WASHINGTON, DC, August 27, 2019 – The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) has launched an executive education program for financial service providers serving low-income communities in emerging markets. Through peer learning and exchange, the <a href="/about/what-we-do/board-leadership-for-impact-program">Board Leadership for Impact Program</a> will empower executives and board members to foster client centricity, lead digital transformation, sustain business growth and drive social impact. In partnership with the <a href="https://www.citigroup.com/citi/foundation/">Citi Foundation</a> and <a href="https://www.fmo.nl/">FMO</a>, the Dutch development bank, supporting program implementation and participant scholarships, the Board Leadership for Impact Program will offer multiple in-person workshops per year coupled with a robust virtual portal.

Derived from CFI’s five-year <a href="https://content.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/africa-board-fellowship-program/">Africa Board Fellowship Program</a>, which fostered the growth and development of more than 300 executives and board members of financial service providers serving more than 10 million clients in Africa, the Board Leadership for Impact Program will now expand to include early stage to mature companies offering financial services to underserved customers that operate in emerging markets around the world.

“Our experience with leadership development through peer exchange will inform our efforts through this new program to cultivate a community of leaders who have the skills and the network to help their organizations thrive,“ said <a href="/bio/deborah-drake">Deborah Drake</a>, Vice President, Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion. “Tackling challenges like achieving sustainable growth or pursuing digital transformation, particularly as a mission-driven organization, takes strategic leadership at the board level.”

Through role play, simulations and facilitated discussion, participants will gain new perspectives, skills, and knowledge on topics critical to social enterprise growth and impact, including risk management, board dynamics, digital transformation and inclusive digital finance. They will join an active community of alumni of the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion’s <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/get-involved#fellow-exec-ed">executive education programs</a>.

“By developing and strengthening leadership skills that drive business growth and social impact, our partnership with the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion will help accelerate financial inclusion and economic progress around the world,” said Florencia Spangaro, Director of Programs, Citi Foundation.

“FMO is a proud partner of Accion for over a decade and we realize that creating a lasting impact starts in the board room. Strengthening the management of financial service providers and enterprises will help ensure business longevity and commitment to underserved customers,” said Gerbrich Salverda, Capacity Development Officer at FMO.
###
About the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion

The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) is an action-oriented think tank that engages and challenges the industry to better serve, protect, and empower clients. We develop insights, advocate on behalf of clients, and collaborate with stakeholders to achieve a comprehensive vision for financial inclusion. We are dedicated to enabling 3 billion people who are left out of – or poorly served by – the financial sector to improve their lives.
<a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/">www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/CFI_Accion">@CFI_Accion</a>
###
MEDIA CONTACT

Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion
<a href="/bio/virginia-moore">Virginia Moore</a>
<a href="mailto:vmoore@accion.org">vmoore@accion.org</a>
+1 202.393.5113

The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion Launches Executive Education Program for Financial Service Providers to Enable Business Growth and Social Impact

The following post was <a href="http://blogs.accion.org/features/7-fintech-trends-to-watch-in-2018/">originally published</a> on the Accion blog.
We’re in the middle of a fintech boom that <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://medium.com/accion/trends-that-may-change-the-world-c00f4e500a8c" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">could change the world</a>. As a seed-stage investor in fintech for the underserved, Accion Venture Lab continues to see innovative startups increasing access to, reducing the cost of, or improving the quality of financial services for underserved individuals and small businesses around the world.
As we kick off a new year, we’re particularly excited about seven areas of startup-led innovation.

<h4>Digital neobanks</h4>
[caption id="attachment_24930" align="aligncenter" width="616"]<img class="wp-image-24930" style="border: 0 solid #000000" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/appsm_mockup2.jpg" alt="" width="616" height="411" /> SmartMEI is a digital neobank serving small businesses in Brazil[/caption]
In the last few years, we’ve seen the emergence of a number of digital neobanks. Neobanks offer a user-friendly digital interface and a platform for financial services without maintaining their own banking licenses. With a focus on user experience and digital applications, neobanks stand to offer faster and better service to the underserved. Moving forward, neobanks will need to provide both a compelling product for a targeted customer segment and a suite of offerings that go beyond basic accounts or credit cards to retain customers and improve unit economics. Innovators in this space include <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://nowmoney.me/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">NOW Money</a>, which offers migrant workers in the UAE a platform to more efficiently transfer remittances and access to other products and services over time, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.smartmei.com.br/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">SmartMEI</a>, which offers small businesses in Brazil a free tax tool and access to a broader set of financial services.

<h4>Next gen small business finance solutions</h4>
Around the world, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) struggle to access capital. Estimates suggest that <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/4d6e6400416896c09494b79e78015671/Closing+the+Credit+Gap+Report-FinalLatest.pdf?MOD=AJPERES" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">200 to 245 million formal and informal small businesses</a> either don’t have a loan or have one but are still constrained by their access to financing. Startups have been developing creative ways to acquire, underwrite, and fund these businesses. Some of the most innovative models today are embedding themselves into supply chains and working with a partner in that supply chain to identify MSMEs in need of financing and to obtain existing data that can support credit decision-making. These companies include <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.tiendapago.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Tienda Pago</a>, which partners with major consumer good distributors in Peru and Mexico to extend short-term working capital to small stores for inventory purchases, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://lidya.co/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lidya</a>, which works through partners in Nigeria to provide invoice discounting and supply chain financing to small businesses.

<h4>Insurtech for the underserved</h4>
Low-income consumers in emerging markets need insurance products to manage and mitigate financial risks, but serving those customers poses significant challenges — from cost-effectively reaching and educating consumers, to accurately assessing and pricing risks, to efficiently managing claims. Startups can play a critical role in solving those challenges with products intended to address specific risks for underserved communities, new distribution channels to reach these populations, and new streams of data to more effectively assess and price risk. Insurtech innovators include <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://lumkani.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lumkani</a>, which sells a low-cost heat detector bundled with insurance to households in South African informal settlements that protect against loss of life, shelter, and assets, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://togarantido.com.br/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Togarantido</a>, which serves as an online-based insurance broker focused on the underserved in Brazil.

<h4>Financial services for smallholder farmers</h4>
Smallholder farmers remain notoriously difficult to reach and are often considered high-risk clients since their incomes are tied to unpredictable harvests. An estimated <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.raflearning.org/post/inflection-point-unlocking-growth-era-farmer-finance" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">270 million smallholder farmers around the world face a financing gap of $170 billion</a>. Innovators addressing this need can provide real value — by helping farmers finance irrigation pumps, combat pests, or address climate risks. Startups in this space include <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://apolloagriculture.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Apollo Agriculture</a>, which leverages satellite imagery, data science, and mobile money to finance fertilizer and seeds needed to increase crop yields, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.pula-advisors.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Pula</a>, which works with large seed and fertilizer suppliers across Africa to bundle crop insurance in with product purchases.

<h4>Asset finance</h4>
[caption id="attachment_24931" align="aligncenter" width="615"]<img class="wp-image-24931" style="border: 0 solid #000000" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/kn_pg_2016_25.jpg" alt="" width="615" height="410" /> The Paygo team at work on their smart meter for cooking gas[/caption]
Individuals and small businesses require financing for assets like medical equipment, smartphones, and solar home systems to increase efficiency and improve lives. One promising innovation in this space is pay-as-you-go financing, which allows consumers and business owners to make small upfront payments and regular “top-ups,” usually sent via mobile money. The model has already led to a rapid expansion in solar home systems across emerging markets. Other scalable models for asset financing leverage new distribution and payment approaches like layaway solutions, leasing models, and peer-to-peer transfers. <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://paygoenergy.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">PayGo Energy</a> is a promising company in this space; its pay-as-you-go financing model enables low-income customers in Kenya to pre-pay for cleaner and more affordable cooking gas.

<h4>All-digital consumer lending</h4>
Recent years have seen digital consumer lenders emerge and scale by using simple apps to collect and analyze customer data to provide access to credit for underserved populations. The speed and accessibility of digital platforms enable credit access for consumers who are underserved by traditional lenders and who might otherwise be too costly to serve. Innovators could add value to the sector with new approaches to credit underwriting and consumer engagement that lower defaults and improve retention — two of the critical challenges to the app-based lending model. <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://smartcoin.co.in/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">SmartCoin</a> offers new engagement tools alongside its mobile lending platform to better understand and serve its customers in India, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.tezfinancialservices.pk/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Tez</a> provides an all-digital banking platform with a full suite of products to low-income consumers in Pakistan.

<h4>Consumer financial health</h4>
In 2016, the Federal Reserve revealed a concerning statistic about financial health in the U.S.: 46 percent of Americans said they could not pull together <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/25/the-shocking-number-of-americans-who-cant-cover-a-400-expense/?utm_term=.893f79e72c4c" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">$400 to cover an emergency</a>. Startups are providing solutions that help consumers manage their day-to-day financial lives and rebound from shocks. There is significant potential for innovators to leverage behavioral science to design new solutions such as clever nudges, useful automation, gamification, or bundling across different financial products. Innovators in this space include <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.lendstreet.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lendstreet</a>, which focuses on financial health by providing U.S. consumers a platform to restructure and refinance their distressed debt and rebuild their credit, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.destacame.cl/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Destacame</a>, which empowers users in Mexico and Chile with control of their data to build their financial capabilities and access better financial products.
Each of these areas of startup-led innovation offers significant potential for both social impact for underserved consumers and financial profit in 2018. We’re excited to see what’s next.
Image credits: Accion

Have you read?

<a href="https://cfi-blog.org/2017/02/27/kopo-kopo-building-on-the-rails-of-mobile-money-in-kenya/">Kopo Kopo: Building on the Rails of Mobile Money in Kenya</a>

<a href="https://cfi-blog.org/2017/08/28/catalyst-fund-lessons-on-getting-early-stage-fintech-startups-investment-ready/">Cataylst Fund: Lessons on Getting Early-Stage Fintech Startups Investment-Ready</a>

<a href="https://cfi-blog.org/2017/07/31/how-financial-institutions-and-fintechs-are-partnering-for-inclusion-lessons-from-the-frontlines/">How Financial Institutions and Fintechs Are Partnering for Financial Inclusion: Lessons from the Frontlines</a>

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7 Fintech Trends to Watch in 2018

Shannon Dwyer

Amee Parbhoo

Matthieu Albrieux

Middle East and North Africa

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

North America

United States

Latin America and The Caribbean

Brazil

Access Usage Gap

Challenges and Crises

Customer Centricity

Delivery Channels

Digital Financial Services

Enabling Environment

Financial Capability

Financial Health

Financial Service Providers

Financial Technology

Fintechs

Impact Investing

Mobile Banking

Neobanks

Payments

Personal Financial Management

Refugees and Migrants

Remittances

Resilience

Underserved Groups

Appropriate Product Design and Delivery

Consumer Protection

Human Centered Design

Human Touch

Over-indebtedness

Responsible Digital Finance

Trends

Insurance

Insurtech

Smallholder Farmers

Credit

MSME/SME Finance

Article

Toolkits and Guides

Press Release

Ahsan Ullah moved from his home country of Pakistan to Dubai to find work as an electrician. Like many other people who have relocated to the Gulf Coast region for better work opportunities, he sends 75 percent of his salary back home to his family in Pakistan. Ahsan found a way to transfer money overseas in <a href="https://nowmoney.me/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NOW Money</a>, the first digital banking solution for low-income migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). He uses NOW Money’s app to transfer the money he earns servicing cable cars and other machinery, and his family receives it the next day.

When Accion Venture Lab first invested in NOW Money in 2017, we were <a href="/invested-in-now-money" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">incredibly excited</a> by the company’s vision to tackle the challenges its customers, migrant workers in the GCC, faced. These customers have unique financial needs as they often earn just $200 to 300 a month and typically send 70 percent of those wages to family members back home. The traditional financial infrastructure in the GCC prevents these workers from accessing bank accounts, excluding them from the cashless economy. Without a digital banking solution like NOW Money, workers like Ahsan have to wait in line for hours to send much-needed money back home to their families.

[caption id="attachment_23786" align="alignright" width="450"]<img class="wp-image-23786" src="https://content.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/now-money-kat-budd-ian-dillon.jpg" alt="NOW Money co-founders" width="450" height="253" /> NOW Money was founded in 2015 by Katharine “Kat” Budd and Ian Dillon.[/caption]

The last 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic have only made those realities tougher, as the brick-and-mortar institutions often relied on by this population temporarily closed, all but shutting these individuals out from the financial world. As noted by co-founder Katharine Budd in an <a href="/access-to-digital-finance-is-a-lifeline" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">episode of our VentureKast podcast</a>, “Having access to digital finance, as long as you’ve got an internet connection, is a lifeline.” Inclusive fintechs like NOW Money are critical to supporting this lower-income and often-overlooked population throughout the pandemic, continuing to provide their products and services safely and digitally.

Accion Venture Lab is pleased to <a href="/uae-based-fintech-now-money-secures-7m-to-expand-digital-banking-solution-across-the-gcc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announce our follow-on investment into NOW Money’s Series A round</a>, to support the company as they continue to build their moat as the first fintech company in the GCC to use digital banking technology to provide access to fairly priced and well-designed financial products to the migrant workers that need them.

To reach these migrant workers, NOW Money partners with businesses to provide an end-to-end digital payroll solution for their employees. They manage the backend for their partner companies and allowing workers to receive their salaries directly into the NOW Money app. NOW Money bundles a suite of relevant, digital financial services into their app, including a contactless-enabled debit card, mobile top-up, bill pay, remittances, and more, aggregating all the services these migrant workers need to manage their financial lives.

We’re excited to continue supporting NOW Money as they disrupt the region’s fintech scene for a few core reasons:
<ul>
 	<li>Focus on an underserved segment: NOW Money continues to target the migrant worker population in Gulf States like the UAE and the broader GCC. The migrant population in the Persian Gulf Coast region is a historically underserved segment. Employers often mistreat their workers, and workers are in dire need of financial services. These workers earn minimal wages — typically ranging is between $200 to 300 per month, depending on occupation — and often live in overcrowded “labor complexes” with poor living conditions. Additionally, today’s UAE banking standards are exclusionary, preventing customers that earn less than 3,600 dirhams per month (approximately $980) from accessing a bank account. As a result, workers often turn to Wages Protection System (WPS) cards, which function as payroll cards with free once-a-month withdrawal from an ATM, but no functionality at merchants.</li>
 	<li>Multi-product, full-service offering: Our team at Accion Venture Lab has been excited about the impact potential of <a href="/7-fintech-trends-to-watch-in-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">holistic neobank solutions</a> for a while, and NOW Money continues to provide us with the ability to test and learn more about this approach. The company continues to design its product and application with its users in mind, providing positive financial benefits in many ways, including bringing workers into the formal financial system, providing a convenient and competitively priced remittance platform, and increasing access to other digital products to better manage one’s financial life (e.g., mobile top-ups and bill pay). We continue to be impressed by the team’s ability to execute on its product roadmap, and are excited to watch it continue to expand.</li>
 	<li>Digital-first solutions during the pandemic: As the pandemic continues to disrupt life, NOW Money’s customers need these digital products now more than ever. Since the COVID-19 lockdowns began, the company has seen engagement with the app more than double as the pandemic sped up the trend towards digitization. The team has prioritized investing in their user experience and interface during this time by working hand-in-hand with customers to design a product that suits their needs. We believe this digital shift is here to stay and are excited to see the company continue to drive high levels of engagement.</li>
 	<li>Strong future growth potential: While the company has already made significant progress in building its footprint in the UAE, we continue to be particularly excited by its growth potential, both within and outside of its flagship country. Within the UAE, the company’s <a href="https://nowmoney.me/2020/10/commercial-bank-of-dubai-to-partner-with-now-money/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recently announced banking partnership</a> with the Commercial Bank of Dubai will continue to fuel growth. The need for this product is just as acute outside of the UAE, and we look forward to supporting the company as it <a href="https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/innovation/startups/fintech-startup-now-money-secures-%247m-to-expand-across-the-gcc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">brings its suite of products to Saudia Arabia</a> and the broader GCC region.</li>
</ul>
We’re proud to be a part of NOW Money’s journey and growth over the last few years, and we believe that this series A will propel them to financially include even more migrant workers in Gulf Coast countries. As NOW Money continues to grow and scale, they can provide the critical financial tools and services that migrant workers need to support themselves and their families back home.

Migrant workers in the UAE get a digital banking solution

A good product serves as an extension of your own team — your vision, mission, and values — and with any good organization, it deserves its own form of iteration and continuous improvement. But as an early-stage company, the balance between building a product that’s “good enough” and other competing interests can often result in poor product-market fit, or even worse, burned out and frustrated engineers. 

We’ve built <a href="https://content.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/202003-Product-Testing.pdf">Product Testing: A Guide to Getting Started</a>, to help you navigate the important decisions around testing, iterating, and improving your products. We’ll walk you through some of the key aspects of:
<ul>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400">Building a test-friendly culture in your organization</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400">Using an experiment framework and prioritizing what to test</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400">Building and implementing a testing plan </li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400">And, how to implement and share your findings.</li>
</ul>

Product Testing: A Guide to Getting Started

Done right, financial inclusion shouldn't just be about making financial tools available to all — we need to ensure that those tools are useful and make a positive impact on customers and their financial health. Building financial health is especially critical as the future of work takes shape, bringing with it both flexibility and uncertainty.

The newest addition to the <a href="https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/invest/accion-venture-lab">Accion Venture Lab</a> portfolio, <a href="https://joust.com/">Joust</a>, is a neobank targeting microentrepreneurs, freelancers, and self-employed workers in the United States. It has set out to tackle many of the financial pain points associated with a shifting economy. Joust offers a suite of financial services tailored to the needs of freelancers, including a business bank account, payments processing, and invoice factoring — all in a single mobile app.

I recently sat down with Lamine Zarrad, the co-founder and CEO of Joust, to discuss what he believes is driving the current economic shift, the issues it creates for the self-employed, and Joust’s unique positioning to solve them.

Q: There are over 57 million freelancers in the US, and Freelancer’s Union projects that by 2027 over half of the American workforce will freelance in some capacity. In your eyes, what is driving this shift?

A: There are several factors we believe are driving this shift. First, we believe there is a seismic shift in labor economics, with the paradigm of the corporation eroding through the advent of new technologies. These technologies are giving individuals the ability to engage with parties across the globe. This leads us to point number two — freelancers value flexibility. Seven out of 10 freelancers are interested in moving somewhere other than a large city, allowing them to optimize for cost of living while participating in the work available in a city hub. Finally, self-employed individuals value the work life balance and job fluidity the type of work often allows.

Q: How do you think this new form of working impacts the way individuals engage with financial institutions?

A: The microbusiness has very similar needs to any other business when it comes to banking. They need access to somewhere they can store funds, the ability to accept payments from clients, and access to liquidity to perpetuate growth. However, because they’re often new, small, and sometimes insignificant to large financial institutions, they struggle to utilize or afford the comprehensive services that are designed for large corporations. As such, freelancers end up piecing together 10 different tools to run their business, while still missing out on some critical financial offerings.

Q: Can you give a brief overview of the product you provide, and which part of that offering you’re most excited to be bringing to market?

A: As a first step, Joust offers a fully functioning business bank account, with streamlined onboarding and no monthly fees or minimum balances. Through the account, users can accept payments and utilize our fully integrated invoicing tool, allowing them to send and accept invoices directly through the app. We are also planning on launching new features later this year based on feedback we’ve received from existing customers.

Last but not least is the PayArmour tool, which we’re especially excited by. PayArmour allows our customers to instantly fund a sent invoice, if they need access to capital, or guarantee invoice payment within 30 days, if they need to manage cash flows. PayArmour is what we believe to be the single most exciting part of our platform and gives us an interesting differentiation from other players in the market.

Q: For this product suite that you’re offering, who is that target customer?

A: When we were building this product, we wanted to help the most vulnerable of this freelancing population. In our eyes, that is not necessarily the individuals who work for a platform, but rather the individuals who are running and managing their own business. Consequently, a lot of the folks in this population fall into the creative side of things —ranging from a marketing consultant to a musician. We work to help our customers feel confident in their operations, and not anxious about the ability to collect.

Q: How is Joust uniquely positioned to address its users' financial health needs?

A: As mentioned before, freelancers need several tools in order to run their business. They often have a bank account with a traditional provider, a payments product, like PayPal or Stripe, an analytics tool like Mint, a bookkeeping tool like Xero or Quickbooks, an invoicing tool, a timekeeping tool, and more. Joust has consolidated a number of these tools into an “all-in-one” app, designed to solve freelancers’ pain points and simplify their operations.

Additionally, by integrating all of this into a single platform, we can glean into the financial health of our users and create a holistic picture. Consequently, we will have the ability to underwrite our customers in a way traditional institutions cannot. We hope to eventually develop a risk score — imagine FICO for the freelancer — that will allow our users to obtain services they otherwise wouldn’t qualify for.

Q: What are your thoughts on the future of work, both in the US and potentially even globally?

A: It’s most certainly a global phenomenon — the US is not alone. While the US and Western Europe are most similar in their dynamics today, a lot of developing countries’ freelancer populations are also growing. When you look at platforms like Upwork, their users are spread across the globe. Technology continues to bring job opportunities to a lot of new places, spurring freelancing activity.

&nbsp;

 We're working with <a href="https://www.mastercardcenter.org/">Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth</a> to bring <a href="https://www.accion.org/mastercard-and-accion-partner-to-unlock-growth-for-millions-of-underserved-microbusinesses-around-the-world">more small businesses and individuals into the digital economy</a> by partnering with companies in communities around the world to better leverage digital financial tools.

The future of work is here, and financial health is more important than ever

At Accion Venture Lab, we want to know we’re always investing in the most promising seed-stage fintech companies — startups with the power to transform communities and reach the underserved. That means we stay on top of <a href="https://medium.com/accion/7-fintech-trends-to-watch-in-2018-3fa96310732f">the trends in our dynamic industry and the markets we work in</a>, whether it’s the growth of neobanks in emerging markets, innovative models in insurtech, or renewed focus on financial health.

As we continue to track the forces shaping fintech for inclusion, we’ve seen that beneath innovations in products and services, the very tectonic plates of our industry are moving. As the world shifts, the landscape of fintech for inclusion will be affected — from the ecosystem startups work in, to the business models companies set up, to the customers they target. We’ve identified six fundamental factors driving these changes. As investors, these trends affect how we evaluate early-stage companies, but even as startups build and scale their businesses, they will need to adapt to succeed.
<ol>
 	<li>Tech platforms take over. While traditional financial institutions continue to position themselves as digitally innovative, we’re seeing only incremental progress across the globe. Many banks in emerging markets haven’t figured out how to partner with fintech startups yet and have shown a limited ability to go at it alone. But outside of traditional finance, we’ve seen companies offering financial services in many of our markets — in particular, <a href="https://www.cgap.org/blog/series/platform-economy-what-it-means-financial-inclusion">large tech platforms</a> like Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Ant Financial. These companies will continue to expand into Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As they do, we expect that small business and consumer lenders, as well as digital payments companies, will have to explore ways to remain relevant in their markets. The threat of big tech is heightened as newer and more local platforms in sectors like ride-hailing or food delivery also get into financial services, which is already happening in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/eladnatanson/2019/07/01/from-food-delivery-to-fintech-the-new-app-convergence-in-brazil/#7a2fdc9057cc">Brazil</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/eladnatanson/2019/05/14/indonesia-the-new-tiger-of-southeast-asia/#3996254876ce">Indonesia</a>. But fintech startups shouldn’t just look at tech platforms as a competitive risk. They also may offer an opportunity. As tech platforms enter new markets, existing fintech startups offer <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/18/gojek-coins-ph-philippines/">out of the box and locally relevant acquisition targets</a> for expanding platforms.</li>
 	<li>Protecting customers matters more than ever. With more underserved individuals and businesses accessing fintech products, there’s a growing awareness of the need for <a href="https://www.accion.org/how-startups-can-both-empower-customers-and-protect-their-data">stronger consumer protection</a> — preventing overindebtedness, ensuring data privacy and security, communicating transparency in pricing, and much more. The introduction of GDPR has shifted data privacy laws in the EU, and while data protection remains <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1271756/africa-isnt-ready-to-protect-its-citizens-personal-data-even-as-eu-champions-digital-privacy/">a largely unregulated space</a> in many emerging markets, that <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001332615/no-crb-listing-for-loan-defaulters-before-6-months?__s=sebuus7a8bmixxhrbcir">is changing</a>. We will see consumers, investors, and regulators take a closer look at the issues, and fintech companies should be proactive in evaluating their consumer protection measures. The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion’s Smart Campaign recently drafted <a href="https://www.smartcampaign.org/about/smart-microfinance-and-the-client-protection-principles/digital-credit-standards">Client Protection Standards for digital credit</a>. Expectations for startups to protect customers will continue to grow, but we’ve already been working with our companies to build out responsible practices, particularly around data protection (see <a href="https://www.accion.org/data-protection">our resource for fintech startups here</a>).</li>
 	<li>Customers have more fintech options. Fintech for inclusion startups are operating in an increasingly crowded space. Gone are the days when customers had limited options. As a result, it’s getting more <a href="https://liftoff.io/resources/report/mobile-finance-apps-2019/?__hstc=241307293.228d43615f0d5539896fac05c1a5f6ac.1561572502255.1561572502255.1561572502255.1&amp;__hssc=241307293.1.1561572502256&amp;submissionGuid=43ac8e38-041d-4a47-8ddf-1ad939e60778">expensive to acquire customers online</a> and getting more important for companies to focus on the right acquisition channels. This will involve finding win-win solutions with channel partners who have direct relationships with customers and are looking for their own ways to build a stronger value proposition. We’re scrutinizing the success of startups <a href="https://cfsinnovation.org/research/employee-financial-health/">working through the employer channel</a>. We’re also learning from what our own portfolio companies are doing working with retailers (like <a href="https://toffeeinsurance.com/">Toffee</a>, which sells ‘bite-sized’ insurance through retail partners in India), manufacturers (such as <a href="https://www.pula-advisors.com/">Pula</a>, which sells insurance to smallholder farmers through seed and fertilizer providers in Africa), and supply chain players (like <a href="https://www.tiendapago.com/">Tienda Pago</a>, which provides inventory finance for MSMEs through FMCG distributors).</li>
 	<li>New customers aren’t enough. If there’s one metric that’s often overlooked in the pitch decks we see for early-stage fintech companies, it’s customer lifetime value. Companies are often more focused on new customer growth metrics. However, with an increasingly competitive landscape in many markets and the cost of new customer acquisition increasing, the focus is shifting to how well a company can retain customers. There are many strategies startups can take to improve retention — such as introducing better terms or new products — but a major part of it will be improving the customer experience for underserved customers.</li>
 	<li>Fintech needs to do more. While the vision of fintech was an unbundled world where customers could pick and choose what they needed from an a la carte menu of apps and websites, <a href="https://www.pymnts.com/news/banking/2018/unbundled-banking/">many people</a> still have an appetite for an all-in-one solution. So, fintech companies are making moves to expand their offerings beyond their initial use cases — providing insurance on top of credit, business management tools along with payment solutions, etc. This rebundling creates challenges for fintech companies as they consider new strategic directions — when should they offer these new lines? How do they build the internal capabilities to offer these services? To whom do they offer them? But ultimately offering more comprehensive services may help solve the retention challenge fintechs face. We expect to continue to see new digital banks emerge, offering customers better services across all of their financial needs.</li>
 	<li>All-digital isn’t always the answer. Customers are changing as technology becomes cheaper, faster, and more readily available and as customer attitudes to this technology and financial services in general shifts. These changes present tremendous opportunities for fintech for inclusion startups to reach more of the underserved, but it will require startups to take a more nuanced look of their specific customers’ needs and preferences. While customers are becoming more comfortable with using technology, things are still slow to change. Nearly <a href="https://www.gsma.com/r/mobileeconomy/">2 billion of the 5 billion mobile subscribers remain offline</a>. Even where they have access to affordable handsets, reliable data connectivity, and stable power, many people find accessing digital financial services challenging. After all, these customers may not be familiar or comfortable with technology or financial products, and they may not have reason to trust financial service providers. The result is that fintech companies will need to continue <a href="https://www.accion.org/the-tech-touch-balance">balancing new digital technologies with appropriate human interactions</a> to engage, educate, and support their customers.</li>
</ol>
<a href="https://www.accion.org/bio/vikas-raj">Vikas Raj</a> also contributed to this piece.

Six vital trends changing the future of fintech

We’re in the middle of a fintech boom that <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.accion.org/fintech-trends-may-change-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">could change the world</a>. As a seed-stage investor in fintech for the underserved, Accion Venture Lab continues to see innovative startups increasing access to, reducing the cost of, or improving the quality of financial services for underserved individuals and small businesses around the world.
As we kick off a new year, we’re particularly excited about seven areas of startup-led innovation.

<h3 class="graf graf--p">Digital neobanks</h3>
[caption id="attachment_8117" align="alignnone" width="800"]<img class="size-full wp-image-8117" src="http://blogs.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/APPSM_Mockup2.jpg" alt="SmartMEI is a digital neobank serving small businesses in Brazil" width="800" height="534" /> SmartMEI is a digital neobank serving small businesses in Brazil[/caption]
In the last few years, we’ve seen the emergence of a number of digital neobanks. Neobanks offer a user-friendly digital interface and a platform for financial services without maintaining their own banking licenses. With a focus on user experience and digital applications, neobanks stand to offer faster and better service to the underserved. Moving forward, neobanks will need to provide both a compelling product for a targeted customer segment and a suite of offerings that go beyond basic accounts or credit cards to retain customers and improve unit economics. Innovators in this space include <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.accion.org/invested-in-now-money/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">NOW Money</a>, which offers migrant workers in the UAE a platform to more efficiently transfer remittances and access to other products and services over time, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.accion.org/why-we-invested-in-smartmei-in-brazil/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">SmartMEI</a>, which offers small businesses in Brazil a free tax tool and access to a broader set of financial services.

<h3 class="graf graf--p">Next gen small business finance solutions</h3>
Around the world, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) struggle to access capital. Estimates suggest that <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/4d6e6400416896c09494b79e78015671/Closing+the+Credit+Gap+Report-FinalLatest.pdf?MOD=AJPERES" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">200 to 245 million formal and informal small businesses</a> either don’t have a loan or have one but are still constrained by their access to financing. Startups have been developing creative ways to acquire, underwrite, and fund these businesses. Some of the most innovative models today are embedding themselves into supply chains and working with a partner in that supply chain to identify MSMEs in need of financing and to obtain existing data that can support credit decision-making. These companies include <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.tiendapago.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Tienda Pago</a>, which partners with major consumer good distributors in Peru and Mexico to extend short-term working capital to small stores for inventory purchases, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.lidya.co/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lidya</a>, which works through partners in Nigeria to provide invoice discounting and supply chain financing to small businesses.

<h3 class="graf graf--p">Insurtech for the underserved</h3>
Low-income consumers in emerging markets need insurance products to manage and mitigate financial risks, but serving those customers poses significant challenges — from cost-effectively reaching and educating consumers, to accurately assessing and pricing risks, to efficiently managing claims. Startups can play a critical role in solving those challenges with products intended to address specific risks for underserved communities, new distribution channels to reach these populations, and new streams of data to more effectively assess and price risk. Insurtech innovators include <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://lumkani.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lumkani</a>, which sells a low-cost heat detector bundled with insurance to households in South African informal settlements that protect against loss of life, shelter, and assets, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.togarantido.com.br/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Togarantido</a>, which serves as an online-based insurance broker focused on the underserved in Brazil.

<h3 class="graf graf--p">Financial services for smallholder farmers</h3>
Smallholder farmers remain notoriously difficult to reach and are often considered high-risk clients since their incomes are tied to unpredictable harvests. An estimated <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.raflearning.org/post/inflection-point-unlocking-growth-era-farmer-finance" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">270 million smallholder farmers around the world face a financing gap of $170 billion</a>. Innovators addressing this need can provide real value — by helping farmers finance irrigation pumps, combat pests, or address climate risks. Startups in this space include <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://apolloagriculture.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Apollo Agriculture</a>, which leverages satellite imagery, data science, and mobile money to finance fertilizer and seeds needed to increase crop yields, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.pula-advisors.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Pula</a>, which works with large seed and fertilizer suppliers across Africa to bundle crop insurance in with product purchases.

<h3 class="graf graf--p">Asset finance</h3>
[caption id="attachment_8118" align="alignnone" width="800"]<img class="size-full wp-image-8118" src="http://blogs.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/KN_PG_2016_25.jpg" alt="The Paygo team at work on their smart meter for cooking gas" width="800" height="533" /> The Paygo team at work on their smart meter for cooking gas[/caption]
Individuals and small businesses require financing for assets like medical equipment, smartphones, and solar home systems to increase efficiency and improve lives. One promising innovation in this space is pay-as-you-go financing, which allows consumers and business owners to make small upfront payments and regular “top-ups,” usually sent via mobile money. The model has already led to a rapid expansion in solar home systems across emerging markets. Other scalable models for asset financing leverage new distribution and payment approaches like layaway solutions, leasing models, and peer-to-peer transfers. <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.paygoenergy.co/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Paygo Energy</a> is a promising company in this space; its pay-as-you-go financing model enables low-income customers in Kenya to pre-pay for cleaner and more affordable cooking gas.

<h3 class="graf graf--p">All-digital consumer lending</h3>
Recent years have seen digital consumer lenders emerge and scale by using simple apps to collect and analyze customer data to provide access to credit for underserved populations. The speed and accessibility of digital platforms enable credit access for consumers who are underserved by traditional lenders and who might otherwise be too costly to serve. Innovators could add value to the sector with new approaches to credit underwriting and consumer engagement that lower defaults and improve retention — two of the critical challenges to the app-based lending model. <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://smartcoin.co.in/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">SmartCoin</a> offers new engagement tools alongside its mobile lending platform to better understand and serve its customers in India, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.tezfinancialservices.pk/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Tez</a> provides an all-digital banking platform with a full suite of products to low-income consumers in Pakistan.

<h3 class="graf graf--p">Consumer financial health</h3>
In 2016, the Federal Reserve revealed a concerning statistic about financial health in the U.S.: 46 percent of Americans said they could not pull together <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/25/the-shocking-number-of-americans-who-cant-cover-a-400-expense/?utm_term=.b9b4359e9508&amp;noredirect=on" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">$400 to cover an emergency</a>. Startups are providing solutions that help consumers manage their day-to-day financial lives and rebound from shocks. There is significant potential for innovators to leverage behavioral science to design new solutions such as clever nudges, useful automation, gamification, or bundling across different financial products. Innovators in this space include <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.lendstreet.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lendstreet</a>, which focuses on financial health by providing U.S. consumers a platform to restructure and refinance their distressed debt and rebuild their credit, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.destacame.cl/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Destacame</a>, which empowers users in Mexico and Chile with control of their data to build their financial capabilities and access better financial products.
Each of these areas of start-up led innovation offers significant potential for both social impact for underserved consumers and financial profit in 2018. We’re excited to see what’s next.

7 fintech trends to watch in 2018

Can running a small business be as simple as running a Facebook profile? <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.accion.org/venturelab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Accion Venture Lab</a>’s newest portfolio company, <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.smartmei.com.br/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SmartMEI</a>, says yes. SmartMEI launched in January in Sao Paulo, the heart of the Brazilian economy and home to 40% of the country’s registered individual microentrepreneurs. The platform provides Brazil’s small business owners with an intuitive, simple, and easy-to-use mobile app that hosts a large range of banking, management, and financial services.
Brazil’s Microentrepreneurs Don’t Have the Financial Tools They Need
Brazil is now home to more than 7.5 million micro and small businesses, which employ over 16 million people. Within the growing micro-business sector, three out of five businesses are individual microentrepreneurs, such as owners of mom &amp; pop shops, small manufacturing businesses, or are sole proprietors like electricians, delivery drivers, or street vendors.
Unfortunately, these microentrepreneurs are largely unserved by established financial institutions, even though they account for a fifth of the country’s GDP and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.as-coa.org/blogs/s%C3%A3o-paulo-2014-blog-six-facts-about-smes-brazil" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">over half of all private employment</a>. This isn’t a problem that’s unique to Brazil — we keep seeing these problems pop up across markets. Three common barriers to financial services for small businesses are:

<ul class="postList">
 	<li class="graf graf--li">Informality of the businesses: Owners often don’t declare their entrepreneurial activity separately from their personal activity. Despite recently adopted laws that promote formalization through favorable tax and benefit schemes for entrepreneurs, the formalization process is tedious and time-consuming. Many people feel it’s not worth the effort to take that plunge.</li>
 	<li class="graf graf--li">Lack of consistent and quality information: Microentrepreneurs usually lack access to traditional resource planning and accounting solutions, which are expensive and not suited to their simplified needs. This makes it very hard to accurately and reliably report on their business, which is required to work with traditional banks.</li>
 	<li class="graf graf--li">Cost to serve: Traditional banks don’t have the ability or the interest to service such small accounts. They’re time-consuming and not profitable for the big established players.</li>
</ul>
SmartMEI Offers Small Business Owners a Solution
<img class="graf-image alignnone" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1440/1*Xxfnn7hYhUTejD1uB0k7tg.gif" alt="SmartMEI mobile platform" width="500" height="356" />
<a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.smartmei.com.br/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SmartMEI</a> sees this gap in services designed for the microentrepreneur segment as an opportunity. Even though Brazil’s microentrepreneurs typically lack formal management training, most are comfortable using mobile platforms. With their experience in the digital world, co-founders <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlosdejavite/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Carlos Dejavite</a> and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcellopicchi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Marcello Picchi</a> decided to develop new technology to make running a small business as accessible as using a mobile app.
Carlos and Marcello started working on the platform while studying at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. They eventually developed a neobank mobile platform that provides banking services specifically designed for microentrepreneurs and their business needs. SmartMEI provides accounting and tax management tools, a formalization channel, a mobile payment system, a bank account, and a debit card. The platform is accessible for free, with a paid version that gives access to the more extensive range of products.
Venture Lab is very excited to be partnering with this great team. We invested in the company — our second in Brazil — for a number of reasons:
Impact potential, a gateway to banking services: Through the app, small business owners can easily initiate and maintain processes to formalize their business. Executing the formalization process allows them to get the tax benefits from declaring revenues as a business rather than as personal income. SmartMEI also provides entrepreneurs with various management tools that allow them to digitally gather and organize their business and financial data. This provides access — often for the first time — to a complete view of their business activities. Using this data, SmartMEI provides a whole suite of financial products that would have otherwise been unavailable.
Innovative approach to a neobank: Digital banking models that offer a credit card and an enhanced mobile interface for consumers have been operating for some time in developed markets. More recently these neobanks have sprung up in developing markets, including NuBank in Brazil. However, just like traditional financial institutions, neobanks have often struggled to make economics work when targeting underserved segments who spend less and have lower account balances. We have been exploring alternative fintech models, including our recent <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.accion.org/invested-in-now-money/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">investment in NOW Money</a>, and we believe that by targeting small entrepreneurs and developing a platform to attend their specific business-related problems, SmartMEI can offer a strong initial value proposition, and allow for diversified use cases and revenue streams that will drive profitable unit economics.
Scalable operating model: SmartMEI’s focus is on the user experience and interface. It operates by integrating with a set of large partners that provide the backend infrastructure required for the platform to run smoothly. This strategy, common for neobanks, allows SmartMEI to avoid the large initial investment required to build similar infrastructure and navigate complex regulations and allows them instead to focus on building value for the user.
<a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.accion.org/smartmei-secures-funding-from-accion-venture-lab-to-reach-underserved-micro-entrepreneurs-in-brazil/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Venture Lab is proud to support SmartMEI</a> on their journey to expand access to relevant, high quality, and affordable financial products for the microentrepreneurs that are the lifeblood of Brazil’s economy.

Why we invested in SmartMEI in Brazil

<div id="block-system-main" class="block block-system">
<div class="content">
<div class="content-node">
Dubai, August 22, 2017 –<a href="http://www.nowmoney.me">NOW Money </a>has secured an investment of $700,000 from two U.S.-based venture capital investors – Accion Venture Lab, the seed-stage investment initiative of financial inclusion leader Accion, and Newid Capital.
Both Accion Venture Lab and Newid Capital make investments that target the financially underserved.Venture Lab invests capital in, and provides support to, innovative fintech start-ups that increase access to, improve the quality of, or reduce the cost of financial services for the underserved at scale. Newid Capital focuses on such investments outside of North America and Western Europe.
NOW Money uses mobile banking technology to provide accounts, financial inclusion and a range of low-cost remittance options to low-income migrant workers in the Gulf region. It aims to provide access to affordable financial services for everyone.
The investment comes a year after NOW Money’s initial seed funding, which allowed the company to expand the team and develop the technology and brand. With the latest investment, also a part of its seed round, the team plans to launch the service across the United Arab Emirates and expand into the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
Co-founder of NOW Money, Ian Dillon said, “Having what’s understood to be the first early stage investment from U.S. venture capital into the Middle East is testament to the opportunities available here and how far the GCC has come in making itself a destination for investment. We hope this will be the first of many U.S. venture capital investments in the region, and will help to grow the ecosystem further.”
“We’re excited to be making such a big social impact in the region. Accion is one of the leading global institutions promoting financial inclusion, and Newid Capital was co-founded by Nigel Morris, who previously co-founded Capital One Financial Services. We’re excited to be working with them to bring financial inclusion to the 26 million unbanked in the GCC,” he added.
“Each year, migrant workers contribute more than $400 billion to their home economies, and the United Arab Emirates is among the top remittance-sending countries in the world,” said Michael Schlein, CEO and President of Accion. “NOW Money’s innovative approach and digital platform provide a faster and safer option for these workers to support their families and communities.”
“Our partnership with NOW Money marks a number of firsts for Accion Venture Lab – our first investment in the Middle East region, our first investment into a wholly-digital neobank, and our first opportunity to focus on reaching low-income migrant workers,” added Amee Parbhoo, Director of Investments at Accion Venture Lab. “As we reach this new group of financially underserved individuals, we’ll look to apply our learnings to Venture Lab’s work around the world.”
In the last 12 months, NOW Money has won six awards, including Chivas’ “The Venture” for the Gulf region. The co-founders Katharine Budd and Ian Dillon speak regularly at fintech events, such as Payfort and Wamda’s <a href="https://www.wamda.com/2017/06/fintech-middle-east-podcast">State of Fintech </a>report, and are featured regularly in publications such as <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/291944">Entrepreneur Middle East </a>and on the <a href="https://omny.fm/shows/drive-live/industry-insider-30-07-2017">Dubai Eye </a>radio station.
# # #
About NOW Money
NOW uses mobile banking technology to provide accounts, financial inclusion and a range of low-cost remittance options to low-income migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, improving their lives and saving them and their families significant money, in a profitable and sustainable manner.
About Accion Venture Lab
Accion Venture Lab is the world’s leading seed-stage investor in fintech for the underserved. Venture Lab invests capital in, and provides support to, innovative fintech start-ups that increase access to, improve the quality of, or reduce the cost of financial services for the underserved at scale. Since launching in 2012, Venture Lab has deployed over US$10 million across more than 25 start-ups that work in over 20 countries worldwide. Venture Lab is a part of Accion, a global non-profit committed to creating a financially inclusive world, with a pioneering legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. Accion catalyzes financial service providers to deliver high-quality, affordable solutions at scale for the three billion people who are left out of – or poorly served by –  the financial sector. For more than 50 years, Accion has helped tens of millions of people through its work with more than 90 partners in 40 countries. For further information, visit <a href="https://www.accion.org/venturelab">https://www.accion.org/venturelab</a>.
About Newid Capital
Newid Capital is a direct-investment fund focused on financial services and financial technology companies in developing markets. Through its investments, Newid Capital aims to expand financial services to currently underserved markets and individuals. Newid actively seeks early- and mid-stage start-ups that are looking for investment and operational assistance. Newid is able to leverage personal experience in building, and exiting, financial services companies from the viewpoint of both the entrepreneur and the investor.
Media Contacts:
Bryony Travers (NOW Money)
050 374 1012
<a href="btr">btravers@nowmoney.me</a>
Katie Mounts (Accion)
+1 202.280.5859
<a href="mailto:kmounts@accion.org">kmounts@accion.org</a>

</div>
</div>
</div>

UAE-Based Fintech Start-Up Secures $700K Investment to Advance Financial Services Access for Underserved Migrant Workers