VUA

Most Small-Scale Fishers (SSFs) are not being served by formal Financial Institutions (FIs) because they do not possess the conventional requirements, such as credible financial records and collateral. The SSFs, however, do have financial needs: 

1. to capture economic opportunities; 
2. to access essential services; 
3. to build resilience to prepare for and/or deal with shocks, especially in the low fishing season. 

SSFs normally have irregular income during the low fishing season, which lasts 6 months. Yet during this same time, they still have to meet their daily household and other emergency expenses.

The SSFs desire more financial empowerment to own boats, sustainable fishing gear, and access to consumables such as fuel and oxygen cylinders to support their fishing business.

This problem affects about 52.8 million SSFs and an additional 60.2 million people who are employed along the SSF value chain in fish processing, transport, and wholesale and retail-related activities (FAO and World Vision, 2021). Africa has about 5 million SSFs with 14,000 in Kenya.

VUA is a fintech platform that facilitates and tracks:

1. Payments: It allows SSFs to receive instant payments from the fish dealers (off-takers) via mobile money. 
2. Savings: Through a check-off system, VUA allows SSFs to automatically save during the payment transaction. 
3. Stipend Disbursements: The savings are available to the SSFs as stipends to smooth their income during the low fishing season or during an emergency.
4. Loans: VUA also provides transaction histories and credit profiles for SSFs to enable them to access credit, which is currently unavailable to them. The flagship loan product during the pilot is geared towards purchasing sustainable fishing gear (pole and line), which is expensive for the SSFs to acquire (about USD 800).

We endeavor to partner with off-takers and NGOs to promote sustainable fishing practices.

We are in partnership with Kumbatia Seafood Ltd. as an off-taker.

Kumbatia Seafood Ltd:

• Only works with SSFs who use sustainable fishing practices.
• Guarantees premium-priced ready market for the SSFs

SSFs

Living among the fishing community

Frequent trips to Kiwayu Island which is our pilot location, to immerse ourselves and get the lived experiences of the users

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Impact On People

Through savings and/or loans:

• VUA Platform will help SSFs to capture complementary economic opportunities by diversifying risks of climate change e.g., livelihood diversification into mangrove honey.
• VUA Platform will help SSFs build resilience in dealing with the damaging impacts of climate change e.g., replacement of damaged boats and gears

Impact On Blue Ecosystems (Planet)

• VUA Platform will help reduce the rate of declining marine catch because it plans to ONLY deal with value chain players such as middlemen and traders who use sustainable fishing methods that are designed to only catch big fish, such as the use of hooks.