Digital Inclusion

Mosabi

Team Leader

Francis Uchechukwu Okeke

Solution Name:

Mosabi

One-line solution summary:

Mosabi’s engaging, mobile financial education helps underserved citizens improve decisions and behaviors on their businesses and money.

Pitch your solution.

Mosabi’s engaging, mobile financial education helps underserved citizens improve decisions and behaviors on their businesses and money. We harness data insights from user profiles and journeys to match them to best fits across a marketplace of digital financial services. Our Mosabi training – the “MBA for the rising billions” – includes topics such as our core business skills, money management, and financial literacy. It also includes complementary upskilling modules on practical smallholder agriculture skills, value chain perspective, entrepreneurship mindset, health, sanitation, digital inclusion, safety and security, and women’s empowerment. Users also benefit from basic literacy and digital skills, knowledge on knowing their rights, and information on holding service providers accountable to client protection.

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

There are billions of citizens around the world who are unbanked or underbanked – hundreds of millions of them are in sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, informal entrepreneurship predominates in less-developed countries. The ILO and OECD estimate that there are two billion people in informal employment globally. In African countries, it’s up to 95% of GDP. Those informal sector entrepreneurs often have limited formal education and financial literacy and little to no access to capital. Financial exclusion makes upward mobility more difficult, and it generates cycles of subsistence-level income. Informal workers are twice as likely as formal workers to belong to poor households in West Africa.

Critically, financial institutions that could serve these rising classes of informal sector citizens find it too expensive and inefficient to do so. The challenge of catalyzing value and impact from those lower is often a pain point for providers – it’s also an imperative for strategic growth. There are legions of banks, telecoms, fintechs, insurers, and also NGOs, aid agencies, humanitarian organizations, charities, and governments (central banks, ministries, and social safety nets) facing similar challenges.

What is your solution?

Mosabi's engaging, mobile education platform helps underserved emerging market citizens and MSME learners improve decisions and behaviors on their business activities, on digital resources, and on money. We link edtech and fintech by driving behavior change through mobile learning and then harnessing data analytics to drive financial inclusion. Users are empowered to build profiles based on their digital and financial knowledge gained, unlocking best-fit matches across a marketplace of financial services and helping to drive livelihood impact outcomes. Mosabi helps financial and platform partners create a larger, more informed and better understood customer base – reducing costs to onboard and upskill them, moving the needle on behavior change, achieving meaningful engagement, and driving higher lifetime customer value. We have set our sights squarely on impact metrics indicating improved financial health – and more meaningful engagement with services and innovations that can help.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Mosabi’s mission is targeted at improving livelihoods and opportunities for low-income citizens working in Africa’s informal sector. The informal sector is essentially “the working poor” – across sub-Saharan Africa, this cross-section is the engine of local economies. Informal activity comprises up to 95% of some countries’ GDPs. It includes low-income citizens who are hustling to build micro- and small business activities, including petty market traders, informal retailers, street food vendors, local transit drivers, smallholder farmers, fishermen, artisans, motorbike repairmen...the list goes on.

We believe passionately that the value we provide underserved West Africans is transformational and practical. The urgency is even greater because of the collective vulnerability of our target learners amid the pandemic. Overindebtedness, productivity losses, anxieties, and diminished capacity to deal with financial shocks could afflict large segments of the country. Our savings content helps users build a buffer for lean times; digital literacy content upskills MSMEs to continue business even amid restrictions on movement; budgeting and bookkeeping content provides blueprints for making sure funds don’t go through the cracks; and our chatbot puts Mosabi as a “digital coach” in citizens’ pockets, helping them choose responsible providers and products that best fit their contexts.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Equip everyone, regardless of age, gender, education, location, or ability, with culturally relevant digital literacy skills to enable participation in the digital economy.

Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.

Before Mosabi we spent years helping informal sector entrepreneurs and MSMEs – hard-hustling workers across the Global South.

Informal segments are the lifeblood of Africa’s emerging economies – up to 95% of GDP in some countries. Traders at local markets, street food vendors, small retailers, artisans, smallholder farmers, family businesses. But financial exclusion and limited education cause pervasive cycles of poverty. We ask, How can we help citizens break those cycles, scale business activities, and build more secure livelihoods for their families?

Mosabi confronts the Challenge dimension head-on by addressing gaps in knowledge, skills, literacy, numeracy and reliable mobile data.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Freetown, Sierra Leone

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Scale: A sustainable enterprise working in several communities or countries that is looking to scale significantly, focusing on increased efficiency.

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.

Mosabi is early-stage, but across 7 countries, we have over $300,000 in total revenue, more than 33,000 total users, and an NPS of 9 out of 10. We are a growing startup, but we see strong validation of product-market fit that our content and platform works. Completion rates range between 12 and 15% – several factors higher than the overwhelming majority of edtech platforms. We are seeing resulting efficiencies for partners that reflect knowledge retention applied to decisions and behavior change. Engagement with our content and platform was predictive of up to 25% higher microcredit repayment rates versus control groups in Kenya. Also, 70% of users report increased earnings or savings or both after learning through Mosabi. Through June 2021, our new mobile channels have driven organic user growth in 25 new countries across Africa!

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Chris Czerwonka

https://mosabi.co/

If you have additional video content that explains your solution, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link here:

Which of the following categories best describes your solution?

A new application of an existing technology

What makes your solution innovative?

Mosabi is working hard to bring true innovation to underserved Africans – hyper-relevant learning content delivered through cutting-edge delivery channels in a future-proofed business model. We are making transformative mobile learning sustainable.

Our solution bridging edtech and fintech is unique because of its scaling potential and human-centered approach. Among other edtechs, none connect learners to telecoms and financial institutions; among other credit scoring fintechs, none also provide rich, holistic education.

We’ve built a B2B business model as a hybrid of a fintech and an edtech. Mosabi is a lifelong learning platform for life skills and financial education that helps our users improve financial decisions and behaviors. We incentivize behavior change through mobile learning and harness data analytics to drive financial inclusion.

Mosabi’s empowering microlearning translates into user profiles and data analytics scoring. We gather engagement analytics and track a user’s demonstrated understanding of the content, while our algorithm generates creditworthiness ratings. Our partner financial institutions view insights on our B2B dashboard – KYC information, e-learning performance insights, loan questionnaire data and our scoring profiles via API – and can offer financial products more confidently and efficiently. This virtuous cycle for both providers and users is the true driver of resilience.

We cement these key competitive advantages together with our approved USPTO patent: Serial No. 62/808,964 which provides intellectual property ownership to Mosabi for the processes and technology to use mobile education to qualify and match learners to financial products.

Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
Audiovisual Media
Behavioral Technology
Big Data
Software and Mobile Applications

Select the key characteristics of your target population.

Women & Girls
Pregnant Women
Children & Adolescents
Rural
Peri-Urban
Urban
Poor
Low-Income
Refugees & Internally Displaced Persons
Minorities & Previously Excluded Populations

Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?

1. No Poverty
2. Zero Hunger
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
10. Reduced Inequality
17. Partnerships for the Goals

In which countries will you be operating within the next year?

Congo, Dem. Rep.
Ghana
Côte d'Ivoire
Kenya
Malawi
Nigeria
Rwanda
Senegal
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Uganda
Zambia

In which countries do you currently operate?

Ghana
Malawi
Rwanda
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Zambia

How many people does your solution currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?

To date, we’ve brought our learning content to more than 32,000 individual citizens.

We frame our go-to-market model with “distribution partners”. Our hypothesis is that engagement and completion rates for Mosabi mobile learning content will be higher than for the general public because of the delivery model as trusted partners together. An example is our partnership with World Vision to bring Mosabi’s training and links to financial products to the women membership of their village savings groups programs.

When we combine these factors of approach with our determined focus and priority, it is evident that our scaling user base can reach millions of underserved citizens as we move forward with them on their journey of education, empowerment and inclusion. Because of this, we believe that Mosabi could reach 100,000 active learners by the end of 2021. These growth projections for outreach and impact can provide a compelling story for pathways out of extreme poverty for millions of citizens. The last-mile delivery model that we are proposing to create together will also serve the broader community. Mosabi expects that millions of additional citizens in the operational countries will also gain access to the Mosabi solution because of the funding and enabling environment of our distribution partners NGOs.

How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?

We set our sights squarely on impact metrics indicating improved financial health – and more meaningful engagement with local services and innovations that can help. By embracing best practices for ethical, inclusive data science we can provide an example for how client protection and privacy can run parallel to scalability and sustainability for fintech startups.

There are also interesting opportunities for Mosabi to play a role in how impact measurement data is shared among innovators, global development actors, and impact investors. Across our user base, track an array of indicators aligned with the IRIS initiative of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN). Our key impact metric is the increase in the earnings of our users, and the number of local people employed. Indicators also include living standards measurements, baselines and progress-out-of-poverty indexing (PPI). At Mosabi, we’re both inspired and challenged by the new pathway we have forged. We feel a tremendous responsibility to be learning every day. Accordingly, we will continue to thrust ourselves into sector working groups and task forces for banking sector reform and advancing national strategies for financial inclusion and financial education.

What type of organization is your solution team?

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

How many people work on your solution team?

7 full-time staff and 5 part-time staff

How long have you been working on your solution?

3 years

How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?

We are proud of our differentiated solution – but our team is our biggest differentiator. We bring a team experienced in digital financial services, financial education, creative arts, and technological innovation.

Co-Founder and CCO Kayee Au is a human-centered design and UI/UX specialist who worked in animation and illustration at DreamWorks. She is a financial literacy edu-tainment thought leader through her work on building Mosabi’s innovative digital learning management system. Kayee was named an AMBA “MBA student of the year” at the American University of Cairo.

Francis Uchechukwu Okeke (Co-Founder & CFO) is an African inclusive innovation ecosystem specialist and an Amani Institute Fellow. He manages partner onboarding and core banking system integration with partner organizations and user groups.

Chris Czerwonka (Co-Founder & CEO) brings 10 years with Deloitte Consulting and 8 years in financial inclusion and fintech. He remains a founding steering committee member of the Financial Inclusion Forum Africa, Accion’s Smart Campaign Fintech Protects community of practice, and the RELAY inclusive fintech working group under the World Bank and CGAP.

Jessica Massie (CLO) has 18 years of specialism in financial capability and financial inclusion. She is a curriculum design and pedagogy specialist with experience across Africa.

Patrick Burke (CTO) is a full-stack technology platform and SDLC expert and a DevOps architecture lead. He is a specialist in full-stack design, data science, and cloud platforms.

What is your approach to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive leadership team?

Our Mosabi leadership team is committed to use opportunities we have been afforded to create jobs and opportunities for local colleagues and stakeholders so that, as we grow and evolve, our team is representing the diversity of the populations we serve. We are committed to a diversity and inclusion policy in operations, hiring, and team development. Mosabi has taken active steps to empower a diverse c-suite; our inspiring executive team includes members who are Black, Asian, and Native American. We aim to create rewarding and meaningful jobs in the communities we serve, and to find and develop talent from among those communities. We search for ways to support fellow companies and peer entrepreneurs who come from marginalized or underrepresented backgrounds and communities. We feel like we can offer connections and introductions in our networks, soundboarding and mentorship on company-building, and we are always grateful for the chances to do so!

Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?

Organizations (B2B)

Why are you applying to Solve?

Our team at Mosabi has built a unique and transformative platform to advance digital and financial inclusion in Africa.

We have seen recent momentum behind positive proofs-of-concept. We have driven efficiencies for our partners, better performance for borrowers, and impact indicators on behavior change and financial stability for our users. The sector has validated our model and approach with notable competition wins and awards, including the Sierra Leone Fintech Challenge, the Singapore Fintech Festival startup competition, and the Inclusive Fintech 50.

We know that the Challenge and Solve could truly unlock some of our bottlenecks to scaling our innovative solution.

Down the line, we know that we would look back on the Challenge, the Prize, and its support and mentoring and see the origins of our overarching goals for the collaboration/partnership: to build sustainable revenue streams across mission-aligned partner-customers, to reach financial profitability and to drive measurable social impact.

We believe Mosabi’s value for users to be transformational, but also practical. Mosabi can contribute toward SDG 1 – but also 4, 5, 8, 10, 15 and 17. With Solve and the Challenge’s help, we can be empowered to achieve the scaling and impact for Mosabi that we know is possible.

In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?

Human Capital (e.g. sourcing talent, board development, etc.)
Business model (e.g. product-market fit, strategy & development)
Financial (e.g. improving accounting practices, pitching to investors)
Public Relations (e.g. branding/marketing strategy, social and global media)
Monitoring & Evaluation (e.g. collecting/using data, measuring impact)
Product / Service Distribution (e.g. expanding client base)
Technology (e.g. software or hardware, web development/design, data analysis, etc.)

Please explain in more detail here.

We feel like there is a promising pathway ahead. But, as stated earlier, we need help!

We envision the invaluable support from the Challenge and Solve helping to (a) cultivate newfound partnerships and dialogue, (b) work together on “company-building” efforts to refine technology, integrations, business processes and commercial models, and (c) target and scale to new markets. In doing so, we can catalyze capacity-building initiatives for marginalized and underserved target populations and countries.

What organizations would you like to partner with, and how would you like to partner with them?

We see pathways for working with B2B partners to upskill their existing user base to generate greater engagement and higher lifetime customer value. There are avenues for us to deploy workforce skilling to field staff, especially those at inclusive financial service providers in emerging markets, to ensure that client-centricity, responsibility, and transparency is understood and in sync on both the demand side and the supply side.

This includes banks, larger microfinance institutions that embrace innovation, pan-continental telecoms/MNOs, insurance and micro-insurance companies, asset financing companies, and other fintech companies (such as payment platforms and pay-as-you-go solar organizations).

We launch to new markets with a small, lean local team after we have first established institutional partnerships, both with (1) at least one financial institution partner with an inclusion mandate, which can fuel monthly recurring revenue through our B2B SaaS datastream service subscription and (2) at least one “distribution partner”. We have a fundamental priority on collaborating with distribution partners that target capacity-building across the SDGs. Potential distribution partners include NGOs, government agencies and programs, aid and humanitarian organizations, CSOs, UN bodies, self-help groups, community training initiatives and other grassroots organizations whose mandate is to provide support services to the same demographic that we target – low-income, underserved citizens who are often unbanked/underbanked and usually rely on informal entrepreneurship for generating income. A distribution partner who signs on with us also wants their members to benefit from our transformative education and also link to the financial products of our partner banks.

Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The ASA Prize for Equitable Education? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.

No, I do not wish to be considered for this prize, even if the prize funder is specifically interested in my solution