Aloi has organized Women Mobility program, a two-wheeler program focusing on empowering women by creating a supportive ecosystem providing essential skills and job opportunities. In this program, we provide credit at a very low interest rate under understandable circumstances to train and guide the participants. Following are the criteria and details of the program. If you have any trouble understanding our program, please feel free to contact us.

Who can participate in our women mobility program? 

• Women who want to join the workforce but don’t know how to drive or lack access to capital
• Women supported by associations or NGOs
• Women interested in starting businesses in sectors like transportation, where driving and capital are crucial
• Young women pursuing education or vocational training aiming to enter fields requiring driving skills and capital
• Women looking for career advancement in roles like marketing and sales

The program is divided into three phases:

Phase 1: Training Loans

In the first phase, we will connect interested women to financial institutions that can provide loans to cover their training, licensing costs, and multiple trials if needed.

The first two months will be considered as a grace period where the borrower only needs to repay the interest amount. The full repayment of the loan starts two months after beginning the job. The repayment period is valid for 1 year and, also could be repaid on a daily/ weekly or monthly basis as per their convenience.

Our first phase of training includes:

• Preparation for written and trial exams
• Training on gear, traffic rules, and fall management
• Basic vehicle maintenance guidance
• Provision of protective gear (helmet, gloves)
• Up to 2 hours of extra road training
• 30 days of daily half-hour driving training
• Up to 2 trial attempts
• Driving training between trial attempts
• Testing knowledge on trial grounds

Phase 2: Leasing and Employment 

After the trained women obtain their licenses, participants can lease electric scooters from Aloi or our rental partners (Niu, Segway, Komaki, Yadea, Super Soco, etc.). They can work in our partnered logistics companies (Bhoj, Upaya, Pick N Drop, Khaanpin, etc.) with a stable salary and can also do ride-sharing for extra income. During this phase, we expect the women to save for the down payment to buy their own scooters. We would love to see empowered women with their own stable income.

Phase 3: Access to EV financing 

Once the down payment is saved, Aloi will help participants get financing from banks to purchase their own electric scooters. Aloi will also connect participants with EV vendors offering heavy discounts.

What to expect from our women mobility training program?

● Women who receive driving training for electric 2-wheelers will get the necessary skills

to operate these vehicles, thereby increasing their mobility and independence.

● Access to credit facilities will enable women to buy electric scooters on their own, allowing them to commute and earn income, achieving financial empowerment.

● Promoting electric scooters will reduce carbon emissions and air pollution, contributing to a sustainable transportation system.

● Increased female participation in logistics will prove women can excel in this industry, and boosting the adoption of electric vehicles, helping logistics companies reduce costs and support a healthier climate.

For more inquiries, please contact: Surbhi Mishra at surbhi@aloi.global or +977 9704554216/ +977 9818050662

If you are interested in what we do, please visit here.

Empowering Agriculture: Aloi’s Journey with Farmers

In peaceful surroundings where farmers’ hard work and hopes take root, Aloi has combined a tale of transformation and empowerment in the field of MSMEs in Nepal. Meet Aloi, the fintech innovator dedicated to revolutionizing agriculture across multiple sectors, from coffee and dairy to future horizons like tea and seeds. Here’s how Aloi’s journey happens in the heartlands of Nepal, impacting lives and shaping futures.

Coffee: Brewing Success

In the cloudy hills of Ilam, coffee isn’t just a crop; it’s a lifeline for hundreds of local farmers. Partnering with Karma Coffee and Agro Ilam, Aloi introduced digital tokens for finance, catalyzing investments that upgraded the equipment and elevated coffee quality. This initiative didn’t just increase farmers’ incomes by 30% and boost sales for Karma Coffee and Agro Ilam—it cultivated a thriving community where prosperity took root alongside aromatic beans. Aloi teamed up with Karma Coffee, Agro Ilam, and 200+ local farmers to digitally connect people from Gulmi, Lumle and other areas. 

Dairy: Nurturing Growth

Across the plains and valleys, Aloi joined hands with Central Dairy Cooperative Association Limited Nepal (CDCAN) and dairy cooperatives to empower dairy farmers. Digital tokens provided by Aloi facilitated investments in modernization, leading to a 20% increase in milk production efficiency and a 15% reduction in operating costs. Through tech training, farmers embraced sustainable practices and enhanced milk quality, paving the way for a resilient dairy sector poised for sustainable growth. We are conducting a training program where almost 1500+ farmers will be given the opportunity to join. And this training is run by CDCAN and Aloi. 

We have targeted the following areas: 

• Kathmandu 
• Bhaktapur 
• Lalitpur
• Chitwan 
• Tanahu
• Kavre
• Makwanpur

There will be 3 days of training

where 2 days are led by CDCAN covering the SMART climate funding and the final day is run by Aloi, giving training on Financial literacy.

Tea: Brewing a Bright Future

Photo Credit: Aakriti Gajurel

Looking ahead, Aloi envisions a partnership with tea’s premium clients, set to elevate the industry to new heights. By empowering tea producers with digital finance solutions, Aloi aims to boost production efficiency by 30% and reduce environmental impact by 20%. This collaboration promises increased incomes, sustainability and profitability across global markets. 

Seeds and Beyond: Cultivating Tomorrow

Photo Credit: Ayusha Maharjan

Beyond coffee and dairy, Aloi’s plans extends to other agricultural products like seeds, where digital finance and strategic partnerships will unlock new potentials for growth and sustainability. Farmers, once constrained by financial barriers, now find themselves equipped with the tools and support needed to flourish in a competitive market landscape.

Your Journey: From Dream to Reality

At Aloi, we’re more than finance; we’re about nurturing dreams and growth in agriculture. Imagine yourself as a farmer dedicated to your land, dreaming of expanding your farm and providing fresh produce to your community. Yet, financial barriers often stand in your way.

Enter Aloi, your dedicated fintech partner. We offer innovative digital token loans designed to provide the financial boost you need to turn your dreams into reality. With grit and determination, you seize this opportunity, using our support to expand your farm operations and increase your yields.

Our role doesn’t end there. We go beyond financing to connect you with trusted vendors eager to showcase your premium produce. This collaboration opens doors to local markets and upscale restaurants, where your products quickly gain recognition for their quality and freshness.

Supported by Aloi’s expertise and resources, you transform from a small-scale grower into a thriving commercial farmer. Your fields flourish, your community gains access to nutritious, locally grown food, and together, we cultivate a sustainable future where agriculture thrives.

We’re here to empower farmers like you, making dreams grow as we cultivate a brighter, greener tomorrow.

Conclusion: Cultivating Success, Together

In every field and every farmstead, Aloi is sowing seeds of evolution and reaping a harvest of prosperity. By empowering farmers with financial innovation and fostering sustainable practices, Aloi is not just transforming agriculture—it’s nurturing communities, bridging opportunities, and cultivating a future where every farmer and MSMEs businesses thrive. 

Join us on this journey to support the MSMEs in Nepal, where each success story is a testament to the power of partnership and the promise of a brighter, greener tomorrow.

Author: Malina Maharjan

Kathmandu, Nepal – June 19, 2024

Laxmi Sunrise Bank and Aloi are proud to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), marking the commencement of a strategic partnership aimed at exploring, evaluating, and potentially initiating and scaling sustainable and green financing through digital interventions.

This collaboration is set to enhance sustainable and green financing initiatives, reinforcing the commitment to environmental stewardship. Also, the partnership will strengthen the bank’s portfolio in the SME and MSME sectors, leveraging leads generated by Aloi to drive growth. By supporting the development of SMEs and MSMEs, this collaboration is poised to make significant contributions to economic progress, fostering job creation and enhancing their impact on the economy. Furthermore, the initiative will include financial literacy and banking-related educational programs for participants identified by Aloi, further solidifying the commitment to economic empowerment and community development.

The agreement was signed by Mr. Dipesh Amatya Chief-RFS at Laxmi Sunrise Bank, and Ms. Sonika Manandhar, Co-Founder and CTO of Aloi. Both parties are dedicated to identifying strategic opportunities within green and sustainable sectors, leveraging their strengths and networks to drive innovation and create impactful change.

This MOU underscores the shared vision of both Laxmi Sunrise Bank and Aloi to foster a sustainable future and drive positive environmental impact through collaborative efforts.

About Aloi:

Aloi is a software platform providing climate financing monitoring for grassroots entrepreneurs. Our software tracks business loan expenditures and repayment automatically to ensure sufficient support and building of trust between lenders and borrowers. For more information, please visit read more about us.

About Laxmi Sunrise Bank: 

Laxmi Sunrise Bank, a premier commercial bank licensed by the Central Bank of Nepal, Nepal Rastra Bank, continues to spearhead transformative initiatives in the Nepalese banking sector. With a wide network of branches nationwide offering a comprehensive range of retail and commercial banking services, Laxmi Sunrise Bank has cemented its position as a cornerstone of the country’s financial landscape via modern technology-driven banking products/services, a progressive business model, and social obligations. The bank aims to use finance to deliver sustainable and green economic, social, and environmental development.

Our former name ‘Aeloi’ and our new name both are the phonetic spelling of alloy. You might be thinking why we are changing the spelling when it has the same meaning. Well, in these almost three years of our company, ‘Aeloi’ was often pronounced incorrectly. Especially our stakeholders like grassroots level micro-entrepreneurs, the financial institutions, and the vendors we work with couldn’t pronounce ‘Aeloi’ and even in some cases couldn’t remember the name. As you know, a brand isn’t just a name, it’s the whole purpose that it caters to and how the stakeholders perceive us. In many cases, people couldn’t find our website and our socials because the name was so hard to pronounce and remember. Hence, with the New Year 2022, we introduce you our new name ‘Aloi’.

The re-branding journey 

Our rebranding from Aeloi to Aloi started more than 6 months back. From the name to the logo, we had to change a lot of things. Aloi and the team had a really tough time deciding on a new name and logo that still reflected our vision: ‘Unlocking affordable impact-targeted financing to grow a green economy led by grassroots micro-enterprises.’

Throughout this journey, we did a lot of brainstorming where we took a lot of ideas and advice from our team and other professionals. Even if we had to change our logo, we have kept the brand colours the same. With the help of all the brainstorming and collective ideas, we finally launched our new name Aloi Private Limited with an upgraded logo. We aim to continue to open doors for micro-businesses to more affordable business financing. 

Say hello to Aloi!

We are extremely happy and excited about our new name. Aloi is easy to pronounce and we hope now it will be easier for our stakeholders to remember that ‘Aloi’ the company provides loan insight software for financial institutions. Through the software, they can monitor loan end-use, view real-time insights similar to automatic audits on microenterprises.

Aloi has been working towards providing micro-entrepreneurs with access to affordable finances. We continue to help them build their credit score for better future financing. At the end of the day, Aloi is working and will keep on working to make the grassroots economy thrive. 

Here’s to the new name ‘Aloi’ and creating more last-mile impact in the grassroots economy.

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Lockdown Impact on farmers and livestock owners

Regrow is our agriculture product and for the pilot, we partnered with Mahila Sahayatra Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha, microfinance. This microfinance has borrowers mainly from farming households, livestock, and animal husbandry owners. Since the Nepal Government announced lockdown, the borrowers haven’t been able to go from district to district for a market to sell/buy. Their livelihood is in danger and are under debt they are not able to pay.

At this crucial time, they aren’t even getting a market for their product and their income source is almost nothing right now. For food supplies, these farmers rely on their production. Farming, which used to be their main source of income has now become useful just for their sustenance. Other than this, for covering small expenses one woman farmer quoted that, “apart from welding iron utensils, we earn from farming and working as a laborer in other farms. So somehow, I am managing to repay the loan from the earnings from welding iron for now.”

One farmer shared that the peas harvested in this season went to waste because normally, before the lockdown the collectors would come and collect it from the farm. Because of the lockdown, it’s not possible to sell even in their local market because their product is greater than the market demand. As a result, the wastage of pea cost each farmer NPR. 30,000-50,000. For the livestock and animal husbandry as well, the scenario is the same, neither they can sell their products nor they can buy due to no cash flow. Normally, farmers and livestock owners would re-pay their loan through this but sadly they aren’t able to do that right now.

For farmers and livestock owners suffering from numerous problems including loan re-payment, Aloi Private Limited has built a system that can monitor financial transactions to ensure that the funds have been used for the intended purpose. Most of the time what happens is these people take up loans initially for their occupational purpose but they end up using it for their household expenditure. To track these funds we link the recipient of funds with the vendors they will spend the funds on. For example; if we provide a digital token loan to Ram, a farmer then he can only use that token loan to buy goods and services like seeds, fertilizers, or agriculture skill training. The restriction isn’t bound to how much or when he spends it on but the restriction is on if he spends the token loan for his intended purpose or not. This solves a major issue of tracking funds. This will help farmers like Ram to spend their loans wisely for a greater return rather than general expenses.

As phones are easily accessible to farmers and livestock owners, we have used SMS as token loans. SMS is easier to operate for taking and processing loans with less or no requirement of mobility. These farmers use SMS to request token loans from Regrow system likewise, it is used by the farmer to pay our registered vendor for the payment of the purchased goods. Later on, the vendor then redeems the token loan through our partnered microfinance. This will be a huge help for faster transaction processing in times of crisis like COVID-19 where mobility is restricted.

Our technology helps in providing accessible and affordable financial services to support these farmers and livestock owners with utmost inclusivity of borrowers regardless of gender or any other social status. The trackable digitized loan helps them gain credibility in taking up loans that usually isn’t trusted by lenders (microfinance). During this pandemic, many people aren’t able to pay off their loans so by monitoring we are reducing the lending risks for microfinance and ultimately moving towards lower interest rates. This benefits both parties; the borrowers and the microfinance organization.