Jamii.one
In 2018, I co-founded Jamii.one with the mission to solve the issue of financial inclusion. As a past management consultant for PwC, I recognized the need for a scalable platform that could empower low-income communities to improve their lives and secure their financial future. Born from this recognition, Jamii.one is a for-profit digital platform that builds on existing structures to connect the unbanked in savings communities to banks and other financial services. As a sustainability and microfinance practitioner and Jamii.one’s CEO, I have ensured a holistic approach to financial inclusion and commitment to the UN’s SDG to end poverty. Part of this includes integrating learning into our app to equip our users, who are mostly women, with the business and financial skills that they need in their daily lives. In January 2020, we reached +4,000 users in Ethiopia with the goal to reach 300,000 users in 2021.
Jamii.one provides the unbanked with access to financial services. Access to services like secure savings and loans allows people to invest in their future (e.g., start a business), which helps alleviate poverty. In low-income communities, a popular and established method of saving up is to join a savings group where you save up as a community rather than individually. Jamii.one solves the problem of financial exclusion by digitalising and empowering these groups. Savings groups use our app to track their activities which makes saving easier and creates digital identities and credit scores for each user. Jamii.one leverages this data to give access to financial services that they would otherwise be excluded from. Our app is co-created with more than 600 people in savings groups, basing the solution on their needs and abilities. We negotiate with banks on behalf of thousands of families, enabling them to improve and secure their futures.
Every second adult in the world is underbanked meaning they lack assess to financial services such as loans. That’s 2.3 billion adults. Many of them - 1.7 billion - do not even have a bank account and are thereby unbanked. In Ethiopia, our current focus country, 65% of Ethiopian adults are unbanked and more than half are women. To compensate for this financial exclusion, many save in savings groups (there are over 25,000 groups in Ethiopia that we know of). By saving as a group, people in low income communities gain access to small loans. This makes them less vulnerable to risks like food shortages, unemployment, illness, income shortage etc. That's why access to loans is one of the most important factors for surviving and escaping poverty. Savings group members lack credit history and formal identification - that's where Jamii.one comes in. Using our app, users digitalise their group's saving activities, build a credit score and a digital identity, and learn vital business and technological skills. We then provide them with access to formal financial services and financial guidance, where they can receive larger loans and securely save their money, empowering them to improve their lives and futures.
Jamii.one is a digital platform and app built with and for savings groups (our users). In low-income communities, a popular and established method of saving up is to join a savings group where you save up as a community rather than individually. Our app is built to digitalise and support these groups. Group members can use our app to record their savings and lending history, which creates a unique credit score. This credit score enables our users to gain access to financial services that they have previously been excluded from. The groups also learn business skills and how to use technology, empowering them to improve their future. Our app accounts for low literacy amongst our users, and we work closely with NGO partners to train users on how to use our app.
Jamii.one serves people in savings groups in rural and urban low-income communities in Ethiopia (with plans to expand to Kenya this year). +85% of the members in these groups are women who are often saving money to support their families. We reach them by partnering with local NGOs and their agents who understand the local context and can teach them about our app and its relevant benefits. The impact of our app is a core focus of Jamii.one. That's why we built the app in collaboration with over 600+ members of savings groups, ensuring that the app met their needs. This meant addressing their need for digital literacy through our app. We have also ensured transparency and lowered the risk of group conflict by providing tools to calculate and settle money. And from September onwards, our users can also buy input on credit and micro-insurance.
Our users say:
- “I never thought mobile application is for me. I rather thought it was for the young and educated.”
- “Now I will tell my son that I can use an app that registers my data.”
- “Jamiipay app makes me feel that I can be modern and use a mobile technology.”
- Elevating opportunities for all people, especially those who are traditionally left behind
People without credit history and/or forms of ID are entirely excluded from formal financial institutions. This exclusion has negative consequences on any of the affected, but it is especially pronounced for women who must deal with the compounding effect of their sex. By championing the financial inclusion of all, with a special focus on women, we empower them to invest in their future, the future of their families, and ultimately help them escape poverty.
I've always been passionate about making a difference. It wasn't until I began working in micro-finance that I saw an opportunity to make a sustainable and important difference. I worked with MFIs in Africa and this is where I began to see firsthand how financial empowerment and loans were the answer to moving out of poverty. I also recognized the vulnerability of many poorly financially educated individuals when entering financial markets for the first time. Many were susceptible to loan sharks and other predatory financial schemes. Upon my return to Copenhagen, I decided to enter a contest by CARE on digitalising savings groups. Throughout this program, my vague idea of a financially empowering platform crystallized into an app that would support savings groups and give them access to financial services. After becoming the competition's runner up, I reached out to my now CTO Daniel Brøndum Torp on LinkedIn. Together we founded Jamii.one in 2018. We collaborated with Luna Olischer, who performed important research in Uganda and Kenya and provided us with the vital information from our future users. In 6 months and with input from over 600 women, we created Jamii.one.
When I was 15, I wrote an article on the idea that the genius of this decade, the one that would bring inventions to reach all social development goals, would be born into poverty. Like 88% of girls today, she would only attend primary school. Her mom/family would not have the financial means or would lack access to the loan that could pay for her school tuition. She would never attend the next level of education to grow her thoughts and ideas - and the world would never know the genius that could have been. This thought is very close to my heart. It gives me a sense of profound urgency. We must work to end poverty and make sure that everyone can realise their full potential. Ensuring that women all around the world have access to loans and other financial services is key to alleviating poverty and enabling them to reach their full potential.
I have broad knowledge of the economic, historical, cultural, and societal related factors that influence investments in the African continent. Most importantly, this knowledge is supported by my experience working in micro-finance and NGOs. I completed a bachelors in financial accounting and business administration followed by two masters in African studies and in international business and politics. My schooling supported me through numerous project management and financial consultant roles in Danish, Kenyan and British companies.
In the early days of Jamii.one, there were a lot of difficulties in entering the African market. I was adamant about continuing our efforts within Africa because of the vast need and potential for sustainable development. My team and I were persistent, knocked on doors, employed local representation and finally, after several months of work, we connected with the top four Banks in Ethiopia. During this time, team morale was low and I myself started to have doubts as to whether we would be successful. My passion and knowledge that savings groups would benefit hugely from access to financial services is what kept me and my team going. Every step in Jamii.one's two year journey has been a challenge, and every time I come back to the core purpose of my company. It's what keeps me motivated and pushes me to continue developing our platform to be the best possible solution to financial inclusion.
COVID-19 has been a global challenge, especially for our users. They can no longer meet in their savings groups and our NGO agents can no longer visit them. The team at Jamii.one was sent home to work and I knew in this moment that as a leader, I needed to set aside the stress brought on by the crisis to keep the team spirit high. I am a strong believer in allowing employees to be whole people, not to “put on” a face and to leave their “issues” and personal lives at the reception. If we want to make a positive impact for other people, we need to start with ourselves and care for each other as a team. With COVID-19, myself and the team were a great support system to one another, helping one another with tasks when other familial responsibilities took over. In spite of COVID-19 being a huge hurdle in our journey, our product is even more important now. Financial services will play a vital role in helping our users recover from the crisis. This has been a huge motivator for my team and I.
- For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
