The Financial OS for African SMEs
Ensuring Inclusive Growth and Build Credit with Group Savings.
Even Without Internet.
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Revolutionizing Cash Management for African SMEs
Offline Solution
Shika Wallet's offline solution uses a USSD system accessible on any mobile phone in Ghana. This ensures that even those without internet connectivity can participate. By capturing financial behavior through simple, accessible technology, Shika Wallet meets users where they are, eliminating barriers to entry and enabling broad participation in financial activities.
Digitizing Group Savings (Susu):
Transforms traditional group saving mechanisms into digital credit data. By recording contribution consistency and group participation, it validates informal income through peer verification. This process creates a robust financial history through community participation, turning informal saving habits into recognized creditworthiness for financial service providers.
Building Trust Through Community
Leverages existing social structures for credit validation by utilizing group dynamics to ensure accountability. This approach creates a network effect for financial data collection, reducing risk through community verification. By building trust within the community, Shika Wallet fosters a reliable and inclusive financial ecosystem.
Standardized Credit Scoring
Develops credit scores based on actual African financial behaviors, incorporating alternative data points relevant to local contexts. This standardized approach creates comparable metrics across different regions, enabling financial institutions to make informed lending decisions. It allows for a more accurate assessment of creditworthiness, tailored to the unique financial habits of African communities.
Data Migration Pipeline
Seamlessly migrates offline transactions to blockchain infrastructure, creating immutable financial records from informal activities. This process bridges the gap between offline behavior and digital credit scoring, enabling data portability across financial institutions. It ensures that users' financial histories are securely and accurately represented.
Integrating Blockchain and AI
Utilizes the power of blockchain technology to ensure that all financial transactions are immutable, transparent, and secure. By leveraging AI, Shika Wallet can analyze large datasets to identify patterns in financial behaviors, enhancing credit scoring accuracy. This integration allows for real-time analysis and decision-making, ensuring that users' financial activities are accurately recorded and assessed, bridging the gap between informal and formal financial systems with cutting-edge technology.
Everything you need to know
What is Shika Wallet and who is it designed to help ?
Shika Wallet is an offline system created by OffGrid Labs to empower African SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) and farmers. It aims to help those who are unbanked build credit scores through group savings, allowing them to access financial credit and promote economic inclusivity.
How does Shika Wallet work without internet connectivity ?
Utilizes a USSD system that can be accessed on any mobile phone in Ghana, enabling users to capture and record financial behavior without requiring internet connectivity. This offline-first approach eliminates barriers to entry, making financial services accessible to a broader population.
How does Shika Wallet transform traditional group savings mechanisms ?
Shika digitizes traditional group savings (susu) by recording contribution consistency and group participation. This digitization process validates informal income through peer verification, creating a reliable financial history that can be used to build credit scores for financial service providers.
What challenges does Shika Wallet address in the African financial landscape ?
Shika Wallet tackles several key challenges in the African financial landscape, including the significant portion of the adult population that remains unbanked and the traditional credit scoring systems that miss informal financial activities. Banks struggle to assess creditworthiness without standardized data, and despite proven business models, small businesses and farmers often cannot access working capital. Most financial solutions require internet access, which is often unavailable, and there is no standardized way to verify informal income, leaving cash-based transactions unrecorded.
How does Shika Wallet integrate blockchain and AI to enhance its services?
Shika Wallet leverages blockchain technology to ensure that all financial transactions are immutable, transparent, and secure. By utilizing AI, Shika Wallet can analyze large datasets to identify patterns in financial behaviors, enhancing the accuracy of credit scoring. This integration allows for real-time analysis and decision-making, bridging the gap between informal and formal financial systems with advanced technology.