Score credit for informal traders with no bank history

Overview

Give informal traders a fair way to qualify for small working-capital loans without a bank history.

Posted by

Commercial bank · Harare

Location

Harare (remote work possible)

Sub-theme

Financial Services & Digital Inclusion

Team size

2–6 people

Pilot budget

US$25,000

Applications close

15 Jan 2027

• Data science
• USSD
• Risk

The problem

Background

Many of the bank’s potential small-business customers are market traders who run their businesses in cash and mobile money. They have no audited accounts, payslips or credit bureau records.

What's going wrong

The bank’s current scoring rejects most of these traders, or asks for collateral they do not have. The bank believes many are good risks but cannot show it with the data it has today.

What we need

A strong solution will:

• Score applicants using alternative data such as mobile money activity, supplier records and savings group history.
• Explain each decision in plain language to loan officers and applicants.
• Meet Zimbabwe’s data protection and consumer lending rules.
• Support loans from US$50 to US$1,000.

Constraints

• Personal data must stay in Zimbabwe.
• Applicants must give explicit consent for any data used.
• The applicant journey must work on feature phones.

Deliverables

By forum week, matched teams are expected to bring:

1. A scoring model or process tested on the sample data.
2. A fairness and bias check across gender and location.
3. An onboarding flow that works over USSD.
4. A seven-minute pitch for forum week.

How teams are evaluated

Applications and final pitches are scored by the challenge owner and the ZBIF secretariat on:

• Fit to the problem30%

  Does it solve the problem as the challenge owner describes it?

• Technical feasibility25%

  Can the team build and run it with the resources available?

• Cost and scalability20%

  Is it affordable to pilot, and to roll out if the pilot works?

• Team capability15%

  Does the team have the skills and time to deliver?

• Local impact10%

  Jobs, skills or value it keeps in Zimbabwe.

Who can apply

• A registered ZBIF innovator account: innovators, consultancies, technologists, university teams or freelancers.
• At least one team member based in Zimbabwe.
• Able to attend forum week in Bulawayo on 27–28 April 2027 if shortlisted.
• IP ownership and pilot terms are agreed between your team and the challenge owner in the Deal Room.

Timeline

1. 2 Oct 2026 Challenge posted We are here
2. 15 Jan 2027 Applications close
3. Within 3 weeks Matching results sent to teams and the challenge owner
4. Until mid-April 2027 Build phase, with mentor and challenge-owner check-ins
5. 27–28 Apr 2027 Live pitch and Deal Rooms at forum week, Bulawayo

Data and resources

Shared with matched teams after signing a simple data-use agreement.

• Repayment data from an earlier micro-loan pilot Anonymised dataset
• Sandbox access to the bank’s test APIs For matched teams
• Product manager and credit risk analyst Points of contact