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Author: Lokendra Singh
An overview of Arifu’s content design process
Would you like to know more about what Arifu does and how we could support your organizations digital training needs? Watch our very own Learning Team Manager, Nuru Ryanga, as she speaks briefly about Arifu’s content design process.
To learn more about how we could help you reach your target audience, go to our contact us page to book a demo.
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Interview on K24 TV with Arifu’s Chief Impact Officer discussing the impacts of digitalization to SMEs in Kenya.
Would you like to learn more about the digital revolution of SMEs in Kenya?
Watch this interview from K24’s bulletin news that happened 30th May where Osman Siddiqi our Chief Impact Officer and Jessica Osborn Program Director of Strive Community at Caribou Digital as they speak about the impacts of the adoption of digital tools by SMEs.
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FREE open-license digital business management and e-commerce training for small business
Would you like to help small businesses grow so they can earn more, save more, take out bigger loans, and pay back their loans on time? Ask us about our Strive Digital Business Courses for small businesses, designed by Arifu under the Strive Community initiative in collaboration with Caribou Digital and funded by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. The content is free to use with an Arifu Platform subscription, available in conversational text and rich media for delivery on any mobile channel including WhatsApp, FB Messenger, SMS, and API for your Android/iOS App.
© 2020 Arifu. All Rights Reserved
Digitizing Rural & Agricultural Finance (DIG4RAF) In Africa 2022
Are you a financial service provider deploying digital finance, policy maker, implementer or investor in the field of digital finance solutions, development partner, academician, public or private funder, representative from Fintech or AgTech or AgriSMEs?
The conference themed, Analyzing Features Shaping the Digital Future of Rural and Agricultural Finance Landscape in Africa will bring together different stakeholders across the globe in the agrifinance industry to share insights and learn about:
- Innovative technological innovations in Rural Agricultural Finance (RAF) affecting the development of Digital Financial Services (DFS) in Africa.
- Critical success factors for deploying financial and non-financial technological Innovations in RAF.
Capacity of financial sector & agriculture sector players, Fintechs, Agripreneurs and other non-financial sector players on new technological trends and
Join us from May 23 to May 27 at the conference on:
DIGITIZING RURAL & AGRICULTURAL FINANCE (DIG4RAF) IN AFRICA 2022
Organized by the Africa Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AfRACA) at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies, Nairobi, Kenya
Few slots left: Grab your seat HERE (Mention Arifu and get a discount)
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BBC Video Interview with Arifu’s Partnership Development Associate on “What skills do local entrepreneurs need to grow?"
What skills do you think local entrepreneurs need to grow?
Listen in to our Partnership Development Associate Andrew Thiong’o as he addresses this question on BBC News Mitikasi Leo Programme. Some of his responses include the need for local entrepreneurs to learn about marketing and financial and business management.
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BBC Video Interview With Arifu’s CEO And Co-founder On "What Skills Do Local Entrepreneurs Need To Grow?"
What skills do you think local entrepreneurs need to grow? Listen in to our CEO and Co-founder Craig Heintzman as he addresses this question on BBC Africa’s Money Daily Programme touching on skills such as market research and financial literacy.
© 2020 Arifu. All Rights Reserved
Arifu improves knowledge and quality of life
Written By: Pete Sparreboom | Senior Manager, Financial Inclusion Partnerships
Refugees and host communities in Uganda have shown considerable interest in financial education and entrepreneurship training via SMS. A comparison of survey results before and after the training shows that many learners increased their knowledge and improved their practices. Besides, a majority of learners considered increased knowledge as the principal reason for recent improvements in their quality of life.
In 2021 Arifu partnered with Mercy Corps to help urban refugees and host communities that were involved in micro and small enterprises. Mercy Corps Uganda with funding from the U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM) in a consortium with the International Rescue Committee (IRC, as lead agency), COHERE and UGANET and WIPC implementing a program entitled “Enhancing the Resilience of Urban Refugees and Vulnerable Host Communities in Kampala through an Integrated Protection and Livelihoods Approach” targeting refugee host communities in Makindye and Kawempe divisions. The purpose of this partnership was to strengthen their digital literacy as well as their financial management and entrepreneurial skills. To be able to measure the effect of the mobile training programme on learners’ knowledge, Arifu collected baseline and endline data before and after the training.
To collect baseline data, Arifu first sent a survey to all 720 targeted refugees and hosts. Baseline questions were also embedded at different points in the training before content was presented.
The collection of endline data was done through a telephone survey of 100 learners who engaged with the content. Similar to the baseline survey respondents, 42% of the endline survey respondents reported Ugandan nationality and 32% DRC nationality.
Arifu’s training was successful in improving knowledge
During the telephone interviews, learners were asked to respond to a set of questions designed to test their knowledge on strategic concepts like investment and business expansion. Whereas at the baseline survey only 12% of learners answered all questions on financial management correctly, at the endline 38% (three times as many) got full marks. Also, the percentage of learners who responded correctly to all business knowledge questions increased by 38%.
Arifu’s training was also successful in improving practices and quality of life
Besides inquiring into their knowledge, interviewers asked learners questions on financial and business management practices, as well as on quality of life. After learning with Arifu, business owners reported financial goal setting, money management, record keeping, and marketing as the main practices they had improved.
In addition, 51% of endline survey respondents reported that their quality of life had improved through acquisition of knowledge. 28% experienced an improvement in their quality of life through increased savings, and 18% through an improvement in money and business management.
Quotes from some of our learners:
I’ve looked for alternative sources of income like making baskets. Female, 44 years, Rwanda
I can now run a business without worrying that it will collapse. Female, 28 years, DRC
I feel inspired to start my own business but I lack capital. Female, 25 years, Burundi
My income has increased a bit, and I have gained saving habits. Male, 60 years, Uganda.
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Does financial education work?
Does financial education work?
Written By: Pete Sparreboom | Senior Manager, Financial Inclusion Partnerships
Financial education has always been part and parcel of Arifu’s services, but, is it effective? When Arifu was founded in 2015, worldwide evidence on this was weak and contradictory. Which is why we are so happy to finally present a new and rigorous meta-study on financial education. This analysis of 76 carefully designed experiments confirms what we have seen on the ground all along: that financial education has a significant positive effect on financial knowledge and financial behaviour.
The economic importance of financial literacy is documented in a large and growing empirical literature. As a result, the implementation of national strategies to promote financial literacy have become a high priority of policy makers around the world.
However, the fact that financial literacy is important for the economy does not mean that financial education is the best way to build financial literacy.
In fact, the effectiveness of financial education is debated in quite fundamental ways. Much of this debate stems from the fact that early studies, and in particular a 2014 meta-study by Fernandes et al., provided mixed evidence. The average effect they found was minimal.
A recent surge in empirical studies incited Dr Tim Kaiser, a long term expert on financial education at the University of Koblenz-Landau, to lead an updated and more rigorous analysis of the existing work.
Findings are clear cut: “Financial education in 76 randomised experiments with a total sample size of more than 160,000 individuals displays positive causal effects on financial knowledge and financial behaviours.”
In fact, the effect on financial knowledge is similar in magnitude to that of educational interventions in areas such as math and reading. The effect size on financial behaviour is comparable to that realised by behaviour-change interventions in health and energy conservation.
Now of course the fact that financial education works does not yet mean that it can be effectively provided through the mobile phone. Arifu is committed to building the evidence on how financial education needs to be designed and delivered to have the greatest impact. We love to partner with organisations that share our mission of making financial education work.
Fernandes, D, Lynch Jr., J.G., Netemeyer, R.G., 2014. Financial literacy, financial education, and downstream financial behaviors, Management Science, Vol. 60, No. 8 (August 2014), pp. 1861-1883
Kaiser, T., Lusardi, A., Menkhoff, L. et al., 2021. Financial education affects financial knowledge and downstream behaviors, Journal of Financial Economics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.09.022.
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In this webinar, Bilal Zia and Pete Sparreboom, discussed how financial service providers can help build financial capability of their clients. In an increasingly digitised world where we are including more into formal financial systems, lack of information and understanding will remain a challenge for many. Whilst many understand the need to save and access credit, the choice of product and provide is more complex. Financial education can be expensive to deliver and does not always lead to changes in financial behaviour.
If delivered well, financial education is often designed to motivate people to use digital payment and transfer services, increase their formal savings and improve their borrowing and repayment decisions. This not only benefits the consumers themselves, but also the banks, microfinance institutions and mobile money operators that serve them.
We are now beginning to see evidence emerging that if done well, there is correlation between financial literacy and good financial decisions. on the economy. For financial education to have impact, it needs to have three key characteristics to be well-designed, well-targeted and well-timed.
– Design: Interactive, story-based, gamified and addressing multiple senses. Also the channel it is delivered on, such as television, radio or mobile phones – going to where the consumer already is
– Targeting: Needs-based, adapted to characteristics of a segment (e.g. gender or farming), and personalised to individual knowledge and experience
– Timing: Provided at teachable moments such as when people migrate or when farmers sell their harvest (and can save) or need to plant or store (and need a loan)
Evidence has also shown that financial education works better when it is offered as part of a broader set of measures, designed to remove different constraints. It is very effective when it is offered alongside good and highly accessible formal financial products, as well as complementary measures to help change behaviour.
By making use of technology, it is also possible to cut some of the costs down for financial education. For example, Arifu offers mobile financial education and information via a chatbot technology through SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook messenger and Telegram channels. This is successful because the training is engaging, tailored and convenient. Financial services providers can consider mobile financial education as a tool that can complement marketing and customer service.
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