Updated Jul 16, 2020
Akaboxi
https://akaboxi.com/
Atuhaire Sarah baryaija
A digital financial inclusion system that enables smallholder farmers in communities manage and monitor their savings together.
Akaboxi is an android mobile application whose front-end is built using (java and xml) and back-end is built using (php and mysql for the database). The application is designed so that the end-user individual uses an NFC (near field communication) cards as an authentication method to interact with the hardware device. The Individual NFC cards can be used to carry out a transaction i.e....
Focus Areas:
Agriculture, Social & Micro Finance and Entrepreneurship
Implemented In:
Uganda
Problem
Akaboxi provides rural communities with a more secure way of managing and monitoring smallholder farmers' savings that are kept in saving groups, using a digital financial inclusion system.
The Akaboxi technology replaces the rudimentary way of keeping money in saving boxes and in people’s homes to a more secure, reliable and easy to use system. The system provides a credit scoring model that enables members in each saving box group to accurately and efficiently assess the credit risk of their colleagues and also be able to manage and monitor their savings. Every individual member in the savings box is assigned a unique Identity Card (ID) for clear identification which captures the necessary demographic information. The ID card is embedded with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that is used for transactions during paying debts, depositing, withdrawing and borrowing money. The system is also linked to each member's phone number to send SMS notifications of each transactions made. The Akaboxi technology uses the mobile money system to make transactions at any mobile money agent in their location to the bank account linked to each saving box group. Banks can provide credit loans to each individual in a saving box group based on the credit scoring data provided by the Akaboxi technology.
Solution
With majority of saving members being unemployed youth and women, Akaboxi comes in handy to provide such communities with a robust and secure way of handling savings kept in boxes, to better manage and monitor them using a digitalized financial inclusion system. These smallholder farmers lose records of their financials finding it hard to access credit from formal financial institutions which in return affects their levels of productivity and ability to scale.
At Akaboxi, we digitally manage these financial records of smallholder farmers, do credit scoring, fill the financial gap and help engage partners to provide cheap and affordable agricultural inputs, access to ready markets links, low insurance premiums, and trainings or education targeting creation of awareness for business scaling and profitability.
Target Beneficiaries
The rural poor and smallholder farmers in the community. We provide a digital financial inclusion system for this community encouraging farmers to save together, being able to borrow each other's money and return it with interest. We expect to reach out the whole nation, East africa and Africa as a whole. Our product is a digitized fintech mobile application solution to support members of the saving box with a more secure, reliable and easy to use financial system.
Mission and Vision
The project will improve a culture of saving, and other opportunities like sharing information on markets, weather changes, agricultural inputs, and best farming practices.
It will achieve inclusive economic growth, sustainable development, and poverty reduction through access to finance, at a reasonable cost, and a wide range of financial services, to ensure that all households and businesses, can use the appropriate financial services.
Competitive Advantage
We are different in that we specifically deal with smallholder farmers in rural setting by empowering them to do farming and save together in small saving groups of 30 people. Unlike our competitors that are targeting individuals in SACCOs, Akaboxi is looking at saving groups that are trying to reduce on banking costs saving and borrowing from each other. We target this niche market as we believe the foundation of the principles used on this level of a sharing economy makes it easy to carry out micro banking or disintegrated banking for small money savings.
Planned Goals and Milestones
June –July 2018-carry out a pilot for 90people (3groups)
August-October-working on the feedback for 3 grps and training
October-December-engagements with other stakeholders and making partnerships
Jan-March 2019-all stakeholders are engaged in provision of respective
Inputs to the company| Funding Goal | 50,000 | |
| New Implemented Countries | Cape Verde, Ghana, Burundi, Rwanda |
