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Telenor Easypaisa won the Wall Street’s Financial Inclusion Challenge in people’s choice category for technology today. The Wall Street Journal is one of America’s most decorated financial publications that currently circulates all over the world. For its Financial Inclusion Challenge, they had invited companies from all over the world including both profit and non-profit organizations. The aim of the challenge was to find best solutions to the problems of financial access for the poor. Telenor Pakistan’s Easypaisa was among the 6 finalists for the Wall Street’s Financial Inclusion challenge.
An independent panel of judges assessed the submitted solutions depending on whether they had a meaningful impact on financial inclusion in Asia-Pacific. All the entries were divided into three categories: technology; education; and operational effectiveness.Telenor and F-Road, a Shanghai-based initiative, were tied for the crown in the “Technology” category. F-Road was declared the winner of the challenge while Easypaisa was voted as people’s favorite in the same category.
See Also: Michael Foley, CEO Telenor, appointed as new director of ICT & RD Fund
Telenor Pakistan collaborated with Tameer Micro Finance Bank to launch a mobile banking service called Easypaisa in 2009. It has more than 60,000 retail outlets across Pakistan and offers financial services including saving programs and health insurance to about six million people. A huge benefit of Telenor’s Easypaisa service was that it is not limited to Telenor subscribers only.
Financial Inclusion Challenge judge Vipin Sharma said, “The company has a sustainable and scalable model that allows it to offer a wide variety of products.”
F-Road, on the other hand, is a financial solution that utilizes a smart chip to make cash transfer easily accessible. The chip can be implemented into 95% of smartphones currently available in the market. Each company has indeed worked hard to get to where they are, and both are indeed doing great strides towards helping the rural population in their respective countries which should be recognized as a commendable effort.
See also: Telenor Youth Forum 2015 – A detailed guide on how to apply for it
See the accomplishments of Telenor Easypaisa in the video below which highlights all of the facilities offered by Easypaisa.
