Karandaaz Offering Grants for Digital Financial Services in Savings and Insurance
Karandaaz Pakistan is currently accepting applications from commercial banks; branchless
banks; PSO/PSPs; Fintechs; non-banking financial institutions; and entities that primarily focus
on the excluded segments of the population, to apply for grants to scale up their pilots that
generate new financial use-cases for digital channels. Two categories that have been defined for
this set of grants are savings and insurance. In savings, pilots that are testing the use-case
generation in term deposits, periodic returns, and rotating savings and credit association
(ROSCA), locally known as committee system will be focused. In insurance, pilots that are
geared to improve adoption of health, life, assets, and travel insurances through digital financial
channels will be considered. The last date to apply for grants is May 11, 2021.
Karandaaz under its strategy for 2020-2024 is building and supporting models and solutions for
the financial inclusion of the unbanked and underbanked population through private sector
engagement. In addition to empowering those who do not have an account, this underbanked
population must be targeted with pilots that introduce financial deepening. Entities interested to
apply for grants under this pilot to scale program can get more details from https://bit.ly/3gjcLVe
Ali Sarfraz, CEO Karandaaz said,
Karandaaz collaborates across the ecosystem to maximize
impact through improved access to digital finance for low income, rural, and otherwise excluded
population segments, especially women. We work with all stakeholders to facilitate the
digitization of government and other payment streams as well as provide support for innovation
in the realm of digital financial services that originate from the private sector. To this end,
Karandaaz runs multiple programs that contribute to a holistic impact on the ecosystem. It is
crucial to extend support for innovations that are likely to create sustainable social impact as far
as financial inclusion is concerned, but are often limited in terms of resources. This pilot to scale
program was specifically designed to support such innovative ideas.
Rehan Akhtar, Chief Digital Officer Karandaaz said,
We are looking for pilots that are intended
to make a difference through identification of consumer adoption strategy, digitization of
information flow, incentives adoption, technically develop systems and products, test new use
cases, test multiple consumer interfaces and activate on-ground adoption of a saving or
insurance solution. We are hopeful that these grants for scaling up innovative pilots will help
increase the product portfolio of mobile wallets, specifically with insurance and savings
products and re-invent existing un-conventional digital financial services for these two
categories.
Despite increased uptake of digital channels for financial services in the last 12 years in Pakistan,
research and data shows that the users have a low-value perception of such services. Identifying
and communicating a compelling value proposition to consumers is vital for increasing use-
cases. Understanding the nuances of how consumers of different segments earn, save, and spend
their money can help providers develop relevant value propositions for each segment. This pilot
to scale grants from Karandaaz will help create value propositions that resonate with the end-
users under the categories of savings and insurance and broadening as well as normalizing
everyday usage of digital financial services and products for these functions.
