Communities in Africa serve multiple critical roles in the lives of their members hence the reason why the average African of above 25 years of age belongs to at least 3 communities; family/friends, church and neighborhood. Apart from satisfying the social need, the community acts as insurance for most of us when catastrophe befalls us; whether it is death, medical bill or a house burning down, our community comes together and assists, reducing the impact of the loss from both a mental and financial perspective.
Insurance penetration rate is very low at 2.78% (2019) in Africa therefore the community shares the impact of risk for the members. Communities also come together to sort out common challenges that would otherwise be sorted out by more efficient governments, like building roads especially in rural and neighborhood settings, taking care of orphans, the elderly or other disadvantaged members of the community. The importance of communities in Africa cannot be overemphasized.
Our communities have, however remained at a basic level due to complexities of managing them. Community leadership positions are voluntary positions with no pay. Various community operations have to be done on different platforms, communication is done mostly on either WhatsApp or Facebook or phone calls and texting. Collection of funds is done mostly by mobile money accounts belonging to the treasurer or for one of the members. Community records are updated manually through a list posted on WhatsApp, or on excel worksheet or notebook.
Community funds are usually kept by the treasurer in unknown locations and sometimes it is lost or mixed up with personal funds to never be recovered. Consequently, most of the communities, prefer to raise and utilize the funds immediately since they are not able to keep funds for use at a later date because of lack of security and safety of such funds.
Due to the above difficulties of managing the communities, the leaders are overwhelmed by this voluntary responsibility (they also have their personal and job responsibilities) thus, manage to only do the most basic duties, meeting only the most urgent needs that cannot be ignored while disregarding strategic management of the communities which would develop the communities to the next level.
The community members are exhausted of numerous emergency fund collection events, unreliable records and misappropriation of funds. Our communities have, therefore, remained at a basic level, unable to grow and help the members in a significant way.
The Givva platform will enable communities to run all their operations from one platform. This will empower communities gain the ability to shape their own destiny, foster trust, and maximize their collective potential by giving them an operating system where the leaders are able to showcase their initiatives, track contributions in real-time, and ensure that funds are utilized in accordance with community goals. It will also enable them to leverage their pooled funds by providing investment opportunities tailored to their specific interests and objectives.
The members will have access to communication channels specifically designed for community engagement and collaboration, allowing them a secure environment to interact, exchange ideas, and share feedback fostering strong relationships, enhancing collaboration, and facilitating collective decision-making at the same time accessing individual investment options.
