When Felix Sifuna joined the Kenya–Australia Start-Up Pitch Night on 29 September, his presentation brought attention to a challenge that sits at the heart of financial inclusion across Africa. Millions of people participate actively in the economy, run businesses and earn regular incomes, yet remain difficult for conventional credit systems to assess because they lack the type of financial history traditional lenders expect.
Sifuna was one of four founders featured during the online event, which brought Kenyan entrepreneurs into conversation with investors, professionals and business networks across Australia and Kenya. As co-founder of PEMiG, he is building technology designed to help financial institutions make better lending decisions by looking beyond conventional credit records.
Founded in 2022 by Sifuna alongside Philip Amwata, Priya Maharaj and Lilian Kariba, PEMiG has developed what it calls a Causal Credit Scoring Engine. The system combines artificial intelligence, behavioural information and alternative financial data to help lenders better understand credit risk. Rather than depending only on a person’s borrowing history, the technology considers a broader range of information that may help explain a borrower’s ability and likelihood to repay a loan.
That approach addresses a particularly relevant problem in African markets, where many people earn income through informal businesses, freelance work, small enterprises and other economic activities that may not create extensive conventional banking records. Someone may be financially responsible and capable of repaying a loan while remaining almost invisible to traditional credit-scoring systems. PEMiG wants to give lenders a clearer picture of that borrower.
The company’s ambitions extend beyond credit scoring. PEMiG has also been developing tools covering loan origination, portfolio monitoring, collections, risk-based pricing and regulatory reporting, creating a broader credit-intelligence system for financial institutions. For Sifuna, the opportunity is not simply to create another fintech product, but to develop financial infrastructure designed around the realities of African lending.
By May 2026, PEMiG reported that its technology had assessed more than 1,500 borrowers and processed approximately US$250,000 in lending volume. Those numbers place the company within the early stages of its growth journey, but they also demonstrate that PEMiG has moved beyond an idea and into practical application with lenders.
Building technology for financial institutions comes with its own challenges. Banks, microfinance providers and other lenders operate in highly regulated environments and cannot adopt new credit systems simply because the technology appears promising. Companies such as PEMiG need to demonstrate reliability, explain how their models operate and earn the trust of institutions responsible for making lending decisions.
Data presents another challenge. Financial institutions may have years of valuable lending information, but that data is not always organised in ways that allow advanced analysis. PEMiG has therefore had to work within the realities of existing financial systems while developing technology that can fit alongside them.
The company’s work has started attracting wider recognition. In 2026, PEMiG was selected for the Yale Africa Startup Review’s YASR30, which highlights emerging companies across the continent. The company has also identified markets including Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda as part of its longer-term expansion plans.
Sifuna’s appearance at the Kenya–Australia Start-Up Pitch Night brought that ambition before a new audience. The event demonstrated how Australia’s Kenyan diaspora can play a larger role in connecting founders with expertise, investment, technology professionals and strategic partnerships. For Kenyan professionals working in finance, banking, technology, regulation and investment in Australia, businesses such as PEMiG create opportunities to engage with Kenya’s startup sector in ways that go beyond remittances or personal investment.
Sifuna’s presentation ultimately raised a much larger question about financial inclusion. How many capable borrowers remain excluded because existing systems do not have enough information to understand them? PEMiG is betting that better data and smarter credit assessment can help provide part of the answer.
