Branchless banking and digital network, PayNearby, announced its collaboration with the Grameen Foundation for Social Impact (GFSI), a non-profit organisation dedicated to uplifting underserved communities, to upskill 150,000 business correspondents (BCs) across India.
The partnership will aim at providing digital and financial services beyond cash-in/cash-out to the underserved and tech-shy last-mile population.
As part of the collaboration, PayNearby and Grameen Foundation for Social Impact will launch a pan-India scale-up project titled ‘Scaling Agent Viability and Quality in India’ supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The initiative will be completed over the span of the next two years.
This initiative places an emphasis on skill enhancement among BCs and also gender sensitivity. By offering the necessary skills, knowledge, and support, this initiative will foster increased opportunities for both rural BC counters and women's professional growth and financial empowerment. The goal is to enlist 15,000 female BC agents, thereby promoting gender inclusivity within this sector.
Alok Kumar Jha, chief strategic initiatives officer, PayNearby further adds, “We are extremely honoured to be a facilitator for the empowerment of women BCs, who are the drivers of rural progress. Through this, we aim to not only provide sustainable self-employment to Women BC Sakhis but also ensure more women from Bharat’s hinterland are brought into the formal financial fold through them, thus bridging the gender gap at the last mile.”
Incepted in 2016, PayNearby is a DPIIT-certified company and India’s branchless banking and digital payments network. It operates on a B2B2C model, where it partners with neighborhood retail stores and enables them with the tools to provide digital and financial services to local communities. The company through its tech-led DaaS (Distribution as a Service) network, serves 75 per cent of India and is enabling services like cash withdrawal, remittance, Aadhaar Banking, bill payment and recharges, savings, travel, digital payments, and insurance.
