UCB turned farmers' unsold produce into bank deposits

Bangladesh had a large unbanked farming population: Campaign Brief Asia put the share without bank accounts at over 33%, while Markedium described about 3.6 crore farmers outside formal finance. Many farmers had excess produce but too little cash, too much distance from branches, and weak bargaining power with middlemen.

UCB and Shwapno made the first banking action a harvest sale. At co-branded AgroBanking points, Shwapno bought fresh produce at a posted fair price, issued a token, and UCB deposited the money into a free mobile microsavings account with SMS confirmation.

The pilot signed up more than 200 farmers in one day, then expanded from 5 villages to 97 more. Markedium reported 120,000+ new bank accounts and more than US$4.7 million of fresh produce converted into savings.

Treat crops as the first deposit, not as collateral

It removed the cash-first barrier by letting farmers open accounts with the asset they already had.

It gave Shwapno a practical reason to pay fair prices: the retailer gained traceable fresh supply.

The token handoff made a bank transaction understandable inside an existing market routine.

When users lack the money needed to enter a system, convert the asset they already handle every day into the onboarding step.

The campaign became Grey Bangladesh's Spikes Asia 2019 Grand Prix winner in Direct and a multi-award case, but the useful part was operational: produce collection, retail resale, mobile savings, and a repeatable rural acquisition channel.