What is the name of your solution?
ArqSave
Provide a one-line summary of your solution.
Financial Enablers for Economic Growth
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Digital finance services are designed for mostly high-income people with salaries, to people with some very different financial needs. These formal services remain uncompetitive with many of the informal money management techniques that have been used by the mass market for years. Low-income earners have more volatile incomes and expenditure that need a complex financial management technique.
In most African countries, 80% of the population are in the informal sector and about 40% are unbanked. Most people in the informal sector, especially women, often have limited formal education and financial literacy, little to no access to capital, have no access to financial management systems or any form of savings that they can rely on in times of difficulties. Financial exclusion and limited financial education cause pervasive cycles of poverty as well as makes upward mobility more difficult, and it generates cycles of subsistence-level income.
Most digital finance services have designed products relatively for high-income people with salaries, to people with some very different financial needs. This leaves many in the informal sector.
In Uganda for example as of May 2022, the number of registered mobile money customers in Uganda amounted to over 34 million. From 2015 to 2022, the number of people with mobile money accounts in the country increased annually. Moreover, in the first quarter of 2022, the value of mobile money transactions in Uganda corresponded to 8.2 billion U.S. dollars.
Although Mobile money services have increased, this development has given digital finance access to financial services to hundreds of millions of new customers but only a small products of that population opt for it. Those in the informal sector need complex financial management systems that are different from the usual and can be accessed with ease. ArqSave comes to fill this gap for the rest to be able to achieve financial freedom.
What is your solution?
At Comzine Tech & Investments Ltd, we understand the financial huddles our people go through especially those from remote areas and marginalized communities. We therefore seek to develop a digitized savings, borrowing and investment platform “Arqsave” that will help grow informal workers’ businesses, reducing the lengths of transactions as well as the associated risks and costs and inculcate a savings habit which will help with poverty alleviation. It will be a savings and credit management as well as a mobile financial literacy education platform that will help underserved women entrepreneurs of MSMEs to improve decisions and behaviors on their business activities, on digital resources, and on money. This Electronic Micro Bank Account with No monthly maintenance fee, no monthly service fee, no minimum balance and no deposit required to offer two types of personal accounts; Wallet & Savings Accounts in order to aid savings, borrowing, and investments for informal workers especially the unbanked/underbankedand women-owned businesses aims to offer services that will integrate tech into finance in order to provide new or improved micro banking services with ease which will aid financial inclusion. Our platform will be made in such a way that women will be able to save as low as less than a $1 and top-up anytime, any day and from anywhere.
ArqSave is designed with the low to semi illiterate people in mind so we started with rolling out Chats Bots which simulates a chat with a human being using simple language. We are in the process of researching into inculcating speech into the bots to speak to customers in their chosen Language.
Additionally, mobile money is mostly used by many especially in the informal sector. ArqSave platform connects anyone with a Mobile Money wallet to have a micro bank account with us. Our system is connected to all the mobile money networks in Uganda (and Africa) through known APIs and this can be replicated or connected to any other mobile money network in Africa.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
ArqSave will be implemented among the unbanked/underbanked, low-income Ugandans who are hustling to build MSMEs. These include petty market traders, informal retailers, street food vendors, local transit drivers, smallholder farmers, fishermen, artisans, motorbike repairmen…. the list goes on. We are specifically focused on empowering more women compared to men/youth at 80% for women and 20% for youth owned MSMEs across Uganda.
Since the majority of people in the informal sector as mentioned above have mobile money wallets, ArqSave understands their needs and seeks to be designed in form of s savings platform to help grow their business, reducing the lengths of transactions as well as the associated risks and costs and inculcate a savings habit which will help with poverty alleviation.
ArqSave provides a micro Bank Account with no maintenance fees, no minimum balance and no deposit required. For savings duration of 90 days or more clients get to enjoy no charges but gain interest.
Our platform has been made in such a way that you can save as low as less than a $1 and top-up anytime, any day and anywhere.
Unbanked/underbanked, services that seek to serve low-income individuals who are ignored or underserved by traditional banks or mainstream financial companies.
Customers are engaged periodically in their communities through mobile bankers and are assisted with financial tips and advise on a daily basis.
Furthermore, we believe that women’s economic empowerment is going to take more than just savings, lending and investment mobile accounts. But savings, lending and investment mobile accounts can be very powerful tools in the hands of women who are determined to take more control over their lives.
Our mission is targeted at improving livelihoods and creating opportunities for low-income citizens especially women working in Uganda’s informal sector.
We passionately believe that the value we seek to provide to underserved Ugandans especially the women is transformational and practical. The urgency is even greater because of their collective vulnerability amidst the current pandemic. Productivity losses, anxieties, and diminished capacity to deal with financial shocks could afflict large segments of the country. Our savings content will help women build a buffer for lean times; digital literacy content will upskill women’s MSMEs to continue business even amidst restrictions on movement; budgeting and bookkeeping content will provide blueprints for making sure funds don’t go through the cracks; and our platform chatbot essentially will put ArqSave not just as a savings, borrowing and investment platform, but also as a “digital coach” in women’s handbags, helping them choose responsible providers and products that best fit their contexts.
Giving people the freedom to save at any time on mobile makes it easy for customers to access their account and use it to access credit from ArqSave or any other lending system as they have become financially recognized. small business can now have a record of their business transactions and savings which can be of benefits in the new world of digital finance.
How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
We are proud of our differentiated solution – but our team is our biggest differentiator. We bring a team experienced in digital financial services, financial education, creative arts, and technological innovation.
Co-Founder and CCO Joseph Mulabbi is a human-centered design and UI/UX specialist who worked in animation and illustration. He is also a Multimedia Technologist with a strong flair for Design and Tech. He also has more than 3 years of experience in the areas of financial resources, commercial strategy, public relations, programming and budgeting, project management, project planning and strategic thinking.
John Khaukha Brands Influencer, an Event Organizer and a Broadcast Journalist, holds a Bachelor in Communication and Media Technology and has 3years of experience in Sales and Marketing, and community mobilizing. He will be managing partner onboarding and core banking system integration with partner organizations and user groups.
George Mwangi is a specialist in full-stack design, data science, and cloud platforms. He is also a professional software Engineer in web design, mobile apps, a team leader in many banking projects -private and government led projects and an Ethical Hacker (CEH).
Agness Apio has a rich banking expertise in the Consumer, Commercial and Retail Banking space culminating beautifully into a career which spans over a decade, Agnes has gained a wealth of mastery in the banking industry. Possessing a strong relationship management background. She is a former bank of Uganda employee, microfinance and currently self-employed financial coach.
Andrew Kitamireke: Over 5years in micro-finance banking and loans officer.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Make it easier and more affordable for individuals and MSMEs to make investments and transfer payments, across geographies and across different types of platforms
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Kampala
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
What is your solution’s stage of development?
Prototype: A venture or organization building and testing its product, service, or business model, but which is not yet serving anyone
How many people does your solution currently serve?
Current number of people: 100
the number serving in one year,: 60,000
the number serving in five years: 1,000,000
This can be achieved when we get fully regulated with a Medium Fintech License from the regulator (Bank of Uganda) in Uganda.
Why are you applying to Solve?
We are applying to Solve as we need funds seriously to scale up, as the product is ready but we don't have enough funds to scale.
When we win this price money it will be an addition to make a bold move to affect more people with our product. We also believe it will open us up to other funding agencies to get to know us so to support us through Equity or grant finance to achieve our ultimate goal.
We finally seek for partnerships, collaborations, and networking with other entrepreneurs in our sector for exchange of ideas and growing of each other which we strongly believe that Solve can give us all that.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Joseph Mulabbi
What makes your solution innovative?
ArqSave is designed with the low to semi illiterate people in mind so we started with rolling out Chats Bots which simulates a chat with a human being using simple language. We are in the process of researching into inculcating speech into the bots to speak to customers in their chosen Language.
Like many other savings solutions in other African countries are similar. Such solutions which are already known makes it easier to push social protection agenda to more of the population.
In Uganda "SACCO" is a form of rotating savings and credit association, a type of informal savings club arrangement between a small group of people who take turns by "throwing hand", as the partners call it, this micro savings has been around within the informal sector for decades and ArqSave is proud to be the first to digitize SACCO savings in Uganda. We took an old savings idea and made it better to be mobile and easy to access. We also have new products in testing to be added apart from savings like, lending, investments, funds transfer and payment at point of sale.
In all we are making available technology that is only for the "privileged" to be accessible to all and also be counted as financially inclusive.
Giving people the freedom to save at anytime on mobile makes it easy for customers to access their account and use it to access credit from ArqSave or any other lending system as they have become financially recognized. Small business can now have a record of their business transactions and savings which can be of benefits in the new world of digital finance
What are your impact goals for the next year and the next five years, and how will you achieve them?
Financial literacy is lacked in most informal sectors and rural folks. We see education as key thing to break the jinx of savings and to make people realise the benefits of the habit of saving.
Financial inclusion which is the ultimate goal and will impact the livelihood of households, as in Africa, lives are based on households and communities they live in.
If one person benefits from financial literacy he or she takes in home to his community and others can learn from him/her and the cycle of education continues.
We therefore hope to serve 60,000 people in one year and close to 1,000,000 in five years.
This can be achieved when we get fully regulated with a Medium Fintech License from the regulator in Uganda.
Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?
How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?
Number of subscribers on all our platforms
Number of people trained and empowered through the platform
Number of borrowers
Number of Savers
etc.
What is your theory of change?
Savings is critical to households in developing countries. It allows households to improve their standard of living in the face of volatile income. It can also facilitate the investment culture. Even though they know the benefits of saving, yet their attitude of savings is still said to be poor as they attempt to set out of the cycle of object poverty, poor attitude towards savings is attributed to the meager incomes. Low savings might also be a consequence of poor access to safe, flexible, convenient, and affordable savings products.
Uganda has a lower savings culture than most countries in the Sub Sahara. Between 2001 and 2009, the gross national savings as a percentage of the total goods and services produced in the country (GDP) averaged about 13.3 per cent (or $16.3 billion) compared to over 30 per cent for South East Asia economies such as Malaysia. The economy also had high levels of population outside the banking system.
Over the years it has been noted that the savings in Uganda is not a patronized economic activity. The inefficiency of mobilizing saving is very evident in Uganda as the banking system indicates a low rate of savings as compared to the population in Uganda. The savings culture in Uganda is not much to write home about as most Ugandan are not into savings. Majority of the Ugandan population do not have a savings account to more or less save extra income or out of their meager salaries. Majority of the few people with bank accounts are people in the urban areas and are government or corporate employees whose salaries must be paid through the bank.
This negative attitude towards savings needs to change especially in the informal sector so to create financial freedom for the marginalized.
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
Our main idea is to first deploy Bots into existing chat apps like Telegram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger as well as USSD. Whatsapp is already out and we are testing the rest of the platforms. This makes it easier for the customer not to download any new app but can choose any of these platforms to activate his/her account and use it anytime.
The final stage of platforms deployment will be iOS and Android apps so those who also want them can also have access through them to their account.
We are also in a testing phase to allow customers to hold, receive, transfer and exchange cryptocurrency and we are starting with three coins; bitcoin, lite coin and doge.
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new application of an existing technology
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
If your solution has a website or an app, provide the links here:
www. arqsave.com
In which countries do you currently operate?
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
What type of organization is your solution team?
Hybrid of for-profit and nonprofit
How many people work on your solution team?
5-Full time, 3-part time
How long have you been working on your solution?
2-years
What is your approach to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusivity into your work?
Throughout our work and actions, we embrace the principles of respect for all people regardless of their culture, color, race, or sex. Our team is 80% dominated by women leaders who occupy key positions in the work we do. We continue to work with all people with zero tolerance to any form of discrimination, disrespect and/or violence towards the other.
What is your business model?
At ArqSave, we shall earn revenue by relying on charge of commission on
1. Matured savings less than 90 days: 2%
2. Matured savings more than 90 days generates by our partner bank and not charged to client: 2%
3. Using the Naa Sika at POS: 0.5%
4. Lending fees
5. Investment fees
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?
Individual consumers or stakeholders (B2C)What is your plan for becoming financially sustainable?
The business will be sustained by itself as we intend to make money with our business model most especially as fees generated from all products will be enough to sustain it when we scale out from Uganda to Africa wide to get more customers.
Solution Team
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Mr. Joseph Mulabbi Founder & CEO, RefuConnect
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Our Organization
Comzine Tech & Investments Ltd