Newsletter – September 2021

Going Digital Is Not Enough to Reach Scale

Watching “Inside Bill’s Brain,” a Netflix documentary series, I was struck by Bill Gates’ approach to new development ideas. What’s important in thinking about a problem, he says, is to look for a solution with 7x or 10x impact. It’s all about “optimization.”.

This left me wondering about microfinance’s own optimization problem.

What I mean is, how does microfinance get radically more efficient without losing what makes it distinctive? Its distinctiveness is its focus on the social good and the attempt to improve and indeed transform lives. By efficient, I mean the ability to deliver at significant scale, but at a fraction of current delivery costs.

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Advans Group Selects Tagit to Digitize Customer Experience in Microfinance

Advans, a microfinance group operating in Africa and Asia, has chosen Tagit, a leading digital banking solutions provider, to implement Mobeix™ Retail Banking in its eight regional markets. Powered by Tagit, Advans mobile app will fulfil the expectations of their clients by providing digital financial services for their daily operations, increasing financial inclusion and delivering a superior customer experience. Advans is a leading international microfinance group with over 1mn clients and a presence in 9 markets. Advans aims to foster financial inclusion by providing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and other underserved populations with loans, deposits, current & savings accounts, and other financial services.

With this partnership, Advans will accelerate its impact and reach out to more clients in its markets through its ability to provide client-centric digital financial services to its clients sustainably and responsibly.

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Supporting women workers in global supply chains: how inclusive business practices can create resilience

How can businesses build resilience for women workers in global supply chains?

Eighty percent of world trade takes place within globalized supply chains — where different stages of a good’s production take place in different locations around the world. These global supply chains have been an important driver of economic growth and job creation in many countries in Asia. But challenges persist, particularly for women workers.

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Upcoming Events

  1. Conference : African Microfinance Week (AMW) Kigali (Rwanda) | october 18th – 22th 2021
  2. Diploma course : Master in Microfinance, UMU – Addis-Ababa (Ethiopia)| october 2021
  3. Training : Management of complaints and claims – Cotonou (Benin) | 3, 4 et 5 november 2021
  4. Webinar – Social Finance facing the challenges of climatic changes in Africa: beyond the challenge, actions | november 8th 2021
  5. Training : Digital Finance and Financial literacy within the context of financial inclusion | Addis-Ababa (Ethiopia)november 2021
  6. Training : Ecological and Social Transition (EST) | December 2021