In 1992, during the peak of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, my father, fresh with a new PhD in medical anthropology,
started a foundation focusing on prevention programs.

While the 80’s and 90’s focused on finding a cure, he took a different route, engaging community leaders, stakeholders, traditional healers, and local chairpersons in conceptual events (group-based discussions) in an attempt to redefine development ‘aid’ — it was an acknowledgment that the West doesn’t always have the answers.

In 2005, local staff from the foundation decided it was best to experiment with a micro-finance program
(small loans to people excluded from the banking system who are often referred to as the ‘unbanked’).

According to hard local data, loans were repaid 99% of the time— no credit scoring system, no fancy credit algorithms, no technology, no banks.
How was this possible? This was astounding.

So in 2016, using my father’s conceptual approach (listening), I set out to explore if this data was relevant for our tech-obsessed world.

Now I’ll admit, the journey began with a different hypothesis, one of which had me overwhelmed by the hundreds (maybe thousands) of companies attempting to achieve ‘financial inclusion’ using new technologies for the unbanked.
I strongly believed that technology would supercharge micro-finance.

But over time, I became curious about ’financial inclusion’ agendas — if this was more than just buzzwords.

After all, the ‘unbanked’ in Africa are repaying micro-loans, setting up community banks, becoming shareholders of those banks,
and lending to each other.
This doesn’t rely on tech at all. This stuff is tech-proof.

Embracing this realization, my investigation began to shift from an examination of the financial inclusion movement
to witnessing a silent revolution.

But, did this ‘revolution’ have a place for a Western context? Or was I delusional?

While filming in the middle of a pandemic, I was often reminded of how my father conducted his own research in the middle
of an entirely different pandemic. In spite of the difficulties in collecting stories that would test the status quo — this reminder kept me going.

While filming, a perfect storm of economic waves began to crash back home:
SVB bank and crypto’s FTX collapses, interest hikes, frozen bank accounts, a push for open- banking, fin-techs racing to be saviours,
whispers of a central bank digital currency, social credit scores, and paradoxically — over 33 trillion in debt.

It seemed like the West (and the world) had gone mad in inevitable chaos.

And then, one by one, the aforementioned economic innovations and potential solutions began to be tested, one by one, assumptions challenged, either debunked by volatility, technological issues or lack of solid belief.

I continued to expand my perspective and at the same time I started to dial in my focus with a new lens.

I wondered, are we in the West the ones who need help?
How did people in Africa always find calm amongst the chaos?

As my investigation pressed onwards, I continued to find myself asking the question:

“Can AFRICA Save The WEST?”

So here we are, seven years later, with a hypothesis that continues to emerge. Despite new solutions flooding the world, my father’s database of African development may still hold merit, but our shift from traditional knowledge to tech poses a dilemma.

UNBANKABLE’ explores this paradox. Does it cover the entire financial inclusion landscape? No.

But my hope is that it captures a vital aspect of the conversation, and that all sectors learn to navigate this futuristic world of technology
— all the while staying true to what it means to be human.