Now reading: ZedCredit: Sentiment analysis in the design of womens savings solution

Financial Inclusion

Whether it is digital payments, resilience for MSMEs or financial integrity, much of our work is underpinned by the desire to create more inclusive financial systems and services. Cenfri has successfully implemented several multi-year financial inclusion programmes:

Making Access to Financial Services Possible or MAP (in partnership with UNCDF and FinMark Trust)
insight2impact or i2i (in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Mastercard Foundation)
Risk, Remittances and Integrity or RRI (with FSD Africa)
Remittance Access Initiative (with IFAD’s Financing Facility for Remittances)

Our view is that while financial inclusion targets (such as the percentage of adults with a bank account) are valid, they don’t tell you much when tracked in isolation. It is important to understand whether people use their financial services, and if so, whether this enables them to meet their needs. We have developed six financial inclusion measurement frameworks that outline this expanded understanding of financial inclusion.
Digital Transformation & Data

ZedCredit: Sentiment analysis in the design of womens savings solution

ZedCredit from Zambia provides access to savings, loans and a credit score via their mobile app. ZedCredit is a fintech based in Zambia that participated in the DataHack4FI Innovation competition, Season 2. ZedCredit was conceptualised and founded in 2015 by Tundwa Siyubo, a business graduate from Zambia’s National Institute of Public  Administration. It was registered in

Read More »
26 July, 2018
Digital Transformation & Data

Inclusive: Identification that removes barriers to financial inclusion

DataHack4FI in-country winners from Ghana offer a multiple-database-verification API solution to identity verification. A lack of verifiable identification presents a significant barrier to individuals’ access to financial services. According to Findex 2017, 20% of financially excluded individuals mention a lack of identification as the main reason. In sub-Saharan Africa specifically,

Read More »
26 July, 2018
Data enthusiast to data expert: resources for aspiring data scientists
Digital Transformation & Data

Data enthusiast to data expert: resources for aspiring data scientists

Business executives in Africa frequently bemoan the difficulty in hiring local data science talent. And so, when we advertised for aspiring and experienced data scientists to participate in the insight2impact DataHack4FI Season 2 competition, we were pleased to receive applications from over 190 people. Across the continent, it seems young people

Read More »
17 July, 2018
Financial Inclusion

A needs-based approach to financial inclusion measurement in Zimbabwe

Financial inclusion is an important tool for enabling development and improving the lives of the poor across the globe. Up to now, most governments and organisations that seek to measure aspects of financial inclusion have focused either on access or uptake of formal financial services. While these measures are important,

Read More »
28 June, 2018
Financial Inclusion

Why are financial services not used more?

Many people don’t actively use formal financial services. Understanding why can render important policy insights. This note unpacks the various drivers of usage. Usage at the core. Financial inclusion is recognised as a lever to support mainstream policy objectives like economic growth and human development. A key assumption is that the greater the

Read More »
31 May, 2018
Reducing the cost of remittances to and within Africa
Financial Inclusion

The curious case of migration and remittances in SSA

Migration is on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), both in terms of migrants going to live abroad as well as within the region. With an ever-increasing need among these migrants to frequently and securely send money back home to support their networks of dependants, one would expect formal remittance

Read More »
24 April, 2018
Financial Inclusion

Biometrics and financial inclusion: A roadmap for implementing biometric identity systems in sub-Saharan Africa

The World Bank (2017) estimates that 1.1 billion people live without proof of identity. Nearly 50% of these people live in sub-Saharan Africa, where 454 million individuals are excluded from formal identify systems. In Nigeria,  78% of the population or 149 million individuals cannot prove their identity. Lack of identity documentation

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29 March, 2018
Digital Transformation & Data

ZedCredit: Sentiment analysis in the design of womens savings solution

ZedCredit from Zambia provides access to savings, loans and a credit score via their mobile app. ZedCredit is a fintech based in Zambia that participated in the DataHack4FI Innovation competition, Season 2. ZedCredit was conceptualised and founded in 2015 by Tundwa Siyubo, a business graduate from Zambia’s National Institute of Public  Administration. It was registered in

26 July, 2018
Digital Transformation & Data

Inclusive: Identification that removes barriers to financial inclusion

DataHack4FI in-country winners from Ghana offer a multiple-database-verification API solution to identity verification. A lack of verifiable identification presents a significant barrier to individuals’ access to financial services. According to Findex 2017, 20% of financially excluded individuals mention a lack of identification as the main reason. In sub-Saharan Africa specifically,

26 July, 2018
Data enthusiast to data expert: resources for aspiring data scientists
Digital Transformation & Data

Data enthusiast to data expert: resources for aspiring data scientists

Business executives in Africa frequently bemoan the difficulty in hiring local data science talent. And so, when we advertised for aspiring and experienced data scientists to participate in the insight2impact DataHack4FI Season 2 competition, we were pleased to receive applications from over 190 people. Across the continent, it seems young people

17 July, 2018
Financial Inclusion

A needs-based approach to financial inclusion measurement in Zimbabwe

Financial inclusion is an important tool for enabling development and improving the lives of the poor across the globe. Up to now, most governments and organisations that seek to measure aspects of financial inclusion have focused either on access or uptake of formal financial services. While these measures are important,

28 June, 2018
Financial Inclusion

Why are financial services not used more?

Many people don’t actively use formal financial services. Understanding why can render important policy insights. This note unpacks the various drivers of usage. Usage at the core. Financial inclusion is recognised as a lever to support mainstream policy objectives like economic growth and human development. A key assumption is that the greater the

31 May, 2018
Consumer Outcomes

What can behavioural science tell us about the financial decisions of women?

Women are significantly less likely to use formal banking services than men, due to a range of barriers to access and use. A lack of gender-disaggregated data makes it difficult to identify specific ways in which women may interact with financial products and services differently than men. One area that is little understood

24 April, 2018
Reducing the cost of remittances to and within Africa
Financial Inclusion

The curious case of migration and remittances in SSA

Migration is on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), both in terms of migrants going to live abroad as well as within the region. With an ever-increasing need among these migrants to frequently and securely send money back home to support their networks of dependants, one would expect formal remittance

24 April, 2018
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