Craft Silicon is set to enter payroll management and salary advances business through its Little app in a partnership that will bring in private firms and banks which will provide short-term loans.
Employers will be able to disburse the cash to their staff before the normal payment date and the bank will recover the amount plus interest when the salary is paid. Companies will be required to use Little’s payroll management system under a new one-stop app.
“The corporate does not need to take the expenses of giving out loans but can set the limit for the banks to lend 15 or 17 days before salaries are done,” Craft Silicon’s chief executive Kamal Budhabhatti said.
“When salaries are done, the advance is automatically recovered. It is a full model that revolves around corporates. Our corporate focus is good business and the right way to scale up sustainably.”
Little will be leveraging on its existing network of about 2,000 corporate clients in the country to grow in the new business.
The human resource services mark the expansion of the Little platform which was launched in 2016 years offering taxi-hailing services. The app was developed by Craft Silicon in collaboration with Safaricom #ticker:SCOM .
The ride-hailing sector has seen increased competition over the years. Little added other services such as selling movie tickets, deliveries, and payment of utility bills like pay-TV, water, and electricity.
The expansion of the services offered by Little comes after the injection of additional capital of $5 million (Sh572 million) from Craft Silicon.
Little is among the apps that seek to offer a wide range of business and lifestyle services under one roof amid increased access to the internet and uptake of smartphones.
Safaricom’s mobile money platform M-Pesa has also been growing its suite of services including business support, with plans to grow further into new areas such as insurance and investments.
