Market landscaping for agent lending and recruitment

Cash-in and cash-out (CICO) agents are crucial to increase financial inclusion, yet they remain underfinanced across developing markets. These agents face persistent credit and liquidity gaps that hinder their business sustainability and expansion.

MSC conducted a study to understand how the digital financial services (DFS) agent distribution network functions. The study also focused on how emerging business models can reduce liquidity and credit constraints among agents. This study was conducted across the nine countries of Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Uganda.

The structure, constraints, and opportunities within agent lending ecosystems across nine low- and moderate-income countries (LMICs).

MSC led a two-phase research and diagnostic engagement. In the first phase, MSC conducted comprehensive market mapping, ecosystem profiling, firm-level analysis, agent recruitment mapping, and market sizing. In the second phase, we interviewed stakeholders, developed business models, and identified key lending constraints, such as institutional reluctance, data fragmentation, and regulatory opacity.

We released a report, “Lending to cash-in and cash-out (CICO) agents: An untapped frontier in microenterprise lending,” which identified a USD 500 million to 1 billion financing opportunity. The findings offer actionable insights to improve agent viability, align incentives among ecosystem players, and unlock targeted credit solutions to scale inclusive financial services.

The Gates Foundation commissioned this project.

Capacity building of IPPB agents, India

The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has pioneered financial inclusion in the country’s remotest villages with its 189,000 mail carriers nationwide, termed Grameen Dak Sevaks (GDSs). While the GDSs were a ready workforce, they needed training and handholding support to improve performance. MSC joined hands with the IPPB to enhance its capacity in various dimensions, such as product enhancement, capacity enhancement of GDSs, process efficiency, and merchant onboarding. As of 2018, the IPPB had only 15,000 active agents. The number of active GDS has increased by 73% by April 2022, but it is still only 14% of the total GDS workforce.

MSC built the GDSs’ technical and functional capabilities to enable them to offer the IPPB’s products and services. We conducted a needs assessment study with more than 2,000 agents to understand the skill gap agents struggled with in their role. We designed a highly effective and communicative training module to train the agents in multiple aspects.

The module had a script for each IPPB product for ready reference, customer acquisition strategies, and mapping of the product suite to customer personas to enhance the agents’ sales skills. This module was submitted to the IPPB’s Learning and Development team. We also created an end-user training module and a quick reference guide. The IPPB adopted these modules to train its agents. A comic book designed by MSC helped end-users conduct their operations with all safety guidelines.

With our intervention, the active agent rate increased by 40% from FY 2020-21 to FY 2021-22.

The Gates Foundation commissioned the project.

 

Catalyzing inclusive development through Learning Across Borders

The learning across borders (LAB) initiative is a structured, participatory, demand-driven approach that enables countries in the Global South to share proven solutions, accelerate reforms, and cocreate innovations in areas, such as digital governance, social protection, agriculture, food systems, health, and inclusive growth. 

LAB empowers countries to learn from each other’s journeys, accelerate reforms, avoid common pitfalls, and foster sustainable, inclusive growth. Through LAB, MSC provides a trusted platform for South-South collaboration. This enables countries to cocreate solutions, build capacity, and drive transformative change. Further, India has experienced accelerated socioeconomic development, innovation, and commitment to inclusive, sustainable development across multiple sectors, which makes it a model for other countries to learn from.  

MSC uses its track record in 68+ countries, deep sector expertise, and extensive public–private networks to drive impactful cross-country collaboration. Through LAB, we offer multi-modal knowledge exchange, immersive exposure visits, tailored technical support to adapt solutions to local contexts, and an inclusive and sustainable development focus.  

Since we launched “India for the World,” MSC has hosted delegations from more than 20 countries. We have connected policymakers, regulators, and innovators and enabled them to adopt practical, scalable solutions. We have hosted collaborative delegations from countries, such as Tanzania, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Indonesia. The delegations included stakeholders from the public sectors, such as, regulators, government ministries, line departments, and financial institutions. It also included private stakeholders, such as financial institutes, multilateral organizations, and technology service providers.  

Evaluation of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY): A demand-side diagnostic, India

MSC conducted a demand-side diagnostic of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), India’s flagship scheme to promote clean cooking through subsidized LPG connections for low-income households. The objective was to identify the behavioral, financial, and logistical barriers that hindered regular LPG usage and refill adoption among beneficiaries.

MSC used a mixed-methods approach and engaged with PMUY beneficiaries across Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh to unpack user experiences and perceptions. The research highlighted stark contrasts between PMUY beneficiaries and typical LPG users, revealed unique socioeconomic profiles, and underlined consumption behaviors that influence fuel choices.

Key findings showed that while the program was precise in reaching low-income households, sustained use remained limited. 23% of the surveyed beneficiaries who had received LPG connections before September 2017 had not refilled at all. 81% continued to rely on traditional fuels besides LPG, such as firewood or dung-cakes, and often viewed the latter as a “luxury” rather than a daily necessity.

Findings were distributed through policy presentations to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, which contributed to improvements in subsidy structures and last-mile delivery systems. The study also informed the design of targeted behavioral change campaigns to improve sustained adoption. Public dissemination at high-level forums encouraged further discussions around clean energy transitions for low-income households.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, commissioned the project.

Impact evaluation of Berendina Micro Investments Company (BMIC), Sri Lanka

MSC undertook a comprehensive impact evaluation to assess the effectiveness of Berendina Micro Investments Company (BMIC), a leading microfinance institution in Sri Lanka. The study sought to evaluate the impact of BMIC’s financial services, particularly credit and support offerings, on client outcomes across a wide range of economic and social indicators. It used a counterfactual comparison to ensure attribution and depth of analysis.

MSC’s evaluation explored critical impact areas, which included income growth, savings behavior, access to education, healthcare, household resilience, and economic mobility. A detailed portfolio analysis was also conducted to assess BMIC’s institutional reach, client segmentation, and responsiveness to market and environmental challenges.

MSC led the evaluation using a mixed-methods approach that integrated quantitative surveys with strong difference-in-differences (DiD) analysis to measure changes over time. Qualitative interviews complemented this evaluation to capture lived experiences and contextual nuances. 

Besides client-level assessments, we carried out policy and process reviews to identify internal strengths and opportunities for strategic improvement. The evaluation findings were synthesized into a set of useful insights. BMIC used these outcomes to adopt clear, evidence-based recommendations that refined product offerings, enhanced service delivery, and improved client resilience during economic volatility.

Berendina Micro Investments Company (BMIC), Sri Lanka, commissioned the project.

MEL learning partner to drive a capital evidence base for WEE

The Gates Foundation’s Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) strategy seeks to increase the incomes of 80 million women by a minimum of 30%. As part of WEE, a dedicated effort was undertaken to strengthen evidence-based learning and accountability across the Capital Lever portfolio. The initiative supported grantees, partners, and Foundation teams to apply rigorous Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) approaches to optimize impact, ensure strategic alignment, and enhance gender-responsive programs.

MSC served as the MEL learning partner for this initiative. It provided technical advisory and capacity-building support to grantees on MEL planning, indicator selection, and gender-sensitive data collection. We codeveloped a comprehensive results framework and portfolio-level tracker to monitor progress, promote cross-grantee learning, and support adaptive decision-making. In Kenya and Uganda, MSC worked closely with grantees under the Capital Lever, which included major financial institutions, such as BRAC Bank, Stanbic Bank, and KCB Bank. We designed gender-intentional financial products and monitoring mechanisms. Our approach emphasized repetitive learning, stakeholder engagement, and the development of systems that generate gender-disaggregated evidence, while addressing operational and structural barriers to women’s financial inclusion.

Insights from quantitative data were included in practical learning products and communication tools. These tools informed strategy across stakeholders, which included Foundation leadership, implementing partners, and grantees. The project reinforced the importance of embedding rigorous MEL systems within large-scale women’s economic empowerment efforts. It also demonstrated how learning frameworks through a gendered lens can drive systemic and sustainable change for women entrepreneurs.

The Gates Foundation commissioned the project.