Akhand Tiwari spoke at length at a media interview following the launch of the second round of reports which focus on the impact of Covid-19 on micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and low-income populations in Asia and Africa. In the conversation, he shared some key insights and some of the interesting parallels and important differences between what we are seeing in Kenya and those, for example, India, Indonesia, and Uganda derived from the comparative studies across both Asia and Africa.
Workshop on the impact of COVID-19 on MSMEs in Asia and Africa by Swiss Capacity Building Facility (SCBF) and MSC (MicroSave Consulting)
Kenya, 28th January, 2020: Today, Swiss Capacity Building Facility (SCBF) and MSC (MicroSave Consulting) conducted a webinar and workshop titled “Assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on MSMEs in Asia and Africa.” In the workshop, MSC launched the findings of a multi-country assessment study on the impact of the pandemic on MSMEs and women in Asia and Africa.
Esteemed panel members present in the workshop included Mike McCaffrey, East and Southern Africa Regional Manager of UNCDF; Payal Dalal, Senior Vice President, Social Impact, International Markets of Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth; Evelyn Stark, Financial Health Strategy Lead of MetLife Foundation; and Mark Napier, CEO of FSD Africa. Graham A.N. Wright, Group Managing Director of MSC, moderated the workshop.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on low- and moderate-income populations, micro, small, and medium enterprises, farmers, and CICO agents around the world,” according to new reports published by MSC today. With limited net worth and savings to fall back on coupled with a squeeze on access to finance, these segments have faced severe disruptions in demand and payment cycles. Business continuity has been the greatest hurdle and responses at all levels will be critical to support the recovery of these sectors in the aftermath of the crisis.
In this context, MSC conducted an extensive research exercise to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with support from our generous donors—the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MetLife Foundation, Swiss Capacity Building Facility, and Mastercard Foundation.
The research examined the needs, attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of micro and small enterprises, farmers, and CICO agents in several countries including Kenya, Uganda, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Senegal, and the Philippines. The research involved an assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on key segments of the economy in these countries and the response of the governments and the private sector as they dealt with the pandemic.
At the launch, Evelyn Stark of MetLife Foundation remarked that one of the biggest coping mechanisms of people observed during the pandemic is the increase in savings into more formal products like mobile wallets and credit unions. Meanwhile, the demand for credit from the masses has decreased. Yet the demand for credit from the MSME side increased in a bid to re-start business.
“42% of MSMEs and small businesses are in direct risk of failure in the next six months. Irrespective of an economy’s level of development, size, or geographical location, women have been disproportionately more vulnerable to the economic consequences of this pandemic,” remarked Payal Dalal of MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth.
Status of the MSME sector
Reports from Kenya indicate that across the country, MSMEs were showing signs of recovery once the markets reopened. Businesses have seen a gradual increase in the number of customers. 57% of enterprises surveyed in December, 2020 reported a decrease in customer footfall compared to 60% of enterprises surveyed in September, 2020, and 86% in July, 2020
The report from Bangladesh indicates that 96% of MSMEs reported a decrease in income, with a median loss in business of 82% during the “national holidays.” Customer footfall decreased by 67% on average among the respondents. COVID-19 massively disrupted the supply chain. MSMEs in the rural areas now must travel to collect supplies from the central depot.
Moreover, a third of the suppliers do not offer credit due to the fear of not being paid by their end customers during the pandemic. 36% of MSMEs have reported that they have been suffering from a decline in the availability of supplier credit. Combined with pending receivables, this has hurt the cash flows of MSMEs as 58% of them have reported a reduction in household expenses. Due to the inflated cost of living in urban areas, 68% of urban MSMEs have reduced their household expenses compared to 33% of rural MSMEs.
Measures to support MSMEs
The MSME sector in Africa and Asia will need a three-pronged approach to kick start the road to recovery. The three pronged support need will come from governments, regulators, and financial service providers, as well as private sector players. In Kenya, we have some steps that the government has already taken. For example, it has reduced SME turnover tax from 3% to 1%, increased the cap for those liable to pay the levy from KES 5 million to KES 50 million per year (from USD 50,000 to USD 500,000 per year), and exempted small-scale businesses with annual sales <KES 500,000 (USD 5,000).
In Bangladesh, the government has extended the moratorium period to one year for the disbursement of the stimulus loan. Recently, the Bangladesh Bank also set up a refinancing fund worth USD 590 million (BDT 50 billion) for three years to provide a credit facility to owners of cottage, micro, and small enterprises (CSMEs).
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a huge test on financial inclusion. Donors, private sectors, and governments must now focus on supporting the low- and moderate-income populations and MSMEs on their journey back to recovery to avoid the risk of them falling back to the vicious cycle of poverty and indebtedness.
This press release was first published on:
The Daily Star on 1st February, 2021.
The Business Standard on 29 January, 2021.
Dhaka Tribune on 1st February, 2021.
Impact of COVID-19 on routine healthcare services and ASHAs
This report studies the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on key elements of the health system framework across the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha. These elements include community demand—health-seeking behavior and access to healthcare; provision of health services—human resource, infrastructure, and logistics; and community health workers—ASHAs. The report highlights insights from the supply and demand sides and provides key recommendations to better prepare the healthcare system of India to tackle shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Virtual workshop: Assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on low- and moderate-income populations, and micro, small, and medium enterprises
MSC (MicroSave Consulting), with support from the Swiss Capacity Building Facility (SCBF), conducted a workshop, “Assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on MSMEs in Asia and Africa” through a webinar on 28th January, 2021.
In this webinar, panelists discussed the impact of the pandemic on financial health, especially of the MSME sector and low- and moderate-income populations across Asia and Africa. Other topics of discussion included key opportunities that continue to emerge from this pandemic and how donors and governments can help these sectors recover. The key themes for discussion were as follows:
- The impact of COVID-19 and coping strategies
- The response of the government and donors to help low- and moderate-income populations and MSMEs mitigate the impact of the pandemic
- The impact of the pandemic on MSMEs, especially on women entrepreneurs
- Building resilience and the way forward
*00:0 – 3:38 Doreen Njau, Communications Manager—Anglophone Africa, MSC presents the welcome note
*3:39: – 25: 46 Anup Singh, Regional Head—Anglophone Africa, MSC gives a presentation on the impact of COVID-19 on low- and moderate-income (LMI) populations and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Asia and Africa
*26:44 – 27:31 Graham Wright, Group Managing Director, MSC welcomes the panelists and introduces the topic for the first round of discussions, “The impact of COVID-19 and coping strategies”
*27: 32 – 29:40 Evelyn Stark, Financial Health Strategy Lead, MetLife Foundation talks about the effect of the pandemic on people’s financial health and their attitudes toward formal financial services
*30:35 – 35:22 Mike McCaffrey, Regional Manager—East and Southern Africa, United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) responds to Question 2: “What have been the key highlights of the response of the government and donors to COVID-19 in Africa? How adequate have these measures been in addressing the financial crisis of the low- and moderate-income populations?”
*36:17 – 45:44 Mark Napier, CEO, FSD Africa responds to Question 3: “As a key market facilitator in Africa, how do you see COVID-19 impacting the inclusive finance sector?”
*46:42 – 52:53 Payal Dalal, Senior Vice President, Social Impact, International Markets, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth responds to Question 4: “What is the impact of the pandemic on MSMEs, especially on women entrepreneurs? What key challenges do you see in the growth of the MSME sector post-COVID-19?”
*53:52 – 1:10:23 The panelists respond to round one of the questions from the audience
Question 1) Would the loan demand be different across the poverty levels of households and MSMEs?
Question 2) Digital payments are in place but in the absence of an ecosystem, cash is the final destination. Any thoughts on this?
Question 3) Please see if this makes more sense—Lower income people have been borrowing extensively during the pandemic through mobile loans. We have heard that banks and microfinance institutions have been re-scheduling the loans as most people are unable to repay them due to the ongoing pandemic. How will this affect the economy?
Question 4) Does the MSC Foundation offer programs in SSA that tackle for instance, pre-investment TAs in the form of training sessions and grants?
*1:10:29 – 1:11:41 Graham Wright introduces the second topic on building resilience and the way forward. He gives a data point from the Kenya study on farmers. Graham notes that farmers’ margins have contracted by 38% and this could reflect across different sectors.
Second topic: Building resilience and a way forward
*1:11:44 – 1:17:29 Evelyn Stark responds to Question 1: “How has the current crisis been shaping the strategies of the MetLife Foundation to support the financial inclusion of the poor? How has it helped build a coordinated response to support recovery? Is there a need to re-focus financial inclusion, considering COVID-19 has undone years of inclusive finance initiatives?”
*1:18:40 – 1:26:31 Mark Napier responds to Question 2: How can financial markets effectively address the financial constraints of low- and moderate-income populations and MSMEs and help these segments survive and recover from the pandemic?
*1:27:18 – 1:32:21 Payal Dalal responds to Question 3: What key opportunities have been emerging from this pandemic that can further the financial inclusion agenda amid the current health crisis? How is Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth working to realize these opportunities?
*1:34:10 – 1:42:39 Mike McCaffrey responds to Question 4: What are the innovations that financial services providers can use to assist recovery from the pandemic?
*1:42:57 – 1:50:32 The panelists respond to round two of questions from the audience
Question 1) Has the enterprise finance gap increased in recent years? Can there be a dynamic measure of this gap that can be regularly updated to measure the interventions focused on reducing the gap?
Question 3) Why can we not have situations, such as in most sensible nations, where long-term leases are signed but the rent is paid monthly or quarterly. Why do private landlords have to further cripple businesses through this unfair practice?
1:50:49 – 1:55:04 Sitara Merchant, CEO, Swiss Capacity building Facility, presents the concluding remarks
Launch of new reports on the impact of the COVID-19 on the low- and moderate-income populations and MSMEs in Asia and Africa
MSC with support from our generous donors Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Metlife Foundation, Swiss Capacity Building Facility, and Mastercard Foundation conducted a research exercise to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the needs, attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of micro and small enterprises, farmers, and CICO agents in several countries including Kenya, Uganda, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Senegal, and the Philippines.
MSC and Swiss Capacity Building Facility(SCBF) launched the new reports on the impact of the COVID-19 on the low- and moderate-income populations as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Asia and Africa, through an interactive webinar on 28th of January, 2021.
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs): Bangladesh report
In Bangladesh, general holidays, falling consumer demand, and massive layoffs have affected all sectors of the economy. For the 2 million MSMEs that operate in the country, this has caused severe disruptions in the supply chain and a drastic reduction in revenues. 69% of businesses, mostly engaged in retail trade of essential commodities, remained operational while the remaining 31% were shut.
Our report highlights the impact of COVID-19 on the MSME sector in Bangladesh, particularly on micro-enterprises. It also provides policy recommendations to support the recovery of this sector.