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LeadAfrik
Mixed · Self-paced2026 Edition

Credit — From First Principles to Distressed

The most important and least-taught discipline in finance. From the 5 Cs to the credit cycle to credit ratings to the maths of expected loss; from personal credit to corporate to sovereign to securitisation; from origination to workout. The course every banker, analyst, and CFO wishes they'd had before they needed it.

13

Modules

~11h 0m

Reading time

Mixed

Level

Self-paced

Format

§

Syllabus

  1. 01

    What credit is

    A promise to repay across time. The time value of money, default risk, and why every credit transaction is a bet that the future will look enough like the past.

    ~45 minModule 01
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  2. 02

    The credit cycle: origination to workout

    Origination, underwriting, servicing, monitoring, collection, workout. The full life of a loan and where each step can fail.

    ~50 minModule 02
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  3. 03

    The 5 Cs of credit

    Character, Capacity, Capital, Collateral, Conditions. The framework lenders have used since the 1920s — and still teach in 2026.

    ~45 minModule 03
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  4. 04

    Credit scoring — FICO, CRB Kenya, alternative data

    What credit scores actually measure, what they ignore, and how Kenyan CRBs (Metropol, TransUnion, Creditinfo) work alongside mobile-money behavioural data.

    ~50 minModule 04
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  5. 05

    Personal credit — cards, installment, secured

    Credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, personal loans, BNPL, SACCO loans. The retail credit landscape and the consumer-protection rules that shape it.

    ~45 minModule 05
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  6. 06

    Commercial lending — working capital to project finance

    Working-capital lines, term loans, asset-based, project finance, syndicated loans. How banks underwrite businesses across the size spectrum.

    ~55 minModule 06
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  7. 07

    Corporate credit and rating agencies

    Investment grade vs high yield. How Moody's, S&P, and Fitch turn 1,000 pages of financials into a single letter grade — and what each notch actually means.

    ~55 minModule 07
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  8. 08

    Sovereign credit and Eurobonds

    Country ratings, sovereign default risk, Eurobonds, IMF programmes, Kenya's debt trajectory — and what default actually looks like when a state, not a company, can't pay.

    ~50 minModule 08
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  9. 09

    Credit risk modelling — PD, LGD, EAD, Basel

    Probability of default, loss given default, exposure at default, expected loss. The mathematics regulators built Basel III around — and that every bank lives by.

    ~60 minModule 09
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  10. 10

    Leverage, haircuts, and secured-lending mechanics

    The haircut-to-leverage identity, repo and margin-lending mechanics in full numerical depth, LTV cascades, margin-call cascades, and RAROC loan pricing. The working language of secured credit.

    ~60 minModule 10
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  11. 11

    Credit derivatives and securitisation

    Credit default swaps, MBS, CLOs, ABS. How risk is transferred and tranched — and what the 2008 crisis actually taught us about it.

    ~55 minModule 11
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  12. 12

    Distressed debt and workouts

    Covenants, defaults, restructurings, Chapter 11 vs Kenya's Insolvency Act, the role of distressed-debt funds and what 'cents on the dollar' means.

    ~50 minModule 12
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  13. 13

    Working in credit — careers, paths, what good looks like

    Credit analyst at a bank, structured finance, rating agency, distressed fund, sovereign analyst. The roles, the daily work, and the senior judgement that separates ordinary from excellent.

    ~40 minModule 13
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How to use this course

Start with module 01 if the material is new; skip ahead if you have prior exposure. Each module is self-contained but the arc is sequential — the projects in the final module assume the toolkit from modules 1-11. Every module ends with key takeaways and a curated further-reading list with primary sources.