Shika

Demo

About

Why are you participating for Based Africa? As a team deeply committed to fostering solutions that address real-world challenges, OffGrid Labs’s participation in Based Africa stems from a genuine belief in the transformative potential of blockchain technology. Our motivation is grounded in a desire to empower local communities with tools that bridge financial divides and promote economic inclusivity. SME's are the backbone of the African economy and yet are the least targeted with respect to financial credit. OffGrid Labs presents, Shika Wallet , an offline system that enables SME's and Farmers that are unbanked to build credit scores by engaging in group savings . In the cycle of group savings one person is at one point a lender and another a borrower. As a result, data stored on chain can provider data backed credit scores to Financial Service providers. We imagine a world were any African can walk into any financial institution and get credit by giving their National ID card number to the Financial service provider. We imagine a world where the Financial service providers know how much credit to give an individual based on data that is tamper proof . Additional Features We concluded the offline build and included a dummy mobile version as well as a dashboard for the banks and credit provision institutions.

How it's made

What challenges are you focusing on? A Personal Story Growing up in Ghana, I witnessed my grandma, a successful market trader, get rejected for a small business loan despite running her business profitably for over 15 years. Her story is not unique. Every day, millions of hardworking Africans who demonstrate incredible financial responsibility are excluded from credit financing tools. The Core Problems: Data Gaps:Over 68% of Africa's adult population remains unbanked Traditional credit scoring systems completely miss informal financial activities Daily financial transactions worth billions occur offline and remain unrecorded Group savings mechanisms (susu) manage significant capital but aren't recognized by formal systems Infrastructure Failure Banks can't assess creditworthiness without standardized data Existing credit scoring models don't account for African financial behaviors No bridge exists between offline financial activities and formal credit systems Traditional FICO-style scoring fails in markets where most transactions are informal Economic Impact Small businesses can't access working capital despite proven business models Farmers with successful harvests can't get loans for expansion Market traders with daily cash flows can't build formal credit histories Group savings participants can't leverage their saving habits for formal credit Technology Mismatch Most solutions require internet access in a predominantly offline environment Mobile money data remains siloed and unutilized for credit scoring Blockchain solutions often ignore the reality of offline transactions Existing systems don't capture the complexity of group financial behaviors Current System Limitations No standardized way to verify informal income Group saving habits aren't factored into creditworthiness Cash-based transactions leave no How does your submission address this challenge? Our solution creates a comprehensive credit scoring infrastructure by: Starting Offline First Deployed a USSD system ("*920*157#") accessible on any mobile phone in Ghana Captures financial behavior without requiring internet connectivity Meets users where they are technologically Zero barriers to entry for the average African user Digitizing Group Savings (Susu) Transforms traditional group saving mechanisms into digital credit data Records contribution consistency and group participation Validates informal income through peer verification Creates financial history through community participation Building Trust Through Community Leverages existing social structures for credit validation Uses group dynamics to ensure accountability Creates a network effect for financial data collection Reduces risk through community verification Data Migration Pipeline Seamlessly moves offline transactions to blockchain infrastructure Creates immutable financial records from informal activities Bridges the gap between offline behavior and digital credit scoring Enables data portability across financial institutions Standardized Credit Scoring Develops credit scores based on actual African financial behaviors Includes alternative data points relevant to local contexts Creates comparable metrics across different regions Enables financial institutions to make informed lending decisions Implementation Strategy User Onboarding Simple USSD registration Group formation and validation Initial financial behavior tracking Data Collection Daily transaction recording Group savings participation Payment consistency tracking Peer-to-peer lending history Credit Profile Building Progressive history development Behavioral pattern analysis Risk assessment modeling Score calculation and updates Challenges we ran into Lessons Learned Start Where People Are Building for basic phones was crucial USSD, despite limitations, proved most accessible Offline-first approach was the right decision Community First, Technology Second Social structures matter more than technical features Trust building takes time but is essential Local champions are key to adoption Iteration is Key Started small with core features Added complexity based on user feedback Continuous adaptation to local needs Additional Note: The devfolio site did not allow us to add the team members after we clicked submit for judging ahead of time to make edits. We are a team of 6