Credit access now possible for small businesses through Experian’s new AI offerings

Township residents, informal traders, gig workers, and small business owners across South Africa have long faced a harsh financial reality: Limited or no access to credit, loans, or business funding.

Despite hard work and steady income, many remain invisible to traditional lenders, locked out of the system that fuels financial security and growth.

Now, global data and technology company Experian is looking to change that. At its Innovation Summit, held in Sandton on October 9, Experian unveiled a bold new suite of AI-powered tools and a digital funding marketplace specifically designed to serve South Africa’s underserved communities.

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Experian Africa CEO Ferdie Pieterse said: “We believe access to finance is a right, not a privilege. These innovations help lenders see the people they’ve been missing, those who earn, save, and spend, but have no formal credit record.”

In a country where an estimated 11 million adults lack access to formal credit, traditional risk models simply don’t work for everyone.

People earning regular income through side hustles, remittances, or informal trade are often overlooked, not because they are risky, but because data about them is missing.

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That’s where Trusso, Experian’s new transactional insight engine, steps in. With explicit consumer consent, Trusso reads and categorises bank transaction data, turning every deposit, bill payment, and grocery shop into a rich picture of financial behaviour. This gives lenders a new way to assess affordability, income stability, and risk.

Francois Grobler, chief of decision analytics at Experian said: “Trusso makes it possible to assess people based on real life behaviour, not just credit history. It’s especially powerful for informal traders.”

Experian also introduced next generation bureau scores, offering lenders a choice between traditional credit scoring models or advanced machine learning (ML) approaches. “These new scores include trended and behavioural attributes,” Grobler added, “improving predictive accuracy and giving financial institutions better tools to assess risk, without excluding people who’ve never had formal credit before.”

The biggest boost for local entrepreneurs is the launch of ExperiFin, a two-sided funding marketplace developed in partnership with Finfind. ExperiFin makes it easier for small, medium, and micro enterprises, from home salons and delivery businesses, to informal shops and service providers, to get matched with appropriate funders using a streamlined, digital platform.

Jaco van Jaarsveldt, head of strategy and innovation at Experian, said: “Too many good businesses never get the funding they need. ExperiFin changes that by making the funding process smarter, more transparent, and more accessible, especially for entrepreneurs in underserved areas.”

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