AUXFIN

Serving the community: the journey of Vianney Ruberintwari

Vianney Ruberintwari is a 33-year-old married man with two children. He shares with us his journey in the service of the community: "I joined AUXFIN in 2018 as an SA (Super Activator). I was involved in the creation of the very first G50s; I was working in Gitega Commune in the Mungwa Zone in 2017. I did not really have any difficulties doing my job because we had been well trained.

At AUXFIN, a job well done is rewarded with promotion. This is how in 2019 I was promoted and became MA (Master Activator). I was supervising all the activities of Gitega Commune. It was towards the end of that year that I became the Provincial Manager of AUXFIN in Gitega Province.

Today I am proud to be an employee of AUXFIN BURUNDI and I would like to give my best to contribute to the sustainable development of my country through the innovative solutions that we bring to the rural community.

AgriCoach Testimonial: the story of Esperance Nshimirimana (Kivoga gr2, Gitega)

Esperance has been using AgriCoach for two years now. They learn the agricultural practices in the group, and the first yearn they all tried out selected seeds of maize. “From 2kgs of seeds, I was amazed to harvest more than 150 kgs of maize. I was assured that this project came to help us fight against hunger because before we could cultivate but we had not enough food always. Now, we have a good harvest from which we get food for our families, and enough supply to sell and get some income to use on other needs.” Shares Esperance N.

She says that the work became much organized because the videos shown in the tablets demonstrate every detail from the plantation to harvesting.

“From my first harvest using AgriCoach, I did not buy anything. My mum fell very sick, and fortunately I had the means to take her to the hospital, pay for her bill, and buy all the medication she had been prescribed. It prevented me from asking for debts around. This season, I bought a small pig that is going to help me to get compost.” Tells Esperance N.

James Habiyambere (Rushombo gr1-Bugenyuzi, Karusi)

James H. is young man who cultivates beans, maize, and eggplants. He started using AgriCoach from September 2020. “Before learning good agricultural practices, I never ....read more
Happy Dashain 2078 !

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AgriCoach Testimonials: Fabien Maniratunga group leader of Kivoga gr2-Gitega

Fabien M. started using AgriCoach on beans three years ago. After watching the movies in the tablet, he changed his ways of cultivating ....read more

About AUXFIN

AUXFIN aims to deliver financial solutions that are accessible to all, including vulnerable populations with low literacy and numeracy skills, limited access to internet, no- or low access to electricity, and limited experience with mobile and other technologies.

Vision

The vision of AUXFIN is to develop value networks accessible to all. This leads to development of the Rural Financial ECO System and the ICT infrastructure; with the development of the Migrant Financial ECO System and the use of remittances as a financial catalyst for rural development; enabling capacity building, financial inclusion and economic development.

Mission

The mission of AUXFIN is: 'Financial Access for All'. This means to deliver, against very low prices, basic elementary banking functions such as registration, savings, loans and payments. However, recognizing that some vulnerable participants may require additional assistance to complete a transaction, trained agents and digital coaches are foreseen in our community activation platform. Delivering solutions that offer an appropriate balance between accessibility for all users, while still offering efficiency and transparency gains, is our daily challenge.Several types of organizations can use the platform free of charge, leading to fast and scalable installations and a large user-base. The many transactions result in big data that is the basis for development plans of Government and NGO's.

To deliver on our mission we use 3 main solutions: UMVA, AUX-EL and Jeanne.

UMVA (Universal Method of Value Acces) is a set of interconnected solutions that forms the backbone of our work and consists of:

UMVA CLIENT, the e-banking solution for members
UMVA BANK, the core banking solution in the cloud
UMVA LOCAL, the banking solution for locations without internet
UMVA AGENT, the solution for the last mile
REG REP, the registration solution for cooperatives, schools and hospitals
UMVA COOP, the core management solution for Cooperatives
GEO UMVA, the GEO database solution

AUX-EL is the e-Learning tool for UMVA users providing online courses that are tailor-made to the skills and needs of the users.

Jeanne is the digital coach with chatbot technology.

Cornelis Heesbeen
CEO, Founder of AUXFIN, UMVA and AUXEL
cornelis.heesbeen@auxfin.com

Cornelis Heesbeen has more than 40 years work experience, 7 years in Finance in Developing countries, 17 years in Information Technology with companies like Airport Schiphol, SAP and i2Technologies, 17 years in accounting. AUXFIN INTERNATIONAL is incorporated in 2013.

Marco van Andel
Chief Operating Officer
marcovanandel@auxfin.com

Marco van Andel has more than 20 years work experience, 10 years in Finance in Developing countries, most notably in Mozambique and Senegal, and 10 years in Insurance. Marco holds a degree in Business Administration for the Financial Sector of Free University of Amsterdam and a Master in Development Economics from Sussex.

Mark van den Brink
Chief Financial Officer
mark.vandenbrink@auxfin.com

Mark van den Brink has more than 20 years work experience as a Finance Director in particularly fast growing software organizations. A seasoned financial who drives change being focused on results with international expertise in highly changing environments. Been part of several acquisitions, mergers and investments. Mark holds a bachelor degree in Financ/Accounting.

Andre Jellema
Agricultural program manager
andre.jellema@auxfin.com

Jori Langwerden
Specialist agricultural applications and M&E
jori.langwerden@auxfin.com

Claudia Kool
Financial Controller
claudia.kool@auxfin.com

Welmoed Sprong
Nutrition Expert
welmoed.sprong@auxfin.com

Sabin Maharjan
Development Manager
sabin.maharjan@auxfin.com

Sabin has more than 13 years work experience. The organization develops the UMVA Platform since 2011. Sabin holds a bachelor degree in Computer technology at Tribhuvan University, Nepal. AUXFIN Nepal is incorporated on 2011.

Yannick Chokola
Territory Manager AUXFIN Burundi / Financial Inclusion Expert
yannick.chokola@auxfin.com

Yannick has more than 7 years work experience. The team works on UMVA projects since 2013. Yannick holds a bachelor in computer science at Université du lac tanganyika, Burundi. AUXFIN Burundi is incorporated in 2016.

Sujata Joshi
Senior Graphics Designer/ QA
sujata.joshi@auxfin.com

Bikram Maharjan
Team Leader
bikram.maharjan@auxfin.com

Samjhana Tuladhar
Senior Developer
samjhana.tuladhar@auxfin.com

Jayan Kapali
Senior Developer
jayan.kapali@auxfin.com

Rojma Shrestha
App Developer
rojma.shrestha@auxfin.com

Samir Prajapati
Fullstack PHP Developer
samir.prajapati@auxfin.com

Shreejala Tuladhar
App Developer
shreejala.tuladhar@auxfin.com

Alina Lamichhane
Developer
alina.lamichhane@auxfin.com

Puja Karmacharya
Developer

Bishal Maharjan
Team Leader (NextLevelValue)
maharjanbishal@nextlevelvalue.nl

Sajan Awale
Developer (NextLevelValue)
sajan@nextlevelvalue.nl

Jr. Bishal Maharjan
Developer (NextLevelValue)
bishal@nextlevelvalue.nl

Deogratias Cibogo
Specialist Burundi
deo.cibogo@auxfin.com

Sewika Sapkota
Developer
sewika.sapkota@auxfin.com

Gita Bhandari
Cleaner

Freddy Ditutu Kambayi
Consultant Financial Inclusion/ Team Leader
kambayi.freddy@auxfin.com

Irakoze Chaddia
Financial Consultant
irakoze.chaddia@auxfin.com

Dr. Lydia Moukoury
Health Specialist
lydia.moukoury@auxfin.com

John Watitwa
Consultant

Christine Christine
Functional Consultant

Ruth Wanzala
Functional Consultant

Jacklyne Ominde
Functional Consultant

Rael Dinnah
Functional Consultant

Diane Umuringi
International Consultant

Awaz Xozi
Consultant

Dilkhaz Ahmad
Consultant

Reber Issa
Consultant

Shaveen Najim
Consultant

Senegal

In Senegal AUXFIN works through partnership agreements, with U-IMCEC being the main partner since 2011.

Mali

In Mali AUXFIN works through partnership agreements, with PROSEMA being its main partner.

AgriCoach App

AgriCoach is the digital application in the UMVA system for farmers which help in solving when, what and how to achieve best agricultural solutions. Farmers are able to select best suited crops for their fields per season and plot type on the basis of the current weather condition for their location.

2020
- Burundi 1,4 million families registered
- Roll out plan to double from 4,000 to 8,000 groups
- TMEA grant a project for safe trade of seed related to COVID-19
- Collaboration with ICCO of FinanceCoach started
- Nicash founded, with the intention to connect the groups to the rural financial services
- RABO ACORN Carbon Credits pilot, first Carbon Credit project in AUXFIN
- UNICEF NutritionCoach project started
- WFP local sourcing further developed
- Scoping mission Uganda
- New UMVA tablet designed and manufactured
- AgriCoach used by 20,000 households with proven positive impact
- COVID-19 version of HealthCoach made available
- Offline app technology for all our apps introduced for low/no connectivity areas
- Full Value Chain management solution implemented, including input distribution, collection, validation and direct payment
2019
- AgriCoach V1a successfully launched in Burundi on the UMVA tablet.
- 3.300 farmers/households are using the weatherforecast to better plan their agricultural activities
- Smart farming geodata platform implemented into the UMVA system
- REGISTRATION APP launched for on line and off line use
- MAPPING APP launched for on line mapping
- GIZ awards grant to AUXFIN and partners for IDDEA project in UGANDA
- UMVA PAYMENT APP and POS APP used for rainmetering in Burundi
- JEANNE tool for communication and chatbot used for M&E
- Scoping mission Sudan
- start potato supply chain Kenya
- Waterwatch included
2018
- NSO awards grant to AUXFIN and partners for GAP4A project in Burundi
- UMVA and PosteCash Senegal announce interoperability
- AUXFIN and UMVA present at IFAD marketplace in UN headquarters in New York.
- Launch of UMVA in Mali with support from Mastercard Foundation's Fund for Rural Prosperity
- Connecting UMVA solutions with GEO DATA
- UMVA PAYMENT APP and POS APP
- JEANNE tool for communication and chatbot, with incident reporting
2017
- AfDB commissioned market study for the introduction of UMVA in Mali, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso
- Introduction of UMVA in Italy with support from IOM
- Scoping mission in Lebanon to enable Cash Assistance with UMVA
- Burundi growing to 170.000 families (1 million people)
- POSTE-CASH with UMVA link with 3000 access points in Senegal
- UMVA COOP fase 1 implemented
- GEO developed
2016
- SALPOST introduces POSTUMVA in Sierra Leone on 16th of June, the international day of family remittances
- UMVA projects in Burundi reach 30.000 families
- CAP solution introduced, with 6 pillars
- UMVA AGENT introduced
2015
- AfDB provides a grant to our partner in Senegal to leverage the UMVA service towards financial inclusion
- Study to use UMVA in refugee camps in Kurdistan
- Introduction of community activation in Burundi
2014
- Rabobank funds our partner in Senegal to introduce the UMVA service across its branch network
- Introduction of UMVA in Belgium and the Netherlands
- Creation of AUXFIN Burundi
- First implementation for payment process on the PSEB fertilizer project
2013
- Introduction of UMVA in France
- Development of UMVA LOAN solution
- School registration system installed in Nepal
2012
- Introduction of UMVA in Spain
- UMVA Bank developed with focus on SACCO’s
2011
- Birth of AUXFIN International to boost the implementation of the UMVA solutions
- Launch of UMVA pilot in Senegal with support from IFAD
- UMVA Client developed with focus on international transfers

AUXFIN Burundi G50 status report

Our Monitoring & Evaluation team published a report that describes the status and impact of AUXFIN services in the G50 in Gitega, Kayanza and Karusi up to May 2021. As of now, AUXFIN counts 4,326 G50s in those three provinces with 264,813 registered members. It is a detailed report that defines the G50s based on AUXFIN’s pillars: Social, Financial, Work & Income and Health. It explains how AUXFIN combines a platform of digital services with social structures and a local support network.