From Survival to Growth: How to Design Impactful Digital Finance Products for Small Businesses to Withstand Shocks and Grow

Fiw Topics

Digital Financial Services
MSEs
Understanding Impact

FIW Year

2024

Transcripts:

English

Spanish

French

Summary + Key Insights

The discussion focuses on designing impactful digital finance products for small businesses, emphasizing the importance of resilience, trust, and tailored solutions.

Resilience Over Growth: Many small businesses prioritize stability over expansion, highlighting the need for financial products that support persistence rather than just growth. Understanding this can help design more relevant offerings.
Data-Driven Decision Making: Leveraging alternative data for credit evaluations can enhance trust and improve lending outcomes, provided that privacy concerns are addressed effectively.
Importance of Partnerships: Collaborating with traditional financial institutions can enhance credibility and provide resources necessary for scaling credit offerings to small businesses.
High-Tech, High-Touch Approach: Combining technology with personal support fosters trust and improves adoption rates among small businesses, especially those less digitally savvy.
Regulatory Support Needed: Effective regulations can create a safer environment for innovation in digital finance, ultimately benefiting small businesses through improved access and security.
Tailored Financial Solutions: Products must be designed with a deep understanding of the specific needs of diverse small business segments to avoid over-leveraging and financial stress.
Ongoing Adaptation Required: Continuous assessment and adjustment of financial products are essential to meet the evolving challenges faced by small businesses in a dynamic economic landscape.

This session summary was AI-generated using NoteGPT.

This session spotlights the latest impact evidence on using digital financing to strengthen the resilience of MSEs. It leverages product and MSE experts to discuss best practices in product design and risk mitigation so that session participants leave with practical strategies for leveraging digital financial services to enhance the resilience and growth of small businesses.

This session will be framed by the latest evidence from Caribou Digital’s small business evidence map, focusing on the impacts of digital financing on MSE resilience. Additional insights from the Mastercard Strive program will further illustrate learnings on critical design features to maximize the impact of digital financing. Expert panelists will share practical challenges and strategies in deploying digital credit and the factors required to create a viable business model for providing credit to even the smallest enterprises.

Session Speakers

Elise Montano

Director of Measurement and Impact, Caribou Digital

Elise is Director of Measurement & Impact at Caribou Digital. She has worked at the intersection of the monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), research, data and digital worlds for over 10 years. Elise has conducted and overseen evaluations of all sizes, from small projects to large multi-country programmes. Most recently, her work often focuses on designing project measurement systems across many sectors including agriculture, disaster resilience, forestry and environmental pollution. She plays a lead role in creating and implementing the programme MEL framework for the UK Space Agency’s International Partnership Programme for Caribou Space. Prior to joining Caribou Digital Elise worked with international NGOs like Oxfam and Greenpeace to design MEL frameworks and implement evaluations. Elise holds a BA in Global Development from Queen’s University (Canada), and an MA in International Development from the Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University of Rotterdam (the Netherlands). Elise is currently based in Bristol, UK.

Ady Beitler

Co-founder and CEO, Nilus

Ady Beitler is the co-founder and CEO of Nilus, an Argentinian social enterprise that uses technology and sharing economy models to reduce food loss and waste. His organisation’s mission is to alleviate hunger by lowering the cost of healthy food for those on low incomes – a goal it achieves by rescuing food that would otherwise be wasted and distributing it at discounted prices. Previously, Ady worked at the Inter-American Development Bank on projects supporting small businesses in the Americas. His areas of expertise include social entrepreneurship, poverty alleviation, nutrition and last-mile logistics.

Bui Hai-Nam

Co-founder & CEO, SoBanHang

With over 15 years of experience in data analysis, strategic planning, management, and entrepreneurship, Hai Nam is a passionate and practical leader who drives digital transformation for small and micro businesses in Vietnam and beyond. He is the co-founder and CEO of SoBanHang, Vietnam’s #1 B2B SaaS platform that empowers MSMEs to sell more, manage better, and access inclusive financial services on smartphones. As a tech entrepreneur, he loves building ventures that help small businesses thrive on fast-growing digital platforms and his crew unleash their potential capabilities. Hai Nam has co-founded three other successful digital ventures in e-commerce and e-logistics, each currently valued at over $250 million, with three exits. He is the winner of the StartupViet Award 2018, Techfest Champion 2022, and the ambassador for the Asia Business Trade Association. He holds a master’s degree in financial services from Singapore Management University and a bachelor’s degree in management of information systems from National Economics University.

Marco Del Rio

Strive Program Director, BFA Global

Marco is a development economist with over 18 years of experience in financial inclusion, development banking, rural financing, and social development. Since 2022, he has served as a consultant at BFA Global, where he serves as the director of the Strive México program, which seeks to increase the resilience of 90,000 micro and small businesses. He also coordinates the FinnSalud program, which seeks to have financial and non-financial institutions adopt the financial health of their clients and employees. He has been a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank, GSMA, and the Fintech México association. Previously, he worked for the National Banking and Securities Commission as general director and deputy general director in financial inclusion, and at a development bank, Financiera Rural (FND), where he collaborated in developing a financing program for small-holders. He holds a degree in Economics and a Master’s in Administration and Public Policy.

Joseph Kuvor

CEO, Boost Ghana

Joseph brings over 17 years of experience in customer insights, strategy development & execution, digital solutions development & deployment and customer experience design. His experience spans several industries and countries in Anglophone West, East and Southern Africa. He is passionate about the use of data, customer insights and inclusive technology to create commercial value and achieve sustainable impact in Africa’s large informal sector. Boost Technology provides digital solutions to boost SMEs in Africa and drive efficiency in the distribution of fast moving consumer goods. Retailers can leverage innovative solutions to order stock, obtain a range of support services and be connected to providers of the right financial solutions.

Swati Sawhney

Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

Swati Sawhney has been with CGAP since 2021, based in London. She is currently engaged with CGAP’s work on micro and small enterprise (MSE) finance, Swati has worked extensively in the field of access to finance, with global experience across the US, UK, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. She was a senior financial sector specialist with the IFC / WBG Finance and Markets Global Practice in South Asia, where she was responsible for leading the development of enabling Financial Infrastructure programs for the South Asia region and MSME financial inclusion work in India. Prior to her work with the IFC, she was a Manager with Ernst & Young’s Business Advisory Services in the UK, where she worked with several private and public sector clients on large change management programs. She has also worked for several years on MSME finance for DAI Europe, with a focus on EBRD programs across Eastern Europe. Prior to that she has experience at Citigroup in the UK, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Swati holds a Masters in International Strategy and Diplomacy from the London School of Economics, and an earlier Masters in International and Development Economics from Yale University.

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