MSC coordinated, managed, and monitored the implementation of the Small Firm Diaries, a global, multi-country research initiative to understand the barriers to the growth and productivity of small firms. The study report could help the Government of Indonesia formulate more accurate and targeted policies.

The Small Firm Diaries is a global research initiative managed by the Financial Access Initiative at New York University. It intends to understand low-income small firms’ role in poverty reduction. It also sought to identify barriers that delay their growth and productivity and limit their contribution to local economies. This research focused specifically on firms that employed between one and 20 non-family member employees.

The study used the financial diaries methodology for data collection. The methodology involved the gathering of high-frequency quantitative and qualitative data. In each country, a team of local field researchers visited a sample of small firms weekly for a year. They meticulously captured daily data on financial flows and the decision-making processes behind these flows.

MSC served as the lead implementation partner, alongside L-IFT (Low-Income Financial Transformation), to manage the data collection for the Small Firm Diaries study’s Indonesian segment. This involved critical tasks, such as the selection and screening of research locations, the recruitment and training of field research teams, the supervision of the field research implementation, and rigorous data quality control procedures. The study included 162 firms from Bandung, Makassar, Medan, and Yogyakarta in Indonesia.

The MSC Indonesia team also contributed significantly to the research design to ensure its relevance and effectiveness in the Indonesian context. We also collaborated to produce various research outputs, which included research reports and case studies.

MSC Indonesia played a critical role to convene the project’s Indonesian Advisory Group. This esteemed group served as a valuable sounding board throughout the project. They actively responded to research findings and provided advice on Indonesian priorities and context. The Advisory Group had over 300 esteemed members, which included ministers, deputy ministers, C-level leaders, and directors from more than 80 organizations. These organizations spanned government ministries, private sector entities, non-governmental organizations, and international development agencies.

The New York University commissioned this project. This project spanned across seven countries: Colombia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Indonesia, Fiji, and Uganda from 2021 to 2023.

MSC conducted research to assess the current state of mobile money agents in Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mozambique. We evaluated their satisfaction levels, challenges, opportunities, and the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact.

MSC conceived and designed the research, coordinated the team across three countries, and conducted 80 key informant interviews in each country to collect data on agent network growth and sustainability. We also developed in-country reports on mobile money agents’ states. MSC developed a report to identify strategies to sustain and expand mobile money agent networks in Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mozambique. We also provided recommendations to ensure their long-term viability.

GSMA published the findings and key recommendations to support the mobile money industry across the three markets.

GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation, Inc. commissioned this project.

MSC ran a diagnostic study to highlight the challenges and constraints that DFS (Digital Financial Service) providers face when they expand agent networks in rural areas. MSC conducted the study to identify the best-performing ANM (Agent Network Management) models in rural areas of Côte d’Ivoire. The study also sought to identify potential policy and regulation adjustments to overcome the limitations of rural agents’ recruitment and viability. The study integrated a gender lens to understand women’s representation among rural agents and the limitations they may face when they start and conduct an agent business. The study also sought to understand their relationship with agents and how easily these women can access them.

The study involved a desk review, interviews with a sample of ANMs of different categories, and analysis and comparison of their business models and operations. It also estimated the percentage of female agents and customers, analyzed the regulatory and taxation regime’s impact on the agent business’s expansion and viability, and its impact on women.

The study identified challenges around regulatory constraints, inappropriate taxation modalities, and a lack of financial access for agents. It recommended granular public data’s development to create a national strategy that will improve coverage. The commission structure for agents and ANMs was also a concern, as it might not be sustainable for agent businesses in rural areas. The study underscored the need for responsible and protective agents to ensure consumer protection, especially in rural areas where they play a crucial role in customer transactions and complaints.

CGAP commissioned this project.

Kaduna State envisaged the creation of an interoperable, ubiquitous digital payments ecosystem by 2020. MSC was commissioned to conduct the feasibility study to explore collaborations and partnerships on behalf of Kaduna State. The study also sought to reflect on potential business cases with private sector partners, which included payment service banks.

The MSC team conducted a digital readiness assessment to build contextual knowledge on the state of the digital financial ecosystem, payments, and digital governance infrastructure. We built contextual knowledge on best practices for global, national, regional, and local digital payments and governance infrastructure. It helped us formulate the vision for an interoperable, statewide digital payment infrastructure.

As a result, MSC developed the blueprint for an interoperable, state-wide digital payment infrastructure and formulated a pilot plan and implementation roadmap for the way forward. 5.2 million of the 9 million residents of the state (about 60 percent) are now enrolled in the digital ID database. The state has started to issue a readable multi-functional digital residency card that can be used for interoperable cash-in cash-out (CICO) transactions. Close cooperation between the federal government (National Identity Management Commission) and the state through an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) enabled this. The MoU enabled an interface to the national identity management database.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation commissioned this project on behalf of Kaduna state.

Financial Sector Deepening Zambia (FSD Zambia) contracted MSC to conduct a digital readiness assessment (DRA) on behalf of the Smart Zambia Institute. The Smart Zambia Institute is also known as the Electronic Government (e-Gov). It is a division in the Office of the President that manages and promotes electronic government services and processes. It also facilitates access to e-Gov services to improve service delivery and enhance citizens’ access to government service, coordination of e-Gov, and information and communication technology-related matters in public bodies.

The DRA assessed policies and regulations to promote digital G2P adoption. The MSC team worked with key policy, regulatory, and legal bodies throughout the DRA to collect and analyze data from diverse stakeholders. We conducted the assessment across multiple phases, which included desk research, expert interviews, multi-stakeholder consultative workshops, reporting, and presentation.

The DRA involved a comprehensive G2P assessment of all benefit programs countrywide. It developed a set of recommendations to digitize G2P programs and catalyze financial inclusion in the country. The assessment led to the drafting of high-level operational guidelines. These guidelines focused on the design of a digital G2P and P2G mechanism for Zambia’s Farmer Input Support Program (FISP), FISP weather insurance, social security payments, and school fees.

The DRA report helped the government of Zambia prioritize solutions for digitized G2P payments and create a digital transformation roadmap for the solutions.

FSD Zambia commissioned the project.