Akaboxi Competitors

Financial inclusion refers to the process of bringing unbanked and under-banked individuals and communities into the formal financial system, allowing them to access financial services such as savings and loans.

Akaboxi is a digital financial inclusion system that enables small holder farmers manage and monitor their savings together. Akaboxi works with the existing Village Savings and Loan Association groups (VSLAs) and creates new ones wherever they do not exist.

The women in one of the rural communities in Luuka district, Busoga region in Eastern Uganda learning how to use the Akaboxitech system

Akaboxi enables the unbanked, the vulnerable women and unemployed youths in rural communities access cheap and affordable finance for their small businesses, access to ready markets for their produce. This is done using the Akaboxi technology for transparency of the farmers savings and other transactions during the weekly meetings.

The digital financial inclusion ecosystem in Uganda has seen significant growth in recent years, with several players entering the market to provide various financial services to underserved populations. Here are some of the major competitors of Akaboxi in Uganda’s digital financial inclusion ecosystem:

MTN Mobile Money: MTN Mobile Money is one of the most popular mobile money services in Uganda, with over 12 million registered users. The service allows customers to send and receive money, pay bills, and purchase airtime using their mobile phones.

Airtel Money: Airtel Money is another popular mobile money service in Uganda, offering similar features as MTN Mobile Money. The service has over 9 million registered users and is supported by a network of agents across the country.

Uganda Microfinance Limited (UML): UML is a microfinance institution that provides loans and other financial services to underserved communities in Uganda. The institution has recently launched a digital platform that allows customers to access its services online.

Opportunity Bank: Opportunity Bank is a commercial bank that offers a range of financial products and services, including savings accounts, loans, and insurance. The bank has a strong presence in rural areas of Uganda, where access to formal financial services is limited.

Equity Bank: Equity Bank is a Kenyan-based bank that has expanded its operations to Uganda. The bank offers a range of financial products and services, including mobile banking, online banking, and loans.

Beyonic: Beyonic is a mobile payments platform that enables businesses and organizations to make and receive payments from customers and partners. The platform is specifically designed for the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets.

SafeBoda: SafeBoda is a ride-hailing platform that has recently expanded into the financial services space. The platform offers a range of financial products and services, including loans and insurance, to its drivers and customers.

These are just some of the major competitors in Uganda’s digital financial inclusion ecosystem. With the continued growth of digital financial services in the country, it is likely that more players will enter the market in the coming years.

Akaboxi has performed tremendously well to reach out to the unbanked, the vulnerable in rural communities.

Akaboxi Limited Company is different in that Akaboxi tech system is customized for its AKABOXI clients, taking financial services directly to the vulnerable groups at the grass root in rural communities that are financially excluded from accessing finance from formal financial institutions. These small holder farmers own the software system together with the devices. We offer a full package that enables farmers to be equipped for increased productivity through credit scoring, record keeping, agricultural input provisions, trainings in finance and smart agriculture and creation of jobs in agricultural and small and medium enterprises with an accelerator model and multiplier effect in communities. Our market share is 100% to date. Formal financial institutions like SACCOs, Microfinance institutions, commercial banks and mobile money platforms that offer digital financial inclusion services only work on individuals and groups that can afford to fulfil conditions of traditional commercial banking like provision of collaterals, minimum account balances, credit scoring, bookkeeping. This is still a hinderance to financial inclusion for such vulnerable population. Akaboxi has established a model for completing the VSLA model in a bide to extend financial services to the vulnerables. We have started a small holder farmers bank in Kyarushesha village 84 KMs from Hoima town on L.Albert to enable the vulnerable women and unemployed youth access all financial products at a one stop centre.

Akaboxi staff ready to serve the small holder farmers organised in VSLAs for completion of the banking cycle and financial inclusion.

Social/Cultural

The Akaboxi project has improved a culture of saving. People in Akaboxi save as groups of at least 30 individuals. In addition, the community has had other opportunities like sharing information on markets, weather changes, agricultural inputs, best farming practices and creation of a network of farmers with local and international markets. 

Technological. This technology replaces the rudimentary way of keeping money in boxes and in people’s homes to a more secure reliable and easy to use the system. The system provides a credit scoring model that enables members in the saving groups to accurately and efficiently assess the credit risk of their colleagues and be able to manage and monitor their savings. Every individual member in the savings group is assigned a unique Identity Card (ID) for clear identification capturing the necessary demographic information. The ID card is embedded with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that is used for transactions during saving and borrowing of money. The system is also linked to each member’s mobile money phone number which they can use to withdraw money from any mobile money outlet in their location. The Akaboxitech system issues out a receipt to every small holder farmer within the group for every transaction carried out for transparency purposes and trust.

Akaboxi training includes digital financial literacy for financial inclusion for the disabled in rural communities.

Behavioural characteristics

The women and men value the product, technology and are loyal (loyalty) and the youth have zeal.

Environmental

Akaboxi impact objective in the ecosystems is to have a sustainable land management for households in VSLAs. This is measured by the area of trees on which they are planted per year and the number of tonnes of the briquettes produced by the vulnerable women and youths in rural communities per quarter.

Gender-Inclusive Fintech

Gender-Inclusive Fintech: Creating Opportunities and Empowering Women in Finance

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it’s important to reflect on the progress we’ve made towards gender equality in the finance industry. While we’ve made significant strides, there’s still work to be done to create a more inclusive and equitable industry. One way to do this is through gender-inclusive fintech.

Fintech, or financial technology, has the potential to create new opportunities for women in finance. By using technology to streamline processes and create innovative solutions, fintech can help overcome many of the barriers that have historically prevented women from entering and advancing in the industry.

For example, fintech can help address the gender pay gap by providing transparency around salaries and wages. Fintech platforms can also provide access to flexible work arrangements and remote work opportunities, making it easier for women to balance work and family responsibilities.

In addition, fintech can help increase financial inclusion for women. Many women face barriers to accessing traditional banking services, such as lack of credit history or collateral. Fintech platforms can use alternative data sources to assess creditworthiness and provide loans and other financial products to those who may have been excluded from the traditional banking system.

But in order to truly be gender-inclusive, fintech must be designed with women in mind. This means understanding the unique needs and challenges that women face and designing solutions that address them. For example, fintech platforms should consider issues such as gender-based violence, which can impact women’s financial stability and access to financial services.

In addition, fintech platforms should prioritize diversity and inclusion in their own teams. This means hiring and promoting women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups in leadership positions and ensuring that all employees feel valued and supported.

By creating gender-inclusive fintech, we can create new opportunities and empower women in finance. We can break down barriers and create a more equitable industry for everyone. So let’s continue to celebrate the achievements of women in finance, while also working towards a more inclusive and diverse future.

Green Finance Solutions in Uganda

On 27th and 28th September 2022, Akaboxi team attended the Practitioner Lab for Policy Prototyping on Green Finance Solutions in Uganda hosted by the Uganda National Planning Authority, ACODE & SEED.

The Practitioner Labs for Policy Prototyping in Uganda will serve as a consultation and co-creation platform for the new Green Finance Strategy by the National Planning Authority. It will highlight insights from the Strategy, gather inputs from experts to strengthen the Strategy and facilitate the brainstorming of green finance solutions

Akaboxi team had an opportunity to share its  perspectives  to the development of the Strategy. Akaboxi presented a green enterprise business model

Women Empowerment

When women empowerment takes another course in Kiryandongo refugee settlement.
Sarah Atuhaire, the co-founder of Akaboxi, a digital financial inclusion system that enables communities to manage and monitor their savings together, shares insights about community empowerment through technology from Kiryandongo refugee settlement.

Although statements that insinuate women are ‘redefining’ roles or have made their ‘mark’ or are ‘great leaders’ are common, many use ‘women empowerment’ to refer to well positioned, economically-empowered women in white collar jobs.
It was during my visit to Kiryandongo in northern Uganda that I came face to face with the real meaning of women empowerment from an ordinary rural woman’s point of view. In Kiryandongo refugee settlement, women are visibly engaged. From taking the lead to provide for their families to get involved in a range of socio-economic activities including businesses, politics and conflict resolution, women are surely taking their place.

With support from the Response Innovation Lab – which was set up to find creative solutions to challenges in delivering humanitarian aid – and in partnership with Save the Children, my organization Akaboxi interacted with groups of women who had come for training in digital financing. A bit about the training: we are exploring new and innovative ways of enhancing refugees’ financial literacy through developing robust and secure ways of handling their savings through the use of new technology. Akaboxi, a new digital tool used by local women saving groups, replaces rudimentary methods of keeping money in boxes in people’s homes – where they could often be lost or stolen – to a more reliable and easy to monitor system.
Just from casual observation, you would see men easily outnumbered the women in the refugee settlement. I also saw so many children. Perhaps speaking to the reality we all have heard about; war disproportionately affects women and children more than the men. The women I spoke to on the sidelines of the training spoke of harrowing tales of escape, death, trauma, loss of loved ones including children, relatives, and husbands. But in all these tales, there was still flickering lights of hope, of not giving up, of having to see their young children through school despite the situation in settlements, of one day returning to peace in their home countries and waiting for the return of missing loved ones.

Almost all women I spoke to said they started their day with preparing their children for school which speaks to the value they attach to their children’s education and thereafter going out to engage in different economic activities. “I can’t sit at home, who will take care of children’s needs and mine,” rhetorically asked one of the women I was talking to. ‘But you have a husband,’ I shoot back. This seemed a common thread in my conversations with many refugee mothers, who despite having husbands, have to fend for themselves to put food on the table.
And they seem to have embraced this new found responsibility with gusto because they speak passionately about their businesses and they have grand expansion plans once they have saved enough money with the support of Save the Children and Akaboxi. It is these women that my company Akaboxi has set out to help. After a long period of saving, such a woman wouldn’t want to see a lazy husband snatch their hard-earned savings to go drink alcohol or marry younger brides. And with high cases of domestic violence in homes, fire outbreaks and insecurity, digital savings becomes a safe and cheap alternative for rural women.

We found most women in Kiryandongo had already formed village saving and loan groups under the mentorship of Save the Children and with this added-value cheap, convenient and secure technology, the sky is going to be the limit for these enterprising women.

By

Sarah Atuhaire Baryaija-Cofounder of Akaboxi

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Akaboxitech wins ‘iStartUp’

At the start of 2020, Akaboxi team set out on a journey to apply and be part of the Prize D4D a biennial initiative of the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) supported by the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD).

Prize D4D consists of three categories:

    • The innovative idea / startup – ‘iStartUp’
      The success story – ‘iStandOut’

    • The public award – ‘iChoose’

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