FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY INCLUSION

1. To minimize poverty among the rural farmers comprising women  and youths and other vulnerable s groups to be  actors in digital economy.This will lead to improved well being of all family members due to  availability of financial literacy  knowledge and skills .

2.Digitize financial services and information  through diverse medial  accessed by the  disadvantage groups within the society at their respective locations  just like the well of members of the society.The services to be accessed ought to be customized to  according to the needs and levels of understanding of the vulnerable community members for it to benefit them since they are familiar with such local tools. 

3.Instance access to digital financial services will empower the vulnerable groups to gain confidence,skills and knowledge and attitude change  to be participants  in digital economy and hence improve  their income sources to mitigate on emergencies like COVID 19 pandemic  among others . 

The available financial literature's and studies have indicated that even the rural poor and vulnerable groups within the community at least possess a mobile phone  and also  have a way of accessing financial services and information even though such services and information is not well  defined to address their unique needs such as language barrier,lack of sophisticated phones like smartphone and televisions where most financial services and information are passed, with such disparity they do not participate fully in digital economy since some will have some misconceptions about technology itself in delivering financial solutions to them .Therefore my solution will be demystify technology as a superior  alternative in delivering the much needed  financial solutions.

In a developing counties through world, Kenya  inclusive we have majority of the vulnerable population living within the rural areas where they practice agriculture among other businesses ,usually they are faced  with poor or no internet connectivity,poor network coverage but some radio frequencies in local languages can be received.

Some of the factors which make governments not to be concerned with these vulnerable groups is the assumption  that their illiteracy levels are too low  and that they are reluctant  to try new ways of doing things.

The solution i propose is that i will work with Kenya's communications authority to get access to all rural poor and vulnerable s groups mobile phone numbers  and radio stations reaching such groups of people then i will prepare financial solutions and information which be shared with them  regularly in relation to business startups/idea generation, innovations,savings,credit facilities,investment options, online marketing .I will also access their feed back and respond to their concerns immediately.

The solutions is financial services and information will aim at ensuring that the vulnerable groups get skilled and knowledge and more so actively participate in digital economy to empower themselves  through buying,selling,consultancy and mentoring up coming entrepreneurs.

The processes to be involved will involve people who will be,regulators of communication in Kenya, telecommunication companies, creators of relevant content  customized to the targeted  groups, there will also be  disseminators or educators  to respond to the feed back from respective individuals ,monitoring and evaluation tools will also be availed to ensure objectives are well executed.

The appropriate technology to be used is radio,mobile phones,recorded CD,Tapes,video,printed materials,drones to distribute materials where necessary,house to house training,group training. labtops, ipad  and other ICT related devices 

The target population are rural farmers who lack vital information on best farming practices, marketing of their produce and money management practices.They lack financial services and information to support their enterprises.

The youth whose mindset needs to be well tuned to undertake other businesses apart from white collar jobs  which are scarce and yet they posses the skills and knowledge   to participate in digital  economy.They even lack financial information  and services since they do not operate financial accounts

The women who are are faced with gender based violence which devastates their ability start and operate enterprises .They are also segregated against owning property businesses inclusive.The literacy levels of majority of the women is too low and  do not even operate an account with financial institutions.

The disabled within the community feel left out and cannot fully participate in  digital economy unless tools which favor their condition is availed  and fell recognized and appreciated to exploit their potential.This group of people also lack financial services and information to empower themselves.

At the moment i'm trying to reach some of them by teaching them in groups  through  church meetings,though the challenge is that they mixed up with the well of and they shy to articulate their unique  and personalized needs and problems which which be addressed by the current solution that i'm proposing.

The digital solutions mostly will accessed individually and should there be need to elaborate one can reach me or other educators for a personalized service since we cannot apply one size to fit all vulnerable groups. 

With eve increasing levels of poverty among the vulnerable groups within the society, their active participation in economic development let alone digital economy will either miss or be minimal especially in the contemporary society which is full of uncertainties  or business disruptions affecting normal ways of life like COVID 19 Pandemic.The lessons learned from the experience of the current pandemic is that business can still go on as long as we appreciate new ways of doing things  using technology to offer most solutions such as financial technology. Therefore offering financial technology solution will be an inclusive approach  for all.

This is an idea which is on development stage.The idea has gone through a brainstorming stage involving some of the vulnerable groups  targeted by the financial technology solution.This was necessary to get their way of thinking for a solution that can help them participate in digital economy.

The idea is therefore is therefore owned by the targeted beneficiaries since they have always been  yearning for such a solution that meets their personalized  and unique needs

The idea has been tested  and validated in conjunction with financial consultants or experts to ensure the solution is doable  and sits well with existing  business  and financial dynamics which have been proved to offer reliable solution .

This is also an innovative idea with a strong value proposition to all users .It carries with itself the unique and well thought out processes  and seamless technology to execute it and promises positive results.

The innovation of my solution is anchored on a number of pillars namely;

1. Its all inclusive by consideration all the vulnerable groups without emphasizing only on those who are active in operating enterprises but intends to bring of them on board.

2. Resources will be disseminated using diverse languages which the beneficiaries will understand better  so as to apply the learning's.

3. Various culturally acceptable technologies will be used to reach beneficiaries where they are without  any hustle.

4.Diverse digital economy aspects will be covered since the whole program will be customized to meet the vulnerable where they are.

A solution of this kind will definitely  disrupt the market  and command many  followers for the sake of  improvement of livelihoods  among the vulnerable groups in our society.

The number who will benefit from my solution,

current number: 100

Next one year:1000

Next 5 years:6000

The following are ways of measuring progress towards impact goals;

1.  Number of farmers  of both genders actively buying and selling using digital economies 

2. Number  of youths  active in digital economy.

3. Number of  women participating in digital economy.

4. Number of  disabled  actively participating in digital economy 

FULL TIME           = 2(Two)

PART TIME STAFF =6(Six)

OTHER WORKERS =4(Four)

As a team , we regularly train and retain ourselves on our core business of developing practical solutions to address poverty reduction among the poor within our community.

Each of the team member are posses technical skills and right qualifications fitting to participate in this project.Hence the contribution from each team member is critical as they also come from diverse genders  and ethnic groups   to enable in identification of the vulnerable groups.

The composition of the project implementation team has experts as follows 

Name                               Role   Qualification                          Ethic group

 Dr. Fred Gichana Atandi-Team leader- Entrepreneurship      - Kisii

Dr. Sylvia Chebet            -Member       -Marketing                  -Sabaot 

Dr.Kadian Wanyama        -  Member- human resource             - Luhya 

Dr.Muganda Munir          -Member -Accounting &Finance           - Kisii   

What I expect from the solvers team  is some grant to facilitate on accessing digital economy tools for some  vulnerable groups to fully participate in digital economy.

Since the solve team have participated in many development programs,  i m hopeful that the above  selected areas needs some support to fast-track  their progress .

The following are some of the organizations i would like to partner  with in order to exploit my potential   and implement my goals;

1.MIT faculty

2.Solve members

3.Babson College in USA.

These institutions and individuals listed  above have proved that they can advance my idea to create an innovative product  and service which will disrupt the digital economy.