We received a record number of entries to our annual Alliance Hackathon this year, with more than 200 fintechs from around the world applying to take part. After pouring over the applications, the field has now narrowed to 15 exceptional finalists selected to compete in the hack throughout early August, finetuning their tech-based solutions to facilitate women’s financial inclusion.
The finalists were welcomed by another exceptional fintech—South Africa’s TymeBank—the winner of our first Alliance Hack five years ago. TymeBank’s impact has been inspirational. Among the 10 million customers it has attracted since launch in 2019, 54 percent are women; 76 percent are from low-income households; and 80 percent are from peri-urban or rural areas. These extraordinary statistics show that TymeBank is debunking the common misconception that women, especially those with low incomes, are too hard to reach and too costly to serve. By offering affordable and accessible banking products and services, TymeBank is making it easier for millions of women customers to participate in the formal economy. By sex-disaggregating their customer data at each stage of the sales funnel and by product, TymeBank knows exactly what works for women. For example, among SME customers using their merchant advance product, 39 percent are women, and 52 percent report that the product supports their business growth.
TymeBank will be among many sources of inspiration to be tapped by our 15 fintech finalists as they finetune their gender-intelligent business models ready to pitch to our judges – a panel of leading fintech investors and founders – on August 8. The winners, to be announced August 12, will compete for the top prize of $25,000 in cash and the opportunity to take The Founders Peak stage at the Singapore Fintech Festival on November 6-8.
We are excited by the work underway by many other fintech members who are demonstrating success in Women’s Markets and we encourage members and non-members alike to sign up to our next quarterly Fintech Friday meet-up on ‘How to Recruit Women Clients’.
This month, we extend a warm welcome to our latest member, Moniepoint, a payments fintech that reaches 3 million SMEs in Nigeria and is touted to be the next Nigerian business to achieve unicorn status. Please read our interview with founder Tosin Eniolorunda, who shares his vision for achieving full financial inclusion of women.
Given the vital role gender data plays in achieving full financial inclusion of women, we have launched an all new WMSME Gender Data Learning Series. This rigorous training program is designed to equip participants with the know-how to capture and use quality data to drive Women’s Markets strategies especially for women-led micro, small and medium sized enterprise (WMSMEs). We encourage all segment leads and business intelligence teams at financial services providers and national data aggregators to apply here.
To whet your appetite for the WMSME Learning Series, our Resource of The Month is our latest In Brief on the practical decisions that financial institutions make when setting Women’s Markets definitions, a critical first step in generating high-quality gender data and tailoring propositions for women customers.
Last but not least, we extend a special thanks to HSBC and Moniepoint for sponsoring our Alliance Hack this year.
In community,