Microfinance is a service where financial institutions back small start-ups and would-be entrepreneurs with small loans, oftentimes referred to as microloans. Such initiatives are most popular in the poorest parts of the world.

In this business model, big data is used to assess a customer’s creditworthiness. Big data is defined as large volumes of structured and unstructured consumer data that can be gathered from a user’s entire profile of online activity, be it on social media platforms, product purchases, or electronic check-ins.

Such data is usually collected from various data points, which vary according to the type of online activity performed. An example of this is phone usage data which includes call duration as well as the frequency of calls.

It is this kind of data that will then be used to assess a customer’s ability to repay a loan provided via a microfinancing scheme. What is used is not the direct content of the data, but rather the behavioral patterns associated with the data collected.

Big data analytics is an increasingly integral part of the tech ecosystem and is fast disrupting the financial services industry as well. The ability to transform raw data into meaningful insights is the cornerstone of cross-industry development.