eShandi

eShandi is a pan-African fintech platform that provides digital financial services to individuals and small-to-medium enterprises across Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and South Africa. Founded in 2019 in Lusaka as PremierCredit, a microfinance lender, by Eugene Mwila and Chilufya Mutale-Mwila, the company rebranded to eShandi as it expanded into a multi-country platform, raising more than $12 million in funding from backers including Enygma Ventures, INOKS Capital, and Mastercard, and reporting service to over 1 million individuals and SMEs.

Key capabilities include:

• Digital loans for personal and business needs, including SME loans and market-specific products such as group loans, logbook (vehicle-backed) loans, and school fee loans in Kenya, plus SSB loans for government employees, pensioners loans, and BNPL loans in Zimbabwe.
• Digital wallets and transfers for cashless spending, wallet-to-wallet transfers, and real-time balance and spending monitoring.
• Payments and value-added services for electricity and utility payments, plus airtime and data bundle purchases.
• Insurance offerings that include funeral cover and health insurance in Zambia, and broader insurance plans referenced across other markets.

Available on Web, with USSD access in some markets (for example, *559# registration in Zambia). Target users include underbanked and unbanked consumers such as low-income and hourly workers, pensioners, and government employees, plus SMEs, employers using earned wage access, and merchants and agents supporting merchant services and agency banking.

Notable for its use of AI-driven credit scoring to extend credit to users with limited traditional documentation, and for holding regulatory registrations in each of its Southern and East African operating markets, including registration with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.