6 FinTechs empowering mothers to take charge of their finances

By Gloria Methri

Motherhood can be an expensive journey. Mothers have a primary role to provide for all their children’s needs, which include a financial safety net to buffer against unforeseen circumstances.

Low-income women are inherent savers. They manage the household’s finances while juggling day-to-day needs and making sure that school fees are paid, and health emergencies are covered.

Mothers are also thoughtful about how their financial needs will shift throughout the different stages of their lives, beginning from the time their children are born.

When a mom is given the right financial tools and resources she needs to manage her financial life, she can build a better future for herself and her family.

Let’s look at 6 FinTech companies helping mothers gain financial independence and better manage their finances.

• UOB

Singapore-based UOB bank is empowering women to protect themselves so they can better care for their families. In 2020, UOB launched the Lady’s Savings Account which provides women with complimentary coverage of up to $200,000 for six female cancers based on their savings.

• BMPB

Access Bank’s Better Mama, Better Pikin (BMBP) is a mobile wallet that offers micro savings along with health and life insurance services for expectant mothers in Nigeria. The woman is only required to save a minimum of about $3 per month. The “premium” gives her medical insurance coverage of up to about $125 per annum and life insurance coverage of up to about $312 in case of death or permanent disability.

• Greenlight

Greenlight Financial Technology is set up to help parents raise financially savvy children in the United States. Launched in 2017, the scaleup issues debit cards for children. It helps parents manage how their kids use their money through a mobile app. This means that parents can pick the stores their kids can shop in, manage their chores and allowances, and a slew of other services. The app also allows the children to check and control their balances better.

• Women’s World Banking

Women’s World Banking offers several products that give underbanked women a chance to make safe savings in a formal way. With Diamond Bank in Nigeria, it developed BETA Savings, which can be opened in less than five minutes and has no minimum balance or monthly fees. With NBS Bank in Malawi, it developed Pafupi Savings, which allows small deposits, charges no monthly fees, and operates through agents in rural shops. Women’s World Banking also worked with NMB Bank in Tanzania to offer savings accounts for youth. The aim was to encourage women to save with a formal financial institution through their children.

• Kiya.ai

Indian FinTech Kiya.ai has launched several women-centric initiatives in association with ARMMAN, an NGO empowering mothers and enabling healthy children. Kiya.ai leverages the NGO’s mHealth to create cost-effective, scalable, gender-sensitive, non-linear, and systemic solutions, and provide pregnant women and mothers better access to preventive information and services. The initiatives help provide accessible and affordable healthcare facilities to pregnant women and postnatal mothers.

• Mums & Co

Australia-based Mums & Co is a community for business-owning mothers who want to launch, grow, and scale their ‘mumbition.’ The network helps women in business grow with a digital membership and a community supporting them to build meaningful connections and access strategic guidance and quality resources.