Registered microfinance institution· RBZ-MFI-2024-017
Borrowing guide
Businesses ask us about vehicles, generators, welding plant, milling equipment and delivery bikes. The honest position is that Alector Microfinance is a working-capital lender, not an asset-finance house, and that difference matters to anyone deciding where to apply.
Overview
Asset finance is typically secured on the asset itself and written over three to five years. Our longest published term is twelve months. For a $30,000 truck we are the wrong lender, and we would rather tell you so than take an application we cannot serve.
How it works
Up to $5,000 over up to six months from 15%. That comfortably covers tools, light plant, a delivery bike or equipment that pays for itself inside a trading cycle.
For farming, Zunde reaches $8,000 over twelve months. Where equipment is bought as part of a season’s inputs, that is usually the better fit.
Vehicles and plant above roughly $8,000, or anything needing a three-to-five year repayment profile, belong with a bank or a dedicated asset-finance provider. A twelve-month schedule on a five-year asset produces an installment almost nobody can service.
If the equipment starts generating revenue immediately — a mill, a welder, a delivery bike — a six-month working-capital loan is often cheaper overall than multi-year finance on the same asset.
Before you apply
Everything is uploaded from your phone — there is no branch queue. Read how the application process works for the full sequence, or check rates and fees before you commit.
In practice
Illustrative situations, not real customers. They are here because the useful question is rarely “what is the rate” — it is “is this the right instrument for what I am actually trying to do”.
A retailer currently pays for transport per delivery. A bike costs roughly a month of those payments multiplied by six, and would pay for itself inside a season.
What we would suggest: Well inside Mbizi territory. Where an asset immediately removes a running cost, a six-month working-capital facility is usually cheaper overall than multi-year finance on the same item.
A mill would generate daily income from the week it is installed, at a price around $3,000–$4,000.
What we would suggest: Within our range, and the revenue starts immediately — which is what makes a short term serviceable. Bring a quote for the equipment to your application.
A transporter wants to add a vehicle to take on larger contracts.
What we would suggest: We are the wrong lender, and we would rather say so now than after you have completed an application. This needs asset finance secured on the vehicle over three to five years — a bank or a dedicated asset-finance provider. Our twelve-month maximum would produce an instalment nobody could service.
A bank has approved asset finance but requires a deposit before it will release funds.
What we would suggest: A short working-capital facility can bridge a deposit, provided the main finance is genuinely approved and the business can service both. Tell your loan officer that this is the purpose — it changes the assessment.
Avoid these
Several of these cost us margin to tell you. They are here because a borrower who takes the right facility repays it, and a borrower who takes the wrong one does not.
The single most damaging error in this category. If the equipment pays for itself over four years and the loan runs twelve months, the instalment is roughly four times what the asset generates. The business funds the gap out of working capital it needs elsewhere.
Equipment does not create customers. If the current constraint is demand rather than capacity, a machine converts a cash-flow problem into a debt problem.
Fuel, maintenance, insurance, licensing and a driver are not funded by the loan but are due from month one. Budget the total cost of operating the asset, not just its purchase price.
Twelve months on Zunde is the longest facility we publish, and it exists for seasonal agriculture. There is no longer product to be negotiated into — if you need three years, you need a different lender.
Honest routing
Sending someone to the wrong facility helps nobody. If any of the following describes you, start there instead.
FAQ
Not as a dedicated product. We are a working-capital lender with a maximum published term of twelve months, which does not suit a vehicle bought on a three-to-five year profile. For equipment or a light vehicle under about $5,000 that pays for itself quickly, Mbizi Working Capital can work.
Yes, within limits. Mbizi Working Capital funds up to $5,000 over six months, which covers tools, light plant and small equipment. For farming equipment bought alongside seasonal inputs, Zunde Agri-Input reaches $8,000 over twelve months.
Alector lends primarily against your trading record and trust score rather than against the asset. Where security or a guarantor is required for a larger facility, we tell you before you apply.
Approach a bank or a dedicated asset-finance provider — that is the right instrument for the amount and the term. We would rather point you there than write a facility that does not fit.
Terminology
If any of these are unfamiliar, that is worth fixing before you sign anything — with us or with anyone else.
Availability
Applications are handled online and reviewed by the same team wherever you are. Our office is in Harare.
Keep reading
Short-term working capital for traders, retailers and informal SMEs who need to restock or bridge a receivable.
Read moreSeasonal financing for seed, fertiliser, chemicals and livestock inputs, structured around the harvest.
Read moreThe entry point for borrowers with no formal credit history — small, short, and designed to build a record.
Read moreA loan officer can tell you in one conversation whether we are the right lender for what you need — and say so plainly if we are not.
Free to apply · No hidden fees · Most applications reviewed the same working day
+263 242 700 145 · Free to apply · No hidden fees