FLOW LIQUIDITY ENGINE
- Uganda
- For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
The problem we address is the lack of financing for MSMEs. The financing gap in developing and emerging markets is valued at $5.2 trillion globally and $4.87 billion in Uganda - one of our markets - alone. Micro enterprises, which make up 96% of credit-constrained businesses, face the greatest challenge. Many micro-enterprises are small retail merchants. Our analysis of over 110 million retail transactions reveals a pressing need for working capital in high-growth digital activities, such as mobile money. With 1.6 billion registered mobile money accounts globally and 763 million in Africa, mobile money relies on retail merchants as the interface for cash to e-money conversion. However, capital and cash flow constraints prevent merchants from meeting the growing demand for digital transactions, resulting in rejected transactions and lost revenue. As merchants must prefund transactions by purchasing e-money ‘float’ from aggregators or mobile network operators, about 20% of transactions are denied due to insufficient e-money working capital. This constitutes not only a problem for the mobile money merchants as they lose commissions but also for their customers as bills can’t be paid, money can’t be sent or withdrawn or other essential financial transactions can’t be performed. This is specifically relevant in emerging markets, as mobile money is the dominant financial channel and retail payment system in emerging markets with 19% YoY growth in terms of users and 14% YoY growth in terms of transaction volume. Hence, our solution focuses on providing working capital and liquidity management solutions in the form of e-money, and float switching capability (inventory switch) specifically for mobile money agents.
The Flow Liquidity Engine* (FLE), our proprietary technology platform, was built specifically to enable small merchant financing at scale and is key for managing our business. The FLE addresses all use cases for customer-centric liquidity provision and management to small merchants:
The Loan Management System automates the end-to-end lifecycle of working capital loans, handling everything from application processing to disbursement management, while ensuring regular reconciliation and effective risk management. For operational support teams, our platform offers robust Operations Management Tools, providing real-time reports on portfolio performance, quality assessment, and in-depth analytics to aid decision-making processes.
Client assessment: we can KYC mobile money agents -origination and profiling - through data analytics of their mobile money transaction data in terms of number of customers and number and value of transactions.
Product development: our platform designs e-money/float advance products based on the business data of the mobile money agents. This way we ensure that the product fits the business needs of the merchants and advances are neither too high nor too low and catalyzes the full business potential.
Client decisioning: FLE assesses eligibility of potential customers by scoring them and assessing the risk. Our credit scoring system utilizes advanced AI and ML algorithms to generate customer credit scores by analyzing business transaction data, repayment histories, and revenue growth potential, thereby enabling more accurate risk assessment. Additionally, Flow follows up any tech analysis with in-person client interviews and onboarding processes.
Client management: The platform helps our staff in terms of onboarding, disbursements, collections, loyalty programmes, nudges. See below for more details
The Flow field force app equips our field officers with a comprehensive CRM tool that assists in lead management, customer onboarding, and retention. It includes features such as sales pipeline tracking, automated KYC verification, loyalty programs, risk identification, and customer engagement tools.
Our customer app is specifically for mobile money agents and enables them to request and repay Flow e-money advances, ask for product upgrades and switch e-money between mobile network operators - a solution which is unique in our ecosystem. This is very helpful for them as it helps them to more efficiently manage different products inventories for there business and offer more choice to end customers.
Together, these modules form a cohesive ecosystem aimed at enhancing efficiency, reducing risk, and driving sustainable growth within the financial services landscape.
Flow empowers mobile money agents, primarily women, rural, and youth micro-enterprises in Sub Sahara Africa and other emerging markets, with instant e-money working capital, driving their economic growth. Today, 68% of Flow's customers are rural, and 75% are youth. Additionally, Flow prioritizes women entrepreneurs, with 47% of its customers being women. Flow's proposition removes barriers such as collateral and mobility, enabling 92% of women borrowers to access formal loans for the first time, resulting in improved financial stability and economic independence. To date, the company has disbursed over USD 40 million to 6,450 women-led small businesses, with women borrowers exhibiting better repayment behavior.
There are more than 10 million agents in SSA which Flow targets and today are excluded from access to finance as they don't meet traditional financing criterias such as collaterals.
Additionally our services to these mobile money agents enable the digital ecosystems in our markets enabling end customers to be able to do digital transactions.
The dedicated team behind Flow, a group of individuals driven by a shared mission to revolutionize the mobile money landscape and empower underserved communities.
Nitin Garg, our Founder, has over 14 years of expertise in consulting on digital finance. His extensive portfolio includes advising over 40 financial services providers on digital finance operations and product development, with notable clients such as Equity Bank (Kenya), Standard Bank (South Africa), and BanColombia (Colombia). Nitin's contributions extend to prestigious organizations like the World Bank, UNCDF, and MicroSave, earning him recognition from the UK Government as Exceptional Tech Talent. Nitin's commitment to driving innovation for global financial inclusion is underscored by his academic background, with a Post Graduate Diploma in Management specializing in Finance and International Business.
Michael Rothe, another founder, brings over 11 years of experience in microfinance and inclusive FinTech. His journey began at Citigroup's Inclusive Finance unit, where he conducted risk assessments of microfinance institutions. Subsequently, Michael spent four transformative years at the Central Bank of Uganda as a resident adviser on digital finance regulations. Witnessing the exponential growth of a previous FinTech startup, where he played a pivotal role in scaling customer acquisition from 15,000 to 320,000, ignited his passion for driving impactful change. Michael's insights and expertise have been sought after across numerous African markets, where he has actively shaped FinTech landscapes and influenced policies.
Geoffrey Acini, our Country Manager in Uganda, brings over 7 years of experience as an innovator in FinTech. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to successfully launch and scale businesses in the transport and construction sectors before transitioning to the digital finance space. Geoffrey's expertise in managing operations and catalyzing digital payment acceptance for shopkeepers has been instrumental in driving adoption and fostering growth. His commitment to advancing socioeconomic development in his community is evident through his academic pursuits, with a Bachelor's degree in International Business Relations & Diplomacy from Nkumba University Uganda.
Praveen Saldhana, our COO, boasts over 16 years of experience in mobile money distribution across East Africa. As the former COO of Simba Telecom, the largest distributor for MTN in Uganda, Praveen played a pivotal role in driving mobile money growth in the region. His strategic acumen and operational prowess have been instrumental in navigating the complexities of mobile money ecosystems. Praveen's leadership is grounded in a deep understanding of the needs and challenges faced by mobile money agents, making him an invaluable asset to Flow's mission of driving financial inclusion at scale.
Together, our team's diverse backgrounds and expertise converge to tackle the challenges faced by mobile money agent networks. With a shared vision and unwavering dedication, we are committed to creating lasting positive impact in underserved communities.
- Foster financial and digital inclusion by supporting access to credit, digital identity tools, and insurance while securing privacy and personal data.
- 1. No Poverty
- 5. Gender Equality
- 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
- 10. Reduced Inequalities
- Growth
We at Flow have developed the Flow Liquidity Engine, an end-to-end platform for small business finance. This comprehensive solution includes a backend with core functionalities like digital lending, KYC checks, analytics, risk management, product development, loan management, and payments. Additionally, there's a field app to empower the field force of Flow, making it easy and transparent to onboard new customers. Finally we have built a merchant-facing app for front-end use which helps small merchants to access working capital when they need it.
Since its inception, Flow has disbursed over 410,000 loans, totaling more than $95 million USD. There are almost 15.000 registered customers in Uganda, Rwanda and Madagascar while close to 9.000 are active. Flow is provider agnostic and live in 11 ecosystems with major telcos (e.g., MTN, Airtel, Orange) in Africa.
In addition, Flow has introduced the unique "Switch" product, which allows mobile money agents to convert float/e-money from provider A (e.g. MTN) to B (Airtel), thereby massively enhancing their ability to manage scarce liquidity and raise their value proposition for their customers, hence solidifying their income and boosting their positive impact to the local economic development.
At Flow, we love the solution that we have developed over the past 5 years and we are convinced that it serves a community of MSME which would be financially excluded and deprived of economic opportunity to improve their life without our solution. To move to the next level we want to expand our client and market outreach and to continuously work on our solution to make it even better.
Solve brings together a huge community of exciting entrepreneurs, organizations, funders and other changemakers. We see this as a unique opportunity for us to learn and benefit from interesting exchanges and experiences. As this will happen on the highest level in terms of professionalism and entrepreneurship we believe that we can benefit from and contribute to this platform of exchange. We closely followed some of the past Solvers and saw how the challenge has propelled their ideas into new spheres.
There are two specific outcomes that we are hoping to achieve by being selected:
As we are working hard every day to make our company better, it is sometimes hard to get out of our ecosystem/bubble. Solve would provide an opportunity for us to exchange ideas with people from other sectors and help us question what we are doing and how we do it. The 9 month support program with its support network, access to in-kind support and exchange with peers (we are not alone in this!) could support us in this.
We see Solve as a unique chance of being put in contact with innovative and impact-minded leaders. As we want to grow both in terms of ideas and resources we would like to further develop our ties and network with top professionals from all sectors and industries.
- Financial (e.g. accounting practices, pitching to investors)
- Monitoring & Evaluation (e.g. collecting/using data, measuring impact)
- Product / Service Distribution (e.g. delivery, logistics, expanding client base)
- Public Relations (e.g. branding/marketing strategy, social and global media)

FOUNDER