The model is particularly significant in motorcycle transport, where riders generate daily income and meet loan repayments as they work toward ownership of the assets that they would be able to buy in cash.
Industry estimates put the boda-boda sector's annual economic contribution at Sh660 billion, supporting more than 2.5 million livelihoods across the country, including riders and their dependents.
