Emergencies have been causing a lot of problems to individuals especially to those who cannot access immediate finance from banks.  Death, illness, natural disaster, or other catastrophes have devastating effects on households existing at or just above a subsistence level.  With no asset base on which to draw on in the crisis, individuals have been forced to severely reduce their level of consumption, which has been dangerous.  It meant forgoing basic healthcare and nutrition.  Additionally, they may sell off important, income producing assets, exacerbating their economic difficulties well into the future.  Ultimate Finance founders saw this gap in the country and decided to establish a company which can issue finance for these emergencies in a very short time.  

Micro-lending has been in existence in Africa in a traditional sense for generations.  Micro-lending, as defined by Ultimate, is a broad term used to describe unsecured, non-collateral based money lending on a small scale to consumers for the payment of student fees, burial service payments, building supplies, hospital fees and other items of an emergency nature. Money is advanced to customers, based on the customer’s ability to generate future income to repay the loan at a more convenient time.

Some employers have traditionally run advances books for their employees to assist with special circumstances.  In today’s environment, it is not prudent to have working capital tied up in non-income-earning staff loans.  Staff loans are difficult to manage and can spiral out of control as most employee’s look to the company for finance.  The radical privatisation program that has been encountered in Africa has resulted in the abrupt termination of the staff loan system by new corporate managers, putting employees in a precarious position. Commercial banks have effectively restricted access to emergency credit for a significant portion of the population due to various factors.

By not being able to participate in a formal group loan scheme or in the formal banking sector, employees fall into the hands of unscrupulous and unregulated lenders.  The solution to this increasing problem is to strengthen an umbrella micro-lending company that gives formal access to credit for members of established corporations.