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hindelquarrouti

Mobile money: A product of choice for women to send and receive remittances - 2 views

www.ifad.org/...41410919

Worldremit Fintech females

shared by hindelquarrouti on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Women constitute the majority of remittance recipients globally and remittances have an impact on both women’s actual income as well as on social normsRemittances are believed to directly touch the lives of 1 billion people globally, maintaining millions of receiving families above the poverty line with remittances often representing 60 per cent or more of household income.
  • Remittances are believed to directly touch the lives of 1 billion people globally, maintaining millions of receiving families above the poverty line with remittances often representing 60 per cent or more of household income. Globally, women represent almost half of the 258 million migrants and back home in the countries of origin, women represent the majority of remittance recipients.
    • samielbaqqali
      samielbaqqali on 12 Feb 21
       
      For people in need, WorldRemit has solved a big problem. It isn't just about women on the poverty line who can benefit from this program, but it can be done for anyone in need. I believe that programs that address social issues will easily win the trust of customers.
  • data from WorldRemit indicates that in 2014, 20.46 per cent of their female customers globally would use mobile money as payout mechanism compared to only 13.99 per cent of men.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • First of all, mobile money is significantly cheaper than cash-based remittance services
  • hichamachir on 12 Feb 21
     
    WorldRemit solved a huge problem for people in need. It's not about just women who are in the poverty line that can benefit from this service, but everyone in need can do so. I think that services that solve social problems can gain customers trust easily.
  • hindelquarrouti on 13 Feb 21
     
    World remit has introduced an advantage by increasing convenience security, and privacy which has clearly helped a lot in including unbanked females as they are inclined toward this kind of characteristics.
kenza_abdelhaq

AgroCenta CEO on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship in Ghana - 0 views

www.seedstars.com/...llenges-entrepreneurship-ghana

AgroCenta Ghana Specialized market

shared by kenza_abdelhaq on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Does being an entrepreneur in Ghana – and in a developing economy in Africa – presents any ulterior challenges you had overcome?Being an entrepreneur in Africa and in emerging markets, in general, is quite difficult because of the lack of structure and supports put in place by the government. It requires a lot of courage and persistence to get the simplest things done. Any simple tech solution that you might want to build can end up being a very complex challenge because it relies on services that do not exist or don’t work properly. Access to funding also remains a big problem for many entrepreneurs who will need money to test, pilot and scale a platform or a solution. Many investors are quite held back when it comes to making investments in Africa for an obvious reason: corruption.
    • nouhaila_zaki
      nouhaila_zaki on 12 Feb 21
       
      This excerpt is important because it reflects the challenges faced by AgroCenta in Ghana, i.e. corruption, lack of financing, lack of proper infrastructure, lack of government help, among other things.
  • Our business model is simple, we are a B2B business that generates commission fees on trade volumes from the businesses we work with.
    • nouhaila_zaki
      nouhaila_zaki on 12 Feb 21
       
      This excerpt is extremely important because it clearly states the business model of the company.
  • 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.
    • kenzabenessalah
      kenzabenessalah on 12 Feb 21
       
      AgroCenta is an extremely important concept because it is helping to increase farmers' salaries. Going from $1 a day to $4 a day is already an improvement.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • AgroCenta focuses on 3 key impact goals for Ghana:No Poverty: 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.
    • mehdibella
      mehdibella on 13 Feb 21
       
      as you can see this company cares a lot about the livelyhood of their farmers and is trying to provide them only with the best features that would make life easier which in fact the main things that they tackle in the SDGs.
  • Seedstars Summit has been phenomenal. It has put AgroCenta on a pedestal and in the spotlight of a huge community in Africa. The experience after the Summit has been amazing: we received a lot of proposals from potential investors, partners and other service providers keen on working with us for growth and expansion.
  • Winning the vote of the entire jury, AgroCenta from Ghana was crowned the Seedstars Global Winner of the 5th edition of Seedstars Summit. At Seedstars, we are convinced that AgroCenta will shape the future of AgriTech in Africa. Indeed, the start-up’s mission is to improve the financial livelihood of smallholder farmers through fair trade.
    • aminej
      aminej on 12 Feb 21
       
      Agrocenta will have a great impact on farmers in Africa since it will enable them to protect their production and have an insurace in case of any risks. It will also help them regulate the market of agricultural products in order to set a price for each one
  • We identified a missing gap in the value chain that was the capacity to access the market for smallholder farmers after they have successfully cultivated their commodities. Access to the market was a huge problem for millions of smallholder farmers.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      AgroCenta is fulfilling a market gap that is the need for smallholder farmers to access the market.
  • AgroCenta focuses as well as Seedstars on achieving the Sustainable Goals set up by the UN
    • sawsanenn
      sawsanenn on 13 Feb 21
       
      one of the main goals is to reach economic growth by empowering smallholders farmers to see agriculture not only as a survival solution but as an investment
  • 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.
    • hibaerrai
      hibaerrai on 13 Feb 21
       
      Agrocenta main goals are the following: first and the most evident one no poverty especially for farmers who are not paid enough. second, gender equality and finally economic agricultural development within the country.
  • A great team for sure! Our major strength has been a team made of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences and a deep understanding of the agricultural value chain. This asset allowed us to save a lot of time we would have naturally spent on trying to fine tune and launch the AgroCenta platform. Thanks to that we avoided making the common mistakes many new and unexperienced founders make.
    • ghtazi
      ghtazi on 13 Feb 21
       
      what we can understand is that having a great team is the key asset that led to the rapid growth of Agrocenta. cross-cultural team has been a plus for the development of agrocenta. it helped the company to save time and avoid making common mistakes that many new and inexperienced founders make.
  • Many investors are quite held back when it comes to making investments in Africa for an obvious reason: corruption.
chaimaa-rachid

Kiva (organization) - Wikipedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...Kiva_(organization)

female-owned-business Kiva loans

shared by chaimaa-rachid on 13 Feb 21 - Cached
  • As of October 2017, 81% of Kiva's loans have been made to women.[19] Kiva emphasizes supporting women because women can gain the most from microcredit. Patriarchy and a strict division of labor still dominate the societies of many developing countries, and women often suffer the most from poverty because scarce resources are often allocated to a family's males, rather than its females.
  • chaimaa-rachid on 13 Feb 21
     
    As it is known that when a woman wishes to create or develop her own business, the chances of obtaining a business loan are strongly against her. So Kiva is now helping women make their dreams come true.
nourserghini

Leveling the playing field for female entrepreneurs in Africa - Forbes Africa - 0 views

www.forbesafrica.com/...female-entrepreneurs-in-africa

Bismart Partnership Services Kenya

shared by nourserghini on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • A prime example of a digitally savvy WiT cohort member is Bismart Insurance, a web insurance aggregator based in Kenya. Channelling a solution-oriented shift to digital, Bismart Insurance was set up to address and resolve key pain points customers faced when purchasing insurance, including a lack of disclosure of essential information and the absence of a consolidated platform for insurance products. Coupled with its participation in the first WiT Kenya cohort and vision to expand into the digital insurance market, Bismart Insurance efficiently scaled its operations and saw over 100 purchasers by the end of 2017.
    • nourserghini
      nourserghini on 13 Feb 21
       
      This is important because it explains exactly the problems in the insurance field that Bismart is trying to solve such as lack of disclosure and absence of platforms. It's also interesting because the article mentions that thanks to Bitsmart's WiT participation, it was able to enhance its digital platform and increase the number of potential purchasers.
mbellakbail69

AgroCenta CEO on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship in Ghana - 0 views

seedstarslife.com/...llenges-entrepreneurship-ghana

shared by mbellakbail69 on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • 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.
    • mbellakbail69
      mbellakbail69 on 13 Feb 21
       
      AgroCenta is primarily a digital food and logistics network that generates shared value for local companies and small farmers. Their  business model is simple; it's a B2B company that earns commissions from the companies they deal with for commercial transactions.
ghtazi

AV Ventures Invests in AgroCenta, Supporting Digital and Financial Inclusion of Ghanaia... - 0 views

www.acdivoca.org/...f-ghanaian-smallholder-farmers

Agrocenta COVID19 Security

shared by ghtazi on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • AV Ventures, ACDI/VOCA’s impact investing subsidiary, recently completed its investment in AgroCenta, a technology-driven agricultural platform provider in Ghana. The funding made by AV Ventures is part of a US$790,000 pre-Series A investment round with other participating international institutions, including Shell Foundation, the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and Rabo Foundation, with support from AgroCenta’s strategic advisor, Qbera Capital.
    • tahaemsd
      tahaemsd on 12 Feb 21
       
      With the newly secured funding, agrocenta will widen the reach of its smallholder farmer financial inclusion programs
  • The digital services AgroCenta provides along the selected cereals value chain also improve the repayment of loans by smallholder farmers. The services provide farmers with an end market through the offtaking of produce and through facilitating the provision of high-quality agricultural inputs, which maximize their yields and productivity. To date, the average farmer on CropChain has increased their income by 35 percent and their crop yields by 40 percent, while reducing their food waste by 25 percent. AgroCenta has also made strides to promote gender and social inclusion; nearly half of its CropChain users and more than half of its microloan borrowers on LendIt are female smallholder farmers. 
    • nouhaila_zaki
      nouhaila_zaki on 13 Feb 21
       
      This excerpt is important because it introduces the results of using AgroCenta on smallholder farmers, ranging between the maximization of productivity, of income, reduction of food waste,to gender and social inclusion.
  • Founded in 2016, AgroCenta operates two integrated digital platforms in Ghana, CropChain and LendIt, to help address challenges related to smallholder farmers’ access to markets and financial services.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      Since 2016, AgroCenta operates 2 digital platforms: - CropChain: integrated agricultural supply chain management platform. - LendIt: allowing access to financial services like mobile payments, microloans, crop insurance.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Poor infrastructure and logistics prevent many smallholder farmers in Ghana from accessing large, urban markets where they could obtain better prices for their crops. Many of these farmers lack information on fair market prices, which leaves them susceptible to selling at low prices to middlemen. Without a strong credit history, many of them also have limited access to finance for purchasing high-quality agricultural inputs that would enable them to scale beyond subsistent production.  
    • sawsanenn
      sawsanenn on 13 Feb 21
       
      this excerpt shows reasons why smallholder farmers should consider agrocenta to increase their profitability and their revenues
  • For AV Ventures, the investment is part of its long-term strategy of providing innovative and catalytic capital to support growth-oriented small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) like AgroCenta that make up the “missing middle” of investment — too large for microfinance but too small or too early-stage to attract private equity investors. These SMEs are often the backbone of economies and potential drivers of innovation, but too often they miss out on financing that could enable their growth and longevity.  
    • hibaerrai
      hibaerrai on 13 Feb 21
       
      Agrocenta attracts more investors as it is considered among small and medium businesses that promote innovation. In fact, the fintech is specialized in agricultural loans, something not that common in the country.
  • CropChain is an integrated agricultural supply chain management platform that provides smallholder farmers with access to markets. Farmers use the platform to advertise their produce, while large offtakers or buyers of selected cereals use it to make purchases or enter long-term offtaker purchase contracts with AgroCenta. AgroCenta leverages the platform to source cereals directly from smallholder farmers to supply to large offtakers who have contracts with the company. This allows AgroCenta to earn margins between the price it pays farmers and the contractually agreed upon price with offtakers.
    • mbellakbail69
      mbellakbail69 on 13 Feb 21
       
      Agrocenta draws even more investment amongst SMEs that promote innovation. This extract shows some of the reasons why smallholders should consider Agrocentra for increasing the profitability and income .
  • “This is a significant milestone for AgroCenta, having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the COVID-19 backdrop, underlining the strength of AgroCenta and the importance of its mission. The demand for agricultural raw materials from offtakers in the brewery, manufacturing, and consumer sector is increasing exponentially because of the easing of COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place by the government of Ghana. Hence, this capital injection will help to secure purchases at fair and transparent prices from smallholders — a much needed lifeline for many who are at the proverbial bottom of the pyramid.”
    • ghtazi
      ghtazi on 13 Feb 21
       
      in this excerpt, we can see how agrocenta takes the pandemic situation and what are the solutions that the company adopts to face it.
mehdi-ezzaoui

Lending Marketplace Lendio Provides $500,000 in Microloans to Women Owned Businesses in... - 1 views

www.crowdfundinsider.com/...businesses-in-kiva-parntership

KIVA Fintech Partnership

shared by mehdi-ezzaoui on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Kiva is a non-profit lending platform well known for its microloan service targeted underserved markets globally. Lendio states that the program has now provided over $500,000 in microloans to business owners worldwide, 98% of whom are female. Lendio first launched the program in 2016. The company describes the program as part of its commitment to entrepreneurship and inclusivity. Lendio provides a microloan to a low-income entrepreneur for every new loan facilitated on its marketplace platform. This voluntary employee-contributed, employer-matched program reports a 94% participation rate among Lendio employees.
  • mehdi-ezzaoui on 13 Feb 21
     
    The importance of Kiva of empowering those business owners and knowing we're helping them keep their passion with offering microloans
mehdibella

AgroCenta - Greentec - 0 views

greentec-capital.com/...agrocenta

ghana Fintech Agrocenta

shared by mehdibella on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • AgroCenta brings all the stakeholders in Ghana’s agricultural value chain together to facilitate effective trading within its web and mobile platform. They target rural smallholder farmers and farmer-based organizations that have limited access to markets, logistics, or technology. AgroCenta works to improve the livelihoods of farmers by providing an all-in-one SMS based solution to access commodity pricing, offer goods for sale across Ghana, and an on-demand logistics service to ensure timely deliveries.
    • kenzabenessalah
      kenzabenessalah on 12 Feb 21
       
      I really admire the concept of AgroCenta because it is able to give smallholder farmers an opportunity to expand their business, which would then aid in providing for their families.
  • Agrocenta tackles some of the main market inefficiencies and challenges to growth for smallholder farmers within the agriculture value chain in Ghana and West Africa. Agrocenta works to improve the limited access to market information, to reduce the exploitative behaviour of local buyers and middlemen and to improve the transportation and logistics linkages between small rural sellers of agri production and the larger urban markets.
  • Business Model
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Agrocenta draws its revenue streams from the price difference between purchase prices (from smallholders) and prices sold to large off-takers. Agrocenta mobilizes a local network of agents and scouts, who work directly with the local farmer communities and engage in the pre/post-harvest process.
    • mehdibella
      mehdibella on 13 Feb 21
       
      Agrocenta's passion to change the face of agriculture in Africa is built on 3 core values, closely aligned with 3 SDGs. Agrocenta aims to create livelihood empowerement for smallholder farmers, help increase farmers' incomes and thus help reducing poverty.
  • Agrocenta’s passion to change the face of agriculture in Africa is built on 3 core values, closely aligned with 3 SDGs.
  • Agrocenta aims to create livelihood empowerement for smallholder farmers, help increase farmers’ incomes and thus help reducing poverty. Agrocenta aims to help ensure sustainable food security by working to reduce inefficiencies in the agricultural value chain. Agrocenta also aims to contribute towards gender equality by working with many female farmers.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      AgroCenta is actively working on empowering small farmers, reducing poverty, ensuring sustainable food security, and contributing to gender equality.
  • Agrocenta draws its revenue streams from the price difference between purchase prices (from smallholders) and prices sold to large off-takers. Agrocenta mobilizes a local network of agents and scouts, who work directly with the local farmer communities and engage in the pre/post-harvest process.
    • sawsanenn
      sawsanenn on 13 Feb 21
       
      this excerpt is important because it shows how agrocenta encourages smallholders farmers to develop their businesses and face challenges by offering them many financial solutions.
  • Products and Services A comprehensive agricultural services platform including: AgroInfo: provides realtime agricultural information and market prices to smallholder farmers AgroTrade: online trading platform offering ability to buy and sell agricultural commodities TruckR: on demand logistics solutions to deliver agriculture goods from rural aggregation points to urban markets and buyers AgroPay: financial platform allowing farmers to transact digitally
    • ghtazi
      ghtazi on 13 Feb 21
       
      these are the Products and services of agrocenta: agroinfo, agrotrade, truckr, and agropay.
samielbaqqali

GOODsoil VC accelerates Africa's fintech investment surge with $940 000 seed capital in... - 0 views

www.africanews.com/...-injection-into-ghana-s-zeepay

Zeepay Africa Entrepreneurs

shared by samielbaqqali on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Founded in 2017 by Charmaine Hayden, Orla Enright, Ashley Thompson-MacCarthy and Richard Mensah, GOODsoil comprises 50% female and 75% black partners, all young, serial entrepreneurs intent on becoming catalysts of economic growth for minority founders across Africa.
    • samielbaqqali
      samielbaqqali on 13 Feb 21
       
      Africa is growing in terms of potential and is having more and more young entrepreneurs.
  • Zeepay focuses on digital rails to connect digital assets. The company has a footprint in more than 20 African markets and, in April 2020, became the first indigenous company to be awarded the Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) license to operate as a mobile financial services company by the Bank of Ghana, the regulator of banking and financial services.
omarlahmidi

The Snapscan effect: how mobile payments made QR codes relevant in South Africa - Memeburn - 3 views

memeburn.com/...codes-relevant-in-south-africa

shared by omarlahmidi on 11 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • “Mobile payment systems are quickly becoming mainstream, and it will be fascinating to see how the more mechanical systems like QR Codes compete,” says World Wide Worx managing director Arthur Goldstuck. “Ideally, there should be room for any system, with each one finding its ideal niche. But there are no certainties in a sector that is moving so fast.”
  • According to new research from technology research company World Wide Worx, the format first took off in the country thanks to BlackBerry Messenger, where it became the quickest way to add a friend. In the past year however gained new life as mobile apps like SnapScan roped it in for payments at small merchants, flea markets and the like. By the end of 2014, the research says, more than 2.1-million South Africans were using QR Codes. Of those 1.1-million were male, with female users only marginally behind, at 1.04-million.
    • samielbaqqali
      samielbaqqali on 12 Feb 21
       
      It is not always simple to develop a new concept. The article showed that applications for QR codes were struggling at first, but I believe that in order to offer a new efficient service, you have to work on your concept and develop it, and SnapScan did an excellent job with that.
  • ability to provide speedy payments without the need for the large-scale tech investments required by the payment technologies emerging in more developed areas of the world.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • According to the research, QR Code usage is strongly age-related, with 673 000 users in the peak age group of 25-34. In contrast, the 15-24 segment amounts to only 471 000, while 494 000 are aged from 35 to 44. A similar number (425 000) makes up the 45-65 age group. Usage drops significantly with retirement age: the 65+ age group comprises 88 000 users. One possible reason for QR code mobile payment solutions such as Snapscan, Zappa, and FlickPay being so popular in South Africa is their ability to provide speedy payments without the need for the large-scale tech investments required by the payment technologies emerging in more developed areas of the world. This is especially the case with Snapscan, which supplies its merchants with a point of sale QR code and a basic mobile phone to track payments. This has allowed it, for instance, to be rolled out as parking payment method in Cape Town’s congested CBD.
    • mbellakbail69
      mbellakbail69 on 13 Feb 21
       
      Mobile payment systems are becoming popular quickly and the more mechanical systems like QR codes are successful it will be interesting to see. Ideally, I believe that every system should be able to find its ideal niche. But in a market that is evolving so rapidly, there are no certainties.
  • Flash back a few years and things weren’t looking great for QR codes.
  • Over the last year however, that’s changed in South Africa, largely thanks to mobile payment apps like SnapScan.
  • According to new research from technology research company World Wide Worx, the format first took off in the country thanks to BlackBerry Messenger, where it became the quickest way to add a friend. In the past year however gained new life as mobile apps like SnapScan roped it in for payments at small merchants, flea markets and the like.
    • omarlahmidi
      omarlahmidi on 13 Feb 21
       
      SnapScan is a mobile payment that changed South Africa
  • hichamachir on 11 Feb 21
     
    Creating a new idea is not always easy. The article showed that QR codes apps were struggling at first but I do believe that you have to work on your idea and improve it in order to deliver a new efficient service and SnapScan did an amazing job with that.
  • hindelquarrouti on 13 Feb 21
     
    SnapScan made a good move in introducing Fintech to developing countries through using QR codes as they don't necessarily require large-scale tech investments that are used in developed area.
  • chaimaa-rachid on 13 Feb 21
     
    In the article, we notice that QR codes struggled at first, but in the end, they did a good job in developing and making their platform better and attractive.
kaoutarchennoufi

Businesses With Impact: Kiva.org | HuffPost - 0 views

www.huffpost.com/...ess-with-impact-kiva_b_1761983

Network Community Communication Solidarity Love

shared by kaoutarchennoufi on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Kiva connects your American dollars with a female Palestinian farmer looking for capital to invest in fertilizer, or a Peruvian motorcycle business that needs money to buy tires to resell. On Kiva’s web site right now, Samar from Jordan is looking for a loan to buy a sewing machine to support her embroidery shop, and Julius in Kenya is seeking funds for flour and oil for his catering business. These are real people with real stories, and by investing in them, you help make the world a smaller place.
    • kaoutarchennoufi
      kaoutarchennoufi on 13 Feb 21
       
      Kiva's real value relies on the fact that it works hardly to connect funds with people in need all around the world. It allows people to communicate and shares ideas and inspirations all around the world.
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