The Sole Fintech app, launched last year, is now taking innovative and literal steps towards financial inclusivity with a ‘walking ATM’ initiative in Dawasamu.
The app provides a means of saving, sending and spending one’s money with more awareness about one’s daily incomes and expenses.
The walking ATM, a Tailevu resident Semesa Masau, has been acting as a deposit and withdrawal system for users of the app in Dawasamu for a month now.
Mr Masau approached the fintech company expressing the struggle for those in rural and some suburban communities to access deposit and withdrawal locations for major financial institutions and offered his services in bridging the access gap via the Sole Fintech mobile application.
Those who have signed up for the app can conduct cash transactions with Mr Masau and witness the relevant transfer details on their own sole accounts instantly. While a relatively small operation, Mr Masau began the idea with about $3000 in his own Sole account to conduct the trades with.
According to Sole chief executive officer Mereia Volavola, the company was now exploring similar options for other communities and drawing up an agreement for future walking ATMs to ensure users of the Sole platform are protected as access to Sole services are expanded nationwide.
