Giving Compass' Take:

• My Social Good News reports that financial inclusion is key to breaking cycles of poverty for low-income women in India, and that technology can help scale accessibility. 

• What potential barriers exist to prevent low-income people from using these tools? How else can technology be used to increase access to financial services? 

• Learn about key opportunities for inclusive fintech in the U.S. 

Accenture and Grameen Foundation India have collaborated to develop two new applications that help overcome the barriers to financial services adoption among women and other low-income populations in India. Grameen Foundation India plans to roll out the applications across 300 villages in the states of Maharashtra and Odisha.

Two applications were developed:

  1. Emotional Analytics for Social Enterprises: an AI-based web and mobile app that helps microfinance advisors gain real-time insights on the emotional and cognitive status of their clients, based on video and audio inputs. Helping to improve cross-cultural communication, the tool provides deeper insights on precisely what topics or keywords attract attention, or cause clients to disengage.
  2. Grameen Guru: a smartphone-based multi-lingual chatbot that leverages AR technology to help clients who can’t read understand written materials. Using the app, a user can hold their phone over a brochure that details available financing options, for example, and the Guru virtual assistant will pop up and prompt a conversation in the local language to explain the material.

Read the full article on new technologies to increase access to financial services at My Social Good News.