MicroSave’s work with its Action Research Partners has clearly demonstrated that product costing interacts strategically with a diverse range of business areas, including: pricing, efficiency, outreach, the design of incentive schemes, the identification of the most suitable product mix, marketing, customer service, staffing patterns, profit centre accounting and budgeting. These strategic dimensions of costing have been little recognised to date. This note highlights the lessons learned from MicroSave’s Action Research Programmes in Eastern and Southern Africa in terms of costing and pricing of financial services.
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Innovative Approaches to Delivering Microfinance Services: The Case of VSSU, West Bengal
VSSU is a young MFI serving a remote rural corner of the West Bengal in India. This report reviews the work of VSSU, and attempts to assess the opportunities and constraints to the improvement of VSSU’s services and to their replication elsewhere. It documents the innovative approaches adopted by VSSU in delivering microfinance services and in the process it also discusses VSSU’s products and services.
HIV/AIDS- Responding to a silent economic crisis
This note talks about the impact of HIV/AIDS on the microfinance clients, their coping mechanisms, and role of microfinance in enabling the clients to cope with the crisis. It details out the nature of economic impact during various stages of an HIV/AIDS infected person—early stages when symptoms appears, frequent hospital visits, bedridden, death and care for orphaned children. The note also describes coping strategies such as liquidating savings or selling productive assets in order to reduce the miseries arising out of the HIV/AIDS. It sees a significant role of microfinance for helping the clients to increase their business capital and accumulate savings.
Lessons from MicroSave’s Action Research Programme 2001 and 2002
MicroSave’s goal is to promote the development of high-quality financial services for poor people. Under the Action Research programme, MicroSave is learning and disseminating lessons relating to product development and the product development process. This report documents the progress made under the Action Research Programme during 2001 and 2002. It presents MicroSave’s package of services; summarises the lessons learned from its Action Research Programme; covers the selection of their Action Research Partners; presents an overview of results, and then details the activities undertaken with each of its partners.
Lessons from MicroSave’s Action Research Programme 2001
MicroSave’s goal is to “promote the development of high-quality financial services for poor people”. Under the Action Research programme, MicroSave is learning and disseminating lessons relating to product development and the product development process. This report documents the progress made under the Action Research Programme during 2001.
It presents MicroSave’s package of services; summarises the lessons learned from its Action Research Programme; covers the selection of their Action Research Partners; presents an overview of results, and then details the activities undertaken with each of its partners.
Lessons from MicroSave’s Action Research Programme 2001
MicroSave’s goal is to “promote the development of high-quality financial services for poor people”. Under the Action Research programme, MicroSave is learning and disseminating lessons relating to product development and the product development process. This report documents the progress made under the Action Research Programme during 2001.