“After college, I spent years working on emerging markets and microfinance at investments banks, the UN and UNICEF… and the problem, at least to me, was totally clear: Banks in emerging markets don’t offer loans to customers without credit scores, which almost no one has. So, when people need money to buy the inventory to open a second food stall, for example, they have no options—at least not within the formal market.”

“In emerging markets, there are more than one billion smartphones… Desktops and landlines are too expensive, but smartphones are accessible. They also have the Internet; they have phone capabilities. In essence, they’re a computer in your hands. And, interestingly, most activity in these parts of the world is Android-based, which is why we chose to build our app on that platform specifically.”

“We have a very flexible process, as we aren’t trying to monetize off the first loan. Our goal is to develop a longterm relationship with customers where they come back 5, 10, 20 times—anytime their business needs a little extra cash. It’s also in our best interest for them to repay, so, we do give them more time than other loan providers.

Tala also motivates customers by providing both negative and positive reporting. If someone consistently repays their loans on time, we’ll report that to an established entity and help the customer build the formal financial identity they were missing in the first place. So, not only are we circumventing their lack of credit score, but we’re also helping them build one.”

In the 11 months since launch, Tala has offered more than 650k loans amounting to roughly $22M dollars. But why—aside from the businesses started, the kids sent to school, the medical bills paid—is this so important?

“For many customers, this is the first time they’ve seen an institution actually fulfill its promise,” Siroya concludes. “When we say instant, we mean instant; when we say flexible, we mean flexible.”

What that really boils down to is trust—trust in a part of the world used to expecting physical violence for being late on a payment. And to us, that’s a Disruption worth fighting for.