VisionFund loan officer shows client how to make repayments via mobile money

Technology for Financial Inclusion

Technology for Financial Inclusion

By embracing digital technology, VisionFund is able to serve the most rural of our clients with ease, ensuring that nobody is excluded from accessing a sustainable livelihood and a strong future for their families.

Tech to Transform

Technology for Financial Inclusion

Tech to Transform

For remote farmers, both their occupation and their location work against them when it comes to securing loans to expand their business. Banks rarely have branches in rural communities, and even when they do, they’re reluctant to lend to poor farmers. Microfinance institutions might be willing to lend, but the high cost of reaching remote communities makes it unsustainable to serve rural communities as clients. Lenders often charge high interest rates to cover their costs for lending to widely dispersed clients who want small loans and make small deposits.

There is a solution for our clients, and it fits in the palm of their hand. Even though our client farmers don’t always have access to a bank, two-thirds of them do own mobile phones, providing a way for financial services to include rural poor households. VisionFund is working to provide the processes, platforms and products to ensure that technology is at the forefront of our financial inclusion practice.

Platforms for People

Technology for Financial Inclusion

Platforms for People

Our clients are at the heart of all that we do. New digital platforms are allowing VisionFund to move from manual processes to streamlining loan approvals and processing, by collecting data on tablets that link to central banking software. For our clients, this means less time waiting for loans, and more time invested in developing livelihood opportunities. By putting solutions in place to enable farmers to use mobile money on cell phones to send and receive loans and payments, we are eliminating the need for our clients to travel hours for physical cash or to make or receive a payment. Our priority to integrate technology across our work also helps us to serve clients better in the long run; data analytics incorporated throughout the process will help us identify new ways to improve efficiency and client service.

Upgrading our technology isn’t a cost to VisionFund – it’s an investment in changing lives for the better. By planning for the future of our products and services, we will walk right alongside our clients on their long-term journey out of poverty.

Supporting Women

Technology for Financial Inclusion

Supporting Women

Because 70% of VisionFund’s clients across the world are women, we look for inclusive products to ensure our technology solutions are meeting women’s needs and user experiences in rural poor households. Access to appropriate technology can be a significant enabler for closing the gender gap in business ventures and can ensure women’s lives aren’t disrupted by arduous manual processes. Platforms like mobile money mean that women don’t need to take time away from their businesses or families to travel to physical branches, and are able to store their business income securely away from theft or damage.

VisionFund Digital Solutions

Learn how VisionFund is using digital solutions (tablets and mobile phones) to provide financial services  to vulnerable individuals living in rural communities.