Project
Sustainable Impact Mobile Microfinance (SIMM) is a NetSquared project gallery entry that set out to build an ‘eBay for Africa’ powered by mobile phones, combining an online marketplace model with the Grameen Bank’s microfinance approach. The plan let female micro-entrepreneurs list and sell products by SMS or MMS, receive a text once an item sold, and connect with buyers and lenders, including members of the African diaspora who could view a video pitch and lend directly to an entrepreneur of their choice through the marketplace. SIMM planned to launch first in Cameroon, drawing on diaspora and other supporters based mainly in the United States in its first year.