When people don’t have access to formal financial infrastructure for savings, loans and insurance, they often rely on their communities to provide these services. It’s estimated that over one billion people around the globe use savings groups, mainly in emerging markets.

Charlotte Rønje, cofounder and CEO of Jamii.one believes that technology can help such communities to thrive and that financial inclusion can lead to better prospects for future generations and a sense of empowerment among community members.

Charlotte explains that people around the world aren’t so different from one another. “You want to build a better future for your children and to do that you have to invest in that future,” she says. All around the world, in places where financial infrastructure doesn’t exist or is hard to access, people turn to their communities. “That's why our company is called community one,” she says, explaining that “jamii” means community in Swahili.

Digitalizing informal transactions

Jamii.one was founded by Charlotte, Daniel Brøndum Torp and Tigist Bezu in Copenhagen in 2018. The founding team has complementary experience in technology, finance and international development.

Its core product is the Jamiipay Group app, which digitalizes financial transactions within a community. “It’s a digital tool and accounting system that easily, securely and quickly registers all the financial transactions you have with other people and manages them,” says Charlotte. 

Users can download the app to their phone or device from anywhere in the world and use it to track and organize transactions. It also allows individuals and communities to create an online profile, start building credit and eventually gain access to formal financial services. Jamii.one launched its app in Ethiopia within the first six months of business.

Working with NGOs

There are other tools aimed at formalizing savings groups and focused on financial inclusion, but Charlotte says that Jamii.one is different in how it sees technology as a tool, not a solution. She also highlights the company’s experience working with NGOs, governments, and the financial sector to connect traditional savings communities to financial services.

Charlotte explains that NGOs, which typically have short-term projects, can increase the impact and long-term effects of their efforts by collaborating with private companies like Jamii.one, which can continue to service communities after the projects end. “There’s no incentive for Jamii.one to leave after three years of use,” she says. “This way, it continues to support the community and create the foundation for monitoring after the NGO leaves, allowing them to put in further effort only when needed.”

Jamii.one is also working on data collection tools that can help NGOs work more efficiently and accurately. Charlotte explains that NGOs often have difficulties in monitoring outcomes. Once a project has been implemented, staff members have to manually collect information from all of the participating community groups in order to report on the project’s performance. This is an expensive, inaccurate and slow process. Jamii.one is working on a product to improve this – a dashboard that aggregates and monitors the information community members put into the app.

“We’re developing a product with NGOs where they can use much better data for reporting and take the next step by working with data intelligence,” says Charlotte. “We will use early warning indicators and comparative analytics to show NGOs which projects or agents are performing, or not, where to put their efforts, or if there might be a small performance dip they’re not noticing.”

Future plans

Jamii.one’s cofounders struggled to find funding in the early stages. Because the company didn’t fit into one particular category, traditional investors were hesitant. “Often, we are too corporate for the donors and too NGOish for investors,” Charlotte says, adding that impact investors were not common when the company was founded. The founders overcame this hurdle by building trust with partners and investors. “They get to know us as people and see us continuously delivering results,” Charlotte says. 

The Jamiipay Group app currently has 7,000 users and Jamii.one is aiming to close a funding round in summer 2021, which it plans to use to build the technology and expand into new markets and segments. The company’s goals for 2021 are to reach 100,000 users and expand to two new segments and markets. Its long-term aim is to expand further into Africa and to South America and Asia.

In the meantime, the team is developing the next version of its app, which Charlotte explains will work in a similar way to how Slack onboards individuals in different workplaces. “Once you start to use the app in one community group that you are part of, it's easy to also use it for the other groups you are in,” she says.

Photos: Jamii.one