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The lines between financial services (FS) and technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) firms have blurred to the point that the roads are a free-for-all and previously distinct sectors are colliding. Many TMT companies are applying for FS licences, and FS organisations have begun calling themselves technology companies. Fintech, or financial technology, is at the epicentre of this transformation. The FS and TMT industries are both using it to sharpen operational efficiency, lower costs, improve customer experience and heighten the appeal of their products and services. They’re also carving out new commercial possibilities. Digital-only banks are offering redesigned client propositions and cost profiles. Investment managers are deploying fully customised robo-advice. Insurers are using sensors to monitor people’s health and help prevent illness. And according to a recent PwC survey, consumers are ready for the digital shake-up. The question is no longer whether fintech will transform FS, but which firms will apply it best and emerge as leaders.  In this year’s Global Fintech Survey, we polled more than 500 FS and TMT executives worldwide and analysed their responses. We think the winning companies will be those that not only embrace fintech-driven business models but figure out how to navigate wider and more crowded lanes with approaches that make the most of FS and TMT’s combined strengths. This report will explore the current fintech landscape, the factors that will determine the likely winners and losers in coming years, and the steps that organisations can take to put themselves in the best position to lead. 

Machine learning is a critical component of this process, as it allows us to enhance our predictive ability to better identify these qualifying customers. As a result, we are making significant strides towards our goal of creating the world’s leanest and lowest-cost banking infrastructure. This helps our bank partners offer loans at the lowest possible rate, and it helps our customers to achieve higher-yield savings. We’ve proven that our model works. Twelve million customers in Africa and Asia have saved or borrowed on the JUMO platform, and roughly 70% of these customers are micro and small businesses. We’re incredibly proud of our progress so far – but we know there’s more we can do.

To test our approach, we looked at Ghana, running new and advanced machine learning algorithms on signals associated with a pool of lending applicants. The goal was to identify combinations of signals — from income size and deposit frequency to mobile phone battery life and mobile wallet transaction patterns — that would serve as more accurate indicators of likely fraud than existing models.

This milestone has been reached just over 18 months after crossing the US$1B mark in 2019, and indicates exponential growth in the access to and availability of working capital for customers, with an average customer default rate of less than 5%. Andrew Watkins-Ball, Founder & Group CEO, said this achievement is evidence of the success of JUMO’s unique business model, its ability to reach unbanked populations and to provide market-leading infrastructure for financial services.

The most obvious benefit of crowdfunding for entrepreneurs is the funding. With so many startups on the market, it is hard to gather the money needed to bring ideas to life. Through crowdfunding, ventures that do not have a company builder like FinLeap behind them, can gain support at the very beginning. Crowdfunding provides a way for innovate ideas to be presented attractively, so it can be launched. Moreover, a crowdfunding platform can help successful entrepreneurs to validate their product which can then help with gathering the Series A funding. It makes validation faster and more scalable. Additionally, a crowdfunding platform allows entrepreneurs to get insights from their future customers and experts in the startup field while building awareness for the idea. [3]

JUMO also has a mobile wallet technology that offers an easy-to-use service that is accessible via mobile devices.Watkins-Ball commented on the cost-effective technology used to collect information which strengthened the business model, He said: “When we founded JUMO, we were always clear that we can only achieve our mission by leveraging sophisticated information technologies at really low cost.

Despite the technology underpinning WorldCover being really quite complicated (blockchain technology and machine learning), their product is amazingly simple; a crucial quality when doing business in rural areas where literacy levels are extremely poor. Essentially WorldCover is able to cut through the notoriously bureaucratic insurance claim system by ensuring insurance payments are automatically triggered once certain conditions are met, therefore increasing efficiency and eliminating fraudulent requests.

WorldCover is capable of providing premiums at a comparatively low-cost, which, like simplicity, is an essential part of their business model.

GreenTec, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, will invest an undisclosed amount of money in Bismart to enable the company upscale its digital and online platforms to connect customers to insurance and investments solutions available in the African market.The agreement, announced in Frankfurt, will see Bismart benefit from GreenTec’s expertise and experience in funding start-ups in Africa through capacity building, and process optimization.GreenTec will also avail to the Kenyan company a team of international experts to help implement adapted latest technology to the model in order to extend its local value chain and have more impact.

GreenTec, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, will invest an undisclosed amount of money in Bismart to enable the company upscale its digital and online platforms to connect customers to insurance and investments solutions available in the African market. The agreement, announced in Frankfurt, will see Bismart benefit from GreenTec’s expertise and experience in funding start-ups in Africa through capacity building, and process optimization.

For a successful model, the Arab World can look to Kenya’s development of mobile money or “M-Pesa”. In many ways, the elements that lead to M-Pesa’s success in Kenya are already present in the Arab World. Young people in MENA are digitally savvy, are active on social media and are some of the heaviest users of mobile phones in the world.

The successful adoption of M-Pesa in Kenya reverberated across the African startup scene. It acted as a catalyzer and a signal for young entrepreneurs in Kenya and Africa as a whole: revolutionary ideas could be successfully implemented in Africa and generate both business opportunities and a development path for local communities.

Founded by Peris Bosire and Rita Kimani, FarmDrive delivers productive digital loans and lay away savings products to smallholder farmers in Kenya, helping them grow their incomes and resilience.

Customer Problem: With excessive charges, high minimum investment required with complicated KYC processes and low interest rates, those wanting to save will typically avoid using their bank accounts. Instead savings are stored in cash or mobile money, with their value steadily decreasing due to high rates of inflation.

Competitive Advantage: ● Only company Mobile Money subscription payment in West Africa ● First Mover Advantage in Ghana ● Pan African team with previous founding experience ● Highly Scalable business model due to adoption Mobile Money in Africa ● Viral and high network effects inherent in our services enabling us to grow fast with less cost

Our Digital Banking business is anchored on a transactional banking model  with the following key services – Micro-loans, Savings, Agent Banking (designed to reach the previously excluded), Device Financing and Diaspora Banking. The Digital Bank’s flagship platform is branded “Square”.   The Square Mobile App is an integrated mobile banking solution that gives customers the ability to transact wherever they are, on services such as bill payments, funds transfer, banking services, nano loans, airtime and so forth. In line with our Diaspora thrust, we have also launched the Square World App, targeting diaspora customers anywhere in the world, offering remittances, and other suite of services as if they were back home

Cassava FinTech is a pan-African business using an integrated model to drive financial inclusion and digital transactions across the continent. Our core operations in Mobile Money, Social Payments Services, Digital Banking, International Remittances and Mobile Micro Insurance with presence in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Burundi, Lesotho and UK and partnerships in other African countries.

Cassava FinTech is a pan-African business using an integrated model to drive financial inclusion and digital transactions across the continent. Our core operations in Mobile Money, Social Payments Services, Digital Banking, International Remittances and Mobile Micro Insurance with presence in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Burundi, Lesotho and UK and partnerships in other African countries.

2) The rise of lending in different modes. We’re seeing consumer finance products like ValU and Qasatly, credit scoring tools like Raseedi, and credit solutions for businesses like Capiter. ROSCAs (Rotating Savings And Credit Association) based models like MoneyFellows and Elgam3eya are also becoming popular.

Over 2.5 billion of the world’s adults remain unbanked and have no access to formal banking or semiformal microfinance institutions according to a report by McKinsey.

Pula Advisors, a fintech firm reimagining agricultural insurance to protect smallholders worldwide, with operations in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Malawi has partnered with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) to deploy satellite-based agricultural insurance to smallholder farmers in Nigeria who are estimated to be around 18 million. With the partnership, Pula will install satellite technology to track a wide range of catastrophes cost effectively, at speed and without missing out on any areas.

“We hope that the high-quality yield and satellite data available today will enable local insurers and Pula Advisors to create an innovative yield predictive model that decreases the cost of area yield index insurance. At the end of the day, we want to make this product more accessible to smallholder families, allowing them to invest with more confidence and increase their yields,” said Emilio Hernandez, who leads CGAP’s work with smallholders.

BCTS has successfully implemented its HelloCash mobile banking platform and 8 000 agents network with 6 local banks and 2 microfinance institutions, making it the largest financial network in the country.This achievement has gained recognition from the UN initiative for financial inclusion, which was substantiated by the visit of UN ambassador for financial inclusion, her Royal Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands in May 2019.

With 17 strong through partnerships, across multiple sectors and an ownership structure in full compliance with the Ethiopian regulations, BelCash Payments-As-A-Platform model spurred numerous “HelloServices”. These services include airtime eTop-up, Pay-As-You-Go solar, Healthcare, eCommerce, Jobs, Entertainment, and many more, providing the Ethiopian population access to essential services through the HelloCash platform and agents network.

BelCash Technology Solutions Ltd. (BCTS) was established in Ethiopia in 2011, as a registered Value-Added Service (VAS) . It'main activity is to provides its digital technology platforms to businesses as a service (PaaS).

AgroCenta focuses on 3 key impact goals for Ghana:No Poverty: we are definitely improving the financial livelihood of smallholder farmers through fair trade. Many smallholder farmers are paid less than $1 a day and our objective is to increase it to $4 a day by 2020.Gender Equality: in Sub-Saharan Africa, traditions and land ownerships do not favor women, which ends up in many women being excluded from the agriculture value chain. By engaging the relevant stakeholders, AgroCenta rents arable agricultural lands to female smallholder farmers for free. Women are also given seeds, fertilizers, mechanized tractor services and extensive advisory information on farming best practices such as what type of seed to plant, when to plant, how to plant, etc.Decent Work & Economic Growth: we empower smallholder farmers to see agriculture as more than just a way to survive and position it as a viable industry that can be sustainable for their family.

Founded in 2004, Mukuru has established a powerful brand affinity with customers built on trust, reliability, and local engagement. The company has grown to operate over 90 remittance corridors, enabling more than 5 million individuals to receive funds to cover living expenses, school fees, medical expenses, and utility bills. Mukuru is supported by world-class regulatory and compliance systems, highly scalable technology architecture, and a comprehensive sales and distribution network.

The downloadable Branch app analyzes social and financial data on a borrower’s phone to determine creditworthiness before providing up to $20. Those with a “digital identity” too limited to establish credit standing can start off borrowing smaller amounts and climb a “trust ladder” to larger loans by timely repayment. Kiva.org, launched in 2005, facilitates more than a million dollars a week in small loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries by matching them with microlenders.

The downloadable Branch app analyzes social and financial data on a borrower’s phone to determine creditworthiness before providing up to $20. Those with a “digital identity” too limited to establish credit standing can start off borrowing smaller amounts and climb a “trust ladder” to larger loans by timely repayment. Kiva.org, launched in 2005, facilitates more than a million dollars a week in small loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries by matching them with microlenders.