UNCDF is pursuing its partnership with INTOUCH in Senegal to extend the coverage of digital payment services in rural areas. Based on the lessons learned from a first partnership, INTOUCH and UNCDF initiated a new partnership in June 2020, which has just been completed.

Following a call for projects launched in 2017, INTOUCH and UNCDF worked in partnership for the first time to deploy a network of agents in rural areas. These 'Point TOUCH' agents, equipped with INTOUCH technology, offer a simple and reliable multi-operator solution with different payment methods and various digital financial services.

The project to deploy an agent network in Senegal with INTOUCH was inspired from the observation that some rural areas with medium population density benefit from significant economic activity and yet are insufficiently served in terms of traditional financial services (MFI, bank, mobile money, etc.).

In this first partnership, ten priority departments were identified namely the departments of Nioro, Podor, Fatick, Bambey, Foundiougne, Velingara, Linguere, Kanel, Kaffrine and Guinguineo.

Youth agents as a driving force of local economic activity

The objective of this new phase is to provide isolated populations with access to basic financial services, by investing in young people (up to 35 years old) who showed remarkable performance as Point TOUCH agents during the first project. These agents were highly productive and had a marked interest in integrating new services such as bill payments and international transfers. They had an appetite for digital financial services as a springboard for economic activity, job creation and were willing to be trained and acquire skills in entrepreneurship, management, and innovation.

This new partnership explored solutions that enable agents to improve their performance and provide impact in their respective villages.

UNCDF provided financial and technical support for the development of the intervention strategy to enable:

• The recruitment of new agents

• The day-to-day management of the network of 780 Point TOUCH agents deployed in the project area, and in particular the implementation of a reactivation campaign to ensure an activity rate of at least 50 percent for agents

• Train the agents to support their productivity and enable them to formalizeformaliseformalize their activity to be able to offer additional services (payment of bills, international transfers, etc.)

• Set up a specific support plan for agents including a start-up kit (POS, technical equipment), entrepreneurship training, and specific performance bonus

Fatou Diakhaté Niasse is one of the agents newly recruited by INTOUCH. Aged 32, she is married with 3 children in the village of Thiamène Walo, 30 kilometres from the regional capital, Kaolack. She owns a cosmetics shop. Fatou is the first to offer digital services in her village. Before, villagers used to travel four kilometres and pay 500 CFA francs for transport to reach Taïba Niassène to make transactions such as money withdrawals. Now, thanks to Point TOUCH, transactions are made in the village thanks to her. Between managing the cosmetics shop, digital services, and housework, Fatou had to recruit an employee to help her.

With the distribution of digital services in the village, she feels things are changing and she feels more respected within her community. Fatou now wants to find a solution to increase her cash flow as sometimes she cannot carry out large transactions from Western Union for example.

By the end of March 2021, the project had achieved all its objectives. The network had doubled and now has more than 780 agents, 405 of whom are active (50 percent of whom are young people) like Fatou. The objectives in terms of volume of transactions have also been largely exceeded.

100 young people have benefited from entrepreneurship training, 40 of them have received bonuses linked to their performance and 20 have joined the career development programme, in line with the project's objectives.

Access to digital financial services via the INTOUCH agent network reaches nearly 500,000 customers in rural areas. This partnership with INTOUCH, which has just been completed, is part of UNCDF's strategy to leave no one behind in the digital era.