Annual Report 2015: Tigo & Habitat for Humanity

Tigo Money in El Salvador has teamed up with the international nonprofit organization (NPO) Habitat for Humanity, to help facilitate access to proper housing for low income families, typically those that are unbanked.

Without Habitat’s help and Tigo's partnership, many of these families would not have access to proper housing, since they hold no official record to be awarded credit.

The NPO's programme, which is currently deployed in 15 Latin American countries, provides families with loans to build and supports them in the actual building of new homes and communities using an international network of volunteers.

Later, the beneficiaries are obliged to repay their debt. In El Salvador, the vast majority do.

There is a less than two per cent delinquency rate in debts, thanks in part to Tigo Money's many points of sale across the country, enabling people to re-pay their credits within walking distance from home.

More than ten thousand beneficiaries have benefited from this agreement with Tigo Money, and it has enabled Habitat for Humanity to significantly expand – as many as 30 per cent more families will benefit from a housing project since those who have received help so far are able to make their re-payments through Tigo Money, even in the most remote areas.

Since Tigo's Habitat for Humanity collections service launched in 2012, more than 37 per cent of Habitat's beneficiaries pay through the network. This number grows by about two per cent, every month of operation.

According to Habitat for Humanity representatives in El Salvador, Tigo Money is a strategic business partner that has contributed to the improvement in lifestyle of low income families by implementing the following improvements:

• Accessibility to a point of payment close by to where they live.

• Reduced demands on time previously taken to queue at banks in order to complete payments. 

• Simplified payment transactions, as it only takes a few minutes to pay in cash or through a mobile phone.

The service has no additional cost to the end user and Habitat pays a small fee for each bill we collect. As compared to traditional collection services in El Salvador, Habitat saves almost 50 per cent of their cost of collections each year by using and promoting Tigo Money.

As a result of this success we now have agreements with five other NPOs operating in El Salvador.