Entrepreneurs are answering the call to solve some of the world’s toughest problems and helping to close the gap in access to financial services for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations.
Worldwide there are an estimated 281 million international migrants and more than 59 million internally displaced persons.
Among many challenges, migrants face a significant obstacle: the current financial services in many countries do not meet their needs. Large swaths of migrants are still unbanked, remittance fees remain high, and poor legislation leaves millions of migrants without solutions to their financial needs.
Fortunately, the past few years have seen an emerging solution: fintech start-ups focused on delivering better financial services for migrants and other underserved customers.
As we observe World Refugee Day, we take a moment to shine the spotlight on startups that are working to improve access to finance for migrants and refugees.
- Gravity Earth: Based in France and Kenya, Gravity leverages blockchain technology, enabling anyone to create a self-sovereign, data-based digital ID to access financial services that were otherwise inaccessible. With Gravity, users can safely share their personal data to access humanitarian aid, financing, employment, and government services. Organisations can also efficiently collect verifiable data for improved service delivery, interoperability and impact. The start-up’s vision is to build human-centered digital ID solutions for easy, transparent, and secure data sharing for everyone, regardless of where you are in the world. In 2021, they launched the DIGID Project to help the Kenya Red Cross Society to distribute funds across the country to vulnerable Kenyans that lack identification cards. The project, which sought to address the beneficiary technology gap, was designed to suit the specific needs of all types of users, ensuring that even beneficiaries with little to no access to or knowledge of technology can create digital identities to access aid services.
- Boss Money (Formerly Leaf Global Fintech): Boss Money is a virtual banking service that provides a reliable and convenient solution for refugees and migrants to manage their remittances during the displacement journey and have friends and family contribute into the Leaf accounts. Leaf’s banking services enable users’ to store money in multiple currencies, and access their money globally to make low-cost remittances, pay for goods and services, and exchange currencies, using both smart and basic phones. The start-up leverages blockchain technology to protect customers’ savings at low costs. In 2022, the start-up was acquired by IDT Corporation in 2022, and has, over the years, been recognized as the winner of the developing world technology category in Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards, the UNICEF Innovation Fund, and is an alum of the IBM HyperProtect Accelerator.
- Monak e-Services: Based in the UAE, Monak is a migrant fintech company that provides financial inclusion and life services to migrants and underserved communities via partnered networks. The start-up, which recently joined Village Capital’s Financial Inclusion for Migrants programme has an all-inclusive mobile application that provides a wide array of services, including convenient banking services such as opening a local bank account, obtaining a debit card in home and work countries – for workers and their families, money remittances and forex transactions. It additionally offers healthcare and insurance services (medical visa, health packages, online pharmacy, and life, medical, motor etc. insurance) and provides access to essential services, including grocery and food delivery, taxi booking, and bill payments.
- Pipit Global: Based in Ireland, Pipit Global is a digital and cash transactions platform designed to cater for migrants in Europe who are sending money to emerging markets. Described as a for-profit, social impact company, Pipit is committed to enabling migrants to easily transact locally and internationally without requiring a bank account or credit card. Migrants living and working abroad can pay bills and transfer money overseas at a fraction of the cost and time taken by traditional international payment providers. In 2021, Pipit partnered with Cellulant to power low-cost remittances across Africa, enabling Africans in the diaspora to top-up an eWallet and send money to a bank account, pay bills, and even make online purchases for friends and loved ones back home.
Financial inclusion helps more than migrants and refugees. It stimulates economic development through trade and improved tax collection.
In 2022, Building Markets’ released the Positive Economic Contributions of Refugees in Türkiye report, which showed that small businesses owned by refugees had a significant and positive impact on job creation and improved livelihoods, not only for themselves, but for their Turkish neighbours as well.
“Türkiye has four million refugees and asylum seekers, of whom 3.6 million (90 per cent) are Syrian. Over the last decade, Syrians have become more integrated into economic life as consumers, job seekers, employees, and entrepreneurs. By 2020, it is estimated that Syrians had invested more than 500 million US dollars in capital into the country through the establishment of commercial activities,” revealed the report.
Entrepreneurs are answering the call to solve some of the world’s toughest problems and helping to close the gap in access to financial services for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. The impact ecosystem similarly needs to tune in and direct its investment to this overlooked market.
This content has been produced in collaboration with a partner organisation through our Global Visibility Programme. Our programme helps companies boost their digital presence and strengthen the thought leadership of their experts. Find out more here.
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