Episode 187 - The Future Of Lending In Kenya & Africa: AI, Alternative Data, Digital Identity & Automation

<p>What does a truly future-ready African lender look like?</p><p><br></p><p>Is it enough to launch a mobile application, automate loan approvals or introduce artificial intelligence into the credit-scoring process?</p><p><br></p><p>Or does meaningful digital transformation require lenders to rethink the entire customer journey—from acquisition, onboarding and identity verification through credit decisioning, disbursement, repayment and collections?</p><p><br></p><p>In this panel discussion I moderated a practical and thought-provoking conversation on the future of lending in Kenya and Africa.</p><p><br></p><p>The discussion was recorded during The Future of Lending: Loan Origination, E-Sign &amp; AI, held on the 29th of May 2026 at Park Inn by Radisson in Westlands, Nairobi.</p><p><br></p><p>The event was co-hosted by Presta Technologies, Zoho and the Digital Financial Services Association of Kenya.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Panelists</strong></p><p><br></p><ul><li>Kris Senanu: Executive Chairman, Smith &amp; Berkeley LLC</li><li>Kevin Mutiso: CEO, OYE and Chairman, Digital Financial Services Association of Kenya (DFSAK) </li><li>Winnie Chira: Founder and CEO, Identify Africa</li><li>Victor Kiplagat: CEO and Co-Founder, Spin Mobile LLC</li><li>Kenneth Mantu: Group CEO, The Adaptis Group</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Key Topics Covered</strong></p><p><br></p><ol><li>Why many African lenders still operate through fragmented platforms</li><li>The difference between having digital channels and having a genuinely digital lending operation</li><li>Why reliable data matters more than institutional gut instinct</li><li>How incomplete information can cause both financial exclusion and over-indebtedness</li><li>Digital identity, stolen documents, deepfakes and onboarding fraud</li><li>Risk-based KYC and creating seamless journeys for genuine customers</li><li>How alternative data can improve decisions for thin-file borrowers</li><li>Mobile-money transactions and behavioural credit indicators</li><li>Why correlations in lending data must be interpreted responsibly</li><li>Embedded finance and the importance of loan purpose</li><li>Why borrowers value speed, convenience and certainty</li><li>The local shopkeeper as an overlooked source of informal credit intelligence</li><li>The role of automation in removing repetitive manual work</li><li>Why change management is critical to successful technology adoption</li><li>Practical AI integrations in lending</li><li>Anomaly