South African Startup Omnisient Using AI and Alternative Data to Help Millions Access Credit - Jon Jacobson

Two billion people in the world, most of whom live in emerging markets, do not have access to credit. They are excluded from financial systems because they have limited or no credit history. South African startup, Omnisient, which specialises in secure data sharing for businesses, wants to bring this section of the population into the economy by leveraging AI and alternative data like retailers' rewards programs. A Financial Inclusion study by TransUnion showed that 20 million South African consumers were credit unserved and a further 7 million underserved. Omnisient was recently named one of the World Economic Forum's 2023 Tech Pioneers. Co-founder and CEO Jon Jacobson of Omnisient told Biznews that with alternative data, banks can predict the likelihood of defaults and increase sales by 30%. He said this is a win-win situation for everyone involved: the retailer, the person who could never get credit, and the credit economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices