Financing the Future 2020

What is the Innovation Challenge?

●A 3-week competition wherein university students and innovators are invited to produce sustainable enterprise solutions in response to operational gaps (formed into problem statements) shared by partner companies/organizations

○The winning concepts are given prizes and provided with mentorship, incubation, and integration support under the Labs (if requested)

●Co-Implemented by Phildev Labs and Financial Innovation Labs

●The challenge’s goal is to discover and develop people-centered innovative ideas that can make financial resources inclusive and accessible to everyone.

The Challenge

How Might We Make Financial Services and Resources Accessible to the Underserved Sectors/Groups in Our Communities?

Why Financial Inclusion Matters

●Financial Inclusion protects the vulnerable

○During the pandemic, many vulnerable groups became much more vulnerable due to loss of livelihood, access to necessities, etc. FI can connect them to assistances and services that can help them to survive this trying time

●Financial Inclusion enhances Economic Empowerment

○Access to financial products and services helps individuals, families, businesses, etc. , to take care of present needs and necessities, to plan the future, and to address emergencies.

●Financial Inclusion fuels Innovation, Creativity, and Market Growth and Sustainability

○Access to capital and other financial resources can support businesses not only in sustaining themselves, but to explore creative and innovative ways to do businesses. Their growth, in turn, converts to job creation, and increase in cash flow in the economy.

●Financial Inclusion enhances Ease of Governance

○With the underserved connected to the formal financial system, governments can easily distribute welfare services (i.e., ayuda), improve transparency, and track effectiveness of policies

Recommended Innovation Features

●People-centered

○The innovation should address a particular pain point of an identified underserved group/ sector in the community

●Should be able to touch on one or more of the following components of Financial Inclusion:

○Access - ability to use available financial products and services from formal institutions

○Quality - relevance to the lifestyle needs of the consumers, who each may have different attitudes, opinions, level of knowledge and understanding

○Usage – regularity, frequency, and duration of use of a financial service or product

○Impact or welfare - change in the lives of consumers that can be attributed to the usage of financial products and services

●User-friendly

○Interface should be easy enough to be used by users of varying experience in using financial products and services