Enhancing women's financial inclusion through Digital Financial Services in Kenya
This was an investigation to improve Digital Financial Service (DFS) offerings for low-income women entrepreneurs, specifically owners of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to enable them to grow and sustain their businesses.
YEAR
2024
LOCATION
Kenya
ROLE
Design Director
PARTNERS
M-KOPA
APPROACH
HCD Research
Qualitative Research
Behavioural Design
Persona mapping
COLLABORATORS
Charity Mbaka
Duncan Aidoh Adera
Maria Alejandra Sandoval
Ravi Chhatpar
M-KOPA is a digital fintech company that offers low-cost digital products and services through a credit "pay-as-you-go" model. They sought to improve its DFS offerings for low-income women entrepreneurs, specifically owners of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya, to enable them to grow and sustain their businesses. We partnered with M-KOPA to use a Human-Centred Design (HCD) approach that incorporated qualitative, ethnographic, and behavioural design tools and methods to generate deep insights about the needs, motivations and barriers that influence women-owned MSMEs' digital financial behaviour.
Before the research, we conducted an early co-creation working session with relevant M-KOPA teams to jointly develop 6-8 early product concepts to test and refine through HCD research and prototyping. We also mobilised a cohort of “champion” agents and other M-KOPA stakeholders to serve as an advisory board to inform and validate emerging solutions.
The research itself entailed direct engagement with participants using 1:1 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and small group focus discussions (SGDs), co-creation sessions, and advisory board working sessions to surface, connect, and design for the lived experiences of women-owned MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises).
Design and validate effective credit, insurance and integrated wallet features attuned to M-KOPA’s customers' needs and desires.
Conduct high-level scoping of different loan structures, insurance, and other integrated product offerings for different persona archetypes, which will inform the future product offerings once M-KOPA has the necessary visibility of financial health data.
Some of the tools, activities and guides that were developed for medium fidelity co-creation and prototyping.
A snapshot of some of the participatory activities and guides that we developed to support the research.
Snapshots of the storyboarding activities developed to support the prototyping sessions.
Some of the early personas that we tested during research.
A snapshot of some of the participatory activities and guides that we developed to support the research.
"I know the business won’t pick up immediately, but the loan will buy me some time to make more stock and serve more customers eventually.”
Quote from a food vendor in Eldoret, speaking about how micro-loans help stabilize her business.
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This work surfaced some learnings around women-led MSMEs. We found that Women-owned MSMEs...
Are continuously evolving and adapting their financial strategies to navigate their ever-changing circumstances, transitioning from uncertainty to confidence as their businesses grow.
Rely on informal credit for business expansion, and often turn to formal lenders for emergencies. This cycle can exacerbate financial vulnerability and increase the debt burden.
Mostly reinvesting their profits back into their businesses, while some diversify their investments through groups to share investment risk.
Prefer cash over mobile payments due to high transaction costs. However, as businesses expand, mobile money payments become essential for business tracking and record-keeping.
Use digital and social media tools to boost their customer reach and business efficiency, but sole entrepreneurs’ ability to unlock these benefits depends on digital literacy, skills and business needs.
We also surfaced four distinct MSME personas that represent a diverse range of female business owners, each facing unique challenges and opportunities on their business journey. By understanding their behaviours, needs, and goals, variables that can support the development of tailored DFS that better address their circumstances and foster sustainable business growth.
Scroll through the gallery before to view snapshots of the assets that we developed for this work.
