Telkom Kenya will develop a youth-focused digital wallet to relieve them from financial exclusion during the pandemic.
On Thursday, the telco signed an agreement with the Ministry of ICT’s National Youth Council of Kenya (NYCK) to co-create ‘Fursa’, a platform that allows the council to timely and conveniently disburse funds to.
Fursa will be customised to contain additional capabilities: a membership management system, financial reconciliation, savings and investments, experience board for job matching and e-learning as well as experiential skill development.
The solution is expected to increase the youth’s resilience in the midst of physical and infrastructural barriers that obstruct their access to financial services and products.
Under the partnership, Telkom will install the Fursa wallet and offer support with respect to its operationalisation, maintenance and updates.
It will also provide professional and product support services, including infrastructure, care services, monitoring, performance and availability.
Telkom Kenya CEO Mugo Kibati said that the collaboration is the first of many such Digital Financial Services partnerships that the company will be exploring, with the potential to accelerate the economy into cash-lite status.
"Further digitisation and investment in the mobile money ecosystem will help solve a crisis that has been further exacerbated during the pandemic. The Fursa e-wallet helps to address this challenge," Kibati.
The Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya estimates that 23 per cent of the 18-25 year-olds are excluded from financial services and products and that financial services providers have no solutions targeted at youth.
According to the NYCK’s CEO Roy Sasaka, the e-wallet will open up a portfolio of financial opportunities to the youth in Kenya and more so at the grassroots levels.
"A strong financial services footprint is helpful especially to the youth to leverage in application for business opportunity and or demonstrate a working history," Sasaka said.
In August last year, the telco unveiled a number of new strategic focus areas as part of a business restructure conducted in the wake of a decision to call off plans to merge with rival Airtel Kenya earlier this month.
The firm outlined outlined future plans, as part of a long-term objective to establish itself as an integrated telecoms provider, accelerating digital transformation in the market.
