BT FACTCHECK

PARTLY FALSE: Post Does Not Show Requirements For Hustler Fund Loans

PESACHECKDec 11, 2022855

A Facebook post listing the requirements for the Hustler Fund programme by the Kenyan government is PARTLY FALSE.

The requirements in the claim are listed as follows:

1. Form a Youth or women group

2. Draft a Business Proposal

3. Produce Good Conduct Certificate

4. Share Residential Address

5. Produce signatures from 4 Guarantors, two must be your relatives

6. Sign a non disclosure agreement to serve jail term for defrauding the government if you fail to repay within 6 months

7. Open Bank account with National Bank or KCB

8. Produce KRA Pin

9. Above 18 years old

10. Holder of Kenyan ID

12. Account must be active for at least 6 months statement

13. Individual loans will also be available.

According to the National Treasury Financial Inclusion Fund Regulation 2022 draft, the requirements for individual applicants include being 18 years of age and above and being a holder of a national identification card (ID).

Micro, small and medium enterprises, saccos and any other associations will be required to have all their members to be aged above 18 years in age and duly registered by the relevant government institution to qualify for the loans.

Any other eligibility criteria will be determined by an advisory board comprising a non-executive chairperson appointed by the President, who is expected to oversee the operations of the fund.

Co-operative and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui, clarified that the government’s Hustler Fund programme will not require any official registration.

“We urge members of the public to disregard all forms of communications inviting

them to register for funds on a website or via a phone number,” Chelugui said.

He also dismissed as untrue claims that Hustler Fund defaulters will be heavily fined.

“There is no such thing. The penalties in the regulations target fund officials who may embezzle or misappropriate the funds,” he added.

Chelugui further explained that interested individuals will only require their phones to access the loans.

“Unlike any financial products that require a lot of paperwork, guarantors or collaterals among other hurdles, borrowers will face no such roadblocks. No registration is required and all that will be required is to dial a code. There will be no intermediaries, it will just be the hustler and his or her phone,” he said.

PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post listing the requirements for the Hustler Fund programme by the Kenyan government and finds it to be PARTLY FALSE.

This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.

This fact check was published by Business Today with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck and African Fact-Checking Alliance.

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PesaCheck is a pioneering verification initiative that is kickstarting fact-checking across Africa. Initially focused on verifying the financial and other statistical numbers quoted by public figures in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, PesaCheck is now Africa’s largest with full-time fact-checkers in 12 countries in both east and west Africa, as well as across the Sahel.