Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Fintech has the power to build a more inclusive world. Fintech for the People is about the innovators who are developing fintech solutions that reach the people who’ve been left behind. In each episode, we’ll hear from innovators who are creating financial solutions that bring every person the financial tools they need to grow their business, support their family, and build their community. Together, we’ll learn how fintech looks different in spaces and places where basic financial services are a luxury — and how solutions to address these challenges require a different level of creativity, empathy, and execution.
Fintech for the People is an Accion podcast hosted by Amee Parbhoo, Managing Partner of Accion Venture Lab – an early-stage investor in inclusive fintech startups. Learn more about Accion Venture Lab here. Episodes will be released in seasons, on a weekly schedule.
[00:00:00]
Rahil Rangwala: To our first episode this season on FinTech for the people. I'm Rahil Rangwala, Managing Partner at Axio and VentureLab and your host this season. Over the last decade, Axio and VentureLab has been investing in early stage companies that build inclusive financial solutions for customers that have been financially excluded by markets.
This is our sixth season where we are navigating the intersection of FinTech and future work. And I'd like to introduce you to our first guest, Sophie Sertain, CEO of SIGA. Seagap has done path breaking research across the globe and future work and the implications on blue and gray collar workers, such as gig workers.
I'm excited to have Sophie kick us off the series. Welcome, Sophie. Thank you very
Sophie Sirtaine: much for having me, Raheel. It's a pleasure.
Rahil Rangwala: Great. I'm so, so glad to actually have you on the podcast because I know CGAP has done so much, such great work on this topic around future of work and FinTech. But before we dive into that, I would love for you to do a quick introduction about yourself and then also CGAP and, you [00:01:00] know, some, some of our audience may not be familiar with the organization and its
Sophie Sirtaine: mission.
Yes, thank you. So I'm Sophie Sertin, I'm the CEO of C GAP and in one word, I really just care deeply about building a more inclusive, sustainable and peaceful world. C GAP is a global partnership of more than 30 leading development organizations, including multilateral. development organization, national governments and their DFIs, private financial institutions and philanthropies that works to make financial services meet the needs of the world's most vulnerable.
Our vision is to help build responsible and inclusive financial ecosystems. That enabled, in a way, a green, resilient and equitable future for all. This is important. Why? Because you still have 1. 4 billion people in the world today that are excluded from financial systems. And of course we know that when people [00:02:00] have access to and can use financial services, that can help transform their lives, enabling them to seize.
economic opportunities and build resilience. And our role at Seagap is as a think tank to work at the frontier of inclusive finance. So we test solution, we spark innovation, we generate evidence and insights so that others in the public and the private sector can scale them and achieve impact.
Rahil Rangwala: Thank you, Sophie.
Now, I mean, you know, the mission of C GAP is something that overlaps very closely with what we do at Axiom Venture Lab and the larger Axiom family. So we learn a lot from you and really do rely on the fantastic research that you guys put out frequently. But before we dive in to this topic of future work in the intersection, I would like to step back and sort of talk about there is a large sort of worry from a global perspective that the future of work is changing rapidly.
I'd love to get your [00:03:00] perspective and view on. What is the role of financial inclusion in this rapidly changing landscape?
Sophie Sirtaine: Yes. Thank you, Raelene. That's correct. Labor markets and the nature of work are changing rapidly. And for people living in emerging markets, because that's the focus of our work, I'll highlight a few trends that I think are particularly relevant.
And then go to the role of financial inclusion. I think on the demand side, you have two main trends that are relevant. The first one is that many developing countries are experiencing youth bulges. We know from the UN that 82 countries will be experiencing a net increase in their population, population age, 15 to 24 years.
between 2020 and 2050. And that means that in these countries, the young age population that will be entering labor market will increase very rapidly, more than 151 million with [00:04:00] Africa. Accounting for 73 percent of that, that increase, but we also know that these young people are much more digitally included than previous generations, which offers a lot of, in a way, opportunities or research at SeaGap shows that as many as 1.
8 billion people living on less than 5. 5 a day are today digitally included, and that number keeps growing. So that's on the demand side. Now, on the supply side, I think there's also a lot of changes that are happening, but there's also some constants, and it's important to, to remember them. On the constant side, we see that while globally, The contribution of agriculture to GDP is decreasing, 55 percent of the workforce in emerging market is still employed in agriculture.
And that's according to UNCTAD. So that's very important for us [00:05:00] to know when we focus on improving the lives of these people. The second constant is that MSME. Micro, small, and medium enterprises continue to generate most jobs in emerging markets. In fact, they represent 90 percent of businesses there that generate more than 50 percent of employment.
There are change that are things that are changing. One of them that is really fundamental and maybe under talked about is the fact that with constraints on public finances in many, many countries today, there is gonna be a growing reliance on the private sector to provide the jobs of the of the future.
Which basically means that there's going to be more self employment and entrepreneurs private jobs to be created and that will have implications for financial inclusion. And of course the last trend, the one that you probably were referring to in your question is the fact that many more jobs are being [00:06:00] digitalized.
That entire value chains or industries are seeing fundamental transformations. That many new forms of corporation, for instance, platform are growing rapidly, all of which in turn is impacting the nature of many jobs and the skills that are needed. Now, last but not least, in addition to these impacts on demand and supply, I think what we need to realize is that there are also external factors that are creating increased uncertainty.
on labor markets and jobs. And that's the impact of climate change on the one hand and the continued digital disruptions that we are seeing on the other hand. So what does that mean for financial inclusion? I think we don't know enough about this, but maybe three things that I'll highlight. One is there's a growing tech savvy labor force and one that is digitally active and therefore generate digital data trail.
And that makes them suitable for digital financial services. And [00:07:00] as you know, that's very positive in terms of the impact that can have on their life and their prospects. The second thing that we know is many jobs of the future will be taking the form of self employed entrepreneurs, partially in platform environments.
And that is because of the fact, the limitations on public job creation. And again, that means that These entrepreneurs will need access to finance. We can discuss that later to enter the platform market, to grow their business in the platform market and to face the uncertainties that, uh, those form of employment creates.
And then maybe the last thing we know is that because of the uncertainty that that prevails today in labor market, there will be a need for increased access to financial products that build resiliency. So I'll stop there, but quite a lot of changes making financial inclusion probably even more important than before.
Rahil Rangwala: Wow, that was great. Thank you so much. I really [00:08:00] like this broad brush picture that you laid out for us. I mean, I think there is definitely opportunity in what you've talked about, but it doesn't come without risk and uncertainty, right? It's an interesting changing world that we're getting into, but we just have to be prepared for that change.
I'd love to maybe unpack a few of these concepts and ideas that you were talking about. One was this notion of platforms and emerging self employed entrepreneurs. What are the opportunities that you are seeing for platforms and financial inclusions? in sort of the research and the work that CGAP does and as it operates across the globe.
I'd love to talk a little bit more and unpack that concept.
Sophie Sirtaine: Yes, we indeed have released recently research that shows that platform can actually be, in a way, an opportunity to leverage to increase financial inclusion. And I think that comes from three key observations. The first one is that there is simply a quantitative, uh, potential there, as millions [00:09:00] of informal workers are joined, are joining gig work platforms across emerging markets today in many different sectors.
In fact, a report that has just been recently published by the World Bank, which is called Working Without Borders, the Promise and Peril of Online Gig Work, shows that Online gig work is a growing part of labor markets, accounting for 4. 4 percent of the global labor force that is from 154 million to 435 million.
And of course, growing very rapidly. The data is imprecise because it's difficult to measure, but we know that it's some markets like India, China, Brazil, Indonesia. Yeah. could even be much higher. And some localized studies suggest that in India, for instance, it could be anywhere from eight to 40 percent of the labor force.
If [00:10:00] we count those who use platforms as secondary sources of income, not as primary in a way, source of job. So there is a huge, basically a pocket of population there. That's the first observation. The second observation is that, um, many of these workers, actually, these workers are digitally savvy. and already benefit from basic financial inclusion.
That is because workers on platforms access jobs through digital interfaces. They receive payments into digital accounts and they produce a lot of data about their work patterns, including on the quantity, quality, and regularity of their work. And that digital savviness and digital footprint can be leveraged for deeper financial inclusion.
So that's the second in the way. Aspects of that opportunity. The third is that while these people are already included financially to a certain degree, they [00:11:00] still struggle globally to build financial health as they still excluded from the types of products like credits and insurance. that will help them, whether the risk involved in digital work and capitalize opportunities.
Only 16 percent of them, according to all studies, access formal credit and only 12 percent access insurance because they're still asked to produce formal proof of business or employment instead of relying on the data they generate, which is the opportunity we can
Rahil Rangwala: leverage. That's really interesting.
And I love the way you've shed these statistics because to the entrepreneurs that we deal with and who probably are listening to this, you know, when they hear this, they see opportunity in terms of large market, they see opportunity in terms of disrupting because of the digital approach that you can take to acquire these customers and they see opportunity where there's an unmet demand.
So I do think while there is this [00:12:00] uncertainty and risk, I think you've kind of laid out very well and in a very eloquent way how great this opportunity is for entrepreneurs that are looking to take advantage of this disruption that's happening from this future work perspective. So thank you for that.
I do want to go a little bit deeper into You know, you talked about gig workers and these digitally savvy use that are perhaps entering the workforce, right, the labor force today, and it's not homogenous. There is multiple types of people that operate in this space. And I know CGAP's done some really interesting research around customer archetypes.
I would love to expand on, you know, what are these archetypes and what are these different segments? that are represented in this large opportunity that you were just talking about. So,
Sophie Sirtaine: in fact, you're absolutely right. Gig workers are a very diverse set of people in terms of skills, socioeconomic status, activities, and gender.
I think the best way to [00:13:00] understand that diversity is by work. So if you think about a freelance skilled worker, that person would have a very different profile and behavior from, say, an at home beautician or a ride hailing driver. Similarly, an urban worker in a big city would be very different from, say, growers and smallholders who would connect to app tech platforms in rural.
and agricultural areas. So you really have a huge diversity based on the activities mostly of, that these workers engage in. In terms of gender, we see women forming a non unsignificant proportion of workers in the platform ecosystem, whether as worker or sellers, because they find quite a lot of advantages in joining platform works that we can discuss later.
Even though we see that gender norms tend [00:14:00] to dictate the jobs, the types of activities on platforms that they engage in, they're more likely to engage in, for instance, home based activities than, uh, ride hailing, for instance. Now, what's important to realize is also why people are engaging on platforms and why this is growing so quickly.
Because there is quite a lot of similarities across the different segments. And that is that a lot of what gig workers have been telling us. In our surveys, is that they go on platforms for flexibility and for fast access to wages, but it's not necessarily a long term, in a way, livelihood objective that they have.
Many of them, especially sellers, combine work on platforms with informal selling on Instagram and with brick and mortar sales, for instance, but they find that platform as a primary or secondary. source of [00:15:00] income offers them a lot of flexibility to combine that work with their family obligations or with other work they have, and an access to a bigger market and fast income growth.
One other thing that's quite interesting to realize is that workers on platforms, as I mentioned, are actually digitally engaged, and they're probably comfortable with apps. That they use for work, for entertainment, for communication, but it doesn't mean that they necessarily trust and are comfortable using digital financial services.
So there is still. A barrier in their digital journey that limits in the way they use of financial services. Thank you.
Rahil Rangwala: Um, that, that, that's actually quite insightful. I wanted to then maybe further double click on one of the archetypes and then you talked about women. You know, what is the experience of women as they are?
Transitioning to this digital world
Sophie Sirtaine: of work. So that's a very good question because actually for me, that's where [00:16:00] there is potentially a great opportunity. Women today already participate more in online gig work than in the general labor market. And the World Bank report that I mentioned earlier finds that 42 percent of online gig workers are women compared to 39.
7 percent of workers in general. And by region, the share of women in online gig work varies between 19 percent in South Asia, for instance, to 58%. So the majority in the Middle East and North Africa. So clearly women find gig work quite attractive, and in some cases they work more on platforms than in the service sectors.
That's, for instance, the case in Asia, or that in the informal sector, which is the case in, in, in MENA, for instance. The reasons are probably around what we were discussing earlier. The fact that women [00:17:00] find that platforms provide them with flexibility, the flexibility to combine personal and family obligation with work, they probably also allow them to go around gendered mobility constraints.
They can do this work from home. They may also help them go around social or professional network constraints, again, because they can do that on their own from home. They also probably offer safety feature and recourse that protect them, again, against unsafe environments, which women value greatly. It's not always the case.
It depends on which sector they work in. In ride hailing, it's not clear. But in many other sectors, they find more security. Importantly, our research shows that ag tech platforms offer huge opportunities for women, and that women are quite active on ag tech platforms. What they allow them is to basically access more markets, access more [00:18:00] inputs, more information.
training and advice, hiring workers for their plots, et cetera. So architect platforms are widely used by women. However, and there's always a however, women also find a lot of obstacles in joining platforms, and probably more than men. And there's a few things that I think we need to be aware of and highlight.
The first is the digital divide. To be on a platform, you need a minimum digital inclusion. And we know that there is a significant gender digital divide globally. Just to give you some numbers, we know that almost twice as many women 446 million in developing countries are digitally excluded based on our own data compared to only 230 million men.
So it's, it's basically twice as many. We also know that women in low and middle income countries are 18 percent less likely to own a smartphone and 16 [00:19:00] percent less likely to use mobile internet than men. And of course, the use of shared mobile phones is much more prominent among women than men. So just to give you an example of what that means is that women make up just 25 percent of registered users of architect platforms in Sub Saharan Africa, despite the huge potential that these offer for them.
So bridging the digital divide is a key, in a way, foundational investment we need to make. The second key obstacle are these norms that I was mentioning. While platforms allow women to go around norms, they still constrain them in the type of activities that they feel they can do. And we see them much more active in home cleaning, childcare, beauty services, basically home based, retail, micro enterprises than other activities.
Rahil Rangwala: Yeah, it's interesting that even though we're moving into this digital approach, The gendered norms in [00:20:00] the old labor markets get reinforced again as they move on to these platforms. So it's interesting that those norms continue to carry on. Not surprising, but perhaps disappointing. And this notion of this digital divide that you talk about is also not a surprising data point.
Because we see that in a lot of the emerging markets that we work in. Do you think that there are things that platforms can do to address these challenges that women face or This is something that maybe other ecosystem players need to be focused on.
Sophie Sirtaine: Yes, platforms, but other members of the ecosystem also have a role to play.
Platforms can't, in a way, solve that issue on their own. If I start with what platforms can do, I think what they need to do first is to invest in understanding their workers or sellers very well, including the minority and the women that they serve. They need to understand their needs, they need to build their trust [00:21:00] in the ecosystem, and they need to explore their degree of ease.
In using digital and financial services, the second thing that they need to do is to build expertise. And sometimes that would be true partnerships because they're not necessarily what equipped to do that directly. So they could do that through fintechs, for instance, in designing good products for these workers, and that is because a simple plug and play of financial services may not work for women or for other workers, actually, either, and it would be wise to engage with those who have experience in building financial products that really are easy to use, accessible, attractive for that segment.
I think the other thing that is very important is, of course, is to deploy work data innovatively. We've said that Work data is extremely relevant because it can allow Fintechs to basically develop new financial products that can bring [00:22:00] women into the financial system and build better products that credit through credit scoring systems or claim estimates that are, that are based on these alternative data.
But at the same time, women care deeply about consumer risk and data protection. All data shows that they're actually ready to pay more than men, for instance, in terms of interest rate, to get better protected when they borrow. So, platforms need to really make sure that, of course, they enable, through partnership, the use of this data that they own.
But there is an imperative to choose partners carefully while keeping worker safety, safety in mind. And that's particularly important for women, as I said.
Rahil Rangwala: That is a large topic as well. But... Maybe in that space, let's talk about, you think, you mentioned Fintechs and I think Fintechs do have a role. I'd love to hear your perspective on what do you think Fintechs could do better as well as they try to address these challenges.
Sophie Sirtaine: As we just discussed, [00:23:00] Fintechs need to really understand that developing very simple, In app features to sell financial services will not work. Financial services require, in a way, a degree of trust that is higher than when you sell other products. And therefore, finding the right tech and touch balance, something that, of course, our sector has been struggling with for years and that Axion has done a lot of work to solve, that is critical in providing financial services to platform workers, including women.
And in fact, we, we've seen, we've, we've, we've confirmed with our partners that the business cases are, in fact, stronger when you build usable product that rethink the role of technology as an enabler, not as a finality to serve these, these segments. We also see that FinTechs need to, in a way, use a combination of strategies when they want to reach.
These [00:24:00] workers with new financial products, which would, for instance, combine not just platform apps on their own, but combine them with in person or chat based contextualized marketing strategies to build this confidence, to build, to socialize, and to build also the competencies of the users of these new products.
So FinTechs cannot just deliver commodities. They need to deliver, you know, tailored products
Rahil Rangwala: and a user experience and a user experience that tailor exactly. Yeah. And I knew, you know, and as you know, we're also big proponents of tech and touch as well, especially in some of the emerging markets where it's difficult to do everything just through a light touch digital approach.
So no, a lot of resonance with what you're talking about. And I do agree. I want to take another perspective to this problem, which is. You are in a unique position and you have this unique advantage of [00:25:00] operating across the globe, across multiple geographies. You have this bird's eye view of how things are developing across the globe.
I'd love to get your perspective on, are you seeing similar themes emerge across geographies? Are certain countries or geographies? Approaching this in a much more savvier way from a digital financial inclusion perspective. And what could other geographies learn from those success stories, if
Sophie Sirtaine: there are any?
Yes, indeed. In general, we see that financial services on platforms are nascent, but there are some geographies where progress has been faster. And that links actually to the role of the public sector to to a large extent. And that is indeed because there are two types of policies and public investment that we see as foundational to enable that market in a way to flourish and the private sector to then drive the development.[00:26:00]
Two types of policies are the following. First, you really need a robust digital Payments environment and foundational access to accounts, digital accounts, IDs and smartphones. That's absolutely key. That's obvious, probably. But secondly, you also need effective rules, regulations, policies and rails to enable partnerships and seamless integration between platforms and fintech because that is what enables.
The fintechs in a way to leverage the data that the platforms have and offer the services. But there's still a lot of obstacles for that to happen in, in many countries. We see that in countries like you're asking, where do we see more progress and What proof do we have in that, in fact, that these elements that I just described are important?
And of course, if you look at India or Kenya, where the governments and the private sector stakeholders have made enormous [00:27:00] investment in infrastructure, in digital IDs, in payment systems, in connectivity, and in regulatory environment, you see that digital financial inclusion in general has followed faster than in other countries.
And With regard to platforms, I think the India experience is interesting. We did a lot of exploration and piloting with platforms, and we have seen that their viable business models and innovations in credit and insurance have been possible by platforms to reach harder to reach segments like gig workers.
And so we really think that these foundational public investment are critical and that other governments that would want to leverage in the way the digitization of work for financial inclusion of informal workers should look at these DPI, digital public infrastructure investment, as they're called nowadays.
Now, maybe one thing to add, [00:28:00] Rayel, is this notion of trust. Because trust in digital ecosystem and trust in financial products are maybe different, but very important. And that also means that solid institutions regulation and adequate consumer protection is, is fundamental. That's another role that the public sector can play.
Rahil Rangwala: I like your emphasis on trust. It's one of those things that takes a while to build. But it can be lost easily. So if you don't have the right ecosystem around it and the support, then they're not going to even build any kind of sustainable models without that. So thank you for emphasizing that because I do agree with that completely.
We do have, as some of our listeners on this, uh, one segment of listeners will be entrepreneurs and in the fintech space and, you know, you've already given some advice. Like one of the points you made was partnerships are critical for entrepreneurs that are looking [00:29:00] to build in this space of what does digital consumer.
Any other advice that you may have for fintech entrepreneurs that are keen to take on this challenge of addressing this financial need for the digital
Sophie Sirtaine: consumer? Yes, so we've already talked a lot about different things, the issue of partnership, the issue of building trust, the issue of developing services that provide the inadequate user experience, etc.
I think another important angle that both platforms And tech entrepreneurs need to work on with their government and with other. players in the ecosystem is how to organize the data and ensure that we have quality access to quality data, because that's not obvious. So the platforms on the data on on earnings, and these are The key to leverage to provide new financial [00:30:00] services to platform workers.
So eventually, I think it would be useful to think about work data, much like we think about financial data, and it could even be consolidated alongside credit bureau data. Because that would then allow workers to assemble the data in a reliable, transparent, coherent manner and to unlock it to access new financial products.
That means that platforms don't need to be worried about sharing the data, just like incumbent banks shouldn't be worried about sharing the data. And, but they should do that, as we discussed earlier, in a responsible manner, so with the right, in a way, safety nets around. They could also then argue, convene, play, in a way, an advocacy role for that to happen.
And for the key stakeholders, the governments, the regulators, but also the credit underwriters in banks and in regulatory [00:31:00] agencies to build comfort. around the use of data in credit scoring models, for instance. That's very important and it's not happening necessarily everywhere. Ultimately, we see open data and open finance frameworks like the kinds that you see now in, in Brazil as facilitating really the sharing of platform data among financial institutions and being a key, key enabler.
So I think that's another area where more work is needed by all stakeholders. We were talking about women earlier. All data also shows that platforms that focus on women, more specifically, tend to grow slower than other platforms. So there, there is a role maybe more for impact investors and other funders to support these platforms and make sure that, you know, any biases that or other obstacles that they may face does not [00:32:00] prevent them from growing to their potential.
That's an interesting
Rahil Rangwala: insight. I would not have expected that. Thank you for sharing that. As you were speaking about data and data sharing, I think implicit in what you were saying is data ownership. And almost that concept of who owns the data, the worker owns their digital work data again. And that goes to this question of either from a regulatory perspective or industry bodies coming together and self regulating themselves.
Like there are many ways to solve that problem as well, but it's a very critical aspect as we think about unlocking the potential of what these platforms and fintechs can do, being responsible with the data and the information that that gives. And who owns it. No, so that's a very good perspective. So thank you for, for highlighting that.
I wanted to just get a perspective of like from CGAP, you know, what CGAP's been doing and it's done some great work over here. What does CGAP see as what's required next when you think about the intersection of future work [00:33:00] and financial inclusion? And what are Seagap's plans around this topic?
Sophie Sirtaine: I think there are three main areas of work that we want to continue deepening our knowledge and, and, and guidance for the world on.
The first one is precisely on exploring how regulatory frameworks can keep adjusting to new developments so that opportunities for further financial inclusion can flourish. While risks are mitigating, that would include working on open finance, which is still quite incipient in the world and still hasn't in a way delivered to its potential in our view, but it will also involve working on the development of responsible digital ecosystem because we think that the way consumer protection frameworks are conceived today in the world is not in a way fit for purpose, given the growing risk that digital financial services and digital transformations are are creating for for customers of financial services.
So that's a big [00:34:00] area of work. There's also a lot of challenges for regulators that need to face a very fast changing regulatory landscape with new players, services that cross borders. new risk, et cetera, and create a lot of questions for regulation. So that's a big part of the, of the work we want to continue focusing on.
The second is really focusing on continuing to deeper or deepen our understanding of the types of platforms that can facilitate access to finance and the economic empowerment of excluded groups. We plan to have a very deep dive analysis of AC platforms, especially in rural and agricultural area for women.
And really understand how they can be leveraged, not just to bring financial inclusion to women, but also economic empowerment and all of these different positive impact that they bring in terms of sustainability, in [00:35:00] terms of agency, et cetera. But we also plan to look at MSMEs and the role they play in other value chains and in urban areas and how data can be leveraged.
To also increase financial inclusion in those sectors. So that's the, the big second agenda that we want to work on. And then the last is resiliency. As I mentioned earlier in my first answer, we see sharks and, and risk growing rapidly in the world and in the provision of financial services in particular.
And we really think that there is a shortage of financial products, especially for low income household and, and micro firms. To build residency and that is to build residency against climate shocks, but also against health shocks or any economic and financial shocks. And so we need, I think we need a global reflection on how we develop business cases for such products.
And we want to spend a lot of time doing that at Seagap, thinking about
Rahil Rangwala: that. [00:36:00] Amazing. I'm so excited about this research that you guys are going to do because we do look at the research that Seagap puts out and it's, it's very useful. I think it's a mixture of high level. macro data, but also going down to specifics and it keeps that balance really well.
So we'll find it really useful. And in particular, I think this concept of resilience that you talked about, as well as from a gender perspective, these are two topics that we're very, very committed to as well and looking forward to the research that you could put out. Sophie, thank you so much for joining us today.
I really appreciate it. This was. incredibly insightful. So glad you could join us. Thank you so much for making
Sophie Sirtaine: time. No, thank you for having me. It was a pleasure and I hope we can continue working together going forward.
Rahil Rangwala: Tune in next week as we travel to Africa and hear from Chris Maclay, Program Director of the JobTech Alliance at Mercy Corps. The JobTech Alliance is an ecosystem building initiative, bringing together a community of gig [00:37:00] platforms, e commerce marketplaces, job matching solutions, and more. To create more opportunities for people to connect with work opportunities that build livelihoods.