GFF: Bridging Finance, Education and Employment Gaps

Gender-based inequality exists in accessing tertiary education and vocational training in Africa (3% gender gap in SS Africa: ESSA). This disparity stems from unequal financial inclusion for women, leading to unequal access to educational loans (12% gender gap for accounts in Sub Saharan Africa. 5% gender gap for loans in Kenya:World Bank Findex). As a result, the economic empowerment of women is negatively impacted (31% gender gap in Sub SaharanAfrica: World Economic Forum).  The financial barriers women and girls face lead to the sexual exploitation of adolescent girls and young women in exchange for financial support during their  tertiary education and vocational training. GFF’s own survey, which received 4,000 responses,  revealed that over 70% of respondents, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, indicated  they had been sexually pressured at least once and mostly related to covering the costs of their education or early career advancement. Nearly half reported such exploitation within the past year. 

This distressing reality begins in adolescence when impoverished families  must cover educational expenses, even in ostensibly free schooling systems. These costs can range from transportation and meals to exam fees and uniforms. Gender norms further exacerbate these challenges, stripping away the autonomy of young women and girls, who may feel coerced into compromising situations. Institutions reliant on exploitative fees resist implementing safeguards, perpetuating cycles of exploitation. Many young women opt for self-employment to evade workplace harassment, limiting their career options and economic potential.

Globally, millions of young people, including in Kenya, encounter barriers to economic prosperity due to limited financial resources, job prospects, and support systems. Youth unemployment rates in Kenya are alarmingly high, with around 20% of individuals aged 15-24 unemployed. Moreover, access to financial services remains restricted, especially for young women. This lack of economic opportunity exacerbates poverty cycles and impedes socio-economic progress.

Our solution, the Girls First Finance app, is a multifaceted platform crafted to empower girls and young women through a range of essential services. It fosters financial and digital inclusion by providing access to vital loans, mentorship, counseling, budgeting tools, and social networking opportunities. To strengthen economic opportunities, GFF partners with local technical, vocational education and training centers. GFF provides an opportunity for students to complete their education and receive employment. One of the requirements of the collaboration is for the TVET institutions to partner with local businesses to create opportunities for employment once students complete their education. Through the partnership, qualifying students receive a mobile phone, loans to cover their education and living expenses while they study, access to health insurance for students and their families, and the wraparound support services offered through the GFF Super App.

As a centralized hub, the app offers users a seamless experience. They can effortlessly apply for loans to support their education, connect with experienced mentors for guidance and support, access wellness warriors for mental and emotional well-being, and forge positive social connections with peers.

Through intuitive features and a user-friendly interface, the Girls First Finance app simplifies the loan application process, matches users with suitable mentors based on their needs and interests, offers a diverse array of wellness resources, and fosters networking and community-building among girls and young women.

Employing state-of-the-art technology, the app ensures smooth navigation and secure transactions. It leverages advanced encryption and authentication protocols to safeguard users' personal and financial information.

Our solution, the Girls First Finance app, primarily serves young women and men in Kenya from low-income households lacking access to technology, who are seeking access to education, employment opportunities, mentorship, and support for their overall well-being.

The target population includes individuals who face barriers to accessing traditional financial services, digital access, educational resources, and mentorship opportunities due to factors such as limited financial resources, lack of social support networks, and gender-based discrimination. 

The Girls First Finance app addresses these needs by providing a convenient and accessible platform where users can easily apply for loans to fund their education or entrepreneurial ventures, connect with experienced mentors who can offer guidance and support, access wellness resources to promote mental and emotional well-being, and build positive social connections with peers.

By offering a comprehensive suite of services tailored to the specific needs of young women and men in Kenya, our digital and providing loan solution aims to empower them to pursue their educational and career goals, build successful and fulfilling lives, and contribute positively to their communities and society at large. Through increased access to financial resources, mentorship, and support, we seek to uplift and empower the next generation of leaders and change-makers in Kenya.

Currently, GFF partnered with TVETs and supports their students in Kenya located around Nairobi, and Kisumu. Partnerships with additional TVETs throughout Kenya continue to take place on a rolling basis.  

GFF initiated its pilot program in Kenya, leveraging the team leader's profound experience in investing within Kenya's higher education infrastructure sector, marking her as a prominent investor in university public-private partnerships across the African continent. With investments surpassing $35 million to date, including significant projects at Kenyatta University and the University of Ghana, the founder became acutely aware of the exploitation of girls within public universities.

Conducting extensive focus groups and surveys throughout Africa, it became evident that unbanked girls urgently required access to student loans, alongside opportunities for employment, to secure social networks, and for protection from exploitation. Consequently, the concept of a super-app, encompassing these critical features, emerged as a digitally scalable solution.

Furthermore, driven by her personal journey as a survivor of sexual assault and abuse, the team leader was inspired to establish GFF after undergoing trauma therapy for complex PTSD. Motivated to make therapeutic protocols accessible to all young women, GFF was founded. Through continual engagement with stakeholders and iterative enhancements based on feedback, GFF is committed to addressing the evolving needs of its users.

At Girls First Finance, we're uniquely equipped to make a difference because we're deeply connected to the communities we serve. Our team lead and everyone else on the team have backgrounds that resonate with the challenges young people in Kenya face. We've been there ourselves, grappling with similar hurdles in getting an education, finding work, and getting financial support. With 35 dedicated individuals spread across four continents, our team is driven by a shared passion for empowering young women and men through education.

Expanding beyond Kenya, GFF endeavors to serve the 25 million potential female borrowers in Nigeria, Ghana, Côte D'Ivoire, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa post-2023, leveraging the team leader's extensive African network and investment track record in university projects.

Our tech team has put together a "super app" with fourteen unique features, and our credit team is right there on the ground in Kenya, putting our behavioral underwriting model into action. Every member of our team, including our ambassadors who are also borrowers, plays a key role in fulfilling our mission. 

GFF's innovation lies in its ability to advance financial inclusion for unbanked and vulnerable youth, especially young women, by using alternative data to assess creditworthiness beyond traditional scoring relying on financial histories. It pioneers an integrated solution combining essential financial support with a digital ecosystem that empowers users while reducing lender risks.

Specifically, GFF developed a behavioral credit algorithm that evaluates users' activity within the app to determine credit risk. Engagement with educational content, responsiveness to surveys, participation in forums, and consistency using budgeting tools all provide proxy indicators of conscientiousness, grit, and community ties.

The app itself is also innovative in how it provides unprecedented wraparound support. Safeguarding tools address exploitation risks. Mental health resources tackle depression. Budgeting features promote financial prudence and literacy. Most relevant to this grant proposal is how GFF provides scalable skills training and expands employability and financial inclusion through a digital job seeking portal. This social value-add helps ensure borrowers complete programs, repay loans successfully, and improve employment prospects.

The solution is based on evidence available regarding addressing issues of exploitation, financial barriers, and digital exclusion. 

Inputs: 

GFF Super App with 14 key features and services to improve digital and financial inclusion and improve well-being of girls and employability. 

Access to a smartphone and data

Outputs: 

Active users in the App, engaged in mentorship, peer support, budgeting, and other key wraparound services. 

Active users receive loan financing for their education and living expenses. 

Established partnerships with TVETs in Kenya. TVETs offer students and GFF users  a safe space, relevant courses, apprenticeship or employment opportunities, and access to wifi. 

Established partnerships with key partners, including and not limited to as KACD for mental health support, Zuri Health for health insurance and preventative and women’s health support. 

Users receive loan financing for education and living expenses.

Outcomes:

Increased graduation rate of users from TVET institutions. 

Decreased rates of sexual exploitation for education related expenses. 

Increased mental health support. 

Improved digital and financial literacy of users. 

Improved mental health and well-being of users. 

Increased number of students accessing and attending TVET institutions. 

Impact Prioritizing inclusiveness, self-efficacy and agency, GFF empowers each youth to reach their potential and will develop positive credit scores, which will increase their access to financial instruments previously inaccessible. 

TVET institutions will be strengthened and cater to high numbers of students previously unable to access education services. 

The initiative is scalable and will be poised to positive impact students in countries in Africa.

We define technology broadly as the application of science and evidence-based knowledge to the practical aims of human life. For MIT Solve and our mission to drive innovation to solve world challenges, it’s important that your solution uses technology to solve a problem facing your community and/or the world, and that it seeks to benefit people and the planet. We welcome solutions that are using apps, SMS technology, software, AI, robots, drones, blockchain, virtual reality, and anything else you might consider modern technology! We also welcome solutions that leverage traditional knowledge systems and technologies, as well as any solutions that combine modern and ancestral technologies. That could be using centuries-old irrigation or building techniques, plant-based solutions that can reduce the effects of climate change, biodegradable sanitary pads, and so much more.

Below is the organizational chart of our team, including employment types. Click here.

5 years

At Girls First Finance (GFF), we are committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion within our team and throughout our organization.

Our leadership team reflects our commitment to diversity, with a female-invested and female-founded structure. We are proud to maintain gender parity on our team, ensuring that diverse perspectives and experiences are represented at all levels of decision-making.

GFF's mission centers on promoting financial inclusion for young women, LGBTQ youth, and young men who support gender equality. While our technical team currently spans the US, Europe, India, and Africa, we recognize the importance of further diversifying our team, particularly by including more African-based developers.

Although we have achieved equal gender representation among our developers, we acknowledge the challenge of retaining female developers, which is an area where we seek support from MIT Solve to improve. To address this, we plan to introduce a Quality Assurance (QA) training program aimed at creating entry-level positions for young women in STEM fields.

Our loan platform and innovative behavioral underwriting model are designed to address historical barriers to financial services for young women. By leveraging technology, we aim to increase access to student loans and banking services, empowering young women who have been marginalized and excluded from traditional financial systems.

Overall, GFF is committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all team members. We recognize the importance of diversity in driving innovation and impact, and we remain dedicated to continuously improving our efforts to minimize barriers to opportunity and foster a culture of belonging for everyone on our team.

The Four Faces of GFF Wonder Women

GFF mitigates loan defaults by investing in users’ long-term personal and professional goals. GFF prioritizes income generation, emotional wellness, financial literacy, and community-building to actively mitigate the risk of loss due to inability or unwillingness to repay. The GFF “super app” features provide the holistic support vulnerable girls need to rise out of poverty. Developed based on pan-African surveys and focus groups, GFF organizes its features around four “Wonder Woman” success traits:

1. The Provider (money): financially supports herself, her children (if any), and her family through strengthened financial literacy, collateral, and judicious use of credit.

App Features: Budget Buster (robust, customizable monthly budgeting tool with alerts for payment obligations and algorithms that calculate her ongoing cash needs), Crew Captain (group of three users recruited to monitor her budget and loan repayments, receive alerts upon material changes to her financial situation, including late payments, and provide her emotional and financial support when needed), Loan Ledger (dashboard for in-app loan application and management).

2. The Industrialist (work): pursues her career goals, seeking mentors and job opportunities.

App Features: Mentor Matcher (connects young users with a global network of mentors trained and certified by GFF and its partners, Resume Rocker (phone-based CV builder), Gig Gladiator (database of “side hustles” and full-time jobs).

3. The Hobnobber (safe social network): builds a network of like-minded, ambitious women to broaden her mindset with relevant issues and events.

App Features: Daily Dose (curated newsfeed of articles, music, and original “wise words” videos from GFF role models and global influencers), Friend Finder (safe social network for peers to interact), and Meetups (relevant local events with fellow GFFers).

4. The Guardian (protection from exploitation): protects herself and others from sexual exploitation.

App Features: Wellness Warrior (90% discounted in-app counseling), Helpline (for urgent mental health support), Sticky Situation (pre-programmed tools to avoid dangerous environments), Artemis (confidential database to record or share evidence of sexual exploitation, where data is wholly owned/controlled by each user.

These four pillars (money, work, safe social network, and protection from exploitation) were the four themes constantly expressed by users that they needed to achieve financial sovereignty. To become sustainable, GFF uses a “freemium” subscription model that encourages initial use with the distribution of promocodes to a broad base of potential users and then eventually splits the services into those free for all (safeguarding) and those that require a monthly subscription fee to continue using (money, work, social network). GFF then also administers the loans via the app so that users can use loan proceeds to afford subscription fees during school. Furthermore, through partnerships with Safaricom, the use of the app is free of data bundles offsetting the cost of the monthly subscriptions for even the poorest users who are accustomed to paying for data bundles to community and remain engaged. GFF’s loans platform sustains itself through interest income on the loans while the tech platform gains extra revenue by administering the loans for fees paid by the loans platform. Finally, both the tech and loans platforms have the benefit of revenue sharing from its banking partners in exchange for bringing new customers to the banks.

GFF uses a flywheel approach to reaching sustainability through four major income channels: 1) app subscription revenues both B2B (with bulk subscriptions sold to donors/NGOs) and B2C generated by Girls First Finance, LLC (the “App Co.”), 2) interest revenues and fees from loans made by Girls First Finance Loans, LLC (the “Loan Co.”), 3) revenue sharing with banks for whom GFF brings new customers either from GFF’s user base or GFF borrowers required to open accounts as a condition of a loan, and 4) fees charged from GFF, LLC to lenders (including GFF Loans, LLC) to administer the loans digitally. GFF also receives GFF Foundation support (not required for sustainability) to build new safeguarding and educational features freely available to all users. 

GFF’s two commercial platforms are designed to be sustainable by 2025 based on a ramp-up of loans disbursed and users subscribed to the app. GFF will grow (and replicate in other geographies) at the pace that capital markets can raise loan funds for the girls who need them. GFF’s loans are made at commercially reasonable interest rates (18%) to cover currency fluctuations and operating expenses. To boost affordability, GFF offers substantially longer loan tenors (4-7 years) with estimated loan payments tested against the borrowers’ anticipated income from their intended post-graduate trades. Repayments are capped at 22% of starting salaries. GFF further de-risks its loans via agreements with each TVET to provide a 20% upfront collateral commitment for each cohort of borrowers enrolled there (reducing their current 40% bad debt allowances due to dropouts among students with insufficient funds). GFF then also lends borrowers 10% additional funding as collateral repaid over the loan term, which converts to a lump-sum savings disbursement at the end of the loan for those who repay in good standing.  
 
GFF’s app platform is sustained through fees from the loan company to administer the loans digitally as well as subscription fees through a freemium model that offers substantial benefits to users seeking holistic support regardless of borrower status. Within five years GFF can disburse more than 50k loans and have a user base of paid subscribers that exceeds 100k.