• Meet the Team

More than 30 years ago, microfinance began with the simple idea of lending small amounts of money to groups of low-income entrepreneurs, the majority of them women. As the industry and its clients have matured, microfinance institutions (MFIs) have offered a broader array of products to better serve the needs of existing clients, and to reach new clients. Drawing on our many years of experience in product innovation, WWB continues to help our member institutions introduce new products such as individual lending, savings, housing loans and insurance. We also advise them in the process of formalizing to become regulated financial institutions, and help them to access local and international capital to fuel growth.

Individual Lending

Individual lending, as distinguished from traditional group lending, allows for larger, more flexible loans for growth-oriented clients and enables MFIs to reach new clients and diversify their lending portfolios. WWB assists our network members in designing and implementing individual lending products, which include WWB’s credit risk scoring methodology.

• Related publication:
  
  • Product Diversification in Microfinance: Introducing Individual Lending

Savings

Savings products help the poor to build assets and achieve long-term goals, autonomy and financial security. Because women are typically responsible for saving in low-income households, products must be designed to meet their specific financial needs, motivations and behavior. WWB guides our member institutions in the design and implementation of savings products.

• Related publication:
  
  • How-to Guide, Introducing Voluntary Savings

Rural Finance

Rural finance, in particular agricultural lending, is still relatively uncharted territory for development finance globally. Lack of infrastructure, distant markets, inadequate farming techniques, volatile prices and unpredictable weather increase the risks and costs of expanding financial services into rural areas. MFIs interested in targeting small farmers also face challenges in understanding the variable cash flow of rural households, and estimating their repayment capacity. WWB works with our member institutions to expand sustainably into rural markets.

• Related publication:
  
  • Rural Finance for Small Farmers: An Integrated Approach

Housing Loans

Home ownership is unattainable for most of the poor, but is seen as very important to old age security—a home is not just a valuable asset but a means to generate rental income. Because women are more likely to be widowed or left without assets in a divorce, home ownership is especially important for them. WWB is working with our network members to introduce housing and home-improvement loans, which traditionally have been unavailable to low-income women.

Formalization

Formalization—also known as transformation—is the process by which MFIs convert from non-profit organizations to regulated financial institutions. Although most MFIs were founded in response to the inability of the formal financial services sector to serve low-income clients, there is an unmistakable trend towards formalization in today’s rapidly growing microfinance industry. Formalization fuels growth by giving MFIs increased access to commercial funding. It also enables product diversification, allowing MFIs to mobilize client deposits and offer savings products that in most countries can be offered only by regulated financial institutions. Approximately one-third of WWB network members are formalized financial institutions, with another third intending to transform within the next three years. WWB supports our network members that choose to formalize by providing advice, technical assistance, and in certain cases, equity investments.

• Related publication:
  
  • Stemming the Tide of Mission Drift: Microfinance Transformations and the Double Bottom Line

Women’s Provider of Choice

WWB understands that financial products are not “one size fits all.” Women, as caregivers responsible for the health and security of their families, have different financial needs than men. Broadening the range of financial products available to low-income women enables microfinance providers to fulfill a dual mission: grow profitably and continue to alleviate poverty at the same time.

The majority of the world’s poor are women, who support themselves and their families through small entrepreneurial activities in manufacturing, trade or services. In order to more effectively serve these clients, as well as to counteract the trend of declining percentage of women borrowers and leaders within the industry, WWB has built a comprehensive strategy for ensuring that our network members become the “financial services provider of choice for women” in their respective markets. First, WWB helps our member institutions to design and implement products and marketing strategies to both maximize impact on household finances and empower women. We also work with network members to ensure that staff and leadership reflect the diversity of each organization’s client base, including strong representation of women at all organizational levels.

WWB’s deep understanding of the women’s market is based on original gender research on the ways in which women’s roles and responsibilities impact spending, saving and investment decisions in low-income households. This research is done with two goals in mind—improving the competitiveness of our network members and improving their impact on the clients they serve. The foundation for this work is WWB’s groundbreaking series of gender studies, which have led to product modifications including:

• Simplified loan paperwork and borrowing requirements, which take into account women’s lower literacy rates in many countries;
• Financial products focused on women’s lifecycle needs, including maternity;
• Changes in the design of MFI branches to accommodate women with small children;
• Housing loans in which women must be placed on the property title for the household to receive the loan.