Grameen Foundation India & PayNearby to Collaborate to create Job Opportunities for Women & Youth

By: WE Staff | Monday, 4 September 2023

PayNearby, one of India's largest branchless banking and digital networks, today announced a partnership with Grameen Foundation for Social Impact (GFSI), a renowned nonprofit organization that works for the welfare of underserved communities, to unskilled 150,000 business correspondents (BCs) throughout the Indian poverty driven communities and upgrade them to provide digital and financial services. This partnership will create a sustainable change and empower the rural BC counters at grass roots level. The women and youth of India will get access to employment and opportunities through this collaboration.

A pan India scale-up project named, "Scaling Agent Viability and Quality in India" will be launched by PayNearby and Grameen Foundation for Social Impact as a part of this partnership. This project will be supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and this will be completed in the coming two years. This project will represent a significant step towards amplifying BC's Impact on improving financial accessibility across the country by using the financial product offerings and avoiding the cash-in and cash-out services. The expanded product suite will boost customer retention and enable these correspondents to generate additional revenue streams.

The partnership between PayNearby and GFSI will become an important step towards women's empowerment in the financial sector along with increasing their financial accessibility. This will emphasize skill development among BCs as well as gender sensitivity. It will create a wide number of opportunities for both rural BC counters and women's professional growth and financial empowerment by providing the necessary skills, knowledge, and support. The aim of this project is to recruit 15,000 female BC agents to promote gender equality in the industry.