The World Bank, through its private-sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has begun an impact assessment of the Hustler Fund, the government-backed credit programme that has disbursed billions of shillings to millions of Kenyans since its launch nearly three years ago.
Cooperatives Principal Secretary Susan Mang’eni confirmed the assessment during an interview on NTV on Tuesday, September 1, saying the exercise had already started and that a full report was expected by the end of 2026.
“Recently, the World Bank came in with the support of IFC, and they have been undertaking a quantitative assessment of the fund and an impact assessment of the fund,” Mang’eni said.
According to the PS, the assessment is designed to build a comprehensive picture of how the fund has actually affected its beneficiaries, examining both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of how Kenyans have used the loans and how they have saved through the programme.
The review comes roughly three years after the World Bank first pledged its support for the credit scheme. Beyond lending, the assessment will also examine the fund’s savings component, which the government says has accumulated more than Sh7 billion in short- and long-term savings since the programme began.
Mang’eni also addressed the fund’s track record on credit standing, acknowledging that at the time the programme was introduced, millions of Kenyans had been negatively listed with the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs).
She said that position has since improved, with more Kenyans now positively listed as a result of their engagement with the fund. The World Bank’s assessment is expected to independently establish how far that trend, along with the fund’s wider claims of impact, holds up under closer scrutiny.
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