Spotlight on Hiveonline: revolutionising the fintech sector
With a commitment to financial inclusion, sustainability, and technology, Hiveonline is bridging the gap for the unbanked. Join us as we dive into how this innovative platform is shaping the future of fintech in emerging markets, driving change, and paving the way for a more inclusive financial ecosystem.
Unlocking Financial Inclusion Through Innovation
As global megatrends such as climate change, growing populations and the reliance on supply chains take effect, the role of smallholder farmers will grow in importance to support the needs of the global population. This is a sector that has historically been under-recognised and yet has a huge potential for growth and solving the challenges of the decades to come.
The founders of Hiveonline, a Danish impact start-up, are using their experience working for globally significant banks and emerging technology to transform the livelihoods and growth of the informal sectors in Africa with their digital finance platform.
From Frustration to Action
Sofie Blakstad, founder of hiveonline, entered the world of finance through her interest in computers and progressively found herself managing larger and larger technology programmes at international banks. Having successfully delivered UBS’s first online banking solution and leading IT infrastructure delivery for 13 African countries, she became frustrated that banks didn’t really understand the evolving needs of their customers.
While acting as Strategic Transformation Executive Advisor to senior management at Nordea, the Nordic’s biggest bank, Sofie realised that she needed to start with a blank sheet of paper to solve the challenge. Soon after publishing the thesis for hiveonline’s work, the book - “Fintech Revolution: Universal Inclusion in the New Financial Ecosystem”, she quit her role and started hiveonline ApS. Her goal was to use customer-centric, cutting-edge technology to level the financial playing field. Through Nordea and the MIT Future of Finance course, Sofie met Matt Mims, now hiveonline CEO, who had also become frustrated with the speed of innovation in financial services, and they set out on the start up journey.
The product that evolved is a suite of applications based on core services for lending, crop monitoring and sales, access to agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertiliser, education and savings. The digital records allow farmers to connect with formal institutions such as banks offering lending and crop buyers, so they can grow more and better crops and increase their incomes. Through the platform, farmers access the resources they need to grow their businesses and the institutions widen their reach and engagement with these markets.
A Values-Driven Approach
Building a strong culture was a top priority for hiveonline’s co-founders. Having witnessed the 2008 financial crisis first hand, they understood that a values-based culture was important to what society needed from the financial sector. Consquentally, Honesty, Curiosity, Collaboration and Diversity were chosen by the team as guiding principles.
Many of hiveonline's core principles stem from these values. For example, when hiring team members there is a focus on having a diverse and representative team. As a result, all team members except the founders are based in sub-Saharan Africa, they maintain an equal gender balance and staff are located close to their users.
Hiveonline's technology approach is grounded in curiosity and honesty. While they believe in the transformative potential of blockchain technology, they recognise its evolving nature. They are cautious about exposing their customers to the crypto-evangelism that has fuelled volatile markets like Dogecoin and Bitcoin. What has resulted is a bank-grade solution, approved by the Mozambique Central Bank, that leverages the indelible nature of blockchain to build trust and transparency in an informal economy which previously managed all of their finances on paper.
Growth Through Partnerships
From the outset, Sofie and Matt recognised the significant need for their solution in the African market, coupled with its immense growth potential, with a still rapidly growing population and economy, large informal sector, especially in agriculture, and low access to financial services. In 2020, fewer than 1% of Mozambican smallholder farmers had any access to formal lending, making hiveonline’s third party lending facilitation transformational.
Having tried to scale from the Nordics, they were surprised when the international development sector approached them to provide the digital foundation for their programmes in Africa. “The developing world needs these solutions”, these organisations explained. From there, a number of partnerships have been established to provide a digital pathway for underserved communities to reach their wider economy.
The full scale of both the need and the challenges became evident when they launched in Niger. Women’s savings groups were so eager to adopt the hiveonline solution but they faced struggles with internet connectivity, digital literacy and mobile devices. The team has had to work closely with customers and be agile in their development to innovate their solution. Their resilience proved crucial in dealing with the complex and changing landscape in these developing economies.
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, financial downturn and effects of the Russia-Ukraine (and now Israel-Palestine) conflicts on international aid, hiveonline has depended on its core values and resilience as a team to continue to deliver value for its customers. Partnerships with organisations such as, Norges Vel, Save the Children, Rabobank Foundation, SCBF, WFP and UNDP, have been a key part to this journey. The revenue streams from the international development sector have enabled the company to widen their user base, deliver impact and refine its product while remaining a relatively small team.
Empowering Farmers Today
Six years later, hiveonline has enrolled over 65,000 farmers on their platform with a community model which means that farmers without a mobile phone or basic literacy can still sell their harvest produce and apply for a loan.
In Mozambique and Kenya, farmers are able to register their harvest production plans, sell their crops and apply for loans with banking institutions. The data that farmers have generated on the platform provides the KYC and financial history information that shows lenders that they are bankable and reliable. Hiveonline empowers institutions working with farmers to engage with the agricultural sector digitally, saving time and resources while fostering trust and transparency. The company generates revenue on the commission from these platform transactions.
With regulatory approval and relationships with national banks and mobile money operators including Access Bank, Kingdom Bank and MPesa, as well as a growing number of offtakers and processors, hiveonline is well positioned to empower smallholder farmer communities to expand their businesses.
Building a Brighter Future for Farmers
Having built the foundations in Mozambique, Kenya and Ghana, the next focus is to scale and broaden the opportunities offered to farmers. A number of initiatives in 2025 will see the userbase grow and also diversify into fishing and beekeeping supply chains. To reach these communities in a scalable way, hiveonline will introduce an agent model, similar to mobile money agents, to enable community members to facilitate enrollment and usage and receive commission.
From a product perspective there is demand for additional offerings such as access to climate finance, so that farmers will benefit financially from practicing climate smart agriculture. Increasing the range of financial products to include asset finance and insurance is also a priority. Forging new partnerships with additional buyers and financial institutions will increase the opportunities for those farmers to improve their farming practices and attract investment for growth.
By connecting smallholder farmer communities with vital resources like supply chains, finance and insurance, hiveonline aims to equip them with the tools they need to not only survive but thrive in a changing world. The company is dedicated to forging new partnerships with buyers and financial institutions, which will increase opportunities for farmers to enhance their practices and attract investment for growth. Through these initiatives, hiveonline is building a brighter future for smallholder farmers, one where they are empowered to play a pivotal role in a more sustainable and inclusive global food system.
