FutureAssured MicroPension APP

Less than 15% of the over 90 Million workforce in Nigeria are signed into any mandatory or voluntary pension scheme, what it means is that more than 70 Million Nigerians as at today have no active plans for their retirements. This is a DISASTER waiting to happen. Those without a Pension plan are not guaranteed housing, healthcare or feeding.

We are unveiling a fin-tech mobile based (APP, USSD and traditional walk-in or cash contribution) solution that would encourage young people (18-40 years) to adopt a savings culture.

Through our Solution, we want to ensure that future retired folks are well sorted through our long-term investments in old-people homes, quality healthcare and access to nutritional meals.

Once our solution is scaled regionally, prospective retired folks will be guaranteed good basic old people housing, proper basic healthcare, and access to quality meals, these are the long-term investments their pension contributions guarantee.

Nigeria has an active workforce of more than 70 Million folks who are not signed up to any formal or informal long-term savings that can guarantee them access to good housing, proper healthcare and quality meals when they retire from active work. This is a MAJOR PROBLEM.

Nigeria created a Micro-Pension Scheme to foster savings amongst those in the Informal Sector  - with less enlightenment campaign on the part of Government, less tangible ways to incentivize those in the informal sector who mostly live from hand to mouth and of course lack of creative ways to engage critical stakeholders at the grassroot to encourage long-term savings through voluntary pension contribution - the policy has failed to achieve its objectives.

Our solution targets those aged 18-40 as follows:

• Semi-literate but mobile savvy as they are self-employed or freelancers with no connection to the formal job market
• Those who are illiterate and not mobile savvy but belong to large informal but organized set-ups like trade unions and associations where information is dispersed with ease at the grassroots Educated and mobile savvy people who work with MSMEs that cannot afford to participate in the mandatory pension scheme by Government

Our solution serves literate, semi-literate and uneducated folks who are self-employed, Illiterate folks who work as micro entrepreneurs, petty traders, artisans, and those with hand jobs who belong to informal but organized trade unions and associations including educated folks who largely work with MSME’s that are not connected to the formal pension scheme.

We have designed our mobile solution in a unique way that guarantees them an old age where they can live in comfort – once they sign up, we will set a minimum savings amount contributed over their lifetime as active workers, this minimum amount will guarantee them an annuity plan that provides basic old people housing, proper basic medical care and access to affordable meals every-day.

As per CBN guidelines, a percentage portion of their retirement savings is marked as CONTINGENT WITHDRAWALS  - this is a portion they can draw upon on a weekly basis if they happen to fall on hard times such as temporary job loss due to economic shock.

From our engagements, the major concerns they have is what informed the development of our solution to intangible (retirement savings cash) and tangible benefits (old people housing, basic proper healthcare and access to quality meals).

70 million Nigerians do not have an active retirement savings plan. This is a MAJOR PROBLEM. Using our tech and mobile-based solution, we can INCENTIVIZE A RETIREMENT SAVINGS CULTURE using tangible/intangible benefits. Our solution aligns with DIMENSION ONE as we work to incentivize contributors in the informal/formal sector to become active retirement savings contributors. The problem, our solution and the dimension we have chosen are well-aligned to the challenge to ensure that informal/formal workers are encouraged to adopt a micro-pension scheme that guarantees a buffer in times of economic shock (contingent withdrawals) and comfort in their old age (tangible/intangible benefits).

The first innovative approach we took to bypass the obstacle of market penetration as regulatory requirements to venture into the pension fund management industry in Nigeria is quite HUGE was entering preliminary discussions with an old-timer Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) that hasn’t grown in terms of adopting technological innovative tools. Our ongoing discussion will lead to the creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle for the purpose of administering our tech and mobile focused micro-pension solution which will be the first of its kind in Nigeria and across the region.

All players in the Nigerian Pension Industry are focused on the Mandatory Contributory Scheme that targets large and medium sized businesses with lots of employees, only few of these PFAs have products designed for the Micro-pension market but these PFAs aren’t even promoting it as expected due to the unsegmented nature and lack of understanding of the informal pension market.

What makes our solution different are the additional INCENTIVES our solution provides in their future, we will be investing our resources in constructing the following: Old People Homes, Commercial Hospitals all around Nigeria that will offer free basic check-up for our senior citizens who had a RSA with us and lastly, investing in the entire agricultural value-chain to guarantee access to quality/affordable meals. No PFA in Nigeria has any of these value-adding services we have designed as part of our annuity plans when we set up an Insurance Company in future. We are the only Micro PFA offering commensurate tangible benefits.

Our solution proposes a new business model/process: Our target market segments have being stated above. We want savers who can actively contribute for 25 years at the minimum, so it means we have an age limit of 40 years old.

In onboarding micro-pension contributors, we have adopted a brick and mortar approach supported by technology – we will use our APP to collect scheduled savings contributions for the mobile-savvy ones, we will have 1,000 agent shops with 5 agents allocated to each agent shop spread across Nigeria that will collect contributions by cash whilst we provide self-help tablets/screens in our agent shop where they can make cash contributions or pay directly via deposits. We will also deploy the USSD option for those with active bank accounts. Our Agency Market Penetration Strategy will be commission-based.

The minimum amount a saver would contribute over the course of their working life is 5 Million Naira. They can choose a daily, weekly, or monthly savings plan. Over the course of the years, we will set up a subsidiary Insurance Company that will sell ANNUITY PLANS to those retired seniors. Their minimum retirement savings amount now converted to an ANNUITY PLAN would guarantee them access to proper housing, quality healthcare and access to affordable meals. We believe these investments will boost the economy but more importantly, provide buffer for our future senior citizens. This business model will be operated with the full complement of the World Bank as anchor to influence policy-change or refocus.

In Africa, we have what we call BLACK-TAX – Our old parents work all their LIVES with the hope that their children will take care of them in their old age so they never kept any active retirement savings plans.

Unfortunately, the so-called children are also burdened down by unemployment or underemployment due to no jobs, low wages, and inconsistent earnings. This burden has left old folks prone to sickness/early deaths due to frustration. I have old parents and their major needs are as follows: Proper housing, quality healthcare and access to affordable nutritional meals – with these basics met, they are happy and satisfied as they don’t have any major responsibility, they didn’t have an active retirement savings plan as they mostly worked in informal settings. Unfortunately, not many seniors in Nigeria have access to these basic comforts I have highlighted above. This a major cause for worry.

My theory of SIGNIFICANT/SUSTAINABLE CHANGE is that young/middle-aged formal/informal workers of today should be able to VOLUNTARILY CONTRIBUTE their LITTLE RESOURCES they gather as active workers into a retirement savings plan that guarantees them access to housing, healthcare and affordable quality meals UPON RETIREMENT. This will reduce the incidence of our seniors depending on struggling young men/women out there who are under pressure to meet their needs and that of their old FOLKS.

More importantly, the contingent withdrawal component of the micro-pension POLICY plan guarantees contributors access to weekly cash if they happen to fall upon hard-times where they lose their jobs or where the economy takes a nosedive like what we have today – in many ways, they are covered as they can draw upon a portion of their contributions till they return back to working and earning.

I also believe that their RETIREMENT SAVINGS INVESTMENT can also act as COLLATERAL for them to access micro and small business loans our business intends to offer through our micro-finance subsidiary, we intend to set-up in years to come. They can scale their small business whilst retaining their retirement savings account as active contributors. It is a win-win situation for all parties.

The huge cost associated with entry into the pension fund administration industry in West-Africa is quite high so we are adopting the same model of partnership across the region. All West-African Countries seem to have a micro-pension policy plan but these policies have failed to meet their desired objectives as many informal workers don’t see the tangible benefits they can measure their expectations against other than saving their hard-earned cash.

Our solution is that young/middle-aged formal/informal workers of today should be able to VOLUNTARILY CONTRIBUTE their LITTLE RESOURCES they gather as active workers into a retirement savings plan that guarantees them access to housing, healthcare and affordable quality meals UPON RETIREMENT. This will reduce the incidence of our seniors depending on struggling young men/women out there who are under pressure to meet their needs and that of their old FOLKS across the region.

Our business model using brick and mortar approach backed with simple and easy to use technological tools can be scaled across West-Africa when we deploy the same model as our informal settings and issues are similar across the region.

Like I mentioned earlier, the World Bank will be our anchor to influence policy changes that allows micro-pension operators offer tangible benefits based on the tangible value we have created, we believe that this can be scaled easily across the region. If the regulatory bodies refocus their micro-pension policies, we believe that more folks within the informal sector will be prone to embracing a long-term savings culture. 

Our tech and mobile-based solution is very user-friendly. The interface of the APP is easy to navigate and once the APP is opened, it shows three layers of information that states how much is in the Retirement Savings Account, How much is available in the Contingent Withdrawal Account and How much they have in their Savings or Investment Account if they choose that option. We will also integrate a payment gateway on our platform connected to the NIBSS to enable users transfer monies easily to their Retirement Savings Account. We will also deploy the USSD option for those with active bank accounts. In addition, as we onboard micro-pension contributors who aren’t tech or mobile-savvy, we have adopted a brick and mortar approach supported by technology – we will have 1,000 agent shops with 5 agents allocated to each agent shop spread across Nigeria that will collect contributions by cash whilst we provide self-help tablets/screens in our agent shop where they can make cash contributions or pay directly via deposits. Our Agency Market Penetration Strategy will be commission-based. We will also ensure that our brick and mortar approach engage localized agents who understands and knows the community. Agents on the field will be given tablets so they update contributions made by our contributors. Every contributor will get an SMS confirmation immediately once their payment is received either via cash or electronic transfer. Looking at what is in existence, it will be easy to scale this model across the region.

We would be using third party’s API to integrate payment Gateway, Verify Identity, Complete KYC and integrate with bank and the National Pension Commission. We would also create Secure Open-End API to enable integration to other system e.g. integrate company payroll systems where applicable etc.)

That is why we are deploying Agency Shops across 1,000 locations in Nigeria, every Agency shop will have 5 Local Agents who understands and knows the environment very well. These agents will move around with tablets and these contributors will receive immediate alerts once cash is collected. Even those with less education understands basic plus and minus when it comes to cash and money so we know that they would be able to follow the details of their daily, weekly, or monthly contributions. Through this model, issues around low connectivity and less literate users are tackled.

Our solution is in PROTOTYPE STAGE, we cannot begin to operate without crossing regulatory hurdles. We need to conclude final designs on securing the APP and making it publicly available to be deployed. The funds from the World Bank will enable us to cross the finish line of wrapping up the design and deployment of the APP.

Based off our plans, we should be serving 3,000,000 customers at the end of one year.

In 5 years, we should be serving 15 million customers across Nigeria.

Our goal is to ensure that our solution directly and meaningfully impact 15 million folks at every given time on an annual basis. We intend to expand that number to 50 million individuals in 15-20 years as our TRUST CAPITAL improves within the informal sector.

Our goals within the next one year are as follows:

Get our Special Purpose Vehicle Agreement up and running – the level of involvement from the World Bank will speed up such discussion with our potential partner. The financial requirement to register a Pension Fund Administrator in Nigeria is 1 Billion Naira (Almost 2.7 Million Dollars), we can’t afford that reason we want to partner with an existing PFA to enable us penetrate the market and strictly focus on the micro-pension market that is largely untapped. With our partnership, they would transfer their existing micro-pension contributors to our tech-based platform and that will give us the leverage we need to raise capital from venture capitalist/investors.

Our focus will be to raise between 10-15 million Dollars to enable us to scale our operations immediately

With this extra investment, we will be able to deploy our 1,000 Agency Shops across Nigeria and contract 5,000 Individuals who live within these vicinity to sign up retirement savings contributors. Each agent will have a modest target of signing up 3,000 prospective contributors within 12 months.

We will begin to engage with trade associations, unions, and SME forums/associations to design a mutually beneficial partnership that would ensure our solution signs on their members enmasse

In 5 years, we would begin regulatory groundwork to establish our subsidiary businesses (insurance and microfinance bank)

We would also begin to deploy our investments into real estate, hospitals, and agriculture to foster our long-term goals for our retirement savings contributors.

Financial Barrier: You need approximately between 2.7 – 3 million Dollars to register as a Pension Fund Administrator

Technical Barrier: As the promoter of this venture, I do not have any software or application development skills

Legal Barrier: We might face regulatory issues around the value we are creating for our prospective market in the informal sector. The Pension Commission might kick against such citing undue advantage

Cultural Barrier: Nigerians are not used to thinking long-term and even if they do, they believe in the BLACK-TAX of fending off their children who they have toiled for, many young people possess such a mindset today and barely think about the next 5-45 years of their lives. Breaking this age-long thinking will take a lot of sensitization and campaign side by side our marketing efforts.

Market Barrier: There is none directly that I can think about, but we will need a lot of monies to run a massive on the ground campaign through our contracted agents. This will enable us to reach the grassroots but at the same time give our brand the kind of mileage and presence it needs to penetrate the market seamlessly.

Financial Barrier: To overcome this barrier, we are currently in preliminary talks with a PFA that is not so BIG yet on Technology Innovations. We are discussing establishing a Special Purpose Vehicle that will enable our business focus strictly on the micro-pension market. This will save us almost 3 million dollars

Technical Barrier: My business partner runs a software and app development IT Firm, he is the one with the technical expertise for this project. I am more of the front-end Business Development guy so our skills complement each other.

Legal Barrier: Through intense lobbying and riding on the back of the World Bank, we would love for our Pension Commission to expand the benefits Contributors at the Micro-pension level enjoy when they sign up on our platform. This will enable more Nigerians in the informal sector sign up. We will also lobby for new rules to be set for players who want to operate strictly in the micro=pension market

Cultural Barrier: With those tangible benefits starring Nigerians in the face, it will be easier to break the long-held belief that your children should take care of them in their old age because they would be able to see for themselves  how saving voluntarily will benefit them in the long run.

Market Barrier: The endorsement/support from the World Bank will set the stage for our business to attract additional funding of 10-15 million dollars to enable it to scale its operations across the Nation through our one year plan.

N/A

We have 5 Technical Software Developers working on this solution at the back-end, we are constrained by paucity of funds to develop the the full scale solution as it involves a lot of money to build a FinTech Solution and of course secure the solution.

We also have 5 other Individuals who work part-time on the front-end scouting for partners and investors.

I coordinate the efforts of every member of the Team as CEO and Senior Partner 

As Team Lead and CEO, I work as the Director and Head of Operations for the University of Lagos, Nirmala Chellarams Centre for Entrepreneurship Skills  - an on-campus Enterprise Development Centre that teaches and promotes entrepreneurship education across Nigeria. I am also a licensed Central Bank of Nigeria Enterprise Development Facilitator  - Prior to this solution, I started off a small start-up Food Delivery Business that services Corporate Clients in Lagos, Nigeria. I also co-founded an Agribusiness. Away from this, I act as process re-strategy consultant for a number of MSMEs that generates revenue in excess of 1 million dollars and above, I help package and prepare their businesses to access funding within the private equity and investment industry. I help these businesses create structure, processes and a governance system that ensures they are creating and building sustainable and profitable businesses that has a large percentage of retained earnings after expenses. I bring these wealth of experience as being the front Man managing this business. My interpersonal skills and can do spirit has been valuable in establishing preliminary discussions with our prospective partner Pension Fund Administrator. Other members of my Team play a silent supportive role as I assign them task and responsibilities. I have an IT expert who manages our Team of Software Developers at the back-end, he has commensurate experience and knowledge about developing tech solutions.

We have no partners we have any legal agreement with at the moment, we are still in preliminary stages of discussion with a Pension Fund Administrator who hasn't defined market leadership by way of using tech tools to promote their business, getting a license to do the pension business in Nigeria requires that you pay 2.7 million dollars first to the regulatory body, our proposed partnership based off value is how we propose to close this gap and get our business into the pension industry.

Our business model is premised on offering tangible and intangible benefits those who open a Pension Savings Account with us will enjoy over time. Kindly note that the Pension Industry in Nigeria is heavily regulated so no private sector player can do anything outside the purview of what the regulator says. Private businesses can only work within the ambit of what is permissible within the regulation.

For our customers, the tangible benefits we offer comes through our future annuity plan (The Insurance Company Subsidiary we intend to set-up) where we can so they enjoy benefits such as quality old people housing, proper basic healthcare and access to affordable food after retirement.

The intangible benefits are the retirement cash withdrawals they get after retirement

During their work life, they can also enjoy access to a portion of their savings in their contingent account as per the regulation that governs the micro-pension industry

Every old man or woman in Nigeria only desire for the basic comfort of life (housing, healthcare and feeding), once these basics are available, they will be alright and comfortable. These are the impacts we intend to make.

The regulation allows micro-pension players earn N80 per minimum monthly contribution of N5000 as commission on service provided to those who have a retirement savings account. Our business goal over the first 5 years is to onboard 15 million Nigerians in the informal sector, a small percentage compared to the large swath of young people who make up our informal sector

The micro-pension regulation allows micro-pension players earn N80 per minimum monthly contribution of N5000 as commission on service provided to those who have a retirement savings account. Our business goal over the first 5 years is to onboard 15 million Nigerians in the informal sector, a small percentage compared to the large swath of young people who make up our informal sector. 

 The least amount of our retirement savings account we will be marketing is N5,000. Our business is about NUMBERS, the more folks who sign up to our pension products, the more revenue our business can generate. Our immediate plan upon winning this competition is to conclude the development and deployment of the APP after which we will consummate our partnership relationship with this existing PFA we have started preliminary discussion with. 

Once we have created our SPV, we will begin the onboarding of their existing micro-pension contributors whilst we begin to establish relationships with critical stakeholders in the informal sector that can guarantee us a large market. Whilst we will be focused on increasing our numbers, we will be on the look-out for Venture Capitalist to raise extra capital of between 10-15 million dollars, part of our sales strategy is to penetrate the entirety of Nigeria through 1,000 Agent shops spread across Nigeria, these agents shops will have 5 field agents who will be armed with tablets and smart devices to onboard customers within the largely informal pension market. We will also utilize traditional and digital media campaigns.

None at the moment as we are just a prototype solution

Yes, we intend to raise FUNDS from the venture capital market.

We intend to raise 10-15 Million Dollars, this will allow for our expansion of our Nigerian Market utilizing 1,000 Agent Shops and 5,000 Field Agents, we will also use the money to strengthen our tech solutions and offerings by buying tablets, smart devices, bulk sms platforms and of course fixing smart screens at our agent shops as a way to track real-time all the monies been collected on the field.

For other markets, if our model can work perfectly in Nigeria then we will be able to replicate this model across the region.

Construction of a safe and globally standard APP, Purchasing Tablets, Smart Devices and all the licensing and registrations to operate a FINTECH Solution (Wrapping work on our prototype): 40,000

Aggressive Marketing Efforts/Advertising Campaign: Utilizing Digital and Traditional on the ground Medium: 70,000 (With this, we intend to scale registrations on our platform to 1 Million Retirement Savings Account Owners)

Human Resources 8 Months Plan: 40,000 

Other Operational Cost: 10,000

The MBC goals aligns with the concerns I have expressed that less than 15% of Nigerians in our active workforce have a pension or retirement plan - this is a future disaster waiting to happen - there is no way a country can survive on such structures where her senior citizens are not well catered for - for me, I applied for this challenge so the World Bank Grant can enable our company complete the prototype solution we have developed, winning this competition in Nigeria will give us the leverage we need to negotiate a fair deal in setting up a special purpose vehicle in order to enable us penetrate the micro-pension industry. We will leverage on the win and the World Bank to also expand our market size once our SPV is consummated and our solution is LIVE. The World Bank has developed this program as a way to solve a real problem in Nigeria/the region, I can tell the panel of judges for free that our tangible/intangible short, medium/long term value is the right answer to this problem the World Bank wants to solve, Nigeria and countries in this region are a very unique market so value must be seen/felt and value must be mutually beneficial. Part of our big picture is to ensure that we give out soft small business loans to our savers so that way, they are encouraged to keep saving as they generate revenue for their small business. It is a WIN-WIN SITUATION

For starters, we have started preliminary discussions to enable us establish a special purpose vehicle company with an existing Pension Fund Administrator as a way to break entry barrier of huge licensing cost.

Once we have established that relationship, we will begin to build relationships with organized systems within the informal sector where we can get customers enmasse based off the follower-the-local-leader model they have incorporated into their operations that makes it easy to influence them from the top.

Lastly, we will require funding partners who are willing to grow with us as we intend to establish an Insurance Company and a Microfinance Bank that would serve these customers we will be pooling into our fold, we need to constantly give value so they remain loyal contributors over their lifetime.

At this time, I would want to keep those names in mind as we have to establish concrete rapport and build a sustainable solid relationship before we get sabotaged even before we take off.