MarketMoney

MarketMoney mitigates the issue of the missing middle class by providing a mechanism for informal sector workers to formalize their work patterns and behavior. On this application, workers can easily log in transactions ranging from revenues, costs, and inventory. Therefore, we can work to gauge a rough estimate of income levels and commercial activity. Subsequently, governments can properly identify an estimate of local income levels and plan relief initiatives accordingly. This app would aid those who fall into the missing middle in jobs such as street vendors by allowing them to be formally recognized by their governments. In difficult situations such as Covid-19, these workers would be able to be identified and aided. 

According to a Brookings Report, informal labor accounted for 70% of working hours on the African continent (Fox 2020). Looking at the West African region, specifically in Ghana, 80% of the Ghanaian workforce is in the informal working sector (Osei-Boateng 2011). One of the common problems plaguing the informal working sector is uncertainty of job performance and income. MarketMoney will work to prevent this uncertainty and risk that many of these unidentified workers face especially in times of need. One of our main incentives that turn MarketMoney from a “need to have” instead of a “nice to have” is that through a collective effort of tracking work-related revenues, workers can be properly identified by their governments. Furthermore, MarketMoney works to ultimately combat the issue of financial illiteracy by giving those in informal sectors the ability to track their work-related purchases and plan ahead for unforeseen circumstances. 

Our target market is any adult laborer who works in a job that is not formally recognized. For example, this could be a street vendor or a basket weaver. The main way I identified their needs was looking primarily at the usage of financial technology within the Continent. There has been a sharp increase in the amount of personal savings through mobile methods. The rapid access to smartphones combined with an increase in mobile transactions indicates that there is room for digital methods such as MarketMoney to assist. We understand that users may be wary to input information out of concern for government taxations. MarketMoney profiles will be anonymous to protect their privacy and to mitigate the risk of conflict of interest with the government aid. We will rely on existing Mobile Money platforms to crossover the data harvest, while users still input data to MarketMoney, in order to obtain accurate transaction data and protect their privacy.  Our main way to engage will be through utilization of Geo-identification on the application. We will use Geo-identification in typical market hotspots (ie. Makola Market in Ghana) to make announcements to include and update users on relief initiatives and encourage participation

The main problem that MarketMoney tackles is the issue of informal laborers not being able to be identified for government relief programs and not being able to financially plan ahead. Our solution, MarketMoney, is an application that gives these workers the opportunity to track work-related finances and as a result, be seen by their local governments. This relates to the overarching World Bank theme of using interoperable ID systems because this application can be used across different countries and currencies and regardless of whether or not people have registered bank accounts. 

MarketMoney is a breath of fresh air and innovation because it essentially builds itself. Through the collective utilization of data inputs, MarketMoney can present trends in economic behavior, without extensive surveying or research. Similarly, while it obtains data, it also helps users to be more financially aware and stable. Because it encourages workers to log in their transactions, users can plan ahead and better understand their financial situations. Some of our competitors can actually help supplement our mission. We will rely on existing Financial Technology platforms such as Mobile Money to receive better transactional information. Since a large part of our target market already utilizes platforms such as these, we can find a way to enter the market in a beneficial way to both our target audience and our competitors.  

Our theory of change follows the the following process line: logged financial transactions, government identification, subsequent relief efforts, and better financial standings. We believe that MarketMoney attacks the issue by both making it easier for governments to identify those who fall below typical income levels in the informal labor sector (governments would determine that mark), and then be able to aid laborers accordingly. While this occurs, users who are inputting their financial transactions are also able to better understand their financial situations and plan ahead. In the long term, governments should have a benchmark income level for the "missing middle" to be able to identify those who are experiencing difficult circumstances in order to provide aid. 

MarketMoney can be used as a method for governments to recognize an estimate of the economic patterns and activity within their country. We will provide the data and information that governments can then supplement in their relief programs. Instead of governments having to do extensive field studies or research, MarketMoney will act as a way of informing governments of the trends. Governments can then recognize if the trends are lower than normal due to circumstances such as Covid-19, or if the informal labor sector is improving. While the data from MarketMoney wouldn’t be the exact measure of economic performance, it is a step in the right direction of identifying trends in this working population.   

The framework of MarketMoney is for users to log in transactions. These logs can occur regardless of whether users are online or offline. However, in order for these data points to be recognized, users would ultimately need to be online at some point. Despite this, users can utilize the tracking functionalities without having constant access to internet. 

2 people:

Alexis Elliot

Napthal Haya

Alexis Elliot is a rising junior at Harvard University pursuing a degree in Economics, Political Science, and Spanish. Alexis is passionate about international economic development,  and she has had the opportunity to explore this interest through her past internship at the Ministry of Finance in Ghana (her country of origin). She also brings an entrepreneurial spirit having founded and run her own business platform, EduPair. EduPair is an online e-learning website with the goal of globally connecting students to further enhance their educational experiences. Through EduPair, Alexis has pitched her business idea to Warren Buffett after being a finalist in his nationwide competition, written a comprehensive business plan, and filed for a trademark. She has also worked to create a wireframe and minimum viable product to turn her idea into reality. 

Napthal Haya is the founder of a social entrepreneurship project in Kenya, the combination of transferable engineering skills and the commitment to social impact have been the drive behind his passion for economic revolutions. He has spent most of his life in Kenya including a two-year banking experience, which revealed to him the benefits of formalizing the informal work sector. Close interaction with West African students at Harvard college and at a World Bank conference in 2018 have given Napthal a better understanding of the undocumented informal work sector in West African countries and the Mission Billion Challenge is a big opportunity to implement the team's solution

Our idea is still in the ideation phase, therefore we believe that this Challenge can help us in fleshing out our ideas further and finding a way to properly execute the application. Secondly, since we are dealing with financial services, we would need guidance on the legal measures of implementing financial technology. We want to be able to be well equipped during our transition from ideation to product, and we believe that through partnerships and the direction of the World Bank we can achieve that