ICTworks by Inveneo

Juhudi Kilimo is a social enterprise that provides asset financing and technical assistance to smallholder farmers in the Central, Western, and Rift Valley provinces of Kenya. Unlike traditional microfinance, which primarily provides loans for working capital to informal businesses, Juhudi finances specific assets that offer immediate and sustainable income for farmers. Assets vary from high-yield dairy cows and other livestock to agricultural equipment and greenhouses. Most assets are insured and can also act as an alternative form of collateral to protect farmers from over-indebtedness.

Project Background

To complete the transition to an independent and sustainable organization, Juhudi is leveraging technology to streamline its back office processes and systems. Currently, loan officers and clients complete several paper forms as part of the group intake, loan application, and repayment processes, including client intake forms, the group constitution, business appraisal forms (including a poverty assessment), Kiva interview and waiver forms (and photograph), household goods waiver, loan application forms, and monthly repayment receipts and ledgers. In an effort to reduce costs, data entry errors, and delays in processing, Juhudi has targeted some documents and processes to convert to electronic forms that loan officers can complete via mobile phones.

Juhudi is currently completing integration of a mobile repayment option for clients through Safaricom’s M-Pesa. Mobile payments dramatically improve our monthly repayment operations and eliminate the need for paper receipts and ledgers. In addition, a volunteer developer created a tool to allow loan officers to view client data via mobile phones. The tool, called Simple MFI, syncs with Juhudi’s MIS (Microsoft Dynamics Nav) to display client data by region and loan officer. Simple MFI is an open source Java-based tool that runs on any Android phone. All Juhudi loan officers and regional managers are now equipped with IDEOS Android phones and began accessing and testing Simple MFI in the field in August 2011. (See https://github.com/kevgibbs/simple-mfi/wiki for more information and images of Simple MFI and the related Manta software.)

To expand on these efforts and loan officers’ new mobile capacity, Juhudi seeks to combine and convert its business appraisal, the Kiva interview processes, and poverty assessment (Grameen’s Progress Out of Poverty Index) to a mobile form using Open Data Kit (http://opendatakit.org/). By entering this client data electronically, Juhudi can eliminate significant duplication of data entry, facilitate import into our MIS, export data to an online source that is available to all offices, begin to collect and analyze valuable social performance data, and improve the speed at which it funds loans through Kiva and disburses loans to clients.

Scope of Work

Juhudi is seeking technical assistance to aid development and testing of XML- and Java-based mobile tools, including mobile forms created in ODK and the Simple MFI tool.

Mobile business appraisal

Juhudi has detailed the format and structure of the combined mobile business appraisal and created a draft in ODK and seeks the following technical assistance to complete the project.
• Review the overall design and functionality of the form and XML file
• Develop and implement items in the form that can’t be built directly in ODK:
o Progressive questions on expenses, income, and credit history that result in a summed amount
o Automated answers on date, loan office name, field office name based on phone presets
• Improve the numeric parameters of some items to ensure correct entry: client ID, mobile number, and year started farming
• Resolve XML export and import errors
• Improve display of collected client data in an internal online source
Juhudi seeks to further develop the appraisal tool to offer increased operational capacities:
• Implement signature capture to allow clients (including co-guarantors and group leadership) and staff to sign the Kiva legal waiver and approve the business appraisal data
• Implement GPS capture and develop a client farm and loan group location map listed by loan officer
• Develop and implement a credit score calculation based on collected income, expenses, and credit history
• Develop and implement a loan schedule calculator
• Develop and implement an automated PPI assessment score based on preset values
• Develop and implement an accessible online application to allow managers and other staff to review and approve collected data, including a credit score and poverty assessment score

Simple MFI

Simple MFI is being used throughout our field offices but technical errors are limiting its use. Simple MFI’s original developer is available for questions and review but not for continued development. Juhudi seeks technical assistance to complete implementation of the tool:
• Review and resolve technical errors that occur when running Simple MFI on IDEOS phones, primarily the application freezing and closing, but other errors may be identified with further use
• Document Simple MFI functionality in a specification that facilitates further development

More Info: Juhudi-Kilimo-Mobile-Client-Intake_data-Tools.pdf (100.9 KB)

Whether the goal is to realize microfinance’s full potential or to avoid potential pitfalls, for most microfinance institutions (MFIs), improving the way they use information and communication technologies (ICTs) is crucial.

Microfinance staff learning Loan Performer

Today, even the best-managed MFIs working in environments with relatively good infrastructure often struggle to implement management information systems that are scalable and sustainable. The challenge is even greater in the resource-limited communities where many MFIs find their natural constituents. As Allen Hammond et al have noted in The Next 4 Billion:

"there is still a serious shortage of infrastructure on the ground to provide financial services to the [bottom of the pyramid]."

Fortunately, while building strong institutions can take decades, implementing sustainable ICTs doesn’t have to. Affordable and sustainable power, hardware, software and connectivity systems already exist, they are just not widely available, mostly due to lack of local knowledge and limited support capacity.

Enterprising Solutions Global Consulting recently asked Inveneo to help identify and solve the ICT challenges facing MFIs in two post-conflict countries - Sierra Leone and DR Congo - where they work to build the sector’s capacity. We began with assessments of the current use of ICTs among select client MFIs in each country.

Inveneo’s studies were followed by pilot projects designed to test whether more sustainable hardware, software, networking and power solutions can augment MFI performance and capacity. Our goals were to lower overall operating costs, improve and accelerate information flow and increase overall efficiency and growth.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

WiFi installation in DRC

Working with our ICIP partners in DRC (NEKOTEK) and Rwanda (Rock Global Consulting and Great Lakes Energy), Inveneo designed and deployed ICT and power solutions to 9 HQ and branch locations; 4 in Kinshasa (Bomoko) and 5 in Bukavu (Mecrebu).

We installed new, power-efficient desktops, a server, low power printer and CF lighting at each branch, powered by generator and grid-fed battery backup systems and power stabilization systems. In addition, we deployed a private, broadband wireless network in Bukavu to allow access to a central server running Loan Performer and inter-branch VoIP calling.

Sierra Leone

Whereas pilot MFIs in DRC were focused in urban settings, in Sierra Leone - HOPE and Association for Rural Development (ARD) - have HQ offices in the capital city, Freetown, and branch offices in Makeni, some 4 hours "up country."

In Makeni, Inveneo installed low-power servers and workstations running Windows XP (protected with Deep Freeze) and Loan Performer. In addition, HOPE’s branch was entirely off-grid so Inveneo worked with Energy for Opportunity, our local power partner, to deploy a full solar array and power backup system.

Training

To help create local capacity to support these pilot projects, Inveneo combined both classroom and hands-on training to coincide with pilot deployments. In total, we trained 10 new Certified ICT Partners to provide support as needed for future deployments, with Inveneo providing backstop technical support as needed.

In both countries, Inveneo also included IT administrators from the MFIs themselves in relevant parts of the training, thereby creating capable "Tier 1" support and establishing a strong link between system users and capable outside support for more challenging problems.

Download full report (PDF)

Project Results

Initial indications are that reliable power, computing and connectivity systems can significantly benefit MFI performance. In DRC, for the first time, loan officers have reliable access to Loan Performer, their Windows-based accounts package system. We’ve also heard that Bomoko’s branch offices in Kinshasa can now access their Loan Performer system through power outages lasting as long as 2-3 days without having to try to start their aging generator.

For the full details, read our detailed project report:
Accelerating Microfinance Impact with ICT (PDF)

Working collaboratively with organizations like ESGC, Inveneo hopes to develop a better understanding of the real impact of specific ICT interventions for MFIs. We believe that combining efforts at institution/capacity building with appropriate and tested ICT solutions is the best way to achieve the promise – and avoid the peril – of the rapid expansion of microfinance services in the developing world.

Have you wondered how microfinance institutions (MFI's) could leverage short message services (SMS) text messages to provide most cost-effective loans to their customers? Ben Lyons of FrontlineSMS:Credit has, and he's come up with an intriguing solutions: middleware between mPayment systems like m-Pesa and Zap and MFI management information systems like MiFos and Octopus.

FronlineSMS:Credit Solution

Right now, MFI clients and loan officers send in loan repayments via mPayment services, which notify the MFI via SMS text messages. That's great if you only have a few clients, but successful MFI's soon run into a scaling problem - there are only so many mPayments that MFI staff can transcribe from mobile phone to MFI accounting system at one time before being overwhelmed.

So FrontlineSMS:Credit sits between the mPayment system and the MFI accounting system, quickly converting the SMS's from the mPayment system into accurate client loans and repayments in the MFI management information system (MIS). It can also serve as a conduit between client/loan officer and MFI, quickly responding with loan balance and repayment progress.

Here is Ben Lyons describing the FrontlineSMS:Creidt process at Inveneo's mission*social offices:

Find out more about FrontlineSMS:Credit on their website or on Twitter.

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