GEEP: Identity + Human Banks for Africa

It is common knowledge that people living in rural Low- and Middle-Income countries have no form of identification and are denied services like access to health care and credit due to this reason.

GEEP has worked through this by assigning its on-field agents to capture images of this demographic and assign them unique identification via a centralized database that can be used to get continued access to credit for their micro-enterprises. This helps them build credit histories so that they can be weaned off the GEEP program in due time.

GEEP is a micro-banking system for poor people, taking financial inclusion, credit and financial literacy to poor communities, starting in Nigeria. We have built the capacity to serve over 10million commercially-able people today with interest-free credit. We upturned traditional financial services (i.e. identity, physical infrastructure, bank branches),
radically deconstructing it to 17,244 agents (“human banks”) trained and equipped with mobile technologies. 

Global poverty today is 750,664,150 people. Better said: their households barely afford a meal a day. Nigeria is the “poverty capital of the world” (13.6% of global poverty), the highest by far for a single country. 102,125,917 Nigerians, 48% of its population, live in extreme poverty. 56 million of Nigeria’s active  poor are capable of commercial activity to better their lives. This demographic lacks funding or formal identification that make it easier to access traditional financial services. They are unbanked and their “economic value” cannot compete with formal trades, and the cost to aggregate them is prohibitive without innovation. This causes traditional lenders (e.g. banks and microfinance) disregard the micro-enterprises – leaving them in a poverty trap. Only 0.4% of formal loans in the past 3 years have gone to this demographic and the hardest-hit segment are women. 

At GEEP, we are solving the problem of identification and lack of access to credit with technology and agents located in remote areas who ensure that applicants' biometric data are captured and transmitted to the centralized database for processing and approved loans disbursed. With 2.4 million lifted by GEEP so far, our work has demonstrated the capacity to reverse this tide exponentially.

GEEP first targets the demographic of 56 million Nigerians who are poor, traditionally left behind, but are confirmed as commercially able. With some even having an active micro-trade. In parallel, the program plans to scale up to target the same demographic Africa wide (we have received interest in our work from the nations of Ghana and Rwanda).

To understand the needs of this demographic, we conducted an extensive field study (with support from the Gates Foundation), engaging and polling poor communities directly. A total of over 50,000 were polled via randomized sampling. 85% of these individuals and households reported “access to finance for their business” in their top three challenges. Essentially, if they had this access – they would be able to take better control of their lives.
Poverty is not a handicap, and it can be reversed.

With over 2.4 million direct beneficiaries of our project now, we are still quite aggressive about continuous improvement. Our human banks not only serve them daily with our interest-free credit product, but also provide constant FINANCIAL LITERACY training. They learn basic savings habits, book-keeping, pooled inventory, and micro insurance to better their lives and protect their livelihoods.

The GEEP program aligns with the Mission Billion Challenge in that, it understands the need for formal identification of the poor in our society which allows them access credit for their enterprise.

Hence, GEEP through its human banks capture the biometrics and photo-image of the applicants at the enumeration stage, they are assigned unique identities at the verification stage where it is confirmed that there is no duplicity and that each registered applicant is unique. The applicants are informed of the success of their applications through personalized SMS sent to their phones with which they go to receive their funds.

Our project is a detailed process innovation, leveraging modern technology to solve local problems. It addresses the decades-long challenges of a traditional industry (microfinance) and exponentially scale up its impact. Before GEEP, the pace of growth of poverty had drastically overwhelmed the traditional methods of finance and capital (936 microfinance bank branches, in a country of 56 million economically-active poor people). Traditional ways of thinking about this problem (network of branches, physical infrastructure, community cooperatives) were too expensive to scale up to serve this demography. GEEP turned the problem on its head, broke down its component parts, and innovated the industry into 17,244 “human banks” with mobile devices. Today we have profiled 7 million people for loans and have the capacity to deliver this to 30 million people, our major constraint being capital - as opposed to structure or process.

We have also innovated on an age-old problem of identity, the first step to build any economic history or financial asset. Most poor people are illiterate and socially unidentified (except for a voter’s card in some cases). It was therefore near impossible to organize them formally. We built localized technology allowing our “human banks” to first capture the data on each of the candidates, including facial recognition and biometrics to enable uniqueness and accuracy. The human banks also constantly update information on each candidate from their daily interactions; we leverage on this big data to analyse their credit-worthiness, advance subsequent (higher) credit, and advance financial literacy training.

GEEP has a seamless operation  which allows for easy profiling, verification and disbursements of loans and grants to any micro-enterprise across Nigeria

Enumeration (on field capture of data of applicants)

Verification & Picture (verifying collected data)

Disbursement & Payment

Repayment

Start

End

Loan Upgrade upon fully repaying loan

GEEP Details

• 150 person customer support center.

• GEEP command center hosted at BOI Abuja office.

• Multi-layer data verification engine.

• Geo-location based validation.

• Verification of facial picture as well as picture of trade or household.

• Direct disbursement to ALL verified bank account in all 23 commercial banks.

• For the unbanked, automated mobile wallet generation and activation.

• On-lending via Micro-Finance Banks.

•  BVN registration embedded in beneficiary registration.

• 17,244 agents across nationwide network.

• Robust tech suite (including web & mobile apps).

• Fraud detection systems & automated process.

•  8,429 bank branches (ALL banks) collecting loan repayments. 

• National scale agent network.

• Scratch card based voucher system.

• Digital voucher repayment system.

• Automated loan exit or reapplication.

• Robust repayment interventions

  • SMS based communication.

  • Expanded repayment channel access.

  • Drive customer Education & Media engagement.

Impact:
Our overarching goal at GEEP is to eradicate poverty and restore human dignity in the commercially able population of Africa's poor. According to the World Poverty Index, this is approximately 50% of Africa's adult poor, a total of  ~200 million people. Our audacious goal is to bring this number down to zero. (We are not addressing all poverty; however, we believe addressing poverty in commercially able populations will automatically translate to reduced poverty on their dependents).

Outcomes:
The base outcomes that underpin this goal include:

a. Short-term: Full identification of all applicants and an increased household consumption (which we target to see a minimum 50% increase, greater than $1.50 per human per day)

b. Mid/Long-term: Reduction in infant mortality (which is
currently 8 times more likely in poor populations according to
WHO statistics)

c. Mid/Long-term: Enrollment in basic education (because children are
not deployed as street hawkers to generate supplementary income).

d. Mid/Long-term: Accumulation of savings

To achieve the outcomes outlined, we produce the following outputs:

a. Human banks, a disaggregation of traditional financial services, embodying it in trained roving agents equipped with technological tools that provide financial services - particularly credit - and financial education to the poor.

b. Elective micro-credit products for the poor, considering their peculiarities, lifestyles, income patterns and domestic pressures.

c. Financial literacy curriculum, delivered directly and consistently to each candidate profiled for the micro-credit, as a prerequisite for eventual access to credit, and continuation even post funding.

Activities:
We are convinced, having run the following activities for the past 4 years, that they are directly responsible for our critical outputs:

a. Loan product research and design: extensive field studies, research, and quarterly revisions on our body of knowledge on the lives and methods of Africa's poor.

b. Innovation labs and technology deployment sessions, continually interrogating our technologies, systems and processes to align with our discoveries in loan product research and design.

Inputs:
a. Hard facts: data on current state of affairs and economic regression among vulnerable communities, the vast majority of the population.

b. Human capital

GEEP's approach to lending and financial inclusion is innovative as technology has been inculcated and used to:

* Geotag loan applicants to their locations by agents who capture photo data and create identification used in ensuring accurate delivery of credit to the last mile.

* Operate a Bank Verification Number system in which the unique code acts as digital collateral, aids identification and encourages repayment compliance.

* Incorporate facial recognition into the biometric registration to avoid duplication.

* Capture data in an exhaustive manner such that, the previously un-included are identifiable and included financially by the largest agent network in Africa.

* Automate the entire loan process from agreement signings to disbursements and repayments.    

Due to the technologies in play (facial recognition, geotagging, enumeration and disbursements) through agents all synced to the central database, GEEP reduces its barrier to entry to a simple membership of any accredited market cluster association where the applicant is recognizable to the market’s leadership and is in possession of a physical trading space.

From the GEEP database, a bird’s eye view of applications through to enumerations and eventual disbursements are possible across queries and dashboards. This provides valuable information at our fingertips and enables accelerated decision making aided by around-the-clock call-center that allows for immediate verification of information across the network.

The GEEP system is highly user friendly and as can be seen, our agents are always on hand to assist applicants with any process they might find challenging in whatever market clusters they are located. Also, messages to successful applicants are sent in their local languages of choice selected at registration and other information going forward. 

The key features to incorporate into a digital identification system are obviously, the user interface, the language(s) of the proposed users for easier communication. Chief of the user friendliness of the GEEP solution is that the users/beneficiaries do not have to look far for assistance as the agents are with them most days of the week to easily put them through. From queries about registration to withdrawal of their monies and even repayment queries. Also, the helplines to call are available in the local languages of the users.

Yes, we do provide APIs for secure integration with other systems (especially systems of external partners or stakeholders) to allow for approved data sharing, generation of reports, monitoring and evaluation of projects being executives by our innovation and systems.

Firstly, our solution is designed with a principle of “build it for grandma”  which means that, it is built with the aged population's tech challenges in mind. Our solution works with feature phones which most of our applicants use and which also reduces the need for internet connectivity. USSD codes and SMS sent in local languages are the key features used in our solution in order to allow the users with low literacy and numeracy levels to be carried along.

Our financial literacy programs championed by our trained agents equip our beneficiaries with additional skills like book keeping that enable them better manage their finances and grow their businesses. These are also taught in their local languages for easier assimilation.

Our solution has 100% offline capability. This means that data of any candidate can be captured or updated on a local device, and this data is encrypted and stored in indelible memory of the device. Transactions and updates are able to continue on a closed local network across devices in that clusters.

The data is synced automatically to the central databases upon connection any any form of connectivity, including low bandwidth - and the applications are built to dis-aggregate files and data into tiny packets that can be transferred on extremely low latency.

Majority of areas where we operated today are rural, with little to no connectivity.

Our project currently serves 7 million people profiled (petty traders, petty artisans, smallholder farmers). 2.4 million of these people have received direct disbursement of micro-credit, while the others are going through preparations for credit. These preparations include financial literacy, opening of mobile wallets (equivalent of bank accounts for the poor), and evaluation of their trades. In addition, there are 17,244 agents (“human banks”) who
are university graduates employed by our project, and planted in the rural communities to serve the 7 million people. They are also direct beneficiaries via employment, technology training and capacity building.

In one year, our goal is to scale up to 10 million people profiled, with 5 million served with credit. We would also scale up the human banks proportionately (25,000).

In five years, our goal is to have reached the market of 25 million people, with 15 million served with credit, putting a 50% dent in poverty in our target population. Our target of humans banks - factoring in greater efficiency and economics of scale - would be 40,000.

Scale, Growth and Impact Goals 1 Year: In the next year, our goal is to scale up our operation to 10 million people captured, profiled, and in financial literacy for credit. Of this, we are on track to disburse micro-loans to 2.6 million new candidates, bringing our total micro-enterprises to 5 million. We will reach more scale in the next one year than we have had in our 5-year history. Our goal is to also deliver at least 1 hour of monthly financial literacy training to each candidate.

5 Years: Over the next 5 years, it is our goal to scale up to 25 million people captured, profiled, and in financial literacy for credit. Of this, we seek to bring our total funded micro-enterprises to 15 million. 

Geographical Expansion 1 Year: Our strategic plan for Q3 2021 is to expand our innovation to four new African markets. We are have received inbound engagement and requests for partnerships to deploy in Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa. These requests including private sector partners, donor agencies, and governments.

5 Years: We plan to be active with micro-credit in 10 African countries - two per sub-region - by 2025. At this point, we will focus on depth versus breath, as there will be a critical mass of countries and sub-regions represented to enable us learn detailed nuances and tailor financial products that are applicable across the continent.

Capital
Our project works in partnership with funding partners (governments, commercial providers of capital). We build the capacity that attracts capital, and we deploy and return (or revolve) this capital using our infrastructure of human banks and proprietary tools. We are constantly evolving our operation and capacity to ensure that it outpaces our current and anticipated funding. In other words, ever prepared. We recognize that our current impact is relatively high, but our goals are even more ambitious. The primary barrier to achieving our goals, especially in 5 years, would be volume of our capital.

Technical (e.g. technology for hyper-localisation in new countries)
We are constantly evolving our technology, staying abreast of the most efficient ways to manage, mine and analyse data for accurate credit decisions, managing our fast-growing operation of human banks, and embedding big data and machine learning to automate more of our processes. The next level of our advancement should include voice-based access in 2021, allowing our candidates to simple tasks (e.g. balance inquiries, loan requests) by simply talking to phone voice prompts in local languages of multiple countries. This requires Natural Language Processing, a
technology we are keenly following and seeking to adopt.

Funding support from the Mission Billion Challenge will enable us achieve
significant strides in this area, among others. The Mission Billion
network will also help expose us to a set of global resources that
can further expand our thinking and impact.

Capital
Expansion of partnerships: We are in advanced stages of an engagement with the World Bank, seeking to leverage our infrastructure to scale up their reach to poor and vulnerable communities in Africa. This also has the potential to accelerate our international expansion plans as earlier outlined.

Technical
Constant training, exposure and evolution for our team: we plan to invest significantly in up-scaling our technological teams as well as other key functions in the organisation, to perform at an even higher level of exposure. The Mission Billion network will be an incredible resource to support the GEEP team, even if via learnings from our Mission Billion involvement.

GEEP is domiciled in the Bank of Industry (BOI), the oldest
development finance institution in Nigeria. The bank provides us
with a regulatory license cover, while also housing and insuring the
pool of funds received from providers of capital we make available
to the poor through our project. GEEP is however operated as an
independent project within BOI, and I have had the privilege of
autonomy to build the team, design and continue to innovate on
the operation which covers the not-for-profit enterprise development venture.

36 at the core / HQ.

17,244 on the field. 

The GEEP team is equipped with differing experiences ranging from Development Finance to Credit Risk Management and Systems management as shown below.

Name

Role

Key skills & experiences they will contribute to making the innovation a success

Team Member

Toyin Adeniji (F)

Executive Director, Microenterprise, Bank of Industry

28 years’ experience in finance at the World Bank and IFC, advisory and securities with a gender focus. Fully grasps the issue of financial inclusion in the region. Harvard MBA.

Team Member

Uloma Ike (F)

Group Head, Microenterprise, Bank of Industry

Mason Fellow, ex-World Bank; global finance expert and gender based financial inclusion activist. Harvard MPA.

Team Member

Uzoma Nwagba (M)

Chief Operating Officer, GEEP, Bank of Industry

Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow.

ex-Product Manager at Microsoft, ex-financial analyst at Goldman Sachs & African Capital Alliance.

Harvard MBA.

Detailed understanding of product development, systems & processes, finance.

Team Member

Aisha Abdullahi (F)

Head of Delivery, GEEP, Bank of Industry.

19 years’ experience in the Nigerian Banking industry and versed in financial inclusion, credit risk management, financial analysis & reporting. Ex-GTBank

Team Member

Taiwo Ajetunmobi (M)

Head of Strategy and Growth, GEEP

12 years’ experience in financial services and consulting. Ex- McKinsey & Company (Boston), ex-Goldman Sachs rotational analyst. Partner, Passion Incubator for technology startups and innovation in Lagos, Nigeria.

At the moment, GEEP partners with the following organizations;

- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: Operational Support
- Bank of Industry, Nigeria: Fund and Regulatory Support
- Busara Center for Behavioral Science: Micro-credit
product/incentive design.
- Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System: Identity Support

GEEP's business model is the supply of micro-credit and financial
literacy, specifically targeting poor African populations who are historically left behind and have never been able to access funding to become active commercial participants in society. It is livelihood and economic empowerment, and restoration of dignity.

We have built a large-scale infrastructure of human banks (roving well-trained agents) and technology tools, and we deploy these human banks into poor and vulnerable communities where we provide capital, financial inclusion, and at least 3 hours monthly of financial literacy training to commercially-able members of the communities. The vast majority of our current 7 million profiled candidates, and 2.4 million loan beneficiaries, have never been exposed to funding and were stuck in poverty traps. All of them now run some enterprise on account of our project and this has
translated to direct livelihood improvements and escapes from
poverty.

We raise capital from institutions (governments and private-sector capital) seeking to target these demographics for impact and commerce. We revolve or return the capital upon completion of loan and repayment cycles of each beneficiary. We are also quite obsessive about monitoring and evaluation, constantly using our human banks to capture data that enables tracking of weekly and monthly impact of the credit on the micro-enterprises and their
households.
Our project today has the capacity for 10 million active beneficiaries, and we are seeking to scale up across the shores of Africa.

Our path to sustainability is the revolution of capital to enable more scale to several millions of people. Our funds come from providers of capital (public and private) and donor funding to support continued innovation and the enhancement of our operation.

Our model is the embedded model where we are primarily about getting micro-loans in the hands of our beneficiaries and the enterprise program tallies wholly with our mission.

[due to some public sector support involvement in our project, we
are happy to provide this detail on request but constrained to
share them publicly, thank you]

The GEEP project is at a tipping point. We have proven the model, that it
is indeed possible to attack Africa's poverty challenge at large scale
and pull millions of people out of poverty. We have on-boarded 7 million micro-enterprises in poor communities, serving 2.4 million of them with life-saving credit that has transformed them from struggling poor to commercially active.

Growth
However, Africa's poverty challenge is more significant and we seek to radically accelerate our impact, targeting 25 million people over the next 5 years. It sounds incredible at first, but this was exactly how 2.4 million sounded when we were at 130,000 only 2 years ago. Our capacity for growth is exponential as we seek a global network of bold thinkers and doers, people tackling the world's toughest problems, and with whom we can cross-pollinate the best of science, finance and innovation.

Capacity Expansion
The Mission Billion Challenge will offer us the much-needed funding to innovate further - especially with processing local languages to enable poorer people access financial services by simple voice talks on phone. This would more reflectively support our operation to multiple African countries in which partners have reached out to us. The challenge will also give us the flexibility to develop new products for currently under-served groups.

Exposure
The Solve Foundation has a remarkable capacity to give us exposure that attracts even more capital for loans, and other operational support even beyond the Mission Billion Challenge.

At GEEP, we are looking forward to partnering with organizations who share our vision of empowering the commercially-able demographic of Nigeria, Africa and the world at large and helping them to be self-sustaining and get out of poverty. We are currently in talks with organizations like the World Bank and look forward to partnering with more NGOs, Governments and other institutions currently invested in Financial Inclusion and ending World Poverty and Hunger.

We will like to partner more with the following organizations;

- NGOs
- Governments
- Private capital (banks)

This is because the GEEP solution has a wide reach and its existing infrastructure can be used to financially include the un-included in any society and to reduce poverty. We will like them to work with us through funding the GEEP work, partnering with us through knowledge sharing and evaluation.