Innovation and Technology in Sustainable Finance Award – 4G Capital

Judges awarded 4G Capital the Innovation and Technology in Sustainable Finance Award

|3 Jun 2026

4G Capital was honoured to receive the Innovation and Technology Award at the Jersey Finance Sustainable Finance Awards 2026. This recognition validates our pioneering approach to leveraging financial technology and Jersey’s international financial services infrastructure to drive scalable, sustainable impact in Africa. 4G Capital is a certified B Corp, is regulated in Kenya and Uganda and is committed to bridging the $500 billion financing gap faced by enterprises in Africa.

What We Do

4G Capital promotes sustainable finance and commercially successful outcomes that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We administer supported working capital loans and essential business training to medium, small, and nano-enterprises across Kenya and Uganda. Since its founding, 4G Capital has disbursed nearly 7 million loans, valued at over $895 million, to more than 725,000 entrepreneurs. Our business model is focused on financial inclusion, particularly for traditionally excluded populations: 73% of customers are women, 53% operate in rural markets, and 53% are youth. In 2025, 4G Capital reported a product revenue of $49 million and an EBITDA of $9.3 million.

How We Do It

Our success is driven by our proprietary “touch-tech” model, a hybrid system combining on-the-ground commercial assessment with real-time digital credit analytics. This innovative approach allows loan officers to assess key indicators like stock turnover and daily sales, providing the necessary data for right-sized loan offers. This information is instantly processed through our in-house scoring platform and internal decision engine, EVA, enabling disciplined, rapid credit decisions in markets where traditional credit bureaus are often limited.

The technology infrastructure enables the deployment of small working capital facilities, typically ranging from $30 to $2,000, entirely through mobile money. Products include the structured 30-day loan, Upia, and Kuza, a 21-day retail stock credit product that aligns repayment directly to inventory turnover, strengthening supply chains. Each financial facility is paired with a progressive business training module to increase customer success, reinforcing long-term enterprise resilience.

Why It Means So Much to Us as a Firm

This award recognises 4G Capital’s founding belief that millions of small businesses in Africa hold immense potential but lack access to capital, knowledge, and opportunity. The win is a powerful demonstration that sustainable finance can be both scalable and commercially viable.

For 4G Capital, the connection to Jersey is vital. The award highlights how Jersey, as a regulated international finance centre, has been instrumental in providing the governance and credibility required to attract impact capital into frontier markets. Our model offers institutional investors a structured, technology-enabled pathway to deploy capital into micro and small enterprises that would otherwise be considered too fragmented or high risk.

Furthermore, our approach embeds impact directly into the core business, tying capital allocation to demonstrated repayment and business growth. This results in measurable economic uplift: 4G Capital customers report an average revenue growth of 82%, and their borrowing capacity typically doubles within 36 months. By proving that commercially disciplined lending can generate measurable social and economic outcomes, including supporting the creation of approximately 1.4 million indirect jobs, we are expanding the pool of capital willing to support SDG-aligned investments through Jersey’s international financial services infrastructure.