MAX Africa Leading The Way For Digital Inclusion In Africa’s Mobility Sector

Whilst there have been significant advancements in financial inclusion in recent years, Nigeria still falls short of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy targets that were set for 2020. By 2020, it was hoped that 70% of Nigerians would be equipped with formal financial services; the eventual number was 51%.

The strategy also established goals for overall financial inclusion, which includes Nigerians who utilize either formal or informal financial services that are not regulated at the national level, such as savings organizations. The entire financial inclusion objective was set at 80% by 2020, but according to EFInA data, only about 64% of Nigerian adults were financially included by then. This means that 36% of Nigerian adults are still financially disadvantaged.

This has been an issue of concern for a long time now and various entities who recognize the opportunity to help are doing so. By focusing on financially including its Champions (drivers), a vast majority of whom are uneducated and without access to conventional financial services, MAX is doing its part to bring the overall exclusion numbers down. For MAX, helping mobility personnel become financially included has always been a priority.

In a recent interview with Marcopolis, MAX CEO, Adetayo Bamiduro, said, “What we bring to not just the Nigerian market but pretty much across Sub-Saharan Africa, is pretty simple: we are helping commercial drivers. We are giving them access to the tools and resources that they need to be safe and more productive”.

Through innovation and strategies to improve driver productivity, MAX; the number one mobility player in emerging markets- has now set up its systems to receive 100% of remittance payments from drivers digitally. This was previously unprecedented with a large proportion of African commercial drivers excluded financially and digitally.

A lot of drivers consider transportation services to be a business and their primary source of income. The figures stand between 7 to 8 million of them in Nigeria currently and somewhere between 15 and 20 million right now in Sub-Saharan Africa, and these drivers typically have roughly five dependents who they cater for.

These drivers have been badly underserviced in the past. This means that previously, they haven’t had access to new or high-quality vehicles. They were without any type of insurance, including health insurance for themselves and insurance for the vehicles they drove. They even lacked access to high maintenance workshops or engineers, and e-learning initiatives.

Also, being financially disadvantaged means they have no method of getting the money or credit they need to buy a new car or other resources they need to accomplish their jobs safely. MAX is correcting this and pioneering new initiatives within the African mobility sector.

MAX now gives drivers access to all these services on its singular platform. In the MAX tradition of continuous innovation, all Champion (driver) remittances are now done digitally. The digital platform will also enable the Champions to send or receive money, and ultimately conduct all of their banking activities on it in the near future.

Furthermore, MAX Champions get high-quality vehicles to work and satisfy clients with, they are placed in leading training and digital learning programs, and are given health insurance for themselves, their families, and insurance for their vehicles.

The mobility sector will most certainly benefit from a more financially and digitally inclusive commercial driver network. Not only does it guarantee added efficiency, but it also encourages accountability.

The hope now is that more entities will follow MAX’s lead.