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JUMO recognised by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for innovation in small business lending

11 October 2019

JUMO, a technology company building next-generation financial services to empower emerging market entrepreneurs, received GOLD in the Responsible Digital Innovator of the Year category at the Global SME Finance Forum Awards held on 7 October in Amsterdam.

Organised by the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group and the SME Finance Forum, and endorsed by the G20’s Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the Global SME Finance Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of financial institutions and fintech companies in delivering exceptional products and services to their SME clients.

This year’s award winners were selected from a competitive pool of 144 applicants. A panel of independent judges chose the winners based on their reach, uniqueness and innovation, effectiveness and impact, and dynamism and scalability.

Andrew Watkins-Ball, Founder & Group CEO says the award recognises JUMO’s unique approach to enabling responsible financial access in emerging markets. “Our business is centered on a set of customer operating principles which guides all our work – from product development to partnerships and the application of technology. This is why we’re very proud to be recognised for our efforts in delivering responsible digital financial services to emerging market entrepreneurs”.

Matthew Gamser, CEO of the SME Finance Forum said: “We hope the winners of the Global SME Finance Awards will inspire SME financiers all over the world to learn from their good practices. The Awards provide the winners an opportunity to showcase good practices on the global stage and foster learning amongst their peers.”

Natascha Beinker, Deputy Head of Division at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Co-Chair of the SME Finance Subgroup of G20 GPFI said: “The Global SME Finance Awards put the spotlight on two key issues – responsible innovation and responsible financing, which are an integral part of the financial inclusion agenda. As demonstrated by this year’s and last year’s Awards winners, product innovations can lower costs and allow SME financiers to better serve previously underserved and unserved SMEs, particularly women-owned SMEs.”

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Diane Radley

Diane was a partner at PriceWaterhouse Coopers where she led their Transaction Services group advising on listings and corporate transactions. She served as CFO on JSE listed Altron and then Old Mutual after which she took the reins at Old Mutual Investment Group as CEO for 6 years. She currently serves on various international listed boards.
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Bradwin Roper

A visionary leader inbanking, fintech and telecommunications. Bradwin has 17 years of diversified experience across these sectors and is renowned for his strategic vision, financial acumen, and leadership.His proficiency in engaging with stakeholders at multiple levels has consistently resulted in delivering impactful outcomes in complex scenarios.

We're committed to building financial tools that are not only fast and accessible, but also personalised and responsible.
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Joseph Mucheru

Joseph Mucheru

Joe was the former Kenyan Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of ICT from 2015 to 2022. He brings a wealth of government experience and knowledge of African tech to the JUMO exec team and board.

Joe was also previously the head of Sub-Saharan Africa for Google, where he led strategy, business planning & operations.

Organisations like JUMO have never been more important for protecting livelihoods, facilitating financial inclusion, and driving economic growth.
Joseph Mucheru
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Fábio Matos

Fábio has worked in systems and software development for over 18 years. His tech leadership experience covers e-commerce and banking. He helped build the engineering team for neobank N26, and is building a world-class, compliant and scalable platform for JUMO.

JUMO has built a strong technology base with new features and functionality constantly on the horizon. We are ready for whatever comes our way.
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Paul Whelpton

Paul Whelpton

Paul is CEO of JUMO and a recognised industry leader in AI. He previously spent seven years leading analytics teams at a top tier Bank. His experience spans retail, business and commerce with a focus on creating yield from large scale information management systems.
JUMO is an information enablement company that’s creating value for partners, and ordinary people. Customers can access credit in real time at a low cost of risk.
Paul Whelpton
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Susie Squire

Susie joined JUMO after five and a half years at Woolworths Holdings Limited, where she was Group Head of Communications. Before joining Woolworths, she was the Press Secretary to the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and was responsible for coordinating cross government communications and campaigns. Before that, Susie was at the Department for Work and Pensions, working as part of a team that oversaw wholesale reform of the welfare system. Susie has over 12 years’ international communications and corporate affairs experience spanning markets across Africa and Europe.

We have an unmatched ability to serve high quality, low cost financial products to customers at scale in emerging markets.
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Andrew Watkins-Ball

Andrew is founder of JUMO and served as the CEO for over a decade. He’s built various businesses including Gateway Telecoms, a satellite service provider sold to Vodafone for $675M. He spent seven years at Salomon Brothers in London and New York and is partner in a fund focused on the energy sector.

Everyone should have access to the best financial choices. We’ve built the brain and pipes that hold and carry information for banking systems.
Andrew Watkins-Ball
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Michael Ball

Michael has over 20 years’ experience in CFO roles and a successful track record for building scale and value. He is recognised industry-wide for operational efficiency, business transformation, liquidity management, financial structuring, refinancing and IPO preparation and execution. During his previous tenures as Group CEO for Zepz/WorldRemit and Sysco, his financial responsibilities also included strategy and M&A. Michael lives in North London with his wife, Eloise, young daughter, Amelie and two dogs. He likes to keep fit, plays very average golf and is a season ticket holder at Manchester United.

JUMO is powering growth by constantly building scale and value.