Started by a team of three, lender defies great odds ( including the Covid-19 pandemic) to register phenomenal growth by being agile and innovative
By George Gichuki
Successful entrepreneurs are able to remain faithful to their cause even when they are faced by seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Armed with powerful business ideas and a knack for executing them to excellence, they are not afraid of getting started with limited resources. Slowly but surely, they are able to assemble talented teams, plough back profits into their growing enterprises and overcome cutthroat competition. Resilience is their hallmark. Audacity is their stock in trade. Reuben Kimani, the Managing Director of Edenbridge Capital ( a very fast growing microfinance institution) bears these entrepreneurial traits. With a lot of fire in his belly, Reuben has built the reputable organization within a record period of time.
After ceasing to be the chief executive officer of a microfinance bank in Kenya, Reuben decided to venture into business. Armed with a shoestring budget, he rented a tiny office in Nairobi’s central business and hired two staff members in March 2019. “ My first office was measuring only ten by ten square feet,” he reminiscences. “ Myopic as it might sound, I kept two seats empty, hoping that I would hire their occupants once the business grew,” he adds with a chuckle. Back then, he never imagined that even at its peak, the business would be able to have more than four employees. You may believe it or not! In just four years, Edenbridge Capital has grown in leaps and bounds. The lender currently boasts of more than 7,426 customers, nine branches ( dubbed fulfilment centres) and ninety one members of staff. Going by its current momentum, these numbers will keep growing.

Muigai, Edenbridge Capital Chairman, Njuguna Ngumunu and Edgenridge Capital MD, Reuben Kimani during the logo reveal.
Target market
The fast growth of Edenbridge Capital can mainly be attributed to the fact that it has curved a niche in the provision of financial products and services to micro, small and medium enterprises ( MSMEs) market segment. It is a dynamic sector which has employed thousands of Kenyans and contributes significantly to our socio-economic development. Unfortunately, many mainstream lenders shun the sector because it is viewed as risky. “ Our customers borrow as little as Kshs. 2,500 to Kshs. 10,000 in order to finance their enterprises,” says Reuben. “ We focus on offering business loans to them as opposed to consumer ones,” he adds.
Given the lender’s strong presence in the rural areas where its major target market resides, it has developed agribusiness loan products. The products are based on the needs of various agriculture value chains including dairy and horticulture. Currently, Edenbridge Capital has nine fulfilment centres ( branches) based in the rural areas countrywide and it is planning to open six more by the end of this year.
Milestones
According to Reuben, Edenbridge Capital is very keen on financial intermediation. To that end, it gives financial support to customers who want to boost their stock, grow their enterprises and expand to new locations and tender for government business. The lender has also established an insurance agency that is known as EBC. It supports customers with motor, domestic and medical insurance packages among others. “ We have had a very exciting journey over the last four years,” says Reuben. “ The most exciting part is when we successfully navigated through the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020,” he adds. He confesses that was the most challenging period in his career and business. All the operations of his business as well as customers were adversely affected. “ It was like navigating through a fog in a dark night but the most exciting thing is that we came together as a team, reinforced our corporate values and ultimately, weathered the ranging storm,” he remarks adding that the most exciting thing about that experience is that in 2020, the business grew three fold , customer numbers increased and more staff members were recruited.
Reuben notes that Edenbridge Capital has assembled a young, energetic, ambitious and innovative team whose average age is twenty six years. By and large, this has contributed to the fast growth of the lender. Additionally, in order to enhance corporate governance, the company has a highly experienced board that is headed by a chairman and a management team under the managing director. “ Our chairman for instance has been in the finance world for the last forty years and our head of audit committee has over thirty years’ experience,” he observes. In order to track its financial performance effectively, the lender has engaged a tier two audit firm. Most importantly, being in a business where prudent management of resources is of utmost importance, integrity is one of its core values.
According to Reuben, even though Edenbridge Capital has not been in the microfinance business for a long period of time, it has laid the requisite foundation to enable it have a continental presence. “ Our vision is to play a critical role in inspiring job creation and innovation throughout the continent, while supporting businesses to achieve their goals,” he says.
Standing out
Edenbridge Capital stands out because of engaging a very vibrant team of staff. “ This has enabled us to deliver exemplary customer experience,” says Reuben adding that they really value their customers and they develop products based on their needs. Before advancing any loan product to customers, they are taken through the offering in order to get identify the one that is most suitable to their needs. After getting the loans, the customers are taken through training on financial literacy. The objective of this training is to make them financially disciplined as they strive to grow their businesses.
The lender is in the process of launching a digital literacy programme targeting customers in the MSMEs’ market segment. According to Reuben, this programme has been developed in view of the fact that entrepreneurs in the said market segment can only grow their businesses if they manage their financial resources prudently by drawing a line between profits and working capital, doing projections and having budgets. Edenbridge Capital will bring a partner on board to roll out the ambitious programme in the third quarter of this year.
The ambitious lender rebranded this year. This decision was informed by the fact that having been in business for the last four years, its model has stood the test of time. “ Our model has been proved right by the market and we are ready to face the world,” Reuben confidently says adding that is what informed their decision to rebrand. One of Edenbridge Capital’s corporate colours is blue – representing professionalism and integrity. Colour orange on the other hand symbolizes that Edenbridge Capital’s brand is warm and approachable and it is the place where customers meet all their financial needs. The new logo gives the lender a global outlook as it prepares to make an entry into new markets.

Product offering
The flagship product for Edenbridge Capital is business loan. It is aimed at supporting entrepreneurs to start and scale up businesses and in the process create wealth not only for their households, but also our country. Secondly, the agribusiness product helps customers to acquire assets like milking machines and chaff cutters. Given that climate change has become a global threat, the lender is supporting its customers to embrace irrigation by purchasing kits and water pumps, as opposed to relying on rain fed agriculture.
Edenbridge Capital has also developed products for the small and medium enterprises ( SMEs) market segment. For the ones engaged in international trade, the lender offers them import financing, duty financing as well as trade finance products like bid bonds, performance bonds and advance payment guarantees. “ We offer these products within the least time possible and at very favourable terms,” Reuben avers.
By the same token, Edenbridge Capital offers a unique asset financing product. Once the customer’s documents are received and it is ensured that they are in order, the facility is approved within six hours. Customers are therefore able to meet their needs within the shortest time possible. In order to enhance efficiency, the lender is currently offering a value chain driven application. It has various players within the value chain – from the retailers , logistics up to the end user. By making the assets available to the customers efficiently and affordably, they are able to price them well, hence building the capacity of their businesses. In the same vein, businesses and their respective owners face many risks and in order to mitigate them, insurance comes in handy. Edenbridge Capital ( through its agency) offers its customers an array of insurance products ranging from motor, medical, last expense as well as fire and burglary. “ In the course of our business, one thing we have realized is that majority of Kenyans are just one medical bill away from facing poverty and in that regard, we have seen the need of offering our customers a medical cover,” says Reuben.
Edenbridge Capital has also developed a product dubbed Rent Zaidi for landlords. “ The unique value proposition of this product is that we understand the major pain points of most landlords including : receiving their rent on time, having someone they can trust with their rent collection and lengthy periods when they are negotiating for credit to expand their businesses in case they are short of cash,” observes Reuben. In that respect, as an organization , using the data collected through this product, they are able to lend to landlords or give them access to capital. The same data is used to evaluate tenants before they occupy the clients’ properties . Consequently, they are able to on board the right tenants. This product has enabled landlords to collect more rent by driving efficiency. “ By collecting more rent on time, landlords are able to get more capital to build extra units and renovate the current ones,” says Reuben.
Embracing technology
According to Reuben, technology drives efficiency in all businesses. In that vein, going by the market trends, Edenbridge Capital has embraced technology. Currently, it is in the process of upgrading its system so that it becomes more robust. “ We are onboarding an oracle based system known as OBIT-R from the UK which will offer us stability, security and ability to scale since all our operations will be under one platform,” says Reuben. “ This is a very huge investment which will drive our business even in the future and one of its capabilities is that it has optical recognition,” he adds. The system will create an avenue through which the organization will go completely paperless. In that vein, its credit officers will be equipped with tablets that they will use to onboard customers so that their journey can be captured from the beginning to the end. In essence then, this system will enable Edenbridge Capital to offer more innovative products to its customers.
Trends in the microfinance sector
According to Reuben, microfinance not only focuses on financial intermediation, but also how well it can offer financial services to its target market. For instance, for most of the customers in this sector, a medical cover may appear to be out of reach. Nevertheless, it can be tailored in such a way that these customers are able to access it by paying monthly instalments that are within their means. That way, they are able to address their medical risk.
The sector is also relying heavily on data analytics today in order to understand its customers in a better way and price their loan products according to their respective risks. “ After launching our robust system, we shall have proper credit scoring and analytics for our customers, that will help us to drive risk based lending among our customers,” Reuben observes.
After the enactment of the Data Protection Act, Edenbridge Capital has put in place various compliance measures. This will go a long way in safeguarding its customers’ data and by extension, their interest.

Road ahead
“ The road ahead for Edenbridge Capital is really exciting,” says Reuben. “ We have just successfully concluded our rebrand and going by our new corporate identity, our customer promises are now more diverse,” he adds. In the next ten years, the lender is aiming at driving its agenda of financial intermediation and entrepreneurship. After that, it will start expanding to the regional market, especially Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC), before making an entry into South Africa.
Edenbridge Capital is also keen on having more partnerships with various organizations ( both local and international) as it strengthens its business model and conquers more market share.