PesaKit is a Nairobi based fintech company operating in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana. We are reimagining access to financial services and e-commerce at the last mile powered by the PesaKit super app in Africa. Our platform enables efficiency and profitability for MSMEs, merchants, distributors, manufacturers, telcos and banks by digitizing their demand and supply of financial services and ecommerce goods.

Plans are underway to launch on-ramp and off-ramp of crypto at PesaKit agents points. We aim to leverage our vast agent network, which currently stands at 36,021 agents to exchange crypto currency for fiat currency, enabling fast and efficient movement of funds from the digital to physical world. The consequent financial history of crypto CICO would then enable us to offer DeFi loans to our customers. This solution will help us to further narrow the MSME lending gap in Kenya which currently stands at USD 19 Billion. In addition we will enable participating agents to access a new revenue source by acting as providers of this new financial service as they will earn a commission on every CICO transaction completed.

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PesaKit Stellar App Screens

We aim to achieve the following in the next 6 months:-

• Number of active users - 1,215
• Number of transactions - 729
• Value of earned revenues - $35,179
• Number of agents using the platform - 175

Problem and Solution

Kenya has consistently been ranked as one of the top cryptocurrency markets in Africa. Given the limited banking infrastructure in Kenya and many other African countries, crypto users have limited ways of cashing in cashing out crypto at physical locations. Further, a large percentage of Kenya live in rural areas, currently at 72% as compared to 28% who live in urban areas. Thus a majority of Kenyans in underbanked and underserved areas and many other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have limited on-ramp and off-ramp options.

For every 100,000 persons in Kenya, there are 3 banks, 5 atms and 627 mobile money agents.

Based on this data, we aim to use our vast network of more than thirty thousand agents to provide this critical service of crypto CICO to the remote and semi remote areas which are home to many of the financially excluded population.

How we will use Stellar in our solution?

We will develop a Stellar Network powered mobile app that will enable our customers to on-ramp and off-ramp at our vast agent network. In addition, we will extend DeFI lending at the last-mile, specifically for the underbanked and underserved areas using PesaKit tokens built on the Stellar network.

We will use Stellar to further enhance interoperability of the PesaKit platform beyond the unified mobile money wallet we currently have by easily moving currency between the physical world and digital platforms.

Target Market

Our core consumer audience will be located in Kenya and Uganda where an estimated 4.5 million people currently own various forms of cryptocurrencies. Regulatory wise, Central Banks in these two countries have opened up sandboxes for Fintechs to test and experiment Blockchain and Crypto ideas.
Our end users will be supported by our vast network of agents who currently stand at 36,021.

Revenue Model

Our product will generate revenue by charging a transaction fee on every transaction on the platform. Additionally an agent will earn a commission on every CICO transaction.

Sales Forecast

2022 Q3 - USD 15,267

2022 Q4 - USD 19,913

2023 Q1 - USD 23,986

2023 Q2 - USD 27,386

Financial Plan

Our financial plan and projections can be accessed here - CICO Financials-12 Month Projections

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Industry and Market Research

Lower costs are one of the key advantages that users will gain from using our crypto CICO at agent locations. We will incentivize agents who choose to enroll and offer our services. Agents will earn a percentage of the fee we will charge on every transaction  for their role as trusted third party intermediary to validate electronic transactions.

Additionally, our agents will incur very low initial set up costs as they will not be required to deposit any e-float or cash float as a prerequisite of exchanging fiat to crypto currency at an agent location.    

Strengths                

• We have a vast agent network that currently stands at 36,021 agents including in underbanked and underserved areas.

Weaknesses

• One of the key hurdles to the adoption of crypto CICO at agent locations is literacy for our agents and customers. Crypto has been around for more than a decade but most of the population especially in the rural areas are unbanked and do not have financial knowledge in regards to how it works. Systems that should work in theory normally breakdown when the users are unable to learn how to sufficiently use them.
• Crypto, being entirely supported by the internet, may require the customers to own a smartphone and download our app to be able to perform the transactions seamlessly.

Opportunities

• Kenya has consistently been ranked as a top cryptocurrency market in Africa, often behind Nigeria and South Africa in terms of transaction volume and value. Kenyans have been tauted

Threats

• Strict Central Bank of Kenya regulations on cryptocurrency activities.
• Competition.

Competition

Indirect Competitors

• Coinbase - America’s largest crypto exchange by volume and user base, is currently our closest competitor as it allows customers from Kenya and Ghana to purchase crypto via their debit and credit cards.
  

• Yellow cash - They claim to be the easiest way to buy and sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether instantly at the best rates with zero fees
  

• Bit Pesa - One of our key competitors was launched in Nairobi a decade ago to provide a digital foreign exchange and payment platform that leverages blockchain settlement to significantly lower the cost and increase the speed of business payments to and from frontier markets.

Marketing and Sales

We aim to use a mix of digital marketing and field marketing to onboard PesaKit agents and end users to the platform. As previously mentioned in our proposed budget, we will set aside a marketing budget that will include digital ads in the form of Facebook and Google ads to educate end users on the product and platform and build brand awareness. Additionally, we will upload relevant content on our Youtube and Twitter to further build on consumer education and brand awareness. Part of the marketing budget will be used in field activities including onboarding agents to the platform and onsite training of agents.  

Additionally we will develop audio visual materials for the key purpose of educating end users on financial literacy matters and how to use the different functionalities the platform will offer. These videos will include a set of easy to follow ‘how tos’ videos embedded in the app that will demonstrate how to use all key platform functionalities. Our marketing and communication strategy will include push notifications that will have a key aim of providing financial information such as financial planning, support, financial literacy and crypto tips and ideas.

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Resources and relationships

PesaKit will utilize as much as possible the Stellar APIs, ecosystem and vast network of partners.

We choose the medium project scope budget.

• Medium project scope < $50,000
• Development or launch of a new company or product
• Single or multiple contributor(s)
• Solves a real-world problem

We aim to use the funds to hire a development team that has vast experience in crypto, blockchain and Stellar network technology. The development and support team will be 100% dedicated to the project. The development team will include a backend and mobile engineer, product manager. Additionally, we will hire a customer support personnel who will be tasked with providing support to our users. We will set aside a marketing budget to support our campaigns to improve product and brand awareness through our social media platforms.

1. Backend Engineer - USD 10,345
2. Mobile Engineer - USD 9310
3. Customer Support - USD 3,103
4. Marketing and Communications Lead - USD 9,310
5. Sales and Growth Marketing - USD 8,069
6. Tech Development (Web hosting) - USD 466
7. Field Support - USD 1,121
8. Product Manager - USD 8,276

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PesaKitOfficial/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PesaKit_AI
• PesaKit CICO and DeFi Website: https://stellar.pesakit.ai/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pesakit_ai/
• LinkedIn: https://ke.linkedin.com/company/pesakit
• PesaKit website: https://pesakit.app/
• PesaKit Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZDIEVxRH9J87-uppTRJQgg