“The drive for me has always been, ‘how do I achieve both wealth and impact?’” says Exuus CEO Shema Steve. During a consulting job, he was introduced to savings groups, which are a big part of Rwandan people’s financial lives, particularly rural women. Shema was hired to map these informal organizations and visited members, learning about their challenges and gaining an understanding of the role that savings groups could have in much-needed financial inclusion. He developed a platform to address some of these challenges, which would become SAVE.

SAVE enables cashless transactions within savings groups either by USSD or via an app. It allows members to debit or credit the group’s digital wallet from their own, individual mobile wallets. NGOs that support savings groups can use the tool to create and manage projects, assign agents to specific areas of intervention and receive real-time information from their agents. With data visible to all, transactions are more transparent, and links to the formal financial sector can be enabled, providing access to additional financial services. For the people using the platform, SAVE means increased agency, societal value and the ability to take more control over their futures and those of their communities.

Exuus is a privately held entity and was initially self-funded. It raised pre-seed funding of $95,000 and seed funding of $500,000. Series A funding will allow the startup to scale its offering outside of Rwanda. 

Main Photo by: Exuus Ltd