Cooperative Bank of Oromia’s (coop) uncollateralized digital lending product, Michu, has disbursed over 200-million-birr loan facilities since it started operation in May 2022.

The loans that target the working capital needs of roadside traders and micro businesses, which are marginalized by traditional collateral-based lending, were given out to 40,000 micro-businesses in 25,000 loan applications.

Powered by Kifiya Financial Technology’s Qena, Michu is Ethiopia’s first uncollateralized digital lending product, with Telebirr Mela following it by a few months.

The loan product that’s built on Qena, an AI-powered digital lending platform that enables banks to provide uncollateralized credit via a credit scoring system, was also able to collect back the 130 million it loaned.