Boosting financial inclusion of the BOP by digitising microfinance in Africa /
Today, a population of 650m+ people in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) lives in rural areas with limited or non-existent access to basic financial products and services. Existing service providers (e.g. insurance companies) lack efficient distribution channels to address this rural segment and only reach the wealthier, urban middle-class. The existing 25,000+ microfinance institutions (MFIs) in SSA have a trust-based relationship to rural clients and could bridge this gap, but cannot currently do so mainly due to inefficient, manual business processes. By offering awamo® 360, a cloud-based banking platform tailored to the needs of MFIs, awamo helps boost financial inclusion within a huge and still underserved market in rural Africa. In addition, awamo gains access to a massive client base. Currently, over 800,000 clients are being served via awamo® 360 in Uganda and Kenya. After going live in late 2018, awamo is pursuing a B2B2C business model and strategically has prioritized customer access. awamo is increasingly focusing on cross-selling essential services, such as credit default insurance. For its growth plans, awamo has raised a financing round with support from FASE.