What was the Affordable Credit Challenge?
A challenge prize to find innovative technological solutions to increase access to affordable, responsible credit, bringing together community lenders and fintechs in partnership. It was backed by HM Treasury and delivered by Nesta Challenges.
Six partnerships were awarded development grants of between £125,000 and £150,000 to develop their solutions.
The three winning partnerships were awarded additional cash prizes of at least £200,000 in spring 2020.
Why did we run the Challenge?
Most of us rely on borrowing in one form or another but the inability to access fair and affordable credit is a challenge faced by millions of people across the UK. Community lenders don’t have the same resources and access to technology as high-cost credit providers – as a result they struggle to reach and serve all those who could benefit from their affordable loans. By bringing together community lenders with fintech businesses we sought to create a better marketplace – making affordable credit available to more of those who need it.
What were we looking for?
The aim was to increase access to responsible, affordable credit provided by community lenders through:
- Creation of partnerships between community lenders and fintechs.
- Supporting a range of different solutions, demonstrating the role of technology in helping to achieve this goal.
Impact of the Challenge
- 40 applications from community lender-fintech partnerships.
- Six finalist partnerships developed innovative technological solutions to increase access to affordable credit.
- The majority of finalists are still working in long-term partnerships.
- Finalists developed their solutions faster and made their organisations more sustainable as a result of participating in the challenge.
- More than half of the finalists stated they would not have developed their product had it not been for the prize.
- 100% of finalists report they had improved their understanding of their users and their business skills as a result of participating in the prize.
- 50% of finalists were able to secure additional funding and partnerships as a result.
Finalists
Related content
The team
Chris Gorst
Director in Nesta Challenges
Nicola Tulk
Senior Programme Manager
×
Chris Gorst
Director in Nesta Challenges
Chris’s experience spans the public, commercial and social impact sectors and interactions between the three. He started his career in supply side policy and public finance at HM Treasury. In the commercial sector he has worked as a strategy consultant and in investment banking. In social impact, he has delivered a major capacity-building programme for UK small business leaders and developed impact measurement strategies for a wide range of non-profits.
In his spare time Chris is a keen (but green) Python coder. He is a volunteer mentor for the Year Here programme, which encourages talented graduates to develop innovative solutions to entrenched social challenges.
×
Nicola Tulk
Senior Programme Manager
Pronouns: She/Her
At Nesta Challenges, Nicola is a Senior Programme Manager, currently managing delivery of Ofwat’s £200m Innovation Fund to grow the water sector’s capacity to innovate, enabling it to better meet the evolving needs of customers, society and the environment. She previously led the Legal Access Challenge, which sought digital technology solutions to help people to better understand and resolve their legal problems.
Before joining Nesta, Nicola was a Director at global advisory company Willis Towers Watson, where as a qualified actuary she provided technical and strategic consultancy support to general insurance companies. Nicola is a Fellow of the On Purpose Associate Programme, a one year leadership programme for experienced professionals facilitating transition into careers within purpose driven businesses.
Outside of work, Nicola loves to travel and to spend time outdoors hiking, running and rock climbing. She volunteers with Measuring the Good, which supports small charities and social enterprises to develop their impact practice.