Angoram is a small township some 2.5 hours drive from Wewak, the central city and capital of the East Sepik Province. It serves as a business hub for farmers and micro-entrepreneurs engaged in cocoa, rubber, and fish. Despite being the capital of a district with 32,000 people, Angoram town has not even a single bank branch. As a result, the people of this town had to travel to Wewak to visit a bank branch. Travel to Wewak from Angoram requires a whole day and comes with a travel cost of 40 Kina (~USD 11) in a Public Motor Vehicle. Such high costs mostly prevented frequent use of banks and inhibited the development of a saving culture in the region.

Traditional banks in PNG have found it unviable to expand their branch networks in locations like Angoram due to limited business potential (low population) and poor road infrastructure making it expensive to sustain regular branch operations. To solve this conundrum, The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) under the EU Funded UN Joint STREIT PNG Programme worked with Women’s Micro Bank Limited (WMBL) to develop a low-cost biometrically enabled kiosk type structure called Mama Bank Access Point (MAP). Biometric technology makes banking secure and convenient even for illiterate customers. UNCDF has partnered with WMBL to establish one MAP in each of the ten districts in East Sepik and Sandaun provinces, including one in Angoram.

With the establishment of MAP in Angoram, customers no longer need to travel to Wewak to visit a bank branch. All banking needs, including deposits, withdrawals and loans, are offered through the MAP. The MAP has been incredibly beneficial to women customers who are more comfortable visiting a MAP that a woman from their locality manages.

United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) under the EU Funded UN Joint STREIT Programme in Papua New Guinea is working with multiple partners, including banks and mobile operators, to improve the accessibility of banking services in the Greater Sepik region. There were 132 banking access points in East Sepik and Sandaun before the EU-STREIT PNG Programme. With interventions from the Programme, the number of banking access points are expected to double and reach a total of 265 by the end of 2022. This represents a 100% increase in the total number of access points. With these interventions, the Programme and its partners will aim to reach 150,000 beneficiaries before the end of 2022, covering a majority of households in the two Sepik provinces.

Ms Kosangat Lemot, 33, is a single mother and an economics graduate from UPNG. She has experience in sales with a major bank in PNG. She had lost her job due to downsizing due to COVID-induced restrictions. The establishment of MAP has provided her with an opportunity to serve his community. Being local, she can understand the local context and convince people to open their accounts in the MAP. Under her leadership, the MAP has registered more than 500 customers in the first five months. Now she is serving customers from Angoram and nearby locations each day.