Absa signs Simba Corp deal for up to 100% vehicle and tractor financing - tech-ish
This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.
Absa Bank Kenya and Simba Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding that will let individuals and businesses finance vehicles and farm equipment bought from Simba through Absa loans. They announced the MoU in Nairobi on 20 August 2026.
The headline terms, by category of buyer:
- Businesses buying commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and light commercial vehicles, can borrow up to 95% of the price, repayable over up to 72 months.
- School buses qualify for 100% financing, repayable over up to 84 months.
- Individuals buying passenger vehicles can borrow up to 95%, repayable over up to 72 months.
- Farmers and agribusinesses buying tractors, farm machinery and pick-ups can borrow up to 90%, repayable over up to 60 months.
Simba Corporation is one of Kenya’s largest vehicle dealers. Founded in 1948 as a used-car business, it now sells FUSO and Ashok Leyland trucks, Mahindra and SAME tractors, Mahindra and Mitsubishi pick-ups, and MG and Proton passenger cars, alongside interests in assembly, hospitality and real estate. Adil Popat is its executive chairman and Dinesh Kotecha its group CEO.
“For many businesses, particularly SMEs, access to affordable and flexible financing remains a key barrier to acquiring the vehicles and equipment they need to grow,” said Renato D’Souza, Absa Bank Kenya’s Business Banking Director, at the signing.
The deal sits inside Absa’s KES 100 billion asset finance push
The Simba partnership runs on what Absa calls ABF 2.0, the asset-based finance product it relaunched on 6 May 2026 with a promise to lend KES 100 billion against productive assets over three years. Under ABF 2.0, Absa says it approves asset loans within 48 hours of onboarding and disburses within 72 hours of approval, down from a process that used to take 10 days. The product covers manufacturing, trade and logistics, infrastructure, healthcare and education, and dealer partnerships like this one are how the bank gets the money out. Absa signed a KES 4 billion distributor financing deal with Unilever Kenya in July under a similar logic.
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Simba is signing with every bank that will have it
Absa is not getting exclusivity. On 20 August 2026, the same day as the Absa deal, Stanbic Bank Kenya announced its own asset financing partnership with Simba, offering up to 100% financing with zero facility fees, a 60-day repayment moratorium for businesses, and unsecured loans of up to KES 5 million for qualifying customers. And we covered a near-identical deal between Simba and NCBA back in June 2021, which financed up to 95% of Simba’s vehicles at 13% a year on reducing balance over up to 60 months.
For Simba, more lending partners means more people who can afford its vehicles without paying cash. For the banks, a dealer partnership is a cheap way to originate secured loans, because the asset being financed is the collateral. The result for buyers is that the same FUSO truck or Mahindra tractor now comes with at least three competing bank offers attached.
That is the practical takeaway: if you are buying from Simba, the deposit barrier has mostly fallen. A school bus can go for 0% down, a truck or car for 5%. What you cannot yet compare is the price of the money itself. Until Absa publishes its rates, the only number on the table is NCBA’s 13% from 2021, and that rate is five years old. Ask all three banks for a quote before you sign.
Reporting originally appeared via Tech-ish Kenya. Read the full source for additional context.