Principal Secretary Susan Mang’eni of the State Department for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development has revealed that all 26 million Hustler Fund borrowers are graded based on their repayment habits.

This repayment behaviour system ranks borrowers from A1, meaning excellent, to C3, which shows very poor repayment requiring improvement.

She warned that those who default risk losing the chance to access higher loan limits.

Speaking during a television interview on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, Mang’eni said: “We have sight of all our 26 million beneficiaries, and they are all rated. We crystallized into a Hustler Fund behavioural rating system which grades borrowers from A1 to C3; A being excellent and C being very poor, requiring improvement.”

She added, “I am not worried about defaults because we know where you are, and you are blocking yourself from an opportunity.”

Mang’eni also noted that the default rate rose sharply during the first two months after the fund’s launch, mainly due to political sentiments at that time.

In 2023, some leaders encouraged Kenyans to treat the fund as a grant. Among them was Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya, who initially suggested that the money might not be repaid.

However, he has since changed his stance. Speaking before the Senate on May 14, 2025, Oparanya said: “I never heard of Hustler Fund being a grant. I was only in the same boat with you, Senator Sifuna, when we were saying that this money would not be paid. I’m in a different boat now. I’m saying that Kenyans who have borrowed this money to pay because I feel that this money is a good initiative that will help many Kenyans.”

Meanwhile, a report by the Kenya Human Rights Commission has criticised the Hustler Fund, calling it a politically driven but economically harmful initiative that has failed to deliver financial empowerment to low-income Kenyans.