Financial Services

ICT for Development is a Miller Center GSBI Alumni in Kenya that has developed mobile training to reach underserved communities in East Africa.

Rationale

More than half the world’s working-age population does not have access to highquality, affordable financial services (Global Financial Inclusion, McKinsey). To better take advantage of life’s opportunities and shield themselves from economic shocks, these underserved people and their households must be able to save, borrow, insure against risk, and make payments knowledgeably, safely, and affordably.

Furthermore, widespread use of mobile phones in emerging markets and digital transaction platforms has enabled the large-scale expansion of mobile financial services to underserved people, which is an investment opportunity.

Types of Investments

Investments might be made in the following areas:

• Mobile payment systems that serve the poor or unbanked

• Products and services that extend financial services throughout base-ofpyramid markets

• Microfinance funds that effectively promote livelihoods in underserved communities

Miller Center GSBI Alumni Kopo Kopo provides a suite of apps for payments and lending.

• Financial services that create economic resilience and defense against adverse events (e.g., crop insurance)

• Application of investments that create economic and social services for women

• Technologies that extend financial tools to underserved populations

Sample Capital Allocation

Examples of direct investments include:

• Direct convertible debt investment in MPOWER Financing, which works with investors and universities to lend to high-potential students who are not being served by traditional banks and other sources of student loans

• Direct equity investment in Kopo Kopo, which provides tools to facilitate mobile payments through existing platforms, focusing on merchant payments that enable small and medium-sized businesses to accept mobile money payments from their customers

Examples of indirect investments include:

• Cash equivalents and fixed-income fund investment in MicroVest, privateequity fund investment in BlueOrchard Finance, and fixed-income fund investment in DWM Microfinance Funds—microfinance funds that provide access to financial services for rising middle-class families and communities around the world