On Friday, 30th April, the financial technology start up – Ensibuuko- received seed investment worth one million dollars to further its mandate of designing hi and implementing digital products or services that connect the unbanked to the wider financial ecosystem.
Ensibuuko is a six year old organization which aims at driving financial inclusion by deploying technology solutions to community-based savings and loans organisations so they can efficiently serve unbanked and most underserved communities in Africa with relevant affordable financial services. It currently serves over 200,000 rural Ugandans with digital financial services.
Their team consists of passionate engineers and professionals who are deeply committed to solving the issues holding back financial inclusion in Africa. This team is made up of alumni of Outbox Hub, a well-known capacity-building and creativity center for upcoming technology entrepreneurs.
Outbox hub provides co-working room, business incubation, and technological training programs to young and upcoming African entrepreneurs interested in leveraging technology to develop high-growth businesses. Through partnerships, they help such local startups raise money for their ventures and access markets while working with students, developers, researchers and organizations to build inclusive communities that entrepreneurs can tap into for talent and collaboration.
The seed capital was given by FCA Investments, a Finnish company whose business is to make impact investments in small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries. It was granted a loan of EUR 16 million to FCA Investments to serve as seed financing for the start-up of investment activities and invests in promising business in developing countries to support their growth and development.
Since the pre-seed round from a consortium of Canadian angel investors in 2017, Ensibuuko now has a net stake of $1.6 million. Together with FCA Investments, Ensibuuko has set a lofty goal of increasing financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa by scaling rural banking networks and digital financial services to millions of people.
“With this latest investment, Ensibuuko ups its competitive stance in Africa’s fintech space.” Ensibuuko’s Founder & CEO, Gerald Otim says. Thanks to the funding, Ensibuuko will be able to expand to newer markets.