Uulala markets itself as an all-in-one financial application that helps cash consumers become creditworthy. The main goal of Uulala is facilitating and accelerating the financial inclusion of those in the Americas who are unbanked and under-banked. It provides these groups with financial tools that let them participate in e-commerce, send money, build credit, and generally leave the cash-only world.
The company is minority-owned. Most shareholders are Latin Americans who are first or second generation. As such, Uulala wants to improve trust in traditional banking systems among Latinos and other groups with a sense of distrust for these systems. Accessing financial tools like building credit, remittance services, and secure transactions is the primary goal. But this also has the secondary benefit of providing access to shopping and entertainment the unbanked cannot access. Essentially, Uulala lets those who currently rely on a cash-only economy to enter the formal economy.
What Issues Does Uulala Target?
Uulala wants to resolve the problems associated with being unbanked. This includes the high fees for services such as opening or maintaining a bank account, bill pay remittance, and check cashing, along with the lack of e-commerce access. These challenges are especially problematic for those with a low income due to the fees. These fees provide a significant obstacle to banking transactions.
Additionally, Uulala wants to eliminate what it refers to as the “transaction void.” This refers to the fact that these consumers make most transactions in cash. That means they do not have any opportunities to build credit. That, in turn, leaves them with a void in their financial history instead of a list of transactions.
Who Is the Target Market for Uulala?
The target market for Uulala is minorities and Latinos. That makes sense, as most of the shareholders are part of this group. This population is very underserved by banking. In fact, they are the most under-served market that has the largest financial footprint. In fact, Uulala cites the fact that the remittance corridor from the U.S. to Mexico includes more than $25 billion sent annually. To put it in perspective, this is more than Mexican oil exports. Additionally, Latino buying power within the United States is $2.3 trillion. This is divided into $10,000,000 from Mexico, $1,736,000 from Colombia, $1,288,000 from Guatemala, $1,192,000 from Honduras, and $1,000,000 from El Salvador.
Within the top five Latin countries, 97 percent of the remittance is physical, while only three percent is digital. This shows the lack of involvement in credit-building activities and banking. With over 600 million members of the Latin population in the United States as well as Mexico through Brazil, the target market for Uulala is significant.
What Data Will Uulala Collect and Why Does It Matter?
At the moment, there isn’t a substantial database that shows the financial capabilities and spending habits of underbanked Latinos. The attempts at data that have been undertaken don’t show day-to-day activity in the way necessary to truly understand these habits and statistics. In addition to providing banking services, the data science team from Uulala will implement attribution analytics. This will help them better understand what events encourage individuals to begin the desired behavior, purchase, or participate in a certain tracked event.
This data acquisition will create a decentralized unbanked database filled with users that third-party advertisers can use and Uulala can use internally. Uulala will also track offline conversion paths. This is so it can connect the offline conversions to the location-based behaviors users take.
What Services Will Uulala Offer?
Uulala will provide the unbanked and underbanked with a range of financial services that can help them change their future. Uulala has its own proprietary micro-credit algorithms. It also includes related processes that the platform can use to extrapolate purchase history as well as behavioral habits. Based on this information, Uulala can forecast a user’s true financial abilities moment by moment.
Uulala recognizes that the majority of financial activities do not affect the standard credit score and that the FICO system doesn’t work worldwide. Because of this, it wants to make changes that let global consumers access services and products they want. The platform is unique in that it tracks financial activities. Then, it combines the tracking with the decentralized database technology. All this information and technology shows a user’s creditworthiness in a way that a traditional credit score cannot.
What Has Uulala Already Achieved?
In Q1 of 2017, Uulala assembled its final technology team. It has 18 years of experience in database creation, banking, and Fintech. In Q2 of that year, it launched the first version of its mobile application with two of its six planned features and an upgraded user interface for simplicity. It also closed the 250k round for investment. In Q3, it activated remittance partners, mobile top-up partners, and bill pay partners. It also developed its new micro-lending system of scoring. Q4 saw integration with banking debit cards.
What Does the Roadmap Look Like?
In Q1 of 2018, Uulala is working on its private token event. It is currently in round three of the private stage. Next will be the Pre-ICO. This quarter will also see the integration of its plan for money loading with a decentralized database contract and the system activities. The following round of beta MLM users will be onboarded into the system during this quarter. It will also roll out 500 multi-service locations. These will include tax and insurance retail shops to help onboard the public and load customers.
The public ICO event will take place in Q2 of 2018. That is also when Uulala will fully implement Smart Contracts to load funds in a peer-to-peer manner. There will also be a public marketing campaign in Mexico and the U.S. It will integrate a credit collection agency for using the pre-paid card system.
Q3 will include the integration of the micro-lending module. This is so other providers can participate in the ecosystem. The Uulala system will show customers their rates and offers so they can choose easily. All LATAM countries will also get bill pay, micro-credit building, and remittance. In Q4, the rollout will continue, including new crypto-remittance solutions.
Conclusion
Uulala has the primary goal of serving the unbanked and underbanked across Latin America. It will allow them to build credit and take advantage of financial services currently unavailable to them. Once it is complete, Uulala has the potential to give these underbanked users access to markets and services that were previously unavailable.
