Media Release: Tugende launches new Client App

11.06.2020, Kampala

Tugende is delighted to announce the launch of its new Client App developed specifically for the company’s 23,000+ clients and 10,000+ alumni in Uganda and Kenya. 

Tugende provides hire purchase finance, technology, and a customer-centric model to help informal sector MSMEs own their key income generating assets. Most of its current clients are motorcycle taxi drivers (known as “boda boda” riders) building ownership instead of renting their vehicles, which doubles their incomes. 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. 

The new App provides clients with a single digital platform to streamline all of their business with Tugende, including tracking their accounts, resources for support when needed, and multiple feedback channels to ensure Tugende continues to deliver exceptional client satisfaction. 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. 

Michael Wilkerson, CEO of Tugende says “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”.  

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 adds. 

Key Client App Features 

Clients are able to sign up and securely log in and are offered a brief tutorial on the App’s content before moving to their account management page, with all key details on current and past products and services, including payment histories. All information updates in real time so that clients spend less time visiting Branches or calling Account Managers for basic queries. Clients will be able to search for Help with frequently asked questions and a customised company contacts page allowing instant links for communication options. They will also be able to refer friends and be alerted of the latest Tugende ecosystem news and opportunities. 

The App is available immediately 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).  

Company description

Tugende is a for-profit social enterprise established in 2012 in Uganda. It improves thousands of lives by using asset finance, technology and a customer-centric model to help informal sector entrepreneurs dramatically increase their economic trajectory. Operating across 17 Branches in Uganda and 1 Branch in Kenya, its 460+ staff have served 35,000+ hire purchase products and are rapidly growing and innovating. Starting with East Africa’s massive motorcycle taxi sector, Tugende helps clients own rather than rent key income generating assets, providing value addition such as life and medical insurance. It uses its high touch screening model and high-tech backend to operate effectively at scale and to create new opportunities for all clients.

Since 2013, Tugende 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. 

For Media inquiries, kindly contact Andrew Karemani, Head of Marketing & PR at [email protected].