Following our successful pilot our focus for 2021 now turns to securing our first bank clients in Kenya and Ghana. We will do this by more proactively networking with our outreach partners to identify and negotiate SAAS licence agreements with local finance institutions, including SACCOS and agriculture corporations. We will measure success by looking at the sales pipeline and calculating the profitability of signed licence agreements. We will also secure the $1 million financing we need to scale up our operations including exploring new customers in Rwanda, Ethiopia and Tanzania through grants and equity investments.
We recognize the negative market effect of the COVID19 pandemic on financial inclusion. Commercial banks will need greater support to engage with new digital financial applications. Not just in their own capacity but also in the capacity of Agri-SME clients to adopt new technology. Bringing a corporate client onboard would be an additional incentive to any bank to use our technology. To scale their lending our target banks will need attractive credit terms and possibly credit guarantees for profits to be realized at service costs that can drive financial inclusion. With outreach partners: SoftwareGroup, as technical and marketing partner, and AATIF as one financing partner, market research has been undertaken, a business case built, and banks in Kenya identified for assessment of their suitability and interest to engage. While we continue to market our technology as a new niche in the wider ecosystem of SoftwareGroup’s digital banking suite, we are simultaneously expanding our partnerships and seeking equity investment. Our current focus is on approaching potential partners for grants to support the necessary capacity building of banks and Agri SME clients. We are currently in discussion with AceliAfrica for such support. We are also seeking to broaden our partnership base to include support for credit guarantees. Organizations identified to be approached include: SIDA, African Guarantee Fund, Development Finance Corporation, OIKO Credit, and FinnFund. Discussions on equity investment to secure the financing we need to scale up have been initiated with the AATIF Innovation facility and Alpha Mundi in Switzerland.
