Message from the Founder — Monkiri
Now that Monkiri is gearing up for our Beta testing phase, I thought it would be good to talk about what Monkiri is and why we’re doing this.
The idea of Monkiri came during my internship in Cambodia with BlueOrchard. One of my key tasks was to collect updates from the microfinance banks (MFIs) that BlueOrchard invested in. I learned about what was happening with these MFIs, the reasons for delays in reporting and the pain points that they were experiencing.
A common theme that kept coming up was the lack of financial literacy for the MFI’s clients. I started to take a deeper look into this issue by asking around the office, the banks themselves and doing my own research and finally clued in that this really is a big issue.
My next step was asking locals, MFI executives and others working at financial companies what was going on here. The general summary was that people don’t know much about finance because they don’t know where to learn about it, and when they do it is either too confusing or just plain boring.
Now being young and naïve, this triggered the lightbulb in my head and gave me an idea to run with. How can I make learning about finance easy, fun, accessible and practical? After some long nights and weekends, interviews, pitches and a motorcycle trip through Northern Cambodia I finally had an idea: Monkiri.
Monkiri focuses on two goals: (i) improving financial literacy, (ii) increasing financial inclusion.
Financial Literacy: Financial literacy is the possession of the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all their financial resources.
Financial Inclusion: Financial inclusion is where individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs that are delivered in a responsible and sustainable way.
(i) For financial literacy, we teach our users about core financial concepts: compound interest, loan repayment terms, insurance policies, mobile wallets and others. This will improve their skill set to make their own informed decisions.
(ii) For financial inclusion, we provide a list of relevant financial service providers to users that match the concepts they have learned about. This way it will be clear to see what their available financial options are.
We are developing a mobile e-learning platform to help reach our goals. We are just reaching the stage to start testing our app and chatbot. The chatbot will cover some introductory lessons and the app will provide a full range of financial lessons and connections to financial service providers. We are gearing up for our beta testing. Over the next few months, we will be refining our platform and content to deliver the best possible experience.
The content on the platform is designed to be useful, interactive and engaging. We’ll be honest and admit that finance isn’t the most exciting of topics. That is why our lesson approach involves quick modules, self-paced learning, animated concepts, skill testing questions and a focus on real-world applications. We are also building in an incentive system that leverages both in-game and real-world rewards. You’ll be able to see more about how this plays out once our beta testing is further down the line.
A question that I’m asked a fair amount is why our initial target markets are in Cambodia and Myanmar when I am a Canadian with relatively limited experience here. Why not do this in Canada where financial literacy is also an issue? To that, my answer is because that is where the idea was first started. There is a large demand for this product, there is a high impact potential and I’ve been able to develop local partnerships that help make up for my ignorance. One day I do want to see Monkiri come to Canada, I want to see Monkiri become a global force to take out financial illiteracy. We’re just starting in Cambodia and Myanmar; we’ll get to the rest soon.
Another thing to point out about Monkiri is that we’re for profit with a purpose. Our users will be able to use every aspect of our app, 100% free. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to learn about financial concepts and what their available options are. However, we also want to be sustainable which means that we need to make money. We’ve figured out a way to partner with financial service providers to generate revenue mostly through transparent referrals, training programs and promotions. It might be my obsession with impact investing talking, but I believe it’s important for businesses to be financially, socially and environmentally sustainable. Monkiri will be a tool to help reduce poverty and improve peoples’ financial situations while still being sustainable itself.
Monkiri still has a long way to go to get to where we want to be, but we’re excited about the journey. We’re excited to keep growing and see how to company develops. If you find Monkiri to be an interesting idea, we would love to hear from you. We are built around collaboration and are always happy to listen to new ideas. Feel free to check us out at www.monkiri.co and contact us.
