Global Money Week: How FINCA is Backing the Movement for Financial Resilience

Global Money Week (GMW) is an annual global awareness-raising initiative that highlights the importance of ensuring that young people are financially educated from a young age and that they progressively learn the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors required to make sound financial decisions and achieve financial well-being and resilience. ‘Take care of yourself, take care of your finances,’ this year’s theme, focuses on inspiring children and youth to not only learn how to handle their money wisely, but also to help them pass on their experience to their families and communities. GMW will take place from March 22 to March 28.

Organized by the OECD International Network on Financial Education (OECD/INFE), GMW’s mission is to ensure that all children and youth have access to high-quality financial education, that they learn about money, and that they are able to make educated financial decisions that will enhance their financial resilience and well-being in the future.

FINCA supports social enterprises that provide young entrepreneurs with the digital resources they need to build good financial habits and make better financial decisions in the future. Read on to learn more about our partnerships with social enterprises like ImaliPay.

Customizing Financial Services to the Needs of Gig Workers

While the African gig economy comprises 80 million gig workers on the continent, more than 50 percent of gig workers are under-served by traditional financial institutions. Catalyzed by digitization and the young population, the gig economy consists of gig workers that lack a safety net of savings and are unable to access productive finance due to the lack of basic documentation requirements such as pay slips. ImaliPay is a digital financial services platform that promotes the financial inclusion of gig economy workers in Africa. They deliver flexible and personalized marketplace products and services to assist gig economy workers in growing their efficiency and earning potential, building credit through savings and timely repayments, and creating a financial safety net.

ImaliPay developed a cash flow scoring model that enables gig workers to formalize their digital job history to establish a checked and universal credit score that allows digital and self-employed gig workers to be financially included. ImaliPay also provides in-kind loans for trade instruments such as smartphones, which are used to access mobile apps to capture gig work, motorcycle spare parts and fuel, and cash advances for freelance work. Additionally, ImaliPay offers a savings product to enable employees to set up a safety net in case of unexpected circumstances. Not only does in-kind loans for tools of trade help to boost efficiency, but they also lower the risk of default, which is essential in assessing a customer’s financial resilience.

FINCA’s Commitment to Financial Inclusion for the Gig Economy and Global Money Week

FINCA recognizes that existing financial institutions alone would not be sufficient to reach the world’s 1.7 billion unbanked people, and that digital-first technology innovators such as ImaliPay are developing ground-breaking products that have the potential to broaden the boundaries of financial inclusion. This is why FINCA Ventures teamed up with ImaliPay to support the creation of a solution that meets workers where they are and helps them boost their financial literacy. This week, FINCA will commemorate Global Money Week by doubling down on our commitment to financial inclusion and continue to raise awareness for this global issue. Continued and enhanced discussions with the younger demographic about money issues are more critical and relevant than ever before, so that they can feel secure in their ability to manage money and build long-term sustainable financial habits.