PS Mang’eni: Minors, unborn have not received Hustler Fund

Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development PS Susan Mang’eni

Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development PS Susan Mang'eni has refuted claims that cash from the Hustler Fund were disbursed to minors and other unintended beneficiaries.

Appearing before the Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives to discuss the Supplementary Estimates No. 2 for the 2024/2025 financial year, PS Mang’eni maintained that no money from the fund had been lost.

Her remarks follow a recent report by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, which indicated that Sh31.8 million had been disbursed to 44,167 underage beneficiaries, including infants as young as 10 days old.

The audit report for the 2023/2024 financial year further claimed that some beneficiaries included unborn individuals with future birth dates ranging from July 2024 to December 2073.

However, Mang’eni clarified that the audit was based on erroneous data, asserting that underage individuals cannot access the fund.

“The data used in the audit report contained significant extraction errors. We have since cleaned up the records, and all individuals sampled have verified identity card and telephone numbers,” she stated.

The audit said 253,717 customers had birthdates between July 1, 2024, and December 31, 2073—dates that lie in the future.

Of these, 42,981 so-called "unborn" individuals had already received loans through mobile service providers Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom.

The audit also highlighted critical operational weaknesses in the Hustler Fund’s framework.

It criticised the fund’s heavy reliance on mobile service providers for loan disbursement, repayment, and records management.

"The Fund does not have control of the loans management, including disbursements, repayments, withdrawal of savings, and maintenance of records of the outstanding loans," the report stated.

"The Fund relies heavily on the systems and data processed by the service providers. This exposes the Fund to operational, financial, and data integrity issues."

The Hustler Fund was established in November 2022 with the goal of assisting entrepreneurs in gaining access to investment opportunities.

The fund is accessible via the USSD code *254# and mobile application platforms provided by any of Kenya's mobile network operators, with no processing fee. 

Under personal finance, a borrower can currently access between Sh500 and Sh50,000.