Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST) contracted MSC to enhance the credit or investment readiness of agricultural SMEs. We provided training resources in the form of a tailored set of materials.
MSC developed a Financial Literacy Toolbox (the FLTBX) to train agri-entrepreneurs on financial management, accounting, costing, risk management, financing, and debt finance in practice. We customized the FLTBX to create three more versions, each covering a similar set of key topics adapted to different market contexts, including those targeting agriculture producer groups in sub-Saharan Africa and entrepreneurs in the services sector in Tanzania.
By the end of 2018, over 2,000 entrepreneurs from the agriculture and services sectors in sub-Saharan Africa had been trained using the FLTBX. In addition, over 100 local technical assistance providers had received training and were deployed to on-train entrepreneurs on the FLTBX to strengthen the capabilities of entrepreneurs.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) commissioned MSC to implement the Microfinance Expansion Project (MEP) in Papua New Guinea. Under this project, MSC collaborated with women’s community groups to develop linkages with MFIs, women’s banks, and women and faith-based groups. The aim was to promote gender issues at the provincial, district, and local levels.
MSC designed women-focused financial products, gender policies, and conducted workshops with partner financial institutions. Women were the central focus in the design and delivery of every financial education retail training and training-of-trainers. MSC drafted the first-of-its-kind gender policy for use by the partner financial institutions in the country. A key contribution of the MEP was the establishment of the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI), which has a particular focus on women and aims to achieve financial inclusion.
The project trained over 150,000 people—with women comprising 47% of the clients trained in financial education and 67% of the clients trained in business development services.
MSC studied the needs and preferences of women users of mobile financial services (MFS) in Bangladesh. This study was part of the support MSC provided to IFC’s Access to Mobile Financial Services for Women in Bangladesh project. The project would improve financial inclusion among women by promoting the use of MFS.
As part of this engagement, MSC designed two women-centric MFS products that a select group of MFS providers would concept-test. At the time of writing, we were supporting MFS providers with strategies and appropriate collaterals for them to onboard women MFS users.
MSC and Tremolet Consulting worked with a group of 30 pit-emptying enterprises in Dar es Salaam, under UKAid’s SHARE program. MSC assessed the market, identified business opportunities, and developed management and training manuals for sanitation enterprises. The enterprises trained by MSC accessed working capital from local banks and MFIs, including KCB Tanzania, K-finance, Eclof Tanzania, Tujijenge Tanzania, and local WASH NGOs to purchase new sanitation equipment and thus improve access to decentralized sewerage systems.
By the end of 2017, these enterprises had accessed more than USD 100,000 in working capital loans and had expanded their services to at least three peri-urban areas around Dar es Salaam, including slums in Temeke and Ilala districts. One enterprise realized a 58% growth in annual gross income upon the purchase of new equipment to replace old equipment that WaterAid had initially donated or subsidized.
The success of the pit-emptying enterprises triggered market competition and price reduction from USD 20 to about USD 15.
Development of toolkits to enable financial institutions in lending for WASH needs of their clients in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Water.org hired MSC to scale up its WaterCredit concept to develop toolkits to help banks, MFIs, and NGOs to build their WASH finance portfolios. WaterCredit is an innovative concept that Water.org promotes in the developing world. It provides financial and technical assistance to its microfinance partners to develop loan products for the WASH needs of underserved households.
MSC developed a series of five toolkits to help WASH participants identify opportunities for WASH finance, develop WASH finance products, market their WASH finance product, develop delivery systems, and manage WASH portfolios. Partners of Water.org have used these toolkits extensively across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
WaterCredit has benefitted more than 12 million families in accessing water and sanitation facilities across 12 countries. In Africa alone, more than 10 banks and MFIs have used these products. One hundred and fifty bank managers in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania have received training on the application of the toolkits. Water.org reported in 2017 that WaterCredit has catalyzed USD 1.5 billion in commercial finance to the WASH sector.
MSC assessed the market for Water.org’s WaterCredit offering in central and south India. The assessment highlighted the demand and uptake of existing WaterCredit programs and analyzed the existing capacity of microfinance players in offering water credit.
This assessment helped Water.org to expand its partner base for water credit initiatives in India. At the time of writing, Water.org had 21 microfinance partners in India through which it had reached more than 7 million people across 12 states.