Rwanda’s Tech Solution for Workforce Formalization and Financial Inclusion

In 2020, Tafara Makaza and Jansen Durham identified a major structural gap in the African economy. Millions of skilled laborers; masons, electricians, carpenters, and other informal workers were working in the “shadows,” without formal contracts, verified work history, or digital payment records.

Hence, they created Fixa to address this challenge by creating a digital “infrastructure of record” for Rwanda’s informal workforce, bridging technology, financial inclusion, and labor market formalization.

The Engine: What’s Inside the Platform

Fixa operates as a three-tiered digital ecosystem designed to function across Rwanda, regardless of hardware or internet connectivity.

For the Office (Web Dashboard)

Corporate HR and Finance teams use a web-based portal to manage workers across multiple sites. The dashboard centralizes KYC (Know Your Customer) data, validates IDs and Mobile Money accounts, and enables automated bulk payroll, reducing processing time and errors. This system supports digital transformation and enterprise resource planning (ERP) for businesses interacting with informal workers.

For the Field (Supervisor App)

Supervisors on active sites use a mobile app with offline-first capabilities. It features biometric authentication (fingerprint or facial recognition) and GPS-tagging to ensure accurate worker verification. Supervisors can record attendance, log safety incidents, and track real-time productivity metrics. This integration of field technology ensures accountability, compliance, and operational efficiency.

For the Worker (USSD Gateway)

Fixa also provides a USSD application for workers without smartphones. Through a simple shortcode, workers can access their “Digital Career Identity,” showing shifts worked, performance ratings, and digital payslips via SMS. This inclusion of low-tech solutions ensures accessibility, digital literacy, and transparency across Rwanda’s workforce.

Connecting Workers to Banks

Fixa converts labor data into verifiable information to bridge financial inclusion gaps:

• Verifiable Career Identity: Each shift worked becomes a data point, forming a “Reputation Score” over time.
• Alternative Credit Scoring: Attendance and payment data is shared with financial partners, enabling banks and microfinance institutions to assess workers as reliable customers.
• Earned Wage Access (EWA): Workers can access a portion of their accrued salary before payday through Mobile Money.

Impacts and Future Directions

This platform has facilitated payroll and labor tracking for thousands of workers nationwide. The platform has secured $2 million in seed funding and support from the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator. The team is expanding its digital HR-fintech model beyond construction into sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, and services. Fixa’s model promotes workforce formalization, digital inclusion, and economic empowerment.

This innovative approach demonstrates how technology can formalize labor markets in Rwanda. By leveraging cloud computing, biometrics, USSD integration, and fintech APIs, the platform creates verifiable data for workers, supervisors, and financial institutions, transforming previously invisible labor data into actionable digital records.

Fixa stands as a case study in digital innovation, fintech integration, and workforce empowerment in emerging markets.