Uber Technologies Inc. drivers in Kenya will now be able to access loans from a local lender, Sidian Bank, based on how clients rate their service.

About 1,000 drivers signed up to the global taxi-hailing app service will access between $10,000 and $15,000 in loans, from the $10 million set aside by the mid-tier bank, without paying any initial deposit.

Nate Anderson, Uber country manager, said this would help its drivers afford “reliable, high quality vehicles” that will enable them to grow their business.

“We are also building an even more sustainable ride-sharing network in Kenya which moves us forward towards achieving our vision of being a first-choice transport solution for everyone in the country,” Anderson said in a statement.

To qualify for the loan, a driver need to have clocked a minimum of 500 trips and have an Uber passenger rating of at least 4.6 out of five points.

Titus Karanja, Sidian Bank’s chief executive said the finance and leasing options are skewed towards the client’s Uber experience rather than their credit history and will be extended at a 10.5 percent interest rate, cheaper than the average 18 percent in the country.

“We are glad to be part of this deal, which is enabling enterprises to grow. In addition to financing, we will also provide technical assistance to the beneficiaries of this arrangement,” Karanja said.

Uber, which has been expanding in Africa and recently entered a second city in Kenya when it launched in Mombasa, plans to increase the number of drivers in the east African nation signed up to the service to 10,000 in the next three years, Bloomberg reported.

Despite some friction with traditional taxi drivers in the country, the service reached one million rides after operating for 15 months.

Anderson said demand for Uber services in Kenya was on the rise in urban areas.

Credit rating in Kenya was introduce about six years ago, but its use has been limited to commercial banks and some have complained that lenders are only using them to blacklist bad borrowers without extending lower rates to good clients.

About 700,000 people have been blacklisted by the three main credit referencing bureaus in the country.