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> Posted by Jeffrey Riecke, Communications Assistant, CFI
It’s well acknowledged that in designing financial products, service providers should connect with prospective clients and their needs. Though the extent to which this actually happens remains a cause for concern. That’s a big part of why AgriLife, a new mobile-based financial services platform for smallholder farmers, intrigues me.
AgriLife is open-ended, built as a platform with integration points through which providers can “plug in” and deliver their services. These include financial services providers, mobile network operators, and a variety of agricultural players. On the client side, the farmers use the services available through AgriLife – like crop insurance, input payments, and savings accounts – and in turn provide information through the platform on their own farming activities. Farmers can provide information on their crops – what they’re producing, how much, and what they’re yielding. This user data is collected and analyzed by the providers and used to better shape their offered services. Over time, the user information amasses to establish a farmer’s production capabilities. These production capabilities can be used by farmers to access credit through AgriLife’s associated services. Additionally, the resulting electronic transaction records for many of these farmers helps them build a credit history that can be used, via AgriLife services or otherwise, for financing throughout the value chain.
AgriLife recently launched in Uganda. One of its early adopters is the Farmers Centre, a farmer-centric agribusiness in Northern Uganda, and its thousands of affiliated farmers. These individuals often travel long distances to the Centre’s warehouses to purchase inputs and aggregate their produce for processing and selling. Previously, these transactions had been done on paper with data stored on a single computer. AgriLife makes it possible for these processes to be done much quicker and, as it’s cloud-based, more securely. With more robust records on their farmers, the Centre is able to make informed recommendations on what farmers should plant and which inputs they should obtain, and make informed linkages between farmers and buyers.
The following post, written by Jeanette Thomas, was originally published on the CGAP Microfinance Blog. It reinforces the importance of appropriate product design in achieving full financial inclusion. The Smart Campaign, which is about to launch its Client Protection Certification Program, includes a Client Protection Principle for appropriate product design and delivery as informed by client characteristics, needs, and feedback.
Twenty-two million households in Mexico are middle or low income, and only half of them have a bank account. It’s not that they lack access. Most have had a bank account, but closed it after fees and commissions drained their balances. They are not so much “unbanked” as “de-banked”—they have voluntarily opted out of having a bank account because the banks don’t offer what they need.
Earlier this year CGAP, in partnership with Bancomer, commissioned IDEO.org, the non-profit arm of the California firm known for its human-centered design methodology, to create a savings product that would meet the needs of low income Mexicans. Bancomer, a large Mexican bank, wants to reach more people by offering products that will work for the low income market. This video tells the story of how the team developed products that meet the needs of poor clients, while also making the business case for the bank.
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