Jubi - An AI solution towards financial inclusion

Global Financial illiteracy rates stands at 66%, while in Asia it is 87% (S&P Survey, 2015). Financial inclusion then becomes a major hurdle towards having citizens participate in their economies to the best of their capacities. By providing customised personal finance tools, JubiMoney seeks to eliminate this problem. Jubi.ai’s simplified AI driven technical solution builds upon the idea of a financial mentor on the palms of the user’s hand in a more cost effective and quick manner. Available on multiple platforms, we use NLP compiled over our interactions with over 25 financial clients to generate an inclusive financial tool in multiple languages. Being an AI based tech solution powered by NLP our service learns user trends over a period of time getting better at its interactions. The more global our database grows the better our customised financial plans it can share. Scaling hence makes the product more comprehensive.

Our solution addresses the core problem that comes under Community driven solution. Our solution will ensure all citizens can overcome barriers to civic participation and inclusion. A key problem that the technology will solve would be to bridge the gap between citizens and their financial knowledge especially since 66% of the world is currently financially illiterate. If financial literacy is addressed, citizens will have the power to go ahead and exercise other congruent rights including other socio-political rights. Once we master this issue within India and Asia we could potentially scale it. Using technology to address financial literacy is one of the most efficient ways to promote financial literacy since it is a cost efficient, standard way of learning which is available to anyone with access to the platform. With smartphone penetration expected at 84% by 2022, with 859 million users. Teaching through the use of smartphones and other platforms will have the maximum reach.

Since our product is a digital product, it is available to anyone who wishes to interact with it. However, the primary goal for the team would be to target Millennials. India with 450 million millennials, has about 45% Millennials as part of its 1.2 billion population. Globally Millennials make up of a quarter of the total population at 1.8 billion. Keeping this in mind, the product hopes to ensure that young people have the opportunity to be financially literate so that they can continue to reap the benefits of this knowledge for a greater period in their lives. Having been born and raised during the information explosion age, Millennials and the subsequent generations to come are either technologically savvy or technological natives. This means that they  are more oriented towards technology than ever before, we wish to capitalise on this trait so that maximum number of people can be more engaged towards their financial literacy.

We have built a comprehensive voice first AI based technology, available on multiple platforms and in the vernacular. The phone is the chief hub to dispense a financial tool to unleash the power of financial inclusion for the user. The AI based technology uses deep data collated from our interactions with over 25 financial powerhouses. In the process, we have developed an industry leading financial tool led by behavioural principles. Being an AI based technology that uses NLP (Natural Language Process), we get better over time as the user database increases which allows for better customisation for each subsequent user. These help us bridge the gap between financial awareness, education and inclusion. We lay special emphasis on the vernacular because in our experience we have noted that users tend to recall better when knowledge is shared using their mother tongue. 

Being a tech based solution, scaling our solution across the global platform is easy. The more we have with the data points, the better customisation is possible. Scalability hence helps the product as well as the customer.  

Currently we are the only AI based solution to tackle financial inclusion in the social impact space in the Asian context. While we are inspired by other initiatives such as ‘hi charlie’, ‘thebalance.com’, ‘plume’, ‘Woebot’, and ‘askroo’, ours is a pioneering tech based solution for personal finance. Our solution is tried and tested with over 25 clients in India and our system has handled over 1 million questions from these clients over multiple languages. The system is primarily going to support the vernacular.  

We have noted that while factual data can be shared with clients over a period of interactions with them, a conversational style could help them remain engaged and also help us understand them better. With our AI experience is being completely conversational, the engagement level is high and there’s an element of support-system by virtue of hand holding which is critical when the user is likely to be socially excluded.

Our chatbot makes use of the existing AI technology to keep a conversational style with the user. AI is customised to address personal finance As the user continues to use the bot, using deep learning and NLP we are able to ascertain a more customised personal finance tool for them. Owing to this the bot gets better over time to share better financial plans. As of today we use data from over 25 financial clients to help decode a financial tool for each user.

We have a systematic approach to tackle financial inclusion by promoting financial literacy through the use of this technology. The technology being AI driven has the power to self learn and get better with more usage. An important component to bring about change in financial habits of the user is the need for behavioural change. With the AI enabled technology we could reinforce the need for a change in the user by helping them monitor their usage and to check if they have kept to their financial goals. As the bot gets used to the users needs, it could customise plans better. We also periodically undertake a study of our analytics to aid the technology to do better and answer all possible questions that the user can come up with. Unlike other forms of technology that might need continual human engagement to become a success story, with the user of AI we mitigate this issue. Since the technology is not stagnant, it is easier to enforce and maintain behavioural change.

Our jubi.ai solution runs across 25+ large financial services businesses across major players in investments, insurance and lending with cumulative 10 million+ monthly exposures and 1 million+ questions answered correctly in the last 3 months in personal finance. JubiMoney is currently aimed at the 450 million + millennials across India. We’ve piloted our solution to a closed community of our target audience. Given its recent launch, it is in an early stage of analytics and we will have more data to share in the coming months. Over the next few months as we hope to incorporate personal finance tools for small entrepreneurs or businesses, we will also include our analytics to showcase data from the same 

We are currently targeting Millennials In india itself millennials account for 47% of the workforce while globally Millennials make up a quarter of the population or 1.8 billion.

We see ourself expanding the scope of JubiMoney to locations across Asia and globally. We have recently started operations in Singapore. Extend the scope of our financial planning tools for our secondary initiative that is to provide users with a comprehensive list of welfare schemes that they are eligible for.

Perceived risks - 

1. With a Digital product it might be difficult to customise a plan for users as every user is different

2. Digital product, hence to make positive behavioural changes might be difficult

3. The usefulness of content might vary since financial expectations are different for different people

4. Some users might not want the same kind of financial plans that mirror others. 

5. Language barrier (might not be accurately available in all languages) 

6. The bot might not cater to cultural sensitivity of new markets

Addressing the perceived risks using the following solutions - 

1. Our AI system is build upon its experience with over 25 clients in the financial world. With this experience we are confident that we can come up with a customised plan for everyone.

2. While dispensing the knowledge regarding personal finance will be taken care of by our service, we will also share timely updates over time to ensure that the customer’s journey goes from being a passive listen to an active doer. We could send weekly updates over email subscriptions for the user to keep track of the new trends in the market. Regular push messages can be sent to the user for a ‘monthly’ financial checkup. We could also help the user track if they met their financial goals over a period of time

3. We include a feedback conversation at the end of each session with the user, our technology using AI and deep learning could then modify the technology to suit different users 

4. Using our AI we guarantee we can provide tailored plans as suited for each client. 

5. We will provide standard English language while using AI we can keep adding other languages to our list of languages

6. Since the bot is self learning and uses NLP, we could continuously look at our analytics to cater new market. The bot can continuously be updated as well when we reach new markets.

Our versatile team of over 30  is chiefly located in Mumbai with some work in Bengaluru and Kolkata. We have recently opened an office in Singapore as well. It encompasses IT professionals, data-scientists, business graduates, mass media graduates and development professionals.

Souvik Das - Engineer from Vellore Institute of Technology. Has worked with tech-roles and banks like Axis and Kotak

Subhadeep Bhattacharyya - Cyberlaw from Government Law College(Mumbai). Marketing and management at IIT (Bombay)

Meera Mishra - Behaviour & Product. Behavioural researcher with deep consumer experience background. Has worked for the Christchurch city council among other projects.

Pankaj Khandelwal - Practicing Chartered Accountant for 10+ years. Solid experience in the personal finance and SME lending space.

Linda Shaji - Development professional with 40 months in an affordable housing finance company with clientele that worked primarily in the informal sector.

We’ve received a seed fund from USAID to build our solution.

Jubi.ai has been working in conversational automation for some of the largest financial business in India - including Bankbazaar, Bajaj Finserv, TATA Capital, Bharti Axa, Reliance, Mahindra Finance and others.  

We are supported by Axilor Ventures, Oracle and have been designated by BSE as one of the top 50 social impact startups. We have extended it to www.jubimoney.com to build it as the mobile-first financial advisor for the next billion across languages, voice and 100% automated conversations.

Being the mobile-first financial advisor for the next billion across languages, with voice and 100% automated conversations, Jubi.ai currently focuses on 450 plus Millennials across India, 300 of whom are based out of rural settings. The share of millennials across India and globally is important . In India itself millennials account for 47% of the workforce while globally Millennials make up a quarter of the population or 1.8 billion. Having grown up in the digital age, millennials are early adopters of technology and the scope to bring about behavioural change with this generation is more amiable using technology. 

Our system generates insights from conversational data which is perfect for launch of targeted financial services products with strategic partnerships with the financial ecosystem players with aligned interests. Additionally we shall make money from funded content sections enabling financial literacy for individuals, and small businesses. Grant becomes our third source of funding where we have managed to source some funding from USAID already.

Solve would help us do the following - 

1. Expanding the scope of the plan to a global platform

2. Help gain partnerships with market leaders that work on financial inclusion 

3. Learn from mentors and other winners

4. Extend our financial planning tools for our secondary initiative that is to provide users with a comprehensive list of welfare schemes that they are eligible for.

We would benefit from partnerships with south east asian/global financial institution/power houses and central and local government bodies, the likes we have as clients in the Indian market currently to make our solution culturally relevant.

Since our current version focuses on providing financial plans, we plan to expand the scope of the AI to include social needs. If we were to be awarded the AI Innovations Prize we could incorporate the plan to start a service on our bot that helps the user distinguish welfare schemes s(he) is eligible for. The AI would then cater to two of the three points addressed over SGDs - 1. Financial inclusion and 2. Social Inclusion.

Jubi.ai’s simplified AI driven technical solution builds upon the idea of a financial mentor on the palms of the user’s hand in a more cost effective and quick manner. Available on multiple platforms, we use NLP compiled over our interactions with over 25 financial clients to generate an inclusive financial tool in multiple languages. 

Since our current version focuses on providing financial plans, we plan to expand the scope of the AI to include social needs. If we were to be awarded the AI Innovations Prize we could incorporate the plan to start a service on our bot that helps the user distinguish welfare schemes s(he) is eligible for. The AI would then cater to two of the three points addressed over SGDs - 1. Financial inclusion and 2. Social Inclusion.

Jubi.ai’s simplified AI driven technical solution builds upon the idea of a financial mentor on the palms of the user’s hand in a more cost effective and quick manner. Available on multiple platforms, we use NLP compiled over our interactions with over 25 financial clients to generate an inclusive financial tool in multiple languages. 

Only 30% of women globally are financially literate as compared to 35% of men (S& P Survey, 2015). Financial inclusion is the first step towards ensuring a more equitable world. JubiMoney hopes to bring in the power of finance to the hands of the woman. Using this grant Jubi could partner with governments to ensure that government schemes for women are made more accessible to them and they’re aware of their rights and provisions made for them. Currently the Indian government has at least 7 such women empowerment financial schemes. 

Jubi.ai’s simplified AI driven technical solution builds upon the idea of a financial mentor on the palms of the user’s hand in a more cost effective and quick manner. Available on multiple platforms, we use NLP compiled over our interactions with over 25 financial clients to generate an inclusive financial tool in multiple languages. Our approach would be to advance the financial inclusion of refugees through an inclusive market system approach. Improving livelihoods through financial inclusion is a key component of achieving protection and long-term solutions for the refugee situation.

Our solution can aid the financial inclusion of refugees by making them financially literate and aware of their rights and welfare schemes available to them.