MicroSave is a pioneer in exploring low income markets and deriving strategic insights. These insights have helped many financial service providers in product development & channel innovations, marketing & communications, customer service, risk analysis, process optimisation, social performance management and impact evaluation.

Over the last 20 years, MicroSave has conducted field level research across different socio-economic strata in several developing countries and remote locations in across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. MicroSave has provided banks, micro finance Institutions (MFIs), digital finance service providers, and other non-bank FIs, and regulators, research-based strategies that expand their capacities as financial service providers. Our research work has also influenced policy makers and think tanks globally.

MicroSave’s Research Technical Working Group is a team of experts, who have extensive experience of designing, implementing, and conducting quantitative and qualitative research activities across the globe and on diverse subjects. The group is the custodian of market research agenda at MicroSave and much acclaimed MR4MF and MI4ID toolkit within MicroSave. In recent years we have included more behaviour economics, human centric and participative research tools in our research methods, along with quantitative data collection (both CAPI and PAPI), and statistical analysis tools.

MI4ID toolkit is a new feather in our cap. The toolkit integrates behavioural research methods and human centred design with much acclaimed MR4MF toolkit. Read more about our journey here. MI4ID certified experts are passionate researchers, self-styled behavioural scientists, and divergent thinkers.

Our recent research work includes:

• Market research to identify behaviours of low-income households towards insurance products and designing a product prototype;
• Agent Network Accelerator research to identify the factors responsible for success or failure of agent networks across the world;
• Research to design and test new products for banks in Kenya, South Africa, India and Colombia to deliver through their digital finance channels;
• Metamon research where we worked towards designing metaphors to explain money management practices of low-income market segment;
• Research into the potential for using digital financial services to make value chains more efficient;
• Financial capability driver research where we assessed client understanding and perceptions of financial products available to them;
• Pension research where we gauged the market demand for old age savings; and
• Andhra Pradesh crisis research where we assessed the impact of the shutdown of MFIs on clients.

Our client list includes Omidyar Network, International Finance Corporation, Opportunity International, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, United Nations Capital Development Fund, Kifiya, NetHope, DFID and USAID.

Major service provider clients – Equity bank (Africa), Axis Bank (India), Vodafone Mpesa (India), Bank Mandiri (Indonesia), Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, TLM and CUKK (Indonesia), SIDBI (India), Safaricom (Kenya), MNOs in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, OK Bank (The Phillippines), Large scale Bank in South Africa, BNU (Timor Leste).