To explore how mobile-first DeFi built on Celo could offer a truly unique solution for employer-based lending, the Celo Foundation has partnered with Mercy Corps Ventures and Cinch Markets to launch a three-month salary-advance pilot in Nanyuki, Kenya.
The salary advances in this pilot helped farmers and landowners employed by Cinch, an agriculture company that leases farmland from smallholder farmers and hires farmers to grow high-value crops at scale. The pilot, which began in April, explores how employer-based lending using DeFi apps built on Celo could offer the following:
- Better interest rates
- Faster loan delivery
- Reduced administrative overhead
With the loan distribution part of the pilot complete, we know that 68 employees took on salary advances amounting to $9, 697 at a competitive annual interest rate of 8%. Interest rates of loan alternatives in Nanyuki were well above 20% at the time.
Employees taking salary advances utilized Moola Market, a DeFi lending protocol built on Celo blockchain, and Kotani Pay, an on/off ramp provider in Africa.
Learn more about the Cinch project on the Celo Foundation blog or watch the video below for an in-depth overview of the pilot.
Read more about the project on BitKe; How Salary Advances on Celo Offer Mobile Financing Solutions to Kenyan Employees
