Call for EOIs to identify Implementing Partners for Malawi Fintech Challenge

This collaboration’s main goal is to support financial solutions that contribute to a more efficient value chain ecosystem and facilitate the growth of smallholder farmers and/or MSMEs. The selected implementing partners should leverage the fintech solution to provide affordable solutions that increase the accessibility and usage of financial services for smallholder farmers and MSMEs while enhancing its own organizational performance and efficiency.

UNCDF will select one to three applications depending on the problem identified and, impact and outreach the solution may have to small holder farmers and/or MSMEs.

The collaboration seeks to achieve the following objectives.

• Encourage Innovation: Promote creative thinking and encourage participants to develop groundbreaking solutions that address existing challenges or provide new opportunities in the financial industry.
• Financial Inclusion: Address financial inclusion for smallholder farmers and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Promote the uptake and usage of a range of appropriate digital financial products and services by smallholder farmers and MSMEs, and other marginalized groups such as women, provided in a manner that is accessible, affordable and safe.
• Facilitating Growth: FacilitateE the growth of smallholder farmers and MSMEs. By providing them with improved access to financial services, it can enable them to expand their operations, invest in productivity-enhancing measures, and seize opportunities for growth.
• Organizational Performance and Efficiency: The selected implementing partner should leverage the fintech solution to enhance its own organizational performance, efficiency and sustainability.

Scope

• This Expressions of Interest (EoI) centers around seeking implementing partners who are enthusiastic about embracing a FinTech solution to tackle the financial inclusion related hurdles faced by smallholder farmers and/or micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The objective of this EoI is to find capable partners willing to collaborate with FinTech providers chosen via a Fintech Challenge. Working together, these partners will thoroughly analyze the identified challenges, engage in co-creation, and design innovative solutions to effectively address the issues at hand.
• Once the solutions are designed, the implementing partners will implement and pilot these new initiatives. This process will involve thorough planning, execution, monitoring, and evaluation. The implementing partners will work closely with the FinTech providers, leveraging their expertise and technological solutions to ensure the successful deployment of the solutions.
• The partnership between implementing partners and FinTech providers will be characterized by close collaboration, knowledge sharing, and mutual support. Implementing partners will contribute their domain expertise, on-the-ground experience, and understanding of the specific challenges faced by smallholder farmers and/or MSMEs. FinTech providers will bring their technical expertise, digital solutions, and innovative technologies to the table. By combining their strengths, the partners will create impactful and sustainable solutions that have the potential to enhance financial inclusion for smallholder farmers and MSMEs.
• UNCDF invites eligible public and private organizations to respond to this call for Expressions of Interest to identify challenges and explore potential areas of collaboration with FinTech Providers in offering innovative solutions within the agriculture and MSME sector that can be solved through digitization.

Target Segment and Sectors

The sectors of focus encompass agriculture and finance, with an emphasis on engaging smallholder farmers and MSMEs while ensuring traceable inclusivity for various demographics, such as youth, women, people with disabilities, and the elderly.

Geographical Scope

Eligible public and private institutions in Malawi across all regions are invited to submit their interest in response to this call for Expressions of Interest.

Eligibility Requirements

UNCDF invites public/private institutions aligned to the EoI scope of work (Section 3) keen to adopt fintech solutions to meet the needs of smallholder farmers and MSME’s.

• Must be a formally registered legal entity described as public or private Institution in Malawi. Institutions could include but not limited to government agency, commercial bank, microfinance institution, insurance company, money transfer operator, payment service provider, financial service provider, Agribusiness company, SACCOs, agricultural cooperatives.
• The entity shall have fulfilled all the obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or obligations relating to the payment of taxes in accordance with legal provisions if applicable.
• The entity must comply with relevant standards, regulations, and applicable legislation to which they may be subject to and possess required regulatory approvals, licenses, and certificates for their operations.
• The applicant must have audited financial statements for at least one operating year; if audited financial statements are not available at the time of application, the applicant must provide the latest management accounts
• Compliance with non-involvement standards of financial frauds, notable large-scale financial fraud cases, including anti-money laundering.
• Compliance with prudential regulations and guidelines incl. corporate governance measures and risk management procedures if applicable.

For more information, visit UNCDF.