We live in a dynamic world where everything seems to be changing. This is true especially in business whereby failure to evolve might result in massive sales losses or worse off-business closure.
So in order to stay afloat and beat the competition, businesses have to adapt to the economic changes by reviewing their business models in order to retain or likewise attract their customer base.
Below, we look at one of these lenders who opted to rebrand
TALA ( FORMERLY MKOPO RAHISI )
– Mkopo Rahisi was the brainchild of Shivani Siroya who is also the current CEO & Founder.
– Her vision was to avail a financial service that would advance each individual’s lives and was mainly sheltered around them unlike financial institutions like banks.
– She, therefore, came up with the company name InVenture which is a clever acronym whereby:
.In– meant that the financial service was to be more inclusive of people or rather work in partnership with people.
.Venture– meant that the whole process above was meant to be adventurous.
– In order to take the mobile lending platform into new markets, the company decided to transition to Tala, which is a singular name that is resonant in many cultures and languages.
– Tala has various meanings in many languages i.e Sanskrit ( rhythm ), Tagalog ( star ) and Arabic ( tree )
– All these symbols were to be incorporated into the logo design and approach.
– The new logo which resembles a drum & a star morphed into a circle captures the sense of community and inclusivity.
– The singular orange arrow is a reminder for commitment, desire and goal to build unique customized products.
– In addition to the logo changes, key features of the Android app were also introduced.
1. Introduction of the ranking system
The app can now categorize various users according to their credit scores i.e
Bronze users can access loans from KES 500 – KES 4,999
Silver users can access loans from KES 5,000 – KES 9,999
Gold users can access loans from KES 10,000 – KES 30,000
2. Introduction of a grace period
True to its vision of being individually inclined, the providers now offer a grace period of 7 days after the due date to provide users ample time to make any payments and evade defaulting.
3. Revamp of the app’s user interface.
– The overall app user experience has also changed in terms of colors whereby the premier app was all green, the second app was blue while the current app has a mixture of blue, orange & white.
– The interaction process i.e registration to loan application has also changed.
– There is also introduction of success stories from daily users integrated into the app.
4. Easy repayment procedures
Repayment of loans has now been simplified since initially one had to cram the paybill number, account number & amount in order to make repayments.
Currently, the app has an integrated copy & paste function.
5. Optional Facebook integration during registration
Currently, you do not have to link the app to your Facebook account during registration.
6. Use of multiple languages
Besides the English version, one can change the app to Swahili through the menu located at the right on the app’s home screen during sign up or registration.
7. Flexible interest rates
Currently, interest rates diminish as one accesses increased loan limits.