TransUnion and Chinosis have teamed up to create Africa's first telco data credit score and bring millions of 'invisible' Africans into the financial fold.
TransUnion and Chinosis have teamed up to create Africa's first telco data credit score and bring millions of 'invisible' Africans into the financial fold.
Just 13% of South African adults have a credit card, which is a small fraction of the population participating in the financial ecosystem.
Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn
Financial service providers rely on a rigid credit scoring framework to gauge whether someone is a viable borrower. This results in a huge pool of people who operate outside this view, stranded in a financial blindspot.
A partnership between TransUnion and Chenosis, an MTN Group technology venture, aims to change this status quo. The two companies are set to launch Africa's first phone data-based scoring system by Thursday, 3 July.
A new lens for old blindspots
The continent's financial ecosystem mirrors its colonial borders: fragmented, exclusionary and sometimes slow to evolve.
"Exclusion is part of the African narrative," said Lee Naik, TransUnion CEO, reflecting on his own roots in Chatsworth, an Indian township in KwaZulu-Natal, where he grew up under apartheid.
"When I say I can feel what it means to be disconnected from the broader ecosystem, it's literally how I grew up," he said.
Africa has more than 350 million...
