The ability for direct financial contributions or indirect technical assistance to provide increased impact relative to cost and resource mobilization.
Report: Utilizing e-commerce in agriculture offers several benefits, including improved income for farmers and fresher produce for customers. In developing economies where agriculture is often an outsized contributor to GDP, these benefits could be especially impactful.
Media: Data Analytics (DA) has the potential to unlock groundbreaking opportunities for investors and farmers in smallholder finance. Financial Service Providers, Digital Service Providers, and donors must work together to realize this potential. Watch our video below to learn more about the business case for data analytics.
Analysis: The fifth Learning Brief in the Lab’s research series, this brief aims to provide a high level understanding of how data analytics is used for smallholder farmers, introduce a new framework to understand the economics of data analytic investments, and highlight key innovators in the space.
Spotlight: Women comprise approximately 50% of the labor force in sub-Saharan Africa but are less likely to participate in agribusinesses’ outgrower schemes than men. As a result, women lose out on opportunities for increasing their income and economic empowerment – and agribusinesses miss opportunities for increasing productivity, product quality, and stability in their supply chain.
Media: In this seven-minute video, the Lab digs deep into business model sustainability by following the Musoni Kenya team to understand how going digital can help achieve scale and drive profitability.
Analysis: On October 5, 2017 the RAF Learning Lab hosted a RAF Partner webinar to discuss and share learnings from our Annual Learning Review. View the deck below for more information.
Analysis: The third in the Learning Brief series, "Understanding profitability in smallholder finance", intends to (1) bring clarity to efforts currently undertaken by financial service providers (FSPs) to reach financial sustainability and (2) set the stage for future research. Drawing from a review of Mastercard Foundation rural and agricultural finance (RAF) partner experiences – including documentation, interviews a survey of 17 financial service providers, and secondary research from external sources – this brief provides FSPs with evidence to guide their journey in achieving financial sustainability.
Cost Efficiency
The ability for direct financial contributions or indirect technical assistance to provide increased impact relative to cost and resource mobilization.