Financial Inclusion on Business Runways (FIBR) has partnered with PAYGo providers BrightLife and the Safe Water Network to support its mission of using digital innovation to deliver financial services to low-income populations in Africa. FIBR is an initiative developed by the Mastercard Foundation and global consulting firm BFA.
Prweb reports that FIBR entered into the new partnerships with BrightLife and Safe Water Network to highlight the potential of valuable customer data when it comes to extending financial services offerings to low-income customers, and the importance of PAYGo companies in relation to collecting such customer data.
Project Director of FIBR embarks upon their aim to point to the potential of valuable customer data, and the importance of PAYGo companies in relation to collecting such customer data.
Stefan Grundmann, president and CEO of Uganda’s BrightLife, whose customers pay for the organisation’s high-quality and low-cost solar and cookstoves with mobile money, says there is a high-potential outcome for the prosperity of millions of people when social enterprises and financial institutions come together, surmounting difficulties such as access to basic human needs and “financial inclusion challenges”.
Safe Water Network’s CEO is also positive about the partnership: “We look forward to this collaboration in Ghana to digitise and improve customer payment processes for low-income consumers and leverage learnings that can apply to the PAYGo and broader water sectors.” Safe Water Network delivers market-based solutions to increasing access to safe water.
Restrictions to access to energy, and issue of unimproved drinking water source remain as a challenge in many regions of Africa.
The popularity of PayGo in Fintech industry has been on rise lately. Under a PayGo model, the customer prepays for a service, such as power, through a mobile money account and has access to an asset over time, for example, a solar system for their home. The model is particularly affordable for low-income individuals and gives adequate margins for businesses to scale. Prweb also reports that the data deriving from the PayGo sector will accelerate access to credit, savings, insurance, and loans.
