Daon, Gateway ID Africa team on biometric platform for financial inclusion

Inclusive technologies firm Gateway ID Africa is building a platform designed to help connect underserved people across Africa to public- and private-sector services many take for granted, with biometrics supplied by Daon.

The platform will tackle the challenges of social, digital and financial exclusion faced by people in developing economies.

Gateway will integrate Daon’s biometric software with its digital ID platform to facilitate identity verification and authentication, making it easier for access resources for careers, education and health. A modality is not specified, and Daon’s IdentityX supports a range of different biometrics.

Rob Philpott, CEO of Gateway, says, “The breadth and flexibility of Daon’s technology, combined with their team’s biometric expertise and commitment to this initiative, will enable us to achieve the significant scale we have envisaged.”

Daon CEO Tom Grissen says, his company’s aims “align very well with Gateway ID Africa’s vision.”

The partnership is expected to open Gateway’s market to people regardless of their device or ID documents they have or where they are, according to a statement released by the firms.

Gateway plans to launch the platform later this year in Sub-Saharan Africa, with operations to start in multiple countries of the region next year.

The platform will give individuals immediate, free access to needed services and help them over time to build up a progressively trusted profile that unlocks public and private opportunities on a self-sovereign basis, according to the announcement.

The new service also will combine biometric identification with blockchain access, business loyalty programs and other customer-centric capabilities.

Gateway will provide the platform to various service providers and institutions so they can broaden their market reach, while achieving efficiencies over legacy business systems.

Daon claims to secure a billion identities and completes 250 million authentications daily with its IdentityX platform, which was upgraded in January.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  Daon  |  digital ID  |  financial inclusion  |  government services  |  identity verification  |  IdentityX  |  self-sovereign identity