Who We Are
VISION
To realise a poverty-free world where there is universal access to financial and social services necessary to guarantee economic empowerment for all.
MISSION
We are enabling delivery of financial and socio-economic inclusion through provision of expert services, investment in critical sectors and strategic collaboration with stakeholders in private, public and development sectors to ensure economic empowerment of low income and under-served populations in developing countries.
VALUES
Faith – we believe that poverty can be eradicated
Integrity – we remain true to our vision and mission always
People-centeredness – the underserved at the center of all we do
Empathy – we are moved to end the exclusion for the poor
Courage – we are able and resolved enough to achieve the mission
Excellence – we deliver services at world class quality
Professionalism – we serve in line with standards
Global reach – we are committed to fight poverty wherever it is
PHILOSOPHY
Our Theory of Change
We believe that the right approach is to directly fix the factors responsible for poverty namely lack of access to basic services and facilities required for enterprise flourishing and welfare which include financial services and social services (energy, education, health and water). Our theory of change at FSE Vision is - eradicate poverty by eradicating exclusion from these services.
Our Commercial-Social Value Model
At FSE Vision we have a double bottom-line of both profit and social impact objectives and we believe that both objectives need not be mutually exclusive. We believe further that a commercial model driven with a social impact heart is needed to effectively eradicate poverty. Our choice of a commercial model is due to the recognition that the underserved population is a market in its own right which deserves to be served as such - commercially. We believe the poor can be served successfully using a commercial approach that is fit-for-purpose. And there are many success cases already in all the key sectors. We believe that commercial approach is important to ensure sustainability and attraction of commercial resources which is critically needed to supply the huge resources required to serve the segment adequately. Our choice of social impact heart is because we believe that the poor must be served even where profit making is difficult. We recognise that serving the poor may not yield positive returns in short to medium term in some instances due to additional or requisite investment that must be made and as such serving the poor may not always be profitable to commercial investors. For that reason social investment will always be needed as a supplement to avoid limiting access for the hardest-to-reach or most vulnerable populations (rural dwellers, smallholder farmers etc.).
LEADERSHIP
FSI Vision is led by its founder and President, Dr. Rotimi Nihinlola, a financial inclusion and poverty expert whose vision is for us to have a world that is inclusive financially and socio-economically and poverty-free. A senior pan-African banker with over 25 years banking experience, spanning all customer segments, but has devoted half of his career to the focus of banking the unbanked. For over 10 years has been managing a leading and award-winning pan-African microfinance and financial inclusion operation that serves millions of previously unbanked customers across many African countries. With the ambition of reaching 100 million unbanked low income Africans in the medium term he led implementation of a large scale fully digital micro savings and lending services in several markets in partnership with leading Mobile Phone Operators and financial technology firms. In general spheres of banking he played senior roles at various times supervising teams across 40 countries in Africa, Paris, London, Dubai and China, as COO of Corporate and Retail Bank, Group CFO, director of boards, among others.
A chartered accountant, Dr. Nihinlola completed a BSc in Accounting as scholar of elf-Petroleum (TOTAL), and holds MSc Economics (The University of Sheffield, England) and PhD in Human & Social Services focused on financial inclusion and poverty (Walden University, USA). An alumnus of HBS-ACCION microfinance leadership program of Harvard Business School, Dr. Nihinlola is also an author of an Amazon #1 best seller new release book – A Poverty-free World: from Dream to Reality – in various categories including social security, social services and welfare, agriculture & food policy.
MESSAGE
Message from the President
The problem of poverty has been with us probably for as long as human existence. While we have succeeded in eradicating many other major existential problems that have plagued mankind, poverty has remained despite all efforts to fight it. We eradicated smallpox in 1970 after it ravaged the world over couple of centuries killing hundreds of millions of people. Some other deadly diseases have become history through scientific inventions and doggedness. In social justice arena slave trade which dehumanized and wasted many black lives was abolished in the nineteenth century. Although we still see cases of racism it is not officially tolerated and it is treated with global outrage such as the recent black matter protests. In science and technology, we have conquered distance, time and space. We have scaled the highest mountains and reached the deepest ocean depths. These and other conquests affirm that it’s inherent in human nature to overcome problems.
So the question is - why are we helplessly failing in the area poverty? We have set targets and deadlines several times and failed. We have a new one (UNSDG) set 2015 - to end extreme poverty by 2030 and already it's looking challenging especially with the negative impact of Covid-19. Again, why is poverty defying us? And can we indeed end poverty in the world? If yes, what do we do differently?
I believe there are answers to these pertinent questions. I discussed these in detail in my Amazon best-selling book - A Poverty-Free World: from Dream to Reality.
From my experience of growing up in poverty, my almost 2 decades of banking the poor and doctoral research I'm very convinced that poverty can be eradicated. However, we must change our approach.
The dream behind FSE Vision is to help end poverty in the world through a model that will address the root of the problem. Our theory of change to the problem is simple - eradicate poverty by eradicating all the root factors.
From literature and reality we know that poverty is a result of multiple deprivations or exclusions of the poor from all basic services required for well-being including financial services and social services (education, health, energy and water). So, we should just enable the poor to gain access to these services.
We adopted commercial-social model with double bottom line of profits and social impact objectives. First, it is important to serve the poor commercially for sustainability and to attract commercial investment that is crucial for scale. However to enable deep penetration to hard-to-reach segments (rural, farmers etc.) social investment will be important as patience and short/ medium term losses may repel commercial investors thus limiting reach. In essence, we believe that profits and social impact objectives need not be mutually exclusive.
We have put the customer at the centre of our model and as such we adopted a multidimensional framework which cuts across our entire organisation’s operating architecture. We focus on delivering on all the 3 dimensions of needs - financial inclusion, social inclusion and economic inclusion.
At FSE Vision we look ahead with excitement to the vision of a POVERTY-FREE world being realised as we work with partners and stakeholders across the world and offer our robust services and solutions to hit at poverty at the root.
I thank you for your faith, support, patronage and partnership in this exciting journey.
Dr. Rotimi Nihinlola
Founder and President
FSE Vision International Inc.