Introduction – The Invisible Opportunity
When I stepped into my role as CEO, one number stopped me in my tracks: 3 billion. That’s the estimated number of people globally who are “credit invisible” – individuals with no formal credit history. In South Africa alone, roughly 15 million people are considered “credit-unaware,” meaning traditional banks have no data to score them. These are hardworking individuals – entrepreneurs, first-time job seekers, informal traders – all eager for opportunity yet locked out of affordable credit simply because no one has given them a chance to be seen. Too often, they’re forced to turn to exorbitant, unregulated lenders, trapping them in cycles of financial hardship.
Financial inclusion isn’t just a buzz word for us. It is intertwined with our purpose. We believe that a lack of credit score should never be a barrier to someone’s ambitions. Today, I am proud to share how our new platform ADMiT is helping turn this belief into reality.
Rethinking Credit Scores: From No Data to New Data
Traditional credit scoring looks backwards – if you’ve never had credit, the system has nothing to say about you. FinTechs and innovators have tried to bridge this gap by pulling in external data: analysing your mobile phone records, social media behaviour, or utility payments as proxies for trustworthiness. But these approaches often raise privacy concerns and can be unreliable. They are also localised and difficult to scale.
What if an applicant doesn’t use social media much, or lives in a region without rich data trails? These methods attempt to correlate lifestyle signals with risk, but they don’t truly measure the individual’s willingness or ability to repay. We realised a more innovative approach was needed – one that generates its own assessment data from the individual, rather than scraping it from the outside world.
That realisation led to ADMiT, our answer to the thin-file conundrum. Instead of relying on any prior financial history or external databases, ADMiT uses a picture-based psychometric assessment to evaluate creditworthiness. In plain terms, we invite applicants to complete a fun, interactive questionnaire – no lengthy forms about income or assets, but engaging scenarios. Behind the scenes, this assessment is grounded in behavioural science. It measures subtle traits and decision-making patterns (we track over 75 data points, including how one behaves on-screen during the test) that have proven links to repayment likelihood. By analysing how someone answers rather than what their past looks like, ADMiT generates an alternative credit score from scratch. This internally generated data is rich in insight – effectively a personal risk profile formed from the applicant’s own choices and character, rather than from any third-party records.
ADMiT vs. Conventional Approaches: A World of Difference
The power of ADMiT’s psychometric scoring is that it works even in a data vacuum. Whether an applicant is a young adult with no credit file or a lifelong farmer miles from the nearest bank, ADMiT can predict their willingness to repay based solely on behavioural responses. Unlike conventional credit scores or even many “alternative data” fintech models, ADMiT doesn’t depend on local credit bureaus, bank transaction data, or country-specific infrastructures. This makes it truly global. The assessment is delivered via images and universally relevant questions, minimising dependence on any particular language or cultural context. It has been designed this way to ensure that someone in Lagos, Mumbai, or a rural town in Lesotho would face a fair and equivalent experience when proving their creditworthiness.
The result is a solution that excels in environments with little or no consumer credit data. Competing solutions might need to plug into telecom data APIs or social media analytics – tools that may work in one country and fail in another. ADMiT travels light instead: If a person can understand a set of pictures and simple scenarios, ADMiT can score them. Evaluating intrinsic qualities, such as honesty, perseverance, judgment, and numerical reasoning, offers a direct and robust indicator of risk that transcends demographics and geography.
In fact, our adopted psychometric model has been validated with a Gini coefficient of 0.32, indicating strong predictive power in distinguishing good vs. bad borrowers. In layman’s terms, that’s on par with some bureau-based scores. What’s more, when ADMiT’s score is combined with any traditional data that is available, lenders see an even clearer picture – trials show an 18% increase in risk assessment accuracy and 7% reduction in bad debt when blending the psychometric score with conventional metrics. This is powerful evidence that we’re not just providing a feel-good inclusion tool, but a rigorous analytical product that can hold its own in the world of credit risk management.
Inclusive by Design
One aspect I’m most proud of is how inclusive by design ADMiT is. Customers can come to us with absolutely zero formal financial footprint and still have a chance to prove themself. Traditional lenders see a blank slate and often a high risk. ADMiT sees a human being with character, potential, and a story. Through ADMiT, that market vendor might reveal an uncanny business acumen and sense of responsibility, or a graduate might demonstrate prudence and grit – traits that correlate with good credit behaviour. In this way, ADMiT extends a “ticket to credit” for those overlooked by conventional metrics. It’s a chance to enter the financial system on a level playing field. And because the assessment is picture-based and not dependent on literacy, it’s accessible to people with limited education or those more comfortable in oral cultures. We’ve essentially levelled the playing field.
Built on Principles, Backed by Trust
Launching a bold new scoring approach requires more than a clever idea – it demands credibility and trust. Lenders need confidence that they can rely on this score when real money is at stake. This is where being part of the Principa family gives ADMiT a distinct edge. Principa has over 25 years of experience in credit analytics and decisioning software, deployed in over 30 countries. We’ve helped banks, micro-lenders, and retailers refine their lending strategies for decades. ADMiT is built on this deep foundation.
In fact, the National Credit Regulator of South Africa has formally endorsed ADMiT’s adopted psychometric score as an alternative to traditional credit scores. This endorsement was a watershed moment for us – a strong signal to financial institutions that our model meets rigorous standards for credit assessment. It means a bank in South Africa can confidently use ADMiT’s score to make lending decisions for customers with no bureau record and do so in full compliance with regulations.
Our approach has also drawn interest from global development organisations. Recently, Principa partnered with the World Bank on a pilot to enhance financial access for female entrepreneurs in Lesotho, using the psychometric scoring to identify worthy borrowers among the unbanked.
Driving Adoption: From Banks to Retailers, a Growing Excitement
Perhaps the most exciting development since ADMiT’s launch has been the enthusiasm from all corners of the lending industry. Over the past few months, we’ve engaged with a diverse range of partners – from traditional banks seeking to safely extend credit to new customer segments, to retailers with store credit programmes, and even fintech startups developing next-generation credit platforms. The common theme is clear. Every lender has realised that growth lies in reaching the untapped market of creditworthy individuals outside the current system. ADMiT is helping them do exactly that.
More Than a Product – A Purpose Realised
Looking at what ADMiT has achieved so far – and what it promises for the future – I feel an immense sense of pride and purpose. This platform embodies what Principa stands for: harnessing innovation to open doors that were previously closed. Each new borrower that gets a loan thanks to ADMiT’s score isn’t just a win for our business; it’s a human being seizing an opportunity that was unjustly out of reach before. It’s a small business owner expanding her shop, a father sending his children to university, or a young professional starting to build credit and dream bigger. These success stories are the reason we come to work every day.
Thank you for reading. If you’re as passionate as we are about extending credit access, let’s connect. Whether you’re a lender looking to reach new markets or just someone interested in this journey, we welcome you to discover the ADMiT difference. After all, opportunity should be something you earn with your character and potential – not something you’re forever denied due to lack of a history.