Category: Company News

The World Bank estimates that 1.4 billion adults globally remain unbanked. At the same time, across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, millions of people are actively saving, borrowing, and managing money through informal systems.

Savings groups alone now serve over 20 million members globally, with collective savings exceeding $11.5 billion. These groups consistently demonstrate financial discipline. Members grow income, invest in businesses, manage seasonal cash flow, and build safety nets for emergencies.

The system works. The gap is visibility. Most of this financial activity is not captured within the formal financial system. It is structured and reliable, but it is not recognized in a way that translates into access to formal financial services.

This is the gap DreamStart Labs set out to address.

Building DreamSave

In 2016, our founders, Henrik Esbensen and Wes Wasson, left California for Tanzania to understand the ways of savings groups.

They worked directly with groups for nearly two years. They attended meetings, observed how savings were recorded, how loans were issued, how repayment was enforced, and how accountability was maintained. They learned the VSLA methodology in practice, not in theory.

They saw that savings groups are not loosely organized. They are structured financial systems built on consistency, trust, and shared accountability.

That understanding became the foundation of DreamStart Labs.

From that point, the focus shifted from learning to building. By 2019, alongside a growing team that included early contributors like Jennie Vader and many others, the first working prototype of DreamSave was developed and tested directly with savings groups.

DreamSave was designed to mirror existing group processes. Groups use it to record savings, track loans, manage meetings, run calculations, and complete their cycles. It improves accuracy, reduces errors, and increases transparency within the group.

Over time, DreamSave evolved based on real usage. Today, DreamSave supports more than 40,000 groups and over 850,000 members across 37 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It has processed tens of millions of transactions, capturing financial activity that would otherwise remain undocumented.

The product has improved significantly over the years. The user interface has been refined to be simpler and easier to navigate. User experience has been adjusted to align with how groups actually operate. The platform works offline, recognizing that connectivity cannot be assumed. It requires only one smartphone per group, which reflects the realities of device access.

DreamSave also contributes to digital literacy. For many group members, this is their first time interacting consistently with a smartphone. Through using the platform, they learn how to navigate digital tools, interact with structured systems, and build confidence in using technology beyond the app.

Working Within an Ecosystem

DreamStart Labs operates within an ecosystem.

The company works with NGOs, implementing partners, and organizations that form and support savings groups as part of livelihood and financial inclusion programs. These include World Vision, CARE, Tearfund, Opportunity International, VisionFund, CRS, Women for Women International, Global Widows Fund, and many others.

Through these partnerships, DreamSave is deployed within real programs. Groups are trained, onboarded, and supported through facilitators, ensuring that digitization is integrated into their existing processes. To support these partners, DreamInsights was developed.

DreamInsights provides organizations with visibility into the performance of their groups. Partners can monitor savings levels, track loan activity, assess repayment rates, measure meeting frequency, and evaluate financial resilience. It also allows them to understand whether their programs are effectively supporting groups in reaching financial stability.

This creates a continuous feedback loop between groups, partners, and the system itself.

As the system matured, a new question became central. If digitization creates visibility, what comes next? The end goal is access to formal financial services. This is where DreamLink comes in.

DreamLink connects savings groups to financial service providers using the data generated through DreamSave. It creates eligibility criteria based on group-level performance, including savings consistency, repayment behavior, financial discipline, and basic KYC indicators.

This information is presented to financial institutions, enabling them to assess group viability and design financial products such as loans and insurance for groups within specific geographies. DreamLink moves groups from onboarding and digitization to sustained usage and ultimately to financial linkage. It is part of a broader system where groups move from training, to adoption, to continuous usage, and finally to access to formal financial services.

Ten Years of Building DreamStart Labs

The products and processes have been recognized globally. DreamSave placed third in the Vodafone Wireless Innovation Project and received a $100,000 award from the Vodafone Americas Foundation. DreamStart Labs was later named to the Inclusive Fintech 50, recognizing leading fintech companies advancing financial inclusion.

In 2021, DreamSave received four Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards, including Best App and Best Developing World Technology, selected from thousands of global entries. In 2023, DreamSave 2.0 received additional recognition, including Best Finance App and Best Developing World Technology.

The company has also received recognition for digital banking innovation and social impact across multiple platforms.

In 2026, DreamStart Labs was recognized as a Leading Social Impact FinTech Company, reflecting its continued contribution to financial inclusion at scale.

Beyond awards, independent research has validated the impact of this work. Studies examining DreamSave’s use in savings groups have shown improvements in transparency, record accuracy, and financial management. Pilot programs with partners have demonstrated high satisfaction rates among group members, improved trust within groups, and strong potential for connecting savings groups to formal financial services.

This progress is driven by people. The engineering team builds and maintains the infrastructure that supports thousands of groups across multiple environments. Under the leadership of CTO Premuditha Perera, the focus has been on creating systems that are stable, scalable, and adaptable to real-world conditions.

The customer success team works directly with partners and facilitators to ensure that the tools are adopted and used consistently. They support onboarding, training, and ongoing engagement, ensuring that the product translates into real impact.

Across operations, legal, finance, and marketing, each team contributes to the systems that sustain DreamStart Labs.

And at the center of everything are the savings group members. Their adoption, consistency, and feedback continue to shape how the products evolve.

To mark ten years, DreamStart Labs returned to Tanzania.

The anniversary was spent with girls at Lilian Kibo Secondary School. This decision reflects both the origin and the future of the work. The company began by learning from savings groups in Tanzania. Ten years later, it returned to invest in the next generation.

The team engaged with students on financial literacy, future readiness, and how technology can shape opportunity. These conversations reflect a broader belief that has guided the work from the beginning:

Talent is everywhere. Access is not.

Ten years is a milestone. It reflects sustained work, continuous learning, and consistent iteration. From early fieldwork in Tanzania to supporting tens of thousands of groups across 37 countries, DreamStart Labs has built systems that reflect real-world conditions and enable financial inclusion.

It is not only about what has been achieved. It is about how it has been built.

The communities who trusted the process.
The partners who supported the work.
The teams who built the infrastructure.

The future of financial inclusion will not be built by one organization. It will be built by people. And this work continues.

In 1908, women marched through the streets of New York demanding better working conditions, fair wages, and the right to be recognized as workers. That moment would later become part of the foundation for what we now know as Women’s History Month.

More than a century later, the context has changed, but something else has remained. Much of what women build is still carried in ways that are not always visible. It shows up in how knowledge is shared, how support is given, and how confidence moves quietly from one woman to another over time.

This Women’s Month, women across DreamStart Labs were asked a series of questions. About what they have gained from other women, what they have passed on, and what they hope will continue.

What came through was not a set of isolated answers. It felt more like a thread. Something continuous. Something shared.

What Do You Hope the Next Generation of Women Will Inherit?

For Sarah Mwaitenda, Regional Manager for East and South Africa, the answer begins with culture.

I hope the next generation of women inherits a culture of supporting one another. Real progress happens when women lift each other up instead of competing. By sharing opportunities, encouraging each other, and celebrating every success, we create stronger paths for those who follow and help more women grow into confident leaders.

The same question, asked again, takes a different shape with Omotola Sanni, Marketing & Communications Manager.

I hope the next generation of women inherits audacity from us. The confidence to take up space, ask for what they want, and pursue their ambitions without shrinking themselves. I also hope they inherit a deep commitment to learning, the humility to learn from anyone and the wisdom to learn from other women.

Taken together, these responses do not compete with each other. They complete each other. One speaks to how women show up for each other. The other speaks to how women show up for themselves.

What Have You Gained from the Communities of Women Around You That You Could Never Have Built Alone?

For Teresa Gailey, Business Manager, the answer is not framed as growth. It is framed as reassurance.

I’ve gained the knowledge that there is a community of people always ready to help in times of need. The patriarchal world generally seeks to divide us, but I’ve seen women continually choose to come together in solidarity when it matters the most. Our strongest asset is that we are not alone. We have each other.

That same question carries a different weight in Sheila Saidimu’s experience as a Customer Success Representative in Kenya.

Balancing work and motherhood requires intention, flexibility, and understanding not perfection. Women gain strength from workplaces that value output over optics and empathy over rigid expectations. When organizations create space for flexibility, mentorship, and honest conversations, mothers don’t just survive professionally, they thrive.

Community is not just something you feel. It is something you experience. It shows up in support that is practical, consistent, and present when it is needed.

What Is the Most Important Thing You’ve Passed On, and Where Did You Learn It?

For Benita Ikpeamar, Social Media Associate, the answer begins with conviction.

The most important thing I’ve passed on is the practical belief that we are the solutions we’ve been waiting for. In my own way, I pass it on by sharing free resources, opening doors to opportunities, supporting women-led work, and creating content that connects women to real solutions. I learned this by watching the women around me lead.

For Pham Le Truc Quynh, Customer Success Representative in Vietnam, what she carries forward is rooted in discipline.

I think it is the initiative to improve one’s own knowledge, not only academically but also in everyday life. A woman with knowledge can achieve remarkable accomplishments in life. I learned this from my mother, who has always supported me, stood by my side, and given me advice whenever I faced difficulties in life.

Different experiences. Different starting points. But the same pattern. What is passed on is not abstract. It is observed. It is learned up close. And then it is lived out.

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What Is Something You Carry from the Women Who Raised You?

For Jenchat Bishen, Customer Success Representative in Nigeria, the answer is deeply personal.

To the women who raised me: you demonstrated that being a woman means many things and anything but never fitting into a stereotype. By watching you navigate life’s complexities with grace and grit, I learned the resourcefulness and adaptability that allow me to deliver efficiently in my work today. I carry your resilience into every challenge I solve.

Some things are not taught directly. You see them enough times, and they stay with you.

What Is Something You Know Now That You Wish You Could Tell Your Younger Self?

For Abena Achiaa Boakye, Customer Success Representative in Ghana, the answer is simple, but it carries weight.

I would tell my younger self not to be afraid. I would tell her not to be afraid of trying, failing, and even succeeding. I would remind her that time is not endless, so she should grab opportunities as they come. It’s better to make ‘mistakes’ early, while you are still learning and discovering yourself, than to wait for the ‘perfect’ moment.

Experience has a way of turning into clarity. And clarity, when shared, becomes guidance.

What Is the Most Powerful Thing You’ve Seen One Woman Do for Another?

For Grace Mureithi, Director of Customer Success, the answer is simple. But it carries more weight the longer you sit with it.

Show up. Watching women boldly and consistently show up for one another reshaped how I understand confidence. I’ve learned that confidence is both contagious and collective. When one woman shows up with courage, it strengthens the rest of us, and together, our impact is multiplied.

It sounds simple because it is. But it is not easy. Showing up consistently, for others and for yourself, is what makes everything else possible.

What This Leaves Behind

Across these reflections, a pattern begins to form. What women gain does not stay with them. It moves. Support becomes support given. Knowledge becomes knowledge shared. Confidence becomes something others can build on. This is how things grow. Not through single moments, but through continuity.

Women’s History Month began with women demanding to be seen. Today, that visibility continues to expand. Not only through recognition, but through the ways women continue to shape each other.

What is learned is passed on. What is experienced is shared. What is gained becomes something to give. And that is how progress continues.