Business loans for individuals in Kenya are usually filtered at the first question: is there a registered entity? That filter removes a great many people who are, in every commercial sense, running real businesses — the fundi with a workshop and two apprentices, the trader with a stall and steady custom, the tailor with a machine and a waiting list.
DGC Finance finances the deficit in a defined project rather than a category of borrower. You bring part of the cost from your own funds, we advance up to 80% of it at a flat 4% rate, and you repay over a term of up to 36 months. Whether the applicant is a company or an individual changes the evidence we look at, not the terms.
Trading on your own, with money moving and part of the cost in hand? Check your eligibility in about two minutes.
Check my eligibilityBusiness loans for unregistered businesses
An unregistered business can be financed, and there is nothing irregular about that. Registration is a formality that records an entity; it does not create the trade. What it does is make evidence easier to assemble, which is useful but not essential.
The practical position is this. A sole proprietor who has been trading for two years has a record — in M-Pesa, in a bank statement, in a supplier's ledger, in the customers who come back. A company that registered last month has a certificate and very little else. Between the two, the trading record is the stronger file, and it is the one we assess.
Formalising later is not held against anyone. If the facility helps you buy the machine that makes registration worth the fee, that is a reasonable sequence, and it is one we see often.
What counts as "having something"
- Six months of steady takings. An M-Pesa statement or a bank statement showing money coming in week after week is the single strongest thing an individual can bring. Consistency matters more than size.
- A place that exists. A stall, a kiosk, a workshop, a market position, a locked store. A photograph, the rent you pay, or a county permit if you hold one. A location is evidence that the activity is real.
- Orders already confirmed. A school purchase order, a hotel supply arrangement, a contractor listing the materials they need. A named buyer converts a plan into a receivable, and a receivable can be assessed.
- Part of the capital saved. Money set aside toward the machine, the stock, the deposit or the tools. This is the contribution the fund matches, and holding it is what separates an applicant from a request.
Any one of these four will carry an application; two of them make a strong one. You do not need all four, and you do not need to bring them to the first stage, which asks for figures rather than documents.
The thirty-day trap
Restocking through a short-term digital lender is common among informal traders, and the reason is understandable: the money arrives in minutes and the gap it fills is real. The difficulty is that a thirty-day facility is priced for thirty days. If the stock has not turned by then, the same principal is borrowed again, and the charge is applied again.
That renewal is where the cost lives. A daily or monthly charge looks modest because it is quoted against a short period; applied repeatedly to the same money, it becomes a large fraction of the principal over a year. The trader is not servicing a purchase any more. They are servicing the facility.
| Item | Short-term app | This fund |
|---|---|---|
| Amount | KES 100,000 | KES 100,000 |
| Charge | about 7.5% per 30-day cycle | 4% flat, applied once |
| Cost of the first month | KES 7,500 | KES 4,000 over the whole term |
| Cost if renewed for a year | about KES 90,000 | KES 4,000 in total |
| Monthly repayment | KES 107,500 due in 30 days | KES 2,888.89 for 36 months |
The arithmetic above is illustrative, at a representative market rate, and is not a quotation from any named provider. The point is the shape of the cost rather than the exact figure: one charge applied once, against one charge applied twelve times.
The mismatch is also one of timing. Stock bought for resale often takes sixty or ninety days to turn, and equipment takes longer to earn back than any single month. A facility that ends before the trade cycle does forces the borrower back to the market at the worst moment — before the money has come in. Spreading the same amount over up to 36 months at a rate applied only once means the repayment comes from the margin the business is generating, not from the capital it needs to keep trading.
Short-term borrowing is not wrong in itself. Where the gap genuinely is thirty days and it is repaid once, it is a sensible tool. It becomes expensive when it is used to buy things that take a year to pay for themselves, and that is the common case for a workshop, a machine or a season of stock.
Worked example: a KES 200,000 workshop project
A fundi needs a machine costing KES 200,000 and has saved KES 40,000 from previous work. The deficit is KES 160,000, and that is the amount the fund advances.
| Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total project cost | KES 200,000 |
| Your contribution, 20% | KES 40,000 |
| Facility advanced, 80% | KES 160,000 |
| Interest at 4% flat | KES 6,400 |
| Total repayable | KES 166,400 |
| Monthly instalment, 36 months | KES 4,622.22 |
Interest is charged on the amount advanced, not on the project, and it is applied once for the whole term. A shorter term raises the instalment and reduces the total; a longer one spreads the same charge over more months.
Have the figures for the machine, the stock or the tools? Start the application and a loan officer will confirm the schedule.
Calculate my repaymentFrequently asked questions
Can I get a business loan in Kenya without a registered company?
Yes. Registration is one form of evidence, not a precondition. An individual is assessed on the money moving through the business — takings, a workplace, orders, money already committed — and on a direction that can be written down.
What are Jua Kali or self-employed business loans?
Facilities for people who work for themselves: a fundi, a tailor, a shopkeeper, a boda operator running deliveries. The business and the individual are the same person, so the assessment rests on their trade rather than on a set of company accounts. The structure is unchanged — a defined purchase, a contribution, and finance for the shortfall.
How much can an individual borrow?
The amount follows the project, not a fixed ceiling. The fund covers up to 80% of a defined cost, so the facility is the shortfall after your contribution. A machine at KES 200,000 with KES 40,000 saved gives a facility of KES 160,000 and an instalment of KES 4,622.22 over 36 months.
Do I need collateral as an individual?
No title deed is required. What replaces it is evidence — takings, a workplace that exists, confirmed orders, money already committed — together with the assets the facility buys. The fuller explanation is in business loans in Kenya without collateral.
Is a mobile loan app cheaper for restocking?
Only where the gap really is thirty days and it is repaid once. A charge of roughly 7.5% per thirty-day cycle comes to about 90% of the principal if the same money is renewed twelve times, whereas 4% flat is applied once for the whole term. The decisive factor is how many times the charge is applied, not the headline percentage.
Next step
You do not need to arrive with a file. The first stage asks for the project cost and the amount you already hold; everything else is requested afterwards by the loan officer reading it. If the venture is a startup rather than an established trade, the position is set out in online and startup business loans in Kenya; if it is agricultural or women-led, the detail is in agribusiness and women-led business financing in Kenya.
Working for yourself and ready to buy the thing that grows the business? Start the application, or send the figures and we will reply with the schedule.
Apply for funding Email a loan officerTerms are set out in full on the legal page. The structure of the fund, including the 20/80 split and the repayment mathematics, is explained on the about page.