First Access News & Activities

“Many in Silicon Valley aspire to build products and companies that have the potential to create positive change on a large scale. Often, however, these companies can be difficult to find because they have smaller recruiting budgets, and their mission statements can get lost in the noise of startups claiming to be “changing the world.” To help, we’ve decided to put together a list of mission-driven companies that are attempting to make a big impact on the world.”

Companies that employ credit analytics, like DemystData, First Access, RevolutionCredit, and Aire, are finding innovative ways to work with new and existing data to help financial institutions make better credit decisions on customers with little to no traditional credit history...

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) all over the world grumble about access to finance, but the problem is worse in developing regions. Around two-thirds of SMEs in poor countries cannot borrow as much as they would like, compared with a sixth in the rich world, says the International Finance Corporation, the corporate-lending arm of the World Bank. It put the “credit gap” for small but formal businesses in developing countries at around $1 trillion in 2011. Throw in informal firms, and the shortfall is even greater.

FINCA Microfinance Holding Company, an arm of US-based nonprofit microfinance network FINCA International, and First Access, a US-based financial technology company, recently partnered to create an alternative credit-scoring system to serve the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. This system aims to “establish credit scores for low-income clients who lack sufficient formal credit history to secure small loans to build businesses or support emerging personal needs.” Specific information on exactly how this system works is unavailable, but First Access typically analyzes demographic, geographic, financial and social aspects of clients’ mobile phone usage to predict credit risk...

“Nicole Van Der Tuin is the co-founder and CEO of financial technology company First Access, which uses mobile phone payments as a stand-in for traditional financial records, providing credit risk scores for loan applicants in emerging economies—usually their first-ever credit evaluation. As of 2016, First Access has analyzed more than 50 billion mobile phone transactions and has helped reduce the lending costs for banks to evaluate borrowers by 65%. The U.S.-based company recently began expanding from its Tanzanian subsidiary; in 2016, it will operate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia.”

First Access is hiring a Lead Developer to join our team based in NYC!

Happy Women's Day! Women have less access to financial services, land/asset titles, and venture capital: we're killing 3 birds with 1 stone!

Financial Inclusion Front and Center at #MWC16 @Mastercard @IFC @BIMA 

“First Access, a New York-based startup, mines data stored on Tanzanian and Kenyan borrowers’ mobile phones to recommend a loan amount to banks and microfinance lenders within 90 seconds. The proprietary algorithms can cut down clients’ underwriting costs by more than 92 percent, according to co-founder and CEO Nicole Van Der Tuin. Its backers include Capital One Financial Services co-founder Nigel Morris and The Social Entrepreneurs’ Fund, Bill Ackman’s venture capital fund investing in businesses that promote financial inclusion.”

A key part of financial inclusion worldwide? Technology. Read the report: http://www.fi2020progressreport.org/   via @CFI_ACCION