Tugende flexes digital muscles with new Client App

June 12, 2020 in Business, Companies, Finance, Technology & Telecoms by Editor

Most of its current clients are motorcycle boda boda riders building ownership instead of renting their vehicles, which doubles their incomes.

Tugende, a for-profit social enterprise, has introduced a new App that provides clients with a single platform to streamline all of their business with the company, including tracking their accounts, resources for support when needed, and multiple feedback channels. This is to ensure Tugende continues to deliver exceptional client satisfaction.

Tugende CEO, Michael Wilkerson said, “Our new Client App displays externally for the first time Tugende’s digital muscles, and our core commitment to growing with our clients and supporting them in owning their economic future.”

The App is immediately available to all of the company’s clients and alumni in Uganda and Kenya and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and used on all smartphones with an Android Operating System (Versions 7 and above).

To date, the company has 23,000-plus clients and over 10,000 alumni in Uganda and Kenya. It provides hire purchase finance, technology, and a customer-centric model to help informal sector Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) own their key income generating assets. Most of its current clients are motorcycle taxi drivers (boda boda riders) building ownership instead of renting their vehicles, which doubles their incomes.

With the new App, clients will have a digital profile ‘card’ where they can access and verify their account and Know Your Customer (KYC) information which includes relevant documents such as driving permit number, National ID number, PSV License, Insurance Policy number and several others. The App will also act as a key gateway to learn about new opportunities for clients in the Tugende ecosystem.

The company provides training, high quality safety equipment, vehicle, life and medical insurance as well as PSV licenses and helps process driving permits as part of its mandatory package for all clients.

Not a ride-hailing platform, the App brings Tugende’s existing internal digital platform and digital innovation strengths to clients directly for the first time. Digital tools are crucial to how the company serves its MSME users, including rural clients. As Tugende continues to add new finance products and related services, the App will be the key link to the company’s ecosystem, especially for offers like smartphone upgrades only available to existing clients.

“Our clients are entrepreneurs and we use technology to constantly serve them better. It’s exciting to have the first major client facing deployment of our many strengths as a digital platform, and we are happy that it also highlights our recently refreshed brand,” Wilkerson said.

Tugende was set up in Uganda in 2012, but since 2013 has had only digital payment channels for clients with a variety of partners and has invested heavily in internal technology to support its large and growing network of branches, clients and staff. The App provides directly to clients more of the advantages of Tugende’s strong backend digital platform, which has enabled rapid growth, high client satisfaction and coverage of most districts in Uganda.