DigiKhata has announced a new collaboration with Sightsavers International, backed by funding from the Standard Chartered Foundation, aimed at extending digital lending services to entrepreneurs with disabilities across Pakistan. Under the arrangement, DigiKhata will provide interest free digital loans covering working capital, business assets and administrative expenses to a pilot group of 30 entrepreneurs with disabilities. The entire process, from the initial loan application through disbursement and eventual repayment, is designed to run digitally via DigiKhata’s Cashless platform, removing the need for borrowers to navigate physical paperwork or in person branch visits at any stage of the lending cycle.
By keeping every step within a single digital system, the program appears intended to reduce the friction that entrepreneurs with disabilities might otherwise face when trying to access formal credit through conventional lending channels that were not originally built with accessibility in mind. The partnership brings together three organizations with distinct roles, DigiKhata supplying the digital lending infrastructure and platform, Sightsavers International contributing expertise on disability inclusion drawn from its broader global work in this area, and the Standard Chartered Foundation providing financial backing to support the pilot’s rollout across the country.
According to the announcement, the program reflects a broader philosophy that financial inclusion should be built into digital lending products from the outset rather than added on as an afterthought once a platform has already scaled, a framing that positions this pilot as an early test of a design approach the companies may look to expand if it proves successful. The pilot’s initial scope of 30 entrepreneurs suggests the program is currently structured as a controlled trial rather than a full scale rollout, which would allow the partners to assess how well the digital application and disbursement process works for this specific group of borrowers before any wider expansion is considered.
Digital lending platforms in Pakistan have increasingly positioned themselves around reaching underserved segments of the population that traditional banks have historically found difficult or costly to serve, and this program adds entrepreneurs with disabilities to a list that has typically included women, low income borrowers and small business owners operating outside the formal documentation system. For DigiKhata, the collaboration adds an accessibility focused product to its existing digital lending offering, while for Sightsavers International, the partnership extends its disability inclusion work into financial services within Pakistan, an area where the organization has not traditionally had as visible a presence compared to its work in health and education.
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