Oraan leverages gamified onboarding and ROSCAs (informal peer-to-peer lending groups) to help women in Pakistan build credit history and gain access to formal financial services, introducing them to social banking designed specifically for women.
Problem
- High financial exclusion: Pakistan accounts for 5% of the world’s financially excluded women, despite women making up 49% of the population and holding significant financial responsibilities.
- Low borrowing rates: Only 2% of Pakistani women borrow from banks, significantly less than men, due to systematic barriers.
- Identification barriers: A key issue is the lack of identification–only 79% of Pakistani women have IDs compared to men, which limits access to financial services.
- Limited financial literacy: Women also often lack information about financial products and loan conditions, further preventing them from participating in the formal financial system.
Solution
- Digital ROSCAs: Oraan connects women from low-to-middle-income backgrounds to digital ROSCAs, ensures that their funding needs are met based on the amount and timing that best suits them.
- Peer-to-peer lending: ROSCAs allow users to deposit and borrow money from each other through the native digital payment and wallet, giving women access to bank wallets.
- Credit history: By participating in ROSCAs, women build credit history, enabling them to transition into formal banking services vie e-KYC and metadata tracking.
Media Links
Type
Focus Area
Sustainability
Capital Raised (US$)
1M to 5M
Operational HQ
Pakistan
Sector
Finance & Insurance
status
Current
founders
Halima Iqbal, Farwah Tapal
partnered
2021
exited
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