Fortune Credit's Story
A banker sees the need to make loans more accessible
Janet Kuteli, a former banker, founded Fortune Credit in 2014 with a simple, but radical belief: the people banks turned away were not high risk. They were underserved.
She saw farmers managing harvests around rains that never came. Boda boda riders one breakdown away from losing their income. Women running businesses without land titles. Parents needing just a little more time to pay school fees. Where banks saw risk, Janet saw people who needed a different kind of financial partner.
Fortune Credit was built not simply to provide loans, but to create opportunity, restore dignity, and expand access to financial services for people long excluded from traditional banking.
In its early years, Fortune Credit focused on Kenya’s underserved rural economy. Agribusiness loans were designed around farming seasons rather than rigid repayment schedules. Boda boda and tuk-tuk financing helped young people buy income-generating assets for the first time. EduFinance solutions helped parents keep their children in school when finances became strained.
A new approach to financing
Fortune Credit's approach differed from that of normal banks and conventional lending. Instead of relying heavily on land titles and traditional collateral, Fortune Credit embraced group guarantees, mobile repayments, and community trust systems. This opened the door to thousands previously excluded from formal finance.
As climate change increasingly affected farming and rural livelihoods, Fortune Credit expanded beyond traditional microfinance into climate-smart financing, clean energy, livestock insurance, and green finance initiatives that strengthen long-term resilience. Through partnerships with development organisations and global institutions, the company has supported sustainable farming, access to solar products, and environmental conservation. Initiatives such as electric motorbike financing and insurance-backed emergency credit for pastoralists reflect this commitment to practical, community-driven solutions.
The impact of Fortune Credit's finance solutions
Recognition followed the introduction of our financing solutions. In 2023, Fortune Credit was named a global finalist for the European Microfinance Award. In 2024, it became a semifinalist in the MIT Solve Global Economic Prosperity Challenge. In 2025, Janet Kuteli was named among Africa’s top ten entrepreneurs in Africa’s Business Heroes, selected from thousands of applicants across the continent.
From a single office back in 2014, Fortune Credit now serves tens of thousands of Kenyans through branches nationwide. Its work continues to focus strongly on women, youth, and rural entrepreneurs, supported by strategic partnerships with organisations including Oikocredit and AlphaMundi Group.
But the idea at the heart of Fortune Credit remains unchanged: see the potential, build around the person, and create access to opportunity for those who have waited longest for it.
Janet Kuteli, Our Founder and CEO, Shares her ABH Experience
Behind Janet Kuteli’s smile as she holds her Africa’s Business Heroes trophy is a story of almost not showing up, but being glad she did.