CDI Lan CorBan: Empowering to financial inclusion through cyber cafes
CDI Lan 6,500 members are eligible to offer banking services developing and providing a local solution of financial inclusion in low income communities.
About You
About You
First Name
Amanda
Last Name
Soldani
Twitter URL
About Your Organization
Organization Name
CDI Lan
Organization Website
Organization Country
Brazil, SP, São Paulo
Country where this project is creating social impact
Brazil
Is your organization a
For‐profit
How long has your organization been operating?
1‐5 years
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
CDI Lan has achieved 118 pts from 200, 4 stars from 5 on Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS). GIIRS ratings are reviewed, rigorous, transparent,
comprehensive, and comparable ratings of company
impact. GIIRS helps investors make money while solving
the world’s most challenging problems. GIIRS Driving
Capital to Impact.
The result on GIIRS benefited CDI Lan with B-Corp certificate, which means CDI Lan is part of group of new type of corporation that use the power of business to create public benefit.
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Innovation
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Growth (your pilot is up and running, and starting to expand)
How long have you been in operation?
Operating for 1‐5 years
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
Almost 33% of brazilian people don't have access to a bank and their products like credit e microcredit. Additionally, wheh people have to move to another city to receive their salaries, they spend the money on transport and buying things in the another city. This discouraging the local economy and people waste time.
Our goal is to bring banking services closer to communities, empowering the local economy and improving people's lives. Make sure they have access to financial products and solutions to invest in their business, homes and have more opportunities.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
A local solution using the existing business in the poverty communities as banking services center. They are called CorBan (correspondente bancário or banking services center in portuguese), and they offer financial products of Banco do Brasil to their communities with the possibility of paying bills, withdraw money and get a loan for example.
We have more than 6,500 Cyber cafes. Most of them are located in lower-income communities, where inhabitants belong to the C, D and E classes – in Brazil, official statistics divide the society in 5 classes, E being the poorest.
The great solution is to use our channel (more than 6,500 cyber cafés affiliates) to make financial inclusion. Since this is a local business (and not a bank agency) people trust more on an entrepreneur who is his neighbor, lives in the same community and knows your situation. We're approaching banking services to people through a relationship of trust, focusing in low-income communities.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
The big difference is our online application, support and training, when the traditional method requires the entrepreneur go several times to the bank. We already have a differentiated channel of 6,500 affiliated and we know the profile of the entrepreneur, so it's easier to scale.
And your plan is add financial education to this project, in order to bring more than inclusion, but real conditions to people improve your financial life.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
We have a partnership with Telecom Service and Banco do Brasil to offer banking services for cyber cafes affiliates os CDI Lan. We need a bank support according to the legislation of brazilian Central Bank in this modality. We are prospecting others bank and partnerships in order to offer a better and diversified portfolio of products.
Our competitors are all the companies who works with the same idea: bring banking services to communities that don't have the access. But, we have a great competitive advantage: the cyber cafes are presented in low income communities and we have a good relationship through our social network.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Social Impact
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.
CDI Lan uses its cyber cafes datababase as an important crowdsourcing tool, generating bottom up solution. In november 2010 a cyber cafe owner write a blog in our social network suggesting that they want to help people in access to pay bills and withdraw money. The most commented blog we ever had with more than 1,000 views and 200 comments. We applied, then, a survey asking what services and products our cyber cafes members would be interested in distributing: 46% responded banking services. So we acceipt the challenged and start to search partners and design the busines model. In abril 2011 we lauched the CDI Lan CorBan as our new product.
Also, one of CDI Lan's founder, Marcel Fukayama, former cyber cafe owner, had an experience of being one of the first banking correspondents in Brazil in 2003, doing 1,500 transactions on monthly basis.
Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve
Many poor communities don't have banks, but have a cyber cafe in Brazil. And this is our solution to improve access and financial inclusion for BoP communities. We are trying to make local economy stronger: wages received by the bank, provide access to banking products like credit and savings account.
We believe that using our 6,500 afiliated cyber cafes members we can build a highly distributed platform to impact 1,000,000 people focusing on education and financial inclusion.
Which barrier(s) to financial inclusion does your solution seek to address? (select all applicable)
Physical and other accessibility obstacles that prevent communities from reaching financial services, The lack of affordable financial products tailored to the needs of underserved and excluded communities,, Powerful incentives for financial service providers to move up-market.
If you selected 'other' above, please specify which other barriers to financial inclusion you solution seeks to address:
We did not.
For which underserved or excluded communities will your solution create access to valuable, affordable, secure and comprehensive financial services?
Our solution is already avaiable to all regions of Brazil, but our focus is low-income communities where are concentrated mostly the cyber cafes. We see a huge demand and interest from our social network, which shows the lack of banking products and access.
Up to three years, we believe the BoP communities will have access to savings account, microinsurance services, oriented access to credit, access to collective buying system and the possibility of selling online, access to crowd investment and greater control of domestic finance. Also, the cyber cafes will expand the portfolio of products and services, and will increase income for the whole chain (CDI Lan and microentrepreneurs).
We also intend uses our base to test solutions related to mobile banking and other alternative ways to make banking transactions designed to reach BoP.
Could your solution work in other geographies or regions? If so, where?
Our solution is currently available to Brazil (all cities), so it's very easy to scale. To work in others countries, it's necessary legal knowledge, know the rules of central bank and and support of local financial institutions.
But our focus is only Brazil and our soluttion already serve in all regions. What is missing is expansion, we need to mobilize and to give conditions for cyber cafes to formalize and meet the criteria of the central bank.
If your solution is dramatically successful, how will things be different in 10 years?
CDI Lan's vision is to transform current cyber cafes members into centers of convenience and services in BoP communities. We believe in 10 years that cyber cafes will be a reference center in their regions, with access to financial inclusion and financial education as a habit among other relevent services such as e-gov, e-health, e-learning. The local economy will be empowered and people will have access to financial solution according to their reality, reducing the burden of poverty.
What will have had to have changed to make this happen?
After the market research we did using our social network and cyber cafes database, we worked on business development with banks and its network administrators.
Always highlighting two competitive advantages: (1) presence in BoP communities and (2) online signup process, we could develop a registration process for our members to become CDI Lan CorBan and start offering these services in their communities.
Starting up the operation, one important indicator to follow up was the theft, fraud and bad debt indicator. We assumed that it couldn't be higher than 5% of the operation, otherwise we would testify that cyber cafes are economicaly viable to be a bank service provider in low income communities.
Fortunately, past 12 months of the pilot we find out that these centers are not only viable, but also have a natural calling.
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
We have already noted the benefits of CDI Lan CorBan. The first is less intimidation to get financial services (people trust more on cyber café owner than in the bank manager) and the democratization of financial instruments, which increases self-esteem.
CorBan is a local solution for financial inclusion, which reduces the travel time to a banking agency and give access to social benefits, financial services and e-commerce inclusion. Also, reduces the risk of assault (now people have bank account and don’t carry cash).
What is your projected impact over the next five years?
Cyber cafes are a highly distributed channel and have an unique familiarity with the bottom of pyramid users in their communities. As a CDI Lan member, they are eligible to go through a process to become a banking services provider in their regions. Past 5 years we believe we will have a critical mass of members providing these services in the communities, building a platform for financial education, which means these centers will not only provide access to banking services, but also will educate and train BoP users to empower to this theme.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
Grow operation
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
Establish new partnership (ongoing with Caixa Econômica Federal - National Bank)
Task 2
Higher remuneration for cyber cafes members and CDI Lan (financial sustainability)
Task 3
Increase portfolio (social benefits from brazilian gov social programs)
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
200 cyber cafes on CorBan doing 3,600,00 transactions
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
mobilize, articulate and actively exploring cyber cafes and communities centers database
Task 2
establish partners, banking portfolio and financial products (microcredit, pre-paid credit card)
Task 3
hire people dedicated
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
We need a bank support, according to the legislation of brazilian Central Bank in this modality, and Banco do Brasil is our partner in this project. Banco do Brasil is the largest bank in Latin America.
We also need a manager who offers technological solutions to our channel. Telecom Service was indicated as the best partner to this project. They accept to make changes and exclusive solution in the applications to facilitate for CDI Lan cyber cafés.
Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your innovation? If so, where and why?
Financial inclusion is one of the greatest opportunities in Latin America. Validating our process, channel, business model, partnership and portifolio are important steps to raise the operation including markets, targets and portfolio of products and services.
Beyond the transactional service, we see opportunity to reach young people with educational credit, micro and small entrepreneur with productive microcredit, elderly with special credits. All access to credit must be accompanied with financial education. Our target must be empowered by these tools to use financial resources.
What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?
The CDI Lan CorBan apllication is 100% online: the informations, documents, training and support. It's easier than the traditional way that requires the cyber cafés owners to go to the bank agency many times. As our audience are in places far from the bank, an online application it's more scalable. For the next months the online platform will be upgraded to a gamified platform, which will support us on having an improved, scalable operation and more impactful.
Another positive fact is that the CDI team is always online chatting and clarifying doubts of cyber cafés members. We have created an online tickets system to optimize our customer service support including a 72 hours service level agreement.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
Considering that our core competences are based on human resources, technology, and our revenue curve is long term, we have to scale and invest financial resources intensively in short-mid terms.
We have critical mass to develop bottom-up solutions (crowdsourcing) with relevant data and informations from impacted communities. Our database is pilot-ready, which allow us to test programs to BoP.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| CorBan em Teotonio Vilela (AL) | 117.77 KB |
| CorBan em São Gonçalo do Sapucai (MG) | 110.26 KB |
| CorBan em São Gonçalo do Sapucai (MG) | 68.85 KB |
| CorBan em Maceió (AL) | 229.56 KB |
| CorBan em Teotonio Vilela (AL) | 121.47 KB |
| CorBan em Jardim Nova Esperança (GO) | 458.96 KB |
| CorBan em Jardim Nova Esperança (GO) | 482.13 KB |
 | 31 weeks ago Maira Moreno Machado said: Iniciativa super importante para viabilizar a inclusão financeira fora dos centros urbanos! Parabéns! about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 32 weeks ago Adilson Ferreira Faria said: Parabéns pela iniciativa inovadora, uma excelente alternativa de diversificação de negócios para os empreendedores, além é claro, de ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 36 weeks ago Amanda Soldani updated this Competition Entry. |
| 36 weeks ago Amanda Soldani said: Seiji fiquei feliz com seu recado e participação na rede CDI Lan. Obrigada pelo apoio nesse desafio! about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 36 weeks ago Amanda Soldani updated this Competition Entry. |
| 37 weeks ago Amanda Soldani updated this Competition Entry. |
| 37 weeks ago Seiji Fujita said: Faço parte da rede da CDILan. Tenho uma lan house em Criciúma/SC/Brasil. Apoio e participo dessa grande ideia de negócio ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 43 weeks ago Amanda Soldani updated this Competition Entry. |
| 43 weeks ago Amanda Soldani updated this Competition Entry. |
| 43 weeks ago Amanda Soldani updated this Competition Entry. |
