Equity Bank, one of the largest banks in Kenya, sought to expand financial access for the country’s growing youth population. The goal was to develop savings products tailored to the unique behaviors, aspirations, and financial needs of young people. Recognizing the importance of capturing this demographic early, the bank intended to foster long-term saving habits and build a new generation of loyal customers.
MSC partnered with Equity Bank to provide technical assistance in designing youth-centric savings products. Using its Market Insights for Innovation and Design (MI4ID) methodology, MSC led a detailed market research process that included qualitative research, focus group discussions, and participatory rural appraisals. The insights helped identify key motivators and constraints in youth financial behavior. Based on these findings, MSC guided the development of product concepts, supported prototype refinement, and assisted in pilot preparation.
The engagement resulted in five new youth-focused savings products:
- Equity jijenge – A customer-defined contractual savings plan
- Equity education program – A savings product for school fees
- Equity super junior – A savings account for children
- Equity student achievers’ account – A savings account for students
- Equity youth – A restricted withdrawal savings account
These innovations had a significant impact. Youth clients increased from 13% in 2012 to 47% by 2019. The average customer age dropped to 24 years. Additionally, over 97% of transactions now occur digitally, reflecting the successful integration of youth and digital strategies.
The Equity Bank of Kenya commissioned the project.
MiDAS serves as the central data infrastructure for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the Philippines, supporting them with credit data services and analytics tools. Despite its critical role, MiDAS faced strategic and operational challenges that limited its ability to scale and deliver secure, reliable, and data-driven solutions to MFIs. To strengthen MiDAS’s capabilities and enable it to serve as a trusted growth enabler for the microfinance sector, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) engaged MSC to conduct an institutional assessment.
MSC carried out a comprehensive Institutional Assessment (IA) of MiDAS across six thematic pillars: strategy and market positioning, technology and IT infrastructure, product and channels, people and capacity building, partnerships, external environment. Using a structured framework, MSC combined stakeholder interviews, process reviews, and system audits to evaluate MiDAS’s operational performance, product relevance, technical architecture, and organizational capacity. Particular focus was placed on assessing data security, subscriber engagement, and internal readiness to adopt improvements.
The assessment led to actionable recommendations that have positioned MiDAS for future growth. Key outcomes included:
- A roadmap to improve strategic planning and subscriber engagement through a revamped Technical Working Group (TWG)
- Enhanced usability of key products such as BARs/PODs and analytics tools
- IT infrastructure upgrades, including SQL server enhancements, encryption protocols, and data recovery systems
- Tools to reduce logical errors and automate data workflows
- Training modules for MiDAS subscribers on product usage and delivery processes
Asian Development Bank (ADB) commissioned the project.
The agripreneurship ecosystem in Rwanda and Senegal lacked a clear understanding of existing interventions, stakeholders, and youth engagement efforts. The ecosystem needed a structured framework to strengthen youth entrepreneurship in agriculture and enhance the impact of ongoing initiatives.
To address this need, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) partnered with MSC to analyze existing interventions, identify key stakeholders, and provide insights to strengthen youth-led agribusiness ecosystems. The project sought to highlight areas of under- and over-investment and benchmark best practices to enhance agripreneurship initiatives.
MSC developed a youth-driven agri-enterprise ecosystem framework to assess and strengthen the agripreneurship landscape. We designed a value chain selection tool to prioritize four key value chains for youth engagement. Additionally, we conducted a policy analysis to identify regulatory gaps and assess the enabling environment for young agripreneurs. We also mapped organizations that support youth in agriculture and examined how national leadership promotes entrepreneurship in the sector. Through these efforts, MSC identified opportunities for governments and stakeholders to improve coordination and support systems and highlighted high-value interventions to strengthen the national agripreneurship ecosystem.
This project helped accelerate youth-led agricultural enterprises through the development of a structured ecosystem framework and the identification of key investment areas. It played a crucial role to drive economic growth and innovation in Africa’s agri-food sector.
AGRA commissioned MSC to lead the project in partnership with Generation Africa.
Bina Artha, a microfinance institution in Indonesia, sought to scale its operations and extend financial inclusion to underserved communities. As a venture capital firm, Bina Artha employed a modified Grameen group-lending methodology to reach clients typically excluded from formal financial systems. To support its expansion and long-term sustainability, MSC was engaged to provide comprehensive technical assistance focused on strengthening Bina Artha’s operational, financial, human resource, and management information systems (MIS).
MSC’s engagement covered six core areas critical to institutional strengthening. It began with product attribute-based market research to understand client needs and design relevant financial products. MSC then documented the complete client lifecycle operations—from acquisition and appraisal to disbursement, collection, and delinquency management. To enhance internal consistency and operational efficiency, MSC developed structured systems for both branch-level and back-office functions. Additionally, MSC built a robust financial accounting system to manage book keeping, streamline data flow, and ensure accurate reconciliation. It also established human resource systems covering recruitment, training, compensation, and policy development to boost organizational capacity. Finally, MSC designed and implemented a customized management information system (MIS) to support data-driven decision-making and improve institutional oversight.
This end-to-end support significantly improved the institution’s operational efficiency. MSC’s interventions provided Bina Artha with the tools and systems needed to scale sustainably and deliver inclusive financial services to low-income populations. The work built a strong institutional foundation for performance improvement and future growth.
Bina Artha commissioned the project.
Moving away from cash-based transactions to digital payments could enhance financial security, improve efficiency, and increase transparency in the cocoa trade. However, Ghana’s smallholder cocoa farmers and local cocoa-buying companies struggled to adopt digital payment systems. Recognizing these adoption challenges, the Earthworm Foundation (EWF) Ghana partnered with MSC to train their team and equip them with the tools needed to evaluate the digital readiness of cocoa farmers and cocoa-buying companies.
The Helix Institute at MSC developed a customized training program for the Earthworm Foundation Ghana’s staff. The training covered digital payment feasibility assessments, market research techniques, stakeholder engagement, and evaluation methods. Additionally, MSC created digital readiness assessment tools to help the team analyze the preparedness of farmers and cocoa-buying companies to adopt digital payments. We also provided hands-on support during initial assessments to ensure that the team gained both theoretical knowledge and practical experience to evaluate digital payment integration.
As a result of MSC’s intervention, the Earthworm Foundation Ghana’s staff developed the skills to assess the digital readiness of cocoa-buying companies and gained a deeper understanding of the factors that influence digital adoption. The team also learned market research techniques to evaluate cocoa farmers’ willingness to transition to digital payments. As part of the initiative, we assessed three cocoa-buying companies and provided specific recommendations on digitization strategies.
The Gates Foundation commissioned the project.
The adoption of technology is critical to address food security challenges in low- and moderate-income countries (LMICs). However, despite the increasing availability of mobile technology and lower data costs, the adoption of agricultural technology (AgTech) remains low. Currently, only about 50 million smallholder farmers, or 10% of the total smallholder farmers in LMICs, have access to AgTech solutions. Financial barriers, limited investment, and inadequate support from financial service providers prevented the scale-up of AgTech innovations.
MSC was engaged to identify effective financial solutions that can drive the growth and adoption of AgTechs in LMICs. We conducted a rapid landscape study in India, Kenya, and Indonesia to analyze the AgTech ecosystem and assess financial solutions. We mapped key stakeholders, evaluated existing financial models, and assessed their impact in overcoming adoption barriers. We developed an analytical framework to identify the most effective financial solutions and the conditions necessary for their success. We used our Market Insights for Innovation and Design (MI4ID) framework to incorporate insights from consultations with stakeholders and ensured a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities in AgTech financing.
Based on these findings, MSC provided practical recommendations for donors, development agencies, financial service providers, and governments. These recommendations focused on the design and implementation of programs that support financial solutions for AgTechs.
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) commissioned this project.
