Emin | Findata - Credit Scoring for Financial Inclusion

The Challenge

Aicha runs a small textile stall in Nouakchott's Capitale market. For three years, she's saved what she can, built relationships with suppliers, and earned a reputation for reliability. She's ready to expand—rent a larger space, stock more inventory, maybe hire help.

She needs a loan of 200,000 ouguiya. Not a fortune, but enough to change her trajectory.

She goes to a bank. The first question: "Do you have a bank account?" She does—opened it two years ago. "Do you have a credit history?" She doesn't. "Proof of formal employment?" She's self-employed. "Property as collateral?" She rents.

The conversation ends quickly. The bank's system has no way to see her three years of consistent business growth, her reputation among suppliers, her perfect record with the mobile money she uses daily. To the algorithm, she's invisible. To her community, she's trustworthy. The gap between these two realities keeps her trapped.

Aicha's story is the norm, not the exception. Over 80% of Mauritanians operate outside the formal financial system. They have economic lives—rich, complex, provable—but those lives are invisible to traditional credit scoring.

What We're Building

Emin is designed to see what traditional systems miss. It's built on a simple insight: if we can't measure creditworthiness the old way, we need a new way that reflects how people actually live and work in Mauritania.

Mobile money transactions. Utility payments. Social patterns. Business relationships. These aren't traditional credit data, but they tell a story about reliability, consistency, and trustworthiness.

Emin is designed to translate these alternative signals into credit assessments—giving people like Aicha a chance to prove what their communities already know: they're worth the investment.

This isn't just about loans. It's about dignity. About being seen. About a financial system that works for everyone, not just those who already have access.

Why It Matters

When drought hits, herders need emergency capital before their animals die. When fish stocks move, fishermen need working capital to follow them. When floods damage homes, families need reconstruction loans immediately.

Credit isn't a luxury—it's a survival tool. And in a country increasingly battered by climate shocks, access to credit is becoming a matter of resilience.

Emin is designed to open that access to the 80% currently locked out.