Terms and Conditions of use
1. INTRODUCTION
OkoaMia is a digital platform that enables borrowers to access convenient loans of as low as KES. 100. This digital platform comprises of but not exhaustively; USSD, SMS, Android, IOS and Web platforms. OkoaMia ("OkoaMia" or "Platform" or "we" or "our" or “system” or “OkoaMia system”) a trade name owned and managed by Okoa Mia Ventures Ltd.
2. DEFINITIONS
2.1. In these Terms and Conditions the following words and expressions (save where the context requires otherwise) bear the following meanings:
2.1.2 “Borrower” means a Customer who has registered as a borrower on the Platform and borrows money under the Terms and Conditions herein.
2.1.2. “Credit Reference Bureau”(CRB) means a credit reference bureau duly licensed under the Banking Act pursuant to the Banking (Credit Reference Bureau) Regulations, 2013, as amended, revised or promulgated from time to time, to inter alia, collect and facilitate the sharing of customer credit information;
2.1.3. “Customer” means the person who has registered on OkoaMia platform as borrower.
2.1.4. “Customer Care Centre” means the people assigned to assist OkoaMia customers;
2.1.5. “E-Money” means the electronic monetary value;
2.1.6. “Equipment” includes your mobile phone handset, SIM Card and/or other equipment which when used together enables you to access the platform;
2.1.7. “IPRS” means the Integrated Population Registration System set up and maintained by the Government of Kenya under the Ministry of State for Immigration and Registration of Persons and its successors;
2.1.11. “USSD” means the Unstructured Supplementary Services Data, which allows you to browse OkoaMia menus;
2.1.15. “OkoaMia PIN” means your Personal Identification Number being the secret code used to access and operate OkoaMia Account;
2.1.17. “Network” means the mobile cellular network or internet connection;
2.1.18. “Request” means a request or instruction received by OkoaMia from you or purportedly from you through the Network and the System and upon which OkoaMia is authorized to act;
2.1.20. “Services” shall include any form of financial services or products that OkoaMia may offer you pursuant to this Agreement and as you may from time to time subscribe to and “Service” shall be construed accordingly;
2.1.22. “SMS” means a Short Message Service consisting of a text message transmitted from one mobile phone to another mobile phone;
2.1.24 “T&C’s” means the terms and conditions of the agreement.
2.1.24. “We,” “our,” and “us,” means OkoaMia and includes the successors and assigns of OkoaMia;
2.1.25. “You” or “your” means the Customer and includes the personal representatives of the Customer;
2.1.26. The word “Customer” shall include both the masculine and the feminine gender as well as juristic persons;
2.1.27. Words importing the singular meaning where the context so admits include the plural meaning and vice versa.
2.1.28 “User” means individuals interacting with the platform to borrow or seek information regarding the products, services and the system.
2.1.28 "SYSTEM" means the OkoaMia platform owned and managed by OkoaMia Ventures Ltd.
3. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Before proceeding to use the OkoaMia System you should carefully read and understand these Terms and conditions which will govern the use and operation of the system.
You will be deemed to have read, understood and accepted these Terms and Conditions:
3.1 Upon clicking on the “Accept” option on the OkoaMia Menu requesting you to confirm that you have read, understood and agreed to abide with these Terms and Conditions; and/or
3.2 By using and continuing to use this Platform, you agree to the Terms and Conditions that OkoaMia has provided; and/or
3.3 By sending an acceptance fee to our accounts thereby signing your acceptance with your authorised transaction
3.4 If you do not wish to agree to these Terms and Conditions, please click “Decline” on the OkoaMia Menu.
If this T&C conflicts with any other document, the T&C will prevail for the purposes of usage of the Platform. If you do not agree to be bound by this T&C and the Privacy Policy, you may not use the Platform in any way.
4. Description of Products & Services
In the Platform, OkoaMia provides the capacity for borrowers to receive a convenient short term loan through its providers.
By agreeing or your acceptance by clicking "yes" in the options menu we shall be entitled to send you regular updates via email/ SMS/ phone call or any other means regarding our Services and Product offerings.
5. General Agreement
This Agreement sets out the complete terms and Conditions (hereinafter called “these Terms and conditions”) which shall be applicable to the user of this Platform (as hereinafter defined) opened by you (as hereinafter defined) with OkoaMia Ventures Limited (as hereinafter defined).
By using this Platform (other than to read this T&C for the first time), users agrees to comply with all the terms and conditions hereof. The right to use this Platform is personal to the user and is not transferable to any other person or entity. User shall be responsible for protecting the confidentiality of User's password(s), if any. User acknowledges that, although the internet is often a secure environment, sometimes there are interruptions in service or events that are beyond the control of OkoaMia, and OkoaMia shall not be responsible for any data lost while transmitting information on the internet. While it is OkoaMia’s objective to make the Platform accessible 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, the Platform may be unavailable from time to time for any reason including, without limitation, routine maintenance. You understand and acknowledge that due to circumstances both within and outside of the control of OkoaMia, access to the Platform may be interrupted, suspended or terminated from time to time. OkoaMia shall have the right at any time to change or discontinue any aspect or feature of OkoaMia, including, but not limited to, content, hours of availability and equipment needed for access or use. Further, OkoaMia may discontinue disseminating any portion of information or category of information, may change or eliminate any transmission method and may change transmission speeds or other signal characteristics.
6. Modified Terms
OkoaMia reserves the right at all times to discontinue or modify any of the Terms and Conditions as may be deemed necessary or desirable without prior notification to you. Such changes may include, among other things, the adding of certain fees or charges. We suggest to you, therefore, that you re-read this important notice containing our Terms and Conditions from time to time in order that you stay informed as to any such changes. If we make changes to our Terms and Conditions and you continue to use our Platform, you are impliedly agreeing to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy expressed herein. Any such deletions or modifications shall be effective immediately upon OkoaMia's posting thereof. Any use of OkoaMia by End User after such notice shall be deemed to constitute acceptance by End User of such modifications.
7. License and Platform Access
OkoaMia grants you limited access for personal use of the Platform. This access does not include any downloading or copying of account information for the benefit of another vendor or any other third party; caching, unauthorized hypertext links to the Platform and the framing of any Content available through the Platform, uploading, posting, or transmitting any content that you do not have a right to make available (such as the intellectual property of another party); uploading, posting, or transmitting any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment; any action that imposes or may impose (in OkoaMia’s sole discretion) an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on OkoaMia’s infrastructure; or any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools. You may not bypass any measures used by OkoaMia to prevent or restrict access to the Platform. Any unauthorized use by you shall terminate the permission or license granted to you by OkoaMia. By using this Platform and by accepting to agree to these terms and conditions you also agree that you shall not hack or otherwise hire some third party to hack the Platform or use any other unauthorized means without a written consent of OkoaMia and access any third party information. You shall in such an event be liable of a criminal offence and OkoaMia shall institute appropriate legal proceedings to claim damages. OkoaMia also reserve rights to institute proceedings in accordance with the law relating to intellectual property rights violation or infringement available to it in case the misuse of this Platform.
8. OkoaMia User Acceptance
8.1 User Eligibility: OkoaMia Service is not available to persons under the age of 18 or of unsound mind or who are declared insolvent or to any Users suspended or removed from the system by OkoaMia for whatsoever reason. If you do not qualify, you may not use OkoaMia or the Platform.
8.2 User Rights: By agreeing to the terms and conditions set out in the agreement, OkoaMia grants the user non-transferable and non-exclusive rights to the OkoaMia platform as expressly constituted in this agreement. The user;
8.2.1 will not lease, rent or sub-license the digital platform.
8.2.2 will not modify the digital platform in any way, wholly or partly.
8.2.3 will not reverse engineer or create derivative works based on a part or the whole digital platform
8.2.4 will not access or alter the source code of the digital platform in any manner
8.3 User Requests: The user herein irrevocably authorizes OkoaMia to act on all requests received from the platform where such requests will be deemed to have been initiated by the user who is in possession of their OkoaMia platform.
OkoaMia in its discretion reserves the right to reject requests deemed as in breach of the terms and conditions contained herein.
OkoaMia shall be entitled to accept and to act upon any Request, even if that Request is otherwise for any reason incomplete or ambiguous if, in its absolute discretion, OkoaMia believes that it can correct the incomplete or ambiguous information in the Request without any reference to you being necessary.
OkoaMia may, in its absolute discretion, decline to act on or in accordance with the whole or any part of your Request pending further enquiry or further confirmation (whether written or otherwise) from you. OkoaMia shall not be under any obligation to so decline in any case and shall in no event or circumstance be liable for not so declining.
You agree to and shall release from and indemnify OkoaMia. against all claims, losses, damages, costs and expenses howsoever arising in consequence of, or in any way related to OkoaMia having acted in accordance with the whole or any part of any of your Requests (or failed to exercise) the discretion conferred upon it.
You acknowledge that to the full extent permitted by law OkoaMia shall not be liable for any unauthorized transfer, acceptance, remittance, disclosure, any activity or any incident on your account by the fact of the knowledge and/or use or manipulation of your OkoaMia platform or any means whether or not occasioned by your negligence.
8.4 User Conduct and Responsibilities: the user has the sole responsibility of maintaining the safety of their phones and accounts for the purposes of accessing the OkoaMia platform.
9. Your Account
In consideration of your use of the Platform, you represent that you are of legal age to form a binding contract and are not a person barred from receiving services or goods under the laws as applicable in Kenya. Additionally, you are more than 18 years of age. You also agree to provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the Platform's registration form. If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete (or becomes untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete), or OkoaMia has reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, OkoaMia has the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Platform (or any portion thereof). OkoaMia considers provisions of wrong information on its Platform willingly an act that would constitute misrepresentation, fraud and cheating. If you use the Platform, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password (if any), and for restricting access to your equipment. You agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify OkoaMia immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. OkoaMia reserves the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, or remove or edit content in its sole discretion. In the event, OkoaMia finds that the information shared by the User of the Platform is incorrect or that the User is in breach of terms or conditions of the Platform or User is in default; in such case OkoaMia may add the name and details of such person in the list of persons who are blacklisted from receiving funds.
TYPES OF ACCOUNT
9.1. OkoaMia Loan/Borrower Account
9.1.1 As a holder of a OkoaMia Loan Account, you may, subject to these Terms and Conditions, apply for a loan from OkoaMia using the platform.
9.1.2 Where you apply for a loan from OkoaMia, you acknowledge that you give consent to have your credit score assessed and CRB status verified. Your application shall be appraised according to the applicable loan appraisal processes of OkoaMia. OkoaMia reserves the right at its sole discretion and without assigning any reason to approve or decline your application for a loan.
9.1.3. Subject to approval of your application for a loan, OkoaMia shall disburse to you a loan of an amount to be based on your choosing and our platform’s business rules, a minimum amount of Kenya Shillings one hundred (KES. 100/=) and a maximum amount of Kenya Shillings nine hundred (KES. 900/=) or such other minimum or maximum amount as OkoaMia may from time to time in its sole discretion determine (the “Loan”)
9.1.4 The proceeds of the Loan shall be credited into your platform approved wallet in full; no transactional fee or “hidden fees” will be charged.
9.1.5. You shall repay the Loan within five day from the date of loan issue. In the event that you default in the repayment of the loan in accordance to the stipulated schedule, then the whole balance of the said loan amount and penalties undercharged at the date of such default shall immediately become due and payable by you without demand and you shall bear penalties thereon during the period of default at a rate between 6% to 20% per day till full payment. Penalties can be written off at our sole discretion.
9.1.6. You shall make all payments due from you to OkoaMia in respect of the Loan and Interest Fees using the M-PESA Service, Paybill number 519608 and account number being your mobile number.
9.1.9. OkoaMia reserves the right to vary the terms of the Loan including the interest charged thereon from time to time having regard to the prevailing rules and regulations of the policies of OkoaMia.
10. Equipment
User shall be responsible for obtaining and maintaining all telephone, computer hardware and other equipment needed for access to and use of this Platform and all charges related thereto. OkoaMia shall not be liable for any damages to the End User's equipment resulting from the use of this Platform.
11. End User conduct
This Platform and any individual Platforms or merchant-specific, city-specific, or state-specific Platforms now or hereinafter contained within or otherwise available through external hyperlinks with our Platform (the "MicroPlatforms") are private property. All interactions on this Platform and/or the MicroPlatforms must comply with these Terms and Conditions. Although we welcome and encourage user interaction on our Platform, we do insist and require that all End Users restrict any and all activity in connection with the use of this Platform and the MicroPlatforms to that which involves lawful purposes only. End User shall not post or transmit through this Platform any material which violates or infringes in any way upon the rights of others, or any material which is unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, vulgar, obscene, profane or otherwise objectionable, which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any law, or which, without OkoaMia's express prior, written approval, contains advertising or any solicitation with respect to Products or Services. Any conduct by an End User that in OkoaMia's exclusive discretion restricts or inhibits any other End User from using or enjoying this Platform and/or any of the MicroPlatforms is strictly prohibited. End User shall NOT use this Platform or any of the MicroPlatforms to advertise or perform any commercial, religious, political or non-commercial solicitation, including, but not limited to, the solicitation of users of this Platform and/or the MicroPlatforms to become users of other on- or offline services directly or indirectly competitive or potentially competitive with OkoaMia.
The foregoing provisions of this Section apply equally to and are for the benefit of OkoaMia, its subsidiaries, affiliates and its third-party content providers and licensors, and each shall have the right to assert and enforce such provisions directly or on its own behalf.
12. Monitoring
OkoaMia shall have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor the content of the Platform at all times, including any chat rooms and forums that may hereinafter be included as part of the Platform, to determine compliance with this Agreement and any operating rules established by OkoaMia, as well as to satisfy any applicable law, regulation or authorized government request. Without limiting the foregoing, OkoaMia shall have the right to remove any material that OkoaMia, in its sole discretion, finds to be in violation of the provisions hereof or otherwise objectionable.
13. License Grant
By posting communications on or through this Platform, User shall be deemed to have granted to OkoaMia a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, edit, translate, distribute, perform, and display the communication alone or as part of other works in any form, media, or technology whether now known or hereafter developed, and to sublicense such rights through multiple tiers of sub-licensees
14. Personal Information
In order to avail of the Services from the Platform, you will need to provide your details prior to getting enlisted. As an account holder you are required to provide OkoaMia with accurate personal information. Provision of another person’s details as your own will not be deemed acceptable.
Any personal information collected by OkoaMia shall not be disclosed to any third party unrelated to OkoaMia business unless such a disclosure is authorized or required by law, or you have expressly consented to such a disclosure. However, by accepting the terms and conditions you grant OkoaMia an unconditional right to share your personal information with OkoaMia’s partners, affiliates, employees and agents for administrative purpose. Please also see the Privacy Policy in this regard.
15. Cancellation by OkoaMia
Please note that there may be certain instruction to remit payments or seek rendition of services that OkoaMia is unable to accept shall be cancel. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to refuse or cancel any order for any reason. We may also require additional verifications or information before accepting any instruction or registering you on the Platform as a borrower. The borrower(s) are required to note that negative third-party verification report(s) are crucial factors considered during the funding process. The funding may get rejected at any stage due to lack of information or verifiable information.
16. Fraudulent /Declined Transactions
OkoaMia reserves the right to recover the cost of Service(s) and Product(s), collection charges and lawyer’s fees from persons using the Platform fraudulently. OkoaMia reserves the right to initiate legal proceedings against such persons for fraudulent use of the Platform and any other unlawful acts or omissions in breach of these terms and conditions.
17. Limitation of Liability
OkoaMia, its associates and technology partners make no representations or warranties about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, current-ness and/or timeliness of any content, information, software, text, graphics, links or communications provided on or using the Platform or that the operation of the Platform will be error free and/or uninterrupted. Consequently, OkoaMia assumes no liability whatsoever for any monetary or other damage suffered by you because of the delay, failure, interruption, or corruption of any data or other information transmitted in connection with use of the Platform; and/or any interruption or errors in the operation of the Platform. You expressly understand and agree that OkoaMia and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, employees, agents, partners and licensors shall not be liable to you for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses (even if OkoaMia has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from use of the Platform or any related goods and services.
This limitation of liability section shall prevail over any conflicting or inconsistent provision contained in any of the documents comprising this Agreement. It is up to you to take precautions to ensure that whatever you select for your use is free of such items as viruses, worms, trojan horses and other items of a destructive nature.
The User further with immediate effect waive any right which had accrued to him from using the Platform to initiate any legal action against OkoaMia. In case there is a non-disclosure of information to OkoaMia of the information, and the judgment of OkoaMia is impaired and the ratings or credibility of a borrower is not found to be correct, OkoaMia shall not be responsible for any claims or liabilities.
18. Indemnity
You agree to indemnify and hold OkoaMia (and its officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, and employees) harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, or arising out of or related to your breach of this T&C, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party including but not limited to breach of any warranties, representations or undertakings or in relation to the non-fulfilment of any of your obligations under this T&C or arising out of violation of any applicable laws, regulations including but not limited to Intellectual Property Rights, payment of statutory dues and taxes, claim of libel, defamation, violation of rights of privacy or publicity, loss of service by other subscribers and infringement of intellectual property or other rights. This clause shall survive the expiry or termination of this T&C.
19. Severability
If any of the Terms shall be deemed void, invalid or unenforceable for any reason, that condition shall be deemed several and shall not affect the enforceability of any remaining provision.
20. Customer Communication
OkoaMia will communicate with you through any of the mode using email, SMS and telephone or all of them or any other mode. Account holders must provide a valid email address and/or contact telephone and/ or mobile number to OkoaMia for this purpose.
When you use the Platform or send emails to OkoaMia, you are communicating with OkoaMia electronically. You consent to receive communications from OkoaMia electronically.
From time to time, OkoaMia will also send you marketing material. If you do not wish to receive such material, you may unsubscribe from our mailing list at any time by contacting at info@okoamia.com
You agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.
21. Platform-Provided Email and Postings
The Platform may provide End Users with the ability to send email messages to other End Users and non-End Users and to post messages on the Platform. OkoaMia is under no obligation to review any messages; information or content ("Postings") posted on the Platform by End Users and assumes no responsibility or liability relating to any such Postings.
You understand and agree not to use any functionality provided by the Platform to post content or initiate communications that contain:
(i) Any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind, including, but not limited to, any material which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law.
(ii) Advertisements or solicitations of any kind.
(iii) Impersonate others or provide any kind of false information.
(iv) Personal information such as messages which state phone numbers, National Identification Numbers, account numbers, addresses, or employer references.
(v) Messages by non-spokesperson employees of OkoaMia purporting to speak on behalf of OkoaMia or containing confidential information or expressing opinions concerning OkoaMia.
(vi) Messages that offer unauthorized downloads of any copyrighted or private information.
(viii) Chain letters of any kind.
(ix) Identical (or substantially similar) messages to multiple recipients advertising any product or service, expressing a political or other similar message, or any other type of unsolicited commercial message.
This prohibition includes but is not limited to:
a) Using OkoaMia invitations to send messages to people who don’t know you or who are unlikely to recognize you as a known contact;
b) Using OkoaMia to connect to people who don’t know you and then sending unsolicited promotional messages to those direct connections without their permission; and
c) Sending messages to distribution lists, newsgroup aliases, or group aliases.
22. Links
The Platform or third parties may provide links to other World Wide Web Platforms or resources. Because OkoaMia has no control over such Platforms and resources, you acknowledge and agree that OkoaMia is not responsible for the availability of such external Platforms or resources and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products or other materials on or available from such Platforms or resources. You further acknowledge and agree that OkoaMia shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, goods or services available on or through any such Platform or resource.
23. Access to Password Protected/Secure Areas
Access to and use of password protected and/or secure areas of the Platform is restricted to authorized Users only. Unauthorized individuals attempting to access these areas of the Platform may be subject to prosecution.
24. Acknowledgements
I. You acknowledge that OkoaMia in no manner warrants or guarantees the performance of a service provider that is providing services through the Platform of OkoaMia.
II. You acknowledge that you have taken expert advice from a legal consultant or any other expert so required about your status as a borrower on the Platform.
III. You acknowledge that you are aware of all your rights, duties and applicability of various laws including not limited to Movable Property Security Rights Act 2017 or any other statute, or law, which may govern issuance of security, lending and borrowing of monies.
25. Monitoring:
In case it comes to your knowledge that any member of this Platform has committed default or fraud or misrepresents his financial status than you may inform OkoaMia in writing and upon receipt of such information OkoaMia shall call upon such third party to explain the allegations made in your Notice and upon receipt of an explanation from such third party OkoaMia shall in its own discretion decide as to whether such a person should be prohibited from using the Platform.
26. Applicable Laws:
Your use of this Platform and any Term and Conditions stated in this policy is subject to laws of Kenya.
27. Jurisdiction
Courts of Nairobi will have exclusive jurisdiction of dealing with all disputes arising from use of this Platform.
28. Trademarks
The trademarks, logos and service marks ("Marks") displayed on the Platform are the property of OkoaMia and other respective persons. End Users are prohibited from using any Marks for any purpose including, but not limited to use as meta-tags on other pages or Platforms on the World Wide Web without the written permission of OkoaMia or such third party which may own the Marks. All information and content including any software programs available on or through the Platform ("Content") is protected by copyright. End Users are prohibited from modifying, copying, distributing, transmitting, displaying, publishing, selling, licensing, creating derivative works or using any Content available on or through the Platform for commercial or public purposes.
29. Changes to Terms and Conditions
OkoaMia reserves the right to change these Terms and Conditions of its Service without informing you. You should check our Platform for any updated Terms and Conditions.
30. Miscellaneous
If any of these conditions are deemed invalid, void, or for any reason unenforceable, the parties agree that the court should endeavour to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the unenforceable condition shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining condition. From time to time OkoaMia may offer special promotional offers which may or may not apply to your OkoaMia account. To avail of such promotional offers, you agree to be bound by any additional terms and conditions for these special offers which are laid down by OkoaMia. This T&C and the relationship between you and OkoaMia will be governed by the laws as applicable in Kenya. Any dispute(s) arising out of this T&C will be handled in the competent courts of Nairobi, Kenya. The failure of OkoaMia to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive its right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. OkoaMia does not guarantee it will take action against all breaches of this T&C. Except as otherwise, expressly provided in this T&C, there shall be no third-party beneficiaries to this T&C. This T&C constitutes the entire agreement between you and OkoaMia and governs your use of the Platform, superseding any prior agreements between you and OkoaMia with respect to the Platform.
31. Payment Methods
You can pay OkoaMia using –payments services deployed by OkoaMia from time to time. OkoaMia has also deployed a system of electronic payment of fees, the details of which are available at www.okoamia.com
All transactions are processed in KES.
32 OkoaMia holds the complete right to de-activate
Any borrower on its own accord if the borrower is suspected or found to be from competition engaging or trying to engage in any malicious activity