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04-Digital Financial Inclusion [clear filter]
Monday, May 15
 

14:15 IST

Digital transformation in agri sector and the role of commercial players
Limited Capacity seats available
The GSMA mAgri Programme forges partnerships between mobile operators, technology providers and agricultural organisations. We support scalable commercial mobile services that impact smallholder farmers and the agricultural industry at large. Our mission is to advance the productivity and profitability of smallholder farmers and the agricultural industry at large through scalable and commercial mobile services.

Over the last few years GSMA has been working with six mobile operators to support the launch and scale of agricultural value-added services (Agri VAS). In just over two years, leveraging findings from user experience (UX) design, business intelligence (BI), and customer feedback and sharing knowledge with each other, the product teams developed services that cumulatively reached more than three million registered users worldwide.



Some of the key findings to be presented include:

- The potential of Agri VAS to drive behaviour change is proven by power users reporting significantly more on-farm changes than comparable non-users (e.g. planting, land management, harvesting) – over one million users are estimated to have made changes globally.

- Dedication to UX, drawing on customer feedback and behavioural data from BI, ensured high acquisitions and user engagement. The six Agri VAS services reached three million registered users worldwide, almost 60% of whom were active in December 2016 due to iterative and user-centric approach to product evolution.

- Successful services require holistic product team structure - a core team of dedicated staff, as well as cross functional links into other departments (marketing, BI, technology, sales and distribution). A high degree of ownership from MNOs results in high activity and user engagement rates. Those who led UX research internally and empowered their team to make service design decisions based on lessons in the field are more likely to get foundational issues, like design and requirement specifications, right.

This session will also explore the trends and role of digital in agriculture beyond extension
Speakers
avatar for Natalia Pshenichnaya

Natalia Pshenichnaya

Head of mAgri and mHealth programmes, GSMA
Natalia Pshenichnaya is the Head of the GSMA mNutrition, comprising of mHealth and mAgri programmes, overseeing a global portfolio of projects. Natalia has been working on implementation as well as research on mobile solutions for rural since 2010 across Asia and Africa.

Monday May 15, 2017 14:15 - 14:55 IST
1.04
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

14:15 IST

Using mobile payment for wage payment to workers in rural employment
Limited Capacity seats available
During 2013-2016, a pilot covering 2 blocks in rural Odisha was implement to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of using mobile retailer network to disburse wages using mobile payment to MGNREGS workers. The pilot led to successful and timely disbursal of wages to the workers, leading to beneficiary satisfaction on mobile payment. However, it also posed challenges for many workers due to their limited adaption of mobile user interfaces and limited individual ownership of mobile handsets. Despite these challenges, workers were keen to continuing using mobile payment method to get their wages in and around their villages. The pilot posed several organizational and environmental challenges. The presentation talks about those challenges and recommends solutions.
Speakers
avatar for Soumen Das

Soumen Das

Senior Delivery Manager, Socialwell Technologies
Soumen Das, Sr. Delivery Manager, Socialwell Technologies is a transactional banking consultant. His subject areas are mobile payment, payment APIs.Soumen has worked in banking software industries and ICT design and project management.

Monday May 15, 2017 14:15 - 14:55 IST
1.05
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

15:00 IST

Speed Networking

A fun and fast networking opportunity facilitating introductions and conversation.

You will make many new contacts in a short time to help build and maintain long-term relationships.

There will be several short rounds to meet other participants; latecomers are welcome!

Don’t forget your business cards!

Speakers
SR

Sonja Ruetzel

ICT4D Conference Manager, Catholic Relief Services

Monday May 15, 2017 15:00 - 15:45 IST
Hall 1
  02-Agriculture & Environment   03-Data-driven Adaptation & Strategy   04-Digital Financial Inclusion   05-Disaster Management   06-Education & Livelihoods   07-Health   08-Partnerships & Collaborative Solutions

15:00 IST

Cash based interventions with Redrose
Limited Capacity seats available
With over 30 years experience working in the humanitarian and card payment sectors, the RedRose team has designed and developed a unique, web based system, tailored solely to meet the needs of the Humanitarian Sector. The ONEsystem enables NGO’s to register beneficiaries, rapidly mobilise Cash and DIK Programmes and provides real time monitoring and evaluation reporting.Our approach was to create an easy to use solution that caters for CBI interventions, whatever the context (offline and online); and to develop and fully integrate all the tools necessary to deliver effective CBI programs on one platform. Given the dynamic nature of Humanitarian programs, our product enables NGOs complete flexibility; managers can now choose the most relevant CBI modality given the context. As programs evolve and context changes, the ONEsolution allows managers to add new programs of the same or different modalities. The RedRose ONEsolution is offered as Software as a Service (SaaS) model, and is designed for both open and closed loop systems, which are available on a secure cloud based platform.

The key features of the RedRose ONEsolution includes all the following
• Source of funds including; donor grants, budgets and CBI activities
• Beneficiary registration and management [including biometrics]
• Program management for all CBI modalities used in Markets including:
o E-Cash: Mobile money, Pre-paid cards [ATM’s/POS], bank transfers
o E-vouchers: smart cards or mobile phones
o Paper vouchers [using QR codes and Barcodes]
o In-kind goods and services
o Cash for work and on-site verification [incl. training or attendance tracking]
• Vendor interface and management, financial reconciliations with full audit trial of all transactions
• Real time Monitoring & Evaluation including; surveys, complaints, PDM’s and customised dashboards for internal and external reporting, all reports are exportable to excel.
Speakers
avatar for Brian Healy

Brian Healy

Business Development, RedRose
RedRose is a technology company established to enable NGOs to revolutionise the way they deliver Cash Based Interventions (CBI’s) globally. RedRose has developed the RedRose ONEsolution to help NGOs improve operational efficiency and ensure programs remain relevant and fit for purpose... Read More →

RedRose.ONEsolution pdf
Monday May 15, 2017 15:00 - 15:45 IST
1.04
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

15:00 IST

Technology solutions for the field
Limited Capacity seats available
Alternative delivery channels- What organisations must consider while choosing technology solutions for their organisations, especially for the filed and client interface.
Speakers
avatar for Gaurav Singh

Gaurav Singh

Country Manager, Software Group BG
10 Years of Work experience in Consulting and Financial Inclusion. Helped build Grameen Foundation's work in India and headed 3 Business Verticals of HR Consulting, Data Driven Management, and Bankers without Borders. Conceived, planned and pitched ideas around digital financial inclusion... Read More →

Monday May 15, 2017 15:00 - 15:45 IST
1.03
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

16:15 IST

Case of use of alternative data by lenders
Limited Capacity seats available
Use of alternative. A case for use of data generated by farmer management systems to make credit decisions by lenders.
Speakers
avatar for Reuben Gicheha

Reuben Gicheha

Program Officer,Financial Inclusion, AGRA
Reuben has over 10 years experience in the financial inclusion space in Kenya having with the two leading banks in Kenya.He pioneered the KCB Mpesa micro lending business before moving to AGRA in the MasterCard Foundation funded financial inclusion program.He is the lead for Kenya... Read More →

Monday May 15, 2017 16:15 - 16:55 IST
1.03
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

16:15 IST

Microfinance transformation through ICT Innovation
Limited Capacity seats available
Global Communities is an innovator in providing locally appropriate financial solutions. We pioneered housing microfinance in the 1980s and have managed lending institutions in the world’s most challenging environments since the 1990s. Every institution that we manage was established to meet the needs of the local communities in which we work. As a result, we operate a highly-localized and internationally proven business model, and offer a broad spectrum of products that help families, first time entrepreneurs, and well-established small businesses chart their own path.

This approach has resulted in healthy, growing portfolios across 8 countries that today surpass a combined $216 million in loans outstanding. From 2004 to 2015, Global Communities disbursed nearly 700,000 loans to low- and moderate-income customers, totaling more than $1.76 billion, while maintaining an average repayment rate of 98 %.

Building on this unique approach and Global Communities collective knowledge and experience in micro-credit, we have developed Web-Abacus™. Web-Abacus™ is a complete web based loan portfolio management system. It supports flexible product definition, multiple sources of funds, any number of branches and multiple users with different levels of access and security.

Web-Abacus™ manages clients and loans by mirroring the specific processes used in each institution, providing a customized system that meets the institution’s needs. Web-Abacus™ also incorporates multi-level loan approval processes and provides a comprehensive set of reports.

The presentation/demo will highlight Global Communities' approach to innovation and the evolution of it's most successful and sustainable ICT4D solution, Web-Abacus™.
Speakers
avatar for Billy Blake

Billy Blake

CIO, Global Communities
Billy Blake is CIO at Global Communities. Billy champions the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) as a strategic enabler for Global Communities operations world-wide, leading efforts to make use of technology in new and innovative ways that enhance the organization’s... Read More →
BM

Boris Marković

Boris Marković is leading the Web-Abacus software solution team of Global Communities, which for over ten years helps making credit inclusion possible to impoverished and rejected people in war thorn ME regions and Europe. His team substantially contribute to proactive and responsive... Read More →

Monday May 15, 2017 16:15 - 16:55 IST
1.02
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

17:00 IST

Digital Financial Inclusion Track Panel: Yesterday, today and tomorrow - the transformative impact of DFS on low-income consumers
Speakers
avatar for Joe Dougherty

Joe Dougherty

Partner and Regional Director, the Americas, Dalberg Global Advisors
Joe Dougherty is a Partner at Dalberg who has served as a trusted advisor to leading financial institutions, government agencies, corporations and foundations for twenty years and has worked in more than thirty countries. Joe has worked with established companies like Visa Inc and... Read More →
avatar for Reuben Gicheha

Reuben Gicheha

Program Officer,Financial Inclusion, AGRA
Reuben has over 10 years experience in the financial inclusion space in Kenya having with the two leading banks in Kenya.He pioneered the KCB Mpesa micro lending business before moving to AGRA in the MasterCard Foundation funded financial inclusion program.He is the lead for Kenya... Read More →
avatar for Natalia Pshenichnaya

Natalia Pshenichnaya

Head of mAgri and mHealth programmes, GSMA
Natalia Pshenichnaya is the Head of the GSMA mNutrition, comprising of mHealth and mAgri programmes, overseeing a global portfolio of projects. Natalia has been working on implementation as well as research on mobile solutions for rural since 2010 across Asia and Africa.
ST

Monday May 15, 2017 17:00 - 17:30 IST
G.01
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion, 100
 
Tuesday, May 16
 

11:45 IST

Customer-Centric Digital Financial Services
Limited Capacity seats available
The talk will focus on how digital financial services need to and can become customer-centric especially for low-income customer segments.



It will draw from Dalberg's extensive work around these themes with clients and will focus on a) User-centered product and service design for digital financial services b) Embedding a customer-centric culture in financial services organizations and d) Thinking about consumer protection for DFS especially for low-income customers.



The presentation will conclude with tangible ways in which the financial inclusion ecosystem can promote greater customer centricity and protection.
Speakers
avatar for Nirat Bhatnagar

Nirat Bhatnagar

Associate Partner, Dalberg
Nirat Bhatnagar is an Associate Partner with Dalberg and leads the New Delhi office. He brings 13 years of multidisciplinary experience in strategy consulting, human-centered design, & entrepreneurship for social impact. At Dalberg, he leads projects in Financial Inclusion, Agriculture... Read More →

Tuesday May 16, 2017 11:45 - 12:25 IST
G.04
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

11:45 IST

Digitized climate and environment-smart lending: A case study
Limited Capacity seats available
Globally, more than 1 Billion (Bn) family farming members work in agriculture on an estimated 475 million smallholder farms, while more than 2 Bn people directly depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Furthermore, 80% of global food supply is produced by such farms, being prone to adverse climate and market impacts and often unsustainably managing the ecosystems they depend on. Estimates project that global food production will need to increase by 70% till 2050 to feed a growing world. While yearly financing requirements for smallholder agricultural production are at USD 500 Bn p.a., only an estimated USD 20 Bn are met.



But MFIs and agro input providers (often providing financing) lack the necessary capacity to handle agricultural risks efficiently and effectively and hence are reluctant to develop this market to a greater extent. While these actors are interested in serving the largely untapped market, and rural advisory service providers have started to foster an emerging smallholder digital footprint, only limited partnerships can be observed. Easy to use and introduce as well as customizable solutions to promote sustainable smallholder development are hence restricted. Furthermore, the complexity of data management, especially regarding climate and ecosystem data, regularly surpasses the abilities of the majority of an estimated 10k+ MFIs and much more small and medium agro input providers operating worldwide.



Yet, these institutions have established distribution channels and installed infrastructure available to promote smallholder development and as examples show (see www.unepmeba.org) can be engaged in autonomously and digitally promoting ecosystem-friendly and climate-smart financing.



The presentation will lay out key components for successful scaling-up of such initiatives, including available data sources and partnership characteristics, and provide a vision for further development.
Speakers
avatar for Christoph Jungfleisch

Christoph Jungfleisch

CEO and Co-founder, YAPU solutions GmbH
Christoph has built a career around promoting scalable green finance. He held various positions in SME and smallholder finance with ProCredit Holding, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and as independent consultant. He has co-founded YAPU solutions, a software provider of... Read More →

170516 YAPU@ICT4D upload pdf
Tuesday May 16, 2017 11:45 - 12:25 IST
G.05
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

12:30 IST

Creating an online marketplace and catalyzing community
Limited Capacity seats available
Human capacity is a critical component of delivering financial services, yet many financial institutions, particularly those targeting the poor in developing countries, consistently struggle to develop and manage their human capital. This is important as an estimated 2 billion working-age adults – more than half of the world’s total adult population – do not have an account at a formal financial institution.

In response to the opportunity to look at new applications of technology to catalyze change in the field of financial inclusion, CGAP has launched a project called Gateway Academy, an innovative learning project offering both on-line and blended courses and cultivating communities of practice focused on financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa. Gateway Academy is working with training providers, financial service providers, and e-learning experts to generate high quality course content, build communities of practice, and conduct on-going research to understand user needs.

Gateway Academy is facilitating the development of inclusive and sustainable markets for virtual and blended training around financial inclusion. A critical part of this work is creating an online marketplace for that training. Our presentation will include a brief demonstration of the online marketplace and share what have learned through its design and user input. We will highlight how our approach is guided by principles for digital development and the opportunities and challenges they present.

Our presentation will focus on the following principles as they apply to developing this platform, community and market:
• Design with the user
• Understand the existing ecosystem
• Design for scal
• Build for sustainability
• Be collaborative

As part of our sustainability approach is to open this platform to other sectors and geographical areas, we are eager to hear from other attendees about its potential utility for them.
Speakers
avatar for Kristy Amacker

Kristy Amacker

Senior Web Strategist - Gateway Academy, CGAP
Kristy Amacker is a senior web strategist with CGAP’s Gateway Academy. CGAP is a global partnership of 34 leading organizations that seek to advance financial inclusion and is housed at the World Bank. Kristy has also worked with USAID on a range of online knowledge management... Read More →

GatewayAcademy pdf
Tuesday May 16, 2017 12:30 - 13:15 IST
G.04
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

12:30 IST

From cash to digital: bulk payments in Uganda
Limited Capacity seats available
In Uganda, Vital Wave teamed with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID to design and pilot a digital payments proof-of-concept system for bulk payments. This work involved extensive coordination of diverse stakeholders and substantial capacity-building efforts among MNOs, banks, aggregators, and USAID partner organizations. Specifically, Vital Wave created a Uganda program office to coordinate and create efficiencies across all stakeholder activities, worked with aggregators to expand their bulk payments capacity, assessed and improved transaction pricing strategies, strengthened MNO operations. The engagement left digital payment tools and processes in the hands of NGOs and private-sector players in the Ugandan mobile money industry. The ecosystem is now growing organically but challenges remain in scaling these solutions to rural areas. 

This presentation will cover the accomplishments, lessons learned, and challenges of implementing bulk payments and DFS in urban and rural areas. 
Speakers
avatar for Leah Gatt

Leah Gatt

Director of Research, Vital Wave
Leah brings years of experience in research, analysis, and on-the-ground implementation, particularly in digital financial services. At Vital Wave, Ms. Gatt supports the development of policies and best practices across projects; provides stakeholder management with MNOs, technology... Read More →

Vital Wave ICT4D From cash to digital shared pdf
Tuesday May 16, 2017 12:30 - 13:15 IST
G.05
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

14:15 IST

Can digital credit work at scale? Results from 2 experiments in India
Limited Capacity seats available
There is a huge unmet credit need (~$400billion+ per year), particularly in the low income segments in India. Our recent work shows that 3 in 5 Indians borrow using informal means.



Traditional lenders are structurally constrained from fulfilling this need: Inability to lend without collateral, high cost of lending, outmoded underwriting, limited product innovation, are some key reasons.



Macro factors and ecosystem drivers have substantially fueled growth of the inclusive digital lending industry.



As a result three models seem to be emerging – Digital Data Credit Scored Lending, Invoice Discounting, Peer to Peer Lending.



Our work on pilots built on the India stack showed that inclusive digital lending has large potential to scale. We noted positive consumer experience, potential to serve a new segment of low income demographics and lower costs of lending.



However, there are risks in inclusive digital lending that need to be addressed, such as over-lending, suitability of product offerings, and data protection/consent



Change makers can explore a number of opportunities to help realise the potential of responsible inclusive lending such as creating shared standards and practices, enhancing consumer readiness and fostering responsible growth.
Speakers
avatar for Varad Pande

Varad Pande

Partner, Dalberg
Varad is a Partner at Dalberg and leads the Financial Inclusion Practice area. Varad has held roles across government, consulting and multilaterals. Varad has done extensive work in financial inclusion, and writes a column in MINT (http://www.livemint.com/Search/Link/Author/Varad%20Pande... Read More →

Tuesday May 16, 2017 14:15 - 14:55 IST
1.02
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

14:15 IST

Financial Inclusion of Marginalised Farmers through Risk Management (FIRM)
Limited Capacity seats available
Financial & Agri Risk Management [FARM]

In most emerging markets, the vast majority are excluded from mainstream financial services and must have their credit needs met by high cost lenders, if they are met at all. Efforts to drive financial inclusion by developing financial infrastructure have largely fallen short. For example, traditional credit bureaus in most emerging markets contain data only on the already banked, and often times only negative data such as delinquencies and defaults. Consequently, traditional bureaus offer little assistance to the estimated 4.5 billion “credit invisibles” globally, and can effectively serve as a tool of financial exclusion by proliferating blacklists to lenders.

FARM identifies predictive, non-financial data assets (nodes) excluded from traditional credit bureaus, and links (spoke) them to a central server (hub). The primary data asset used by FARM is the data collected by agents/micro- entrepreneurs that is proprietary to eKutir. This includes: plot soil quality; crop history; whether plot is irrigated; inputs used (herbicide, pesticide, seeds, fertilizer); crop quality; size of plot; crop yields; crop revenue by cycle; whether or not crops are financed; amount of financing; repayment history for crop financing; and behavioral data about the farmer (age of account, frequency of payment, compliance with crop advice, growth in yield over pre-relationship period). In addition, FARM will supplement the proprietary data asset with third party data from public and private sources. Initially, third party data will be from government agencies and from the agricultural supply chain (producer groups, cooperatives, suppliers/distributers) and gradually move towards other data sets like weather, geo-spatial mapping, mobile/utility subscriptions, public API stack [e.g. India Stack]. Using machine learning, FARM will create a self- perpetuating, intelligent scoring system for small farmers to identify their credit worthiness and for financial institutions to underwrite credit.

FARM is a derivative of eKutir’s agri platform.
Speakers
avatar for Krishna Chandra Mishra

Krishna Chandra Mishra

Founder, eKutir Rural Management Services(P)Ltd.
ICT in AgricultureRisk Score Financing Agriculture through Risk Management

Tuesday May 16, 2017 14:15 - 14:55 IST
1.01
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

15:00 IST

Cultivating sustainable BoP financial inclusion mobile solutions
Limited Capacity seats available
Most digital financial inclusion (DFS) social enterprises (SE) have perfected, or near perfected their 'reason for being' pitch articulating theory of change to move along the impact value chain from Input-Output-Outcome-Impact (I-O-O-I). DFS SEs are keenly looking at growth model scenarios, implications of growth on financing structures, and access to impact investment among others. We will apply the INSIMA Impact Investment Readiness Framework and utilize a real life BoP FinTech's growth example with an end goal to discuss and share insights into how DFS social businesses can capture value and access impact investment.

Solutions to address financial inclusion can be scaled and accelerated working with FinTechs, and in public-private partnerships to achieve impact. Sustaining those solutions beyond the lifetime of the project can be achieved through strategically pivoting the solution providers to grow their businesses, generate revenue, and attract investment.

We take a Ugandan BoP FinTech's five year journey developing suitable Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (SACCO) software solution, integrating the SACCO MIS with Mobile Network Operator mobile money environment, including feature phone mobile solutions for savings/deposits, withdrawal, balance checks, and SACCO loan application over USSD platforms. Will focus on the facets that made the co-investment sustainable beyond SDC/Mercy Corps Agri-Fin Mobile Program funding to enable the FinTech grow, attract equity investment, sustainable revenue streams and expansion to international markets.

The learnings point to the key ingredients in identifying scalable BoP solutions, pivoting them to grow, become investment ready and positioning them to be sustainable.
Speakers
avatar for Ronald Rwakigumba

Ronald Rwakigumba

AgriFin Mobile Uganda Coordinator, Mercy Corps Uganda

Tuesday May 16, 2017 15:00 - 15:45 IST
1.02
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

16:15 IST

Designing for the mass market customer
Limited Capacity seats available
Nearly 2 billion people are excluded from the formal financial sector. Many have simple goals for their financial health. Yet a large number of mass market products and services fall short of their expectations. Human Centred Design (HCD) can help to address underserved markets for which there is a lack of data regarding existing behavior, or for which needs and preferences are poorly understood. The talk highlights how personas can help to decode the mass market into meaningful segments, that are the first step to creating high adoption products and services.
Speakers
avatar for Priti Rao

Priti Rao

India Creative Lead, Dalberg Design
Priti is a Creative Lead at Dalberg Design India. Her expertise lies in helping organisations become purpose-led, and building a culture of innovation to compete in rapidly changing global markets. She’s partnered closely with clients such as Samsung, Nike, Dr.Reddy’s... Read More →

Tuesday May 16, 2017 16:15 - 16:55 IST
1.03
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

16:15 IST

Digital Financial Services for the emerging middle class in India
Limited Capacity seats available
Current market indicators in India suggest that conditions are increasingly favorable for the emergence and expansion of successful Digital Financial Services (DFS) ecosystems and that the country is expected to experience exponential growth in the DFS sector in the near term. Further, DFS has the potential to dramatically accelerate access to, and deepen the penetration of, formal financial services in India.

This is particularly true for the Emerging Middle Class (EMC) that resides in less urban areas along the periphery of Tier 1 cities, referred to as Tier 2, 3, and 4 centers.

Given their size as a population segment, shifting life goals and aspirations, and growing income levels, the EMC is also likely to play the role of catalyst in mainstreaming DFS adoption and usage. That said, service providers are still in the early stages of experimenting with different models, service offerings, and products to best meet the needs of specific market segments, which exhibit distinct attitudes, abilities, and behavior patterns.
Speakers
avatar for Isha Singh

Isha Singh

Program Manager: Payments Innovation, NetHope
Isha is currently working as NetHope’s India Program Manager for their Payments Innovation team. She is a management consultant with Deloitte India, and her recent work has been focused on Payments and banking in financial services industry in India. Prior to this she has worked... Read More →

Decoding the Unexplored Middle pdf
Tuesday May 16, 2017 16:15 - 16:55 IST
1.02
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

17:00 IST

Digital Financial Inclusion Track Panel
Speakers
PB
avatar for Nirat Bhatnagar

Nirat Bhatnagar

Associate Partner, Dalberg
Nirat Bhatnagar is an Associate Partner with Dalberg and leads the New Delhi office. He brings 13 years of multidisciplinary experience in strategy consulting, human-centered design, & entrepreneurship for social impact. At Dalberg, he leads projects in Financial Inclusion, Agriculture... Read More →
PG
avatar for Sanjay Jain

Sanjay Jain

Khosla Labs
avatar for Varad Pande

Varad Pande

Partner, Dalberg
Varad is a Partner at Dalberg and leads the Financial Inclusion Practice area. Varad has held roles across government, consulting and multilaterals. Varad has done extensive work in financial inclusion, and writes a column in MINT (http://www.livemint.com/Search/Link/Author/Varad%20Pande... Read More →

Tuesday May 16, 2017 17:00 - 17:30 IST
G.01
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion, 100
 
Wednesday, May 17
 

11:45 IST

'Small merchants, big opportunity: The forgotten path to financial incl.
Limited Capacity seats available
Poor and underserved people around the world carry out most of their financial transactions with micro and small merchants. There are about 180 million such merchants around the world, transacting $6.5 trillion each year, so the business and social impact opportunities associated with digitizing small merchant payments is immense. While most digital payment platforms do not offer good value for small merchants, a few changes could open up a world of new possibilties.
Speakers
avatar for Joe Dougherty

Joe Dougherty

Partner and Regional Director, the Americas, Dalberg Global Advisors
Joe Dougherty is a Partner at Dalberg who has served as a trusted advisor to leading financial institutions, government agencies, corporations and foundations for twenty years and has worked in more than thirty countries. Joe has worked with established companies like Visa Inc and... Read More →

Wednesday May 17, 2017 11:45 - 12:25 IST
2.01
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

12:30 IST

Scale your cash programming globally
Limited Capacity seats available
Cash transfers play a fast-growing role in both development and humanitarian programming, reflecting their strong evidence base. In the humanitarian sector, for example, cash transfers are currently just 6% of all programming, but many organizations are targeting ambitious growth -- by 2020 the International Rescue Committee seeks to convert 25% of its programming, while World Vision International is targeting 50%.

Yet scaling up cash often poses daunting challenges for program teams on the ground. Many beneficiaries are not yet part of the formal financial sector; to reach them, program teams must typically negotiate complex arrangements with local financial service providers (e.g. mobile money providers) - or resort to distributing envelopes of paper money. Secure, scalable technical systems to manage payments are not readily available, and must often be re-procured from project to project. Meanwhile, major funders such as USAID and DfID face pressure to improve auditability and efficiency on cash initiatives they back, increasing the reporting burden needed to secure re-funding.

Over the last three years, Segovia has partnered with leading international development organizations to address these challenges. Segovia provides seamless access to a global network of pre-positioned payments options, enabling its partners to start paying beneficiaries on day 1 in geographies across Africa, Latin America and South Asia. The Segovia platform provides a turn-key solution to mobile money payments, and allows an organization to provide dynamic reporting to funders (with a strong track record of re-funding.)

In his talk, CTO Satwik Seshasai will describe how Segovia’s partners are using our payment platform to scale cash transfers quickly and securely, reflecting back on lessons learned from tens of thousands of beneficiaries paid in 2016, and looking ahead to key challenges and opportunities.
Speakers
avatar for Dr. Satwik Seshasai

Dr. Satwik Seshasai

Chief Technology Officer, Segovia
Satwik is founding Chief Technology Officer of Segovia, where he has led development of a payment technology platform for NGOs to scale cash transfer programs globally in partnership with major donors (USAID, DFID, ECHO, BMGF) and every major mobile network operator in sub-Saharan... Read More →

Wednesday May 17, 2017 12:30 - 13:15 IST
1.06
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

14:15 IST

Building customer engagement and loyalty for DFS products
New innovations in technology, new platforms for banking, and new ways of transacting in business relations are all helping to expand financial inclusion across emerging markets. Building new technologies and platforms that are customized for the needs of consumers, merchants, and suppliers will help ensure that this growth in financial inclusion continues. This brief presentation will describe approaches to building customer engagement and loyalty among urban retailers/merchants. Merchants play a critical role in the effective rollout of digital financial services: Because they have the strongest ties to consumers, their success or failure in implementing new digital payment systems can make or break the success of digital financial services within any given market. Addressing the needs, challenges, and pain points of merchants related to digital payment systems can help jump-start digital financial ecosystems. This presentation will discuss case studies in India, Indonesia, and Tanzania that point to cross-cutting challenges and solutions that can help expand financial by empowering merchants with better products.
Speakers
DV

Wednesday May 17, 2017 14:15 - 14:55 IST
2.04
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

16:15 IST

Beyond mobile data collection: Better field collaboration with mobile CRMs
Limited Capacity seats available
Development programs often have to coordinate data across multiple stakeholders including field staff, donors, manufacturers, other partners, etc. At the same time, there is a need for transparency into what's happening in the field that's historically been filled by using paper forms. Transitioning to mobile technology used to mean simply digitizing the paper surveys then evaluating results in Excel or SPSS.

While this is a good first step to collect data quickly from the field, this doesn't allow critical information back out to the field staff or partner access to data. There is a growing need for mobile technology to allow mobile users to look up information about their records (i.e. farmers, clinics, etc.) - all while offline. Essentially, an easy to use CRM system on mobile devices while offline.

Mobile CRM tools like TaroWorks (integrated with Salesforce) have been built to be used by field staff in offline areas and who aren't familiar with how databases work. This is increasing field staff engagement, allows for faster coordination between stakeholders, and saves time.

Examples used:

Oxfam WISE - The Women in Small Enterprise Program uses a graduation model to select women to receive loans, provides coaching to them, and tracks their progress over time. WISE is using Salesforce's Partner Portal to share a subset of data about the women with their local coaching partners in Guatemala so they can plan each woman's coaching curriculum. Though they are in separate organizations, they can access the data they need from the same central database.

Grameen Foundation - Grameen Foundation's numerous mAgriculture programs allow community knowledge workers to collect data about the farmers they meet with, but also allows them to look up farm plan details from a central database while they're offline.
Speakers
BC

Brent Chism

CEO, TaroWorks, LLC
VAS
avatar for Leo Tobias

Leo Tobias

Director, Technology, Grameen Foundation

Wednesday May 17, 2017 16:15 - 16:55 IST
2.01
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

17:00 IST

Digital Financial Inclusion Track Panel
Speakers
avatar for Nirat Bhatnagar

Nirat Bhatnagar

Associate Partner, Dalberg
Nirat Bhatnagar is an Associate Partner with Dalberg and leads the New Delhi office. He brings 13 years of multidisciplinary experience in strategy consulting, human-centered design, & entrepreneurship for social impact. At Dalberg, he leads projects in Financial Inclusion, Agriculture... Read More →
avatar for Christoph Jungfleisch

Christoph Jungfleisch

CEO and Co-founder, YAPU solutions GmbH
Christoph has built a career around promoting scalable green finance. He held various positions in SME and smallholder finance with ProCredit Holding, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and as independent consultant. He has co-founded YAPU solutions, a software provider of... Read More →
avatar for Frederic Pivetta

Frederic Pivetta

Managing Partner, Dalberg Data Insights
Frederic Pivetta is Managing Partner of Dalberg Data Insights, which is the Big Data entity of the Dalberg Group. Previously, he was part of the founding team of Real Impact Analytics since 2011, aiming at developing Big Data apps for telecom operators mostly in emerging economies... Read More →
avatar for Santhosh Ramdoss

Santhosh Ramdoss

Program Officer, Impact Investing and Grantmaking, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Santhosh Ramdoss is a Program Officer at the India offices of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, where he manages Foundation grants and impact investments in financial inclusion and livelihoods. Until recently, he managed large-scale development programs at the world’s largest... Read More →

Wednesday May 17, 2017 17:00 - 17:30 IST
G.01
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion, 100
 
Thursday, May 18
 

11:45 IST

Digital and Economic Identity for rural
Digital Identity is a commonly accepted prerequisite for financial inclusion. However when it comes to rural population in developing markets, limited national ID systems and stringent KYC requirements prevent rural from accessing electronic payments services. This in turn prevents creation of digital transaction and financial history needed for the evolution of DFS to insurance, savings, credit and other services. This session will explore promising technology and the role of mobile in creating digital and economic identity for rural, as well as maps out existing challenges in scaling such technologies.
Speakers
avatar for Natalia Pshenichnaya

Natalia Pshenichnaya

Head of mAgri and mHealth programmes, GSMA
Natalia Pshenichnaya is the Head of the GSMA mNutrition, comprising of mHealth and mAgri programmes, overseeing a global portfolio of projects. Natalia has been working on implementation as well as research on mobile solutions for rural since 2010 across Asia and Africa.

Thursday May 18, 2017 11:45 - 12:25 IST
1.08
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

11:45 IST

The impact of DFS Innovation on the UN SDGs
Limited Capacity seats available
mSTAR is a global strategic investment by USAID and implemented by FHI 360 to advance mobile solutions and close the gaps that hold back access and uptake of mobile technology. In Bangladesh, mSTAR has worked with more than a dozen USAID implementing partners (IPs) to support the acceleration and adoption of digital financial services (DFS) within their projects and among the populations that they serve, both of which have direct impact on the UN SDGs.

Very recently, mSTAR/B has helped to introduce two completely new DFS innovations in Bangladesh to provide smallholder farmers with agricultural lending, savings, transfers and merchant payments. These pilots are the first examples to date in Bangladesh where a bank and MFIs have partnered to extend micro-credit agricultural loans to farmers. Farmers are also able to use such microcredit to securely and easily purchase inputs from participating retailers using a digital channel, in particular through mobile phones and NFC-enabled debit cards. Farmers are now able to access microcredit at rates less than half of what they had previously had access to and with extremely flexible re-payment terms and conditions, with repayment due in full after six months, as opposed to weekly repayments from other sources. From a recent survey of participating farmers, it appears that in addition to the better interest rates and repayment terms, the loans have also enabled farmers to have more flexibility in the types of inputs they purchase (as farmers are no longer dependent on credit from retailers, who would push them to buy certain products) and when they can sell their crops (as the flexible repayment terms enable them to sell their crops later at a higher price, rather than rushing to sell). We hope that these ground-breaking innovative products will help to revolutionize agricultural financing in Bangladesh.

These innovations are contributing to five of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 1, SDG 2, SDG 5, SDG 8 and SDG 9.
Speakers
avatar for MD Majidul Haque

MD Majidul Haque

Technical Lead - Digital Financial Services, FHI 360
Md. Majidul Haque is the technical lead – Digital Financial Services (DFS) for the USAID mSTAR project implemented by FHI 360 in Bangladesh. He has just under a decade of experience in the technology and financial services sectors in Bangladesh, including DFS providers and Mobile... Read More →

Thursday May 18, 2017 11:45 - 12:25 IST
G.05
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

12:30 IST

Alternative data as an enabler of smallholder finance: should you believe the hype?
Limited Capacity seats available
Alternative data as an enabler of smallholder finance: should you believe the hype?
  • Role of alternative data in broader digitalization efforts by FSPs looking to serve smallholders 
  • Key types and uses of alternative data: not just credit scoring!
  • If alternative data is so great, why aren't we seeing more deployments?
  • What do we learn from KCB's success in using alternative data to reach the mass market?
  • Emerging insights from AGRA's ongoing efforts to help FSPs deploy farmer management system data in service of smallholder lending

Speakers
avatar for Reuben Gicheha

Reuben Gicheha

Program Officer,Financial Inclusion, AGRA
Reuben has over 10 years experience in the financial inclusion space in Kenya having with the two leading banks in Kenya.He pioneered the KCB Mpesa micro lending business before moving to AGRA in the MasterCard Foundation funded financial inclusion program.He is the lead for Kenya... Read More →
avatar for Jason Wendle

Jason Wendle

Director, Rural and Ag Finance Learning Lab
Jason is the Director of the Rural and Agricultural Finance Learning Lab, which creates and shares knowledge, and fosters collaboration for better financial solutions reaching more smallholder farmers. The Lab is the learning partner to The MasterCard Foundation's $175M+ "RAF" portfolio... Read More →

Thursday May 18, 2017 12:30 - 13:15 IST
1.01
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

14:15 IST

Cost effectiveness of mHealth intervention by CHWs in rural Uttar Pradesh
Limited Capacity seats available
Background: Variety of strategies are being tried to improve the performance of accredited social health activists (ASHA), village level health workers, in order to augment the demand for health services. One such strategy is introduction of m-health interventions. The objective of the present paper is to comprehensively assess the incremental cost per disability adjusted life year averted as a result of the m-health intervention (ReMiND project) as compared to routine program without the m-health intervention.

Methods: A decision tree was parameterized on MS-Excel spreadsheet to estimate the incremental cost effectiveness of implementing ReMiND project, from both health system and societal perspective. A time horizon of 10 years starting from base year of 2011 was considered appropriate to cover all costs and effects comprehensively. All costs, including those during start-up and implementation phase, besides other costs on the health system or households was estimated. Consequences were valued in terms of maternal and infant illnesses and deaths averted, and disability adjusted life years averted. Sensitivity analysis was undertaken to account for uncertainties.

Results: Cumulatively, from 2011 to 2020, implementation of ReMiND intervention in UP would result in a reduction of 16, 918 maternal and 119,646 neonatal deaths during the 10-year period. This implies a reduction of 16.4% maternal and 5.2% neonatal deaths. Overall, ReMiND incurs an incremental cost of INR 6078 (USD 96) per DALY averted and INR 176,752 (USD 2792) per death averted.

Conclusion: Overall, the findings of our study suggest strongly that the m-health intervention as part of the ReMiND project is very cost effective from Indian health system’s viewpoint and should be considered for replication elsewhere in other states.
Speakers
AG

Aditi Gupta

Senior Research Officer, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research

Thursday May 18, 2017 14:15 - 14:55 IST
1.02
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

14:15 IST

Innovating for inclusion: Private sector capabilities for sustainable development
Limited Capacity seats available
The private sector has unique capabilities in assessing market needs, driving innovation and implementing solutions to tackle the world’s most challenging issues. Mastercard has leveraged its core competencies in technology and data analytics to create sustainable partnerships and build scalable solutions to include and assist those most in need. Those efforts have so far empowered more than 2.5 million people with faster, safer and more efficient aid distribution, and brought more than 250 million people into the financial system.

But in the face of growing nationalism and the widening gap in development dollars, the private sector needs to seek new ways to apply its knowledge and assets to have a greater impact on societal problems. This session will explore how Mastercard is advancing the model for how civil society, governments, and the private sector can work together to accelerate economic growth and inclusion through industries like agriculture and healthcare, and improve the livelihoods of those at the base of the pyramid. We will present case studies such as:
• The recent launch of “2Kuze,” a mobile platform for smallholder farmers to buy, sell and receive payments for their goods that was developed by the Mastercard Labs for Financial Inclusion in Nairobi and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation;
• Mastercard’s partnership with Gilead Sciences to explore the use of the award-winning digital voucher solution Mastercard Aid Network to simplify the delivery of hepatitis C treatment in developing countries; and
• Mastercard’s work with NGOs and other non-profit agencies to deliver on its commitments to extend solutions to an additional 2 million aid recipients, advance “smart” refugee settlements in Kenya, and help aid agencies implement better data protection practices for refugees.
Speakers
avatar for Shashi Raghunandan

Shashi Raghunandan

Vice President, Government and Development, Mastercard
Shashi Raghunandan heads the Global Solutions team at Mastercard, supporting Development Organizations and Governments.  In his role Shashi works cross-functionally to understand the needs of this segment and to develop a range of solutions for Governments, NGOs, Corporates, and... Read More →

Thursday May 18, 2017 14:15 - 14:55 IST
1.01
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

15:00 IST

How ICT can overcome barriers to engage poor consumers
Limited Capacity seats available
Sustainable enterprises that engage poor consumers can face a host of barriers that prevent their sustainability and scale.  The presentation will cover how ICT can be used to address the following barriers: Lack of financing, weak distribution channels, insufficient labor, adaptive management, and knowing location characteristics that enable success.   Better targeting and ICT services can not only eliminate barriers but also assure greater success for a market segment that struggles to go to scale.
Speakers
avatar for Kathryn M. Clifton

Kathryn M. Clifton

ICT4D Knowledge Management and Communication\'s Specialist, Global Data Analytics and Reporting Lead, Catholic Relief Services
Kathryn M Clifton - Works fostering new approaches to ICT4D at CRS, documenting learning, and assisting in communications. Prior to this role Kathryn worked in implementing technology in agriculture programming. She is passionate about sustainable business models and approaches.
avatar for Melissa Persaud

Melissa Persaud

Director of Partnerships, VOTO Mobile
Melissa Persaud is Director of Partnerships at VOTO Mobile, a global mobile engagement social enterprise. In her role, she builds and maintains partnerships with impact-oriented organizations in order to provide better choices for more voices around the globe. Personally, Melissa... Read More →

How ICT can overcome barriers to engage poor consumers 2 pptx
Thursday May 18, 2017 15:00 - 15:45 IST
1.01
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion

15:00 IST

The role of Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence in the SDGs
Conversational agents (chatbots) and artificial intelligence (AI) are receiving major investment from tech giants Google, Amazon, Facebook, IBM, and Microsoft. Important advances have been made that are improving the usefulness of these innovations and yet applications such as Google Assistant, M, Watson, Alexa, and Cortana are still primarily being used to solve the problems of the world's most affluent people.

This talk will focus on the emerging application and opportunity space of chatbots and AI in achieving the SDGs. 

I will profile 7 different applications of these technologies and offer ideas for how they can all be applied to further the SDGs. I'll also share some of the current R&D of my company, Arifu, one example of a chatbot product leveraging AI to deliver personalized learning over any mobile device, now reaching 430,000 people in Kenya and Tanzania. Some of the specific applications to be discussed will include personalized education, predictive data products (propensity scoring, credit scoring), and attaining a deeper understanding of the interests, needs, and behavior among those we all aim to serve.

This session is contributing to Dalberg’s track focusing speakers who are actively engaged in the DFI ecosystem, who are engaged at the intersection of the DFI ecosystem and another sector (Ag-DFI, Health-DFI, and WaSH-DFI), and whose primary interest is in data and how DFI will generate data that could be harnessed within DFI and also other spaces.
Speakers
avatar for Craig Heintzman

Craig Heintzman

CEO, Arifu
Craig is the Founder and CEO of Arifu, an edtech company with a personal learning companion making it possible for anyone to freely access training and education from the organizations they trust over any mobile phone. Since launching in East Africa in 2015, over 500,000 people have... Read More →

Thursday May 18, 2017 15:00 - 15:45 IST
2.03
  04-Digital Financial Inclusion
 
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  • 01-Plenary
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