QHL

We provide professional receivable management solutions for both financial and commercial markets.

Renown for provision of professional Debt Management Solutions, Quest Holdings Limited (QHL), a debt management firm continues to leave footprints across different regions. With its headquarters in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, QHL takes pride in its mastery of the debt market dynamics in East Africa and aims to be the debt management partner of choice for individuals and businesses.

“We provide professional receivable management solutions for both financial and commercial markets. Our focus is on maximizing clients’ cash flow management and credit control aspects,” says Erick Oluoch, Chief Executive of Quest Holdings in an interview with StartUp Magazine.

When the firm started in 2007, the Executive explains that a lot of people and businesses did not understand the conceptof debt outsourcing, save for a few financial institutions-banks mostly. It took close to 2 years for most people to begin to understand the debt market and the line of business the firm was spearheading.

Set up in Nairobi, the firm has now spread its wings across the region to Uganda and Tanzania with plans to venture into Zambia in the course of time.

With a tagline of ‘Debt Management Simplified,’ QHL has undertaken major strategies to professionalize the industry and alter the bad undertone that debt collection has always been associated with.The lifeline of any business is cash. No business can survive without it and that basically means that anyone dealing with any form of credit needs our services points out Mr. Oluoch.

“When we were starting out, it was difficult for businesses to believe that one can recover huge debts for them,” adds the Executive.

“While this perception has changed over time, firms are now starting to worry about their reputational risk in the act of collecting debt. But why should they worry? Professional managed debt cannot be injurious. And we are here to ensure that,” he explains.

In established markets, debt collection is well advanced. The concept is crystal clear for most businesses. In Kenya you have to make clients believe in what you do.

“We primarily collect debt and charge a collection fee. One should think of credit in this way. Once an individual procures a product or service and fails to pay immediately, that is already a debt,” he explains further.

He further comments that the credit market is huge in Kenya as most people only know of the conventional market led by financial institutions which controls bigger chunk of Kenya’s economy.

Debt collection is at the tail end on debt management when one fails in risk mitigation measures. However, QHL takes pride in its robust systems, technology and advanced product offering to help businesses manage their delinquencies.

Collection cycle

“The market has a cycle starting with early delinquency where a buyer does not pay immediately for services/products procured. This is where you give us your debt as young as five days old. We can come in at this stage to offer credit management function. We then slowly and consistently remind the client the need to clear the debt until he does so,” notes Oluoch.

Emerging trends

Financial industry is growing fast with Financial-Technology (Fin-Tech) taking the show. With time, institutions that won’t embrace change will be faced out. The capping of the interest rates by the Central Bank of Kenya last year affected lending that Credit to SMEs and individuals has shrunk as banks are now employing tougher risk mitigation measures, he observes.

“Bad governance has also affected the credit industry massively with a number of financial institutions closing down the past 2 years. The industry has experienced exponential financial inclusion and

expansion with a double edged sword effects. It has opened credit access to many people and created a culture that is highly depended on debt. There is stiff competition at the market. Everyone is willing to sell on credit. This has inturn created a generation that will be highly indebted in the future. Like right now we are having young guys who are taking loans to buy a mobile phone which is very sad!” he says in finality.

QHL promises to continue championing professionalism of debt collection and ensure clients brand are maintained, customer relationships are built and creditors recover their money.