TraderMoni and MarketMoni, two of Federal Government’s Social Investment Programmes have won the Most Impactful Financial Inclusion award in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
The programmes under the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme, GEEP was described as most impactful financial inclusion programme in Africa.
The award was given to the Bank of Industry (BoI) at the African Bankers Awards, which was hosted by African Banker magazine in conjunction with Business in Africa Events and held during the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
According to the award organisers, the African Banker’s Award, the financial inclusion award is for the organization, product or program that has best succeeded in delivering financial products and services to wider parts of society, particularly to the most disadvantaged and low-income segments, ultimately contributing to financial inclusion, development, and growth.
CrowdForce, the Africa’s largest offline distribution network partner with the Bank of Industry (BOI) and Social Investment (SIP) office in extending financial services to the beneficiaries, and underserved in local communities across the 36 states of Nigeria including the FCT since inception of the programmes.
With an agent network of 2845 and 1.8million registered petty traders and entrepreneurs, the Federal Government and Bank of Industry (BOI) through CrowdForce has been able to reach over 2million beneficiaries on the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) which was launched as a product of the Social Investment Programme (SIP).
GEEP projects comprises of - MarketMoni, FarmerMoni, and TraderMoni; this makes it the largest government-led microcredit program globally. These 3 programmes empower micro-enterprises with interest-free and collateral-free loans to grow their businesses.
CrowdForce helps Government and Non-Government agencies to deploy digital services, financial products and collect payments from the mass market with two of its primary products – The PayForce and MobileForms.
94% of the transactions in emerging markets are done in cash via retail outlets and micro businesses in each community. The PayForce Agent Network helps banks and Fintech startups with the right network to scale render digital services and capture digital identities via local merchant stores.
Before now, local traders and artisans in the remote parts of the country are financially marginalized, having no access to corporate financial services like cash deposits and withdrawal, mobile banking, loan facilities, and the likes. The GEEP, especially the TraderMoni programme through CrowedForce has adequately catered for this majority of the nation’s economy by using its large network of agents and data as simple means to access all the above listed financial facilities.
The awards event featured financial institutions and projects from all 54 countries in Africa, as well as the international community. Other award categories and winners at the event include: Investment Bank of the Year (ABSA Capital), Best Retail Bank in Africa (Ecobank ETI), Innovation in Banking (KCB – Kenya), Regional Bank of the year (East Africa – KCB, Kenya; West Africa – Orabank; North Africa – Banque de l’Habitat (Tunisia); Southern Africa – Mauritius Commercial Bank; Central Africa – BGFI, Gabon), Central Bank Governor of the Year (Tarek Amer, Central Bank Governor– Egypt) among others.
So far, thousands of impact stories have been recorded from beneficiaries narrating how the GEEP has empowered them to expand and sustain their businesses while significantly increasing their incomes. These stories would be incomplete without the enormous impact of CrowdForce as its distribution company.