1. Technology for scaling up Microfinance James Dailey Grameen Foundation USA December 12, 2004 jdailey@gfusa.org

2. Barriers to scale: Microfinance Operational Efficiency Information Capital

3. …In the information business Cash flow projections Loan officer productivity Financial statements Portfolio at risk, detailed aging Client retention Impact on poverty Regulatory reports Donor fund reporting Transactional histories

4. RTS Uganda Leveraged:  GSM network  POS devices  Smart Cards  Existing MIS systems But difficult because…  Created entirely new channel, new processes  Currently MIS systems for microfinance are not sufficiently ‘standardized ’

5. Mifos – Microfinance Open Source Data standards (transactions, credit reporting, commercial bank interactions) Architecture for microfinance “back office” operations RTS as one “plug-in” module through open APIs Alignment with Microfinance

6. Bottom of Pyramid Thinking Lessons Get close to customer Align design to “less is more” Commoditization through standards Leverage existing technologies Business model means looking for partners up front Innovation requires information