Ensibuuko

Ensibuuko has been awarded a grant as part of the GSMA Innovation Fund for Mobile Internet Adoption and Digital Inclusion, which is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fȕr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the GSMA and its members.

The Fund aims to increase mobile internet adoption and usage for the underserved not currently able to use mobile internet services.

The problem

Rural customers, particularly women, are often excluded from mainstream financial services. Savings groups tend to rely on paper record-keeping and operate on traditional, non-digital systems that are unconnected to the larger financial ecosystem. Savings groups need to utilise digital solutions to advance the financial inclusion of the communities they serve, but a lack of knowledge about relevant digital products and services and the skills required to use them are major barriers for rural customers to adopt internet services.

The company

Ensibuuko’s mission is to drive financial inclusion by growing the developing world’s digital financial infrastructure. They deploy technology solutions to community-based savings and loans organisations so they can efficiently reach and serve unbanked and underserved communities in Africa with affordable and relevant financial services.

The project

Ensibuuko aims to promote the adoption of internet-based products and services in rural areas by tackling the barriers of Accessibility and Digital Skills, which are prevalent among rural communities. Ensibuuko will develop a localised version of a digital skills training kit, adapted for rural customers and will leverage its existing network of Digital Field Agents to deliver the training kit to village savings groups in various rural locations of Uganda. As a result, Ensibuuko aims to improve uptake for its own digital app for village savings groups.