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Anup Singh
Associate Director
Anup Singh leads MSC’s regional office in Anglophone Africa and heads the Helix Institute based in Nairobi, Kenya. With 16 years of experience, his expertise includes the digital transformation of financial institutions, digital readiness assessment of social protection programs, digital credit scoping, design and policy, training programs, and FinTech mapping, scoping, and policy design.
Anup has advised more than 150 institutions, including governments, FinTechs, financial institutions, investors, and multilateral organizations in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and South Africa in the African continent, and India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Myanmar, China, Papua New Guinea in the Asian continent. He has also trained at the Boulder Institute of Microfinance, Italy, in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021.
A few examples of his recent work are as follows:
- Quality and usage of digital financial services by open-air market and cross-border women traders in Kenya for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (2021-23)
- Assessment of best practices in digital credit by micro-entrepreneurs for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (2022)
- Landscaping of agent lending and recruitment practices for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (2022)
- Development of East Africa strategy 2022-30 for the Financial Services for the Poor (FSP), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (2021-22)
- Assessment of agent network management in Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mozambique for GSMA. (2021-22)
- Research on personal financial investment and wealth management for FSDU in Uganda. (2021)
- Technical assistance to the Financial Technology and Service Providers Association (FITSPA) members to comply with the NPS Act and regulations for FSDU in Uganda. (2021)
- Strategy and digital transformation plan for SMFI-Shabelle Bank funded by Mercycorps in Ethiopia. (2021)
- Conducted an assessment of additionality and customer protection risk of the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) for CDC. (2021)
- Development of Awash Bank’s digital financial services strategy and implementation plan funded by Awash Bank in Ethiopia. (2020-22)
- Development of an Integrated Farmer Services platform investment for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Rwanda. (2020)
- Strategy development for the CRDB Foundation to focus on corporate social responsibility activities for CRDB Group in Tanzania. (2020)
- The feasibility of building an interoperable state-wide digital payment infrastructure funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Kaduna state, Nigeria. (2020)
- Formulation of the proof of concept for Responsible Digital Transformation Lab (ReDiLab) funded by AFD across the globe. (2020)
- Feasibility study for the transformation of BRAC Liberia and BRAC Sierra Leone to deposit-taking institutions funded by BIHBV. (2020)
- Design thinking to refine personal retirement programs for the mass market funded by ICEA LION in Liberia and Sierra Leone. (2020)
- Development of customer journeys and wireframes for the product roadmap of the Rwanda National Digital Payments Strategy, funded by Access to Finance Rwanda: Led the team that built the user journey and interface for the Rwanda National Digital Payments Strategy. (2019-20)
Posts by Anup Singh
Digital Credit -Challenges and Potential
This video gives market insights from Kenya: The number of people who have borrowed digital loans, the portfolio quality of these loans as well as the number of people negatively listed on the credit reference bureau
Aug 7, 2018
MSME Finance in Uganda-Status and Opportunity for Financial Institutions
This note features MSMEs’ access to finance in Uganda and charts a potential roadmap for banks and other financial institutions as they expand and downscale to serve the market.
Jul 24, 2017
MSME Finance in Malawi-Status and Opportunity for Financial Institutions
In this note, MicroSave conducted a study to understand the needs of MSME clients to give insights towards redefining the credit products and services to better serve this market niche.
Jul 19, 2017
MSME Finance in Rwanda-Status and Opportunity for Financial Institutions
This briefing note elaborates on key findings of the research and how financial institutions can profitably serve this strategic and niche segment in Rwanda.
Jul 17, 2017
Are good banking systems and processes enough to entice customers?
A middle tier emerging bank wanted to service the Medium and Small Enterprise customer segment. While working with them, our learning was that the seemingly best products, processes, resources etc. might look good at a strategic level but it is bound to low adoption (fail) if not integrated with the human factors; their preferences, behaviour […]
May 30, 2017
OTC: A digital stepping stone or a dead end path?
In this paper, we want to look more closely at OTC model, with the help of data from The Helix Institute, InterMedia and the GSMA, which provide an analytical perspective on the pros and cons of the OTC model. This will allow us to propose some recommendations on how to manage OTC going forward.
Jul 5, 2016
Debunking the Myth of OTC
OTC transactions are one of the most contentious issues in digital financial services (DFS). Some argue that OTC can decrease provider profitability, stymie product evolution, and can lead to unregistered transactions increasing the risk to terrorism financing and money laundering.This blog seeks to demystify one of the five concerns by analysing evidence from ANA research countries: OTC can prevent product evolution.
Jun 20, 2016
Maha Khan and Anup Singh
SME Finance: Opportunities for Banks
This presentation highlights the key opportunities for the banks in enhancing access to finance to SMEs and also retaining customers through provision of non-financial services.
May 28, 2015