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Get the ability to provide banking services to people who were previously unreachable, thanks to a lower cost of risk and the ability to accurately predict future behaviour.

Unlock the value of individuals’ digital footprints and power a generation of entrepreneurs, small businesses and communities with real financial choice.

Credit Our lending products give entrepreneurs quick access to funds or asset finance. The loan amount, life cycle and repayment method can be configured to fit the needs of the individual. Savings JUMO builds and operates short-term, structured and long-term savings products that bear interest. They’re available to anyone who needs a safe place to store and grow their money. Insurance JUMO is able to work with underwriters and insurers to create standalone or wrapped insurance products to safeguard incomes, families, assets and businesses, no matter how small. Points We’re developing a white label points programme that can be used as a tool to drive and incentivise mobile transactions and empower people to build a personal, digital financial profile.

The financial services industry today is characterized by change. Investor interest and capital is pouring into fintech companies – digital banks, insurtechs, wealthtechs, proptechs and every option in between are shifting how financial services are created, offered and evaluated. New changes, new challengesThis shift has spurred many traditional financial institutions to take action. Yet, changes aren’t always straightforward. Financial institutions know they need to embrace innovation, and they also have to find better ways to understand and respond to their customers.At the same time, the shift has put a spotlight on a new area of opportunity for big tech companies like Alibaba, Apple, Google, Tencent and others. These companies have incredible reach, deep roots into their customers’ lives, and robust customer data. Big techs are also constantly looking for ways to provide their customers with more value, to enhance customer loyalty by providing a more integrated ecosystem. Most already offer payments solutions, so extending their offerings to include financial products makes sense. However, there are no strong indicators that the big tech companies want to become banks. The regulatory burden is so far considered too high for their appetite1. Forging strategic alliancesBig tech and financial institutions are already investing in fintechs to help advance their strategic goals. For example, Tencent led a $35 million investment in open banking focused TrueLayer in the UK this year2.What they are realizing that partnerships don’t have to be limited to start-ups – working together with established institutions can create value. Over the past 6 months, there have been a number of strategic business relationships announced, such as Google’s partnership with Citibank and Stanford Federal Credit Union, to offer smart checking accounts3 and Apple’s announcement of a partnership with Goldman Sachs to offer the Apple Card credit card4. These will likely only be the beginning. 

SimbaPay is a UK-based digital money transfer service serving Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana that delivers money via existing mobile money wallet services and using its SimbaPay app. Simbapay and Kenya’s Family Bank recently launched an instant payment service from East Africa to China. Users can send funds to China through Family Bank’s PesaPap app or Safaricom’s M-Pesa.

Founded in 2009, Paga offers digital bank services (peer-to-peer money transfer, bill payments, online payments, and payroll), achieving a wide reach in Nigeria.

Financial intermediation and financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa remain low, despite progress in recent years. Helped by reforms, the depth and coverage of financial systems in sub-Saharan Africa—as measured by the standard indicators of financial development, such as the ratios of private sector credit to GDP and broad money to GDP—have significantly improved over the period 1995 to 2013 (Kasekende 2010). However, on average, countries in sub-Saharan Africa continue to have a shallower financial system than those in other developing regions of the world (Figure 1). In terms of financial inclusion, only 20 percent of the population has a bank account compared to 92 percent in advanced economies and 38 percent in nonadvanced economies (Table 1). Underinvestment, poor infrastructure, and comparatively low levels of financial literacy have contributed to the region being underbanked.

Our work breaks new ground by including many customers that have never accessed formal financial services before. This is exciting, but also means we have a significant responsibility to make sure their first formal financial services experience is positive and empowering. That’s really important to us, so we’re open to testing, learning, sharing and collaborating – it’s a part of our contribution to building the digital financial services ecosystem.”

The response by banks right now to fintech disruption is critical due to the current stage of the nascent industry’s development. Fintech startups are broadly focused on the concept of unbundling banks, offering one type of product/service and concentrating on doing it VERY well.

Fintech, shortened from financial technology, is assumed to be a modern movement, yet the use of technology to assist financial services is by no means a recent phenomenon. Financial services is an industry that introduced credit cards in the 1950s, internet banking in the 1990s and since the turn of the millennium, contactless payment technology. Yet, fintech’s place in the public conscience has really taken off in the past three years:

JUMO builds its credit profiles using behavioral data gathered from mobile wallets, cell phones and transaction data.

JUMO is a transaction and predictive technology platform that partners with mobile network operators and banks to offer customers microloans and access to savings and insurance products. They are currently active in six markets – Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Pakistan – with plans to soon launch in India, Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. JUMO has helped disburse over $1.6 billion in funding to small and micro enterprises, and has helped connect over 15 million people to credit and savings services.

JUMO partnered with Uber to create JUMO Drive, a first-of-its-kind digital vehicle asset finance product for rideshare drivers.

JUMO partnered with Telenor and Telenor Microfinance bank to launch the first commercial product in Asia.

The first funding partner was introduced to the operating platform. JUMO’s partnership with Letshego Bank in Ghana enabled payment and capital providers to work together to build products.

A uniquely integrated international fintech ecosystem that allows customers to make online money transfers using mobile money, bank account transfers, and cash pick-up services. We built Africa’s first truly global super app to help drive our ‘financial inclusion for all’ vision. A multi-service technology platform that brings together digital payment solutions, on-demand services, instant messaging, and digital media services in a single, easy-to-use mobile application. In some of our key markets across Africa, we have been able to drive financial inclusion from under 10% to 70-80% through solutions that have helped to create thousands of jobs and business opportunities for young entrepreneurs.

A consortium of international financial investors comprising the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund (“EAEF”), Helios Investment Partners (“Helios”, acting on behalf of funds it advises) and the MENA Long-Term Value Fund (“MENA LTV”) (together, the “Consortium”) today announced it has acquired a majority stake in Fawry, the leading electronic bill presentment and payment platform in Egypt at a purchase price valuing the company at EGP 773 million, approximately US$ 100 million.Headquartered in Cairo, Fawry provides users with a secure electronic bill presentment and payment services solution, connecting consumers, merchants, governments and financial institutions on a consolidated gateway that is accessible through multiple channels, including Point of Sale (POS) machines, ATMs, post offices, online and through mobile wallets.  Since its establishment in 2009, Fawry has been at the forefront of electronic payments in Egypt, providing pioneering, innovative and convenient payment solutions to its customers. The company today processes over one million transactions a day and operates a network of over 50,000 collection points in 300 cities and suburbs across the country.

Avec cette prise de participation de 3 millions de dollars, Proparco soutiendra la croissance de JUMO. Elle contribuera au développement de l’inclusion financière des populations exclues du système bancaire formel. Deux tiers des clients de JUMO sont issus du secteur informel.

Fintech marketing is the sum of marketing techniques specifically tailored for financial technology (‘fintech’) companies. These companies are using new technologies to improve, and ultimately, automate, the delivery and use of financial services to consumers.

Financial services are rather dull, matter of fact aspects of our day to day life. In other words, dealing with personal finances is something we all have to do. But let’s be clear - no one will come to you with a big smile on their face and scream: “Oh my God, I had such an amazing experience opening a new savings account today.” That said, while financial technologies are boring, it doesn’t mean your marketing style should be boring as well.

FarmDrive - EWB Canada

FarmDrive uses data analytics to connect smallholder farmers with financial institutions and credit, enabling crops and farmers to flourish. And all through a mobile phone.

FarmDrive uses data analytics and mobile technology to create financial profiles for farmers through a credit scoring model. When the financial institutions can view comprehensive profiles of a farmer’s economic performance, they are more likely to approve loans.By unlocking access to credit, FarmDrive enables smallholder farmers to access: Loans to purchase vital tools and assets. Insurance to bolster to protect against the natural seasonal vulnerabilities of farm work. Comprehensive financial profiles of their farming operations: a useful resource in scaling to service multiple partners or larger supply chains.

Unique challenges are mainly regulations for Fintech companies usually being a grey area, without enough clarity on what exactly they might fall under.With lack of enough funds and diversity, fundraising is also another challenge for most of the startups in the MENA region.

Tackling these challenges, the EFSE Fund and the SANAD Fund for MSME, advised by Finance in Motion, have partnered with Village Capital and the LHoFT to develop the Fincluders Bootcamp 2017, unique investment readiness program designed for entrepreneurs offering inclusive financial products.

‘Financial Inclusion’ might be the most noble sector of financial technology, solving problems the traditional finance industry won’t — servicing underbanked demographics in areas with poor financial infrastructure.

We want to acceleratefinancial inclusion BezoMoney is not just a product. It is a growth experience. Our vision is to become Africa’s largest community-based digital financial institution by empowering people financially through their way of life to facilitate upward social mobility using digital financial technologies. We are community, we are a financial ecosystem and we exist to address all your financial needs.

We had the opportunity to be trained by Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) which allowed us to develop our skills and our product as well as secure seed funding for BezoMoney.

Digital financeAs the global economy recovers from COVID-19, one particular area of focus for FinTech is financial inclusion. According to the World Bank, there are currently around 1.7 billion unbanked individuals worldwide, and FinTechs will be central to efforts to integrate these people into the global banking system.Doing so will help to mitigate the economic and social impact of the pandemic. According to Deloitte, FinTechs, in strategic partnerships with financial institutions, retailers and government sectors across jurisdictions, can help democratise financial services by providing basic financial services in a fair and transparent way to economically vulnerable populations.Digital finance is also expanding in other areas. Health concerns in the COVID-19 era have made physical cash payments less practical, opening the door to an increase in digital payments and e-wallets. Though cash use was predicted to decline in any case, COVID-19 has hurried that decline, due to concerns that handing over money can cause human to human transmission of the virus. According to a Mastercard survey looking at the implications of the coronavirus pandemic, 82 percent of respondents worldwide viewed contactless as the cleaner way to pay, and 74 percent said they will continue to use contactless payment post-pandemic.In addition, improved ‘know your customer’ services are required to counter the rise in digital fraud and cyber crime since the beginning of the outbreak. As more of the global economic and financial system continues to move online, cyber defences will become even more crucial to protect data. Security-conscious FinTechs are designing their products with this in mind – even if face-to-face meetings and processes do return. Given the rising reliance on technology, digital transformation will be a primary focus for FIs in the months and years ahead. Whereas previous efforts to integrate technology may have been limited in scope, many FIs are awakening to the fact that in order to deliver an efficient, effective and sustainable banking service, they must adopt a more holistic approach to digital transformation, which includes utilising FinTech.

Carbon belives that access to credit and quality financial services is a human right. Its mission is to empower all people with the financial access they need to pursue a life of dignity and prosperity. The FinTech empowers individuals with access to credit, simple payments solutions, high-yield investment opportunities, and easy-to-use tools for personal financial management. Interest ranges from 1.75% – 30%, with an equivalent monthly interest rate of 1 – 21%. The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) on a Carbon loan ranges from 23 – 60.8%. The company recently launched its services in Kenya and is expanding its footprint to additional African countries.