Annual Report 2017 - Syngenta€¦ · SCBF ANNUAL REPORT 2017 2 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 List of acronyms 5 Message from the SCBF Chair 6 SCBF at a glance 7 Impact logic of SCBF 8 Members

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SCBF ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Annual Report

2017


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

4 List of acronyms 5 Message from the SCBF Chair6 SCBFataglance7 ImpactlogicofSCBF8 Members and a short history9 Keyfigures

Overviewofinterventions10 Overviewofinterventionscompletedin201713 Overviewofinterventionsapprovedin201716 Overviewofinterventionsunderimplementationin201718 SCBFoperationssinceinceptionin2011–globaloverview

Interviews20 YoussefBencheqroun,CEOofAlAmanaAssociation(2013-05) Al Amana up-scaling health microinsurance to low-income clients of Morocco23 RédouaneNajm-Eddine,CEOofAlBaridBank(2013-08) Scaling up mobile banking: delivering social benefits to rural areas in Morocco25 ChristianSinobas,CEOofKiWi(2014-03&FEW-04,and2016-01) KiWi eKiosk: pioneering integrated cards and mobile payments for micro-merchants in Morocco27 KiWi – making fintech work for micro-merchants in Mexico: How technology can transform the microfinance industry29 AlexandreBerthaud,CEOofAkiba(2015-01) E-Tontine for La Poste du Bénin33 KimGuenkel,CEOofAllianceforMicrofinanceinMyanmar Building capacities to develop a small business loan portfolio of Alliance35 MarcTison,FounderofZingsure(2016-02) Zingsure ready to up-scale microinsurance in partnership with faith-based affinity groups in Zimbabwe

Financialeducation40 Financialliteracyandseedmanagementtrainingempowerssmallholderfarmerstobenefit fromthefirstagriculturalinsuranceschemeinTanzania(FEW-02-03)42 DesignandimplementationofanintegratedfinancialeducationprogrammebyAlliancefor MicrofinanceinMyanmar(FEW-08)44 KiWi,thefinancialenginebehindmicro-merchantsinMexico(FEW-10)46 RecommendationsforeffectivedeliveryoffinancialeducationbyJuanVegaGonzales49 Institutionalchangesandachievements50 Fundingandcontributions

Financial report51 Auditor’s report 53 Balance sheet and income statement54 Notestofinancialstatements56 Strategicoutlookfor201857 Appendices Appendix1:Organisationalstructure Appendix2:Financialoverviewsinceinception Appendix3:Partnerfinancialinstitutionsandtechnicalassistanceproviders Appendix4:SCBFcontributiontoSustainableDevelopmentGoals

MISSION

The Swiss CapacityBuilding Facility (SCBF) is a public-privatedevel-opment partnership dedicated to improving the lives and livelihoods of low-incomepeople,microentrepreneurs and smallholder farmersin developing and emerging economies, through responsible financial

inclusion as a strategy for alleviating poverty.

Photo © LOLC Cambodia


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LISTOFACRONYMS

AG AffinitygroupCLP Credit life plusCPG ConsumerpackagedgoodsCVP CustomervaluepropositionFEW/FE Financialeducationwindow/financialeducationcampaignFI FinancialInclusionFSP Financial service providerFSW/FS Feasibility study window G2P Government to peopleGL Group LoanKYC Know your customerMFI MicrofinanceinstitutionMIS ManagementinformationsystemMSME Micro, small and medium enterprisesPFI PartnerfinancialinstitutionPPP Purchasing power parityPPDP Public Private Development PartnershipPUW/PU Productup-scalingwindow/productup-scalingsupportSCBF SwissCapacityBuildingFacility–AssociationforIncomeandEmployment GenerationSDC SwissAgencyforDevelopmentandCooperationSDG Sustainable Development GoalsSE Small enterprisesSME Small and medium enterprisesTA Technical assistance

MESSAGEFROMTHESCBFCHAIR

TheultimategoaloftheSCBFremainsthealleviationofpovertymaximisingitscontributionstotenoftheSustainableDevelopmentGoals(seeAppendix4).The SCBF has helped hundreds of thousands of people livinginpovertybyworkingwith69partnerfinancialinstitutionsin33countries.

Achievementoffoodsecurityandpromotionofsustainableagriculture,withsmallholderfarmersandruralpeopleatthecentreofthisobjective,arehighonthe2030AgendaforSustainableDevelopment.TheSCBFmobilisedadditionalresourcesinthisareabyobtainingCHF750´000fromtheSDCGlobalProgrammeFoodSecurity to finance projects in agricultural insurance and related risk-reductionmeasures. The SCBFwillleveragethesefundstocontinuehelpinglowincomeruralpopulationswhoareparticularlyvulnerabletotheeffectsofnaturalhazards,buildresilienceinthefaceoftheclimate-relatedrisksandaugmenttheirincome-generatingcapabilities.

PoolingtherespectivestrengthsofthepublicandprivatesectorsandprovidingaplatformtointeractandjointlytakedecisionstoreachsustainabledevelopmentresultsiscentraltoSCBF’smission.Theabilitytobeflexibleandinnovateinordertoprovidenewimpulsestothefinancialinclusionsector,hasbeennamedbytheSCBF’smembers,themselvesgloballeadersinfinancialinclusion,asSCBF’skeyvlaueproposition.

Sinceinception,theassociationhasbeenabletoleveragesignficanttheprivatesectorparticipationinthefollowingforms:i)expertiseandcapacitybuildingof19membersasin-kindcontributions(CHF825´500),ii)project-levelfundingwithanaverageof43%self-contributionbypartnerfinancialinstitutionsandprivatesectormembers(overCHF9million), iii) institutionalfinancialcontribution(CHF450´000fromtheCreditSuisseFoundation),andiv)overCHF800millionintermsofprivateinvestmentsbySCBFsocialinvestorsco-financingtheexpansionofthepartnerfinancialinstitutions.

Whilethisdemonstratesaveryhighownershipandcontributionoftheprivatesector(98%includingtheprivateinvestments),theSCBFsetsitselfthetaskofexploringnewstrategicalliancestodiversifyitsfundingbaseandtoenhancetheeffectivenessofitsoperationsinadvancingresponsible,inclusivegrowthglobally.

Olga SpeckhardtSCBF Chair

The year 2017 saw a record number of approved projects.With 15 newprojectsstarting in2017,andafurther13tobe launched inthefirsthalfof2018,theSCBFcommittedCHF2.7milliontowardsbuildingafinanciallyinclusive world.

Sinceits inceptionin2011,theSCBFhasmaturedintoaflexibleandagileassociation,withinnovationdrivingitsagenda.Fromworkingwithfintechand insurtech companies to roll out innovative distribution channels tobetter reach the underserved in complex and newmarkets, to piloting acreditproduct foraccess to low-pressure irrigation technologies for smallproducersofhigh-yieldcrops.SCBF’ssupportsbusinessmodelsthatareonthecuttingedgeofpro-poorfinancial innovation,forexamplebycreatingpartnershipswithaffinitygroupsasthemainaggregatorsforlifeinsuranceinSub-SaharanAfrica.


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SCBF AT A GLANCE

CO-FUNDING WINDOWSSCBF’soperationsareorganizedaroundthefollowingthreeco-fundingwindows:

•

•

•

OBJECTIVESTheassociation´sobjectivesare:

•

•

Fosterthedevelopmentofinclusivefinancialsectorsthatofferresponsible,client-orientedandeconom-ically sustainable services that help reduce vulnerability and contribute to income and employment gen-erationamonglow-incomepeople(notablywomen),smallholderfarmers,andmicro,smallandmediumenterprises(MSME).

Theprimary “product up-scalingwindow” (hereafter referred to as PUW) co-funds thedevelopment,testing, launching, and up-scaling of both client-oriented financial products and product distributionchannels thatmeet the needs of low-income households, smallholder farmers andmicro, small andmediumenterprises(hereafterreferredtoasMSMEs)withaparticularfocusonwomenandruralareas.TheSCBF-supportedPFIsareassistedinovercomingkeyconstraintsthathavehamperedtheirabilitytoup-scaletheirpro-poorbankingand/orinsuranceoperationsinaresponsibleandinstitutionallysustainablemanner.

Thesupportive“financialeducationwindow”(hereafterreferredtoasFEW)co-fundsfinancialeducationcampaignsthatarepre-conditionsforintroducinginsuranceandothernewfinancialservicesinoperationalareasofPFIswherefinancialliteracylevelsarelow.ItisearmarkedformembersandSDCpartnersonly.

Thesupportive“feasibilitystudywindow”(hereafterreferredtoasFSW)co-fundsinexceptionalcasesthepreparationoffeasibilitystudiesanddryrunsthatarepre-conditionsfor(1)introducinginsuranceandothernewfinancialservicesand(2)establishinggreenfieldfinancialinstitutionsinenvironmentsinwhichtheexistingfinancialinstitutionsareunableorunwillingtoengageininclusivefinancialservices.TheFSWhelpspreparethegroundworkfordevelopingsubsequentproposalsforthePUW.Itisearmarkedfor members and SDC partners only.

PoolthefinancialexpertiseandresourcesoftheprivateandpublicsectorsandleverageprivateinvestmenttoenhancethescaleandeffectivenessofSwisscontributionstothegrowthofinclusivefinancialservicesin developing and emerging countries.

IMPACTLOGICOFSCBF

ABOUT SCBFTheSwissCapacityBuildingFacility(SCBF)isapublic-privatedevelopmentpartnership,establishedin2011inSwitzerland.Simultaneouslyaninnovationandcapacitybuildingfacility,theSCBFofferspartnerfinancialinstitutions(hereafterPFIs)indevelopingandemergingcountriestailor-madesupportforthemtoup-scaleclient-orientedfinancialservicesofferedresponsiblytolow-incomepeople.Itssocialmissionistocombatpovertythroughfinancialinclusionoflowincomepopulations.

SCBFalsofunctionsasanearlygrantprovidertobridgefinancethepilotingofinnovativefinancialinclusionbusinessmodelssoastohelpmobilizethefirstsocial/ventureinvestors.Itactsinthepublicinterestandisnotprofit-oriented.

SinceitsinceptioninApril2011,SCBFhasprovidedtechnicalassistancethrough99projectsto69partnerfinancialinstitutionsin33countries.


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MEMBERSANDASHORTHISTORY2010–2017

SCBFbeganin2010asaninformalcollaborationto promote social and economic development in emerging countries between six leading institutions in international financial sectordevelopment.AsSCBF’spotentialbecameclear,the organization was formally registered as anon-profitinFribourg,Switzerlandin2012,overtimeattractingadditionalmembers,broadeningthe scope of SCBF’s activities and geographicrange.

Currently SCBF has 19 members and is home to auniquerepositoryofknowledgeinthefieldsoffinancialinclusion,financialsectordevelopmentand microfinance, with a special focus on in-surance and savings. Member organizationsprovidetechnicalassistanceincollaborationwithinternationalandlocalexpertsengagedbySCBFto bring these solutions directly towhere theyare needed on the ground. Through extensive collaboration with local and internationalactors,SCBFofferstheopportunityforfinancialinstitutions to bring much-needed financialproducts and services to millions of people traditionally excluded from formal financialservices.

MEMBERS

From left to right: Laure Hemrika(Credit Suisse), André Lottersberger(responsAbility), Peter Beez (SDC),Miachel Kortenbusch (BFC), OlgaSpeckhardt (Syngenta Foundation& SCBF Chair), Hans Ramm (SDC),Gertrud Stäuber (SCBF), AlexandreBerthaud(E-sSavings.club&SCBFVice-Chair), Mriano Larena (Symbiotics),Maren Richter (SCBF), Isaac Magina(Swiss Re), Bilal Mughal (ZurichInsurance), Anke Luckja (OpportunityInternational),CristianCanis(VentureSouth International), Mario Wilhelm(SwissRe),MarkuxSchär(SMH)

KEYFIGURES

More than 470’000 loans, individual and group for agriculture, MSMEs, solar energy and more, disbursed with anaverageloansizeof1’299 USD.

TheSCBFworkedwith 69 PFIs in 99 interventions thattookplace in 33 Countries.

More than 70% of SCBF’s end clients are female.

More than 50% of SCBF’s end clients live in rural areas.

More than 400’000 end clients insured, mainly agricultural, health, lifeandcredit-lifecoverage,witha total sum insured of more than 250’000’000 USD.

SCBF supported mobile payment systems that handles more than 4’452’606 transactions worth at least a combined 240’000’000 USD

The SCBF supported products and services for savings which serve more than 250’000 clients, with an average account balance of 1’100 USD,

More than 700.000 clients recieved financial literacy training.

There are more than 2’000 employees workingwithSCBFsupportedfinancialservicesand products worldwide.

More than 800’000’000 CHF has been invested by SCBF’s private sector members in PFIsthatreceievedSCBFsupport.

More than 1’300’000 low income clients reached.

s

$ £€

$

Source: These figures come from a survey conducted by the SCBF

amongtechnicalassistanceprovidersandpartnerfinancialinstitutions

iin in March and April 2018.


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Product up-scaling

(PU)54%

Financial education(FE)

38%

Feasibility study(FS)

8%

Toseethefinalreportsfortheseinterventions,pleaserefertotheSCBFwebsite:http://scbf.ch/product-upscaling-interventionsforproductup-scalinginterventions,andhttp://scbf.ch/financial-education-campaignsforfinancialeducationcampaigns.

OVERVIEWOFINTERVENTIONSCOMPLETEDIN2017 NORTH AFRICA

Morocco, product up-scaling, 2013-05Al Amana redesigned and rebranded its existinghealthinsuranceproductto“TayssirAlAmana”anddeveloped a strongmarketing campaign leadingtoanincreaseinuptakeandusageoftheproduct.That,inconcertwiththesupportivemanagementsystems for product monitoring and evaluation,resulted in substantial growth of Al Amana´smicroinsuranceportfoliofrom2013through2016.For further details, see the interview with Youssef Bencheqroun, CEO of Al Amana Association, onpp.20-22.

Morocco, product up-scaling 2013-08Al Barid Bank (ABB) intended to develop a newpaymentagentnetworktodeliversocialbenefits(G2P – government to people) to rural areas inMorocco through adapting its existing mobilebanking platform (developed concurrently withSCBFsupportunder2013-01).However,thisswitchfrom cash-based to mobile-based distributionsystemwas thwartedby changes in thenationalregulatory framework. For further information,see the interview with Rédouane Najm-Eddine,CEOofAlBaridBank,onpp.23-24

Morocco, product up-scaling 2014-03 & associated financial education, FEW-04KiWi aimed to launch its eKiosk (an adaptedePayment solution allowing micro-merchants toreceiveandmakepayments)inMorocco.However,difficulties arose due to delays in obtaining thenecessary licenses through its initial partnerABB,worsened by the long negotiation processeswiththe license provider, KiWi, as a start-up, was notable to endure these delays and the project was terminated prematurely. See the interview with ChristianSinobas,CEOofKiWi,onpp.25-26.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Benin, product up-scaling, 2015-01Thegoaloftheinterventionwastousetechnologyto increase formal micro-savings at La Poste duBenin by digitising and building bridges withtraditional savings practices known as ‘tontines’.Overtheshortdurationoftheproject6’680savingsaccountswereopened.TheUnitedNationsCapitalDevelopment Fund promised substantial donorfundingtopiggy-backonthehigh-potentialmarketentry of E-Savings.club. As a result, La Poste´scommitment to E-Savings.club weakened, leadingtoitscrowdingoutfromthemarket,andtheearlyclosureoftheintervention.SeetheinterviewwithAlexandreBerthaud,CEOofAkiba,onpp.29-32.

Zimbabwe, product up-scaling, 2016-02Zingsure Limited set up an insurance company, InsureCo, in Zimbabwe in partnership with faith-based affinity groups to increase insurancepenetration and stimulate wealth creation. Thisinsurance business is very likely to become thelargestinsurerinZimbabwewithinfiveyears!Zinghas created more than 300 jobs at the grass roots and the corporate level, and could create 15,000 jobs by end of 2018. Zingsure is using the same businessmodeltoexpanditsoperationsinMalawiand Zambia. See the interview with Marc Tison, founderofZingsure,onpp.35-39.

Photo © Zing

Asia15%

North Africa31%

Sub-SaharanAfrica39%

LatinAmerica&Caribbean

15%

REGIONS OF IMPLEMENTATION TYPE OF INTERVENTION

Sub-SaharanAfrica

Sub-SaharanAfrica

North Africa

North Africa

Sub-SaharanAfrica

Sub-SaharanAfrica

North Africa

Asia

Sub-SaharanAfrica

LatinAmerica&the CaribbeanLatinAmerica&the Caribbean

North Africa

Asia

Benin

Tanzania

Morocco

Morocco

Product upscaling

Financialeducation

Productup-scaling

Financialeducation

Banking-savings

Insurance-agriculture

Insurance-health

Banking-moneytransfers

CHF 256’000

CHF 305’020

CHF 362’681

CHF 237’350

31%

49%

31%

22%

69%

51%

69%

78%

CHF 156’220

CHF 519’725

CHF 170’005

CHF 212’590

65%

20%

85%

68%

35%

80%

15%

32%

CHF 300’270

CHF 181’500

CHF 181’500

CHF 325’900

CHF 194’740

50%

79%

81%

27%

70%

50%

21%

19%

73%

30%

Bankingservices

Insurance-life

Banking-MSMElending

Insurance-agriculture



Banking-deliverychannel development

Banking-deliverychannel development

Banking-microcredit

Feasibility studies

Product upscaling

Productup-scaling

Productup-scaling

Financialeducation

Productup-scaling

Financialeducation

Productup-scaling

Financialeducation

Ghana

Zimbabwe

Morocco

Myanmar

Tanzania

Mexico

Mexico

Morocco

Myanmar

Region Country Typeofintervention Type of product Total budget %SCBFco-funding

%PFI/publicsectorco-funding

Sevenproductup-scaling(PU)interventions,onefeasibilitystudy (FS) and five financial education (FE) campaignswere completed, which account for 54%, 8% and 38%,respectively,ofthetotalcompletedinterventionsin2017.

Five interventions were conducted in the Sub-SaharanAfrica region, two interventions in Latin America& theCaribbean, four interventions in North Africa and twointerventionswereconductedinAsia.


12 13


Asia13%

North Africa13%



34%

Financial education

(FE)20%

Productup-scaling(PU)80%

Inaddition,225SEclientstookpartinoneormorefinancial education training sessions. Tofindoutmore, refer to pp. 42.

LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Mexico, product up-scaling, 2016-01 KiWiMexicoup-scaleditsdigitalpaymentsolutionfor micro-merchants using distribution modelsin partnerships with direct sales companies and consumerpackagedgoodsdistributors,providinga strongmerchant network, and through digitalmarketing and online e-boarding. They reachedover 1’000 active users (30 days) before projectend and registered 2’600 users by the project closure.SeeinterviewwithChristianSinobas,CEOofKiWi,onpp.27-28.

Mexico, financial education, FEW-10 Aspartofthefinancialeducationcampaign,KiWiMexico designed a variety of tools and materials, such as user manuals, videos on YouTube, FAQ, and newscriptsexplaininghowthedigitalplatformformicro-merchantsworks(seereferenceto2016-01)andhowitcontributestobetterfinancialcontrol,credit-worthiness and sales. For further details,refertopp.44-45.

Photo©Women´sWorldBanking/AliceDufour-Feronce

Tanzania, financial education, FEW-02 & FEW-03ACREAfrica(formerlyKilimoSalama)developedafinancialeducationstrategytoreachsmallholderfarmersatdifferentpoinsintheagriculturalvaluechain:microfinanceinstitutions,inputcompanies,mobilenetworkoperators, andcontractgrowersfor agribusinesses. Over 70’000 farmers were trainedintheArushaandIringaregionscombined,with27’500takingupinsurance-developedwiththe assistance of a separate SCBF grant -withintwoyears.Forfurtherdetails,refertopp.40-41.

Ghana, feasibility study, FSW-13 Swiss Microfinance Holdings (SMH) workedtogether with Allianz on a holistic outgrower fi-nancemodeltofindawin-winsituationbetweenagribusiness/food companies and their contractcocoa farmers through the provision of sustainable financial services in Ghana. The concept wasconvincing enough for Armajaro to develop its ownfinancial services andoffer them to a largenumberfarmersasanadditionalincomestream.

ASIA Myanmar, product up-scaling, 2015-07 AllianceforMicrofinanceinMyanmarsuccessfullydeveloped, piloted and rolled out a Small Enterprise(SE)loanproduct,leadingtoanuptakeof 10’713 loans by project end and aiding the successful development of the institution in thepast twoyears.TheSE loansnowcomprise41%of the total loan portfolio and yielded 40% ofAlliance’s income in 2017. See the interview with KimGuenkel,CEOofAlliance,onpp.33-34.

Myanmar, financial education, FEW-08AllianceforMicrofinanceinMyanmarsuccesfullyintegrated financial education into its businessmodel and does not depend on access to external funding after the initial phase of development.Alliance adapted the content of the programme toservethevaryingneedsof itsgroup loan(GL)clients and small enterprise (SE) loan clients. Atprojectend,allGLclients(over45’000)havebeentrainedwith thepresentationguide andat least20’000 GL and 1’500 SE clients have watched the video at disbursement.

OVERVIEWOFINTERVENTIONSAPPROVEDIN2017

Toseethefactsheetsfortheseinterventions,pleaserefertotheSCBFwebsiteatwww.scbf.ch

REGIONS OF IMPLEMENTATION TYPE OF INTERVENTION

TwelvePUinterventionsandthreefinancialeducationFEcampaigns were approved, which account for 80% and20%,respectively,ofthetotalapprovedinterventions in2017.

Six interventions were approved in the Sub-SaharanAfrica region, five interventions in Latin America & theCaribbean, two interventions in North Africa and twointerventionswereapprovedinAsia.

North Africa

Sub-SaharanAfrica

Sub-SaharanAfrica

North Africa

Sub-SaharanAfrica

Sub-SaharanAfrica

Asia

Sub-SaharanAfrica

Sub-SaharanAfrica

LatinAmerica&the Caribbean



LatinAmerica&the CaribbeanLatinAmerica&the Caribbean

Asia

Tunisia

Kenya

Zambia

Productup-scaling

Productup-scaling

Productup-scaling

Banking-Rurallending

Banking-Energy

Insurance-Life

CHF 128’060

CHF 145’364

CHF 1’423’045

57%

77%

10%

43%

23%

90%

CHF 71’197

CHF 171’529

CHF 432’720

CHF 35’875

75%

72%

34%

68%

25%

28%

66%

32%

CHF 68’030

CHF 449’745

CHF 200’800

CHF 188’273

CHF 183’431

CHF 202’917

CHF 235’175

CHF 51’997

66%

33%

73%

53%

70%

61%

59%

69%

34%

67%

27%

47%

30%

39%

41%

31%

Insurance-CreditLife-inpatienthospital

health

Banking-Energy

FE campaign for insurance company

set-upInsurance-CreditLifePlus

Insurance-Agriculture

Insurance-Life

Banking-Moneytransfer

Banking-creditfordry-irrigationsystems

Banking-Housing

Banking-SElending

Banking-Deliverychannel development

Insurance-CreditLifePlus

Financialeducation

Productup-scaling

Financialeducation

Productup-scaling

Productup-scaling

Productup-scaling

Productup-scaling

Productup-scaling

Productup-scaling

Productup-scaling

Productup-scaling

Financialeducation

Egypt

Ghana

Zimbabwe

Cambodia

Mali

Malawi

Mexico

Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Haiti

Mexico

Laos

Region Country Typeofintervention Type of product Total budget %SCBFco-funding

%PFI/publicsectorco-funding


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donesofartoguidetheroll-outofruralfinancialservices (loans and savings) through alternativedelivery channels (mobile solutions, mobilemoney, point of sales and agri-value chains). ByApril 2019, it is expected that at least 10’000 rural clients(3’300borrowers)willbeservedandrurallending(micro&SME)will represent22%ofthetotalloanportfolio.

Malawi, product up-scaling, 2017-07Zingsure will build up the local human resources (2’700 members as agents) to assist the MuslimAssociationofMalawitoregisteritsmembersandto collect monthly premium contributions fromthem.Uponprojectcompletion,Zingsureshouldbeinapositiontoprovidelifeinsurancethroughgroupscheme coverage to 1 million members in Malawi.

Zambia, product up-scaling, 2017-11To start its greenfield insurance operations inZambia, Zingsure will build up the local human resourcesofthreeaffinitygroupstoregistertheirmembers and to collect quarterly membership feesfromtheirmembers incl. thedistributionofmembership cards with the Zingsure embedded insurance offering. Upon project completion,Zingsureshouldbeinapositiontoprovideinitiallife insurance group scheme cover to 1 million members in Zambia.

Zimbabwe, financial education, FEW-13 Theaimofthisfinancialeducationcampaignistobuild and train the needed local human resources inZimbabwe(133financialeducationconsultants,367microentrepreneuragents,and117assessors)who will be a focal point for information oninsurance and financial services on an ongoingbasis to themillions of members of large faith-basedaffinitygroupsandtheirextendedfamily.

ASIA Cambodia, product up-scaling, 2017-01The aim of this intervention is to prepareAmret Cambodia, the country’s second largest microfinance institution, to enter themarket asan insurance distributor and to assume a leading role vis-à-vis the underwriter. Amret will designand launch a mandatory credit life plus product for clients who are group borrowers, over 160’000 individuals.InadditionAmretwillbuildanin-housemicroinsurance capacity to offer microinsuranceproductsasanadditionalvaluetoitsclients.

Laos, financial education, FEW-11EkphatthanaMicrofinanceInstitution(EMI)seeksto develop insurance literacy training and product explanationmethodologiesandtoolsforitsclientstobetterunderstandEMI´scredit lifeplusgrouppolicy, the first microinsurance product in Laos.The financial education campaign is designed toenhance the clients´ understanding of insuranceandtohelpthemusetheproducteffectively.

LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN Mexico, product up-scaling, 2017-02TheprojectaimstoscaleupKiWi´scashdisposalproduct as thenext step inmakingKiWi a fully-fledgedcash-flowmanagementfacilityinMexico.Themainactivitieswillbecentredarounddeve-lopingandmarketinga loanproductthatwillbebothsustainableforKiWiandmeaningfulforthemerchants.

Nicaragua, product up-scaling, 2017-05HabitatforHumanityInternationalplanstodevelopa virtual tool to simplify the home improvement process for Nicaraguan families, thereby improving the effectiveness and outreach of the housingmicrofinance products of two partner financialinstitutions, FUDEMI and FUNDENUSE. Uponprojectcompletion,bothinstitutionsshouldbeinapositiontoimproveaccesstofinancialproductsforlocalcommunities,whileaddressinggapsthathamper access to quality housing.

Nicaragua, product up-scaling, 2017-09Theobjectiveistopromoteanappropriatefinancialproduct for access to low-pressure irrigationtechnologies. This will modernise agricultural methods and increase income of small producers in Nicaragua, reaching 140 credit placements by endofpilot,and5’000threeyearsthereafter.

Haiti, product up-scaling, 2017-10Theoverallgoalofthisinterventionistosustaina-blyscaleupSèvisFinansyeFonkoze´s(SFF)individ-ual small business loan product from 4’718 clients in 2017 to 13’532 clients by 2020. To accomplish this,itisessentialforSFFtoreviewtheoperationsofthecurrentproduct,identifycriticalweakness-es,improvestaffcapacity,anddevelopoptionsforthe product going forward.

Mexico, product up-scaling, 2017-12The aim of this project is to digitalise the loan origination process of the PFI Pretmex and of-fer Akiba´s own digital MicroCreditLine product(MCL).Onlinelendingisarelativelynewconceptin Mexico with only a few providers, generally in the consumer lending sector and often at usuri-ousrates.TheMCLproductspecificallytargetsthefundingneedsof low-incomeworkerswhooftenhave to borrow at very high costs and unreason-able conditionswhen facing short-term financialemergencies.

NORTH AFRICA

Tunisia, product up-scaling, 2017-08Advans Tunisie aims to expand its outreach and impact in rural areas through the expansion and launch of 1) rural lending through alternativedelivery channels, and2)agricultural lendingviathevalue chain for agriculturalproducts. It aimsto reach 500 rural and 113 agricultural clients by project end, representing 5% of the lendingportfolio,andover3’000newclientsby2020.

Egypt, financial education, FEW-12Themainobjectiveofthisinterventionistodesign,implement and monitor a financial educationcampaign to scale up and improve usage of Hemaya,acreditlifeandin-patienthospitalcashhealth insurance product, which Lead has rolled out in all 18 branches since September 2016. Ten video cartoons and ten e-learning modules willbedevelopedtogetherwithafollow-upanddatareporting system. The campaign aims to reachmorethan10’000clientsandtrainatleast50staffmembers.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Mali, product up-scaling, 2017-03The Réseau de Micro Institutions de CroissancedesRevenus(RMCR)inMaliisseekingtoimproveagricultural risk management for both farmersand itself by bundling seasonal credit with crop insurance based on weather indices. This will also provide sources of financing to RMCR asthe insurancepremiumwill befinancedwith aninvestor. RMCR aims to reach 5’000 farmers with theproductbyprojectendafter12months.

Kenya, product up-scaling, 2017-04BiasharanaFedhaintendstostrengthenitspositionin solar lending with new solar loan products for MSMEs and by extending its base of solar partners. Byproviding financing to severalmid-sized solarplayers Biashara na Fedha helps level the playing fieldandavoidover-concentrationbythe largestsolar providers.

Ghana, product up-scaling, 2017-06This intervention will enable Advans Ghana toconductapost-pilotreviewoftheruralexpansion

Photo © Acre Africa

Photo©EkphatthanaMicrofinanceInstitution


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OVERVIEWOFINTERVENTIONSUNDERIMPLEMENTATIONIN2017

Sixteenproductup-scalinginterventions,fivefinancialeducationcampaignsandtwofeasibilitystudieswereapprovedpriorto2017, and thus treated as ongoing in 2017.

Photo©NMBBankLimited

2014-01

2014-02

2014-05

2014-06

2014-08

2014-09

2014-10

2015-02

2015-03

2015-04

2016-04

2016-05

2016-06

2016-07

2016-08

2016-09

Tanzania

Tanzania

Nepal

BurkinaFaso

Rwanda&DRC

Rwanda

Tunisia

Peru

Nicaragua

El Salvador

Mexico

Jordan

Kenya

Egypt

Jordan

Haiti

Acre Africa

Acre Africa

Manushi

SONAPOST

UrwegoOpportunityBank&Hekima

EquityBankRwanda

EndaInter-arabe

FENACREP,CabanillasMañazo&Tikari

Fondo de Desarollo

Fundación Campo

Akiba

MicrofundforWomen

Acre Africa

LeadFoundation

MicrofundforWomen

FINCAHaiti

IntroducingagriculturalinsurancetosmallholderfarmersintheArusha region

IntroducingagriculturalinsurancetosmallholderfarmersintheIringaregion

Up-scalingofinnovativemicroinsuranceproductsfortheruralpoor

Development of savings and insurance products for migrants throughinternationalpostaltransfers

Buildingcapacitytoexpandhousingmicrofinance

Fanikisha+Rwanda:promotionandsupportforwomen-runsmallbusinesses

Supportforthelaunchofthefirstcommercialmicroinsuranceproduct in Tunisia

Microleasing for quinoa and dairy producers

Microleasing pilot for the agroindustrial sector

Microleasing pilot at Fundación Campo

Digitalplatformforrotatingsavingsandcreditassociations

Gender-focusedsavings-linkedinsurance

PhoneergonomicstoimproveuptakeofmobilemicroinsuranceinKenya

CareGiverhealthinsuranceroll-outatLeadFoundation

Expandingoutreachofgrouplendingandnon-financialservicestoSyrian women refugees

Strengtheningoutreachtoruralclientswithe-wallets:integratingdisbursements and improving delivery channels structure

Product up-scaling interventions under implementation in 2017

FEW-01

FEW-06

FEW-07

FEW-09

India

Rwanda

Tunisia

Mexico

UtkarshMicroFinance

EquityBankRwanda

EndaInter-arabe

Akiba

Financialeducationforunderservedclients

Fanikisha+:promotionandaccelerationofwomen’sSMEs

FinancialeducationcampaigntosupportthefirstTunisianmicroin-surance product

Financialeducationcampaigntosupportdigitalrotatingsavingsandcreditassociations

Financial education campaigns under implementation in 2017

FSW-14

FSW-15

Bangladesh

Myanmar

SyngentaFoundation

SyngentaFoundation

Feasibility study on agricultural insurance

Feasibility study on agricultural insurance

Feasibility studies under implementation in 2017


18 19


SCBFOPERATIONSSINCEINCEPTIONIN2011–GLOBALOVERVIEW

REGIONSOFIMPLEMENTATION

Asia15%

North Africa15%

Middle East7%



27% Asia29%

North Africa21%

Middle East7%


LatinAmer-ica&the

Caribbean7%

PRODUCTUP-SCALING FEASIBILITYSTUDIES

Asia23%

North Africa23%



15%

FINANCIALEDUCATIONFINANCIALPRODUCTSPERCOUNTRY

Indiv.&grouplending Health

BANKING INSURANCE

MSME lending Credit life plus

Savings Agriculture

Delivery channel Life

Microlending&energy COMBINED

Microlending&housing Savings&insurance

Microlending&water FINANCIALEDUCATION&FEASIBILITYSTUDIES

Microleasing Financialeducation

Money transfers Feasibility study

PRODUCTUP-SCALING

LEGENDS

Jordan Benin Egypt

IvoryCoast

ASIA

Senegal

Nepal

Ethiopia Tunisia

Mali Cambodia

Zambia

Vietnam

Laos

Bolivia

El Salvador

Haiti

Nicaragua

MIDDLE EAST SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA NORTH AFRICA

LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Palestine BurkinaFaso Morocco

Kenya

Bangladesh

Tanzania

Pakistan

Ghana

Rwanda

Myanmar

Mozambique India

Zimbabwe

MalawiEcuador

Guatemala

Mexico

Honduras

Peru


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AL AMANA UP-SCALING HEALTH MICROINSURANCE TO LOW-INCOME CLIENTS IN MOROCCO (2013-05)

Clients come to your institution primarily toapplyforloans.WhywasAlAmanainterestedin also providing insurance and can you layout the unique insurance product that youoffered?Wealreadyhadasolidarityfundwhichisasortof death disability insurance and we saw that health insurance was both desperately needed andlackingamongourclientbase.Tomeetthisneed,wewanted to offer our clients a unique,diversifiedinsuranceproductcombiningthetwo.

Onthehealthinsuranceside,weoffercoverageof up to $500 for the immediate costs of hospitalization,lostincomeduetobeingunabletowork,andacashpayoutincaseofchildbirth.In terms of life insurance we offer a similaramount to cover funeral costs, transportationcosts and related administrative costs. Clientsarecoveredforthedurationoftheir loanandpay roughly $1 per month for coverage.

Thegame-changer forus isourconnectiontolocal assistance providers who can assist our clients inmaking thenecessaryarrangementsin case of illness and death. They also have direct

connections to healthcare personnelwho areable to immediately verify claims, sometimeseven making payouts before clients havemade the claims themselves. Thus, our clients receive two significant benefits: 1) assistanceinnavigatingtheMoroccanhealthcaresystem,and 2) insurance coverage for the costsassociated with this system.

At the sametime,we areworking to expandbeyond our current constraints. As we cannot currently cover long-term illnesses such ascancer, we are exploring how to integrate our offeringwiththesubsidized(butstillrelativelyexpensive) state-based insurance scheme forlow income people.

TayssirAlAmanaisamandatory,value-addedproduct offered to all your credit clients. Doyouthinkavoluntaryhealthinsuranceschemewould have been as successful and can youtalkabouttheroll-outoftheprogram?Wethinkavoluntaryproductwouldnothavebeen as successful for two main reasons. First, insurancecultureisstillnotreallydevelopedinMorocco and many people do not understand why they need insurance or how to use it if they

do have it. Ittooksometimeforouragentsandclients to understand the product well, which is generally the case in inclusive insurance. Second, and perhaps more importantly, adverse selectionisamajorproblemwithanyvoluntaryinsurance scheme. At the moment we are developing a voluntary insurance scheme as well because we think it is a very importantproduct to offer, but the mandatory schemeallowed us to efficiently cover our clientsthrough a group coverage approach.

The biggest challenge was informing people about their rights and obligations. We had avery successful awareness campaign, but we discovered that maintaining flexibility withour clients is just as important as financialeducation. For example, if a client wants tomake a claim, according to our contract itmust be done within 48 hours, but many of our clients forget and call us maybe ten days aftertheincident.Wecannotjustrejectclaimsfor everyone who misses the deadline or we would lose trust.While financial education isnecessary,it is justasimportanttobeflexiblewith one’s clients during the process.

Whatledyoutomovefromhealthinsuranceplans providing individual coverage to plansprovidingfamilycoverage?The difference in price was very small so weknewthischangewouldnothitourclientshardon the cost side. More importantly, we were very excited to be able to provide coverage to all of the family members of our clients, which wehave foundmakes it easier for families tounderstand when they can and cannot makeclaims. This was a win-win-win: our clientsdid not feel a big price increase, we expanded insurance coverage, and we simplified theclaim process.

INTERVIEWS

SinceTayssirAlAmanawasintroduced,insu-ranceclaimshavesteadilyrisenwhilerejectedclaimshavesteadilyfallen,showingthatyourclientsincreasinglyappreciateandunderstandtheproduct.Whatisdrivingthistrend?Yes,theclientexperienceisbetterthanbefore,as is the experience of our agents. One aspect of this I alreadymentioned –we aremakingmore commercial decisions and being more flexible with our clients. This keeps themsatisfied and appreciative of the insuranceproducts.Anotheraspectissimplythatastimegoes by people understand the idea behind the insurancebetterandouragentsdevelopbetterrelationshipswithourclients.

How has introducing the health insuranceproduct impacted the loan operations of AlAmana?There has not been a big impact. The mandatory insurance offering was truly innovative whenwebeganofferingtheproductandatfirst,wehadarealstrategicadvantage.Itonlytookafewmonths before our competitors approachedus and said that they would copy the product. WesaidOK,good luck toyou,andnowmostMoroccan MFIs offer an insurance productsimilar to ours.

Interview with Youssef Bencheqroun, CEO of Al Amana Association


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SCALING UP MOBILE BANKING:DELIVERING SOCIAL BENEFITS TO RURAL AREAS IN MOROCCO BY AL BARID BANK (2013-08)

Interview with Rédouane Najm-Eddine, CEO of Al Barid Bank

So while this changed the Moroccan micro-insurance market more generally, it did notaffect our operations verymuch because ourcompetitorssawthepotentialandquicklymadethisastandardproductoffering.PeopleoutsideMoroccoareoftensurprisedthatIamsohappyabout this, but it is a result of the special relationship thatwehave in themicrofinanceindustryinMorocco–wearecompetitorsandwefighthardforourmarketshare,butwearein thisbusiness tohelppeople,not justmakeaprofit.Soifmycompetitorscopiedaproductthat improves people’s lives, how could I beanything but content?

What advice would you give toMr. KarimFanous,theCEOofLeadFoundationandoneofSCBF’spartners,inreplicatingyourfamilyinsurancecoverageschemeinEgypt?Myfirstpieceofadviceisrelatedtothelastquestion: it isextremely important tofindagood partnership with an “agile “ insurer that is results-minded and has a win-win vision.Part of the story of our success is without a doubt the relationship we have with ourinsurance partner.

Second, Iwould say try to enter into directrelationships with medical assistance provi-ders.Havingastrongconnectiontoambulancecompanies, clinics and call centers is another potential win-win: insurance providers canoffer clients additional services and simplifyclaim verification, while these medicalassistanceprovidersaremorelikelytoreceivethe proper payment for their services.

Morocco has a rate of financial inclusionamong the highest in the region, much ofthatthankstotheworkofAlBaridBank.Towhatdoyouattributethissuccess?The successofAlBaridBank isdue in largeparttothehighconfidenceourclientsaccordto the Postal Group. Having inherited the financialservicesofferedbythePostalGroup,theMoroccanPostalBankwasabletoprofitfrom its own notoriety as well as from the image of its Postal Group more generally. In fact, the Postal Bank has an expansivenetwork, covering almost all corners of theKingdom, which allows us to be in proximity of our Moroccan countrymen, even in rural areas. Finally, we modernised our ITsystemsandcreatedinnovativeandattractiveproducts.

WhydidyoufocusondeployingBaridCashkiosks in rural areas as a pillar of yourstrategytoexpandfinancialinclusion?The purpose of the deployment of Barid Cash kiosks was to reinforce the already densenetwork of Al Barid Bank. The proximity ofthe Barid Cash network to poor and ruralcommunities will allow us to offer themproducts and banking services even moreadapted to their specific needs. In theframeworkofanew lawregardingpaymentinstitutions, Barid Cash could, in the nearfuture, commercialise accounts and new monetary products.

After three years of collaborationwith theSCBF, what were the biggest success andchallenges,andhowcanSCBFbettersupportinstitutionslikeAlBaridBank?WecanaffirmthatthedifferentcollaborationsthroughwhichtheSCBFaidedAlBaridBankwere all very important for our development. Ouronly“frustration“wouldbethat there-gulatory context evolved during these pro-jects inawaythatwasnotbeneficial totheprojectsthatwewereputtinginplaceatthetime.

As farasadvice,wecanoffer the following:it would be judicious, before any project, to run diagnostics in order to anticipatechallenges, consider potential projectimpacts, and evaluate the suitability of each projectforeachspecificcontext.Inaddition,we believe that it is important to avoid as muchaspossibleduplicatingprojects in toosimilar a manner from one region to another. Evenifthisapproachwasfruitfulelsewhere,each context potentially requires a uniqueapproach.

Inyouropinion,whatistheroleoffinancialeducation in projects that target financialinclusion?AtAlBaridBank,wehaveafirmconvictionthatfinancial education constitutes a fundamental prerequisite for financial inclusion. Ourpoorestclientsneedtotakeconsciousnessof

Theintroductionofadata-basedperformancemonitoring system is credited as a criticalpartofyoursuccess.Canyougiveaconcreteexampleofhowthissystemimprovedopera-tions?Themost importantaspectofourdata-basedperformance system is that it drives an “open book”policywithour insurancepartner,AnthSaham. In other words, we are extremelytransparent with our insurance partner, which builds trust on both sides, and allows us to reactquicklytochangesontheground.WecannegotiatewithAnthSahamtochangeguaranteeamountsandensureprofitabilityforbothofusinthefaceofacomplicatedinsurancemarket.

Inaddition,thetrustandtransparencybetweenus and our insurance partner streamlines the claims process, making it faster and morereliable for our clients.

Photos©Women´sWorldBanking/AliceDufour-Feronce


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Mobilebankingserviceshavebecomemoreandmore popular over the last few years,yetatthesametimeithasbecomeclearthatmobilebankingservicesandmobilepaymentservicesarenot synonymouswithfinancialinclusion.Whyisaccesstoamobilebankingorpaymentsystemnotalready«inclusive»enough and howdidAl Barid Bank handlethisfact?True, putting in place a mobile paymentsystem cannot be the only avenue by which people become banked. A client can usea mobile payment system without really understanding the need to be bankedor the benefits of financial products andservices.ManyregionsofSub-SaharanAfricademonstrate this: mobile payment systems arewidespreadandfunctionwell,buttheuseofbankingservicesisverylow.

Instituting a global ecosystem is necessary,along with the proper legal framework. Amobile payment system should be properly designed such that users have access to an arrayofotherfinancialproductsandservices.Wemustaddthatanadaptedandaccessiblepricing system is extremely important for clients.

It is by understanding the entire ecosystemand by devoting the resources necessaryto accompany clients through financialeducationprogramsthatfinancialinclusionisaccomplished.This istheapproachtakenbyAlBaridBankaswedevelopedour strategyto expand financial inclusion in Morocco,and especially accelerate this process among people with low and irregular incomes.

Interview with Christian Sinobas, CEO of KiWi

the utility of the products and services thatare available, and more importantly, how they can use these products to advance their own life projects. It is thus primordialto explain to these clients first how usefultheseproductsareandhowbeing“banked”is to their advantage. For this reason, Al Barid Bankhasalwaysmadefinancialeducationapillarofourfinancialinclusionefforts.

DidAlBaridBankputinplacesuchfinancialeducation programs as part of its strategyforimprovingaccesstobankingservices?Yes, for the above reason we developed a number of financial education programswhichwetransmittedthroughdifferentdeli-very channels for diverse target audiences. Oneexampleofhowweintegratedfinancialeducation into our product offerings is asavings account for young people – “TawfirAl Ghad” - to which we added a financialeducationprogram.Thecentralpieceofthisprogramisaseriesofshorteducationalvideoson YouTube in which actors demonstrate how to handle every-day life situations in afiscallyadvantageousway.Wealsoconceivedtwo programs, one television and one radio, in which experts give advice on budget management, expense planning, and the role ofbankinginpeoples’lives.

In five years, what products do you thinkwill bemost important for Al Barid Bank’sfinancialinclusionstrategy?In an era of increasing digitalization, weare supporting the development of mobilebankingtospearheadoureffortstoimprovefinancialinclusion.Atthesametime,weneedto ensure that clients have access to other financial products and services adapted totheirneeds.Wethinkonepromisingexampleof this is the combination of banking andinsurance,whichprovidesaneededfinancialservice alongside amore traditional mobilebankingoffering.

KiWi eKIOSK: PIONEERING INTEGRATED CARDS AND MOBILE PAYMENTS FOR MERCHANTS IN MOROCCO(2014-03 & FEW-04)

WhatisyourvisionfortheKiWie-Kioskappli-cationandhowdideachof itskeyfeaturesfitintothisvision?Ourvisionistobuildafullyfunctionalplatformthat supports merchants as they build a strong business. The main features for now are e-payments, loan operations, a digital cashregisterapplication,dataanalyticsandairtimetop-ups. Due to the growth of credit, debitand prepaid cards in the emerging world, far outstripping the use of mobile payments for non-airtime transactions, we see our valueas enabling merchants to become points of service (POS) for these cards as well as toofferthemafullsuiteofservicesthatwouldnormally be reserved for corporate chains.

This application is designed for small scalemerchants, so can you talk more aboutthe people forwhom your applicationwastailoredandtherevenuestreamsyouhopeditwouldopenforthem?Hairdressers, taxi drivers, door-to-doorsales people are just some of our users: we havea verydiverse clientbase!Thebiggestrevenue stream we want to open for them is to allow them to be points of service for card payments. The upfront investment and maintenance costs inherent in traditional card readers are beyond the capability

ofmostmerchants–similarforacashregister,which can be expensive and unwieldy and perceived as not worth the investment.

Through our application, merchants canbenefitfromtheinsightsthatwegleanfromthe data entered into the cash register and collected through the electronic payment system, allowing merchants to optimizeexistingrevenuestreams.Wealsoopendoorstoothersourcesofrevenue,suchasairtimetop-ups, and we are developing productsfor our merchants to sell directly to their customers.

Talkaboutsomeofthe“frictions”encounteredduring roll-out of the application and thekindofsupportMoroccanmerchantsaskedKiWitoprovide.We never really managed to push the fullapplication in Morocco, but tests revealedthat in general merchants were still veryreluctant to use the technology compared to their counterparts in Latin America or Asia.They constantly challenged the applicationandshowedthata lotofworkwasrequiredfromusinordertomakeitreallyeasytouseand useful for Moroccan merchants.

Photo©AlBaridBank


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This was our first launch and especially sinceitwasinadifficultmarketwherepeopleare reticent to quickly adapt technologywereally improvedourvalueoffering thanks toour customers. The lessons that we learned, andfeaturesweadded,duetothefeedbackwe received in Morocco were key to oursuccess in Mexico.

Whydidyouincludefinancialeducationasakeycomponentofyourstrategyandhowdidyouplantointegrateitintoyouroperations?We have a unique approach to financialeducation. Often, financial education is atop-downsystemthatresultsinasomewhatpaternalistic attitude towards merchants indeveloping countries. We wanted to takea different approach: financial education isimportantformicro-merchantstounderstandhow payments work, how the applicationworks,etc, so that they can takeownershipoftheserviceweoffer,makingthebestuseofit,andevenprovidingusqualityfeedbacktocontinueimprovingit.Ontopofthat,onceyouhavedataontransactionsandproducts,you can use analytics to show merchantstailored information to guide them towardefficiency,productivity,betterpricing,and,ofcourse,cashflowmanagement.

As we know, regulatory risk is always adanger, but why are start-ups, and fintechstarts-up in particular, especially exposedto regulatory risk? What advice do youhave for implementers responding to suchimpediments?A6-monthdelayisahugethreatforastart-up’s cash flow, while corporates can losemoney on a project for years. This can be very hard to predict, and it is important to use the key strength of a start-up, quick reactivity,to maximum advantage. Obviously, that is toogeneral,but it isdifficult togiveadvice:lookatUber,didtheycareaboutregulation?Sometimesthingswentwrongforthem,butitmainlywentwell.OnepieceofadviceIcangive to other start-ups is that it is better tobereadytopivotquicklythantospendalotofmoneyandtimeonresolvingcomplicated,unforeseen regulatory challenges.

KiWi – MAKING FINTECH WORK FOR MICRO-MERCHANTS IN MEXICO: HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN TRASFORM THE INCLUSIVE FINANCE INDUSTRY (2016-01)

Interview with Christian Sinobas, CEO of KiWi

What was the “minimum viable product”with which KiWi initially launched opera-tions inMexico, and howdid KiWi changethe value proposition to suit the needs ofMexicanmicro-merchants?We used the same basic application wepioneeredinMoroccoandaddedmorefunc-tionality, especially on the e-payment side.The keynew featurewas the integrationofof a debit/credit/prepaid card reader withmobile phones, allowingmerchants to pro-cess card payments.

Wemade many other changes, week afterweek, but not really because of Mexico: itwasmore becausewe keep learning aboutwhatmerchants’needs.Ithinkthatwhatwedo in Mexico will be highly replicable.

Howdoes the e-payment system synergizewithKiWi’sloanprogram?Nodoubtaboutthis,itisfantastic!First,itisthe endof the informationasymmetry thathaspreventedmicrofinanceinstitutionsfromexpanding operations. We have cash flowdatageneratedthroughuseoftheapplicationwhich gives us a unique insight into the repayment capabilities of our clients. Thisdata can be used for much more than that, and we recently began a partnership with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)andDLABtoexploretheanalyticsthatwecanofferourclients.

Second, as card payments made through the applicationandthecardreaderaresent

through KiWi, we can automatically withholdthe loan repayment simplifying life for both us and our clients.

KiWiMexico initiallypartneredwithMexicanMFIs,thenquicklychangedstrategytocreatepartnershipswithdirect sales companiesandconsumer packaged goods distributors. Canyouexplainthereasoningbehindthisshift?And after that we finally decided to focus ondigital sales, mainly through Facebook! It isdifficult to ask a loan officer to sell multipleproducts; this is one of the main reasons why it did not work with MFIs. In fact, I actuallythink the value of partnerships in general isoverestimated.We found thatevenwhenyousign a contract and get the CEO enthusiastic,youhaveonlydone10%oftheworkrelatedtomakingthepartnershipfruitful.Inhindsightwefelt that thiswas not really themost efficientuseofourtimeandresourcessowelookedatSiliconValleystart-upsandsaid: let’sgodirectand digital.

In fact, Iseeahugerole fordigitaladvertisingand outreach campaigns in general and especially through Facebook, due to its ever-growingpresenceinMexicoandLatinAmerica.

Photos©KiWi


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Still,forthetypeofserviceKiWioffersacrossthe geographical span in which we want to offer it, I think the flexibility and reactivityofour start-upattitude is ahugeadvantagecomparedtoestablishedinstitutions,eveniftheyhavemorefinancing.

Merchants’ financial data generated byKiWi’s tool couldgive themaccess to retailbanks, perhaps bypassing traditionalMFIs altogether. How does this fit withinKiWi’s broader financial inclusion strategy,and could this impact KiWi’s own lendingservices?True, the data that we generate and capture could put merchants on the path to retail banks.Atthesametime,westilldon’tknowifwewillpartnerwithbanksorcontinuetogivethe loans ourselves as it is not clear if the move willbenefiteitherusorourclients.Rightnow,ourdirect lendingoperationsaregoingwellandwearenothappywithnegotiationswithbanks -wedoeverythingandgetvery littlefrom them.At the sametime, I thinkmanyof our clients are happy with the services we offer,andIdonotbelievetheywouldreceiveabetter-qualityloanfromatraditionalMexicanretailbank.

WhydidyouchooseMexicotobethesecondcountry (afterMorocco) of implementationforKiWi’se-kioskapplicationandwhatothermarketsareyouplanningtoenter?Mexico is great for a few reasons. There are many acquiring banks so we avoided theproblems we encountered due to monopolies preventingmarketentryinMorocco.Also,wesee demand for our products: there are many merchantsandmanycredit&debitcards,butfew points of service in poor urban and rural areas for people to use these cards.

Next,wemightgoregional(Colombia)orjustpick another hugemarket elsewhere in theworld.

How do you keep your customers activelyengagedinusingtheapplication?Wewanttoavoidthehighnumberofempty/neverusedbankaccountsthataresocommonamong savings operations in emergingcountries. Many people receive their salary electronically, there has been enormous progress on this in the last few years, yet they immediately run to the ATM and withdraw as muchofitaspossible–oftenthisisdifficultdue to everyone doing this at the same timeanddraining local banks andATMs. Toaccustom merchants to keeping money intheiraccounts,KiWiaddstheamountsdozensof times per day, so thatmerchants alwayshave money in their account even if they try to empty it. This will encourage people to use their savings account more.

On a more general note, we have a project called “love by process.” It is all aboutautomation and usage patterns detection.The partnership I mentioned with the EPFLandDLABisapartofthisaswell.Wewanttodevelopanalyticsandservicesthataredonealgorithmically, so that we can easily offermillions of clients quality insights that they canusetoimprovetheirbusiness.WeapplythisprocesstotheapplicationitselfsothatwecanadaptthefunctionalityforourclientsandenabletobenefitasmuchaspossiblefromitwithoutrequiringthemtobeanITspecialist.

Asanearlystagestart-upwhatadvantagesdoesthisgiveyoucomparedtoestablishedactors in either the private sector, thenon-profit sector or the public sector?Disadvantages?Our biggest advantage is that we can react quicklytoobstaclesthatcomeupandmakesignificant changes to our operations inresponse to needs from the ground. At the sametime,wedonothavetheresourcesofa large,establishedorganizationandweareforced to spend a certain amount of these resources looking for money instead ofperfectingourproduct.

Interview with Alexandre Berthaud, CEO of E-Savings.club

E-TONTINE FOR LA POSTE DU BÉNIN(2015-01)

Whatisa“Tontine”andhowwidespreadisitinBeninandtheregion?“Tontine” is a French word which encom-passes different types of informal savingsmechanisms in francophone Africa. The “Tontines mutuelles” are rotating savingsand credit associations (ROSCAs) which arewidespread in the developing world. However, intheparticularcontextoffrancophoneWestAfrica,“Tontine”canalso refer to the“Susucollector”scheme.

The Susu collector is an informal mechanism mostcommoninWestAfricawhereapersoncollects savings on a regular basis (usuallydaily)fromtheirclients.Thesavingscyclelastsfor a month with the Susu collector coming to the client’s doorstep or shop to collect the daily savings contribution, in exchange formarking a cross in a paper passbook. Oncethepassbookisfull,typicallyafter31days,heor she reimburses the client’s month worth of savings minus a fee which corresponds to one dayofsavings.This isthe“Tontine”thatwehavedigitizedandformalizedinBenin.

When you began creating the “E-Tontine,”why did you think “leveraging, digitizingand improving existing, well-entrenchedinformalfinancialpractices”wouldbemoresuccessfulthanadoptingimportedfinancialproductsandservices?Benin is one of the poorest countries in the world and onewith extremely lowfinancialinclusionlevels.Bankshavebeenoperating

in the country for at least a century and yet thevastmajorityofpeopleremainunbanked.However, when you go to the markets andspeaktothewomensellingtheirproduceyourealizethatpeoplearenottotallyfinanciallydisenfranchised because they rely on informal traditionalmechanismslikethetontine.

Coming from a financial inclusion (FI) back-ground as a lead FI expert at the UnitedNations and the World Bank, I have seenmany approaches to banking the unbankedfail inthe“GlobalSouth”.Myunderstandingis that we have failed to address the cultural part of finance. We keep trying to exporta European/American way of conceivingfinance to countries which are culturallydifferent. For instance, in most countriesin Latin America, Africa and Asia, finance isconceived in a collectivemanner, not as anindividualprocesslikeinEurope.

Haveyouidentifiedotherinformalfinancialpracticesthatcanbesimilarlyformalized?Yes,wehaveidentifiedseveralotherinformalandtraditionalfinancialpracticesthatcanbeformalized and actually we have formalizedthemindifferentpartsoftheworld.

For instance, we have digitized the ROSCAwhich,asmentionedabove,isawidespreadpractice in LatinAmerica,Africa,MENAandAsia. More precisely, we adapted the bidding ROSCA, a special type of ROSCA which is


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client on their feature phone this could have beenanobstacle.However,wesoonrealizedthis was not a major impediment to growth.

First, clients trusted the SMS reaching their phone as a sign even if they could not read it fully. Second, while literacy is not widespread, essential numeracy is, meaning most usersknowhowtoreadnumbers.

On top of this, the fact that the service was provided by the post office meant clientscouldgototheir localpostofficeandchecktheir balance in person, helping build trust.

Customers clearly valued the developmentofapersonal,face-to-facerelationshipwithagents.Whydoyouthinkthiswasimportantto them and how did you keep costs lowwhileprovidingcustomerswiththisservice?In my view, finance is about building trust,beitatanexclusiveprivatebankinZurichorinamarketinPortoNovo.Tobuildtrustyouneed to build a rapport with the client and thisisparticularlythecasewithlow-income,illiteratemicro-entrepreneurs.

Moreover, local financial culture dependsa lot on building trusted relationships, aspeople already do with the Susu collector, so we replicated this feature completely. But it is worthnoting that themostproductivefieldofficers were the ones that were better atestablishing an almost friendship rapport with their customers. Clients said they appreciate dealing with their field officers especiallyoncetheygottoknowthebesttimetostopby their shop to collect deposits. So it is not just about being a friendly character, it is also adaptingtotheneedsofthecustomertothepointthatyouarriveattherighttime.

Face-to-face interaction is expensive ingeneral. In the case of the E-Tontine wepushed for higher productivity by creatingroutes for the field officers and encouragedthem to concentrate on certain areas.

What led uptake to be higher amongfemale merchants than among their malecounterparts?Indeed,twothirdsofuserswerewomenand85%weremicro-entrepreneurswhichisquitea feat. There were two things at play here to achieve that result:

• Specific targeting of these segments: Weagreed with the Post that our E-Tontineproduct would specifically target womenmicro-entrepreneurs in markets where thePost’s financial services were not as present as inother segments.Otherpostal financialservices require the customer to go to the postofficeduringopeninghours,somethingmostmarketsellerscannotdobecausetheycannot leave their stand. Thus, by offeringa service on their doorstep we were able to includethesemicro-entrepreneurwomen.• Demography: In Benin, most sellers inmarketsarewomen.Sincethepurposeoftheproductwastooffertheproducttoinformalsellers in markets and shop-keepers on thesideoftheroad,itmakessensethatwehadsuch a high participation of women amongcustomers.

considered to be the best way to pool and allocatecapitalincapital-scarceenvironments.Bidding ROSCAs are the traditional way ofsaving and lending in groups in East Asia.

Ontopofthat,wehavedigitizedtheaccumu-latingsavingsandcreditassociations (ASCA)inMexico. InMexicothesearecalled“Cajasde ahorro de trabajadores” or employeesavingsfundsandarealegalbenefitofferedby employers to their employees. In mostcases, these employee savings funds have not changedoverthepast50years.WedigitizedthemthankstothesupportoftheSCBF,thusimproving employee financial well-beingthrough improved and affordable access todigitalsavingsandloans.OurapplicationforemployeesavingsfundsiscalledAkiba.

WasBenin’slowlevelofliteracyanobstacletoadoptionof theE-Tontineproductand ifso,whatwasyour strategy forovercomingit?Literacyleveldoesindeedaffecttheadoptionof new technologies; however, we were surprised to discover that the impact was less thanexpected.Ladiessellinginmarketstallsin Benin are in many cases illiterate. Since our system was based on a SMS reaching the


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Trust in state institutions is not uniformlyhigh.Why do you think La Poste du BéninwastrustedamongBenineseandwouldtheprojecthavebeenpossiblewithoutsuchaninstitution?Clearlystateinstitutionsindevelopingcoun-triesarenotnecessarilyhighlytrusted.How-ever, in the case of Benin the Post is a trusted institution. Indeed, it is one of the oldestinstitutions and one that has been closeto people with 100+ branches spread outthroughoutthecountryandofferingfinancialservices to more than 500,000 people.

Without a trusted partner like the Post, theproject would not have been feasible. Actually, when we launched the pilot and went to the markettoexplaintheproductthemerchantswere extremely distrusting. They did notbelieve that we were from the Post. They literally said: “Anyone can buy a shirt with the PostlogoandsaytheycomefromthePost.”

Unfortunately, there have been many scams inBeninwithfraudulentinstitutionssendingfieldofficerstomarketstocollectdeposits

andpeopleatthebottomofthepyramidhavelost a lot of money to these scams so they areafraid.Inthatcontextastart-upcompanyoffering the services on its own would nothave had a chance or would have had to spend millions in building trust.

HasthesuccessoftheE-Tontineprogramledto other MFIs entering the newly-createdE-Tontinemarket?During the course of the project a private sectorMFIinBenincontactedthePosttoaskthemiftheycouldrenttheE-Tontineproductto them.

Sincewelaunchedtheproject,manyMFIsinWestAfricaarelookingforsolutionstodigitizetheTontineproductandwebelievethereisabigmarketforourE-Tontineplatformnotonlyin Benin but across West Africa in French-speakingcountries like IvoryCoast, Senegal,Mali or Burkina Faso, but also Nigeria andGhanaamongtheEnglish-speakingcountries.In all these countries the Susu collectors(“Tontiniers”)arewidespreadintheinformalsector.

BUILDING CAPACITY TO DEVELOP A SMALL BUSINESS LOAN PORTFOLIO OF ALLIANCE FOR MICROFINANCE IN MYANMAR(2015-07)

InterviewwithKimGuenkel,CEOofAllianceforMicrofinanceinMyanmar

Howdidyouidentifytheuntappeddemandfortheproductofferedbythesmallenterpriseloanprogramandareyousurprisedatallbyitssuccess?Before launching small enterprise (SE) loanswe conducted detailed market researchand found that a vibrant small business sector existed, especially in the area of light manufacturing, textile productionand services, and that this group of clients was largely under-served by the finance orbanking sector. Sowewere certain there isa strong demand for such a product, but we areneverthelessverysatisfiedtoseethattheexpectedresultsmaterialized.

Describethe“typical”recipientofthesmallenterpriseloanprogram,andhowdoesthiscomparewitha“typical”clientoftheinitialgrouplendingprogram?A good example of an SE client is the owner of a computer weaving machine. The assets and therefore the capital requirements for such a businessaremuchhigherthanfortraditionalhandweaving machines, the typical recipients ofagrouploan.Italsorequiresmorefinancial,operational and IT skill to manage such abusinesscomparedtothetraditionalweaver.So the average SE client tends to be more educated and has more bargaining power in thetextilevaluechain.

As you expand the small enterprise loanprogram further into rural areas, whatchanges in your operationalmodel, if any,areyouanticipating?The SE market in rural areas is naturallysmallerandtendstobelinkedtoagriculture,which stillemploys70%of theworkforce inMyanmar. We do not foresee any changesin the operating model, but might need toshift the client focus from production andservices towards trading and processing in the agriculture sector. This also requires developing a deeper understanding of these sectors,valuechainsandrisksinruralareas.

Photos©Akiba


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88%ofclientsare“satisfied”or“verysatis-fied” and repeat clients have been key toincreasingaverageloanamounts,whicharebelowinitialprojections.Howimportantarerepeat clients to your business model andwhat is your strategy to keep them withAlliance?For the growth of the loan portfolio andefficiencygains,clientloyaltyisofkeyimpor-tance.Tomakesurewekeepourclientswefocusonprovidingeasyandflexibleproducts,fast delivery, and, most importantly, building effective relations. This starts withsignificant investments in the skills of ourstaff, developing structured communicationprocessesandensuringefficientdelivery.

Now that competitors in the microfinancesector are offering comparable offers, howwill you translate Alliance’s first-moveradvantage into continued market leader-ship?We are conducting extensive research onclientsandcompetitors.Sofarclientfeedbackandmarketdataconfirmthatinourpresentmarket being positioned around strongcommunication, easy and flexible products,fastdelivery,andstrongrelations,workswell.Weareconfidentthatwithfocusanddeliveryin these areas, clients will help us maintain our market leadership. We, nevertheless,cannot rest on past and present success and continue tomonitor themarket and clientsto further refine our products and services.Wealsorecentlylaunchedamajormarketinginitiativetovisiblysignalourleadership.

Howdoyouensure loan repayment in lieuofthegroup-basedaccountabilitysystemofthe“GrameenModel”andgivenMyanmar’stightlyregulatedmicrofinancesector, inclu-dinganear-banontheuseofcollateralformicroloans?WhilecollateralisusedtypicallyinSElendingas a psychological means of pressure, it is rarely enforced. So not being allowed to takecollateral isaproblemforus,butnotamajorone,aswecanfallbackonanumberof safeguards built into the SE loan process. The biggest incentive to pay back for an SEclient is getting a new loan with a higheramount. Our graduation principle and feestructureemphasizeandincentivizeclientstobuildmutuallybeneficial long-termbusinessrelations.Intherarenumberofcaseswherewedohavepaymentdifficulties,wecan fallback on familymembers, business partnersand guarantors who all get involved in the appraisal process to strengthen their sense of responsibility for the loan. In somecaseswe also tap into the social fabric of Myanmar which has a strong culture of honoring obligationsandworkwithcommunityleaderssuchasward/villageadministratorsorBudd-hist monks. Pursuing legal action is a lastresort, but this has not yet been necessary.

Howdidyoureducestaffturnoverratesfrom43%to13%andhowimportantwasthistothesuccessoftheproject?Threeyearsago staff rotationwasa seriousproblem, so we sat together with our stafftocomeupwitharoadmaptoimprovestaffsatisfaction.Webrought salaryandbenefitstoamorecompetitive level,developedtrai-ning packages, and established a clear andtransparent career path and employment policies. Step by step our staff developedmoretrustintheorganisationandthegrowthandthepromotionsthatcomewithitdidtherest.Todaywehaveoneoftheloweststaffrotations(7%), attractive compensation packages andhighest staff satisfaction in the Myanmarmicrofinancesector.

Interview with Marc Tison, Founder of Zingsure

ZINGSURE READY TO UP-SCALE MICROINSURANCE IN PARTERNSHIP WITH FAITH-BASED AFFINITY GROUPS IN ZIMBABWE(2016-02)

InsureCo was Zingsure’s first launch andwas the very first recipient of Zimbabwe’snewmicroinsurance license, in the contextof Zimbabwe having only a 2-3% rate ofinsurance penetration.What gave you theconfidence to launch Zingsure in such adifficultmarket?Idonotthinkwewereconfident.Ithinkwewere just brave.

Onaseriousnote,weknewitwasnevergoingtobeeasy,butweknewwewouldlearnalotfrom Zimbabwe, which we could apply to other territories. Today our choice has been vindicated. These learnings are already being applied in our other territories.

We are an agile business. It’s our ability toadapt fast and to recover fast that sets us apart. Fortunately, we had support from our shareholders to explore new blue ocean territories(i.e.untappednewmarketspacesripeforgrowth).

In the case of Zimbabwe, we partneredwith large faith-based affinity groups (AG),representingmorethan6millionpeople.Weare providing these people with exclusive access to insurance and banking. This willwithout any doubt have an impact on insurancepenetrationrates.Itisalsowhytheregulator was so excited by what we were doing andwhywe are the first recipient ofthis category of license.

WhatsetsZingsureapartfromconventionalinsurers?Wedifferonfourmainfronts:• We are different in that our shareholdersdonotcomefirst.Societyandtheirmembersdo.Iguessinawaywearemovingbacktoamutual mind set. • Committingtoamutualmindsetcostsmoremoney for shareholders because one has to invest traditionalprofitmargin in society.The only way one can do this is to be highly efficientsothatonecanshareinthesavingsachieved. We significantly outperform allexpenseratiosandsoarehighlyefficient.• Our early research showed that customers hate insurance companies, mostly because of how they experience a claim. Therefore, we invented a newway to process claims (thisisnowafiledpatent in severalSub-Saharanterritories)thatallowsustoprocessatermlifeclaiminfiveminutes.Thisisfromnotificationtopayment!• The legacy insurers believe insurance has to besold.Afewareexploringwaystoshiftthisso customers buy insurance.We have gonebeyond this point and can offer insuranceperpetually for free.

Asaveryearlyentranttothemarket,howmuch of a role do you play in shaping themicroinsuranceenvironmentinZimbabwe?Itwasenormouslydifficult if Ithinkbackonthis.We had to win over the minds of theZimbabwe government and the insurance

Photos©AllianceforMicrofinanceinMyanmar


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uniquely. On the other hand, we are able to priceforriskonagroupbasismakingproductsmoreaffordable.

We do place a lot of emphasis on customersegmentation(as Isaidwehavedefinedfourpersonas),wherewefocusonthemidfound-ationtothemid-massmarketincomesegmentin order to understand spending behaviours andwants.Wespendalotoftimeinthefieldsecuring feedback from the market. Armedwith this data, we are able to create a customer valueproposition(CVP)thataimstodelightmost of our customers in our target segment. Wesee insuranceasa journey forour targetmarket.Westartoutbyprovidingcovertothemainmemberofeachfamily.Thereafter,theycan increasecoveror lookatprovidingmorecover for their loved ones.

Ourbenefitsarepaidincash(electronicmo-ney). The primary purpose is to provide forfuneralexpenses.Thismakesitfareasierforus to process a claim for a customer living in ruralareas(opposedtothedelaysassociatedwith delivering a funeral service). As longas they have cell phone coverage, they will get their money paid instantly and can then spendthisanywhereusingtheirbankcardorat a Zing merchant.

Going self-directonamobilephone soundsgreat, but it’s not where these customers will start the journey. The challenge with the emerging customer segment is that they needtobeassistedinitiallyandthiscomesata significant cost if we assume this requires branches, agents and call centres. Again, the only way this can be delivered is to introduce efficiencies elsewhere into the business.

A big part of our product design is about how efficientwecanbesothatwecanaffordtoblendanassistedmodel(brancheswithtiedagents and a call centre) with a self-direct(mobileandInternet)model.Weareabletodoboth successfully. For example in Zimbabwe, wewillberollingout84brancheswithatiedagentworkforce,haveacallcentreinplaceandalsohaveamobileapplication.

At the centre of all design is to truly understand theCVPandtoensureonehasthenecessaryefficienciestoprovidebothanassistedandaself-directedservice.

In 2017, therewere several new insuranceproducts and services coming down thepipeline: canyougiveusa fewupdatesontheirdevelopmentandroll-out?Ourmodelwillalwayspayoutacashbenefitdirectlytothebeneficiarynominatedbythemain member.

Our license dictates what products we can distribute and controls what risks we cancover e.g. death, injury or loss of property.

Ourmicroinsurancelicenseallowsustopro-vide both term life and general insurance coverandsowecancovermostrisksaslongasthecoverfitswithinthelimitsofcoverwecanprovide.Inourcasecoverrangesfromaslittleas25to4’000USD.

So it is really a simple product, but there is so much we can do around pricing this for specific insuredevents.Forexample,weareengaging with a bus company to provide cover for their commuters in the event that they die whilst travelling. At the same time, wecan provide for injury so people who survive an accident can get cash to pay towards their medical costs.

Extended family life cover is already bolted into our existing value proposition. Thisincludes additional cover plus covers thespouse, children, the parents of the main memberand/orspouseandextendedfamily.The product is designed in such a way that

regulator. They had to understand that we weredoing this tomakeamacrodifferenceto the economy.

Iwasaskedtospeakatamicroinsurancecon-ference (before this category of license wasavailable)andsoonafterthistheCommissioneraskedustocommentonthedraftframework.Many of our comments ended up being adopted inthemicroinsurancepolicyframework.

Zimbabwe’sMicroinsurance FrameworkwasformallyadoptedinJuly2017.WewereissuedwiththefirstlicenseinOctober2017.Wehavesince assisted the Malawian government with theirmicroinsuranceframework.

Whydoyouthinkfaith-basedaffinitygroupsmake good distribution partners for groupinsuranceschemesandhowdidyouearnthetrustofchurchleadership?We discovered that faith-based affinitygroupsaregreatathandlingspiritualmatters!Unfortunately, most lack business acumenandarenotgooddistributionpartners. Thisisoneofthekeylessonswelearned.Wehadto shift and take control of distribution andcollections.

As you rightly point out, trust is at the heart of it all. You have to have genuine intent to createsocialandeconomicupliftment.Theseare not the things a traditional insurancebusiness does. They cost more money and further reduce profit margins, whichtraditionalshareholdersdonotwant.

Wediscoveredthatmicroinsuranceandeco-nomic development must go hand in hand. Microinsurance cannot work without aninvestment in economic development. Weneed to protect savings on the one hand, but also create the ability for people to enhance their lives, thus we developed a concept of a “life value proposition” and got to knowa lot more about the lives of these people and their daily struggles. We now havefour personas identified for each segmentof customers in these faith-based affinitygroups.

The leadership of these faith-based affinitygroups have endorsed us as a company becausetheyseeagenuineattempttomakea difference in the lives of their members.Wehavestartedcoveringfaith-basedaffinitygroup members in Harare and the excitement we see in their bishops and how highly they speakofustotheirmembers iswhatdrivesustoworkeachday.Wehavehisblessingandendorsement and because of that members want to engage and do business with us, knowingeverytimetheyspendmoneywithusasignificantpartofthatwillbeploughedback into the social and economic uplift oftheircommunities.

Weneedtokeepinvestinginthistrust.Trustisearnedoveralongtime.

Can you outline Zingsure’s life insurancescheme and talk about the process ofdesigning life insurance for rural clients?Although our model operates on the surface likeatraditionalgroupscheme,wearereallyanindividualmodel.Hencewetalkofgroup-individual. This is a key point of departure,because in order to become a participantin financial services, we must know yourcustomer (KYC). A client on our platformis KYC’d and we deal with each customer


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We have calculated that it costs a societywith 1 million members about $6m to bury theirlovedonesperyear.Ifthismoneywasinvested back into these societies, imaginehow many schools and clinics one could build.

Inclusive finance for us means customerswho have access to banking, lending andinsurance. Microinsurance forms an integral partofthisofferingjustlikemicrolendingandmicrobankingdo.

Why lead with microinsurance? I am oftenasked this. The customerswillwant to lendfirst.Thethingisaninsurancebusinesseshasthe ability to create capital. Capital is what isrequiredtodevelopfullfinancialinclusionofferingandsoitmakessenseforustostartthere.

Thereareexcitingdevelopmentsinourbusi-ness to land a fully financial inclusion valuepropositioninthemarketbytheendof2018.We are excited because it will bring freeaccess to financial services to customers atthebottomoftheeconomicpyramid.

Zing has leveraged a number of fundingstreams, ranging from crowd-investing, topartnershipswithgovernments,aidagencies,local religious groups and multinationalcorporations.Howdid you appeal to all ofthese,oftenopposing,groupsatonce?Fortunately, we come with experience dealing withfunderswhohaveverydifferentinvest-ment mandates.

For now we have Swiss Re on board as a strategic investor. Because it is a strategic partnership, we have had the unique privilege to try, test and learn for two years in the worst possible country for opening an insurance business that anyone could have selected. This is something that works wellforanagilebusinessseekingblueoceans.

LikeSwissReisastrategicshareholder,weseethe SCBF as a strategic alliance partner for the businessonthegrantside. IntroducedtousbySwissRe,theSCBFisplayingasignificantrole in assisting with funding to open upeach territory. Through SCBF we know wewill be exposed to other funders who may beinterestedintackingmuchbiggerprojectsas we pick upmomentum in each territoryaroundeconomicdevelopmentinitiatives.

Forexample,weare starting to lookathowwe can uplift small holder farmers so theycan make a meaningful and sustainablecontribution to increasing agricultural out-put. We know this will require significantinvestment well beyond the SCBF mandate andwillrequireadifferentkindofgrantfundertocreateapackageforsmallholderfarmers.

CanyouupdateusonZingsure’sprogressonextendingoperationsacrosstheAfricancontinent?InMalawiandZambiawesignedupaffinitygroups with +6mmembers and expect ourinsurance license to be approved by Q2 2018, while in South Africa we have an excitingmobile retail offering to the Zimbabweandiaspora.

Post this, we will scale rapidly into other Africa territories. It is critical that for 2018we settle on the above countries only. Weareessentiallyastart-upfintechseekingtheblueocean. Profits have started to emerge.We need to ensure our model can scalerapidly beyond these initial territories. Thebusiness model is a franchise model in that it can easily be replicated. The other territories onourradarinclude:Botswana,Congo(DR),Egypt,Kenya,Mozambique,Namibia,Nigeria,Tanzania,andUganda.

it is very easy to adjust coverage from month -to-monthasandwhenonecanaffordtodoso.

We are also proceedingwith an acquisitionof a general insurance company. This would never have happened had we not started out with microinsurance. This will allow us to provide higher levels of general insurance cover to those of our emerging marketcustomerswhorequirethisandcanaffordtopay higher premiums.

There are numerous emerging and excitingopportunities that we are dealing with inthe agriculture sector to assist smallholder farmers.Weexpecttobeabletosharemorelater in 2018.

You forecast the creationof15,000 jobsbytheendof2018inZimbabwealone–howdoyouplantoaccomplishthis?We are creating employment for agents.Thesepeoplecanworkinsideourbranchesorberoaminginthecommunities.Ourobjectiveis to ensure we get these people to earn 10 USD or more a day. If we achieve this, webreaktheirpovertycycle.

In addition, we are deploying a merchantmo del, which will see thousands more jobs created.

What isZing’svision forasocialenterpriseand how doesmicroinsurance fit into yourbroaderstrategyforinclusivefinance?Our aim is to shift humanity to a world offinancial freedom and abundant protectionbyprovidingaffordableaccesstobankingandinsurance for all.

We are devoted to economic developmentand social uplift. Creating jobs, distributingsome of the wealth we create and opening accesstofinancialservices(lending,bankingandinsurance)willignitethemarketsandtheeconomies we service.

Photos © Zing


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CONTEXT AND BOTTLENECKSTheBankof Tanzania identified fourprimaryobstacles tofinancial education: i) poverty; ii) the absenceofappropriate,accessibleandaffordableproductsandservices targetedspecificallyat the lower-incomepopulation;iii)asubsistenceeconomy;andiv)poorinfrastructure.TheGovernmentofTanzaniaapprovedaNationalFinancialEducationFrameworkin2011,althoughitsimplementationhasbeenslow.

PARTNER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ACRE Tanzania Insurance Agency Limited (ACRE Tanzania)isaregisteredagentfocusingonagriculturalmicro-insuranceproducts.ACRETanzanialinksfarmerstoinsuranceproductssothattheycaninvestconfidentlyintheir farms.

UAP Insurance Tanzania: UAPTanzaniaunderwritesinsuranceproductsdesignedbyACREAfricaandSwissRere-insuresthem.

FINANCIAL LITERACY NEEDS ASSESSMENT A feasibility study by ACRE Africa established that active measures were required to provide financial education (FE)alongside the introductionof insurance inTanzania. The study found that60%of theuninsuredpopulationdoesnothave insurancebecause theycannotafford it;24%donotknowhowinsuranceworks;18%donotknowhowtofindoutwheretobuyit;and14%donotknowwhat‘insurance’means.

Althoughinsuranceusageofadultshadgrownto19%by2012,FEisstillrequiredtoenhanceuptakeof insuranceproducts.Asa result,KilimoSalama (nowACREAfrica)developeda financial educationstrategy on how to reach smallholder farmers in several agricultural value chains through microfinance institutions,inputcompanies,mobilenetworkoperators,andcontractgrowersforagribusinesses.

FINANCIALEDUCATION

OBJECTIVES, MAIN ACTIVITY AREAS AND OUTPUTSTheaimofthisinterventionwastoeducatesmallholderfarmerson innovativeagricultural insuranceproductsfrom MFIs and input companies. The intendedknowledgetobepassedonis:• how to save towards future investments; •howtopreparefuturebudgetsandtrackexpenses;• that the cost of insurance is lower than the losses;•howtousemobilesforfinancialtransactions;•understandthebenefitsofhybridseedsFurther, farmers grew accustomed to accessing insurance services through their mobile phones.

Financial literacy and seed management training empowers smallholder farmers to benefit from first agricultural insurance

in Tanzania (FEW-02 & 03)

35insuranceofficerscoached325agri-officerscoached37bankofficialscoached74 lead farmers trained Liveradioshowswith3localradiostationsinSwahili

Achievements (September 2017)

Training of 77’878 farmers through farmer forums, radio and aggregators1Trainerkitfortrainingconsistencydeveloped

15’000 farmers reached through SMS with insurance productexplanations

RESULTS ACHIEVED Withmore than70’000 farmers reachedduring thefinancial education campaign, andmore than27’500 farmershavingsignedupforinsurance,financialliteracylevelshaveincreasedsignificantlyintheArushaandIringaregions.Farmersarenotonlybetterprotectedagainstrisks,buthavealsobeenabletoincreasetheirincomesthroughaccesstohybridseed.Ensuringfinancialinclusionhasunlockedconsiderableeconomicpotentialanditisexpectedthattherewillbealong-termimpactintermsofincreasedincomeandimprovedlivelihoods.

Empowerment of more than 70,000 smallholder farmers through financial education unlocks economic potential

in the Arusha and Iringa regions.

CLIENT FOCUS LOAN INSURANCE PREVENTS MAJOR LOSSESInearly2015,MsMwajumatookoutaloanfromtheOneACREFund,anonprofitsocialenterpriseworkingthroughout Sub-Saharan Africa, and purchasedseveral bagsofhybridmaize seedon credit, tobepaid back after harvesting season. Ms Mwajumaplantedher seedonher2.5-acreplotof landbut,unfortunately, there was excess rainfall (El Niño)during that season, and instead of harvesting theexpected20bagsofmaize,MsMwajumaharvestedonly half a bag. However, since she was insured, the

insurance company paid her loan from One ACRE Fund. As a result, Ms Mwajuma did not experience a major financialsetback,andwasstilleligibleforaloaninthesubsequentplantingseasonandcouldcontinueherbusiness.

FE courses in savings, record keeping, insurance,use of mobile money, use of hybrid seeds

Farmers (i) use savings to pay forinsurance and purchases; (ii) recordthe costs involved in production, aswell as harvested yields and inputs on credit; (iii) have greater confidence ininvestingininsuranceandinusingtheirmobiles forfinancial transactions;and(v) set aside funds topurchase inputsbundled with crop insurance and have invested more in buying hybrid seed andfertilizer

(i) 49% of farmers opened a savingsaccountand33%areactivelysaving;(ii)farmers have a better understandingof their agricultural business and increased access to loans; (iii) areshielded from unpredictable risksand have access to credit for inputs bundledwithinsurance;(iv)savetimeconducting transactions via mobilephones; and (v) see increased yieldsand incomes.

Use of educational SMS

Farmers signed up for insurance and FE messages through their phones

FarmersnowhavecontinuousaccesstoFE from the convenience of their phone.

Radio advertisements

Farmers signed up for the insurance product after listening to radio pro-grammes about crop insurance

Farmers that did not have insurance took out crop insurance after the FEcampaign and are protected from losses due to natural disasters.

Intervention Behaviour and attitude changes Impact

Photo©AcreAfrica-Ms Mwajuma assesses damage to her crops

Photo©AcreAfrica-The farmers display their insurance certificates


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Design and implementation of an integrated financial education programme by Alliance for Microfinance

in Myanmar (FEW-08)

CONTEXT AND BOTTLENECKSMyanmarisanemergingmarketforinclusivefinance.Asthemajorityofthepopulationstilldoesnothaveaccess to formal financial services there is a huge unserved demand. The country’s low education levelandtherecentexposureofitsclientstoformalfinancialservicesaretheprimaryreasonswhyAllianceforMicrofinanceinMyanmar(Alliance)decidedtointegrateafinancialeducationprogrammeintoitsactivities.

PARTNER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONAlliancewasfoundedin2014withthemissionofresponsiblyofferingawiderangeofclient-orientedfinancialservices and financial education to unbanked entrepreneurs, particularly women, to strengthen theirbusinessesandfamilywelfare.A3-yearfinancialeducationplanhasbeenintegratedintoAlliance’sbusinessmodel tomaximizeoutreach since all clientswho take loansmustparticipate inonefinancial educationprogram or another.

FINANCIAL LITERACY NEEDS ASSESSMENTQualitative researchwas conducted todevelop adeeperunderstandingof theparticular needs and vul-nerabilities of Alliance’s client segments and their particular business types. This supplemented awiderresearchprojectcarriedoutbyAlliancethatfocusedonidentifyingfinancialeducationprioritiesanddeliverymechanisms.

OBJECTIVES, MAIN ACTIVITY AREAS AND OUTPUTSThe aim of this pilot was to design a system where financialeducationwillbeanintegratedpartofthedailyworkofAllianceandwillnotdependonaccesstoexternalfundingaftertheinitialphaseof development. For group loan (GL) clients,financial education is fully embedded in theloan process in a way that leverages teachable moments within the service delivery process. To reinforce these messages, a video was produced that delivers messages on loan use, cash-flowmanagement, saving, over-indebtedness, andexplanationsonproductsandcontracts.Thevi-

Allclientofficersandsupervisorstrainedinfinan-cialeducation

Achievements (December 2017)

FEmaterialsdevelopedtobeusedduringdifferentstepsoftheloanprocess:presentationguideandvideos

Training modules in business management training for SE clients have been developed.More than 45’000 GL clients have been trained with the presentation guide and at least 20’000clients have watched the video at disbursement.More than 6’000 SE clients saw the disbursement videoand225SEclientsparticipatedinthebusinessmanagement training

deoisshownduringloandisbursementinthebranches.Smallenterprise(SE)loanclientsreceivefinancialeducationthroughtheFEvideoatloandisbursementsupplementedbyconventionalclassroomtrainingtomeettheirmoreadvancedneeds.Thecontentofthetrainingfocusesonfinancialproductusageandbusinessmanagementtopics,suchasbookkeepingandcashflowmanagement,businessanalysisandmarketing.Atotal of seven training modules of one hour each have been designed.

RESULTS ACHIEVED ON CLIENT LEVEL

CLIENT FOCUS: WinWinMar runs a recycling business and is one of fivemembers of a group loan product offered by Alliance.Since Alliance was her first experience borrowing money,shewashesitantatfirsttotakealoan,becauseshefearedit would be too risky. During the first groupmeeting, theclient officer explained Alliance’s products and processes,but also included informationonhow tomanage the loanforherbusiness–trainingshewouldotherwisehaveneverreceived.. Whileapplyingforhersecondloan,shewatchedthenewlymadevideoandthemessagesregardingover-indebtednessstuckwithhermoststrongly,asWinWinsaid:“IunderstoodhermistakeandmadesureIdidn’tmakeittoo.”

Afterthetraining,WinWinsaidthatshecanbetterorganizeand manage her business resulting in better businessperformance. She was also encouraged to save more and regularlyfollowhersavingsplan,sothatshe isnowbetterprepared in case of emergencies and can pay her son’s school fees.

Photo © Alliance for Microfinance in Myanmar - Win Win Mar, group loan client

Presentationguide+disbursement video (GLandSEclients)

Business management training

Group clients learned about: joint liability groups, products and processes, use of loan, cash flow, importance of saving,over-indebtedness risk and gained abetterunderstandingofloanproductsanddebt management.

SEclients learnedabout:useoffinancialproducts, cash flow management, bookkeeping, business planning and analysisand gained a better knowledgeof finan-cial products available and the use of the same.

Clients adopted more regular saving habits.

Planning for expenses

Groups’ repayment rate is 100%(financialdiscipline)

Clients adopted methods for monitoring and thus im-proving the performance of their business.

Almost50%ofGLclientsareactivelysaving.

Improvedaccesstoloans.

Increased use of medium/long-termsavingsstrategies(i.e.termdeposits)

Improvedaccesstofinancialproducts.

Improved business perfor-mance and ability to plan for longer terms.

Intervention Change in financial literacy levels Behaviour changes Impact•

•

•

•

• •

•

• •

With the help of this pilot, Alliance has designed a system where financial education has become an integrated part of the daily work. The conti-nua tion is not dependent on additional external funding.

Photo © Alliance for Microfinance in Myanmar - A client officer explains the presentation guide


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KiWi, the financial engine behind micro-merchants in Mexico (FEW–10)

CONTEXT AND BOTTLENECKSAccordingtotheNationalReportonFinancialInclusion,theleveloffinancialinclusioninMexicoremainslow.Withregardtoelectronicpayments,thereare1.5pointsofsale(POS)per10’000inhabitants,whichisthreetimeslowerthaninBrazil.Thenumberofcardholdersisgrowingrapidly,fromfivemillioncardsin2000,to170million in2017,andsocialsecuritybenefitshavebeenmigratedfromcashtoe-payments.Thatsaid,cardsstillhavealongwaytogobeforetheyreplacecashinday-to-daytransactions,andtheirusageandcostarenotwellunderstoodbyeithermerchantsorlow-incomecardholders.Financialeducationthereforeplaysakeyroletoincreasetheuseofelectronicpaymentsbymicro-merchants.

PARTNER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONeBOP SA(‘KiWi’)isaSwissstart-upcreatedinDecember2013,withthemissionofprovidingamobilefinancialplatformtomerchantsinemergingmarkets.

KiWi MexicoisasubsidiaryofeBOPSA,runningtheKiWiprogrammeinMexicosince2015.Theaimistoreach200,000micromerchantsby2021.KiWiMexicofocusesonperi-urbanandurbanmicromerchants,including women, in a very broad range of industries.

INTERVENTION APPROACHWiththeKiWimobileapplication,merchantscanmanagetheirsales,productsandcustomers.Itincreasesmerchants’ understanding of electronic payments and shows that it is easy to accept card payments. The ‘cashregister’functiontracksdailysalesandfacilitatesbettercashflowandworkingcapitalmanagement.TheKiWicardreaderletsmerchantsacceptcardpaymentsfromtheircustomers.KiWithenusesthedatatoofferthemapre-approvedmicroloan.Financialeducationisbuiltintotheapplicationandcustomersareguided through the process by using it on a regular basis.

Designofthefinancialeducationcampaign:gapanalysis,ac-tionplanandspecificationscompleted,readyforexecution

Development of FE materials and tools: The following materials areonline:videos(YouTube),usermanuals,easierwebon-boarding, FAQ. The contact centre has new scripts explaining how e-payments and KiWi work. The ‘love by process’project has been implemented. This detects merchants’ problemswithKiWiautomatically,generatingnotifications,mails and support phone calls. New communicationchannels are in place, such as the app andwebsite-basedchats. FE content has also been published on Facebook.

More than 5’500 registered users have been reached with the financial education framework.More than 2’500are using the KiWi card payment solution andmore than800 have made at least one card transaction in 30 days.As of January 2017, there had been more than 85’000visits to the website, and the Facebook page has 36’000followers. The most popular feature on the website has been the video, attracting more than 10’000 views.

Achievements (June 2017)OBJECTIVES, MAIN ACTIVITY AREAS AND OUTPUTSThe principal aim of this financial educationcampaign was to reduce friction, make iteasier to change habits, and to promote KiWias a natural platform formerchants. This wasintendedtomaximisetheadoption,usageand– by extension – impact of the KiWi mobileplatform.

Electronic payments are a key driver of both financial education and financial inclusion. As a cash flow management solution, the app itself contributes to increase financial literacy levels of micro merchants.

RESULTS ACHIEVED ON CLIENT LEVEL

CLIENT FOCUS: CONVENIENCE STORE IN RURAL AREA OFFERS ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS

PatriciaSaucedosetupaconveniencestoreinthetownofTepetongo(883inhabitants).Theclosestbankis45kilometresaway.Inaveryruralarea,Patriciahasbeenthefirsttraditionalmerchanttoacceptelectronicpayments. Inthefirst threemonths,shehasprocessed32transactionsworthmorethanUSD650.Sincefinancialeducationisanintegralpartoftheapplication,Patriciahasbeen‘learningbydoing’.KiWihastestedimprovementsusingmerchantslikePatriciaasaresultofthefinancialeducationcampaign,andhasmadethepromisingobservationthatmanymerchantsinruralareashavecompletedthewholeprocessbythemselves,demonstratingthatitisusefulandinterestingtothem.Patricianowoffersabetterservicetohercustomers,acceptse-payments,andhasincreasedcustomerloyaltyandsatisfaction.Thishasgrownhercustomerbaseandhelpedtomakeherbusinesssecureandstable.

Create an understanding of how financial toolsofferedbyKiWiandthirdparties work via videos,tutorials, and FAQs

Merchants receive in-stant support in the form ofin-appmessaging,webchatsandnotifications,acall centre, and frequent posting of relevant con-tentonFacebook.

Merchants understand that:

E-paymentsaresimpleandcontributetohigher sales

Thecashregisterfunctionalityisanopportunitytotracksalesefficientlyandincreasefinancialcontrol

UsingKiWifacilitatesaccesstomicroloans

Abankaccountisusefulandreliable

Merchantsunderstandthatfinancialser- vices are tailored for them and that they are important customers, and that merchantsfeelsecurewhileusingfinan-cial services.

Customer cards are accepted

Dailysalesaretrackedmoreproactively

Micro loans have becomepartofcashflowmanagement

Merchantsopenbankaccounts, and use them more frequently

Do not hesitate to get in touch when something is not clear enough

Less inclined to give up when a problem arises

Moreconfidence,meaningmore usage

Increased trust and confidence in financial pro ducts: InKiWi’ssurvey,90%ofmerchantssaythatKiWi’sservice is easy to use and reliable.

Increased use of financial services: 50 merchants haveaccessedloansandmanymorehavedrasticallyincreased use of their bank account. At least 400merchantswereunbankedpriortotheprogramme.

Perception of doing better in business: 86% ofuserssurveyedthinkKiWi improvedtheirbusinessandhelpedthemsavetimeandenergy.

Increased trust and loyalty in financial institutions: 93%ofpeoplewhogotintouchwithKiWi’scontactcentrearesatisfiedwiththeirexperience.OnFace-bookpeoplerateKiWi4.3outof5asafinancialservice.

More confidence to address problems through engagement with new technologies.

Support to clients Change in financial literacy Behavior changes Impact

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

• •

Photo©KiWi-IlsaHernández,aMexicanmerchantthatusestheKiWiapplication.


46 47


RECOMMENDATIONSFOREFFECTIVEDELIVERYOFFINANCIALEDUCATIONBy Juan Vega Gonzales

Howcanfinancialeducationbeeffectivelydelivered?EffectivenessofFEcomesdowntoclients’ understanding, accepting and applyingover the long term the knowledgetransmittedthroughtheFEprogramme.Tothis end, we learnt that the fundamental challenge lies in developing content and processes that are simple, easy to understand, attractive and useful for the target audience.

Simplicity needs tobeunderlinedas an important success factor formost, if not all, FE initiatives: “if a10-year-oldchildora70-year-oldgrannycannotunderstandit,wemustredoit.”Effectiveness also depends onthescaleoftheFEcampaign,theimportanceascribedtofinancialeducationprogramsbyparticipatingfinancialinstitutionsandtheirstaff,andthequalitystandardsofthedeliverymechanisms.ContentchoiceandtheavailabilityoftechnologyplaysacriticalroleinkeepingFEsimpleandeffective.

Standardizationsolvesoneofthelimitationsof‘classical’person-to-persontraining,namelythatoftenthequality,contentanddurationofthesetrainingsvariesfromoneteachertoanother.Weprovidestandardisededucationalmaterialsandprocessesusingvideos, interactivee-learningandgames,whichareessentially“standardmaterials”thatcannotbegreatlymodifiedbyinstructors,ensuringaconsistentqualityoffinancialeducation.

OnekeyaspectofthesustainabilityofFEisthemotivationofMFIs’managementandstafftoimplementthefinancialeducationprogram.Incentivesformanagementarerelatedtotheresultsoffinancialeducationatthelevelofemployeesandclients,forexamplethroughimprovingtheirlevelsofsavingsandfinancialwell-beingaswellasbyreducingtheriskofover-indebtedness.Staffaremotivatedbythelevelofengagementfrommanagement,economicincentivesintheworkplace,andtheopportunitytoimprovetheirownsavings(inthepastinCentralAmericawesawtrainersincreasetheirsavingsmorethantheclientstheytrained).Client motivationisrelatedtotheopportunitytoimprovethefinancialwell-beingoftheirfamily.

Photo©ENDATunisia-Group of ENDA Tunisie staff learning to play a financial education game

Photo©ENDATunisia-Group of ENDA Tunisie staff receiving financial education using audiovisual media

OnlinefinancialeducationplatformsfeaturingvideosandotherinteractivematerialsmakeFEfast,simple,useful,customisedandfun.Oncetheplatformandtheonlinematerialshavebeendeveloped, itscostofdisseminationisverylow.

Asignificantlimitationisthatlow-incomecustomersoffinancialinstitutionsdonotalwayshaveaccess to smartphones and / or to the Internet.TherearesomepossiblestrategiesthatMFIscanapplytomanagethis:

• Offeraparallelloantotheircustomerstofinancethepurchaseoflow-costsmartmobilesortablets,withaccesstotheInternet(preferredoption);

• MFIstaffcancopytheinteractivecontentoffinancialeducationtolocaldevices(cellphones)ofcustomersforoff-lineaccess;

•TheMFIcanofferitsclientsprintedversionsoftheFEmaterials.

The challenge is that we still need to educate decision makers within financial institutions about theadvantagesofferedbysuchtechnologiesanddemonstratetheireffectivenessinovercomingbarrierstotheprovisionoffinancialeducation.

Whatistheroleoftechnologyindeliveringcustomisedfinancialeducation?Technology plays an important role for FE primarily by:• Lowering the cost of delivery:MFIscanimprovetheiroutreachandscale.

• Automating the delivery of FE: Improve the FEquality by standardising the format and content of FEprogrammes.ThisallowsMFIstomonitorthenumberofclientsthataccesstheFElearningcontent,recordresultsofFElearningevaluations,andreceiveimmediatefeedbackandsuggestionsforimprovementfromMFIs’clientsandstaff.

• Enhanced accessibility:Everyperson(staffofMFIs,clientsandnon-clients)canlearnFEattheirownpacewitheasilyaccessibleonlinecontentthatcanbeavailable24/7viatheirownmobilephones,thusreducingclients’FEtransactioncosts.

TUNISIA EGYPT LAOSPhoto-Video cartoons of financial education developed with Enda (Tunisia), Lead (Egypt) and EMI (Laos).


48 49


• EnsureFEeffortsaremaintainedaftersupporthasended;• ConverseperiodicallywithclientsreceivingFEandstaffresponsibleforprovidingit;and• Generate a learning process to improve FE materials and their provision to clients.

Smart subsidies decreaseovertime.Atfirst, subsidies shouldbeenough tofinancedevelopmentof theFEcontent,aswellasacommunicationanddisseminationstrategytostartmovingthe“wheeloffinancialeducation.” By the endof the initiative, subsidies should be smaller, butwill likely still be necessary formonitoringandevaluationaswellasimprovementofFEcontentanddeliveryprocesses.

Itisimportanttosubsidisestudies on the effects of FEtoidentifywhatchangesoccurredattheclientlevel(therecipientofFE)intermsofmoneymanagement,savingslevels,debtmanagement,financialrecords,betteruseandunderstandingoffinancialservices,etc.ThiscanalsobeanincentivefortheMFI-forexamplebyreducingtheriskofover-indebtednessofitsclientsandstaff.

Howcansustainabilitybeachieved?Thebasicconcept is that tobesustainable, thebenefits forMFIs todeliverFEmustbegreater thanthecostsofimplementingthefinancialeducationprogram.Twocommon-sensestrategiesthatwehavealreadydiscussedwillgoalongwaytomakethatareality:•Developinteractivematerialavailableonlinesincethecostofdistributionisminimaloncethematerialis

developed.• Monitor and evaluate the changes FE has had on clients’ habits, such as changes in their savings levels, managementoffinancialrecordsandlevelsofindebtedness.

ItisthereforeimportanttocontinuemonitoringtheeffectsoffinancialeducationonclientsatdifferenttimeintervalsfollowingreceptionoftheFEintervention.

Whatshouldbesubsidised?Fundamental toFE is subsidizingde-velopments that microfinance insti-tutions would not normally carry out with their own resources: For example, developing educational FEmaterialandrecruitingFEtrainerstoeducatetheirstaff.

Itiscriticaltosubsidisealsotheinitialfollow-upprocedurestoFEinitiativesatthebranch/locallevelandto train the staff of the MFI to continue the follow up,aslocalstaffareinauniquepositionto:

Juan Vega has worked for more than 25 years in sectors related to banking and microfinance. Juan has been risk manager in international banks, director of programs supporting the development of financial services, financial education and team management trainer worldwide. Juan has worked developing and implementing innovative financial education materials and trainings in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, including in a number of SCBF funded interventions.

INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

IndependentempiricalresultsstudiesTheSCBFhaslaunchedthreeempiricalresultsstudiesonpastinterventionstoassessachievementsandtogeneratekeylessonsfortheSCBFandtheoverallfinancialinclusionindustry.ThestudiesareonthetopicsofdigitisedfinancialserviceswithAlBaridBankinMorocco,agriculturalinsurancewithAcreAfricainTanzania,andhousingmicrofinancewithLOLCandHKLinCambodiaandCrediCampoinElSalvador.ThefinalstudieswillbepublishedontheSCBFwebsiteinmid-2018.

Significantincreaseofprojectproposalsinsecondhalfof2017Afteraslowstartlaunchingfourprojectsinthefirsthalfof2017andasubsequentappealtothemembersattheJuneGeneralAssembly,theSCBFexperiencedasignificant increase inproposalapplications inthesecondhalfoftheyear,launchinganadditional11projects,andapprovingafurther13tostartinearly2018.

FeasibilitystudiesAttheJuneGeneralAssemblymeeting,membersagreedtoberestrictivewithfuturestand-alonefeasibilitystudies(oneortwostudiesperyear)tolaythefocusondirectdevelopmentresultsinsteadofonpreparingsectoral feasibility studies. Feasibility studies will be considered only if the PFIs concerned are stronglycommittedtolaunchingnewfinancialproductsasindicatedintheirstrategicbusinessandannualoperationalplansandverifiedbybothpreparatoryoperationsandreasonableself-contributions.ThischangeisalignedwiththeSCBF´saimtocontributetoglobalindustryknowledgewithdemonstratedeffect.

Members–changeofinsurancerepresentativesattheSCBFAllianz: Martin Hintz replaced Bahar Pirmadjid. Martin, in his position as Global Coordinator EmergingConsumers,hasgrownAllianz´sclientbasefrom4mil.toover50mil.emergingcustomersin12marketssince 2011.

Zurich Insurance: Dr.BilalMughalreplacedRolfMarti.Bilalisonfull-timesecondmentfromZurich,whereheisHeadofEmergingConsumers,tooverseeBlueMarble´sglobalventureportfolioandplatforms.

BoardInMarch,XimenaEscobardeNogales(BambooFinance)shortenedherextendedone-yeartermduetohersabbaticalleaveandwassucceededinherpositionoftheVice-ChairbyAlexandreBerthaud(E-Savings.club)forthetermofthreeyears.AlexandrebringsaplethoraoffinancialinclusionexpertisebothfromhiscurrentengagementasCEOofAkiba,astart-uprevolutionisingemployeesavingsfundsinMexico,andhispastrolesattheUnitedNationsUPUandtheWorldBank.

InJune,OlgaSpeckhardt´sterm(SFSA)wasextendedbyanotheryear,makingherthelongestservingSCBFChair,holdingthepositionfrom2014to2018.

InOctober,thepublicsectorrepresentationintheSCBFBoardwasstrengthenedbyDr.PeterBeez,(SDC)toadviseonkeystrategicissues.

SecretariatThehumanresourcesofthesecretariatremainedthesamein2017with1.3full-time(FT)staffforallmattersmanagerialandadministrative(DanaEllis,SCBFManager,andGertrudStäuber,ChiefFinancialAdministratorandController),andwithadditional0.5FTformonitoringofFEcampaignsandFEknowledgemanagement(MarenRichter,SeniorFinancialEducationSpecialist).


50 51


Public-privatefundingoftheSCBF

Technical Assistance ProjectsTheSwissAgencyforDevelopmentandCooperation(SDC)hasfundedCHF13,1millionor57%ofthe99technical assistanceprojectsof theSCBF since its inception in2011. Theprivate sector - comprising thepartner financial institutions, the technical assistance grantees, and the 450’000 CHF contribution fromCreditSuisseFoundation-hasfundedtheremaining43%ofthetotalbudgetofCHF22,3million.Theself-contributionofthepartnerfinancial institutionsvariesgreatlyfrom10toalmost90%dependingon the financial strength, the availability of other funders, and the development priorities of the SCBF.The partner financial institutions and the grantees propose the self-contribution shares and the projectcommitteesacceptthemasparttheapprovalprocessonaproject-by-projectbasis.

Operating Costs of the SCBFTheoperationcostsoftheSCBFhavereachedsofararoundCHF1.3millionwhichis6%ofthetotalbudgetor10%oftheSCBFshareoffinancingofthe113technicalassistanceprojects.SDChasfundedthestaffoftheSecretariatandallitsexpensesamountingto62%andtheprivateSCBFmembershavecontributedinexpertwork(in-kindcontribution)intheprojectcommitteesandtheboardwithanequivalentmonetaryvalueof38%oftotaloverheads.In2017,theprivatememberscontributed95,5expertdaysvaluedatCHF124’150.SDC dedicated 50 expert days, equivalent to CHF 65’000.

Investments into the partner financial institutionsThe consolidated investments from six SCBF investor members amounted to over CHF 800 million since SCBFinception.However,itisnotpossibletoquantifytheinvestmentamountthatisattributeddirectlytothecapacitybuildinginterventionsoftheSCBF.NoteworthyisthattheinterventionsoftheSCBFhavealsotriggered investments fromSCBFpartnerswhichhavenot yetbeenaccounted for. In linewith reportingstandardsofinternationalfinanceorganisations,SDCcanclaimtoleveragewith1CHFpublicmoney49CHFfrom the private sector through the SCBF.

Funding cycles of the SDCSDCisfundingtheSCBFaccordingtofour-yearfundingcycleswithanindependentmid-termreviewattheendofeachfundingcycle.FundingcomesfromthreedifferentbudgetlineswithinSDCasfollows:

AnewcreditlinehasbeenreleasedfromtheFoodSecurityDepartmentofSDC,earmarkedforAgriculturalInsurance.Interventionsinthescopeofthiscreditlinearenotsubjecttothegeographicallimitations,notablytheprioritycountriesofSDC.Decisionsonthefinancingaretakencasebycase.

SDC expects gradually a 50- 50% funding share with the private sector in managing the SCBF withoutconsidering the investments. The mid-term review in Q3 2018 will be an important indication for SDCdepartmentsonhowmuchbudgettheymaymobiliseforthenextfour-yearfundingcycleoftheSCBF.

FUNDING AND CONTRIBUTIONS

Report of the Statutory Auditor on the Limited StatutoryExaminationtotheGeneralAssemblyofthe SCBF Swiss Capacity Building Facility, Fribourg

Bericht der Revisionsstelle zur EingeschränktenRevision an die Generalversammlung der SCBF Swiss Capacity Building Facility, Fribourg

As statutory auditor, we have examined the financialstatements (balance sheet, income statement andnotes)of the SCBF SwissCapacityBuilding Facility forthe year ended 31 December 2017.

These financial statements are the responsibility ofthe Management Committee. Our responsibility is toperform a limited statutory examination on these fi-nancial statements.We confirm that wemeet the li-censingand independence requirementsasstipulatedby Swiss law.

We conducted our examination in accordance withthe Swiss Standard on the Limited Statutory Exami-nation.Thisstandardrequiresthatweplanandperforma limited statutory examination to identify materialmisstatements in the financial statements. A limitedstatutoryexaminationconsistsprimarilyofinquiriesofcompany personnel and analytical procedures aswellas detailed tests of company documents as considered necessaryinthecircumstances.However,thetestingofoperationalprocessesandtheinternalcontrolsystem,aswell as inquiries and further testing procedures todetectfraudorotherlegalviolations,arenotwithinthescopeofthisexamination.

PRÜFAGWirtschaftsprüfungAGBadenerstrasse141,Postfach,CH-8036Zürich|Tel.+41445337600|www.pruefag.ch

Als Revisionsstelle haben wir die Jahresrechnung(Bilanz, Erfolgsrechnung und Anhang) der SCBF SwissCapacityBuildingFacilityfürdasam31.Dezember2017abgeschlosseneGeschäftsjahrgeprüft.

Für die Jahresrechnung ist der Vorstand verantwort-lich, während unsere Aufgabe darin besteht, die Jah-resrechnung zu prüfen. Wir bestätigen, dass wir diegesetzlichenAnforderungenhinsichtlichZulassungundUnabhängigkeiterfüllen.

UnsereRevisionerfolgtenachdemSchweizerStan-dardzurEingeschränktenRevision.DanachistdieseRevisionso zu planen und durchzuführen, dass wesentlicheFehlaussagen in der Jahresrechnung erkannt werden.Eine Eingeschränkte Revision umfasst hauptsächlichBefragungen und analytische Prüfungshandlungensowie den Umständen angemessene Detailprüfungender beim geprüften Unternehmen vorhandenenUnterlagen.DagegensindPrüfungenderbetrieblichenAbläufe und des internen Kontrollsystems sowieBefragungen und weitere Prüfungshandlungen zurAufdeckung deliktischer Handlungen oder andererGesetzesverstössenichtBestandteildieserRevision.

REPORT OF THE STATUTORY AUDITOR TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE SCBF SWISS CAPACITY BUILDING FACILITY,

FRIBOURG, FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 DECEMBER 2017

FINANCIAL REPORT

LatinAmerica&theCaribbean

North Africa Programme

LatinAmerica&Caribbean,incl.CHF 750’000 from Food Security ProgrammeNorth Africa Programme

Phase 1 30.11.2016 6’600’000

Phase 1 30.11.2016 2’250’000

Phase 2 – 7’500’000

Phase 2 – 1’500’000

01.12.2010 30.11.2018

01.12.2011 30.11.2014

01.01.2015 30.11.2018

01.12.2015 31.12.2018

SOC departments Phase Extended Budget CHFFrom To


52 53


Based on our limited statutory examination, nothinghascometoourattentionthatcausesustobelievethatthefinancialstatementsdonotcomplywithSwisslaw,the Articles of Association and the regulation of theAssociation(OperationPolicyandProcedures).

PRÜFAG Audit Ltd

Bei unserer Revision sind wir nicht auf Sachverhalte gestossen, aus denen wir schliessen müssten, dassdie Jahresrechnung nicht Gesetz, den Vereinsstatuten(Articles of Association) und dem Vereinsreglement(OperationPolicyandProcedures)entspricht.

PRÜFAGWirtschaftsprüfungAG

DirkStingelinLicensed Audit ExpertAuditor in Charge

DirkStingelinZugelassener RevisionsexperteLeitender Revisor

DanielCarottaZugelassener Revisionsexperte

DanielCarottaLicensed Audit Expert

Zurich, 19 March 2018DIST

Enclosure:Financial statements(balancesheet,incomestatement,notes)

Zürich,19.März2018DIST

Beilage:Jahresrechnung(Bilanz,Erfolgsrechnung,Anhang)

PRÜFAGWirtschaftsprüfungAGBadenerstrasse141,Postfach,CH-8036Zürich|Tel.+41445337600|www.pruefag.ch

BALANCESHEETASOF31DECEMBER

INCOMESTATEMENTASOF31DECEMBER

4.458.407,29


54 55


A Presentation

TheSwissCapacityBuildingFacilityAssociation(hereinafterSCBF)isapublic-privatedevelopmentpartnershipwiththeSwissAgencyforDevelopmentandCooperation(SDC)foundedinDecember2010andestablishedasanassociationwithinthemeaningofArticle60ssoftheSwissCivilCode.TheSCBFheadquarterislocatedinFribourgwithasupportofficelocatedinZurich.

TheSCBFobjectiveistofinanciallysupportitspartnerfinancialinstitutionswithaclearsocialmissiontoservethoseonlowincomes,particularlywomenandsmallholderfarmers.

B Significantaccountingpolicies

B1 Accountingconventions

TheSCBF’sfinancialstatementsarepreparedinaccordancewiththeprovisionsoftheSwissaccountinglawasstipulatedinsubtitle32oftheSwissCodeofObligations(CO).ThefinancialstatementsarepresentedinSwissfrancs.

B2 Accountingprinciples

Followingaccountingprinciplesarerelevant:• NewagreementssignedwithSDCarebookedasgrantreceivableandsimultaneouslyasfundsincrease;• Payments from SDC reduce the account grant receivable; • Commitments towards institutions are booked as committed financing contracts and simuntaneously as funds

decreases;•Paymentsinthescopeofthesecontractsreducetheliabilities.

C Additionalinformationrelatedtospecificbalancesheetandincomestatementpositions

C1 Cash and cash equivalents

C2 Grants receivables

C5 Administrativeexpenses

NOTESTOTHEFINANCIALSTATEMENTSASOF31DECEMBER

IncomeandEmploymentGeneration

IncomeandEmploymentGeneration-special

EarmarkedforNorthAfricaAccount

TOTAL

3’996’561.78

500’000.00

1’199’683.99

5’696’245.77

3’097’267.76

500’000.00

1’363’705.98

4’960’973.74

Bank accounts with Credit-Suisse related to: 2017 2016

IncomeandEmploymentGenerationStandard

EarmarkedforNorthAfricaAccount

TOTAL

750’000.00

450’475.00

1’200’475.00

1’500’000.00

1’000’000.00

2’500’000.00

Grants receivables from SDC related to: 2017 2016

OfficeRent

Auditandconsultingcharges

Outcome studies

Learningevents/workshops

Travel costs

Otheradministrativecosts

Communication/Marketing

TOTAL

11’370.00

19’157.95

52’587.00

7’999.67

12’387.35

8’325.07

244.41

112’071.45

10’920.00

26’074.60

0.00

0.00

11’505.20

19’017.40

0.00

67’517.20

Administrative expenses 2017 2016

D Additionalinformation

D1 Averagenumberofemployees(full-timeequivalents) Theannualaveragenumberofemployees(FTE)forthereportingyear,aswellasthepreviousyearwasbelow

10.

D2 Allocationofmanagementandadministrativeexpensestofundcapital(restricted) AccordingtotheagreementwithSDCandasstipulatedincontractNo.81039703concerningthegrantingof

acorecontributionearmarkedforNorthAfrica,themanagementandadministrativeexpensesarechargedtothefundcapitalintheratioof80%standardcredit,20%NorthAfrica.

TherearenomanagementandadministrativecostschargedtothenewcreditforAgriculturalInsuranceasthiscredit was only released in December 2017.

D3 Significanteventsafterthebalancesheetdate

Therearenosignificanteventsafterbalancesheetdatetoreport.

C4 Fundcapital(restricted)

IncomeandEmploymentGenerationFund

EarmarkedforNorth Africa Fund

EarmarkedforAgriculturalInsurance

TOTAL

1’603’322.10

525’495.50

0.00

2’128’817.60

1’422’914.00 -65’205.00 1’357’709.00 0.00 -1’039’218.00 0.00 -1’039’218.00 1’921’813.10

126’373.00 0.00 126’373.00 0.00 -167’396.00 9’575.00 -157’821.00 494’047.50

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

1’549’287.00 -65’205.00 1’484’082.00 0.00 -1’206’614.00 9’575.00 -1’197’039.00 2’415’860.60

2017 1.1. New commitments Unused commitments Commitments, net Corrections Payments Refund Cash-flow, net 31.12.



EarmarkedforUNWRAFund

TOTAL

1’570’943.60

563’349.00

0.00

2’134’292.60

1’297’250.00 0.00 1’297’250.00 -41’665.50 -1’223’206.00 0,00 -1’223’206.00 1’603’322.10

107’474.00 0.00 107’474.00 41’665.50 -186’993.00 0.00 -186’993.00 525’495.50

0,00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

1’404’724.00 0.00 1’404’724.00 0.00 -1’410’199.00 0.00 -1’410’199.00 2’128’817.60

2016 1.1. New commitments Unused commitments Commitments, net Corrections Payments Refund Cash-flow, net 31.12.



EarmarkedforAgriculturalInsurance

TOTAL

3’728’194.12

1’604’633.02

0.00

5’332’827.14

-1’422’914.00 65’205.00 -1’357’709.00 0.00 750’000.00 0.00 -272’650.30 2’847’834.82

-126’373.00 0.00 -126.373,00 0.00 0.00 -549’525.00 -68’162.55 860’572.47

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 750’000.00 0.00 0.00 750’000.00

-1’549’287.00 65’205.00 -1’484’082.00 0.00 1’500’000.00 -549’525.00 -340’812.85 4’458’407.29

2017 1.1. New commitments

Unused commitments

Commitments, net Corrections Contributions

SDC“Reduction/Refund to DC”

Allocation of m/a expenses 31.12.



EarmarkedforUNWRAFund

TOTAL

5’288’238.64

1’777’805.65

500’000.00

7’566’044.29

-1’297’250.00 0.00 -1’297’250.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -262’794.52 3’728’194.12

-107’474.00 0.00 -107’474.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -65’698.63 1’604’633.02

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -500’000.00 0.00 0.00

-1’404’724.00 0.00 -1’404’724.00 0.00 0.00 -500’000.00 -328’493.15 5’332’827.14

2016 1.1. New commitments

Unused commitments

Commitments, net Transfer Contributions

SDC“Reduction/Refund to DC”

Allocation of m/a expenses 31.12.

C3 Committedfinancingcontracts

Theadministrativecostshavebeenfurther divided, the increase is due to the following facts:• Outcome studies necessary for themid-termreview2018• Participation of employees inlearningevents/workshops


56 57


Second external review of the SCBFInNovember2018,theSCBFwillbeattheconclusionofSDC’ssecondfour-yearfundingphase.Asecondindependentmid-termreviewoftheSCBF,followingthesameCGAPportfolioreviewmethodology(www.cgap.org/publications/portfolio-reviews-resource-guide-funders)andemphasizingtheOECD/DACevaluationcriteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability applied during the first externalreviewinQ32014,willtakeplacebetweenJulyandOctober2018.

ItsfindingsandrecommendationswilllaythebasisforthefuturesteeringandstrategicplanningoftheSCBF.Itwill also influence thedecision-makingof SDC regarding its planned funding contribution for thenextfouryears.Atthesametime,itwillserveasanupdateoftheassessmentofthecurrentpositioningoftheSCBFasaninnovativePublic-PrivateDevelopmentPartnershipbetweenSDCandtheSwissfinancialsectortoadvancethefrontiersinresponsiblefinancialinclusioninemerginganddevelopingcountries.

Knowledge sharingThroughengagementwithitsmembersandpartnerstheSCBFwillcontinuefocusingonknowledge-sharing,essentialforadvancingresponsiblefinancialinclusionforlow-incomeandvulnerablepopulations,notablywomenandsmallholderfamers.Itwillfacilitateopportunitiestosharebestpracticesanddesignsolutionstoincreasetheiraccesstoresponsiblyofferedclient-orientedfinancialandnon-financialservices.

TheSCBForganizedtheSDC’ssavingsandcreditforumonthedigitiseddeliveryoffinancialandnon-financialservices by SCBF partners in March 2018. The featured case studies presented new business models of SCBFpartnersrangingacrossfullydigitisedlifeinsuranceclaimsmanagementandsettlementprocessesbyZingSure,ePaymentspointofservicesolutionsformicro-merchantsbyKiWiMexico,andacashlessmicro-equitysolutionbyAllianzsupportingsmallIndonesianentrepreneurstoscaletheirbusinesses.TheforumalsoillustratedhowtheSCBFhassupportedselectedpartnerfinancialinstitutionsindevelopingandup-scalingfinancialeducationcampaignswithdigitaltechnologies,notablycartoonvideosande-learningplatforms.

Additionally,inJune2018theSCBFwillorganiseaworkshopinRabatforitspartnerstosharebestpractices,successstoriesaswellaschallengesthatthesefinancialinstitutionsfaceinofferingfinancialeducationtotheirlow-incomeclientsinaneffectiveandfinanciallysustainablemanner.ThepresentationwillbecenteredarounddigitalfinancialeducationmethodologiesandtoolsdevelopedwiththesupportoftheSCBF.

Product up-scaling projects under preparationInlate2017,inadditiontothe15approvedproductup-scalinginterventionsthatstartedinthesameyear,theSCBFapprovedanothereightproductup-scalinginterventionsandtwofinancialeducationcampaignsforlaunchduringthefirsthalfof2018.TheywillsupportSCBFpartnersintheareasofinsurance(savings-linkedendowment,life,health),housingfinance,institutionalstrengthening,currencyloansanddeposits,energylending,andfinancialeducation.Thereareanumberofinitiativesinthepipeline,includingondigitaldeliveryofmicroinsurance,developmentofeducationfinanceproductsforcocoafarmingcommunities,andup-scalingofagriculturalinsuranceforsmallholderfarmers,toenumeratejustafew.

New strategic partnersTo contribute to the association´s activities supporting financial sector development and for resourcemobilisation, the SCBF is committed to enhancing its efforts to enter into new strategic alliances andpartnerships,bothinSwitzerlandandatagloballevel.OngoingdiscussionofapartnershipwithAGFUNDputs the SCBF on this path, most notably by deepening the SCBF’s engagement in the Middle East and North Africa.

STRATEGIC OUTLOOK FOR 2018

APPENDIX 1

TheSCBFOrganisationalStructure

SCBFisgovernedbyaBoardofthreemembers(onerepresentingthepublicsector)electedbyitsGeneralAssembly,whichcurrentlycomprises19memberorganisations,allbutonebasedinSwitzerland.Thepublicsector is representedby theSwissAgency forDevelopmentandCooperation (SDC).TheSCBFsecretariatreportsdirectlytotheBoardandemploys,onaparttimebasis,threecorestaffmembers:amanager,achieffinancialadministraionofficer&controller,andafinancialeducationandinclusionspecialist.TheSCBFisalsosupportedinspecificoperationaltasksbyfourconsultants,eachworkingonaspecificmandate:inclusiveinsurance,financialinclusionintheMENAregion,financialeducation&coordinationofoutcomestudies.

19MemberOrganisations

3 Members case by casePublic SectorMember(SDC)

SCBF ManagerChief Financial Administrator &Controller

FinancialEducation&InclusionSpecialist

Private Sector Member(Chair)

Project Monitor

Private Sector Member(Vice

Chair)

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Secretariat

Board Project Committee

BackstoppingMandates


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APPENDIX 2

FinancialOverviewSinceInception

Product Up-scaling Window (PUW) Since inception (2011)

Productup-scalinginterventionsapproved

Totalproductup-scalinginterventionbudget(CHF)

ApprovedSCBFcontribution(CHF)

AverageSCBFcontribution(CHF)

AveragecostshareofPFIsandthirdparties

72

16’149’279

8’894’983

123’541

37%

Feasibility Study Window (FSW) Since inception (2013)

Feasibility studies approved

Totalfeasibilitystudybudget(CHF)




14

2’154’172

1’391’868

99’419

33%

Financial Education Window (FEW) Since inception (2014)

Financialeducationcampaignsapproved

Totalfinancialeducationcampaignbudget(CHF)




13

2’642’074

1’416’866

108’990

40%

APPENDIX 3Partner FinancialInstitutions and Technical Assistance Providers

North Africa (12)

ABA(AlexandriaBusinessAssociation)

Advans Tunisie

ENDAInter-arabe

CIL(CommercialInternationalLifeInsurance)

AlBaridBank

KiWiMorocco

CréditImmobilier&Hôtelier(CIH)

AssociationAlAmana

LeadFoundation

DBACD

CairoAmmanBank

EgyptianNationalPostOrganization(ENPO)

Egypt

Morocco

Morocco

Egypt

Egypt

Morocco

Egypt

Egypt

Tunisia

Morocco

Egypt

Tunisia

Middle East (3)

MicrofundforWomen

UNRWAMicrofinance

VitasJordan

Jordan

Jordan

Palestine

Latin America & the Carribean (17)

AkibaMexico

ApoyoIntegralGuatemala

Financiera Fundeser

KiWiMexico

CooperativadeAhorroyCréditoCabanillasMañazo

Banco Pichincha

FINCAHaiti

SevisFinansyeFonkoze(SFF)

Credifé

FUDEMI

Banco Popular

FINCANicaragua

FENACREP(FederacióndeCooperativasdeAhorroyCrédito)

Fundación Campo

COMIXMUL

FFDL(FundaciónFondodeDesarrolloLocal)

FUNDENUSE

Mexico

Ecuador

Honduras

Honduras

Peru

Ecuador

Nicaragua

Peru

El Salvador

Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Mexico

Haiti

Haiti

Nicaragua

Guatemala

Sub-Saharan Africa (24)

AcreAfricaKenya(formerlyKilimoSalama)

KenyaCommercialBank

AcreAfricaTanzania(formerlyKilimoSalama)

La Poste du Bénin

EquityBankRwanda

Zingsure Zambia

FIDESMicrofinanceSenegal

BankofKigali

SONAPOST

Advans Ghana

MicrobancoFIDESMozambique

EquityBankTanzania

Zingsure Zimbabwe

Biashara na Fedha

UrwegoOpportunityBank

AdvansTanzania

PRIDERFW

Hekima

Buusaa Gonofaa

Wasasa

ASAInitiative

RMCR(RéseaudeMicro-institutionsdeCroissancedeRevenus)

EFC Zambia

Zingsure Malawi

Kenya

Kenya

Ghana

Mozambique

Tanzania

Tanzania

Ghana

Mali

Rwanda

Burkina

Kenya

Rwanda

Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Zambia

Malawi

Rwanda

Zambia

Senegal

Tanzania

Zimbabwe

DRC

Tanzania

Benin

Asia (13)

AdvansPakistan

AllianceforMicrofinanceinMyanmar

PGMF

LOLC(formerlyTPC)

AMRET Cambodia

TinhThuongMicrofinanceInstitution

UtkarshMicroFinance

Manushi

EkphatthanaMicrofinanceInstitution(EMI)

Ujjivan Financial Services

NMBBank

HKL(HatthaKaksekarLimited)

PACTVentures

Pakistan

Cambodia

Laos

Cambodia

Cambodia

Nepal

Nepal

Myanmar

Myanmar

Vietnam

India

India

Myanmar

Freelance Consultants

Alexandre Berthaud Purata

JohnWipf(DenisGarand&Associates)

JuanVegaGonzales

Lene Hansen

Organisations

Accion

AdvansInternational

HabitatforHumanityInternational

PositivePlanet

MicroInsuranceCentre

Swisscontact

Women´sWorldBanking

Financial Systems Development Services

Bamboo Finance

Horus Development Finance

responsAbility

OpportunityInternational

VentureSouthInternational

Zingsure

FINCAInternational

KiWi

Stonestep

Business&FinanceConsulting

iDEalTecnologías&Cía

SwissMicrofinanceHolding

GFAConsultingGroup

M-CRIL

Symbiotics

E-Savings.club

GrameenCréditAgricoleMicrocreditFoundation(GCAMF)

Pamiga

MicrofinanzaSrl

SyngentaFoundationforSustainableAgriculture

PartnerFinancialInstitutions PartnerFinancialInstitutions Technical Assistance Providers

Sally Yacou


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SCBFCONTRIBUTIONTOSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENTGOALS

SCBF client-centric financial products &

services

All SCBF outputs: insurance, savings, credit, money transfers,financialeducation,leasingofproductiveassets

SDG 1. No poverty

SDG 2. Zero hunger

SDG 3. Good health and well-being

SDG 4. Quality education

SDG 5. Gender equality

SDG 7. Affordable and clean energy

SDG 8. Decent work and economic growth

SDG 9. Reduced inequalities

SDG 11. Sustainable cities and communities

SDG 17. Partnerships for the goals

Agricultureinsurance(weather-indexbased)Loansforirrigationtechnologies Rapid loans customised to farmers

Health and life insuranceHospital cashAccident insurance

Financial literacy trainingBusinessskillstrainingEducationfinanceproductsandloanstoschools(inpipeline)

Promotionandaccelerationofwomen-ledsmallbusinessesGender-focusedsavings-linkedinsurance and lending

Greenenergyloans(biocharstoves)Solar home systemsSolar-poweredwaterpumpsProduct&financialtraining

Self-employmentandbusiness ownership through microfinanceDigitisedfinancialservicesallowing easier access to credit

Group-lendingtorefugeesNon-financialservicesAffordablemoneytransfersformigrantworkers

Affordableandadequatehousing improvement loans Micro-mortgagesConstructiontechnicalassistance

PPDPandcivicsocietiesFinancial service providersPublicauthoritiesSocial investors

Support achievement of the previous SDGs through internationalcooperation

Alliancesbetweenpublic&privatestakeholdersandcivilsocietiesMobilisedlong-terminvestments to support sustainable development

BetterhousingalternativesSafetyfromhazardsEducationandhealthimprovements

Reduced adequate housing deficitInclusivehumansettlements

Increasedincome-generatingopportunitiesSmootheningoffluctuatingincomeImprovedlivelihoods

Reduced wealth disparityPromotionofsocialcohesionEmpoweredpopulationsinconflict-pronecommunities

Enhancedself-relianceSmallvaluechainsofbenefitto neighbourhoods and communitiesConfidenceinbrighterfuture

JobcreationthroughincreasedentrepreneurshipThriving local economiesReduced youth unemployment

BetterindoorsairqualityandcookingconditionsSavingsfromkerosene&firewoodIncreasedtimeforeducation

Less dependence on fossil fuelsReduced carbon printPromotionofrenewableresourcesHealthier planet

Financial independence Enhanceddecision-makingroleof women in the households

Reduced gender gap in financialinclusionWomenempowermentEqualaccesstofinancialproducts

Increasedeconomicandsocialcapitalthroughabilitytomakeinformed investment decision

Provision of brighter future and safe environment for childrenPromotionoflifelonglearningopportunities

Improvedabilitytocopewithmedical emergenciesReducedfinancialdistressin case of accident, hospitalisationordeath

PopulationhealthimprovementBetterqualityoflife

Enhanced resilience to weather anddisease/pestrisksReducedfluctuationsinincomeof small producers and farmers

Food security EradicationofhungerandmalnutritionPromotingsustainableagriculture

Increasedincome,assetsandeconomic securityBetteraccesstohealthcareandeducation

Economic security and empowermentPovertyalleviation

Impact on beneficiaries

Contribution to SDGs

APPENDIX 4 NOTES


62 63


AllfiguresinthisreportareinSwissfrancs(CHF),unlessindicatedotherwise.In2017,theaverageexchangeratewasCHF0.98485toUSD1,andCHF1.1118toEUR1.Source: www.oanda.com

PHOTOSCourtesyofAcreAfrica,AlAmanaAssociation,AlBaridBank,AliceDufour-Feronce,AllianceforMicrofinancein Myanmar, Ekphatthana Microfinance Institution, Enda inter-arabe, E-Savings.club, Habitat for HumanityInternational,KiWi,LeadEgypt,LOLCCambodia,M-CRIL,NMBBankLimited,SyngentaFoundationforSustainableAgriculture,Women’sWorldBanking,Zing

NOTES


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Swiss Capacity Building FacilitySeebahnstrasse 858003 Zürich | SwitzerlandTel:+41445851255E: [email protected]

Documents

Annual Report 2017 - Syngenta€¦ · SCBF ANNUAL REPORT 2017 2 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 List of acronyms 5 Message from the SCBF Chair 6 SCBF at a glance 7 Impact logic of SCBF 8 Members