Karandaaz Organizes HACKADESIGN To Drive Financial Inclusion Through Design Experience

Karandaaz Pakistan successfully hosted a two-day hackathon, called HACKADESIGN, in partnership with Pakistan Fintech Network (PFN), Pakistan Fintech Association (PFA), and IDEATE Innovation at a local hotel.

The Hackadesign was a financial services design competition held between more than ten teams comprising of fintechs, product managers and UX enthusiasts. The participants gathered in Hive and used a human centered design process moderated by a design expert to prepare creative design prototypes of bank account opening process using a mobile phone application.

A good mobile application design must include: i). A simplified user experience; ii). An inclusive experience enabling omni-channel access; iii). A personalized touch; and iv). A seamless process that can be completed in a few steps.

At the end of the second day, the teams presented their prototypes to an esteemed panel of judges from the financial industry including Ms. Naureen Hayat, Shariq Mubeen, Syed Faraz Javed and Raza Matin. After through deliberation, the judges declared Unikrew Solutions (Pvt) Ltd as winners, while the students of Information Technology University were declared runner up of the Hackadesign. The representatives of the winning teams received prizes from Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Chairperson Karandaaz Pakistan.

In her keynote speech, Dr Shamshad Akhtar mentioned that, ‘"Distance to a bank branch and cumbersome account opening process are key barriers to financial inclusion. According to the latest Financial Inclusion Insights Survey of Pakistan, about 37% of the financially excluded stated 'no banks nearby', while another 30% stated 'not having required documents at the time' as key reasons for not having a bank account. So I think this workshop is not only needed but also opportune, given the numerous regulatory enhancements introduced by the SBP, including the recently unveiled Digital Banking Regulation. It gives me pleasure to share that a total of 171 applications were received out of which more than 50 applicants comprising 12 teams were shortlisted for this workshop and I sincerely hope that some of the designs are picked up by the financial institutions for designing their digital onboarding process."