So, um I am here today to talk about why financial inclusion is important in a post COVID world. Um COVID has wreaked havoc in a way that we never imagined. Um It's to, I, in fact, we never imagined 2020 to look like what it is.It's kind of like, you know, it's a dream or it's just real, but there is a bigger concern as a result of COVID, which is really what does it mean for financial inclusion, what does it mean for technology? What does it mean for the future of work? Um So I'm gonna go through through those and of course, I welcome your thoughts. I'm gonna look into the comments room from time to time by way of background. I'm fa U Kala. I'm the founder of Impact. Her um impact is a nonprofit organization um that trains African women on how to build scalable businesses. We have helped over 8000 women from 48 African countries um as well as outside of Africa as well, but we tend to count just the African countries where we've had impact um and also connect them to investors. So, um I will start with talking about um the current landscape, which is the impact of COVID right now. Um In the US, we have about 30 million people unemployed. Again, this was unimaginable, right?

Um This comes as a surprise to us all because this is not what we envisioned for 2020 routers reports that about 75% of SME S um in Kenya are facing collapse by the end of June. Let's pause 7 to 5%. That is huge because if you um really dig deeper, you're gonna find that a lot of um these economies, especially in the, in the developing countries rely on the SME as, as job engines. So if we're talking about as high as 75% then we're in trouble because you're talking about the future of work employability as well. And, you know, in most of these other countries too, um we also talk about the hunger virus, right? It's not just COVID, it's also are people able to find the food to eat on a daily basis, are people able to afford the meals? So what COVID has laid out from uh for us at this point is really disturbing, but we have to think about it beyond now, right? Um As I mentioned, with regards to work, almost, I would say about 90% of employees are actually working from home. Um People are schooling from home for those who are students, right? Um So what does the future look like for us.

And from what the future looks like, I'm then going to go into what opportunities are and how we can make sure that financial inclusion is on the top of agenda and how it can help um be a solution. Um Prior after COVID, when we look at the future or when I try to look at the future, what I really see big loud and clear to me is technology, right? We have to think about how do we use technology in a meaningful way to scale to be, to scale, to provide solutions for us. I would use an example before COVID. Um Most people shied away from educational technology and by most people, I also say some investors um actually also shied away from technology um ed do tech. Um But now during COVID, we see a lot of people at school and from home, people have been forced to log in and in countries to to log in to learn and in countries where technology is not as advanced. Um they are lagging behind. You have countries where where students are stuck at home, no school and have to wait until whenever COVID is over, when the shutdown is done to go back to school to continue from where they stopped, right?

Whereas in other countries that have embraced technology, you would easily find that these students are not pausing to continue rather once you know, the lockdown is lifted, they continue from where they stopped at home as opposed to months ago. So that is what the future of education would really look like. Like how do we incorporate more technology into the future? Um the future of the post COVID as well? We have to also think about how to work smart and by smart, I'm not, I don't mean like just working, you know, smart on a day to day basis, but with the incorporation of heavy robots into our systems of processing or production, humans themselves have to be um well equipped to outsmart technology, to outsmart the robots.

And by outsmarting there, I mean, you have to be able to know how technology works but able to fit the gas in a meaningful way. So based you can't be redundant, you can't produce what, you know, the robot would produce itself, but you have to go further to have other human elements, right? So we have to think about work, we have to think about our innovations um to be even more innovative because now that we are beginning to digitalize a lot of processes, humans need to get smarter. Um we also have to be flexible in our approach, post COVID, I think COVID has started as the importance of flexibility. So I don't think this will go away anytime soon. So again, as you think about um solutions as a student or as an innovator or as a small business owner, you have to think about how flexible is my business model, right? How flexible is what I'm learning in school so that it applies when I get out um to provide solutions.

A lot of and I will take a step back here to say a lot of entrepreneurs I've worked with, I feel like they fall in love with their solution which is wrong. And I will explain why that doesn't work. You fall in love with a solution instead of falling in love with a problem. The issue there is why you fall in love with a solution. You work so hard to make sure that that solution fits into the problem you're seeing instead of the other way around. But if you fell in love with the problem, you will constantly be innovating to ensure that the solution you've created actually works for that problem. And when it doesn't work, you go back to the drawing board and you innovate again. So I think post COVID, we will have to make sure that our solutions are really um solutions for the problems. So we have to then focus on the problems. And as we focus on the problems, I would also highlight that we should have focused on the problems of just today. I'll pause there. Don't focus on the problem of just today because COVID presents its unique issues. But the unique issues that COVID presents today will not persist for the next 10 years. COVID is just showing us that maybe the way of doing things, the way we've done things over the last 10 years may not work. For example, education, right?

The example, I give an education so we have to think about the future. So you have to pivot and be a solution provider so that you are an answer now and you have positioned yourself to be an answer for the new world. And yes, I am going to financial inclusion. I'm just laying the backdrop up so that you understand how as entrepreneurs, as students, as innovators, how you have to be thinking and utilizing technology and then the bridge for me would be how do you utilize those things to be able to make sure that you are financially inclusive or you're inclusive in the financial sector.

So um I would also point so now as we sort of pivot a little bit to the financial inclusion sector, I would say that investors appetites post COVID and also during COVID is going to change and it's already changing. Here's an example, we um you know, there have been prior to COVID, investors have been interested in all sorts of things, manufacture, food, industry and so forth. But once COVID hit, you found that a lot of companies in their portfolio, we are struggling. So they had to redeploy their capital to make sure that those companies already in the portfolio have survived it. So what does that mean for those that were in the pipeline that were already getting positive feedback but not quite getting the investment on the, the investment yet the capital yet. What that meant is that for a lot of them? So let's say you were the fashion industry and you were like, oh my God, great. This investor says, you know, I I'm, I'm, I've passed the investment committee level, I'm close to finish, you know, close to crossing the line where you get that big check. And the investor says I have invested in your company. But guess what? For a regular fashion designer who was about to get that check? That check is probably gonna be deferred with some is deferred indefinitely for some is deferred for now.

Why is that as you look at consumer spending post COVID, a lot of people will be focusing on um the necessities they will distinguish between the needs and the wants as a result, an investor may not know necessarily want to invest in clothing and I'm talking of just day to day clothing right now because the discretionary income to be able to purchase those may not be readily available post COVID or in the next year or so, people are going to be cautious.

People are gonna realize that they don't need all those clothes, right? So that is how investors appetites will change. So that is why it then becomes important to incorporate technology into what you do to ensure that as investors write out this check, you are part of the community you are thinking about for those checks. And that is how you can ensure that you are inclusive in the economy from a financial perspective. So why is financial inclusion that um why is financial inclusion important in the post COVID world? I will start by saying that, you know, we've generally defined financial inclusion as one where you know, the um disproportionate um or rather the minority groups are left out, um, of the financial economy, the poor, um are left out of the economy. But I would put it to you that I believe that that word financial inclusion or that definition of financial inclusion is being threatened by modern times by modern times in this post co in this COVID world. Why do I think it's pretty threatened? Let's go back to the US. About 30 million. I think the last time I checked about 30 million people are unemployed in the US alone. Obviously, that that is a very high rate. What happens to those 30 million when they don't have checks coming into their bank accounts?

What happens to those 30 million when they don't know where next they're gonna get food from? Right. So those 30 million that may have been financially included before COVID and now quickly drink, um, dribbling into those that are no more in the inclusiveness, right? So that puts its a problem for us all. Now, if we have debts, if we have people that just have bank accounts, but the bank accounts are not really functioning in a way that it should function for them. In terms of there is no money in the bank, right? Is that really financial inclusion, having a bank account but not having the funding? I would argue with you that it is not so our definition of debt will change. We also can talk about um financial inclusion, especially for the small businesses that we have across all boards where they don't have the funding to be able to run their businesses. I was walking down the street in New York the other day and I saw businesses that literally had notices saying this branch has been closed permanently. This business is now shut down permanently, right? And these are the same group of people that we have counted before has been financially included. So what does COVID do? It widens the gap in general? So we already had sme S that were lagging behind.

We had tech expert, tech start ups that were scrambling to get funding to scale their businesses. We had people that were previously, you know, well, to do at least middle class people that are now um whose status in society is being threatened. The gaps are widening. People are being displaced from their former societal um um from their so form from their former places in society. So what does this mean in return? It means that discretionary income, what I've talked about will reduce, people are gonna lose jobs. So, as we think about post COVID, we have to think about how do we make sure that all those groups that were not previously um marginalized, that are now marginalized? How do we make sure that it's an inclusive economy for all. On that note, I think we all have different parts to play. So I would start from um the students, right? Most students haven't felt the impact from the financial bit, but once you graduate, you're likely to feel the impact. So as you pick your courses, as you wrap up school, the question is, are you making sure that all that you have learned would allow you to be an innovative thinker Ghana the day where we have to sort of take from what we've learned from the school, from the classroom to work and apply it.

You now have to go beyond because that is what employers will be looking for from a techno, from tech start ups perspective. We have to make sure that the tech start ups continue to innovate. We can't keep um spilling like products that have already come out to the market and just repackaging them and putting it out there. We have to think creatively from um the sme s point of view. What in fact, what we, what we at my organization at impact has done over the past few months. It's making sure that these women led businesses are pivoting. Right. You can't be stuck in the 19, I don't know, 19 nineties, we're not in 2020 2021 even bring, it's likely to bring us more surprises. So how are you placing yourself there? So I think as individuals and business owners and students, we all have a part to play here to ensure that we are financially included. Because as a student or a tech setup entrepreneur or as SME owner, if you're able to innovate in a meaningful way that you are a solution for the future, it will be very difficult for you to, to, to not be able to access fund funding or the finance, you need to grow your business or the salary, you need to keep your head up.

So that is, that is why I think that we have that part. Now from the government's perspective, we have been a huge advocate. My organization has been a huge advocate of putting together um proposals or policy briefings to government that these um these policies have to be or this j um stimulus packages, right? Have to be disbursed from a gender perspective to ensure that our women led start ups. Our women led sme S are getting access to the funding prior to COVID, there was almost a $360 billion gap for women L sme S, right? And given that we already know that COVID actually um widen that gap we want to make sure that as policy um policy makers are drafting policies that women led companies or minority companies are not left behind and obviously, that will not be intentional. We're not in no way saying that we're in no way saying that those um the government are intentionally leaving those groups behind. Rather we are saying that, you know, we can be a bit, the government can be a bit more deliberate to carve out stimulus packages for those businesses.

So, um I also think that in this day and age, especially with what COVID has done, um We have to also think about inclusion and diversity in a broader sense to ensure that um as we talk about financial inclusion, those groups are also on the table to be able to get access. So in general, I believe that with what COVID has presented, it's actually a great opportunity. Um I know a lot of people have suffered out of this. So I please take this lightly. It's actually a great opportunity for us to reset and really think about financial inclusion from a broader sense and how it can actually help play a critical role in our economies. Um financial inclusion um can help us with, you know, on the GDP part, right, you, you employ more people, you're able to get access to funding. If you're innovative, you grow the economy, everybody gets, you know, it's a win for everyone. Um As I said, before it, why it closes the gap, it helps, closes the gap if done properly. And also lastly, it also helps with job creations which a lot of economies are suffering from right now. So um at this point, I am going to pause. I like, I love to like give people the opportunity to interact, to take questions um because I don't just like to talk to people. So, on this note, I'm gonna give you um an opportunity to ask your questions if you have any.

I'm gonna look in the chat room. Thank you so much, Star Sterling. I appreciate your comments. And I would also say, I think I'm reading to Australia's comments. Um I see that um you talked about the stimulus minority and, and prioritizing women owned um businesses in the stimulus package. Yes, we've been a huge advocate of that. We've written several governments um to advocate for and I'm glad to say that actually, last week Friday, the president of Ghana wrote us back to say yes, we have done what you've said and we will be prioritizing women led businesses as we disperse the stimulus packages. So um I know some governments are open to discussion and are listening to us. Hi Maria. Um So you talk about um about technology. How do you feel about Blockchain as a tool for inclusion? I think that um indeed Blockchain can be a tool um for inclusion. But I think that we from the inclusivity part, I think it's really a situation where we have to make sure that we have all um people play in the sector, right? Um So we basically from a diversity perspective, I think it could be great as well. But I also think that in this day and age, a lot of people are also look into Blockchain. I think investors are actually interested in that sector as well.

So I think that there is an opportunity there because the, the way I look at it is like once you're able to get the deep pockets to actually open their pockets and write those checks, um you are solving a lot of problem, which is the GDP problem which and also the inclusivity problem, um financial inclusivity problem as well.

OK. Well, yes. Um I see someone saying greetings from Ghana. Thank you. Yes, we have from your president. We got a win there. So I hope if you're a business owner, you get to benefit from that. Ok. So do we have any questions for me? All right. Um It's really been great to speak with all of you. I had a great time if you have any questions. Um Please feel free to connect with me on linkedin. Um It's FA U Ka. Um I'm happy to answer questions um or even have a brief chat with people um to, you know, I if you want to talk to me about your business or however we can be able to help. I'll be more than happy to help on that note. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.