NAIROBI, Kenya, June 2– Fleet operators and logistics companies in Kenya are set for relief after fintech platform tabb unveiled what it says is the country’s first large-scale fuel credit line, in partnership with Galana Energies.
The facility, which is already live across Galana service stations in East Africa, allows transporters and fleet owners to access interest-free fuel credit through partner banks, effectively shifting fuel purchases from upfront cash payments to structured short-term credit.
The launch comes at a time when rising fuel prices have sharply increased the working capital burden on logistics businesses, many of which now require significantly more cash to maintain operations than just weeks ago.
“The challenge confronting fleet operators, transporters, and logistics companies is not simply that fuel costs more. It is that the same fleet now requires substantially more capital to operate than it did weeks ago.”
“For businesses running large fleets, this represents a significant and sudden increase in the cash required simply to fill a tank before a single delivery has been made or a single contract fulfilled,”said Don Okoth, Director of Mobility, tabb.
“What we’re launching today is the clearest expression yet of tabb’s role in the market: connecting banks, suppliers, and businesses so that credit flows to where it is needed, instantly and without cost.”
Under the model, fleet operators apply for a bank-issued revolving credit line through tabb’s partner financial institutions.
Once approved, they can draw down the facility directly at Galana stations, with suppliers receiving guaranteed settlement at the point of sale.
Repayments are structured over 30 to 90 days, allowing businesses to align fuel costs with incoming revenues rather than upfront expenditure.
Industry players say the structure is designed to eliminate informal and often inconsistent credit arrangements between fuel suppliers and transporters, which have long created strain in the sector.
The system effectively bridges the working capital gap, ensuring fleets remain operational without disruptions while suppliers are paid immediately and in full.
Access to structured credit, the company argues, is now a defining factor in business continuity and growth across the transport economy.
“I see this partnership as the inflection point where tabb’s trade credit network moves from enabling transactions to fundamentally reshaping how the entire transport and logistics industry finances its largest expense. Credit should be a tool for growth, not a burden, and that is exactly what we are making it,”said Mesh Alloys, CEO tabb.
The company says the Galana partnership marks a strategic step in its broader ambition to build a regional credit infrastructure layer connecting banks, suppliers, and businesses across multiple sectors including fuel, hardware, pharmaceuticals, and retail.
With fuel costs continuing to pressure logistics margins, tabb’s rollout signals a growing shift toward structured, bank-backed trade credit systems aimed at stabilising cash flows and supporting business expansion across East Africa’s transport economy.
