A Nordic – Zambian partnership between Musanga Logistics and Aion Sigma addresses the gap of SME finance through trust solution
Musanga Logistics of Zambia and Aion Sigma of Finland create financial inclusion through leasing of smartphones through enterprises in Zambia. The partnership builds a credit history for Musanga’s truck drivers thus improving their financial status and overall well-being. According to the Zambia Information and Communication Authority (Zicta), there are 15 million mobile subscribers of which only 9 million have access to the internet on smartphones.
The companies plan to extend the offering to all Musanga drivers in order to furnish their households with multiple smartphones and financed green energy. ”The access to a smart phone provides current and potential Musanga delivery partners an inlet to our platform and enables them to earn more money through the use of Musanga’s driver app, create a credit history and access the broad opportunities provided by the internet,” said Njavwa Mutambo, CEO of Musanga. ”Musanga is working to create decent jobs for millions of unemployed and underemployed youth in Africa, starting with Zambia. We do this through our transportation market that connects shippers to vetted and trained Musanga delivery partners through a mobile and web platform.”
Once scaled, the offering improves not only the business of the drivers but also spurs economic growth in the country and the region as new enterprises sign up with Aion’s SME microfinancing program. ”Improved access to information by significantly larger segments of economically underprivileged societies, in the long-term, will increase transparency and trust in otherwise non-financially included women and youth”, said Aion’s co-founder Jari Ala-Ruona. ”Together with Musanga we generate financial trust for individuals in places that have thus far been excluded”.
The solution aids on the journey towards climate sustainability. As the Zambian economy grows, the need for transport increases; with the Aion-Musanga partnership the amount of carbon dioxide emissions is significantly reduced through better logistical planning. The planning is further boosted through services for route and traffic information, location tracking and maps as well as productivity support applications for the drivers.
Aion and Musanga plan to extend the service throughout Sub-Saharan African markets after initial launch in Zambia. The partners have their eye on the Financial Inclusion Summit to seed new partnerships across the continent.
About Musanga Logistics, Ltd: Musanga believes that Africans deserve better transportation of goods and that young Africans have the power to solve this age-old problem while creating decent jobs and economic opportunities for themselves. We are a transportation marketplace that connects shippers looking for transportation to drivers and riders looking to earn with a tap of a button.
About Aion Sigma, Inc:
Aion offers solutions and services for financial inclusion; we enable trust building and fair finance for everyone from individuals to businesses in emerging markets. We pave the way from informal to formal finance and digital inclusion. Aion is a fast-scaling, planet and society-positive, globally based software business with its main seat in Finland.
