The UNCDF call for financial inclusion and digital financial services in Papua New Guinea has led to an innovative collaboration with Digicel in East Sepik and Sandaun provinces.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund invited financial and telco companies to design innovative digital finance solutions to enhance agricultural supply chains in select provinces in Papua New Guinea.

Banks, microfinance, savings and loan societies, insurance companies, pensions funds, money transfer and telecom companies answered a call to present digital inclusive solutions to drive financial inclusion in Agri Value Chains in East Sepik and Sandaun Province. Interested parties were able to qualify to apply for grant funding as part of the European Union-funded project 'Support to Rural Entrepreneurship, Investment and Trade'.

The projects aims to support the development of new use-cases, products or business models that could increase access to financial services for those in rural and remote areas.

This month, UNCDF was pleased to announce a new partnership with Digicel Financial Services - CellMoni - to support these efforts.

The United Nations Development Programme's Resident Representative, Mr. Dirk Wagener says this important partnership offers a great opportunity to increase collaboration to improve the access to financial services in these Provinces.

"Digicel Financial Services and UNCDF will work together to bring 215 Agents and over 100,000 new customers under the formal financial system, using CellMoni,” Mr Wagener said.

“The digital revolution has radically transformed global economies: how people work, how supply meets demand, how market information moves, how transactions are processed. This transformation has the potential to make digital economies more inclusive by making geography and distance less relevant, by lowering barriers to entry, by making work less dependent on one’s ability to be physically present and by expanding financial inclusion."

This partnership may very well provide a 'game changer' and spur efforts to bring digital payment solutions, through the use of the CellMoni wallet, to cover a wider geographical area and one well beyond the current coverage of the conventional banking system in Papua New Guinea.

Chief Executive Officer of Digicel PNG, Colin Stone, reiterated this highlighting the opportunity that this partnership offers for so many.

“Digicel and UNCDF have a shared passion for digital transformation. we want to make mobile financial services accessible to everyone across Papua New Guinea. Through our partnership, we will enable customers to make CellMoni transactions, benefit from competitive pricing and gain access to other domestically relevant services including bill payments, merchant payments and value-added services such as cash management solutions and loan repayments," said Mr Stone.