Wednesday, February 7 8:30 EST/ 13:30 GMT

Why should financial institutions care about small balance savings? Because clients need and want this service, and may go elsewhere to find it. For some institutions, small deposits can also be an attractive source of stable, diversified, and low-cost funding. But Small Balance Deposit Mobilization (SBDM) is not easy. Margins are low, at best, and the work required to mobilize small savings can be daunting.

EA Consultants interviewed 13 organizations that began Small Balance Deposit Mobilization (SBDM) under the Mastercard Foundation-supported UNCDF MicroLead Programme. The research was conducted to understand the success factors that lead to a compelling business case for SBDM. The result of this research can be found in MicroLead’s “Pulling Levers Toward Sustainability, A Framework for Small Deposit Balance Mobilization.” After findings of the research were presented at MicroLead’s annual workshop in Tanzania in early 2017, one partner noted “If we had known all this before the project started, we would have avoided mistakes.”

This webinar, moderated by UNCDF MicroLead, aims to share some of the key findings of the study, with the goal of helping other institutions think through their SBDM strategy and benefit from the many lessons of the MicroLead Partners.

Lessons and findings will be presented by Barbara Magnoni and Elisabeth Burgess of EA Consultants and Eric Kenkolla, formerly of Caisse d'Epargne et de Credit du Cameroun (CEC). CEC is a member cooperative with ten branches and over 56,000 active members in Cameroon. As one of the MicroLead Partners, CEC offers a useful case study and insight on the experience on using low-cost technology solutions to enhance the business case of SBDM.

Agenda:

- MicroLead's Hermann Messan will moderate the webinar.

- Barbara Magnoni will introduce the study and its main findings.

-Eric Kenkolla, former Director of Information Systems at CEC Cameroon, will summarize the challenges this small institution faced and present the innovative solutions it adopted using digital solutions which are so essential to reduce the delivery cost of small savings.

-Elisabeth Burgess, main author of the research, will moderate questions from the participants and offer additional insights.

To participate in the webinar, click below on Wednesday, February 7 at 8:30am EST / 13:30 GMT:
https://meetings.webex.com/collabs/#/meetings/detail?uuid=MER05QDIK4DZRV1ZCDUVHJFBL2-F2ON&rnd=287989.25187

At the start time, just click the “Join” button!