The Warawar market on the South Sudan-Sudan border is a bustling market. Arab traders and South Sudanese residents mingle, barter and shop, amid bicycles and trucks interspersed with donkeys.

Bakhita Ghedai is the owner of a roadside hotel and a tea kiosk that mainly serves the cross-border traders of Warawar. She rents out her rooms at a nightly price of South Sudanese Pounds (SSP) 1,500; a little less than one U.S. Dollar.

A dynamic and motivated businesswoman, Bakhita serves as the chair of a women’s savings group called Akut Ci Mat. Savings groups like these -- through which members pool their savings and then dispense internal loans with high interest rates – are emerging all over South Sudan and Sudan. These groups, locally called “sanduks”, help women improve their economic situation, shifting the focus from mainly social gatherings and events to collectively working to improve incomes.

One of Bakhita’s main business objectives has been to double her hotel’s 14-room capacity to increase her earnings. However, until recently, expansion has been hampered by her limited financial means and hefty interest rates.

Bakhita’s goal moved a lot closer after her savings group was selected to take part in an innovation challenge experiment jointly organized by the United Nations Development Programme’s Africa Borderlands Centre and Accelerator Labs of South Sudan.

The innovation experiment focused on addressing the challenges faced by cross-border traders in Warawar, including low income, inadequate business skills, poor financial and digital literacy, and poor record-keeping. To tackle these issues, the project provided training to 131 traders, equipping them with basic business management, financial literacy, and digital literacy skills. The training also included education on using the mobile money application m-Gurush.

One of the key digital components of the project was the migration of three sanduks to digital platforms. These sanduks adopted the m-Gurush digital platform for activities such as saving, lending and money transfers among their members. This shift to digital platforms contributed to an 80 per cent increase in the adoption of digital platforms by the three experimental sanduks comprising of 75 participants.

The innovation lay in its approach to offering business skills training to savings groups. While the concept itself is not new, extending the training to savings groups such as sanduks is a novel and innovative approach. By enhancing the business management, financial literacy and digital literacy of savings groups, the innovation empowered them with the knowledge and skills necessary for sustainable economic growth and improved financial management.