Book Keeping
With the Akaboxi device, we support micro banking at a community level with proper record keeping by capturing the necessary demographic details of all the members of the Akaboxi saving group, related transactions of individual persons of the particular VSLA and the entire VSLA.
Trading
The Akaboxi platform provides a market for agro-produce for the smallholder farmers. Smallholder farmers in saving groups have access to ready markets for their agro-produce. This makes it possible for small farmers of about 30 individuals in a given saving group to access a single market and provide agro-products in big quantities.
We create ONE STOP CENTRES for our farmers produce strategically in trading centers within their reach. The excess produce from farmers gets market in the capital city Kampala.
Filling The Gap
Akaboxi supports small holder farmers through Village Savings and Loans Association groups with financial support to different enterprises of individual members of groups. These range from animal husbandry, perennial and annual crop growing, briquette making and selling, general merchandise shops etc.
Akaboxi digitizes the box – Akaboxi literally means ‘savings box’ – in which local savings groups keep track of their money and credit information. All transactions can be entered on the device. This way, all savings and credits are stored. This avoids discussions, but more importantly: it gives people access to the financial world, because the money goes to a bank account and people build up a credit history.
AkaboxiFund
AkaboxiFund is microfinance that is used to enable smallholder farmers to have access to micro-funding in their saving groups. Its user-centric design makes it easy to manage the fund since the members of the saving group are responsible to ensure the fund is well managed.
Social Impact
Since we are community based, we aim at creating an impact through financial training and networking hence economic empowerment. We achieve this through engaging with all the saving groups using our Akaboxi technology and provide free training to enhance their knowledge on benefits of saving, investments, and spending. Our interests are aligned with the sustainable development goals of no poverty , and gender equality.
Creation of a nonprofit vehicle ZOORA https://www.zoora.org/ which is set up to continue serving economically the weak saving groups. It is funded with donations and in time with a share of Akaboxi’s profits. Thanks to OVO’s network (Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs’) with a first funding from GILLES FOUNDATION.
Coaching
Akaboxi also provides coaching. “The weekly meetings of the savings groups are important, because it is an opportunity to discuss problems in group. Akaboxi guides them in this process.