Stellar Community Fund

By Lul-Serving the unbanked

Finance Access for Refugees and Unbanked

SCF #38

$37.5K

Build

Awarded

Offers Stellar-powered finance tools so refugees & unbanked can receive money, crowdfund, save, and pay affordably.

Products & Services

1. Remittances & Payments (Already built & testnet-integrated — not part of SCF 38 funding)

Problem: Traditional remittance services in Africa cost 7–12% and take hours or days to settle, leaving refugees and unbanked without timely access to funds.
Solution: Instant USDC transfers to Lul wallets, with options to keep funds in USDC or withdraw via cash-out agents, couriers, or mobile money. Wallet-free payouts deliver cash directly to recipients without smartphones.
How Stellar Helps: Near-instant, low-fee settlement and transparent proof of delivery on an open ledger.
Impact: Affordable, inclusive remittance access even for the most digitally excluded.

Note: Included for completeness — not part of SCF 38 funding request.

2. Crowdfunding

Problem: Global platforms like GoFundMe exclude many Africans, especially refugees, due to banking and policy barriers.
Solution: Built-in Stellar-powered platform where users can launch campaigns, receive USDC globally, and withdraw in local currency. Soroban smart contracts hold funds in escrow until goals/timelines are met.
How Stellar Helps: Enables low-cost cross-border contributions and escrow logic for secure disbursements.
Impact: Unlocks global fundraising for excluded communities with transparency and trust.

3. Agent & Courier App

Problem: Digital wallets are less useful if users can’t easily top up or withdraw nearby without high fees.
Solution: Lightweight app for agents/couriers to provide local cash-in/cash-out, including wallet-free deliveries, avoiding bank and mobile money margins.
How Stellar Helps: Instant settlement between agent and user wallets with verifiable transaction records.
Impact: Increases access and convenience, especially in refugee camps and underserved areas.

4. Virtual Cards (Planned – Integration with Rain.xyz)

Problem: Many unbanked and refugee users can’t make online purchases or pay for digital services.
Solution: USD-denominated virtual cards linked to Lul wallets for online payments directly from USDC balances. API access to Rain is already secured.
How Stellar Helps: Instant, low-cost top-ups from Stellar-based USDC.
Impact: Expands digital commerce access without requiring bank accounts.

5. Multilingual Support

Problem: Large portions of our user base do not speak English, creating adoption barriers.
Solution: Add Swahili, Luganda, Amharic, Arabic, Somali, and French to the app with a language switcher.
How Stellar Helps: Makes the Stellar-powered platform usable across diverse remittance/refugee corridors.
Impact: Broadens reach and trust by making the platform accessible to non-English speakers.

6. External Service Integrations

Problem: Users need familiar, local cash-in/cash-out and cross-border transfer options.
Solution: Integrate mobile money APIs (MTN, Airtel) for local transactions and Yellow Card for USDC–fiat transfers to 20 African countries.
How Stellar Helps: All transactions settle on Stellar for speed, low cost, and transparent tracking.
Impact: Expands reach and adoption by connecting to trusted payment rails across Africa.

Soroban

Yes

Requested Budget

$37.5K

Success Criteria

For our team, success will be defined by our ability to deliver high-quality, accessible financial services to people who are currently excluded from the global financial system—particularly refugees and unbanked individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa.

These communities are often unable to save, send, or receive money in secure way, let alone participate in e-commerce or access basic digital tools for economic empowerment. For us, success means removing those barriers—empowering people who have been overlooked to securely transact, save, and grow financially.

This is not just a technical mission—it’s deeply personal. All of us on the team have experienced this exclusion firsthand, and one of us still lives as a refugee. We know what it means to be locked out of financial opportunity, and our ultimate measure of success is to ensure that as many people as possible never have to face those same limitations again.

Go-To-Market Plan

Go-To-Market Plan

Launch Timeline

Beta Launch (April–Early Aug 2025): Closed beta with up to 250 users from a waitlist of 3,000 to test core features and gather feedback.
Public Launch (End Aug 2025): Launch in Uganda, focusing on refugees and unbanked populations.
Regional Expansion (Q4 2025+): Rollout to Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and South Sudan, targeting unbanked users and small businesses.

Target Audience & Channels

Primary ICP: Refugees in East Africa needing remittances, savings, and payment tools.
Secondary ICP: Unbanked individuals and microbusiness owners across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Channels:
- WhatsApp & Telegram community groups for grassroots onboarding.
- Influencer marketing via YouTube, TikTok, Facebook.
- Partnerships with NGOs, churches, and community leaders.
- Local outreach: flyers, word-of-mouth, SMS campaigns in multiple languages.

Unique Selling Points (USPs)

· Multilingual & culturally relevant UX: Supporting 6 local languages to empower users regardless of literacy level.

· Refugee-friendly onboarding: Internal KYC process for refugees whose documents aren’t accepted elsewhere, complemented by Smile ID and Bridge KYC for other users.

· Hybrid access model: Mobile app, web app, and field agent network for cash-outs and onboarding locally

· Low-cost Stellar rails: Enables affordable remittances and savings mechanisms compared to high-fee traditional channels.

· Community-based financial tools: Digitized ROSCAs and crowdfunding tailored to how target users already collaborate financially.

Strategic Partners / Pilots

Stellar Blockchain: For secure, low-cost transactions and smart contracts.
Bridge API: USDC on/off-ramp & KYC via Persona.
Smile ID: KYC for African unbanked users.
Yellow Card: Cross-border liquidity and multi-country payouts.
Local NGOs and businesses: Trust-building, cash-out points, and agent network formation.

Measuring Early Adoption

Weekly active users and transaction volumes (remittance, ROSCA, crowdfunding).
Referral program usage rates.
Growth in waitlist and registrations post-launch.
Engagement analytics (WhatsApp/Telegram activity, social media metrics).
Ratio of registered vs active users and agent app usage stats.

Traction Evidence

Traction Evidence and Testnet Hashes

Tranche 1 (Deliverable Roadmap) - MVP

Tranche 1 – Core MVP (Crowdfunding)

In accordance with the comment and review we got from SCF 37, we have postponed ROSCA and Webapp features to enable fast development and deployment to gouge market before developing more complicated features like ROSCA. We will be developing and deploying core offerings like Crowdfunding and Agent App and Virtual cards first.

Goal: Deliver a feature-complete Crowdfunding MVP ready for Stellar Testnet deployment, with polished UI and test harness for reviewer verification.
On top of the existing wallet and payment framework, this tranche focuses on building a high-demand feature first.

Core Feature:

Crowdfunding: Enables users to create, contribute to, and manage fundraising campaigns for shared goals—such as emergency aid, education, medical expenses, or small business support—facilitating collective action and financial solidarity. Development of this feature is already underway.

How to Measure Completion:

Users can create campaigns, contribute funds, view progress and disbursement status.
Campaign interface displays goal amount, contributors, contribution totals, and progress updates.
All campaign transactions are verifiable on Stellar Testnet via in-app one-click Horizon/Explorer links.
Sorban Smart Contract controls release or funds when criteria met.

Estimated Completion: 6 weeks after funding
Budget: $13,000

Why This Matters:
Crowdfunding is the highest-demand feature from our user surveys and waitlist feedback, allowing immediate, impactful utility for unbanked and refugee communities.

Tranche 2 (Deliverable Roadmap) - Testnet

Tranche 2 – Testnet Integration + Agent App

Goal: Fully integrate wallet and crowdfunding flows on Stellar Testnet and launch the Agent & Courier App for cash-in/out operations.

Core Features:

Stellar Testnet Integration: Deploy full crowd funding, payments, and features to Testnet with test USDC flows. Validate all user actions via on-chain verification links.
Agent & Courier App: Develop app for authorized agents to handle cash-in/cash-out, wallet-free deliveries, and transaction confirmations.
Update wallet for direct withdrawal through agent app and network
Security: Agents use role-based login and transactions sync in real time with user wallets.

How to Measure Completion:

Successful Testnet deployment with verifiable crowdfunding transactions.
Agent app operational with ability to process top-ups, withdrawals, and issue receipts.
All transactions reflected in user and agent histories in real time.

Estimated Completion: 6 weeks
Budget: $9,500

Why This Matters:
This tranche expands financial access to offline and underserved communities, leveraging local small business owners as partners and providing them with income opportunities.

Tranche 3 (Deliverable Roadmap) - Mainnet

Tranche 3 – Third-Party Integrations + Virtual Cards

Goal: Enable full production readiness by integrating external payment rails and adding virtual card capabilities.

Core Features:

Yellow Card Integration: Allow users to send funds across 20+ African countries in local currency.
Mobile Money Integrations (Airtel, MTN): Enable deposits and withdrawals between mobile wallets and Lul.
Virtual Cards: Provide prefunded virtual debit cards linked to USDC balances for secure online purchases. We will partner with rain.xyz who have support for African markets. Our waitlist surveys and closed-beta interviews consistently highlighted online payments (subscriptions, e-commerce) as a top need; cards meet that need without local bank accounts.
Multilingual Support: Add Swahili, Amharic, Luganda, French, Arabic, Somali.

How to Measure Completion:

Yellow Card: Cross-border transfers initiated and settled in local currency.
Mobile Money: Functional deposit and withdrawal with confirmations.
Virtual Cards: Users can request, receive, and view card details and history.
Multilingual: Full app translations for the six languages.
Smile ID-For some African Users KYC

Estimated Completion: 7 weeks
Budget: $15,000

Why This Matters:
Completes the ecosystem for both domestic and cross-border financial flows, giving users practical tools to engage in the digital economy without traditional banking access.

Team

We are a group of dedicated software developer that want to create apps that will help solve real problems in our communities. We are a team of software developers with all of us having up to decade of experience in software development. Our team also includes CFO who is responsible for our financial planning and accounting. We are 5.