February
0
Applications Open
March
0
Application Deadline
April
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Selection Confirmation for Pitch Day
May
0
Pitch Day
About this Round
Financial Inclusion of Women Challenge Round 2024 (FIWC) is aimed at enabling access to financial services for women through the use of innovative solutions that are customized to their needs and unique preferences while keeping in view the structural constraints that women face in the society.
The deadline for proposal submission was Wednesday, March 6, 2024.
Target Segments
The segments in focus for FIWC 2024 are as follows:
- Economically active females working across all sectors
- Financially excluded and underserved women in rural and urban areas
Who Can Apply
If you are focused on increasing the use of financial products and services among women through any of the following means.
Women centric financial product or service design
Your primary target segment is female. Product design is influenced by their unique needs and preferences.
Gender-based segmented approach to sales funnel growth
You want to massively increase the use of your financial product or service among female customers.
Platforms enabling women’s financial inclusion
You are enabling the factors that in turn enable women to use or access financial products or services.
Segment Specific Solution for Financial Inclusion
You choose a specific segment and develop targeted solutions for them for digital literacy and financial inclusion.
Opportunity Size
There is opportunity cost of not taking a gender-intelligent approach. A research study with 31 fintechs, 15 subject matter experts, and 10 fintech investors by Financial Alliance for Women reveals that the business case for serving women with better financial services is compelling, with women expected to control over $216 trillion in wealth globally.
70%
By simplifying its registration process and converting women at the same rate as men, Fintual could increase its revenue by 70 percent.
20%
For every 10 male loan applications, Kubo Financiero’s algorithm approves 8 women’s loan applications.By fixing the bias in its credit algorithm, the company could potentially increase its gross profit margin by 20%.
50%
By tapping into the power of female referrals, Carbon could see a 50 percent increase in organic customer growth.
Key Dates
Note: These dates are tentative and subject to change, except for the last date for application submissions, which will not be extended.
FAQs
Karandaaz seeks to help applicants develop, refine and scale ways to reduce the gender gap in financial inclusion. Applicants’ proposed solutions are expected to lead to
- Increased uptake of financial services or products of previously un-banked and/or undeserved women
- Increased autonomy of women using accounts
- Improvement in financial capabilities of women
- Enabling environment for the growth of women-led SMEs and economically active women
- Helping women overcome the hurdles faced by the prevalent systematic discrimination in the financial marketplace
- Promoting a safer and more inclusive environment in women’s finance
Digital platform, fintechs, financial services providers such as banks, NBFIs, MFIs/MBFs, other players such as aggregators or marketplaces that enable women to generate income, send or receive payments and open a bank account. The solutions can be B2C (business-to-consumer), B2B (business-to-business) or B2B2C (business-to-business to consumer) in credit, insurance, payments & remittances, savings & personal financial management, or enabling an environment addressing challenges of women’s financial inclusion
You must have a blend of digital and non-digital solution in order to qualify for the grant.
You need to submit the complete proposal including the components mentioned in the Term sheet before the deadline i.e. March 6, 2024.
The shortlisting criteria are based on Innovativeness, Inclusivity, Scale Potential, and Impact & Team Capability of the founding/executive team. You may read more about it in the term sheet.
Up to three winners will be selected in this round.
Upto PKR 20 Million grant would be given to the selected winners subjected to idea stage, product roadmap, and growth milestones.
It is preferred that you should atleast have a proof of concept of the service/product, have solved startup issues and need funding for scale. You have a well-researched business model along with a strong team where co-founders complement each other’s strengths. They are both pre-requisites in order to qualify.
No, individual or single founder-owner start-ups are not eligible for the challenge round, either you need to have a team in place or a co-founder who shares your vision.
Karandaaz Pakistan expects all winners to be working full-time on their solutions. So the commitment is to the startup/business, not Karandaaz Pakistan. You will, however, need to commit to the meeting or exceed all mutually agreed upon growth milestones to qualify for fund tranches. Milestones will be developed assuming you are 100% committed to your venture.
Please email us at programofficedfs@karandaaz.com.pk with the subject line ‘Query for FIWC 4’
Our Sponsors
For any questions, write us at programofficedfs@karandaaz.com.pk
