The Ledger
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Tala's micro-loan portfolio is currently profitable
“So when it comes to our portfolio, we are profitable.”
Tala maintains a global loan default rate of less than 7%
“So our global default rate is actually less than seven percent for Atala.”
Over 97% of Tala customers return for repeat loans
“And so over 97% of our customers will come back for a repeat interaction with us.”
Lack of data-based identity locks emerging market micro-entrepreneurs out of credit
“What's missing. Really was identity and the ability to prove that potential in a form of data, the same way that you and I have credit scores. That is what I saw was missing in these markets.”
Traditional group microfinance fails to create individual credit identities for banks
“What I saw as one of the gaps was that when one of those individuals, let's say, had more potential to grow her business than the others, She was still not able to go into a traditional institution because she didn't have that identity that she could just stan…”
85% of Tala borrowers receive loan funds in under two minutes
“It's true. And it's also actually that 85% of them get money in their accounts in under two minutes.”
Tala's addressable market across four operating countries is 700 million individuals
“You know, at this point, I would say that, you know, our addressable market, even across these four countries, we're looking at already about seven hundred million individuals.”
Tala has disbursed $3.5 billion in credit to over 7 million borrowers
“I mean, if you think about the numbers, we've now served, you know, over seven million with access to credit, so it's about three and a half billion dollars in total at this point that we've dispersed.”
Siroya personally lent to hundreds to manually test behavioral underwriting
“I decided to become the lender and I lent to SEMA. I started lending to hundreds of other people as well in the community and essentially came up with what I thought the risk calculation would be based on that firsthand or in-person data that I was seeing.”
Siroya deployed $10,000 of her personal savings to fund early micro-loans
“While I worked at the UN, I was traveling market to market. So I was in a new country every four to five months, and I was lending to people when I was there. And so at that point, I think I was probably about five, 10,000 dollars in.”
Siroya's initial personal micro-loans saw a default rate under 5%
“I had, I would say, a less than five percent default rate.”
Smartphones under $25 put Androids in two billion emerging market hands
“There's two billion individuals in emerging markets that have Android devices, but it's also in terms of just the price point. You know, now you can get a smartphone for under 25 dollars in these countries.”
Tala customers borrow an average of $150 to $200 per month
“So at this point, on a monthly basis, I would say it's between a 150 to 200 dollars.”
Most Tala borrowers repay their digital loans in physical cash
“Some of them are doing bank transfers, but the majority of them are doing it in person, in cash.”
Siroya charged 5% to 15% interest on her initial personal micro-loans
“It really depended on, you know, what I saw as the tenor of the business. I was really trying to assess how fast did I think that they could actually expand that business, but I would say anywhere between five percent up to about 15%.”