About us
What Daraja Guarantee is — and what it is not
“Daraja” means bridge in Swahili. We are a guarantee administrator — not a bank, not a direct lender. We sit between development capital and last-mile lending institutions to make both sides work better.
Mission
Unlocking African SME Finance Through Blended-Finance Guarantees
Daraja Guarantee was established to fill a structural gap in African financial markets: the absence of a technology-native guarantee layer that can connect development finance capital with microfinance institution lending capacity at scale, and prove it to DFI auditors in real time.
We originate, structure, issue, manage, and administer financial guarantees — including first-loss default guarantees, mezzanine guarantees, portfolio guarantees, and pari-passu guarantee structures — on behalf of DFI and funder partners across six African countries.
We also support co-lending, blended finance syndication, digital SME and agricultural loan origination, credit analytics, and mobile money disbursement facilitation — all under one platform, one audit log, and one governance framework.
Vision
Africa's leading digital credit enhancement platform — connecting development capital with last-mile opportunity through innovative guarantees and blended finance.
Tagline
Bridging Trust. Unlocking Capital.
Legal entity
Daraja Guarantee PLC
Mauritius-domiciled · US holding: Daraja Guarantee Inc.
Pilot operations: Kenya · Tanzania · Liberia
Geographic footprint
Six countries. One platform from day one.
Kenya
ActiveKES
Year 1 pilot · eCitizen registry · M-Pesa / PawaPay
Tanzania
ActiveTZS
Year 1 pilot · BRELA registry · PawaPay mobile money
Liberia
ActiveLRD
Year 1 pilot · CBL regulated · PawaPay mobile money
Zambia
PlannedZMW
Year 2 · Bank of Zambia NBFI
Mozambique
PlannedMZN
Year 3 · Portuguese-language operations
Angola
PlannedAOA
Year 3 · BNA licensing · Portuguese-language
Board governance
Built for institutional credibility
Daraja Guarantee PLC is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors with complementary expertise in development finance, international governance, digital financial infrastructure, and multilateral institutions. The composition is designed to meet the fiduciary and reputational standards expected by DFIs, export credit agencies, regulators, and co-investors.
Board oversight anchors the credit enhancement mandate — guarantee facility design, risk appetite, ESG alignment, and regional expansion across East and Southern Africa.
Governance
Designed for DFI scrutiny
Governance is built for direct inspection by DFI counterparties — board oversight, investment committee approval on material decisions, insert-only audit trails, and platform-enforced segregation of duties.
Investment Committee
- →Minimum 3 members required for quorum
- →IC approval mandatory for guarantee claims above threshold
- →IC approval mandatory for regulatory export packages
- →IC cannot include the loan originator for the same loan
Segregation of Duties
- →Loan originator cannot approve guarantee claim on same loan
- →Enforced in application code — not by policy alone
- →Verified by automated test suite on every deployment
- →Nine discrete roles with row-level data isolation
Audit Trail
- →Insert-only audit_log table — no UPDATE or DELETE grants
- →Every financial mutation logged with before/after state
- →Auditor role provides read-only access for DFI inspection
- →Impact reports stored as immutable JSONB snapshots
Corporate Structure
- →Daraja Guarantee PLC — Mauritius-domiciled guarantee institution
- →Operating subsidiaries in Kenya, Tanzania, and Liberia (pilot)
- →US holding company: Daraja Guarantee Inc. (Delaware)
- →Regional coordination from Nairobi for East Africa
Ready to explore a partnership?
Reach out to our team for a conversation about co-investment or MFI partnership.
Contact us