It is clear that digital transformation is a journey, not a destination – so incremental progress is to be expected. Equity Bank, one of the leading microfinance providers in Kenya, developed a well-articulated approach and took over a decade to digitalize its operations. It started with the equivalent of a digital readiness assessment, on which it based its digital transformation strategy in 2010. MSC worked alongside Equity Bank, providing consulting services, for much of its digital transformation journey.

This article discusses the impact of COVID-19 on women-owned enterprises and highlights the key challenges they face. It calls for creating an enabling ecosystem to promote women’s entrepreneurship and suggests six key enablers that could catalyze women’s entrepreneurship in India.

This blog highlights the key drivers of gender gaps in women’s access to digital financial services and their use. It shares how the adoption of DFS among women can catalyze the mitigation of this gender gap. It uses insights from a first-time DFS user’s journey to highlight how to understand and respond better to women’s exclusion.

Every startup success story shows up alongside 10 failures; still, entrepreneurship is an attractive career proposition for our youth. In more than 90% of cases, the founders would fail to repay these loans, leaving meaningful relationships with their trusted ones fractured and damaged. Is this a price worth paying? This blog discusses an unfashionable perspective on starting up and shares our experience accelerating startups in Asia while orienting them toward success.

Since its independence, Bangladesh’s resilience in the face of numerous calamities like floods, droughts, and famines has earned worldwide appreciation. This blog explores how the country’s microfinance industry stays resilient during crises and continues to protect the poor and vulnerable.

As Bangladesh celebrates 50 years of independence, we look back at one of its greatest gifts to the world—microfinance. This blog highlights the role of Bangladesh’s four pioneering institutions—Grameen Bank, BRAC, ASA, and BURO Bangladesh—in the origin of microfinance and its local popularization, global adaptation, business model optimization, and product innovation.

At MSC, we believe that the COVID-19 pandemic gives us the opportunity and impetus to turn the crisis into an opportunity by developing indigenous capabilities instead of flying in international consultants. After all, local experts may have more to offer than meets the eye.

Financial institutions have a clear opportunity to enhance access to formal financial services for MSMEs. Let us examine from this blog whether digital approaches can give the needed access to MSMEs.