Entrepo Finance and Letshego Micro Financial Services each hold 28.4% of Namibia’s N$7.8-billion microlending industry, dominating a market shared by 949 lenders.
This is according to the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority’s quarterly report released this week.
The two companies have issued loans worth N$4.4 billion (N$2.2 billion each), leaving N$3.8 billion to be shared among 949 registered microlenders.
The third-largest microlender is Old Mutual Finance, which controls 18.9% (N$1.4 billion) of the industry.
“Collectively, Entrepo Finance, Letshego Micro Financial Services (Namibia), and Old Mutual Finance (term) controlled 75.7% of the industry’s total loans,” Namfisa chief executive Kenneth Matomola says.
In the last three months, Namibians borrowed N$1.5 billion from cash loans.
“Total loan disbursement increased by 4.7% quarterly and 25.6% yearly, reaching N$1.5 billion.
This growth was driven by higher disbursements from both term lenders and payday lenders,” Matomola says.
The average disbursement for term lenders increased to N$33 193. Meanwhile, the average disbursement for payday lenders was N$4 000.
According to the report, the total number of borrowers was 241 400, up 34.0% from the same quarter in 2024, despite a 6.9% decline compared to the first quarter of 2025.
The majority of these were made up of term lender loans, which make up 93% of the total loan book.
The number of new loans issued increased to 179 500, a 1.8% increase in the last three months and a 3.2% annual increase.
Payday lenders made up the majority of the new loan issuance, accounting for 85%, while term lenders issued the remaining 15.0%.
Meanwhile, the size of the non-banking financial institutions sector stood at a total assets of N$502 billion.
This is a 4.2% quarter-on-quarter and 12.3% year-on-year increase.
Pension funds, long-term insurers, and collective investment schemes collectively accounted for over 90% of sector assets.
