3 days
Average branch-to-M-PESA lead time on a manual loan
Karibu · The credit rails for African MFIsApprove the right loans.
Approve the right loans.
Collect on time.
PesaRails is the credit infrastructure behind Kenya's microfinance institutions: AI-driven scoring, a WhatsApp loan assistant, and a compliant core MIS, unified on one platform.
CBK-aligned
Kenya DPA compliant
M-PESA native
PesaRails
online
👋 Karibu Wanjiru. Would you like to apply for a loan today?
09:42
Yes, KES 25,000 please
09:42 ✓✓
✅ Approved! KES 25,000 on its way to your M-PESA.
Score: 742 · 30 days · 6% p.m.
09:43
Asante sana! 🙏
09:43 ✓✓
Message
The category
Shopify, but for microfinance.
Running an MFI in 2026 means stitching together a core banking system, a credit scoring service, a WhatsApp BSP, an M-PESA integration, a fraud tool, a bureau connector, and spreadsheets. Six vendors. Six contracts. Six places your data can leak.
PesaRails collapses that stack into one. Launch a new lending product in an afternoon. Run compliant loan books across branches, regions, and countries on a single tenant, with the controls CBK expects already baked in.
We don't lend money. We sell the software to the organizations that do.
Multi-tenant from day oneSchema-isolated per MFIBilingual EN / SWAPI-firstKenya-specific rails
The gap we close
Three-day loans in a three-minute world.
Kenya's microfinance operators are running 2026 businesses on 2006 infrastructure. Here's what that costs them, and the borrowers they serve.
8–12%
Default rates at MFIs without systematic scoring
KES 810M
M-PESA fraud losses in 2024, a 344% YoY jump
6–12 mo
Typical Temenos or T24 implementation time
Why MFIs choose PesaRails
Run the business, not the software.
Every tool a loan officer needs, from KYC to collections, on one platform designed for the Kenyan credit ecosystem.
Faster
Approve in under 90 seconds
AI scoring pulls M-PESA history, IPRS identity, and CRB bureau data to return a verdict before the borrower closes WhatsApp.
Safer
Lower default rates
Behavioural features like transaction patterns, gambling signals and income stability catch risks that traditional rule-based scoring misses.
Compliant
Audit-ready by default
CBK adverse-action codes, DPA consent capture, and immutable audit logs built into every workflow, not bolted on.
How it works
Three products. One platform.
Adopt one, or all three, and they talk to each other out of the box. No middleware, no glue code, no six-month integrations.
01
The frontline
WhatsApp loan chatbot
Customers apply, upload statements, check balance, and repay, all in WhatsApp. No app downloads, no training, no support tickets.
- Bilingual EN/SW flows
- M-PESA statement parsing
- OTP-verified consent
02
The brain
Credit scoring engine
A tenant-configurable scoring model blends bureau data, mobile money behaviour and loan history into a 300–850 score with adverse-action reasons.
- CRB + IPRS + M-PESA signals
- Explainable adverse-action codes
- A/B test new models safely
03
The back-office
Core MIS
Built on Apache Fineract and extended for Kenyan MFIs: disbursements, collections, reporting and audit trails, all in one dashboard.
- Apache Fineract foundation
- CBK-ready reports
- Role-based permissions
Deployment models
Meet your stack where it is.
Three ways to onboard, from greenfield to full replacement of a legacy core. Every model ships with the same scoring engine, the same WhatsApp assistant, the same audit trail.
No existing core banking
Standalone
PesaRails is your entire platform. We provision everything: loan book, scoring, WhatsApp, M-PESA, reports.
Ideal for
New MFIs · SACCOs going digital · Lending pilots
Managed Apache Fineract
Core MIS
We provision a dedicated Fineract instance for your MFI and wrap it with scoring, WhatsApp, and M-PESA rails.
Ideal for
Established MFIs modernizing · Community banks
T24, Temenos, Musoni, in-house
External CBS
Keep your existing core. PesaRails plugs in via webhooks and becomes your scoring + WhatsApp + fraud layer.
Ideal for
Tier 2 banks · Digital lenders · Scale-ups
The platform, in detail
Built for loan officers, not for developers.
Credit scoring engine
A score you can explain to a regulator, and to a borrower.
Every verdict comes with up to four adverse-action codes mapped to CBK guidance. No black boxes, no surprises in audits.
- 300–850 FICO-style band, calibrated to KE cohorts
- M-PESA, bank statement, CRB, and IPRS signals
- Per-tenant model weights, no one-size-fits-all
Applicant
Wanjiru Njeri
KES 25,000 · 30 days
Score
742
Very Good
300500700850
Signals driving this score
- M-PESA inflow consistency (24 mo)+182
- Zero CRB adverse listings+95
- 2 prior loans repaid on time+60
- High weekend gambling spend-45
Under the hood
An ensemble a regulator will actually sign off on.
XGBoost, LightGBM, Random Forest, and Logistic Regression vote on every applicant. SHAP explanations attach to every decision, so credit committees, auditors, and the borrower get the same reason codes.
Owner characteristics
40%
M-PESA behaviour, age, business tenure
Business characteristics
30%
Sector, years in operation, revenue stability
Loan characteristics
15%
Amount-to-income ratio, tenor, purpose
Behavioural indicators
15%
Savings pattern, balance stability, gambling exposure
Score bands & policy
FICO-style 300–850 scale, calibrated on Kenyan cohorts
| Score | Risk | Policy action |
|---|---|---|
| 750–850 | Excellent | Auto-approve · up to 10× monthly income |
| 650–749 | Low | Approve · up to 5× monthly income |
| 550–649 | Moderate | Approve · up to 2× monthly income |
| 450–549 | High | Manual review queue |
| 300–449 | Very High | Auto-decline with adverse-action notice |
Adverse-action codes, ready to mail
Every decline ships with up to four CBK-aligned reason codes (AA001 – AA024). The notice generator drops a PDF into the customer's WhatsApp the moment the decision is final.
End to end
From hi to M-PESA in under 30 minutes.
A 24-state conversation engine orchestrates the entire loan lifecycle inside WhatsApp. No app. No branch. No paperwork.
0:00
Step 1
Hi
Customer messages the MFI on WhatsApp. Language prompt and terms land in under 10 seconds.
0:02
Step 2
KYC
Name, ID front, ID back, selfie, next-of-kin, guarantor, GPS, business info, all via WhatsApp buttons.
0:12
Step 3
Statement
M-PESA PDF uploaded. Ensemble model + LLM return a 300–850 score with reason codes.
0:15
Step 4
Apply
Amount, tenor, purpose. Amortization schedule surfaces before the customer accepts the digital agreement.
0:17
Step 5
Approval
Auto-approve under threshold, or route through branch → region → HQ with SLA timers.
0:28
Step 6
Disburse
M-PESA B2C fires. Receipt returns to WhatsApp. The loan goes live on the MIS.
Fraud · AML
Eight layers between your loan book and bad actors.
KES 810M was lost to M-PESA fraud in 2024, a 344% jump year on year. PesaRails stacks eight defensive checks across every application so the losses don't land on your balance sheet.
01
Circular transaction rings
A → B → C → A within 24–48 hours gets flagged before scoring even runs.
02
Statement tampering
PDF forensics catch font swaps, edited balances, stitched-together statements.
03
Velocity anomalies
Transaction counts >3× historical average pause for manual review.
04
Income inflation
Large unexplained deposits right before an application drop the score automatically.
05
Duplicate statements
Image and document hashing prevents the same statement being reused across loans.
06
Date manipulation
Timestamp re-ordering and out-of-sequence dates raise a hard block.
07
Cross-person collision
Applicant ID ≠ next-of-kin ID ≠ guarantor ID, enforced at KYC time.
08
Image hash dedup
Re-uploaded selfies and IDs across applications are caught by perceptual hash.
Integrations
Plugged into the rails you already use.
Kenya-specific connectors out of the box. No consultants. No 6-month onboarding.
M-PESA
Daraja STK push & C2B
Cloud API · verified
Apache Fineract
Core banking engine
CRB Metropol
Bureau score pulls
IPRS
National ID verify
Google Cloud
Sovereign KE region
Who runs on PesaRails
Built for the full shape of African lending.
From a twenty-person SACCO to a Tier 2 bank: same platform, same rails, different knobs.
SACCOs
~15,000 registered in Kenya
Member self-service, group lending, automated dues
Deposit-taking MFIs
14 CBK-licensed institutions
Replace legacy cores. Cut loan decision time 99%.
Credit-only MFIs
2,000+ small lenders
Go digital end-to-end without hiring an engineering team.
Digital lenders
100+ Kenya-native fintechs
Scoring API + fraud stack, with your UX on top.
Community banks
30+ Tier 2 & Tier 3
Add a WhatsApp front door without ripping out your core.
Versus
The fastest path to a live loan book.
| Capability | PesaRails You, with us | Legacy MIS T24 · Temenos · Musoni | Build in-house 2 engineers · 18 months | Spreadsheets How most MFIs still run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to first loan | Afternoon | 6–12 months | 12–18 months | Same day |
| WhatsApp origination | Native | Add-on | Build it yourself | None |
| AI credit scoring | Included | None | Build it yourself | None |
| M-PESA B2C & C2B | Native | Custom integration | Build it yourself | Manual |
| CBK adverse action | Auto-generated | Manual | Build it yourself | Manual |
| Fraud detection | 8 layers | None | Build it yourself | None |
| Typical annual cost | KES 720K to 3M | KES 10M+ | KES 30M+ (salaries) | Staff time |
Security · compliance
Built for regulators. Safe for borrowers.
PesaRails is architected from the ground up around Kenya's Data Protection Act, CBK digital credit guidelines, and global banking security standards. Every tenant gets isolated data, role-based access, and end-to-end audit logs.
CBK
Digital Credit Providers
DPA
Kenya Data Protection Act
ISO 27001
Information security
SOC 2
Type II, in progress
Tenant-isolated data
Each MFI gets its own schema. API keys cannot cross organizational boundaries. Ever.
Immutable audit trail
Every approval, override, and repayment is logged with actor, timestamp, and IP, ready for CBK inspection.
SSO · RBAC · MFA
Role-based permissions mirror CBK segregation-of-duty rules. SAML SSO for enterprise tenants.
DPA-compliant consent
Consent captured at loan origination, versioned, and surfaced on every data-use request.
Data sovereignty
Hosted in Google Cloud’s Johannesburg & Nairobi regions. Your customer data never leaves the continent.
Pricing
Priced for Kenyan P&Ls.
Transparent tiers. No per-seat surprises. Switch plans when your loan book does.
For pilots & small SACCOs
Starter
KES 60K/month
Talk to sales- Credit scoring API · 100 statements/mo
- 1 admin seat
- M-PESA sandbox
- Community support
- Email-only onboarding
For most Kenyan MFIs
Growth
KES 250K/month
Book a pilot- Scoring + WhatsApp chatbot
- 10,000 statements/mo
- 5 admin seats
- M-PESA production rails
- CBK reporting pack
- 8×5 support
Tier 2 banks & digital lenders
Enterprise
From KES 1.5M/month
Talk to sales- Full platform incl. Core MIS
- Unlimited statements
- 50+ admin seats
- Dedicated Fineract instance
- Custom integrations (CRB, IPRS)
- 24×7 named CSM
Prices are indicative · final pricing after scoping call
Common questions
Questions every MFI asks.
Didn't find yours? Email info@pesarails.com and we reply inside a business day.
Is PesaRails a lender?
No. We are a B2B platform: the software that microfinance institutions use to run their lending operations. We never touch borrower capital.
How long does onboarding take?
A Starter tenant can be live in a single afternoon. Growth tenants typically pilot in 2–3 weeks, including Fineract provisioning and M-PESA go-live. Enterprise with custom integrations runs 4–8 weeks.
Is my data isolated from other tenants?
Yes. Every tenant gets its own Postgres schema with row-level security, its own AES-encrypted document store, and its own set of API keys. No request can ever cross an organizational boundary.
Which channels does the chatbot support?
WhatsApp Cloud API is primary. USSD is on the near-term roadmap. Free-text natural language understanding (including Sheng) is planned. Today the flow is button-driven, which is more reliable for regulated lending.
Can I keep my existing core banking system?
Yes. The External CBS deployment model lets you keep Temenos, Musoni, or an in-house system. PesaRails plugs in via webhooks and becomes your scoring + WhatsApp + fraud layer on top.
What about CBK licensing?
PesaRails is technology, not a lender, so we don’t require a digital credit provider license ourselves. Your MFI’s existing CBK license covers the lending activity, and our compliance surface (adverse-action notices, audit logs, DPA consent capture) plugs straight into your regulatory reporting.
Tuko tayari
Put your loan book on rails.
Book a 30-minute product walkthrough. We'll set up a sandbox tenant before the call ends.
Book a demo
See it running on your own numbers.
Thirty minutes, no slides. We walk through scoring, WhatsApp origination and the admin console, then set up a sandbox tenant you can keep poking at afterwards.
- info@pesarails.com
- Response time
- Within one business day
- Office
- Nairobi, Kenya