Kiva a San Francisco – based tech NGO has partnered the Sierra-Leone Government to launch a digital credit database, in a bid to boost the country’s national identity and financial inclusion in West Africa.
Tagged the National Digital Identity Platform (NDIP), the digital credit database is a collective project of the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Sierra Leone, Kiva and the United Nation Development Programme UNDP. The project will leverage blockchain to provide online credit history for Sierra Leonians, allow them access to loans and credit facilities for education, health, etc.
According to Kiva’s CEO, Neville Crawley, the partnership with the Sierra Leonean government will serve as a pathway to global identity and federated credit history. This to Crawley will unlock capitals for Sierra Leonians, allow lenders to increase their services and create a fund flow for the unbanked.
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The Sierra Leone President, Rtd, Brigadier Julius Maada Bio, said the launch of NDIP is a big step for its government’s vision to position the credit bureau for the future, as the platform will drastically change Sierra Leone’s financial landscape. With NDIP, access to financial services, affordable loans, and capital will be made available thereby increasing entrepreneurship and growth of Medium and Small Scale Enterprises and further strengthen private sectors.
The president also said the digital blockchain platform will be in use by banks and microfinance institution by the end of 2019.
According to David Sengeh, the head of science and technology innovation directorate, lack of identification for small business including the inability to verify credit purposes increase business cost thus NDIP is a great idea.
Intending borrowers need to download the app in order to access the NDIP wallet.
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