Every year since 2013, the Bank of Zambia (BoZ), in collaboration with other key stakeholders in the financial services ecosystem, has organized the Financial Literacy Week (FLW) campaign to encourage more Zambians to take control of their financial lives. In 2017, the theme for FLW was “Know and plan your finances for a better life”. In the month following the week-long campaign, the Governor’s Financial Literacy Awards ceremony was held to recognize the efforts of financial service providers that actively contributed to the success of the campaign.

This year for the first time, the Awards featured the category Most Creative Digital Financial Services (DFS) Provider for which providers were judged by BoZ based on the level of innovation, simplicity and availability of their DFS product or service in the market in the market.

Finally, the day of the Awards arrived and hundreds of individuals representing over 50 financial service providers crowded into a ballroom at the Intercontinental Hotel in Lusaka, eager to find out which of their peers would walk away that night with a coveted award. Nervous anticipation filled the room as the representative from BoZ announced the DFS category and the entrants, Airtel (for their MasterCard for mobile money wallet), FNB (for their mobile banking e-wallet), MTN (for their Kongola loan product), Zoona (for their Sunga Wallet) and Spargris Zambia (Kazang) – Azuri (for their Pay-As-You-Go Solar option). And then the winner was announced…it was Zoona!

Launched in February 2017 by Zoona, Sunga is an e-wallet product that enables customers to keep money safe at no charge. In this way, customers are empowered to reach their savings goals, for example, for school fees, building a house or expanding a business. With over 35,000 users in a relatively short time, Sunga is poised to revolutionize financial inclusion in Zambia. A key advantage of a Sunga account over similar products on the market is that it is easy to set up and no paperwork is required, there is no minimum balance necessary- customers can open an account with less than USD 1 and there are no monthly fees associated with maintaining the account.

Having worked with Zoona as they were preparing to launch Sunga, MM4P was happy to see the efforts of this entrepreneurial and innovative organization recognized publicly. Zoona is one of several DFS providers that have contributed to moving the market forward in Zambia. Zoona Managing Director, Robert Keating, received the award on behalf of Zoona saying “you can expect even greater things from Zoona in 2017”. DFS in Zambia is at a tipping point and the market is growing and expanding. We are excited to see not just what the future has in store for Zoona but also for DFS in Zambia in the coming years.

MM4P is a joint program of UNCDF and FSDZ.