This report contains an initial evaluation of the opportunities for spreading financial services through business networks in local communities across sub-Saharan Africa. The central premise is that small, local business that are able to establish a data-rich, trusted relationship with financial institutions can be effective channels for spreading the benefits of financial services indirectly into the communities that they operate in, through their base of customers, employees and suppliers. This complements traditional financial inclusion approaches, which seek the establishment of direct relationships between end-users and financial institutions.