All Publications
Empowering Small Giants: Inclusive Embedded Finance for Micro-Retailers
This report outlines various business models that incorporate last-mile retailers into digital ordering platforms, offering them convenience, transparency, and a wide range of products.
Banking on Women Who Trade Across Borders
Drawing from interviews across Africa and Latin America, this report explores the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs and proposes solutions.
An Introduction to the Small Firm Diaries
The Small Firm Diaries is a global research initiative to better understand small firms in low-income neighborhoods of developing countries, especially the barriers to growth such firms face, through high frequency quantitative and qualitative data collection (“financial diaries”).
Assessing Digital and Financial Literacy in Timor-Leste: A Survey on Knowledge, Skills and Access
This research explores experiences with traditional and digital financial services to-date, in addition to assessing basic competencies in the areas of digitization and finance.
Building Value in Microfinance Through Digitization: A Role for Funders
Funders play a crucial role in ensuring that microfinance institutions (MFIs) continue to serve the most excluded and underserved customers in the future. This note highlights the importance of funders in supporting the digital transformation of MFIs.
Driving Financial Resilience Through Formal Savings Among the Low-Income Population
Based on customer research in Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and Uganda, this paper provides a synthesis of findings that help understand to what extent savings allowed customers to increase their financial resilience.
Strategies to Optimize MSME-Centered Supply Chain Finance Solutions: A Study of Ghana, Ethiopia, and Nigeria
Given the urgency of digital transformation to build an inclusive recovery, this paper provides timely insights into how to enable supply chain finance models in three African countries.
What Constitutes a Viable Business Model for Small Scale Savings?
This paper highlights three different business models, including key revenues and costs drivers, to help understand the market potential of various low-income segments.
How Can Financial Services Support Platform Work? Insights from Five Emerging Markets
Based on research with platforms and their workers across five countries, this report describes the platform ecosystem in emerging markets, the experiences of workers and sellers in key sectors, and how financial services can help these workers improve their livelihoods.
Understanding Women’s Access to Credit and Loans
This publication offers an overview and gender-disaggregated data analysis of the Nigerian lending market, and provides valuable insights on 100 million adult Nigerians' behaviors and financial preferences.