Providing Financial Solutions

In order to provide effective financial solutions we must understand the key enablers to business model sustainability. This includes fostering progressive partnerships, leveraging the role of non-financial institutons, offering technical assistance, and the willingness to learn from failure. This primary topic area includes sub-topics like credit assessment, big data, insurance, and digital finacial services.

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Digital Financial Services

Innovation

Evidence on Impact

Metrics

Investing in smallholder farming: Six outgrower schemes that are getting it right

Report: In Africa, where agricultural production remains far below potential, companies are working with smallholder farmers to raise crop yields, open up new market opportunities, and strengthen rural economies. In a new case study, AgDevCo’s Smallholder Development Unit features six examples of outgrower schemes that are delivering results.

Alternative delivery channels for financial inclusion: opportunities and challenges in african banks and microfinance institutions 2016

Report: In their latest study, The Mastercard Foundation shares emerging lessons learned using alternative delivery channels for financial inclusion.

Learning Lab highlights from The MasterCard Foundation's West Africa Program Launch

Tool: On March 6 in Dakar, Senegal The MasterCard Foundation hosted a program launch announcing the work of RAF Learning Lab partners ICCO, AgDevCo, and Root Capital. Alongside the program launch the Learning Lab hosted two learning sessions on the opportunity for partnerships and digital tools to unlock smallholder finance. This blog includes a brief summary of the learning sessions alongside presentation materials and relevant resources.

Expanding access to finance for smallholders one lease at a time

Analysis: New research from Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSDA) and Nathan Associates highlights agricultural lease finance as a way to expand access to finance for smallholders, allowing for greater mechanization of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. This blog summarizes some of the key opportunities and barriers to uptake and usage of lease finance - concluding with the recommendation of a potential fund that would help share the initial costs of agricultural equipment.

Webinar materials: Last mile partnerships for smallholder finance

Media: On February 28 and March 1 the RAF Learning Lab team – in collaboration with Dalberg – hosted a webinar summarizing insights from our second Learning Brief, Better together: Last mile partnerships for smallholder finance.

Learning Brief 2: Last mile business partnerships for smallholder finance

Analysis: The second in the Lab's Learning Brief series, "Better together: Last mile business partnerships for smallholder finance,"* offers baseline insights for building or enabling businesses partnerships to better serve smallholders. These are early findings from an ongoing study of four value chain/technology players looking to partner with financial institutions.

KCB Group summary of impact-oriented initiatives

Report: KCB Group, a RAF Learning Partner, shares details on their current programming efforts as of 2016. Most specifically, the report highlights their USD 30 million partnership with The Mastercard Foundation, in which KCB has committed to offering financial services to 2 million smallholder farmers.

Learning Brief 1: The business case for digitally-enabled smallholder finance

Analysis: Our learning brief explores the role of digital approaches (across the lending value chain) in making it possible to profitably serve the smallholder market at scale. What do the digital journeys of financial service providers entail? What results are FSPs seeing and what challenges do they face?

The pitfalls and potentials of digital lending solutions: Juhudi Kilimo's experience with cloud-based MIS and SMS reminders

Analysis: Smallholder asset lender Juhudi Kilimo used a cloud-based management information system to improve its operational efficiency. Then it tested a new SMS reminder initiative, which proved promising in pilot but faced challenges during rollout. Elvin Walela tells this chapter in the story of Juhudi's digital journey.

Financial inclusion fit to size: Customizing digital credit for smallholder farmers in Tanzania

Analysis: The fourteenth briefing note in a series from the Initiative for Smallholder Finance, the Dalberg Design Impact Group (DIG) explores the causes of low uptake in digital credit for smallholders to better understand how we can develop concrete product solutions to jump-start adoption of digital credit products by them.

Videos: AGRA FISFAP farmers' voices and smallholder financial inclusion documentary

Media: Listen to farmers share their perspective and experience with 15 different ICT4Ag solution providers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Ghana.

Service delivery models: Insights for continuous improvement and farm impact

Report: Smallholder farmers are in need of inputs such as fertilizers, improved seeds and planting material, and access to finance, delivered in a stable and cost efficient system. Insights from a new report, published by IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, enable service providers to create these cost-effective and scalable solutions, empowering smallholders to grow and sustain their businesses.