Purpose-Driven Lending: Furaha’s Vision for Transforming Education Finance In Uganda After a distinguished career spanning over two decades at Standard Chartered Bank, which, amongst other achievements, includes leading teams that built nine digital banks for the global bank, Yustus Aribariho returns home to Uganda to build Furaha, an education-focused digital lending platform. Furaha is a financial technology platform that focuses on purpose-driven lending. In Uganda, Furaha has chosen to kickstart its focus on the education sector by assembling an ecosystem that connects more than 14,000 schools, banks, telcos, school payment aggregators and credit bureaus to plug into the Furaha platform and process school fee loans.

Yustus Aribariho, one of Uganda’s finest brains in the financial services space, has spent more than two decades of his banking career at Standard Chartered Bank. He is no stranger to digital transformation programs and has vast experience across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Until recently, he was the Global Head of Digital Platforms for Standard Chartered Bank, based in Dubai, UAE.

With that experience, Yustus decided to step down from the role in January 2024 and, with funding from Standard Chartered Ventures (SC Ventures), co-founded Furaha Financial Limited, headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. Standard Chartered Ventures is the venture-building arm of Standard Chartered Group, whose role is to identify, incubate, or invest in cutting-edge tech-led ideas.

Furaha is a financial technology platform that focuses on purpose-driven lending. It builds an ecosystem of like-minded organisations – telcos, banks, payment aggregators, credit bureaus, etc. – to provide financing for specific use cases using alternative data.

“Furaha Financial is an independent entity, incubated and promoted by Standard Chartered Ventures because it’s a compelling idea to solve challenges on the African continent. The intent is to take this to about 10 markets across Africa, Uganda being the choice antecedent market,” says Yustus.

To bring the Furaha idea to life, Yustus has partnered with Ian Fernandes, another former Standard Chartered Bank veteran. Ian, too, has over two decades of banking experience. According to his online profiles, he is passionate about the interplay between technology and banking, especially as it evolves business models and industry structures. Ian has been with Standard Chartered Bank for the past 15 years, delivering complex projects, enabling strategic business outcomes and delivering robust governance and risk management through various senior and board-level positions across Africa, including Uganda.

The first use case that Furaha has built for is Education Loans. This is a first in the market where parents can get into a Furaha platform and borrow money from a participating bank to pay school fees. What is unique about the Furaha Education loan is that the money is sent directly to the school. “This way, you avoid misuse of money, which has been a real curse for most low-income borrowers”, Yustus explained. Additionally, the parent cannot borrow beyond what is outstanding for school fees.

We asked Yustus who the target customers are. “We are focusing on a segment we call the missing middle. These are individuals who, for some reason, are good enough to open a bank account, but banks don’t find them attractive to lend to because of old-school lending processes and practices. Most banks in Uganda are not data-driven in their lending process but rather paper evidence-based”, said Yustus. “The risk appetite rotates around salaried employees evidenced by salary slips. This leaves out a significant number of individuals who we have termed the missing middle,” he added.

Furaha’s Model: Lending with Purpose

Aribariho insists Furaha Financial Services Limited is not just another fintech startup; it is a digital platform born out of necessity and fueled by a mission. 

The platform’s name comes from the Swahili word “Furaha,” which translates to “joy” or “happiness.”

True to its name, Furaha is built to bring happiness by providing purposeful financing to the “missing middle”—individuals and businesses typically overlooked by traditional lenders.

What Furaha does is it enables the entire process to work. We have created an ecosystem that connects more than 14,000 schools, banks, telcos, school payment aggregators and credit bureaus to plug into the Furaha platform and process school fee loans. Ultimately, the bank is the lender.

The platform consists of four major components: the Furaha App, which is the customer entry channel; a credit decisioning engine; and a loan origination and Loan management system with a client management system (CRM). Credit decisioning is data-driven and uses alternative data powered by AI and machine learning.

Importance of Financing Education

Aribariho underscores education as a cornerstone of human capital development and a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) priority. He highlights alarming statistics: only 30% of Ugandan students can pay full school fees upfront, leading to high dropout rates.

“This deters the rate of human capital development, and where you have had a slowdown of human capital development, you have a challenge of transforming society and hence the challenges we see all around us.

Furaha directly addresses this issue by ensuring funds are used specifically for school fees, fostering educational access and financial discipline.

He highlights the platform’s impact: “The most satisfying thing is keeping children in school. Everything else can fail, but if we achieve this, we’ve made a difference.”

How It Works:

Furaha Education loan is already available in Uganda with Opportunity Bank as the lender. It is a simple process

1. Education Focus: Parents can download a Furaha App and apply for short-term loans tied directly to school fees, ensuring funds are utilised as intended. The platform disburses payments directly to schools, eliminating misuse.
2. Data-Driven Credit Scoring: Furaha employs AI-powered algorithms that analyse alternative data sources—from telco usage to school payment patterns—to assess creditworthiness, a game-changer for the “missing middle.”
3. Flexible Repayment: Loans are capped at 90 days, aligning with school term cycles. Furaha’s pricing model ensures affordability, charging a fixed 5% monthly interest and offering repayment options in instalments to ease the financial strain. 

Furaha Leadership and Board

Furaha has assembled a wealth of experience for its leadership team, with a mix of technology and banking leadership.

• Yustus Aribariho (Co-founder): With nearly 22 years at Standard Chartered Bank, including senior roles like Global Head of Digital Utilities, Aribariho brings unparalleled expertise in digital banking. His vision for Furaha is rooted in creating accessible, impactful financial solutions.
• Ian Fernandes (Co-founder): Fernandes has 20 years of experience across banking, technology, and private equity. A graduate of INSEAD and Stanford GSB, Fernandes has been instrumental in launching digital banks and shaping governance frameworks across Africa and South Asia.

Furaha’s board further amplifies its strategic depth. It includes prominent figures such as:

• Sunil Kaushal, Global Co-Head of Corporate & Investment Banking at Standard Chartered, chairs the Board of Furaha Financial Ltd. Sunil is no stranger to Africa; until recently, he was the CEO of SCB for Africa and the Middle East.
• Chris Flanagan, COO of SC Ventures, brings over 20 years of expertise in financial services and joins Furaha as one of the directors. He is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Standard Chartered Ventures.
• Aaditya Bhave is a financial services expert with a distinguished career in Human Resources and is also one of the directors. Aaditya is currently the people lead for Standard Chartered Ventures.

Operating as Furaha Finserve Uganda Limited, the Uganda franchise has tapped into the expertise of:

• Sanjay Rughani, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Uganda, as the chairman of the board
• Dan Karuga, SC Ventures lead for Africa, a seasoned entrepreneur with extensive experience in fintech as one of the directors.
• Dennis Musinguzi: Furaha recently recruited Dennis Musinguzi as its first CEO for Uganda. He brings over 20 Years of experience to the game, including working at Uganda’s leading mobile money brand before joining Furaha. He spent two years at MTN MoMo, where he was the Senior Manager of BankTech. Before that, he worked for 14 years at MTN Uganda, MTN MoMo’s parent company, and rose through the ranks to become the Senior Manager of products and services.
• Edward Barlow: One of Uganda’s leading risk managers in the banking industry has also been recruited as the Chief Risk Officer. Edward recently retired from SCB Uganda as CRO and has more than 35 years of experience in the trade.

The Road Ahead

Furaha’s ambitions extend beyond Uganda. The platform plans to expand to 10 African markets, replicating its education-focused model to address similar gaps across the continent. However, challenges remain:

1. Regulatory Hurdles: Navigating diverse legal frameworks.
2. Financial Literacy: Educating borrowers on responsible credit use.
3. Scalability: Balancing rapid growth with sustainable practices.

Furaha stands as a beacon of innovation in African finance, offering a model that blends technology, purpose, and collaboration. Addressing systemic issues in education financing demonstrates how lending can drive societal progress while remaining profitable and sustainable.

Aribariho concludes, “Purpose-driven lending isn’t just a service; it’s a transformative force that addresses real societal needs,” adding: “We’re not just lenders. We’re enablers of change, building an ecosystem that uses finance to transform lives.”