Ugandan fintech Furaha said on Monday its education financing platform has helped parents keep 100,000 children in school and set a target of supporting access to quality education for 10 million children across Africa by 2030.

Furaha said the milestone highlights the role of education financing in Uganda, where families can face difficulties meeting school-fee payments because household income does not always align with school payment deadlines.

The company, incubated by Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures, provides technology and lending infrastructure to partner financial institutions rather than lending directly. Its platform supports customer onboarding, know-your-customer checks, alternative-data credit scoring, loan disbursement and collections.

Furaha said its model allows partner banks to consider information such as mobile-money transactions and school-payment records when assessing borrowers who may lack conventional credit histories, collateral or formal payslips.

“Millions of parents have never been seen by traditional credit systems, not necessarily because they can’t repay, but because the data needed to assess them has not existed in one place,” said Yustus Aribariho, Furaha co-founder.

“By bringing together mobile-money, school-payment and other alternative data, we can give financial institutions a broader view of customers and create more opportunities to serve parents whose financial lives are not always captured by traditional credit systems,” he said.

Furaha launched in Uganda in 2024 and has since worked with financial institutions, telecommunications companies and school-fee payment platforms to expand access to school-fee financing.

Its partners include Diamond Trust Bank Uganda, Cairo Bank Uganda, Opportunity Bank, FINCA Uganda, MTN, Airtel, SchoolPay, SurePay and PegPay, the company said.

Ian Fernandes, Furaha’s co-founder, said the company was designed around an ecosystem approach involving banks, telecommunications companies, schools and payment providers.

“Our conviction was that no single institution could independently keep children in school every term, but an ecosystem could,” Fernandes said.

“Our role was to connect all these players in one place, making it easier for parents to meet school-fee obligations and keep their children in school, regardless of how they earn,” he said.

The expansion comes as education systems across sub-Saharan Africa face persistent challenges in providing access to schooling.

UNESCO’s 2026 Global Education Monitoring Report estimates that 273 million children, adolescents and young people were out of school globally in 2024, with 108 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa. The region and Central and Southern Asia together account for three quarters of the world’s out-of-school population, according to UNESCO.

UNESCO said progress in reducing the global out-of-school population has stalled since 2015, despite substantial growth in enrolment. The organisation said 327 million more children were enrolled in primary and secondary education in 2024 than in 2000.

Furaha argues that financing can address one of the barriers families face when trying to keep children in school, although it does not by itself resolve wider challenges affecting education access and completion.

The company has previously expanded its school-fee financing partnerships in Uganda. In February 2025, Furaha said a partnership with Opportunity Bank and MTN Mobile Money would allow Ugandans to obtain loans through the mobile-money channel, with funds sent directly to schools.

In November 2025, Cairo Bank Uganda and Furaha announced a partnership to expand purpose-based lending, initially through school-fee loans. The companies said the initiative was intended to reach one million children over five years.

Furaha’s model has also expanded beyond traditional credit assessment. By using alternative data, the company seeks to help financial institutions evaluate borrowers whose financial activity may not be adequately reflected in conventional credit records.

That approach is significant for families working in informal or irregular employment, where income may arrive at different times from school-fee deadlines. Furaha said its platform is intended to connect those income patterns with financing products designed around specific purposes.

The company says it does not provide loans or credit directly. Furaha Finserve Uganda operates as a software-based intermediary platform connecting parents with financial institutions and other participants in the education-financing ecosystem.

Dennis Musinguzi, Furaha’s chief executive officer, said the company’s immediate milestone was part of a broader African expansion strategy.

“Our ambition is to support 10 million children to access quality education across Africa by 2030,” Musinguzi said.

“The 100,000-child milestone is an important proof point, but it is not the destination. It shows us that there is an opportunity to build a model around real needs and take what works to more families and more African countries,” he said.

Furaha’s target comes as governments and development organisations seek ways to accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4, which calls for inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities.

UNESCO’s 2026 report said that achieving greater equity in education would require sustained investment, stronger institutional capacity and policy adaptation rather than relying on isolated interventions.

The report also found that sub-Saharan Africa has more than doubled primary enrolment and more than tripled secondary enrolment since 2000, but the region continues to face a large population of children and young people excluded from education.

For Furaha, the challenge now is to translate its Uganda experience into a model that can operate across additional African markets while maintaining access to affordable and appropriately structured financing.

The company said its 2030 goal is to support 10 million children to access quality education across Africa, making education financing a central part of its expansion strategy.