Yango Group Injects Capital into Kenyan Fintech Zanifu to Unlock SME Financing Across Africa

In a move that signals growing international confidence in Africa’s fintech ecosystem, Yango Group, a prominent UAE-based technology company, has announced a strategic investment in Zanifu, a leading Kenyan fintech platform specializing in providing working capital solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across East Africa. The partnership extends beyond traditional venture funding, with Yango Group committing to support Zanifu in shaping its long-term business structure and growth strategy by leveraging the Group’s extensive operational experience across more than 30 global markets.

The investment, announced on October 13, 2025, represents a significant endorsement of Zanifu’s business model and underscores Yango Group’s broader commitment to nurturing high-potential technology startups throughout the African continent. For Zanifu, the partnership provides not just financial resources but also strategic guidance and operational expertise that could prove instrumental in scaling its operations beyond Kenya into other African markets where SMEs face similar challenges in accessing formal credit.

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The SME Financing Gap in Africa

Small and medium-sized enterprises form the backbone of African economies, accounting for approximately 90% of all businesses on the continent and contributing significantly to employment and GDP growth. However, these vital economic engines face persistent challenges in accessing the working capital they need to purchase inventory, manage cash flow fluctuations, and invest in growth opportunities. Traditional banks, constrained by risk-averse lending policies and high operational costs, have historically underserved this segment, creating what financial analysts estimate to be a financing gap of over $330 billion for African SMEs.

This financing gap has profound consequences for economic development. Without access to credit, small businesses struggle to take advantage of growth opportunities, maintain adequate inventory levels, or weather seasonal fluctuations in cash flow. Many promising enterprises fail not because of weak business models but simply because they cannot access the capital needed to bridge the gap between when they must pay suppliers and when they receive payment from customers. This working capital constraint acts as a brake on economic growth, limiting job creation and perpetuating poverty in communities across the continent.

Fintech platforms like Zanifu have emerged as a critical solution to this problem by leveraging technology to assess creditworthiness, disburse loans, and manage repayments in ways that are both more efficient and more accessible than traditional banking models. By using alternative data sources, automated underwriting systems, and mobile-first delivery channels, these platforms can serve customers that banks consider too small or too risky, while still maintaining sustainable business models.

Zanifu’s Embedded Lending Innovation

Zanifu has distinguished itself in Kenya’s crowded fintech landscape by pioneering embedded lending solutions specifically designed for the needs of small businesses. Rather than simply offering standalone loan products, Zanifu integrates its financing directly into the supply chains and business operations of its SME customers, creating what the company describes as “invisible credit” that seamlessly supports business transactions without requiring separate loan applications for each purchase.

The platform’s embedded approach works by partnering with suppliers and distributors who sell to SMEs. When a small business needs to purchase inventory or supplies, Zanifu can instantly approve financing that allows the business to receive the goods immediately while paying the supplier over time according to agreed terms. This model addresses one of the most critical pain points for small businesses: the mismatch between when they must pay for inventory and when they receive payment from their own customers.

Since its establishment, Zanifu has successfully financed more than 15,000 SMEs across Kenya, disbursing tens of millions of dollars in loans that have enabled these businesses to grow, hire additional employees, and contribute more substantially to their local economies. The company’s track record demonstrates the transformative potential of fintech solutions in empowering economic development at the grassroots level, where impact is most directly felt by communities.

The platform’s success stems from its deep understanding of the specific challenges facing African SMEs. Unlike consumer lending platforms that focus on personal loans, Zanifu’s team has developed expertise in evaluating business creditworthiness using operational data such as sales patterns, supplier relationships, and inventory turnover. This business-centric approach allows the platform to make more informed lending decisions while offering terms that align with the cash flow realities of small enterprises.

Yango Group’s African Ambitions

For Yango Group, the Zanifu investment represents a natural extension of the company’s broader African strategy. Yango Group has built its business by developing technology solutions tailored to emerging markets, with particular emphasis on transportation, delivery, and digital services. The company operates across more than 30 countries spanning Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Central Asia, giving it deep operational experience in markets that share many characteristics with Kenya’s dynamic but challenging business environment.

“Zanifu is working on exactly what we care about — building tools that help other businesses grow,” said Daniil Shuleyko, CEO of Yango Group. “By giving thousands of SMEs real access to capital, the team is enabling them to expand and succeed. We’re excited to bring our experience and expertise to help scale a business that’s delivering real impact to local communities.”

Shuleyko’s comments highlight Yango Group’s investment philosophy, which emphasizes supporting businesses that create tangible economic impact rather than simply pursuing financial returns. This approach aligns with growing recognition among technology investors that Africa’s most pressing challenges — from unemployment to financial exclusion — also represent substantial business opportunities for companies that can develop appropriate solutions.

Yango Group’s operational experience in markets with similar infrastructure and regulatory challenges to Kenya could prove particularly valuable for Zanifu. The company has demonstrated an ability to navigate complex regulatory environments, build partnerships with local stakeholders, and adapt global best practices to local contexts. These capabilities will be essential as Zanifu seeks to expand beyond its Kenyan base into other African markets where regulatory frameworks, payment systems, and business cultures may differ substantially.

The partnership also provides Zanifu with access to Yango Group’s extensive network of corporate relationships across Africa and beyond. These connections could facilitate partnerships with suppliers, distributors, and other ecosystem players that are essential to Zanifu’s embedded lending model. As Zanifu expands into new markets, the ability to leverage Yango’s existing relationships and reputation could significantly accelerate market entry and reduce the time and cost required to establish operations.

Yango Ventures: A New Force in African Venture Capital

The Zanifu investment was executed through Yango Ventures, a corporate venture fund launched earlier in 2025 with an initial commitment of $20 million. The fund specifically targets early-stage startups operating across Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa/Pakistan (MENAP) regions, focusing on sectors where Yango Group believes technology can drive transformative change.

Yango Ventures concentrates its investments in three primary sectors: Online-to-Offline (O2O) services that bridge digital platforms with physical service delivery, Business-to-Business Software-as-a-Service (B2B SaaS) solutions that help companies operate more efficiently, and Financial Technology (FinTech) platforms that expand access to financial services. These sectors represent areas where emerging markets face significant challenges but also where technology-enabled solutions can generate substantial impact and attractive returns.

What distinguishes Yango Ventures from many other venture funds operating in Africa is its emphasis on providing more than just capital. The fund offers portfolio companies access to Yango Group’s operational expertise, technology infrastructure, and global network of relationships. This hands-on approach, sometimes called “value-add” investing, can be particularly beneficial for early-stage startups that may lack the experience or resources to navigate scaling challenges independently.

For African entrepreneurs, the emergence of corporate venture funds like Yango Ventures represents an important evolution in the continent’s startup financing ecosystem. Traditional venture capital firms, while increasingly active in Africa, often focus primarily on financial engineering and portfolio construction. Corporate venture investors, by contrast, can offer strategic resources and operational support that may be even more valuable than capital alone, particularly for startups seeking to scale rapidly in complex emerging markets.

The $20 million initial fund size, while modest compared to some global venture funds, represents a significant commitment to African startups. More importantly, as a corporate venture fund backed by a profitable operating company, Yango Ventures has the potential to raise additional capital for subsequent funds if its initial investments prove successful. This patient capital approach, less constrained by the limited fund lifespans that affect traditional venture capital, could enable the fund to support portfolio companies through longer development cycles often required in emerging markets.

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The Broader Context: Africa’s Fintech Revolution

Zanifu operates within a broader African fintech ecosystem that has been experiencing extraordinary growth and innovation in recent years. The continent has emerged as a global fintech laboratory, where innovative solutions to financial inclusion challenges are being developed and deployed at scale. From Kenya’s pioneering M-Pesa mobile money platform to Nigeria’s thriving digital banking sector and South Africa’s sophisticated payment systems, Africa has demonstrated remarkable capacity for financial innovation.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated many of these trends, as lockdowns and social distancing measures forced businesses and consumers to adopt digital financial services more rapidly than might otherwise have occurred. This digital leap has created a more favorable environment for fintech platforms like Zanifu, as both SMEs and their customers have become more comfortable with digital transactions and less reliant on cash-based systems.

However, Africa’s fintech sector also faces significant challenges. Regulatory frameworks often lag behind technological innovation, creating uncertainty for fintech companies and sometimes hindering their ability to scale. Infrastructure limitations, including inconsistent internet connectivity and limited smartphone penetration in some areas, constrain market reach. Competition from both local startups and international platforms seeking to enter African markets has intensified, putting pressure on unit economics and customer acquisition costs.

The SME lending segment specifically presents unique challenges. While the financing gap is enormous, actually serving small businesses profitably requires solving difficult problems around credit assessment, loan recovery, and operational efficiency. Many fintech lenders have discovered that the segment is harder to serve than initially anticipated, with some platforms experiencing higher default rates than expected or finding that customer acquisition costs make the business model unsustainable at scale.

Zanifu’s embedded lending approach represents one potential solution to these challenges. By integrating financing directly into supply chains and business operations, the platform can better assess credit risk using operational data, reduce customer acquisition costs through supplier partnerships, and improve repayment rates by aligning loan terms with actual business cash flows. The fact that Zanifu has successfully financed 15,000 SMEs suggests that this model may be more sustainable than standalone SME lending approaches.

Economic Impact and Social Value

Beyond the business metrics, Zanifu’s impact on the Kenyan economy extends to the communities where its SME customers operate. When a small retailer receives financing to purchase additional inventory, it can serve more customers, potentially hire an additional employee, and contribute more tax revenue to local government. These direct impacts multiply as financed businesses purchase from local suppliers, pay wages to local workers, and reinvest profits in their communities.

Access to working capital can also help SMEs weather economic shocks and seasonal fluctuations that might otherwise force them to close. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, many small businesses faced sudden drops in revenue while still facing fixed costs. Access to flexible financing allowed some businesses to survive circumstances that would have otherwise bankrupted them, preserving jobs and economic activity in fragile communities.

For women entrepreneurs, who often face even greater barriers to accessing formal credit than their male counterparts, fintech platforms like Zanifu can be particularly transformative. By using data-driven credit assessment rather than traditional collateral requirements or personal relationships with bank managers, these platforms can reduce some of the gender bias that pervades traditional lending. While comprehensive data on Zanifu’s customer demographics is not publicly available, many fintech lenders report that significant portions of their customers are women-owned businesses that had previously been excluded from formal credit markets.

The broader economic implications of improved SME financing extend to productivity and growth at the national level. Research by institutions including the World Bank has consistently shown that improved access to finance correlates with higher GDP growth rates, increased employment, and reduced poverty. By helping to close Africa’s SME financing gap, platforms like Zanifu contribute to these macroeconomic benefits while building sustainable businesses.

Challenges and Opportunities Ahead

Despite Zanifu’s impressive track record and the backing of Yango Group, significant challenges remain as the platform seeks to scale its operations. The regulatory environment for fintech lending continues to evolve across Africa, with governments struggling to balance innovation promotion with consumer protection and financial stability concerns. Kenya’s Central Bank has been relatively progressive in its approach to fintech regulation, but expanding into other markets will require navigating different regulatory regimes, some of which may be less accommodating.

Competition in the African fintech space continues to intensify, with both local startups and international players vying for market share. Well-funded competitors with strong technology platforms and aggressive growth strategies could potentially undercut Zanifu’s pricing or offer competing products to its target customers. Maintaining competitive advantage will require continuous innovation, excellent customer service, and the operational efficiency that Yango Group’s support should help enable.

Currency fluctuations and macroeconomic instability in some African markets present additional risks. Many African currencies have experienced significant volatility in recent years, which can complicate lending operations and impact returns. Rising interest rates in some markets, driven by inflation concerns and central bank policy responses, affect both the cost of capital for lenders and the affordability of loans for borrowers.

However, these challenges are counterbalanced by substantial opportunities. The SME financing gap remains enormous, meaning that Zanifu’s addressable market extends far beyond its current customer base. As digital infrastructure improves across Africa and smartphone penetration increases, the platform’s potential reach expands. Growing comfort with digital financial services among both businesses and consumers creates favorable conditions for scaled adoption of Zanifu’s offerings.

The embedded lending model that Zanifu has pioneered could potentially be applied to numerous other supply chains and sectors beyond its current focus. Construction materials, agricultural inputs, pharmaceutical supplies, and many other sectors involve SME buyers who face similar working capital challenges. Each of these represents a potential expansion opportunity where Zanifu’s proven model and technology platform could be deployed with appropriate customization.

Regional Expansion Strategy

With Yango Group’s support, Zanifu is well-positioned to expand beyond Kenya into other East African markets and potentially into West and Southern Africa as well. The East African Community, which includes Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan, represents a natural expansion path given economic integration efforts, similar business environments, and proximity to Zanifu’s existing operations.

Tanzania, with its population of over 60 million and growing economy, presents an attractive adjacent market. The country faces similar SME financing challenges to Kenya and has a reasonably developed mobile money ecosystem that provides infrastructure for digital lending. Uganda and Rwanda also offer significant opportunities, with governments actively promoting financial inclusion and digital innovation.

Beyond East Africa, Nigeria represents Africa’s largest economy and most populous country, with an enormous population of SMEs desperately seeking access to capital. However, Nigeria’s more complex regulatory environment, currency challenges, and intense competition from local fintech players would require careful market entry planning. South Africa, with its more developed financial services sector, presents different opportunities and challenges, potentially requiring a modified approach to Zanifu’s embedded lending model.

Any regional expansion strategy will need to account for local market conditions, regulatory requirements, partnership opportunities, and competitive dynamics. Yango Group’s experience operating across diverse African markets should prove invaluable in navigating these complexities and adapting Zanifu’s business model to local contexts while maintaining the core value proposition that has driven success in Kenya.

Conclusion: A Model for Impact Investment

The Yango Group investment in Zanifu exemplifies a growing trend in African technology investment: the recognition that supporting businesses that solve real economic problems can generate both financial returns and meaningful social impact. Rather than simply pursuing the next consumer app or entertainment platform, investors are increasingly focusing on businesses that address fundamental challenges in healthcare, education, agriculture, and financial services.

This impact-oriented investment approach aligns with Africa’s development priorities while offering the potential for sustainable business models that can operate without permanent subsidy or dependence on donor funding. As Zanifu continues to grow with Yango Group’s support, it has the opportunity to demonstrate that SME lending can be both commercially viable and transformative for local economies.

The partnership announced in October 2025 represents more than just another venture capital deal. It symbolizes the maturation of Africa’s startup ecosystem, the growing sophistication of the continent’s fintech sector, and the increasing willingness of international investors to commit not just capital but also strategic support to African businesses. For the thousands of SMEs that Zanifu serves, and the many more it hopes to reach in the future, this investment could mean the difference between stagnation and growth, between subsistence and prosperity.

As Zanifu’s story unfolds in the coming years, it will provide valuable lessons about what works in emerging market fintech, how corporate venture capital can effectively support startup growth, and whether technology can truly close Africa’s persistent SME financing gap. The stakes extend far beyond one company or one investment—they encompass fundamental questions about economic development, financial inclusion, and the role of innovation in creating more equitable prosperity across the African continent.

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By: Montel Kamau

Serrari Financial Analyst

14th October, 2025