Digital transformation of TLM Cooperative, Indonesia

TLM Cooperative is one of Eastern Indonesia’s largest microfinance institutions, which serves 350,000+ members across five provinces with limited digital and physical infrastructure. Since 2022, MSC has supported TLM in its journey of institutional strengthening and digital transformation.  

MSC conducted a comprehensive digital transformation readiness assessment (DTRA) to evaluate TLM’s systems, processes, and organisational preparedness. The assessment identified several constraints, which included a fragmented and outdated core banking system (CBS), high manual workloads, a lack of integration across functions, and low IT capacity. MSC recommended a phased transformation roadmap centred around CBS replacement, business process digitization, and internal capacity building.  

Following the DTRA, MSC supported the end-to-end implementation of a new CBS (Shakti by Qbrik). Our support included vendor contract review, requirement gathering, feature development oversight, user acceptance testing (UAT), training design, and data migration. We worked closely with TLM’s operations and IT teams to ensure practical, user-focused adoption of digital systems.  

This intervention has enabled TLM to transition from paper-heavy, branch-dependent operations to a scalable digital foundation, including mobile-enabled field processes and automated savings and loan workflows. MSC also helped TLM shift from traditional group lending toward more flexible, individual, and SME lending models.  

Opportunity International Australia commissioned the project 

Strengthening fiscal management with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF)

MSC partnered with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) to increase domestic resource mobilization and modernize fiscal management across all 36 Nigerian states. 

MSC developed customized DPI and Intelligent Revenue Authority (IRA) tools to assess each state’s digital maturity and tax ecosystem, conducted extensive stakeholder consultations, and produced state-specific, phased roadmaps for DPI adoption. This was focused on bridging the digital divide in tax administration and public finance across states by prioritizing data integration, system automation, and capacity building. States are advised to streamline digital onboarding for taxpayers through multilingual portals, integrate identity verification systems (such as NIN, BVN, and TIN) to reduce duplication, and establish secure, unified taxpayer databases for effective compliance management. This enabled evidence-based policy recommendations and targeted capacity building, which included workshops and advocacy sessions to strengthen the capabilities of state agencies. 

The NGF commissioned the project. 

Supporting Indonesia’s G20 leadership

During Indonesia’s presidency of the G20 in 2022, MSC helped the Ministry prepare and present key policy contributions to the G20 Ministerial Conference on Women’s Empowerment (MCWE). MSC led the development of gender policy recommendations on the digital economy. It focused on closing the gender digital divide, enabled women-owned MSMEs, and ensured inclusive access to technology. 

These recommendations were incorporated into official policy notes delivered to G20 leaders and became part of Indonesia’s broader advocacy for gender equality at the global stage. 

A continuum of policy engagement 

MSC has continued to provide strategic advisory support to the Ministry throughout the evolving G20 process. This includes policy inputs and technical guidance across subsequent presidencies, including India in 2023 and South Africa in 2025, to ensure the continuity of Indonesia’s leadership on gender issues. 

MSC supported an intervention with the Ministry at the 69th session of the UN Commission for the Status of Women (CSW69) in 2025 with a focus on the review, appraisal, and implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action. 

Together with the Ministry, MSC has helped conceptualize and develop high-impact policy briefs on: 

  • Digital economy and women’s empowerment 
  • Women-led MSMEs and entrepreneurship ecosystems 
  • Gender-intentional financial inclusion strategies 

Our role was to synthesize global evidence, identify actionable policy levers, and co-develop clear and practical recommendations that reflect Indonesia’s priorities and global best practices. 

MSC plays an active and strategic role in key government task forces, which include those who drive the implementation of Indonesia’s 2024 Care Economy Roadmap and the national strategy for women’s financial inclusion. Through these platforms, MSC contributes technical expertise and evidence-based insights to shape inclusive economic policies. 

Sustained Partnership for Impact 

MSC remains a committed partner to the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection, supporting its efforts to drive inclusive, gender-forward development through strong policy design and international engagement. As Indonesia continues to shape global dialogue through the G20 and beyond, we are proud to contribute to its vision of a more equitable digital and economic future for women and girls. 

Supporting the Government of Bihar in Health Systems Transformation

Through its embedded Health Project Management Unit (PMU) with the Development Commissioner of Bihar, MSC is driving strategic, cross-sectoral reforms across the state’s health, education, and procurement ecosystems. Aligned with Bihar’s development priorities, this partnership shows how technical depth, institutional integration, and policy coherence can unlock scalable and sustainable public value. 

A key focus of MSC’s work has been the design of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models to expand medical education infrastructure. The team has developed bid documents and operating frameworks for establishing medical colleges and hospitals across 11 greenfield and 13 brownfield sites. This initiative is expected to add nearly 2,300 MBBS seats to the state’s current capacity in government institutions and catalyze investments of approximately USD 430 million from the private sector and USD 95 million from the state government. 

In response to Bihar’s escalating cancer burden, where over 1,40,000 new cases are diagnosed annually and mortality exceeds 70,000 per year, MSC supported the government in taking a systems-level approach to cancer surveillance and care. This included the development of a policy proposal to designate cancer as a notifiable disease, supported by detailed epidemiological analysis, justification notes, and structured reporting formats. These efforts laid the foundation for establishing the Bihar Cancer Care and Research Society, to streamline cancer diagnosis, treatment, and registry functions across the state, creating a coordinated and patient-centric response to one of Bihar’s most pressing health challenges. 

The Gates Foundation commissioned the project. 

 

Provide strategic support to optimize operations for the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)

The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) sought to optimize its operations, enhance the adoption of digital financial services (DFS), and improve agent network efficiency. Given its extensive postal banking infrastructure, the IPPB sought to integrate API-driven FinTech solutions, digital lending models, and omnichannel payment products to better serve customers, particularly in rural and underserved areas.

The initiative focused on the expansion of DFS offerings, digitization of bulk payments and merchant transactions, and the integration of FinTech partnerships to enable digital credit solutions. At the time, payments banks in India were not allowed to provide loans directly. Hence, the IPPB needed strategic co-lending models and alternative financing solutions to bridge the credit gap for small businesses and individuals.

MSC played a strategic advisory role in evaluating the IPPB’s agent network performance, product distribution channels, and FinTech partnerships through a nationwide diagnostic study. We identified key areas for improvement within the IPPB’s operations and agent network. Based on these findings, we developed and implemented strategies to optimize agent operations with AI-driven tools to improve digital financial service delivery.

Additionally, MSC designed go-to-market strategies, pricing models, and distribution frameworks for the IPPB’s merchant platform, premium savings products, and gold loan offerings. The MSC team also advised the IPPB on the development of co-lending partnerships and ways to enable collaboration with NBFCs and digital lenders to offer credit-linked financial products to its vast customer base of 110 million account-holders.

MSC’s interventions have helped the IPPB expand its DFS ecosystem. Our efforts increased customer access to seamless digital payments, bundled savings accounts, and alternative lending solutions.

More than 66,000 postal agents have been motivated to offer a revival of dormant account services. More than 900,000 dormant IPPB accounts were revived last FY. This data-driven approach has also led to a behavioral shift for postal agents who now actively offer this service. It offers convenience to postal agents as they do not have to look for new customers and get exact data for the customer for the revival of the account. Since FY 2025, IPPB has removed the increased incentive for the revival of accounts, and still, the last-mile agents continue to revive approximately 2,000 accounts daily.

The Gates Foundation commissioned this project.

Driving financial inclusion through technology-led enterprise financing initiatives

MSC is partnering with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to drive financial inclusion through innovative, technology-enabled enterprise financing solutions. The initiative is being implemented in close collaboration with National and State Rural Livelihoods Missions (NRLM/SRLMs), government-promoted financial institutions, FinTechs, payment banks, and other ecosystem stakeholders.

The objective of the project is to scale up enterprise financing through innovative products and channels, including digital platforms. This will include access to finance and business development advisory support to downstream women-owned microenterprises. MSC has a Project Management Unit (PMU) set up at the principal Financial Institution (FI) for the promotion, development, and financing of the MSME sector. PMU is responsible for the supervision of the design, development, and implementation plan to rollout innovative enterprise loan products. They develop the pilot test plan of the enterprise loan products, support the development of customized credit scoring models that include the new-to-credit (NTC) segment. They develop application prototype, defining the process flow, customer user journeys, and API integration required between the lender and partner apps. They also finalize customer documentation, monitor and review application testing, manage communication with the key stakeholders, monitor the progress of the pilot, review and fine-tune the product post the pilot launch and product rollout, and scale up. The FPS Sahay initiative was the flagship pilot under this project, designed to extend access to working capital through invoice financing for 60 fair price shops. MSC led the planning and rollout of this pilot, targeting fair price shop and corner shop entrepreneurs. As part of this, MSC also partnered with market aggregators to build a digital invoice financing setup, enabling seamless transaction processing and lender integration. Following the pilot’s success, the initiative is now being scaled to reach 0.5 million such entrepreneurs with working capital financing.

The FPS Sahay initiative is a flagship pilot under the PFICP-2 (Promoting Financial Inclusion through Community Platforms – Phase 2) project, where fair price shops (FPS) are the first cohort to benefit from embedded finance solutions.

The Gates Foundation commissioned this project.