CloQ

Simplifying Financial Inclusion

HIGHLIGHTS

• CloQ is a project inspired by the microcredit from Yunus. We are developing a proprietary and inclusive credit analysis system, CloQ score, based on behavioral and public data.
• CloQ analysis is an inclusive credit score, aiming to increase entrepreneurial success for those with standard credit obstacles.
• The majority of our clients are women; they are working mothers looking to grow their family business.
• The UN endorsed CloQ as a project that truly alleviates poverty, which is the UN’s number one Sustainable Development Goal.

PROBLEM

Financial exclusion inhibits business progress and the risk management of MSMEs while enhancing other forms of socio-economic exclusion. When Micro, Small, and Mediums Enterprise (MSMEs) and marginalized entrepreneurs, particularly those based in developing countries, encounter financial hardships, they often resort to illegal or credit-card based loans to manage and/or mitigate their circumstances. With an abundance of subpar and predatory options, such as loan sharks and payday loans, the marginalized are exploited and enter into a cycle of indebtedness. The lack of access to quality credit restricts the massive economic and life changing potential MSMEs and marginalized entrepreneurs can make towards an inclusive society.

SOLUTION

CloQ offers three basic tools for financial inclusion:

1. access to nano-credit via an app to request and receive a nano-loan quickly during times of need
2. nudges on financial education to encourage and allow people to improve their situation
3. a CloQ behavioural credit score that entrepreneurs can use to bridge, access and facilitate the use of other financial services, outside CloQ’s scope

Aside from gaining access to credit, CloQ clients build a positive credit history in the process. Previously, MSMEs went largely ignored by other parties offering financial services. With concerns about acquisition and credit-evaluation cost and default/fraud risk being too high, the potential benefits of lending to MSMEs did not outweigh the liabilities. CloQ sees the potential of MSMEs and offers a cost-effective, data-driven method to access millions of new customers, complete with a realized credit history and verified credit rating. With this new credit history, CloQ can provide a new market for other financial institutions.

 

Unit: Flex