Quarter-bonds

Clandestine motorcycle-taxis are a major means for mobility especially urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Structural deficiency in government services has had this sector poorly organized. Local governments also face the challenge of providing adequate infrastructure that can harness the power of this sector to make it a veritable tool for economic growth. Riders battle with poor working conditions and an unfortunate lack of insurance coverage.

With Quarter-bonds, clandestine motorcycle taxi riders are served with a digital platform through which they can invest daily on infrastructural projects that enhances their working conditions. These investments are done through purchase of special bonds issued by local government and a percentage of periodic interest arising from bonds maturity is held back and ploughed into an insurance coverage scheme.

This project is easy to deploy from region to region, and can be scaled to other sectors like vendors, road site services etc. 

Since the economic crisis of the 80's, one sector that has witnessed an exponential growth in the informal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa is the transport sector. Clandestine motorcycle taxis(okada) has become a dominant means of mobility for both rural and urban areas. As job perspectives become limited for graduates and poorly educated youths, millions of them have plunged into motorcycle taxi riding. Despite the enormous potential this sector has in terms of job creation and mobility, the working conditions of the motorcycle riders remain appalling. Workers in this sector battle with daily issues like poor infrastructure, safety and lack of a flexible insurance coverage scheme. 

Quarter-bonds is a digital platform through which informal sector workers access, view and invest in proposed low cost and innovative projects that has the potential of elevating their working conditions. The local government through collaborative discussions with clandestine transport trade unions and private sector(e.g urban planning firms) design infrastructure like parking spaces, street lights, road repairs, surveillance etc. These projects are advertised on a digital platform and special bonds are being issued to this effect allowing for motorcycle riders to access and invest through unique digital codes that will be issued by their trade unions. 

About 70% of motorcycle-taxi riders in the city of Yaounde, Cameroon are between the ages of 18-35yrs. Averagely, a majority of these riders can read and write and have access to the internet. They mostly go into clandestine transport due to lack of descent alternative jobs. Lack of appropriate training and infrastructure has raised eyebrows to the safety of this sector. Most workers are left incapacitated and out of business when these unfortunate circumstances of sickness and accidents occurs largely because of their lack of insurance coverage scheme especially health insurance. 

At "Map&Rank", through our work of processing spatial data for improved inclusiveness in urban areas, we identify motorcycle-taxis as a major driver of economic growth in the City of Yaounde and thus propose innovative projects to municipal councils that enhances urban development to accommodate in a sustainable way the changing transport sector. 

Quarter-bonds will serve as that flexible investment scheme carried out by clandestine transporters and a percentage of interest arising from their investment is held back for potential insurance coverage. 

Quarter-bonds; 

_serves clandestine workers with investment scheme. 

_covers health and accident insurance through periodic interest from bonds. 

_improves urban development 

_increases local governments revenue collection(from parking fees, etc) 

This solution introduces bonds to clandestine motorcycle workers which act as an incentive for savings and investments and allow workers to be proactive stakeholders in shaping the future of their working conditions. 

There are a handful of celebrated initiatives working to transition motorcycle taxi riders to the formal sector. Worthy of mention is start-ups like Okada in Lagos Nigeria and Bee in Douala Cameroon which mimics the Uber model of connecting customers to motorcycle taxi riders through a booking platform. In some parts of Cameroon, credit unions (micro finance) have had a tremendous impact on clandestine workers by lowering the cost of opening up a bank account and access to micro loans.

This initiative however establishes a platform that fosters urban development through creation of infrastructure that helps clandestine motorcycle taxi riders to thrive while having a direct impact in lives of customers through insurance coverage arising from a percentage of interest held back. It is a self sustaining initiative and it creates a win-win platform for both workers and local governments, and also enhance dialogue between these two. 

Bonds have always been a reliable way of raising money for projects. Quarter-bonds is that flexible investment scheme done through petty daily investments of stipends. The incentive is that they will be investing in infrastructure that is critical for the improvement of their working conditions. 

Map&Rank does an assessment of urban infrastructure with potential of elevating working conditions of workers and design projects in collaboration with local governments and trade unions to execute such. Innovative urban planning designs will then be made or improved to accommodate this sector for long term sustainability. Projects designed are made available through the Quarter-bond Mobile App and workers select their preferred project for investment. For workers with low literacy levels and or lacking access to internet or digital devices, special points will be designated for them to purchase printed bonds.

As more and more people continue to swell urban areas through rapid urbanization, there is an unquestionable need to make these urban areas more inclusive. Such initiatives should be people driven allowing for conducive and participatory platforms through which individuals and sectors can have a voice and a chance to influence in a positive manner their working conditions. Quater-bonds offers one of such platforms that allows for meaningful contributions of clandestine motorcycle taxi riders to propose and act on initiatives that improves their lives and enhances the overall resilience of their sector.

With Quarter-bond investment platform, clandestine motorcycle taxi riders can access proposed projects within their local jurisdictions and flexibly contribute through purchase of bonds issued by the project owners which is the local government. A country-based platform or regional-based platform may then be developed sampling projects for various cities and towns. The social insurance coverage scheme is secured through local government partnership with an insurance company which sees these governments deposit a percentage of the periodic interest on purchased bonds to the designated insurance company or scheme. Workers can then access this insurance services using unique contribution I.D obtained during their start of investment in Quarter-bonds. 

Quarter-bonds is flexible allowing for the customer to contribute just as much as S/he is willing to. The bonds are divided in quarters which is a special bond scheme that allows the customer to purchase a single bond through multiple payments. Additionally, The digital app platform gives workers the opportunity to write about the daily problems they experience in their work. There will be a team which will constantly assess these complaints and make meaningful deductions,  recommendations and channel these to the appropriate quarters. 

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Those with low literacy levels and or in low internet connectivity environments can purchase printed bonds from designated  points. Help services are also offered in these points to clarify doubts of those investing.

Currently, our solution is in its idea stage pending implementation. Within the next one year we will be targeting to advertise and have about 10000 clandestine motorcycle taxi riders in Yaounde city using the quarter-bonds platform. 

In the second year, we will be looking to have about 30000 users of quarter-bonds platform.

From the third year, we will scale the solution to other Cameroonian towns and cities and intend to have about 300-500 thousand clandestine motorcycle taxi riders using the platform. 

From the 5th year, we intend to scale it to countries in West Africa and beyond to target >5million clandestine motorcycle taxi riders. 

Our goal within the next one year is to; 

-Assist urban councils to develop urbanization designs with potential of harnessing and improving clandestine motorcycle taxi sector. 

-Develop the Quarter-bond that allows clandestine motorcycle taxi workers to access and invest in such infrastructure. 

-Develop and broker an insurance coverage scheme between local council and insurance company that sees the health insurance of workers being covered with a percentage of the interest arising from purchased bonds.

-widely advertise service to target 10000 clandestine motorcycle workers within the city of Yaounde Cameroon. 

Our long term goals will be to; 

-scale activities to other urban areas and regions in Cameroon and beyond. 

-Achieve >300 thousand clandestine motorcycle taxi riders within Cameroon. 

-Scale it to West Africa and beyond to target >5 million clandestine taxi riders. 

Political instability; the political climate of Cameroon is becoming increasingly shaky. Protest and riots are becoming rampant and there is general sentiment of insecurity. This can act as a deterrent for investment. 

Mistrust of government and authorities; workers generally have a mistrust of government and local administration often feeling it will be marred by corruption. 

-literacy levels of some workers; workers with low literacy levels will have a hard time understanding the concept of change. 

-Time duration of bond maturity; As there is minimum of six months for bonds to mature, some workers might see this as a lengthy time that is not worth waiting and may be deterred from investing. 

In order to tackle the possible threads that could arise with this project; 

-Sensitization will be largely carried out to emphasize the importance of Quarter-bonds investments. 

-Trade unions will be used as focal point for targeted discussions with workers to instill trust. 

-Help points will be created to assist those with low literacy to access information and invest in bonds. 

-confidence building measures will be established through authorities and workers by ensuring dialogue and good communication.

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