Money Matters and Contemporary Finance Issues

The EYA Money Matters category can some suggestion to issues in society that could be solved or helped to be solved. So this category looked for a solution to enhance economic understanding. Could this idea be to fight poverty? Or to help people make a decent living? Or could it be innovations that create opportunities for social commerce?

Awamo

Awamo is a supplier for MFI’s that offers a mobile solution to credit lenders which is easy to use and affordable to a broad range.  Awamo’s goal is to bring microfinance management solutions to rural parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Due to the small nature of this business they have the potential for further expansion into the Far East. They’re unique selling point is a secure, fingerprint interface that heightens security in an already dangerous area. As well as enabling lenders to digitise their processes.

Overall Design and Functionality of the Product

From an aesthetic point of view the design is simplistic however it lacks the dynamic flow of other financial companies loan systems. It is important to note, however, that the Awamo interface is still in prototyping stages and that a complete design overhaul is due to take place.

From a practical point of view, the system is not at all complex. It has ease of understanding which benefits all types of customers. The practicality of the tablet combined with fingerprint identification is no way imposing and for businesses a package like this would be the most viable option for operating microfinances.

Despite the highly profiled fingerprint identification scanner the level of security still seems low. An extra level of security, for example a security answer, would create a safer data protection programme for all involved.

The key feature of this product is the data protection through fingerprint identification, which is ideal for a third world target audience. The ability to distribute tablets and scanners with ease to businesses makes for a key selling point where microfinance is easily accessible to audiences.

There is certainly space for development but as the design is in a prototype stage I would be interested to see the future of Awamo and its applications in Sub-saharan Africa.

User Experience

I could not access the product so I was able to see the co-founders of Awamo operate it.

The product looked very secure and easy to navigate. The user is presented with a window to choose whether they can login or create a new account.

Creating a new account required fingerprint identification which proved difficult to navigate because of its high level of security and complexity.

The overall experience is still being prototyped and Awamo should maintain its ease of navigation but build on aesthetically pleasing the user to set it aside from other companies that can offer microfinance software.

Accessible Microfinance

Microfinance is easily accessible in the UK. Large banks like Barclays enable expanding business-customer sales. The main issue surrounding the finance process is the difficulty of the process:

• Time Consuming
• Risking of passing the initial phase
• Frustration and loss of sales
• Businesses do not meet sales targets

Customers are asked for a variety of personal details that include:

• Sole Income before/after tax or Household Income
• Rental Payments
• Previous addresses
• Pension Payments

All of these details the customers may not have on their person at the time.

Graduate Knowledge

Recently graduated students are most likely to want to finance their purchases because of the lack of income immediately after university. The solution to this problem would initially target this audience. Graduates may want access to an Android/iPhone application.

Finance Apps

Spending and Good Budget.

A Middleman as a Solution?

The potential solution to this problem could be a management system that creates an account for the user to be used across multiple finance lenders. Which has the potential to be transformed into an Android/iPhone application. The solution could be a collaborative effort with finance lenders such as Barclays in order to better their infrastructure. To do this customers could be able to complete one finance and their account is registered whereby the details can be updated regularly by the customer.

The benefits of this system is that customers can track their finances. (x) amount they are paying across (y) amount of years. This would also enable multiple purchase tracking. Another benefits is that it quickens the finance process because the already existing information is in the system.

Security

Awamo is unique because of its fingerprint interface and this could be applicable to an infrastructure/application for finance lenders in this country. Multiple layers of protection would secure bank details:

• Password
• Digit Pin
• Security Question

Bank details (Bank card number/sort code) are not inputted for security reasons.