MSavings

The Pension reform establish rules, regulations and standards for administration and payment of pension benefits to ensure that all workers have access to pension products and receive pension benefits as and when due. Research shows that, in Ghana for instance, 85% of total labor force, are in the Informal sector. (NPRA Fact Sheets). The ILO Report 2014 shows, only 1 out of 13 elderly people receives pension and only 1 out of 7 people in the labor force is covered under SSNIT. These highlighted concerns have created an unserved need that has to be met. MSavings helps solve this problem by enabling them to save flexible amounts of money regularly(daily,weekly, monthly) towards their pension through their Mobile Phones (USSD) .This ultimately will improve the quality of life and provide retirement security for as many people as possible.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 89 percent of employed women and girls are in the informal sector workforce, which accounts for 80 percent of total employment and 55 percent of total GDP. The irregular and low earnings of informal workers leave them vulnerable to economic shocks, Including the 19-Covid pandemic etc. In Ghana for instance, 85% of total labor force, are in the Informal sector. (NPRA Fact Sheets). The ILO Report 2014 shows, only 1 out of 13 elderly people receives pension and only 1 out of 7 people in the labor force is covered under SSNIT.Individuals in the informal sector are often left out when it comes to social protection programs.They often too poor to be eligible or to afford the means to participating in such social protection programs. Other reasons include low numeracy and literacy levels.

MSavings was built primary for the informal sectors workers and especially those who do not have access to smart phones and good internet coverage.These may include but not limited to, farmers, local shop owners, food vendors, artisans and commercial vehicle operators. One on one interviews were conducted with some of these workers to get a sense of how they feels and what they really need. Their feedback was integrated into the solution. The solution will help them make contributions daily, weekly or monthly which will be invested and yield some interests for them. The solution will be integrated with Mobile Money platform which from my survey is the payment platform they are used to.This will enable them to easily make contributions and claims request via USSD interface.

The problem as per Mission Billion Challenge problem statement is that, Individuals in the informal sectors are neglected or left out in social protection programs living them vulnerable during their retirement or during economic shocks such as the one we are experiencing now globally. The solution arguably is to create a means or medium that enables these group of people to easily participate and also enjoy some retirement securities and other benefits.Our solution mainly target at informal sectors workers and integrates other factors such as low literacy and numeracy rate, smart phones availability and poor internet to provide a system that enables them to invest flexible amounts periodically to secure the future.

MSavings integrate the use of a USSD interface to make enrolment possible for all.Not everyone can afford a smart phone or computer.With the USSD platform, users can just dial a short code and follow the prompts to get enrolled or make payments using their Mobile Money wallets. Most of our competitors including Liquid, PiggyBank, Cowrywise implore the use of mobile apps and web applications which may not be accessible by some informal sector workers due to poor internet, low cost of living, just to mention a few. 

Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is a communication. protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the mobile network operator's computers. USSD is currently the best available communications technology to deliver mobile financial services to low-income customers. Many organizations have leveraged on this protocol to deliver software application solutions to mobile users. MSavings leverages on the USSD protocol to ensure even individual without smart phones or data / internet connection can have access to investing toward their retirement. 

The short term impact of this solution is that, the informal sector will become more educated on the importance of social insurance or investment and an increase Impacts labor force participation strength. In the Intermediate term the impact will be prevention of loss of productive capital, accumulation of productive community assets and an increase human capital investment. In the Long term the impact of this project will create a cumulative increase in household productivity, increase in capital markets through pension funds and effects of taxation on savings / investment. It will also enhance social cohesion and reduce inequality.

The Solution will be integrated into Social protection and public service delivery systems through APIs which will be exposed by this organizations.This is to ensure paperless interaction with users and staffs to ensure accountability and security. This will enable informal sectors to also participate in pension contribution.

MSaving USSD platform is not overly complex, providing quick access to common features or commands on most mobile networks. The USSD flows are well-organized, making it easy to locate different tools and options. The system is also very intuitive and adheres to standards. Error handling is also handle pretty well to ensure a great experience for users.

Network Operator MTN is active in over 24 countries . MSavings will leverage on this to make its USSD application accessible from most countries in Africa. Other operators like Vodafone also have huge presence in Africa. MSavings will integrate into SNNIT (Social Security and National Insurance Trust, Ghana), NPC (Nigeria) and like manner orgqanization around Africa for various features and functionality. Also MSavings exposes APIs for various features including contribution, view of contribution logs, check balance, customer info, payments etc.This means other external systems can easily integrate into our platform.

USSD is currently the best available communications technology to deliver mobile financial services to low-income customers. Many organizations have leveraged on this protocol to deliver software application solutions to mobile users. MSavings leverages on the USSD protocol to ensure even individual without smart phones or data / internet connection can have access to investing toward their retirement. Also, there is an agent assisted registration which will enable people with low literacy and numeracy levels to be assisted and enrolled by registered agents.

MSavings within the next 5 years will be serving over 100 million users.

Goal within a year is to get funding, get setup on large scale, seal all necessary partnerships. Goal within the next five years is to expand into all African countries that have a reliable telecommunication operator preferably MTN and become the ultimate platform for social savings for all.

Initial starting capital to get started and deploy application on large scale.

We hope to be able to win this challenge, raise some capital from this and fund the business to overcome this challenges.

2 part-time workers

My team made up to 2 world class software engineers, is poised to pull resources to deliver this solution and on large scale.Haven completed Bachelor degree in Computer Science and Computer Engineering and over 10 years experience in build solutions ranging from payments, banking, insurance, investment, CRMs, and ERPs, we believe we are well-positioned to deliver this solution.We have also built products for some clients including Fidelity Bank Ltd and Prymo Ghana Ltd who have over 1 million customers and 100K customers respectively.

Though, we haven't sealed any partnership with any organisations yet, we hope to partner with MTN for assignment of USSD short codes and the use of Mobile Money for payments and claims.We will also partner with SNNIT(Social Security and National Insurance Trust Ghana) and other related organizations like NPC(Nation Pension commissions in Nigeria) among others for the purpose of investing customer contributions.

Revenue: We hope to charge a 2% fee on customers total savings amount which will normally be taken from the interest accrued on your savings.

Customer Segmentation : our customer will include as mentioned below: -

• Self Employed (including spare parts dealers, shop owners, Mechanics, etc.);
• Artistes (Entertainment industry);
• Sports men and women;
• Market Women and Men;
• Casual / Contract workers;
• Farmers;
• Taxi and Trotro Operators and mates;
• Government and Non-Government workers

We will charge a 2% fee on customers total savings amount which is normally taken from the interest accrued on your savings.It projected one the user base increases, we will make alot more from this charges

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Our company is currently in its initial stage where we are now getting started and setup.Our biggest challenge is funding now and so winning the Mission Billion Challenge will go a long way to get us up and running. Beyond funding, we are passionate about solving the problem of informal sector being left our of social protection programmes.

Though we already a business model in place, we definitely need some more support defining this properly and seeing it implemented.

Also, when we get funding and are fully ready to get started, we will need some support with hiring of highly skilled talent to help build this business and achieve the business goals.

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