Tala Loan App Downplays its Decision to Downs its Tools in Tanzania

International Mobile lending company, TALA, has  downplayed its decision to close down its operations in Tanzania under unclear circumstances which analysts says is due to increased stiff competition from rivals as well as recent legal challenges.

“We regret to inform you that Tala is no longer offering loans in Tanzania.” the company had said in a statement shared across its social media pages on September 6.

A company official who only established herself as Kelly through Facebook on Tuesday also confirmed the decision to The Citizen. “Yes, we are no longer offering loans in Tanzania. Unfortunately, due to legal reasons, we cannot divulge any more information other than what was communicated on social media,”

However, in a new turn of events after concerns raised by its customers in Kenya, the company downplayed its earlier decision which it termed as not final and also expressed its commitment to continue serving its Kenyan market.

In a statement released on Wednesday 18th Sept, the company clarified and said that it has not yet made a final decision on its exit from Tanzania market. “Tala Tanzania has not made a decision to permanently close operations. However, after piloting our credit product in Tanzania, we have paused our lending operations and are undertaking a review of our operations to determine our path forward in the market,” the company said.

“Our operations in Kenya continue uninterrupted as Kenya is a critical part of our global business. We are continuing to evolve our product to meet the needs of our 3 million customers here and are also piloting some exciting new offerings in financial education and coaching”. the Tala statement read.

However, Tala users in Tanzania are required to clear their debts despite the shut down. In the statement made by Tala, it is said that they will actively continue to support financial access in Tanzania

Reports by The Citizen indicate that the company’s exit comes months after it was accused of economic crimes which caused the Tanzania government to loose $2.5M in fraudulent use of the networks under the Economic and Organised Crime Control Act 2002.

Tala has attracted over 27 million customers globally and can be accessed in Mexico, Philippine, Kenya and India. In Kenya it can be accessed by anyone for as long as one has an android phone, an Identification Card and a registered Safaricom M-pesa line