This Loan App Helps Female Business Owners

In Egypt, a traditional money-lending system has been revived through online applications, and this tech twist helps small business owners, especially women, to stay afloat and thrive.

“[Gameya apps] are better than loans or traditional gameyas because they provide easier, faster, and trustworthy access to financing, especially for women who lack this,” says Yomna El Hamaki, a professor of economics at Ain Shams University. The number of women entrepreneurs adhering to the Gameya app MoneyFellows went from 20,000 to 150,000, and as for ElGameya, women account for one in three users.

‘Gameya’ can be described as a community savings pool that doubles as a peer-to-peer loan system. Online versions of Gameya have no interest rates, and minimal registration requirements: uploading an ID, signing a contract in person, and providing monthly income statements. Each month, every member deposits a fixed amount in a joint pot that is then offered to a member, until everyone has had their turn. According to the World Bank, one in five Egyptian workers is a woman. Many have small businesses or home-based professional activities.