Mastercard names 9 Africa projects for $9-million fund

ProCredit Bank Congo SA plans to contribute to the expansion and

revolutionary transformation of financial services inclusion by replication of an agency banking model throughout DRC. ProCredit Bank Congo SA will leverage technology (e.g., mobile banking), roll out new highly researched financial products and services, and develop a high level of customer service and emotional bonds with customers.

It also will develop unique business models (e.g., agency branchless banking) to revolutionize and deepen financial access to unbanked and under-banked populations in DRC, especially in rural areas where the majority of the population resides.

Apollo offers a customized package of farm inputs and advice on credit to rural farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers receive the package at planting and repay slowly until harvest, when loans are due. Apollo’s digital approach enables low costs and rapid scaling. Apollo acquires and enrolls customers digitally; credit-rates them automatically using high-resolution satellite imagery and behavioural, psychometric, and agronomic data; collects repayments using mobile money; and trains farmers on best practices via automated voice calls (“IVR”).

Apollo’s low-cost, low-touch model has the potential to scale-up rapidly to increase the incomes of millions of smallholders.

Agri-wallet, developed by Dodore, is a savings scheme to enable farmers to save for farm inputs and increase their agriculture production and income.

Agri-wallet includes two unique and innovative savings features: (1) automatic contributions, and (2) restricted spending.

Agri-wallet offers farmers a solution to problems such as lack of savings, mixing of personal and business funds, slow payments from buyers and diversion of funds, and lack of credit access. Agri-wallet uses technological innovations similar to blockchain, combined with social value chain integration and business process innovations like micro-transactions and lean production, to reduce complexity and process

costs. Agri-wallet has the potential to transform the rural financial landscape as it fundamentally changes how smallholders save and borrow for farm inputs, pertinent for their farming activities.

Easy Solar has an innovative solution to finance previously un-bankable customers. The company uses the sale of an entry-level solar lamp on a rent-to-own payment plan to build customer relations and density. The lamp repayment history allows for credit scoring and deep customer knowledge before selling higher value solar and other life-changing products on terms affordable to “bottom of the pyramid” customers.

Easy Solar’s tiered PAYG financing solution, backed by credit scoring-based on customer data to make its products accessible to “bottom of the pyramid” (BoP) customers, is very innovative in Sierra Leone. It allows the company to get to know its customers (and vice versa) and create customer density, thus making solar home systems and other products accessible and affordable to remote and low-income households and micro-enterprises.

FutureLink Technologies is scaling up the adoption and usage of MSACCO. MSACCO is a mobile banking switch that enables thousands of members of SACCOs to transact with their respective SACCO accounts and to deposit and withdraw check account balances and mini-statements through their phones and ATMs.

The project aims to boost financial inclusion by improving access, transparency, and convenience to SACCO members, and extending “bank-like” financial services channels to underserved farmer communities across Uganda. Additionally, it will extend the most cost-effective financial services channel to the target population.

SolarNow has seen a strong demand for agri-related financing after selling more than 160 solar water pumps in Uganda. To meet this demand and reduce the financial barrier for farmers to invest in agricultural products, SolarNow has fully tailored a flexible pay-plan scheduled to the seasonal cash flows of farmers. For agricultural appliances, flexible down payments and installments will be defined based on production and cash flow records of farmers.

SolarNow aims to offer innovative payment plans tailored to seasonality, launched through its existing in-house finance vehicle and embedded in rural areas through the presence of its branch network.