The facility has been built through a partnership with Galana Energies, which operates a network of service stations across East Africa. Under the arrangement, fleet operators apply for revolving credit lines issued by partner banks and use those funds directly at Galana stations. The fuel supplier gets paid immediately on the day of the transaction. The business then repays the credit over an agreed window of between 30 and 90 days. Everyone in the chain gets what they need without the cash flow squeeze that typically comes with large upfront fuel purchases.
Why This Matters for Transporters Right Now
The timing of this launch is not accidental. Fuel prices have been climbing, and for transport and logistics operators, that means higher costs every single day. Small and medium-sized fleet owners are particularly exposed because they lack the purchasing power to negotiate bulk deals and often do not have the collateral that traditional banks require for working capital loans.
Many have historically managed this by relying on informal credit arrangements with fuel suppliers — handshake deals, delayed payments, personal relationships. Those arrangements are unpredictable, unscalable, and carry real risk for both sides. A structured, bank-backed credit line changes that dynamic significantly, giving operators a reliable tool rather than an improvised workaround.
How the Model Works in Practice
The mechanics are straightforward by design. A transport company applies for a revolving credit line through tabb’s platform, working with one of the partner banks behind the facility. Once approved, the business can draw on that credit to fill up at Galana stations across the network. There is no delay, no need to front cash, and no risk to the fuel supplier since payment is settled on the day.
The revolving structure is important. Unlike a one-time loan, a revolving credit line can be used, repaid, and used again within the agreed limit. For a business that is constantly buying fuel, that flexibility is far more useful than a fixed loan that gets drawn down and disappears.
tabb Director of Mobility Don Okoth described the core value proposition simply: suppliers get paid on the day and businesses get the fuel they need. That clarity of benefit on both sides is what makes the model workable rather than just another financial product looking for a problem to solve.
A Platform Play, Not Just a Fuel Product
tabb is positioning this launch as part of a broader ambition. The company is building a digital financing network that connects businesses, banks, and suppliers across multiple sectors — fuel, retail, pharmaceuticals, and hardware among them. The fuel credit facility is the most visible product to date, but the underlying infrastructure is designed to power trade credit across industries.
CEO Mesh Alloys described the Galana partnership as an inflection point where tabb moves from facilitating individual transactions to reshaping how an entire industry finances its operations. That is a bold claim, but the logic behind it is sound. If the model works in fuel — where the need is universal, the amounts are significant, and the frequency is high — it can be adapted to other sectors facing similar working capital gaps.
What It Could Mean for the Logistics Sector
Kenya’s transport and logistics sector is a backbone of the economy, moving goods from ports to warehouses to retailers across the country and beyond. But it has long been characterised by thin margins, high fixed costs, and limited access to formal financial services. Many operators, particularly those running smaller fleets, have been locked out of the kind of credit that larger companies take for granted.
A product like this, if it scales effectively, could improve the financial resilience of those operators, allowing them to keep vehicles on the road even when cash flow is tight. That has downstream benefits for the businesses and consumers who depend on reliable freight and delivery services.
The partnership also reflects a broader trend in East African fintech, where companies are moving beyond payments and into trade finance building the financial infrastructure that productive sectors of the economy actually need. With the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) pushing more cross-border trade through the region, reliable working capital solutions for logistics operators are going to matter more, not less, in the years ahead.