Fara by Owoafara

1.7 billion people in the world are unbanked and 350 million of these people are in Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of these people operate in the informal economy and do not have the requisite structures and education which makes them financially excluded by traditional financial institutions. In Nigeria which is our first market with a population of over 210 million people, over 50% of this population live below the poverty line of $2 a day. 

Our solution is the Fara Financial freedom account. It is a bank account meets a financial education platform that can be opened in less than 2 minutes either directly if the customer has a smart phone or through our financial inclusion partner. This account uses an alternative credit scoring algorithm to determine their credit worthiness so that they can begin to build their credit scores. It also allows them set up a savings plans with savings goals and they are supported and celebrated through the process through simple SMS prompts and reminders.

They also receive micro financial education to help them know more about financial management so they can make better financial decisions with their money. The long term outcome is they would be able to rise above poverty, build a better financial future and become financially free with a Fara financial freedom account.

The target population are sme's and wage workers in the informal economy. There are 350 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa who are underserved with financial services and the majority of them are in the informal economy. They are currently underserved because they lack access to adequate financial solutions that will empower them to grow their businesses and live better and at the same time equip them with the information to make better financial decisions to rise above the poverty line. Our solution allows them to get access to a bank account without stepping into a banking hall through a local community member who is our financial inclusion partner or directly if they have a smart phone. This allows them to set a financial freedom goal, get financial education and be on the path to attaining financial freedom.

Our team in based in Lagos Nigeria which is the largest commercial city in Africa. As the team leader, I have had the opportunity to live in all the regions of the country as my Father was in the military and I got to travel all over the country and see the unique challenges people in the informal economy face. We also have a field team who is constantly interacting with our target customers and Financial inclusion partners to understand the needs of our customers so we can ensure our solution meets their needs. We also have bi-monthly outreaches and town hall meeting with our partners to provide them financial education as well as get feedback on them as we build out the product so they can empower them and adequately meet our customers needs.

We currently have over 300 active customers and 20 financial inclusion partners. Out financial education trainings and outreaches have reached over 10,000 people to date.

I am applying to solve because I believe it is a great platform to showcase a solution that addresses the root of financial inclusion. It is a good platform to get the right exposure, mentorship and access to capital that would help us build out the solution and scale it to the people who need it the most.

Fara financial freedom account is innovative because it uses technology and a network of financial inclusion partners to bridge the financial access and education gap in a seamless way that is sustainable and allows our customers to grow and become financially free. It is different from existing financial inclusion solution because it uses AI, alternative credit algorithm and also incorporates financial education to ensure the customer not only gets access to financial services, but is also empowered to make better decisions. It can change the market because the more people in communities who are equipped with financial knowledge and resources, the more those communities can rise above poverty. As a female founded company, our algorithms have been carefully built to also eliminate gender bias and over 70% of our customers are women and when women are more financially empowered, they uplift their families.

Our impact goals is to lift 100,000 people in the next 1 year and 1 million people in the next 3 years from living below $2 a day to become financially free. 

We measure impact by collecting the following data points

1. Number of customers acquired by Gender

2. Number of direct or indirect jobs created

3. Number of users on our platform

4. Volume of loans disbursed

5. Volume of savings generated

6. Number of partners signed up

7. Number of people trained

Activities

Financially inclusion partners are onboarded and trained to use our platform to open financial freedom accounts for members of their community.

Outputs

New customers use their account to set up a financial freedom goal and get access to financial services and financial information.

Short term outcome

Customers are empowered to make better financial decisions and get access to resources to grow their businesses and live better.

Long term outcome

Customers live above the poverty line and eventually attain financial freedom and are able to contribute positively to their communities.

Our platform is a web application that has integrated an AI chat bot, a text message API, a commercial bank payment API and virtual account API. We also intend to integrate a language chat bot that allows our customers access services in their local languages. 

Our team is gender diverse and it has 50% female and 50% male team members and it is led by a female founder. We also have religious and cultural diversity as team members come from various parts of the country.

Our key resource is our platform that has the account. The platform is distributed online and also reach our customers through our financial inclusion partners. Our key products are micro loans, savings and we intend to distribute other financial services like pension and insurance in partnership with other financial institutions. Our customer segments are sme's and wage workers in the informal economy. Our sources of revenue are loan interest, account transaction fees and commission from distributing third party financial services.

Our cost structure includes technology cost, staff overheads, marketing, partner commission and provision for credit risk.

We plan to grow our current revenue streams and we also have the opportunity of licensing our platform to be used by other financial inclusion focused institutions in other Countries. We have already received an indication of interest from a Credit union in Ghana.

We have generated over $127,000 in revenue and raised $100,000 in Angel funding from an accelerator.