MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Empire, Mosabi, Orange, UNCDF Seek to Boost Financial Inclusion in Sierra Leone with Focus on Financial Literacy, Recruiting Women as Mobile Money Agents

The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) recently embarked on a partnership with France-based Orange Mobile Finance (Orange Money); Mosabi, a US-based digital education and finance platform; and Empire Solutions, a digital microfinance institution in Sierra Leone, in an effort to boost access to finance for low-income people – including women and youth – in Sierra Leone by increasing: (1) financial literacy levels; (2) access to credit; (3) the number of financial access points; and (4) the number of women agents. As of December 2020, 4 percent of Orange Money’s agents are female.

By October 2022, the consortium seeks to recruit and train 2,000 new agents and reengage 500 inactive agents, of whom 50 percent and 20 percent, respectively, will be women. Meanwhile, Mosabi plans to provide financial and digital literacy training sessions to 10,000 customers, of whom 2,000 will be offered a digital loan product.

While details on Empire Solutions are not available, Mosabi employs 13 people and offers a combination of financial technology (fintech) and educational technology (edtech) services. Orange Money is the mobile money unit of France-based Orange SA, a mobile network operator and digital services provider. As of 2020, Orange SA serves 259 million customers in 26 countries and employs 142,000 people generating one-year revenue of EUR 42.3 billion (USD 48.3 billion).

Established in 1996 and headquartered in the US city of New York, UNCDF endeavors to create opportunities for poor people and their businesses by increasing access to microfinance and other forms of investment capital. The organization operates in 47 low-income countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific with a particular focus on countries emerging from crises. For 2020, UNCDF had a budget of USD 75 million and supported initiatives providing financial services to 3 million unbanked and underbanked clients.

By Sheen Gupta, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

UNCDF press release
https://www.uncdf.org/article/7377

Mosabi homepage
https://mosabi.co/

Mosabi LinkedIn page
https://www.linkedin.com/company/mosabi/

Orange SA homepage
https://www.orange.com/en

Orange SA 2020 annual report
https://rai2020.orange.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/44/2021/07/orange_integratedannualreport_2020_en_2.pdf

Previous MicroCapital article on UNCDF
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-malawi-among-hosts-of-european-commission-oacps-uncdf-digital-finance-program-for-women-youth/

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