What is the name of your organization?
IMANZA
What is the name of your solution?
SUMA
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Learn, borrow, and save—through stories! Our solution helps women navigate finances with relatable scenarios tailored to their business journey.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Bujumbura
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
Burundi
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Film your elevator pitch.
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What specific problem are you solving?
In Burundi, where 62.8% live in poverty and 80% rely on subsistence agriculture, women street and market vendors—90% of whom are illiterate (World Bank)—face systemic exclusion. As primary breadwinners, these informal agricultural traders endure:
Financial Marginalization: 97% lack bank accounts (BCRB 2022), forcing cash transactions that invite theft (38% report daily income loss to robbery, UNDP 2021).
Structural Harassment: 72% face weekly police extortion for lacking business licenses (Burundi Women's Chamber of Commerce).
Climate Vulnerability: Erratic harvests leave 61% trapped in debt cycles (FAO 2023), with no access to formal credit.
Globally, 1.7 billion unbanked adults include 56% women (World Bank Findex 2021)—most in informal agriculture.
SUMA specifically addresses:
Illiteracy Barriers: 90% of users can't read loan terms or banking apps
Data Exclusion: Zero credit history for vendors
Tech Limitations: 82% own only basic phones (GSMA 2023)
Cultural Nuances: Existing fintech ignores collective savings traditions (like tontines)
By focusing on Burundi's high-density informal sector (contributing 45% of GDP yet invisible to policymakers), SUMA's voice-driven, story-based model creates a blueprint for similar economies in Rwanda, DRC, and beyond.
What is your solution?
In Burundi's bustling markets, women agricultural traders face a cruel paradox - they feed the nation yet struggle to feed their own families. Financial exclusion, illiteracy, and systemic harassment trap women in a cycle of vulnerability. Traditional banking ignores them; mobile money requires literacy they don't have.
SUMA breaks these barriers with a = voice-driven financial platform built specifically for illiterate market women. Through immersive storytelling in Kirundi and Swahili, it transforms financial education into relatable scenarios: "Your beans will spoil in three days - save now or seek a loan?" The system learns from each user's decisions and community patterns, creating personalized guidance that evolves with their needs.
The magic lies in its dual design: USSD/SMS functionality for basic phones combined with AI-powered voice navigation. Women can digitize sales, pool savings with peers, access credit based on transaction history, and receive real-time market alerts . Machine learning analyzes community data to provide hyper-local advice, from optimal selling times to fair pricing.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
SUMA serves illiterate women agricultural traders ( in the street or market ) in Burundi - the invisible backbone of the informal economy who struggle daily with cash theft, financial exclusion, and business instability. These micro-entrepreneurs keep their life savings hidden in market stalls , lack access to banking , and operate without understanding basic concepts like profit margins or inventory turnover. Their businesses remain trapped in survival mode, despite generating 45% of Burundi's GDP. SUMA shatters these barriers through an urgent, voice-first revolution: By transforming basic phones into financial coaches that speak their language (literally), it converts chaotic cash flows into digital records, automatically calculates profits via SMS, and creates secure savings pools with other market women. Interactive stories simulate real business dilemmas, embedding financial literacy through relatable scenarios.
