Tag: Digital financial services

MSC conducted The Real Gap study with 2,862 individuals from 958 households across six villages. The study intended to unpack the on-ground status of financial inclusion. It used a complete enumeration method for data collection and covered 150-200 households across each of the six selected villages.

In 2022, MSC focused on several sectors, including MSMEs, agriculture, microfinance, gender, youth, climate change, and digital finance. Most of our work revolved around using digital payments to arm people from the low- and moderate-income (LMI) segment and build their resilience. We are delighted to reshare our most-read blogs in 2022.

Our blog highlights the challenges that stop financial services providers from developing cheaper, long-term credit that can unlock productive credit for women micro and small entrepreneurs operating from open-air and cross-border markets in Kenya. It also examines solutions these financial services providers can employ to serve these women effectively.

Mobile phones are a useful tool to fight poverty and increase household income and consumption. Sub-Saharan Africa faces multiple barriers to the uptake and usage of mobile phones, such as affordability and lack of awareness of mobile internet, digital literacy, and digital capability. Read our blog to understand how agents can assist poor communities in shifting to internet and app usage through mentoring and assistance.

Bhupen, a young chef from Tripura, India, uses mobile apps for remittances, as well as merchant and bill payments. He has grown fond of digital payments after his coworkers in New Delhi introduced him to payment apps. However, he discovered a different situation when he returned home to Tripura during the second wave of COVID-19. He tried to introduce his elderly father to the mobile-based payments ecosystem after seeing him risk infection to make monthly recurring deposit (RD) payments in the post-office. Bhupen and others highlight the digital revolution brewing in rural Indian households. This blog examines how we can replicate this approach beyond India to extend digital financial services to the elderly and make them digitally self-reliant.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation commissioned MSC to conduct an action research program to enhance the quality and usage of digital financial services among female traders in open-air and cross-border markets in Kenya. We analyzed 6,000+ transactions in the research. Read our report to see the findings from these financial diaries research.