December 23, 2011
Leo Tobias is Grameen Foundation’s Technology Program Manager of the Solutions for the Poorest Microsavings Initiative.
Offering savings programs for the poor can be challenging. First, the microfinance institutions (MFIs) that want to offer these services are competing with a variety of alternatives, such as home-based savings (under mattresses, in strongboxes, etc.), or keeping money with relatives or neighbors. Second, offering savings products fundamentally changes the relationship between the MFI and its customers. When clients only want loans, making that the primary purpose for their interactions with the MFI, there is a standard process. Taking voluntary customer deposits radically changes that relationship, to one that is initiated by the customer and that involves varying amounts of deposits or withdrawals. In other words, the customer interaction is less predictable. At any time of the day or night, the customer can ask for her balance and withdraw from it.
A loan officer from CASHPOR in India processes loan payments on her mobile phone.
Grameen Foundation’s Microsavings team has found that poor customers all want to have easy and convenient access to their funds. The MFIs we work with face common technology challenges involved with providing such access.
In this post on the CGAP Technology Blog, Leo Tobias, our technology program manager for the Grameen Foundation Microsavings Initiative, discusses two of the major technology challenges facing MFIs.
Comments
This is great, Leo! We're working on developing a savings program with Hope International in Rwanda. I'm going to read the post on the CGAP tech blog. Thanks for the link!
Matthew Snyder
@trinityeffect
Matthew, as you know there’s a lot that can’t be fit into a brief blog entry. I’d be glad to expand on some of the points I raise and others that didn’t make it. Best of luck to your project and glad to be a resource.