Marketing and communication

MSC’s digital school—ePaathshala is a platform for skill development, capacity-building, training, and certification built on innovative digital technology. The program delivers the latest content universally and offers the convenience of self-paced learning. Several banks have used ePaathshala assets for financial literacy and training of their staff and bank agents. The financial literacy program has had impressive, positive impacts on entities that work on women’s education and training, on government agencies that work in livelihoods, and other financial and development institutions. In addition, the Business Correspondents Federation of India (BCFI), a federation with a membership of over 200,000 bank agents, uses the platform to skill and re-skill agents.

MSC supported and scaled up a pilot of Soil Health Cards (SHC) in India, which inform farmers about the correct use of fertilizer and nutrients. MSC conducted a human-centered design-based research to understand the factors that influenced farmers when they applied fertilizers to their fields and their perceptions about SHC. A leading advertising agency used our insights to design a campaign that was test launched in Krishna district of the state of Andhra Pradesh. MSC’s interventions led to active use of SHCs by farmers in Krishna district.

MSC developed a marketing and literacy tool to support Maitreya, a nascent non-banking financial company that focuses exclusively on microenterprise lending in India. MSC developed a product marketing and financial literacy tool to not only attract customers but to also ensure brand engagement and develop their financial capability.

MSC supported the development of M-PESA. We participated in the project steering committee during the pilot test alongside Commercial Bank of Africa, Consult Hyperion, FSD-Kenya, and Safaricom. M-PESA was pilot tested as a solution for microfinance payments with Faulu Kenya, before it launched into the Kenyan market. MSC worked with a team from Safaricom to re-imagine the use-case, and refine the initial user interface after extensive testing with clients. We also monitored the pilot test and prepared material for agent training.

HDFC broadened and deepened its large and growing portfolio of rural and agri-business loans in partnership with MSC. We supported the bank through a range of interventions, including designing marketing collaterals to communicate key messages tailored to the target segments. HDFC Bank introduced several products for the rural segments.

Grameen Foundation enlisted MSC to develop savings services for the poor in three institutions in Asia and Africa. MSC conducted market research and a deposit mobilization review and then supported the development of savings services at the institutions. At the time of writing, the savings services products reach more than 1 million Ethiopians. CARD Bank mobilized USD 179 million from its 2.5 million clients.