Congratulations to Five Talents UK, winners of the 2014 Financial World Innovation Award for their innovative use of technology! Since July 2013, Five Talents have used the Musoni System to manage their operations in Tanzania, and so its great to see all of their hard work recognised.
Commending the winners at the Financial World Innovation Awards, Martin Day, Vice Principal at ifs University College said: “Once again the Financial World Innovation Awards showcased the very best of the financial services industry and our congratulations go to Five Talents UK for its success in the Innovation in Sustainability or Social Responsibility category. This triumph marks a great achievement for the organisation and its staff who have invested so much energy and expertise into making the project a success.”
Five Talents is a registered microfinance charity working in 12 countries including Tanzania where it works with a local partner, the Mama Bahati Foundation (MBF) serving more than 3,000 female customers who have little or no access to financial services or business training. A major security incident in 2011 galvanised MBF to look at their operations, to make them more secure, streamlined efficient and cost-effective. With mobile access patchy in Tanzania at this point, MBF took the advantage of an opportunity to partner with an innovative technology company, Musoni Services, in a joint venture to pioneer their new system – a microfinance and management system that fully integrates Mobile Money Transfer solutions enabling clients to send and receive funds over their mobile phones. This platform for cashless and paperless microfinance has front and back office processes fully integrated into a single system. With improved connectivity, a massive reduction in cash handling has taken place, along with far more efficient processes, allowing staff to concentrate on recruiting and helping clients rather than on administrative tasks. This means that the business has been able to scale up its operations, while staff and clients are more secure without having to carry cash.
Cameron Goldie-Scot, Musoni’s CEO, added “Our goal at Musoni Services is to support microfinance organisations in their efforts to reduce risk, lower costs and improve efficiency. Its fantastic that through the use of the Musoni System, Mama Bahati Foundation have already seen tangible benefits for their business. They fully deserve to win this prestigious award and we look forward to working with them for many years to come.”
You can watch a great video of why Mama Bahati chose the Musoni System here.