Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) funds individuals worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges. Francis’ project is one of more than 50 Grand Challenges Explorations Round 14 grants announced today by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. To receive funding, Francis and other Grand Challenges Explorations winners demonstrated in a two-page online application a bold idea in one of five critical global heath and development topic areas that included enabling universal acceptance of mobile money payments. The foundation will be accepting applications for the next GCE round in September 2015. MYAccounts, the world’s first mobile money enabled accounting system, is a low cost and easy-to-use accounting system with a host of additional features tailor-made for the African market. MYAccounts enables merchants to seamlessly view, track and account for all their customer and supplier payments made to their mobile phone, and aggregates this database of transactions to produce complete financial and stock records, customer invoices and receipts, printable financial statements and tax returns. It is built specifically to solve the financial inclusion challenges of mobile money-using African merchants, enabling them to manage their business, access formal financial services, and grow into prosperous, sustainable and thriving enterprises. By creating numerous options for bottom of the pyramid mobile money subscribers to use their e-cash, along with multi-platform accessibility, universal acceptance of mobile payments can be realized. Image: grandchallenges.org
